     STANDARD
          B E A R E R
           A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE                                     T





       There is therefore now no con-
     demnation.. . . My sins are forgiven!
     I am righteous in Christ! . . . It. is on
     the basis of that meritorious  .work
     of Christ on the cross that God casts
     our sins into a sea of eternal forget-
     fulness, as if they never existed.
     See "My Sins Forgiven!" - page 74



L                                         Volume LIX, No. 4, November  15,1982  -


74                                                                THE STANDARD BEARER




                                                                                                                THE STANDARD BEARER
                                  CONTENTS                                                                               ISSN 0362-4692
                                                                                               Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July, and August.
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                                                                                     Editor-in-Chief:  Prof. Homer C. Hoeksema
         My Sins Forgiven! . . . : . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74    Department Editors: Rev. Wayne Bekkering, Rev. Wilbur Bruinsma. Rev. Ronald
      Editorials-                                                                    Cammenga, Rev. Arie  denHartog,  Prof. Robert D. Decker, Rev. Richard  Flik-
                                                                                     kema, Rev. Cornelius Hanko, Prof. Herman Hanko, Mr. David Harbach, Rev.
                                                                                     John A. Heys, Rev. Kenneth Koole, Rev. Jay Kortering, Rev. George C. Lubbers,
         Reformed or Baptist: Either...Or. . . . . . . . . . . . . .77               Rev. Rodney Miersma, Rev. Marinus  Schipper, Rev. James Slopsema, Rev.
                                                                                     Gise J. Van Baren, Rev. Herman Veldman.
        Another Gospel!. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78    EdiforiaI  Ofice:  Prof. H.C. Hoeksema
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MEDITATION

                                                    My Sins Forgiven!
                                                                          Rev. C. Hanko

                     Ques. 56. What believest thou concerning "the forgiveness of sin"?
                     Ans. That God for the sake of Christ's satisfaction, will no more remember my sins, neither
                 my corrupt nature, against which I have to struggle all my life long; but will graciously impute
                 to me the righteousness of Christ, that I may never be condemned before the tribunal of God.
                                                                                                  Heidelberg Catechism, Lord's Day 21


      No condemnation!                                                                  sins are forgiven! I am righteous in Christ!
  There is therefore now no condemnation,  nM in                                            So often Jesus sent the weeping, sin-burdened
this present time nor in the great Day of days as I                                     sinner joyfully on his way with the assurance, Go
stand before the tribunal of the Most High God! My                                      in peace, thy sins, though they are many, are  for-


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                75



given thee. Our Lord's first cry on the cross expres-       both unconsciously and consciously; I am guilty of
ses His deep concern for His lost sheep and His             offending God even in my holiest undertakings.
willingness to take our guilt upon Himself, when
He prayed, "Father, forgive them, for they know               Still worse, sin is like a cruel tyrant that takes us
not what they do. " Pentecost, with Peter's sermon          in his grip and forces us to willful submission.
and the anxious response from many hearts, "Men             Scripture compares sin to a lion that crouches at the
and brethren, what must we do?" was a powerful              door of our heart, ready to pounce in at the earliest
evidence that this prayer was heard.                        opportunity, in order to devour us. Once in its
                                                            power, one sin leads to another, each one worse
  Of all the benefits of salvation that might have          than the former, for sin breeds sin unto death. Will-
been mentioned in the Apostolic Creed and in this           ingly we heed the lures of Satan, like a child that is
Lord's Day, the fathers chose this one great, funda-        drawn to a puddle of water, or like a moth that flits
mental blessing as the core of the riches of grace,         dangerously near the flame of fire. Our sins rise up
the basis upon which God bestows all the other              against us, prevailing day by day, for we are evil,
blessings upon us. It is for this reason that our Cate-     born in sin.
chism treats the subject of the forgiveness of sins
no fewer than three times in the course of its in-            Leprosy was a dread disease in Israel. This was
struction (see questions 60 and 126). This follows          true mainly because of its symbolical significance.
the pattern set before us by the Lord Himself, when         A leper was a most miserable wretch. A small spot
in the model prayer He teaches us to present our            appeared somewhere on the body and grew into a
personal needs in just three petitions, the central         festering, stinking sore. As the disease progressed,
one of which is, "Forgive us our debts, as we for-          the face and limbs became distorted into ugly
give our debtors."                                          shapes, the extremities rotted away, while the
                                                            victim lay in mortal agony, longing for release in
  0 the blessedness of him whose transgression is           death. What made the disease even more horrible
forgiven, whose sin is covered! Blessed is the man          was the fact that the leper was an outcast, driven
unto whom the Lord imputes not iniquity!                    from God and from men, living in the caves of the
  Blessed gift!                                             hills and forced to cry out when anyone approached
  This gift of forgiveness means all the more to us         him, "Stay away, for I am unclean, unclean!"
when we consider that it is experienced only in the         Isaiah describes Israel's spiritual condition as that
church and in the communion of saints. The world            of a wretched leper (1:5, 6). David has this in mind
knows nothing about forgiveness. The unbeliever is          in Psalm 51 when he pleads that the Lord may
never forgiven, nor can he forgive. He is never sin-        wash him with hyssop, for only then will he be
cerely sorry for his sins, never confesses them be-         fully healed, white as snow. There were many
fore God and the neighbor, except for an empty              lepers in the days of Jesus. The land seemed to be
"I'm sorry." It is within the church and under the          full of them. That also speaks of our spiritual condi-
ministry of the Word that the Holy Spirit convicts          tion better than words can utter it.
of sin and guilt, arouses in us a sincere cry for             I stand before the tribunal of God. Shamefacedly
mercy, and causes us to hear the powerful, reassur-         I must confess that I have grossly transgressed, and
ing voice of Jesus saying, "Thy sins are forgiven           do transgress all His commands. As for my sinful
thee!" It is for that reason that the church of all ages    self I do not, I cannot keep a single one of them.
confesses almost in one breath: I believe a holy,           The convicting power of the Spirit of Christ in my
catholic church, the communion of saints, the for-          conscience forces me to confess that I deserve
giveness of sins. It is in that blessed confidence that     nothing less than God's just and eternal condemna-
we can forgive our neighbor, even as God in Christ          tion in hell fire. Thank God, that same Spirit also
has forgiven us.                                            creates in me a true and lasting sorrow for my sins.
  My sins . . . my depravity.                                 There is also an "Esau's sorrow." I fear that. So
  Sin is a small, ugly word. It encompasses a host          readily we are sorry, not because we have sinned
of evil desires, thoughts, words, actions, and deeds.       against the most high majesty of God, but rather be-
I experience every day anew my Father's care and            cause our sins have found us out. We failed to get
protection, bounties of natural and spiritual bless-        away with it, so that now we experience the bitter
ing far above all that I could ask or think, yet I use      consequences. We tend to blame everything and
those very gifts to turn against my God. I know so          everybody but ourselves. We lie awake at night
very well that whether I eat, or whether I drink, or        thinking up excuses to condone what we have
whatever else I may do, I should do it all to the           done. Although we most strongly condemn that
glory of God, yet I fail in that so miserably. I miss       deed in others, we can readily justify ourselves. We
the mark of God's glory both inadvertently and              may even be angry with those who accuse us. And
often deliberately; I transgress His commandments           as soon as the consequences have somewhat faded


76                                              THE STANDARD BEARER



away we are ready to return to our old "habits."              an unworthy wretch. Readily we join him in the
Scripture calls that a sorrow unto death (II Cor.             plea, "0 Lord, be merciful to me, a leper!"
7:lO).                                                          We read that Jesus touched him. Imagine that!
      There is also a godly sorrow, wrought by the            The holy, sinless Jesus condescended to touch that
Spirit of God in our hearts, whereby we cry out               festering, diseased sinner! He took upon Himself
with David, "Against Thee, Thee only have I                   our deadly diseases. "Surely, He hath borne our
sinned, and done this evil in Thy sight." The bur-            griefs and carried our sorrows" (Isaiah 53:3). He set
den of guilt oppresses us; the shame of having of-            His face steadfastly toward the cross, willingly
fended God with our transgressions humbles us in              spread His arms on the accursed tree, and out of
dust and ashes. From the depths of hell, as it were,          the darkness of hell cried out, "My God, my God,
we cry for mercy, for cleansing, for peace.                   why hast Thou forsaken Me, the Leper?"
      Forgiven!                                                 A single word sufficed for the leper who lay at
                                                              Jesus' feet, even as for us: "I will, be thou clean."
      "But God, Who is rich in mercy, for His great               How blest is he whose trespass hath freely
love wherewith He loved us, even when we were                        been forgiven,
dead in sins, hath quickened us," says Paul in                    Whose sin is wholly covered before the
Ephesians  2:4, 5. Our Catechism echoes that joyful                  sight of heaven.
cry by saying, "That God for the sake of Christ's                 Blest he to whom Jehovah imputeth not his
satisfaction, will no more remember my sins,                         sin,
neither my corrupt nature, against which I have to                Who hath a guileless spirit, whose heart is
struggle all my life long."                                          true within.
      There is a divine forgetting. Not as if God forgets       I believe the forgiveness of sins. This does not
as we do because of our human limitations. That               mean that my struggle, my battle against sin is fin-
would be contrary to God's eternal immutability.              ished. In a sense, it has just begun, for sin still wars
God loves His people with an eternal love in Christ           in my members. That struggle I must carry on as
Jesus. That love is so great, so deep, so broad that          long as I live, even to my dying breath. But grace
He gave His only begotten Son to die the accursed             abounds. According to the new man in Christ I hate
death of the cross in our flesh. It is on the basis of        sin, can crucify the flesh, as painful as that is, and
that meritorious work of Christ on the cross that             can in principle live a new and holy life before God.
God casts our sins into a sea of eternal forgetful-             In that confidence I can anticipate the coming of
ness, as if they never existed.                               that great Day of days when the great white
      Christ made a perfect satisfaction for all our sins.    throne will be set up. God Who has begun a good
Satisfaction! Amazing word, rich in its value for us!         work will surely finish it. He rewards His own
Our Lord satisfied God's justice by His atoning               work in me with His testimony, "Come, thou
sacrifice of willful obedience in our stead on the            blessed, inherit the kingdom prepared for you."
cross, so completely "as if I had satisfied in my own         Amen.
person for all my sins and fulfilled all righteous-           LETTER TO TIMOTHY (continued from page 95)
ness" (Communion Form). The righteousness of                  It is important for all our thinking and willing life,
Christ is so completely ours, that we have the right          for we think and will consciously. It is important
to the adoption of sons, the right to call God our            for enjoying life and feeling sympathy or sorrow.
Father, the right to be heirs of eternal life. Who is         How could we cry if we were not conscious and
the condemner? It is God Who justified now and                self-conscious? It is important surely for self-exami-
forever!                                                      nation to which Scripture calls us.
      "I will, be thou clean!"                                  But it is rather striking that a child does not pos-
      There was a certain occasion when a leper came          sess very much of this. And, as a child develops,
running into the city after Jesus. Little did this leper      consciousness develops in that child, but also  self-
realize that as Jesus passed him outside the city             consciousness. And consciousness comes before
power had gone out of the Lord drawing him in                 self-consciousness. A child is not usually  self-
faith after Him. We may marvel at the audacity of             concious until he is over a year old. That is why
this fellow, who leaves his isolation, runs among             when a child begins to speak, he always speaks of
the crowd in the city, and falls down before Jesus in         himself in the third person: not, "I will go out to
humble worship. He does not call Jesus "Master,"              play;" but, "Danny will go out to play." And how
but addresses Him as "Lord." He adds, "If Thou                surprised some of my own children were when
wilt Thou canst make me clean." What an amazing               suddenly they discovered that that image of them-
confidence! There is no doubt in his mind that                selves in the mirror was an image of them!  Self-
Jesus can cure the "incurable" disease, but only the          consciousness sometimes dawns suddenly and
question whether He will have compassion on such              startingly.            Fraternally in Christ, H. Hanko


                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                                          7 7



EDITORIALS
Prof. H. C. Hoeksema


                  Reformed or Baptist: Either.. .br

  In a recent issue of Reformation Today (Number                 by the Puritans of the Westminster Assembly, 1643-
68) its editor,  Errol1  H&e, an English spokesman               1649.
for those who call themselves "Reformed Bap-                    Now it simply is not true that the 1689 Confes-
tists," makes some remarks about this name in                 sion (known in this country also by the name `The
which, in part, he seeks to explain and to justify the        Philadelphia Confession') was achieved by the
name Reformed Baptist. Evidently he writes                    Puritans of the Westminster Assembly. Eventually
mainly for the benefit and instruction of Reformed            Mr. Hulse has to admit this, as we shall see. But I
Baptists. Nevertheless, in reflecting on this subject         want to emphasize that this is misrepresentation. If
he writes about something which ought to be dear              I write a book, and someone comes along and elimi-
to the heart of any truly Reformed person. And in             nates whole chapters, substituting chapters of his
doing so, Mr. Hulse fails on two counts. In the first         own, then it can no longer be claimed that the book
place, it appears to me that he presents a woefully           was achieved by Homer Hoeksema. And if, in addi-
weak and lame explanation and justification for               tion, those chapters which were eliminated were
their use of the name "Reformed." And, secondly,              key chapters in the statement of my thoughts and
he apparently fails to see that the Baptists have             position, then it is even less possible to claim that I
emasculated the Reformed confession, i.e., have so            am the author of the book. Well, this is the situation
changed it by their modifications that they have              with the 1689 Confession. Not the Puritans and the
stripped it of its very Reformed character. The               Westminster divines were the :authors of it, but cer-
result is that their Confession is no longer Re-              tain Baptists. The Puritans were the authors of the
formed, and they no longer have a true right to call          Westminster Confession. But the Westminster Con-
themselves Reformed. This is something which                  fession and the 1689 Confession are by no means
many Reformed and Presbyterian people fail to see,            the same.
probably because they no longer fully understand                Mr. Hulse has to admit that the two are different,
and appreciate their own heritage. But it is impor-           of course. But when he does so, he tries to minimize
tant nevertheless. He who is a Baptist  cannot  be            the differences, as follows:
Reformed; and he who is Reformed cannot be Bap-
tist. The difference between the two is not inciden-                   The Baptists changed two or three articles and
tal; it does not have to do with non-essentials. The             added one (chapter 20) to the Westminster Confession
difference is fundamental. It is a difference which              thus arriving at the 1689 Confession, which repre-
has to do with the very genius of the Reformed                   sents the main body of what we believe. The word Re-
faith. Reformed and Baptist cannot be mixed any                  formed then is accurate, suitable and appropriate, pro-
                                                                 viding we bear the historical background in mind. As
more than one can mix water and oil.                             with all names we must always avoid everything
  Let us look at this matter a bit more closely in               which may be party-minded or proud. We are not
connection with Editor Hulse's claims. He writes:                saying we are better than other believers. We are
                                                                 simply saying that in a day when almost all Christian
     To our advantage both words, Reformed and Bap-              truths are under attack that it is needful to be accurate
   tist, convey a great deal of meaning if understood            and definite in declaring our beliefs. It is no small help
   within the context of Church history. To the outsider         to find that over hundreds of years the Gospel has not
   religious words mean little or nothing, That is one           changed. It is timeless.
   reason why the title `Strict and Particular' has been
   discarded by some Reformed Baptist churches in               Notice how the changes are minimized. Only
   England....                                                two or three articles were changed, and one was
                                                              added. It is even suggested that the name `Re-
     What about  the. title Reformed Baptist? By Re-
   formed we mean that we believe in the heritage of the      formed' is still accurate if only some historical
   Reformation. We believe the 1689 Confession of faith       background is taken into account. In the next para-
   represents the maturest, fullest and most accurate ex-     graphs Editor Hulse even tries to suggest that at
   pression of the Christian Faith. The 1689 Confession       least in England the addition of the name `Baptist'
   has 32 rich chapters proceeding in logical order. As it    is not even necessary, but that in other settings and
   happens this work was not achieved by Baptists but         other       countries it       may prove necessary.


78                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER



Meanwhile, the real difference between Reformed                   Reformed faith holds to the organic realization of
and Baptist, between the Westminster Confession                   God's covenant, both in the old and new dispensa-
and the 1689 Confession, is nowhere directly men-                 tions, with believers and their seed in the line of
tioned. Writes Hulse:                                             generations. Baptists deny all this.
          When the 1689 Confession conveys every major              And let no one say this difference is incidental.
       truth why is it necessary to add the word Baptist to       Change this truth, and it affects the Westminster
       our title? The 1689 Confession which is comprehen-         position radically. Otherwise, why, pray tell, did
       sive deals fully with the nature of the church. Baptism    the Baptists themselves feel the need of a new con-
       is closely related to the nature of the church. Chapter    fession? Moreover, it does not merely change the
       26 of the 1689 Confession is fuller and richer on the      position of the Westminster Confession and Cate-
       subject of the church than the Westminster equiva-         chisms. In the Westminster tradition it also
       lent. Chapter 29 fully expresses our convictions on
       Baptism. In England therefore we could argue that the      involves a radical change in the Directory for
       one word Reformed is quite adequate to express what        Public Worship.
       we are. We are not threatened by anyone. Why                 And then we have not even mentioned the fact
       should we use the term Baptist at all? A word could be     that the Reformed faith is expressed in numerous
       chosen from any chapter of the confession to use for a     other Reformed confessions in which this funda-
       title.                                                     mental covenant theology is expressed, if anything,
      Why, indeed?                                                even more clearly and strongly. Nor have we men-
      The answer is that the 1689 Confession is not the           tioned a creedal document such as our Form for the
Westminster Confession and is not Reformed. And                   Administration of Baptism.
the answer is that the one word `Reformed' is not                   But there is more. The Baptists have traded this
adequate to express what those who hold to the                    Reformed truth of the organic realization of God's
1689 Confession are. In fact, it does not express at              covenant with believers and their seed for a posi-
all  what they are. And the answer is that they                   tion which is fundamentally individualistic, a posi-
should use the word `Baptist' because they are Bap-               tion which emphasizes that God deals strictly with
tist, not Reformed.                                               individuals in His work of salvation. This, too, is
      You see, the chapter on baptism was changed                 very important. Reformed theology is not individu-
completely in order to give expression to the Baptist             alistic. All Arminian and Semi-Pelagian and  Pela-
insistence on immersion as the only proper mode of                gian views have always been individualistic, and
baptism and to give expression to the Baptist denial              they still are today. And here lies the underlying
of infant baptism. And one of the chief reasons for               reason why eventually Baptists cannot succeed,
the change in the chapter on the church was the                   and historically have not succeeded, in holding to
Baptist insistence that the church consists of pro-               the doctrines of sovereign grace, the doctrines of
fessing believers, not of believers and their children            the Five Points of Calvinism. It is possible for Bap-
or believers and their seed.                                      tists to hold to these doctrines for a time, perhaps;
      In those four words-BELIEVERS AND THEIR                     but eventually, because of their inherent individu-
SEED-is expressed the fundamental difference be-                  alistic view, they are compelled to drift in the direc-
tween Baptists and Reformed, a difference which                   tion of Arminianism.
makes it fundamentally impossible and dishonest                     So remember-and do not be deceived on this
for Baptists to claim the name `Reformed.' Re-                    score: Baptist and Reformed do not mix. It is either
formed theology is covenant theology. The                         . ..or! Not both...and!



                                              Another Gospel!

      Probably like many others, I always tended to               widely watched broadcast of all televised church
think of Robert H.  Schuller, of the well-known                   services. Though I never paid much attention to re-
Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, California, as                 ports about his high-powered operation, I had a
just another of the several mass-evangelists in our               vague impression that his name was connected
country. He is touted as such. His congregation is                with the phrase "possibility thinking." For the rest,
said to number 10,000; and his television program,                I had a rather vague idea that, like most of the cru-
"The Hour of Power," it is claimed, is the most                   sade-type evangelists, he probably came with an


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                     79



Arminian message.                                                 "Time and history have changed all that. Today
  Recently, however, [like many clergymen whose                 the sincere, Christian believer is a minority. So the
names found their way to his mailing list) I received           church must be willing to die as a church and be
a book by Schuller: SeZfiEsteem,  The New  Refomza-             born again as a mission. We cannot speak out with
tion.                                                           a `Thus saith the Lord' strategy when we are talking
                                                                to people who couldn't care less about the Lord!"
   While reading in this book, I changed my mind                pp. 12, 13
about Robert Schuller.                                            In answer to the question, "What do I mean by
   Not for better, but for worse.                               sin?" he offers this:
   Mr. Schuller, I believe, cannot even be classed                "I can offer still another answer: `Sin is any act or
with those who are sometimes called  "evangeli-                 thought that robs myself or another human being of
cals" in a broad and loose sense, evangelicals of an            his or her self-esteem.' And what is `hell'? It is the
Arminian bent.                                                  loss of pride that naturally follows separation from
   In fact, I do not hesitate to say that he presents           God-the ultimate and unfailing source of our
"another gospel." And my reference in using this                soul's sense of self-respect. `My God, My God, why
term is to what the Apostle Paul writes in Galatians            hast Thou forsaken Me?' was Christ's encounter
1:6-8: "I marvel that ye are so soon removed from               with hell. In that `hellish' death our Lord experi-
Him that called you into the grace of Christ unto               enced the ultimate horror-humiliation, shame,
another gospel: Which is not another; but there be              and loss of pride as a human being. A person is in
some that trouble you, and would pervert the                    hell when he has lost his self-esteem...." pp. 14, 15.
gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from                 Here is his definition of self-esteem: "Self-esteem
heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that              is the human hunger for the divine dignity that God
which we have preached unto you, let him be ac-                 intended to be our emotional birthright as children
cursed."                                                        created in His image." p. 15
   When Mr. Schuller speaks of "The New Refor-                    "Yes, what we need in the worldwide Christian
mation, ' ' he means what he says. He means that we             church today is nothing less than a new reforma-
must abandon the Reformation of Luther and                      tion. Where the sixteenth-century Reformation re-
Calvin, with its principles, and replace it with                turned our focus to sacred Scriptures as the only in-
something new and different. Just as surely as                  fallible rule for faith and practice, the new reforma-
Luther and Calvin broke radically in the Reforma-               tion will return our focus to the sacred right of
tion with the teachings of Rome, so surely  Schul-              every person to self-esteem! The fact is, the church
ler's "New Reformation" purposes to break with                  will never succeed until it satisfies the human
the doctrines of the Reformation and to replace                 being's hunger for self-value." p. 38
them with new and strange doctrines.                              "The core of original sin, then is LOT-Lack of
   Let me cite some shocking samples from this                  Trust. Or, it could be considered an innate inability
new book.                                                       to adequately value ourselves. Label it a `negative
   "For the church to address the unchurched with               self-image,' but do not say that the central core of
a theocentric attitude is to invite failure in mission.         the human soul is wickedness. If this were so, then
The non-churched who have no vital belief in a re-              truly, the human being is totally depraved. But
lationship with God will spurn, reject, or simply               positive Christianity does not hold to human de-
ignore the theologian, church spokesperson,                     pravity, but to human inability. I am humanly un-
preacher, or missionary who approaches with Bible               able to correct my negative self-image until I en-
in hand, theology on the brain and the lips, and ex-            counter a life-changing experience with non-judg-
pects nonreligious persons to suspend their doubts              mental love bestowed upon me by a person whom I
and swallow the theocentric assertions as fact. The             admire so much that to be unconditionally
unconverted will, I submit, take notice when I                  accepted by him is to be born again." p. 67
demonstrate genuine concern about their needs                      "No theology of salvation, no theology of the
and honestly care about their human hurts." p. 12               church, no theology of Christ, no theology of sin
   "The scales must tip the other way. It was appro-            and repentance and regeneration and sanctification
priate for Calvin and Luther to think  theocentri-              and discipleship, can be regarded as authentically
tally. After all, `Everyone was in the church' and              Christian if it does not begin with and continue to
the issues were theological, not philosophical. For             keep its focus on the right of every person to be
them, the central issue was, `What is the truth in              treated with honor, dignity, and respect. At the
theology?' The reformers didn't have to impress the             same time, any creed, any biblical interpretation,
unchurched so there was no need for them to take                and any systematic theology that assaults and of-
the `human needs' approach.. . .                           I    fends the self-esteem of persons is heretically  fail-


80                                             THE STANDARD BEARER



ing to be truly Christian no matter how interiaced,           It does not require much discernment to detect
interfaced, or undergirded it might be with biblical        that my characterization of Schuller's book is cor-
references . . ..`I pp. 135, 136.                           rect. It is indeed "another gospel," not the gospel of
      Examples equally as shocking could be multi-          the Scriptures, that he brings!
plied.


                          Correspondence and Reply

      From a Holland, Michigan reader I received the        signed to weed out the culls or the unhealthy
following inquiry, dated October 12:                        plants, as the case may require."
Dear Editor:                                                  Secondly, it was not my purpose to refer either
      I recently read your Convocation address as           obliquely or implicitly to any specific students. If
printed in the  Oct.  1  Standard  Beurer. I read the       that had been my purpose, I would have mentioned
article with great interest and was once again              names and cases. However, I was speaking of the
struck by the awesome responsibility that lies with         duty and purpose of the seminary. And the negative
our seminary and its professors. I also thought that        side of that duty-sometimes sad and unpleasant
the analogy that was drawn between the seminary             for the faculty-includes the weeding out of culls or
and the greenhouse was quite fitting, but while             unhealthy plants. If I were to define what I meant
reading was struck by the terms that were used in           by a "cull," I would say that is a student who mani-
explaining the design of the seminary. In particular,       fests that he does not have the academic abilities
I refer to the weeding out of the culls or the un-          and gifts to become a preacher of the Word in our
healthy plants (page 7).                                    churches. This is, of course, measured by standards
                                                            which the churches have set for our school. With-
      In light of the Scriptures and Question and           out going into detail, let me mention, for example,
Answer 111 of the Catechism, I would appreciate             that a preseminarian must have an average grade of
more of an explanation as to what was meant by              at least a B- and show no failing grade in any
those terms.                                                course, and a seminarian must have an over-all
      Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think you are re-      average of at least a C and show no failing grade in
ferring to the students who have not in the past, or        any course. Now the whole matter of academic
will not in the future, meet the requirements of the        standards and the procedures connected with their
seminary for one reason or another. I will be look-         application is for the purpose of "culling out" those
ing forward to ydur response since this area does           who do not measure up to these standards. This
concern me greatly.                                         does not mean or imply, of course, that a person is a
                        Sincerely,                          "cull" as a Christian person or a "cull" as far as life
                                                            in general or as far as other callings in life are con-
                                      Wesley Koops          cerned. I was simply extending the whole figure of
RepZy:                                                      a greenhouse in application to the seminary as an
Dear Brother Koops:                                         institution for the preparation of Protestant Re-
                                                            formed preachers. If I were to define what I meant
      Thank-you for your letter and the interest that it    by "an unhealthy plant," I would say that is a
shows.                                                      student who manifests that he is not committed to
      First of all, it may be well to get the pertinent     our Protestant Reformed position.
paragraph of my address before our readers: "Posi-            Over the years, since  1924,  there have been both
tively, the seminary is an institution where mini-          such culls and unhealthy plants from time to time.
sters of the gospel are prepared, nurtured, trained.        And I suppose we may expect this in the future
Just as a greenhouse with its proper soil, its air, its     also. And speaking from the experience of my  23
water, its light, its heat, its plant nutrition, is         years since my ordination as professor-and, I am
designed to foster the growth of healthy plants, so         sure, speaking for my fellow.professors and for the
the seminary is designed to foster  the, growth and         Theological School Committee-it is always a pro-
preparation of doctrinally and spiritually sound and        foundly sad and painful experience when we have
capable Protestant Reformed ministers of the                to tell a young man that he canlt make it or that he
gospel. And by the same token, of course, it is  de-        has to discontinue-or when he sees this for  him-


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                               81



self and informs us.                                      true advantage even of such young men as must
  Now what about Q. and A. 111 of the Catechism?          discontinue their studies and not enter the
In its positive explanation of the eighth command-        ministry. For I assure you that there is no more un-
ment the Catechism says that God requires "That I         happy position in life than to be in the ministry
promote the advantage of my neighbor in every in-         when you don't belong there and fit there. A man
stance I can or may; and deal with him as I desire to     who has the capabilities of a ditch-digger but has all
be dealt with by others...."                              the responsibilities of corporation president is un-
                                                          happy. But a child of God who is in the ministry of
  I would say this is exactly what we do at semi-         the Word when he doesn't fit :in that position is far
nary in this "weeding" process. And my reasons            more unhappy.
are two: 1) We promote the advantage of all our
many neighbors in the Protestant Reformed                                   Cordially, in Christ,
Churches by preventing them from receiving less                                                      HCH
than capable or unfit ministers. 2) We promote the

GUESTARTICLE


                   A Minister-Rabbi Conversation
                                             Rev. Robert C. Harbach



III. About Anti-Semitism and the Trinity                  the entire heathen world. But no one thinks to
   "I thought you might invite me to your office in       charge him with `anti-gentilism.' Does all this
Temple Beth Anshe Chesed," was the way the Rev.           offend you?"
N. K. Russo began his third conversation with the           "Not at all, Christian friend. What you say only
rabbi. "No," that dignitary replied, "I prefer the        more broadens the mind of an already  broad-
advantages of an open-air restaurant with nothing         minded rabbi."
but the Creator's shade trees and Jehovah's heaven          "Well, then, are you Jews so sensitive to criti-
over my head. Such comfort we should always               cism that you must continually defend yourselves
have! Such delicious espresso to stimulate our dis-       with the worn-out accusation of  `anti-Semitism,' or
cussion on the planned topic of, you should pardon        are you people always looking over your shoulders
the expression, `anti-Semitism'!  You don't believe       as though half expecting another Hitler to jump out
in it, do you?"                                           of the woodwork to bite your heads off?"
   "You mean entertain or practice it in any way?           Chuckling good-naturedly together at this last
Of course not! Nearly everyone realizes that the          sally, the rabbi responded, "Never in my wildest
Jewish people have suffered a great deal of  `anti-       imaginations could I ever envision myself laughing
semitic' persecution throughout their history. How-       with a Christian relative to  `anti-Semitism'!  But
ever, not only Jews but Reformed Christians too           don't forget what Israel suffered in World War II,
have suffered terribly under the Inquisition. So          and suffers to this day at the'hands of PLO terror-
while there's a great hue and cry against `anti-semi-     ists. Now that's anti-Semitism!!'
tism,' where is there a voice raised against terror-         "There you go again, my rabbi friend, harping on
istic `anti-Christianity'? The term  `anti-Semitism'      that same string! Answer me this question: The
has become hackneyed and often appears to us Cal-         Yisraeli forces recently tried to rid the world of the
vinists as a sort of a `scare-word' intended to shut      PLO in Lebanon, didn't they?"
our mouths and to compromise us in the preaching
of our Christian gospel. Why do the Jews condemn          "Sure, a favor they were doing the whole world.
the New Testament as an  `anti-Semitic  book'? Out        Thankful every nation should be for that!"
of about ten writers of the Book, all were Jewish         "Begin's bagels, Nate! Aren't the Palestinians and
except one. Was Paul anti-Semitic  writing as he did      the PLO of Arab descent? and aren't the Arabs
about the Jews in certain sections of his Roman           Semites?  In connection with Israel's recent siege
epistle, e.g., chapter  2:17-29 and chapter nine?         against Lebanon, wasn't the whole world fearful
Don't forget, he also wrote chapter one, indicting        Israel would be guilty of genocide? But ever since


82                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



Isaac and Ishmael, Arabs and Jews have been at              was to be born of the Virgin Mary.' "
one another's throats. Then oughtn't the pot (the              "Now here is an instance of where the Jews may
Jews) be careful about calling the kettle (the Arabs)       scream  `anti-Semitism!' any time they please, but
black? Have the Jews never been guilty of  `anti-           no Christian dare charge a Jew with being  anti-
semitism'?"                                                 Christian. For that (RSV) mistranslation of Isaiah
      "Touche, Nathanael! Maybe we should drop that         7:14 is a deliberate corruption of the original
reproachful expression. It could get too embarras-          Hebrew, the result of recent Jewish influence on
sing to the Jewish community."                              the Revised Standard Bible Committee. One of the
      "Not touche, Nate; I'm not trying to score points,    members of that committee was connected with a
nor to appear witty and clever. True Christians are         Jewish religious institute. Anyway, the text, instead
not anti-Semitic.  Neither are they anti-Arab, or anti-     of saying what it does in the original, becomes an
Negro, anti-Irish, anti-Polish or anti anything-un-         intrusion of Talmudic Judaism, and anyone check-
less it be anti-sin. We are intolerant to sin and to        ing into the Talmud is soon impressed with its
anything not in harmony with the Holy Bible of              strong anti-Christianisms. But  anti-Semitism,   anti-
Old and New Testaments. That is why we are                  Christianism-aren't they both culpable evils?"
called Protestants. We protest any denial or profa-           There comes a time when both sides should
nation of God's covenant. Have you thought any              surrender to silence to give space to cool down, to
more of what is written in Sepher Tehillim, the             reflect and meditate. At this point such an advan-
Book of Praises, in ha-mizmor le-Davidh, the Psalm          tage was grasped. Later, on another occasion, the
of David, where Jehovah speaks of Meshicho, His             two friendly opponents resumed their talks on the
Anointed, His Messiah?"                                     plurality of God. The Reformed minister was ad-
      "Not really. Reform rabbis are not very messiah-      dressing himself to the rabbi's question that
oriented, unless in a more practical vein we hope           "assuming there is more than one divine personali-
for another Bernard Baruch or another Franklin              ty in the Godhead, why may there not be only
Roosevelt."                                                 two?"  "Let me get into the question, Rabbi, with
                                                            another question. What are the first words written
  "Well, anyway, in that Second Psalm David is              in the Torah?"
more relevant. He tells us that Jehovah reigns over
the goyim, the gentiles, the nations, by His Messiah          The answer came spontaneously: "Bereshith
Whom He appoints as King in Zion. To Him Jeho-              bara' Elohim eth ha-shamayim ve-eth ha-aretz" (In
vah gives the goyim as an inheritance, the whole            the beginning God created the heavens and the
earth as His possession. To Him, His enthroned              earth).
King, Jehovah actually says, `Thou art My Son!'               "Thank you, (That's beautiful, isn't it?) Now
Then He commands the kings and magistrates of               notice that though the subject, Elohim, is plural
the earth, `Kiss the Son!' Render Him supreme               (the singular would be Eloah), that the predicate,
homage and allegiance. `Kiss the Son, lest He be            bara (created), is singular! Interesting; for in Eccle-
angry, and ye perish from the way, when His wrath           siastes  12:1, `thy Creator' is in the plural, literally,
is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they who put       `Remember now thy  Creators  in the days of thy
their trust in Him!' Take refuge in the King Who            youth.' You see that this agrees with the plural of
laid down His life for Zion, for our sins (Psalm 22)        Genesis  1:l. For there are three who create, the
that we might have a safe refuge from the wrath of          Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Cp. Psalm
El Shaddai, God Almighty!"                                  33:5-6. But don't overlook that word `heavens' in
  "Still," the rabbi insisted, "no mention is made          Genesis. That's right; it's no plural, but a dual.
there of the son's name. As for the Isaianic passage        However, there is no dual form of the name of God.
allued to the other day, your Protestant RSV Bible,         If there were but two divine personalities in the
to my way of thinking, has a much more suitable             Godhead, the dual would have been employed. But
translation than heretofore. It states, `Therefore          in Scripture this is never the case. So the Hebrew
the Lord Himself will give you a sign, Behold, a            plural always implies more than two, at least three,
young woman (Du., jonkvrouw) shall conceive and             and in reference to God we know from other Scrip-
bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.' The          tures it means exactly three. This fact could hardly
rabbi of Temple Sinai in Capitol City expressed             be made clearer than it is made in Isaiah  63:7-10,
warm approval of this translation of the text. He           where three divine Persons are mentioned: the
said, `I am delighted to know that at last this great       Lord, their Savior (the Father), the Angel of His
error of translation (as appearing in your KJV) has         presence (the Son), and the Holy Spirit.
been finally corrected, and that at last some ele-            "Interesting, too, is Genesis 18, where the Lord
ments of the Christian world no longer officially           appeared to Abraham in a theophany (a super-
maintain that Isaiah  7:14 is a prediction that Jesus       natural appearance of God). This appearance  oc-


                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER                                                8 3



curred in the form of three men. Abraham saw                       last prophet of the Old Testament, and his hearers,
Them, greeting all three with a divine name he had                 were fully acquainted with the names of the three
used before of God-Adonai, a plural name, liter-                   Persons of the Godhead. There was not the least
ally `my Lords.' He addressed Them with singular                   necessity to explain to them that God exists in three
pronouns: `If now I have found favor in Thy sight,                 Persons. They read their Old Testament under-
pass not away . . . from  Thy  servant.' Here he                   standing this fact. Under the Baptizer's and our
addresses one of Them, referring to himself as ser-                Lord's teaching the mystery of the trinity was never
vant of that One. Then he addresses Them with                      explained as previously unknown. Cp. Luke  1:35;
plural pronouns: `Let a little water, I pray You, be               2:27f;  3:22; John  1:32f and  3:34, 35. It was never
fetched, and wash Your feet, and rest  Yourselves,                 questioned nor objected to as Unitarians do. "The
and comfort Ye Your hearts,' as `Ye are come to                    Jews of this period were not Unitarians as are those
Your servant.' Here he addresses all three of Them,                of today.' What the Jews of Jesus' day objected to
referring to himself as the servant of all three. These            was only that He called Himself God's Son. They
three he recognizes to be Adonai. This use of both                 never contended that God is only one Person and
the singular and plural pronouns, not indicated in                 not three, nor that God could not have a Son. For
the modern versions, reveals something of the                      the Old Testament revealed the trinity to the Jews
unity and trinity of Jehovah (Adonai) .                            under the Old Covenant."
  "One more point, Rabbi: John the Baptizer, the

TRANSLATED TREASURES

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


(Kuyper is discussing reformation in the church through the        preaches now and then, but also a minister who ad-
way of separation from the church. He is discussing the con-       ministers both sacraments, i.e., not only the Lord's
ditions under which such separation becomes necessary and          Supper but also Baptism. Therefore a minister who
the individual's calling to be obedient to God even when he        with his consistory exercises discipline so that the
faces opposition from his church. This kind of reformation         administration of the sacraments is done properly.
must begin in the local congregation of which the individual is
a member when that local congregation begins to lose the             We do not deny that this involves separation. We
marks of the true church.)                                         are treating exactly a reformation through separa-
   If it happens that the church is remiss in the ad-              tion. But we do want to notice that such a separa-
ministration of the means of grace so that                         tion does not have to continue indefinitely.
Christians receive neither the preaching of the                      During the turbulence of the Remonstrants'
Word nor the administration of the sacraments in                   controversy the faithful in the land followed a
the God-ordained way, then the obligation rests on                 course of action which we described above. In fact,
the individual member to fill this lack. He can do                 such a separation between consistories and the
this in the easiest way by moving to another church                Reformed took place in various congregations that
where a proper distribution of the means of grace is               the Remonstrants, in the twenty-sixth and  twenty-
present. But this is not possible for everyone. Many               ninth sessions of the Synod in  1618-`19, openly
are bound to the place where they live. In that case               accused these people of being schismatic, and on
it can never be enough to rent a local hall and there              that ground challenged their right to participate in
now and then to let so-called evangelists preach.                  the ecclesiastical body. But this sentiment found
Instead, one is obligated to send for an ordained                  little support and the English, the  Genevan, the
minister. And because this calling of a minister can               Palatinate, and the Bremer theologians explicitly
take place lawfully only through a consistory, those               testified in separate declarations that such a separa-
who oppose their church are obligated to proceed                   tion of oneself from those who are disobedient to
to the appointment of elders and deacons and to                    God had nothing in common with schism.
call a minister through these office bearers. A                      We do not deny that such a step can lead to per-
minister for worship: thus not only someone who                    manent separation; but it is also true that it is not


84                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



impossible that the breach be healed.. The example         his flesh would oppose his spirit; and in a short
of 1619 shows this.                                        time his pride and pretensions would be forced to
      If anyone asks in what way such aggrieved ones       bow in shameful disgrace.
have to proceed then this rule can be safely set             But if the desire to obey the Lord of lords moti-
forth: 1) If among the aggrieved there is a preacher       vates a man to walk in uprightness of heart, then
of the congregation and some other members of the          such a one, who would witness even with his blood
consistory, then the aggrieved must recognize these        for the Lord's name, if that is necessary, should
office bearers provided that they gather separately        never allow himself to be dissuaded from faithful-
as the council of the church. 2) If members leave          ness to his Lord by temporal loss of money or
without a preacher, then they should invite one of         goods.
the neighboring preachers so that he acts as                 In this case, however, the separation already will
moderator to guide the work. 3) If such a moderator        have gone further than the organization of the local
is not obtainable, then they must proceed by them-         church. It will have already affected the church
selves under the leadership of one of the oldest           federation, and so we will speak of this no more in
brethren to choose elders and deacons. Or, if the          this paragraph.
number of aggrieved ones is too small for this,
then they must seek the shelter of a neighboring             However, the question does belong here, in how
consistory which must temporarily care for this            far we can justify a break because of the corporate
congregation as a part of its own.                         guilt of the disobedience of others. This question
                                                           also arises where we are not compelled to be diso-
      This holds true for the attitude of the common       bedient or where no one hinders us in the way of
members. Greater responsibility rests on office            obedience.
bearers. If it is indisputably the conviction of office
bearers that the church which they serve does not            At this point, out of fear of creating over excite-
walk obediently, then they may not rest. They must         ment and recklessness we want to warn people
arise and pay close attention to how `they them-           most'urgently to be doubly careful.
selves must be obedient and how they shall in obe-           There are so few, also among the sensitive
dience lead the flock entrusted to their care. To          children of God, who feel this corporate responsi-
attain this goal they must restlessly enlighten the        bility so deeply that they confess their guilt before
members of the congregation from the pulpit, in            the throne of grace. And it is surely true, where this
religious instruction, in the families, and if need be     sense of guilt is not present, the first requirement
through letters and circulars. Secondly, they must         which justifies separation is absent.
press for improvement of ecclesiastical life in the          If on the other hand, it is true that the Holy Spirit
consistory. Thirdly, without asking whether the            leads the soul into this consciousness of guilt so that
consistory permits it, they must do what obedience         one does not only talk of the disobedience of
to God's Word demands of them and what is neces-           others, but also feels weighing of his own heart his
sary for the congregation so that they walk in the         corporate guilt in the fellowship of the body of
way of God's Word. And, fourthly, they must give           Christ, so much so that he invokes the blood of
assistance to churches outside their own who are in        Christ over it, then most certainly one has both the
spiritual need.                                            right and the duty, even the full right and the ines-
  If they are rebuked by the consistory for this           capable duty, to break the bonds with such an or-
they must bear this and meanwhile proceed in the           ganization. This is true because one does not walk
same way in which they have determined to go. If           out of his church nor judge his church as church
one of the ministers is silenced through suspension,       and so much less denounces her as  ,the false
he must nevertheless continue to preach the Word           church, but rather because one breaks off all fel-
and to administer the sacraments because this is his       lowship with his consistory as a quiet and earnest
calling from the Lord. And if his consistory, in spite     witness against her.
of this earnest warning and evidence of conviction,          This duty reveals itself first and simply by not re-
continues stubbornly to walk in the way of disobe-         ceiving the disobedient minister and elder when
dience, he is finally obligated to break with the fel-     they come on family visitation. But one cannot stop
lowship of such a consistory and be ready to help          there. He must continue his separation by protest-
his church in calling together a faithful consisitory.     ing to the consistory, since the consistory may not
  What the result of such a clash will be we do not        passively ignore evil in the church.
know. But certainly a minister of the Word must              So the presence of unbelieving consistory mem-
never avoid the way of obedience out of fear of            bers can be the cause for believers to gather sepa-
monetary loss.                                             rately. This is something which can have as its con-
      If one would want only to create a disturbance,      sequence that also the consistory as such can be


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                                       8 5



called of God to make such a separation. Indeed, a        who shall refuse to sing; the janitor who shall re-
consistory which wishes  to, practice obedience to        fuse to clean up; the caretaker of the pews who
God's Word shall not be able to rest until the un-        shall refuse to do his work; yes, even the collector
believing members are removed from its midst, the         who shall refuse to collect.
congregational meetings are again held according to         When disobedience becomes strong, obedience
the confessions, and the ministry of unbelieving          shall resist it directly.
teachers is stopped.  A" chairman of the consistory
who wishes to be faithful in this shall not inform          We are not afraid of the clash which this must
such unbelieving members of the meeting, shall            bring about. We will even bless this clash if it only
omit their names in the reading of the roll, and shall    is the work of the Lord and not a wild game of fana-
refuse to give them the floor.                            tic recklesness.
  This shall almost certainly result in a clash or          If the impulse comes from the outpouring of the
separation in the consistory or in the local congre-      soul in consciousness of guilt, from a soul which
gation. But even the fear of this should not prevent      has wrestled in dust and ashes before his God, then
anyone from carrying out his duty, and will not           even the stopping of one's salary by the trustees of
prevent him if only a proper conviction of guilt,         the church is reason to rejoice. But also, if there is
aroused by the Holy Spirit, precedes and motivates        not a consciousness of guilt, then only the  self-
the desire for obedience.                                 exalting Pharisee is the zealous one, and woe to him
                                                          who seeks separation. That one is not pleasing  .to
  Even the state supervisors can be called of God         God, but comes under God's judgment.1
to create a split, if they realize that they may no
longer make the church building available for             1. To understand what Kuyper is saying here we must remem-
wicked preaching nor may pay out salaries to un-           ber that Kuyper was writing this prior to his break with the
faithful preachers.                                        State Church. The circumstances  .which he describes, there-
                                                           fore, are circumstances which were true in the State Church.
  In short, obedience has no limitations. It includes      In our own circumstances we would probably not agree with
the organist who shall refuse to play; the precentor       every course of action which Kuyper prescribes.

THE DAY OF SHAD0 WS


                                Deathbed Confidence
                                               Rev. John A. Heys                                     -


  In Hebrews  11:20 we read of the faith of Isaac            Now in a sense we may say that the incidents
consisting in this, that he blessed Jacob and Esau        recorded in Hebrews 11, and given to the author by
concerning things to come. Then in the next verse         the Spirit, single out the high points of faith in the
we read of Jacob blessing the sons of Joseph; and         lives of these saints and manifest most clearly the
that is presented in this chapter of the giants of        strength of their faith. But at, the same time it must
faith as evidence of Jacob's great faith. Both father     be admitted that throughout this chapter we have
and son are listed as giants of faith, and both are       presented to us not only different giants of faith but
presented as performing the same act of faith,            also different works of faith. And this blessing by
namely, blessing their seed.                              Isaac of his sons, and of Jacob upon Joseph's sons
  On the surface it would seem as though we have          would seem to be an exception to this procedure.
somewhat of a repetition here, a case of "Like              Yet mere repetitions are not to be found in Scrip-
father like son." It is true that we read a bit more      ture, and we had better look a bit deeper to appre-
about Jacob, such as the fact that he was dying, that     ciate this work of Jacob consisting in blessing the
he worshipped, leaning on his staff, and that it was      sons of Joseph.
his grandsons whom he blessed, rather than sons as          Not only is it important to note and bear in mind
was the case with Isaac. But otherwise it would           that these are grandsons of the one pronouncing the
seem to be the same act of faith, whereas we, no          blessing, whereas with Isaac it was a case of bless-
doubt, would be expecting something different to          ing sons, but also that Joseph on hearing that his
be made known to us, some new facet of faith to           aged father was sick brought his two sons to his
enrich us with a fresh viewpoint of what faith does.      dying father. And although we do not read of


86                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



Joseph doing so in order that Jacob might bless          five years of famine. So Joseph's younger son was
them, we may be sure that it was not simply, or in       at least 19 years old and the older one was at least
the first place, merely to say "Good-bye" to their       20 years old when they stood before Jacob. Recog-
grandfather who lay on his deathbed.                     nition would be remarkable  e.ven for a man with
      Another difference that does not lie on the        good eyesight.
surface is that although they were grandsons and            Now consider that Jacob, not knowing the
therefore Jacob's seed as surely as the children of      identity of these young men, and yet in their pre-
the other eleven sons of Jacob, these sons of Joseph     sence, said to Joseph, "And now thy two sons
were not like the other grandsons, either in out-        Ephraim and Manasseh which were born to thee in
ward appearance (because of distinct dress and hair      the land of Egypt, before I came unto thee in Egypt,
styles) or in speech.                                    are mine; as Reuben and Simeon, they shall be
      Now Jacob, with his dim eyesight, could no         mine." Whether these grandsons understood their
doubt see some difference, and certainly could see       grandfather is another matter. But he did order
a bit. We read in Genesis  48:8, "And Israel beheld      Joseph to consider them to be his sons on the same
Joseph's sons, and said, Who are these?" A little        level with Reuben and Simeon his first two sons
later in verse 11 we read, "I had no thought to see      born to him in  Haran.  These two sons of Joseph
thy face, and, lo, God hath showed me also thy           were to be reckoned on a level with those sons of
seed." He did see dimly. Whether he heard them           Leah who were certainly first in line to be heads of
speak is another matter. This was not the twentieth      tribes that would constitute the nation of Israel.
century when children show increasing disrespect         These two sons of Rachel, his beloved wife, of
for their elders, and claim to have, and behave as       whom he will speak in the verses immediately fol-
though they have, freedoms which, if they were           lowing, will as surely be counted as heads of tribes
theirs, would nullify God's unchangeable and ever-       in the nation of Israel as the two sons of Leah
abiding law with its fifth commandment of honour-        whom all would count as worthy of that rare
ing father and mother, and which also includes           honour because of their places in the geneologies of
grandfather and grandmother. There could even be         Jacob. Jacob's name shall be on them and the name
the language barrier that prevented such communi-        of Abraham and Isaac shall be on them as fully as
cation. Even then, silence and failing eyesight          upon Reuben and Simeon.
would not make Jacob unaware of a vast difference          It cannot be denied that Jacob on his deathbed is
between these grandsons with their Egyptian cul-         much concerned with the spiritual well-being of
ture and education and the other grandsons of his        Joseph and of these two sons who were brought up
sheep-tending sons.                                      in Egyptian culture and education. Joseph was high
      There is another matter to remember. Had Jacob     in this world and his situation was very similar to
seen these sons of Joseph when he first came into        that of Moses who "had it made" as far as the
the land of Egypt, or on that trip that he made          things of this world are concerned. Both had bright
shortly after arriving to be presented to Pharaoh,       futures, if you are thinking of worldly advance-
these grandsons would have been very young, as           ment and wealth. Jacob had, indeed, gotten a
young as two and three years old. Aged Jacob lived       promise from Joseph that he would bury him in
in Goshen, and Joseph and his sons far removed in        Canaan and in this found out that Joseph did re-
the capitol city of Memphis. It is very doubtful that    member God's promise to Abraham and his seed.
Jacob ever went to Joseph after the one recorded in-     His political career had not turned him away to un-
stance, so that a tremendous physical change had         belief. But there are those grandsons growing up in
taken place in these sons of Joseph. Now being           pagan Egypt with all its idolatry. There is also their
about twenty years old they no longer looked like        mother who is daughter of the priest of On. Jacob
the little grandsons that Jacob saw, if indeed he did    rightfully has much concern for them. And as a
see them, on that trip to see Pharaoh. Being dressed     faithful covenant father and grandfather he
as young men and not as little boys, wearing Egyp-       launches at once, upon Joseph's visit  - even
tian attire and hair style they could easily have        strengthening himself to sit upon the bed to talk to
been mistaken by Jacob with his dim eyesight as          Joseph - into that which is heavy on his heart.
part of Joseph's bodyguard or attendants. Hence            He speaks to Joseph of God the Almighty and His
the question, "Who are these?" Remember that             appearance to him at Luz in the land of Canaan and
Jacob lived in Egypt for seventeen years (Genesis        to the blessing which He gave Jacob to make him
47:28). His two grandsons were born before the           fruitful, to multiply and to become a multitude of
seven years of famine began. That would mean 24          people, and to give him the land of Canaan. It is the
years from the beginning of the famine until             covenant and the covenant promise that is upper-
Jacob's death. But Jacob came into Egypt two years       most in Jacob's mind. Of it he wants to speak to his
after the famine began and was there during only         son before he dies; and the place of his grandsons in


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                          8 7



that promise and in that covenant he also wishes to        speaks powerfully of the continuation of the cove-
set forth. It is in that light that Genesis 48 presents    nant promises in his grandsons who are on every
those words of Jacob, "And now thy two sons,               side, surrounded by heathendom and idolatry and
Ephraim and Manasseh . . . are mine; as Reuben             great temptations for the flesh.
and Simeon, they shall be mine." And then the idea           And Jacob has no doubt about their or his own
is not simply that they sh.all belong to the covenant      everlasting future because, although he is weak
family of Jacob and must not be given over by              physically and no longer able to wrestle with men
Joseph to be Pharaoh's, or to belong to Egypt's            for the things of this world  - and God mercifully
pagan realm and to the idols of Egypt. No, the con-        took that power away from him so that he would
nection between verses 3 and 4, and verse 5 is that        wrestle in prayer with his God  - he is strong in
Joseph's sons, on a par with Reuben and Simeon,            faith in his Saviour. He confesses, according to
are a fulfillment and will be a fulfillment of God's       Genesis 48: 16, that the Angel which redeemed him
promise to Jacob to be fruitful, to multiply, and to       from all evil will bless these grandsons. He prays
become a multitude of people.                              that the Angel of his redemption will do this; but
  That there was fleshly disappointment to Jacob as        his prayer is prophetic, and prediction and evi-
well as to Rachel that God did not give them more          dence of his confidence in God.
sons is certainly true. This moved Rachel to cry out         We know that Angel Who redeems us from all
to Jacob, "Give me children or else I die" (Genesis        evil to be Christ, the Son of God in our flesh. "All
3O:l). Yet as far as Jacob, who did have children, is      evil" certainly includes first of all our sins. And al-
concerned, it was also because he looked for the           though Jacob saw his Redeemer only in the types
fulfillment of God's promise to him, namely, to            and shadows, we see Him in the reality of His in-
make a multitude of people out of him.                     carnation, cross, resurrection, and ascension into
  By faith Jacob blessed these sons of Joseph. And         heaven, so that He sits there now with a glorified
what a faith it was! Faith in God's faithfulness.          body that is truly redeemed from all evil and can-
Faith in the covenant promise so that, granted these       not be touched by any evil.
grandsons are in the culture and environment of              Because of that fact we too on our deathbeds,
gross idolatry, "God Almighty"  - as Jacob here            rather than listening to others comfort us, can  -
calls Him  - is God the all faithful One Who will          when we are strong in faith - comfort those whom
keep His Word and preserve in the midst of a sinful        we will leave behind. And we can close our eyes in
world His people.                                          the sleep of death with confidence for the church
  What is  .more, what great faith Jacob displays          here on earth after we have left the scene. When
here on his deathbed! Many a dying saint, because          Jacob says, "Thy two sons. . . are mine," he speaks
his sins rise up against him, prevailing every day,        as the head of the church of that day, and in the
seeks comfort on his deathbed that those sins are          name of Him Who is The Head of the church. Our
gone and that he is sure of a resurrection to glory.       children are His and are equal with Reuben and
Many `a saint who knows his life is quickly slipping       Simeon, yea with Jacob and Joseph in God's cove-
away wants, exactly because he is a child of God, to       nant. They shall be named the True Israelites, the
be assured of God's promises and to have prayers           church of God, the people whom He redeems from
spoken in his behalf. But Jacob, strong in his faith,      all evil. And they shall be this, not simply in name,
speaks of those promises, instructs his son and            but in all the redemption which the Angel of the
grandsons about them. And though he is dying, he           Lord has earned for them by His precious blood.
ALLAROUND US
Rev. G. Van Baren


                        On Divorce and Remarriage

  I found an interesting letter in the "Mailbag" of              I began my ministry by thinking that I could judge
the Presbyterian Journal, September 29, 1982, on the           every case on its own merits and then decide whether
subject of divorce and remarriage, written by Rev.             or not to remarry a divorced person. I soon found that
William E. Hill,. Jr. In commenting on earlier  arti-          I often was mistaken in my judgment and that often I
cles found in that magazine, he states about his own           had been given the wrong information. So I developed
personal experience:                                           an ironclad policy of refusing to marry divorced


88                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER



       people to new spouses. I came to believe that I was            the finest and most effective witnesses for Christ I
       unable to judge in such matters-nor have I ever seen           have known have been people who have experienced
       a session capable of being a judge in such  matters-           this tragedy. Their witness is even more humble than
       because only God and the parties themselves know               most and therefore often more effective.
       who is the "innocent person" if, indeed, there is such.           The church ought to take a clear and consistent
         Does this mean that we look down on divorced                 stand against divorce but not against divorced people.
       people or consider this an unforgivable sin? Certainly         At the same time, divorced persons should never
       not. God forgives any sin where there is repentance             shrug their shoulders in the mistaken conviction that
       and faith and certainly this sin can be covered by the          no wrong has been done. A broken vow is wrong no
       grace of God. In my ministry I made a special effort to        matter what the cause and a broken home is a tragedy
       find places of service in the church for people who            no matter what the cause.
       have experienced this tragedy-but not in the official             But "a broken and contrite heart, 0 God, Thou wilt
       and ordained leadership of the church.                         not despise."
         In Paul's listing of gifts, I should say that such          Notice again that last sentence in the  second-to-
       Christians qualify for the gift of "helps". Divorced        last paragraph.
       people can be strong witnesses for the Lord. Some of


                                       Pllanned Parenthood

      There is an organization with the above name, lo-                which means that over the last decade close to 15
cated in many communities, setting forth ideas on                      million living human beings have been killed in the
sex and marriage obviously contrary to Scripture.                      womb. And pregnancy among teenagers is an ever
Yet this organization is supported by tax dollars and                  more serious problem. One million teens were preg-
voluntary contributions-often made by church                           nant in 1974, and by 1981 that figure had risen to
                                                                       1,142,OOO.  Consider the social and psychological
members. The  Christian  News, September 27, 1982,                     problems this creates.
presents a quoted article which gives numerous
examples of the "morality" of the teaching of                            Adding insult to all this injury is that since 1966 the
"Planned Parenthood." It advocates, according to                       federal government has poured millions of your tax
the article, compulsory sex education along the                        dollars into the programs of Planned Parenthood and
                                                                       other groups with a similar philosophy, so that by
lines of one of the booklets published by a branch                     1980 some $319 million was allocated for sex training
organization which states: "Sex is fun and joyful,                     and "family planning" programs. Indeed  Town and
and it comes in all types and styles, all of which are                 Country  magazine for November 1981 reports that out
O.K. Do what gives pleasure and enjoy what gives                       of Planned Parenthood's annual income of $146
pleasure. Don't rob yourself. of joy by focusing on                    million for 1980, $71 million, nearly 50 percent, was
old-fashioned ideas about what's `normal' or                           provided by American taxpayers.
`nice' ". After listing more such examples of the                        Such use of our taxes is revolting, and it should be
evil teachings about sex, the article continues:                       stopped at once. Meanwhile, Planned Parenthood
                                                                       should change its name to reflect more accurately
         These are but a few examples of how Planned Par-             what it is doing to our teenagers. The Federal Office of
       enthood's approach to sex education-which it wants              Recreational Sex might be more appropriate.
       to see made compulsory-attacks the ethical and
       religious standard of reserving sex for marriage that         The dreadful statistics are presented above in the
       was long part of our cultural heritage. As Mrs. Jurs        article. The evil and worldly philosophy is clearly
       warns: "Under the guise of knowledge, P.P. selects          set forth. These represent your "tax dollars at
       only those facts that lead students to embrace `repro-      work." Strange, is it not, how emphatically the
       ductive freedom.' By omitting positive support for          government insists on "separation" of church and
       marriage, commitment, intimacy, and relatedness to          state? Strange that no tax dollars may be used,
       social patterns, values, or symbols, it is proceeding to    directly or indirectly, to support anything religious?
       establish [Margaret] Sanger's `new morality' based on
       `knowledge'. Through omission, it has been `abolish-        Government would consider it an unheard-of
       ing the arbitrary and outmoded restrictions' of our         thing to use tax dollars to present the origin of all
       culture, which today's P.P. as well as Margaret Sanger      things as set forth in Genesis 1. No tax dollars for
       perceived to be the Judeo-Christian ethic."                 religion or morality-but an abundance of such
         What have been the results of Planned Parent-             monies for every anti-Christian,  godless philosophy
       hood's approach? Planned Parenthood itself reports          which arises! The effect of this evil emphasis is in-
       that abortions now average 1.5 million annually,            creasingly seen in our day.


                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER                                                             89



                                       "Women in Office"

  The Calvinist Contact, July 9, 1982, reports on the                   able to support such a policy and recommended in-
Assembly meeting of the Presbyterian Church of                          stead a plan  modelled  after that of the Reformed
Canada, and especially on its decision pertaining to                    Church in America. The latter would have guarded
those who refuse to participate in the ordination of                     both the rights of women to be elected and ordained-~
women to office. It points out the extent to which                       and the rights of conscience of ministers and candi-
churches will go when once departing from the                            dates unprepared to personally support the practice....
Scriptural standards concerning women in office.                           Even a moving last-minute appeal from a "centrist"
The article reports:                                                    minister and elder, pleading for time and leniency
                                                                        while some "third way" was found, fell on deaf ears.
      The Presbyterian Church in Canada's 108th                         The Assembly of about 250, clearly weary of the ques-
    General Assembly has dealt a heavy blow to reformed                 tion, voted approximately 4 to 1 in favor of the restric-
   -evangelicals  in its midst by ruling, June lOth, that all           tive path. At that point, no less than 18 of the minority
   its ministers must be prepared to participate in the                 view stood to their feet and requested that their
   ordination of women to the offices of pastor and                     dissent from the decision taken be recorded in the
   ruling elder.                                                        minutes.
      The Assembly, which met June 6-11 in Toronto's                       The consequences of the decision are quite plain.
    historic Knox Church, was dominated by this issue as                Candidates for the ministry, unprepared to be bound
   by no other. A minister commissioner (delegate) spoke                by the policy which requires their participation in or-
   for many when he implored the Assembly to provide                    dinations they do not support, will not be eligible for
   for up to three hours for the airing of the matter "so               ordination themselves. Presently ordained ministers
   that the question can be settled once and for all."                  who will not uphold the policy will now be open to as
      The denomination, which has permitted the entry                   yet undefined disciplinary actions. Having ruled that
   of women into the offices of pastor and ruling elder                 liberty of conscience is internal, and thus to be en-
   since 1966, has been wracked by disputes since the                   joyed, while liberty of action, as external, cannot be
   Assembly of 1979 over what the law of 1966 implied                   permitted, the Assembly has left no course of action
   concerning the ministers and candidates who could                    open to such candidates and ministers but to partici-
   not in good conscience support the practice. Finally in              pate and record dissent.
    1981, after some 40 overtures and petitions of diverse             Now within churches is evident that progression
   viewpoints were received on the matter, that Assem-               of apostasy in which white is called black, and
   bly appointed a twenty-member "task force" to bring
   in recommendations.                                               black, white. For a time, those who dissent are
                                                                     allowed to continue within the organization. But
      As it turned out, the task force produced few sur-             shortly, these too must submit or lose their posi-
   prises. Its majority seems to have pressed early and              tions. Again, it is the mark of the antichristian
   continuously for a restrictive policy,  modelled  after
   that of the liberal United Presbyterian Church in the             church which increasingly not only adopts  anti-
   U.S.A. However, a significant minority of six within              scriptural positions, but insists that all conform to
   the task force (including one woman elder) were un-               its own false teachings.
THE LORD GAVE -TtiE WORD

           Presenting the Gospel to Strangers (2)
                                                          Rev. Steven Houck


  Last time we began to consider some important                      one. There are not many gospels. Yet, that gospel
principles which must govern the way in which we                     has various aspects to it, aspects which are applica-
approach the stranger. We saw, first of all, that we                 ble to different needs. It is difficult to know just
must be honest. We bring the Truth of the Gospel                     what aspect of the gospel is needed most by the
and therefore must come in a truthful way.                           stranger,      without discovering his spiritual
  In the second place, when we approach the                          condition. Someimes the stranger is an unbeliever.
stranger, it is essential for us to ascertain his spiritu-           Other times he is a Christian, in need of further in-
al condition. We bring the gospel and that gospel is                 struction. He may even be someone who thinks


90                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



that he is a Reformed Christian. To each of these          accuses us of bringing man's word rather than
people we must bring the gospel, emphasizing one           God's Word. They look at us as though we are
of its various aspects-the same gospel, but apply-         trying to force them to believe what has been de-
ing specific aspects of the truth to specific needs.       vised by fallible men. Our creeds, then, become a
You can bring the gospel in a general way to a per-        hindrance rather than a help. We must be very
son, but if you are not touching his need, you are         careful, therefore, that we always go to the stranger
not very relevant for him. And there certainly are         with the Scriptures. They are the Words of God and
many needy people in this world. There is a great          they give us all the authority we need when dealing
ignorance of the truth. Even among those who call          with the stranger. If the stranger responds to the
themselves Christians, you find very few who               gospel of grace, then in time and with discretion we
properly understand the true meaning of the                may introduce him to our confessions.
gospel. There are so man cults and sects, false              With this understanding of the principles of a
churches and false Christians. The lie abounds in          proper appraoch to the stranger, we can now pro-
our age. Therefore we must be able to discover the         ceed to consider what we actually say to him, And,
specific needs of the stranger and then have the           obviously, what we bring is the gospel of Jesus
wisdom and grace to bring the truth very specifical-       Christ. That is our only message. We can bring no
ly to that need.                                           other. But when we say "gospel of Jesus Christ,"
      Finally, in our approach to the stranger, we must    we are talking about a vast body of knowledge, the
always use the Scriptures. This is the most impor-         whole of the Word of God as recorded in the Scrip-
tant principle of all. When we go to the stranger, we      tures. For the Scriptures from Genesis to Revelation
must understand that we have no authority of our           are the revelation of God in Christ Jesus. It is im-
own. It doesn't matter who we are, or how well we          possible, however, in our first contacts with the
are respected by those close to us. To a stranger, we      stranger, to bring to him the whole of the Word of
have no authority in ourselves. We are just a strang-      God. We could talk to him about thousands of sub-
er presenting what we believe. No one has to be-           jects for months and years, and still not exhaust the
lieve anything we say. That is why it is imperative        riches of the gospel of Christ. That is why we must
that we come with the Scriptures, with the Word of         very carefully zero in on the most important and
God. We have to make those whom we contact                 central issue of the gospel. We must begin with the
realize that we are not simply bringing our own            heart and core of the gospel, with that one theme
word. We do not simply speak for ourselves and             that is found on every page of Holy Writ. We must
that is all. What we bring is the Word of God.             bring the sovereign grace of the sovereign God,
Otherwise our discussion becomes an argument.              Who sovereignly saves His people. For that is the
They say what they think is right and we say what          heart of the gospel. That ought always to be first
we think is right. And when the argument is all            and foremost in our presentation.
over, rather than feeling that he has been confront-         We make a mistake, a great mistake, if we imme-
ed with God's Word, the stranger feels that he has         diately confront the stranger with all kinds of peri-
had a good argument on an intellectual question            pheral and side issues. We must not go to the
and that is all. We must take great care to show           stranger with the intention of discovering whether
them that what we say is what God says in the              or not he is divorced, belongs to the union, or goes
Bible. We must support everything we say with the          to the theater, so that we can confront him on these
Scriptures. In that way, when we are all done, they        issues first thing. That is putting the cart before the
will know that God has spoken to them and not              horse. Certainly our Protestant Reformed stand on
merely a man.                                              these issues is right and biblical. We must even take
      In connection with that, we must also under-         care that we do not forsake these principles in this
stand that there is very little place for our creeds       godless age of ours. But these are not the first things
and confessions in our dealing with the stranger.          we say to the stranger. These things are not the
Certainly our confessions are true. They are beauti-       heart and core of the gospel. If we bring these
ful expressions of the truths of God's Word. They          things first, many times we immediately close the
mean much to us as Reformed believers. And when            door to any further discussion fo the Truth. We
dealing with anyone who is of a Reformed back-             offend the stranger and he will no longer hear us.
ground, they can be very useful to us. But when we         He wants nothing to do with us. Thus he rejects us
present the gospel to the stranger, that which we          and our message without even hearing the heart
love, that which is authoritative to us, and that          and core of what we believe. We turn him away
which we see as a systematic expression of the             before we have had the opportunity to speak of
truths of the Word of God, means nothing to them           God's sovereign grace. That is a great tragedy. To
-absolutely nothing. In fact, when we bring our            turn someone away by these peripheral issues after
confessions and creeds, often times the stranger           he has become thoroughly acquainted with the


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  91



sovereign grace of God is one thing. But to turn him          point that we discover whether or not they truly
away by these things before he knows the heart of             believe that God is indeed God. We force them to
the gospel is to belittle that which is the most im-          see their inconsistency on this point, so that they
portant of all. The stranger, if he refuses our               either see the truth of the Reformed Faith or have
message and turns away, must refuse and turn                  to admit that, in their theology, man is sovereign
away from nothing less than God's sovereign grace.            rather than God.
  After the stranger has come to see the sovereign              Even as with the "Christian," so also when we
grace of God, he will more readily also come to see           go to the unbeliever, our purpose is to present God
the implications of that central truth. Then these            in all His sovereignty and majesty. But now we are
peripheral things will start to make sense to him             especially concerned -with presenting the promise
too. If God gives him grace, he will in time come to          and the command of the gospel. We call the unbe-
see that divorce, union membership, theater atten-            liever to repentance and faith. This is his duty
dance, and other such things are indeed inconsis-             before Almighty God. He must be made to see his
tent with the Reformed Faith.                                 sin and guilt, as well as the sovereign grace of God
  I do not mean, by this principle, to suggest that           that saves His people from sin and guilt.
we ever deny the Truth. No, we must never deny                  This can be done in many ways, but one of the
the Truth-not on any issue. If the stranger himself           best ways is to follow the example of the apostle
brings up these issues, then we must speak on                 Paul and simply present Christ crucified and raised
them. We must, as I emphasized earlier, be honest.            from the dead. Tell the unbeliever of the history of
Even if the Truth offends, we must bring only the             Christ. Begin with His birth, trace His life and mini-
Truth. We dare not be afraid of offending someone.            stry, and end with His death, resurrection, and as-
But what I am saying is simply this. There are some           cension into heaven. After sketching these facts of
things which are more important than others. And              the history of Christ, go back and explain the
it is these more important things that we must em-            meaning of the facts. His birth was a lowly birth,
phasize and bring first. We bring the gospel of               signifying the rejection He would face all His life.
God's sovereign grace.                                        And yet it was a virgin birth, signifying His divin-
  When we go to the stranger, then, we must have              ity. He was no ordinary man, but God's only be-
a very specific message in mind, depending upon               gotten Son. His miracles demonstrate that. He is the
his need. If we discover that the stranger is a               Redeemer, the Messiah, sent of God to save His
"Christian" our purpose is to lead him to the Re-             elect people. The death of the cross was no ordi-
formed Faith. For that is the true Faith. We can do           nary death. It was a sacrifice for the sins of God's
that by beginning our discussion with a presenta-             people. And the resurrection is the sure sign that
tion of the doctrine of God. Most who say that they           God has accepted His offering for sin. The unbe-
are Christians will acknowledge that God is God.              liever must see that Christ has power and authority
They do not realize all the implications of that              to forgive sins and give life everlasting to as many
truth. But if you ask them, "Do you believe that              as the Father has given Him. But he must also see
God is sovereign?" very, very few of them will say,           that when Christ does this, the result is always faith
"No!" That, therefore, becomes a very good point              and repentance. Thus the unbeliever is made to
of contact. It is a point on which you both suppos-           hear both the promise and the command of the
edly agree and therefore the perfect place to begin.          gospel.
  Go to the Scriptures and show them that God is                With this presentation to the stranger, we be-
indeed God. Show them that He is the great and                come faithful witnesses who sow the seed of the
mighty God. He is the One Who alone is sovereign              gospel. What will become of that witness, we leave
and Who rules heaven and earth by His sovereign               to the sovereign good-pleasure of God Who alone
will and power. No one can frustrate His will and             can give the increase.
no one can resist His power. He is the mighty King            *(This is the second and final installment of an address
Who in His great majesty upholds and governs all               given by Pastor Houck at the Mission Emphasis Day
things (Ps.  93:1,  99:1-3, Dan.  4:34-35,  Isa.  46:9-10,     last May in the Kalamazoo Protestant Reformed
Eph. 1: 11, Rom. 11:33-36). After leading them into            Church.)
these Scripture passages and after eliciting from
them a confession of agreement with this general
truth, we then proceed to make them see the logical                 Know the standard
and Scriptural implications of this truth. We show
them that if they believe that God is sovereign, of
necessity they must believe the five points of Cal-                        and follow it.
vinism. For the Reformed Faith alone is consistent
with the truth of God's sovereignty. It is at this


92                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



SIGNS OF THE TI'ES


                           A Pilgrim's Perspective (2)
                                                  Rev. R. Flikkema


      Perhaps I should introduce myself. My name is         my mother placed on the table at supper time.
Pilgrim Watcher. My God-fearing parents gave me              Little did I appreciate the struggle my parents went
that name as an expression of the faith that lived in       through to provide what I so foolishly disliked.
them, and in order to express to me what my life               No, I have mis-spoken myself. It is not really
must be.                                                     correct to say that with whatever money was left
 You see, I had God-fearing parents. I say, I  had          after the bills were paid, my mother would buy
God-fearing parents. God received them unto Him-            food. I remember very distinctly that something
self a long time ago. But I still remember them. I           always came first even before the paying of the bills
can vividly remember what they looked like. I have           and the buying of food. The kingdom causes came
their picture on my shelf. I can remember how they          first. I remember on Saturday night every week my
loved each other. Not with the love of this world,          parents would set aside the church budget; and
you understand, but with the love of Christ. I did          school tuition was high on my parents' list of priori-
not really appreciate when I was small what that            ties. They used to quote the words, "Seek ye first
love of Christ which united them together was all           the kingdom of God and His righteousness." But as
about. But now that I am married to a wonderful             a result of their obedience to that Word, they had to
wife and have children of my own, I do.                     sacrifice all their life.
      In fact, I should tell you that when I was small I       And I thought to myself, why? Why did they
appreciated very little of my parents. I looked at          have to sacrifice all the time? Why could they never
them as though they would always be, that there             have what they maybe wanted? And why did they
would never come a time when they would not be              never complain about the fact that they did not
there to provide for me. I learned from them, of            have what they maybe wanted? Oh, that does not
course, that there was appointed unto every man a           mean that my parents were perfect in this regard.
time to die. But the reality of that fact never really      But they never really complained. In fact they
hit home until one at a time their appointed time to        never really even considered what I have called
die came.                                                   sacrifice a sacrifice. They used to say to me when I
      I remember those days very well. I stood in the       complained about the meals or about the hand-me-
funeral home and later at the grave and all kinds of        down clothes that I wore, that all of those things
thoughts went through my mind. Some of those                were good things, a good gift of God. They used to
thoughts were not very good. I began to think to my-        tell me that all that they were they owed to God,
self: why? Why did their time to die appointed by           and all that they received came from God. God
God come now? They did not live very long, so I             gives us these things, and what He gives He com-
thought. It did not seem quite fair. Not only the fact      mands that we use to praise Him in His service.
that they did not live as long as I thought they            And so although not always perfectly, nevertheless,
should have, but the kind of life they lived-what           at least in principle they used whatever God gave
they experienced in their life-did not seem quite           them in their God's faithful service.
fair. I thought of the fact that they never had very           And they taught me to do the same. From the be-
much of the world's goods. I have much more than            ginning they did this. Some of the very first things
they ever did. They did not have an expensive               that I can remember have to do with the sound,
house. Their furniture was always tattered and              biblical, spiritual instruction that my parents gave
worn. They did not have money to buy what they              to me. They taught me God's Word in our home.
maybe would have liked. My father worked long               The Word of God was central to our family life. My
hours every day, and the paychecks he brought               father would read the Word at the supper table and
home were scarcely sufficient to pay the bills. At          would often stop at various appropriate places
that time I did not know what bills were. Now I do.         while he was reading to explain what the passage
But not then. And with whatever money was left              was about. My father always insisted that the
my mother used to buy the food that she would pre-          reading of God's Word at mealtimes was essential
pare for our meals. I used to complain about what           to the life of the covenant family. And in that con-


                                          THE STANDARD BEARER                                               93



nection he always insisted that the family always       speakable gift of my salvation, for they spoke of the
be together at least at supper time, so that we as a    cross. They instructed me concerning my calling to
covenant family could read and study God's Word         live  _a holy life in harmony with God's law. They
together. He used to say that if a family did not at    taught me to live my life as a pilgrim: what it meant
least read and study God's Word at meal times the       to be a pilgrim. They taught me to watch for the
temptation was that it would never do it. In that       return of the great and glorious God of my salvation
connection my parents impressed upon me the im-         upon the clouds of glory.
portance of my own personal Bible study. I can re-        Indeed, as I think about my parents, that is the
member that on my tenth birthday my parents gave        one thing that I remember most and cherish above
me my own Bible. I still have it. It is tattered and    all. They taught me to be a pilgrim watcher. In fact,
worn but still the same Word of God that is ever        as I said, they gave me that name. As a pilgrim I am
dear. When I use it I think of my God Who gave me       a child of God that walks through this life always
parents that impressed upon me the importance of        seeking my home other than this life. I have a
God's Word.                                             home. It is a nice home, much better than the one
  In addition to this I will never forget the impor-    my parents had. But I know that that home is not
tance that my parents placed upon covenant Chris-       an end in itself. It is, rather, just a temporary
tian education-the importance of sending me to          abiding place on my pilgrim's journey to my real
Christian schools, as much as possible our own Pro-     home in glory. On my way to that home I walk. I
testant Reformed Christian Schools. They taught         live my life forsaking the world's corruptions,
me that this was but their solemn obligation before     fighting against the corruptions of this world,
the face of God to train me to the utmost of their      against the devil, and against my own sinful flesh. I
power; that this they promised God they would do        am a watcher. I watch for Him Who will drive
when they brought me to baptism. You see, they          away all my night and take me from this valley of
always considered me to be a gift of God that was       the shadow of death-not just my parents, but me,
really not their own but God's. God gave me to          to glory. I live in hope: a certainty I possess that He
them not to do with as they wanted, but to use and      Who shall come will come and will not tarry. This
train and instruct to the glory of God, that when I     is not easy to do. This is impossible apart from the
grew older I would not depart from it.                  free and sovereign grace of God which I need to
  But above all, they instructed me in the truth of     fight against my own sinful flesh and this wicked
God's Word by bringing me to the great Teacher          world that seeks to destroy me every day. It is a
Himself, Christ Jesus, in His church. Sunday was a      constant battle that is waged,, a never-ceasing vigil
special day for our family. It was different from       that is undertaken. But I know that to me belongs
every other day of the week. My parents used to         the victory.
tell me that it was a day of rest. God had given the      I know that now. And I appreciate that now. I
Sabbath Day for a day of rest. And I assure you that    appreciate the fact that I am a pilgrim watcher; that
rest in our home did not mean doing nothing,            that is my name; that that name expresses who I
taking Sunday afternoon naps. The rest of the           am; and that I am that as a result of, not what my
Sabbath Day meant busying ourselves in the study        parents did for me, but what my Father Who is in
of God's Word, reading good books, and especially       heaven did for me and also in me. I have nothing to
the periodicals published by our churches. But          boast of myself. My boast is in my faithful covenant
most of all the rest of the Sabbath Day meant fre-      God. This appreciation for what I am I seek to im-
quenting God's church: attending the preaching of       press upon my own children. I breathe a silent
God's Word, hearing our minister preach sermons         prayer every day that even as my parents named
that for awhile I did not appreciate. When I was        me and taught me, so I may `teach my children. I
very small I would often sleep through the ser-         pray that also in my home I and my family may
mons. When my parents would wake me up, I sat           seek first the kingdom of God and His righteous-
there wondering when the minister was going to          ness; that in my home the Word of God will always
say "Amen." I did not know what the word                be central; that we may appreciate the Christian
"Amen" meant at that time, but this much I did          schools God has given to a home such as mine; that
know, the sermon was finished. They used to tell        the Sabbath Day and the preaching of God's Word
me that this attitude was wrong on my part because      may be always cherished as a precious gift, more
it was a very wonderful thing to hear the preacher,     precious than any other.
for in hearing the preacher I heard Jesus. Jesus          But I am troubled. I see much sin in myself. I see
spoke to me through the preaching. The words that       what for a long time characterized myself to be
He spoke were the words of eternal life. They were      characteristic of my own family, and not just my
words that spoke to every one concerning the great-     own family but also families in the church of Jesus
ness and glory of God. They taught me the un-           Christ in general. I see more and more, as the evil


94                                             THE STANDARD BEARER



day draws nigh, a general lack of appreciation for           that God has so graciously given to us. May we
what we have. We have so much. I do not refer                never fail to appreciate these things is my prayer;
merely to the abundance of material things that we           that when our Lord Jesus Christ returns at the end
have-which things we often like to complain about,           of the ages, He will not find a church faithless, but
that even they are not good enough. But I refer to           believing, walking as pilgrims, watching and
the abundance of spiritual blessings and benefits            waiting to be received unto Himself.

MY SHEEP HEAR MY VOICE

                                      Letter to TimothvL

                                    November  15,198Z        sonality upon the whole nature that it is present in
Dear-Timothy,                                                the tips of the fingers.
      In our last letter we were discussing the human          But this difference in the person is a complete
personality which God gives to everyone at the               difference. This is even the case with identical
moment of birth. We noticed a number of things               twins. Even a rather close acquaintance may be
about the human personality, chief of which was              unable to tell the difference between identical
that God gives to each man his own distinct and              twins. But this is not a problem to those who know
unique personality which makes him different                 the twins well. A mother never makes a mistake.
from every other person that ever lived and ever             She can tell the difference between them very
will live.                                                   easily because they are two different people who
                                                             act differently, talk differently, have different per-
      I think it is very important to say a few more         sonalities. They are, though physically very much
things about this.                                           alike, two different people.
      For one thing, the personality, though given by          This is, by the way, an important truth for the
God at the moment of conception, is so closely re-           doctrine of the church. The Scriptures teach that
lated and connected to his nature (which he re-              the church is the organism of the body of Christ.
ceives from his parents) that there is no separation         That the church is an organism means that it is
between the two possible. Each personality exactly           basically one unit, just as a tree is one plant. But
fits, by a wonder of God, the exact nature to which          within that one unity is a wide diversity of
it is given. It is not possible, e.g., that my person        individual members, which diversity is absolutely
function through the nature of one of my fellow              essential for the organism. If a tree, e.g., were com-
saints. It is not possible that the person of Stalin live    posed of identical parts, it would not be a tree. If
and and work through the nature of Hitler. There             there were no leaves, no branches, no trunk, no
is, by a mighty wonder of God, perfect correspon-            bark, only roots, there would be no tree. But when
dence and harmony between the person and the                 all the parts are integrated so that one perfect unity
nature of each individual.                                   results, you have an organism. So it is also in the
      Further, this is so true that the personality of an    church. The church as the body of Christ is
individual really affects (if that is the correct word)      possible only because each individual member is
the whole nature. It is that person or personality           different from every other member. Each member
which determines the whole physical appearance               has his own place in which place he contributes to
of an individual and the whole phychical  makeup.            the whole. And through it all is the one perfect
He is the kind of individual he is in both body and          unity.
soul because of the person which God has given to
him. So true is this that the personality even ex-             This is a very glorious and significant doctrine,
tends to the fingerprints of an individual. Every            for it gives prestige and honor to every member, no
man's fingerprints are different from those of every         matter how lowly we may, in our foolishness,
other man-so much so that these fingerprints can             consider him. But it is rooted in that work of crea-
serve as a mark of identification, and criminal              tion whereby God forms each individual according
courts can use them in crime detection. The pre-             to His own divine and sovereign purpose.
sence of fingerprints at the scene of a crime is sure          One of our ministers tells a story which illus-
proof of the presence of the individual at that place.       trates this truth rather well. He had, in his congre-
God so impresses the mark of each individual's per-          gation, a set of identical twins. They were so much


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  95



alike that almost no one in the congregation could             which He has in Himself and live as His friends.
tell them apart. These two twins, being boys and               But at the very heart of this fellowship lies the fact
somewhat mischievous, had a great deal of fun                  that we know God. We know Him as a personal be-
fooling their teachers and friends. But for some               ing. Our God, the God of the Scriptures, is not the
reason they could never fool this pastor. Even                 cold and impersonal Allah of the Mohammedans.
when the one would answer in Catechism when the                He is not the blind and impersonal Fate of the
other was asked, the pastor would always catch                 Stoics. he is a personal God Who speaks to us
their prank. They could not understand how he                  through Jesus Christ and through Whose speech we
always was able to tell them apart; and, one day, in           know, truly know Him.
desperation, they asked him for the secret. But he                But because we have fellowship with God, we
refused to tell them because, as he put it, "If I tell         also have fellowship with one another. The saints
you, it all will be spoiled." Then he took a call to           of God, each a person in his own right, have fellow-
another congregation and they asked him if he                  ship with each other, knowing each other and en-
would tell them the secret now that he was leaving             joying the communion which is established
anyway. He told them that he always watched                    through the Spirit of Christ.
them when they walked into the door of a room or
when they engaged in any kind of conversation be-                And it must never be forgotten that man is
cause the one invariably took the lead. he would               created as this kind of person-i.e., as the kind of
enter the door first; he would speak first; the other          person who must live in fellowship with others. It is
would always follow. This was, of course, due to a             unnatural for a man to live alone. He is created that
difference in personality which the minister                   way. It was not good for man to live alone even in
observed and which he used to tell them apart with             the state of perfection in Paradise. The feeling of
unfailing accuracy.                                            loneliness is one of the great sorrows which people
                                                               experience in life. It is often the cause of untold
  While we will have a bit more to say about this a            trouble and grief. It is many times the root of
bit later, it is interesting to note that this has a lot do    terrible problems. But within the communion of
to with pastoral work. Every child of God is differ-           the saints, there is always the fellowship of the
ent. There  are' degrees of intelligence, degrees of           people of God. And it is this which a man needs for
sensitivity, degrees of spirituality. There are differ-        his very life. But we will come back to this a bit
ences of character, differences of emotional life,             later.
differences of understanding. The wise pastor takes               Finally, a person is a conscious being. This too is a
these things into account when dealing with his                great wonder. It is hard to convey the significance
sheep. And in the same way a parent takes this into            of this because it is one of those things in life which
account in dealing with his children; and a teacher            are so common that we take it for granted without
recognizes these differences in dealing with his               ever giving much thought to it and realizing how
pupils.                                                        truly wonderful this is. Trees do not have con-
  There is another truth concerning the personali-             sciousness. Neither do roses. Perhaps some of the
ty, however, which we must also discuss. It is be-             higher animals have a certain limited conscious-
cause people are "persons" that the possibility of             ness. I do not think a worm has consciousness.
fellowship exists between them. Trees, obviously,              Maybe a dog has a bit of it. But man has conscious-
cannot have fellowship. Neither can animals. For               ness; and only one who is a person can possess this.
fellowship, personality is essential. Fellowship,              What is consciousness? Well, to put it one way: I
after all, depends upon  knowing  someone. And                 not only  know,  but I know that I know. I am con-
knowing someone means knowing them as a                        scious that I know certain things like the rain that is
person. It is the person we know when we know an               falling now outside my study window. I am con-
individual. And the better we know that person the             scious and aware of what is going on around me. I
better we know the individual. On this knowledge               am aware of all that is happening to me and around
rests the whole truth of fellowship in life.                   me so that I can give account of it. But I am not only
  God's covenant is a bond of fellowship and                   conscious of my surroundings, but also conscious
friendship. God takes His people into His own fel-             of myself. I have self-consciousness, not in the
lowship. But this is possible, you see, only because           sense of embarrassment, which a person may feel
God is a personal God. The truth of the trinity is             when he must appear before an audience with a
that He is three in person and one in essence. As              black eye. Of him too we say that he is self-con-
the triune God, He has fellowship with Himself                 scious. Not that, but awareness of myself as a per-
within His own life. But the covenant of grace                 son, as one who knows and thinks and has fellow-
means that He takes His people into that fellow-               ship with others. Only man possesses this great gift.
ship. He creates persons who can live in fellowship               But it is important for all the life of an individual.
with Him, enjoy the blessedness of the fellowship                                               (continued on page 76)


      THE STANDARD BEARER
          P.O. Box 6064           _  _  _  .-  ..~.~  -  -~  -
Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506





96                                            THE STANDARD BEARER

                           News From Our Churches
                                    November  1,1982              ed, some Sunday School societies have ended for
      Rev. den Hartog, our missionary in Singapore, is            the year while others have just begun the year. Don
visiting the Grand Rapids area for a little while. The            and Judi Doezema were busy again this past sum-
Jr. Mr. and Mrs. Society of First Protestant                      mer preparing the next series of  Our Guide, the
Reformed Church is sponsoring a night with Rev.                   publication which has been the main curriculum
den Hartog and his work in Singapore, November                    material for our Sunday Schools throughout the
16, at 8 P.M. in First Church. We welcome the den                 years. The newest papers, we understand, will
Hartogs into our midst again while they are on fur-               complete the current study of the New Testament
lough for six weeks. If you want first hand informa-              and then return to a treatment of the Old. In a re-
tion on how Rev. Lau Chin Kwee and his family are                 port to the Protestant Reformed Sunday School
doing, then make sure that you take the time to talk              Association, Mr. Doezema predicts that the papers
with Rev. den Hartog and his family while they are                dealing with the first part of Genesis will, because
here.                                                             of the nature of the subject matter, be something of
      You may be wondering how busy are Rev. den                  a challenge. He admits to having spent several days
Hartog and Rev. Lau Chin Kwee in Singapore. The                   on each of those lessons ("researching, writing,
articles in the  Standard Bearer  have kept us in-                calling ministers, rewriting")-about twice as much
formed of their work. However, there are other                    time as was needed for lessons of previous years.
sources that mention the work in Singapore, e.g.,                 "Not only have I learned a whole lot in doing that,"
"Across the Aisle." A few sentences from the Octo-                he says, "but I've found the subject matter to be
ber issue will give you a clear picture of the work of            most interesting, even exciting." He's convinced
these two men. "Presently Pastor Lau and myself                   therefore that, though the pace may seem some-
are alternating preaching at the morning worship                  times to be slow, the lessons "can be taught-with
service in our regular worship service and at the                 profit, both for teachers and students." Reflecting
evening worship service in  Toa  Payoh.  If the Lord              on ten years of preparing papers, Don says that
continues to bless this work as He is doing it may                "it's been  hard  work-no doubt about that. But,
not be very long before it will be feasible to start              perhaps for that reason, it's been immeasurably
another congregation." "Another exciting thing                    profitable." And he adds, "I only hope that I've
going on is our new study at Pacific Mansion every                been able to communicate, over the years, some-
Thursday evening." "I am continuing to give one                   thing of what I've learned in the process."
brother in the church pre-seminary instruction."                    Rev. Van  Overloop  and Rev. Houck visited the
"There continues to be a very great amount of pas-                eastern part of the U.S.A. in the New Jersey, Ver-
toral work in the church. It is really good that there            mont, Maryland, and Pennsylvania areas the first
are now two pastors to handle this also. I am really              part of November. They did follow-up work with
convinced that a foreign mission field requires a lot             many contacts made in these areas. In addition,
of pastoral work. A missionary needs to do much                   Rev. Van  Overloop  gave a lecture, a Reformation
more than just preach from the pulpit." Perhaps                   Lecture, on November 5, in New Jersey. They hope
you may want to know how Rev. den Hartog feels                    to seek out a field of labor for.Rev. Houck.
about leaving Rev. Lau all alone with such a busy
work load-then read this quote: "We are looking                     Can you be in two places at once? Of course not!
forward to our furlough very much of course.                      But if you were with Rev. Engelsma on October 28,
Sometimes though I feel a little guilty about going               you would have seen him give a Keynote address to
away for such a long time. Pastor Lau is really going             the Teachers' Convention in South Holland, in the
to have his hands full when we are gone." We can                  morning, on "Developing the Theme of Instructing
appreciate Rev. den Hartog's wanting to be with us                and Preparing our Covenant Children for the End
again but also his being very anxious to be back in               of Time," and a Reformation Day Lecture in the
Singapore to continue the work. May our faithful                  Grand Rapids area the same evening, on "The
covenant. God bless the den Hartogs while they                    Reformation and Christian Piety."
visit with us.                                                      What is the "Question Box"? Find out next time.
      Now that the new school year has already start-                                                             DH


