      The



       A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE                                  9




.  .  . We must see and experience our own sin

and guilt and our own hopelessness. We
must desire and long for the fellowship of
the living God, see our damnableness, and
know that our only hope lies in Him Who,
being rich, became poor for our sakes. Then
the Mystery of Bethlehem will speak to us.. . .
And then we will return from Bethlehem,
glorifying and praising God for all the things
which we have heard and seen.
See "The Necessity of- the IncarnationI I
                                                  -page 130


                                     Volume LIX, No. 6, pecember I!%1982 -
                                                    e


122                                                              THE STANDARD BEARER




                                                                                                             THE STANDARD BEARER .                         -
                              CONTENTS                                                                                ISSN 0362-4692
                                                                                           Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July, and August.
                                                                                            Published b the Reformed Free Publishing Association, Inc.
  Meditation-                                                                                     SeconBClass Postage Paid at Grand Rapids,  Mich.
                                                                                  Editor-in-Chief: Prof. Homer C. Hoeksema
       The Worship of the Magi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122        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.
       TheDeclineoftheGKN  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .              John A. Heys, Rev. Kenneth Koole, Rev. Ja Kortering, Rev. George C. Lubbers,
                                                                       125        Rev. Rodney Miersma, Rev. Marinus S L
                                                                                                                                C rpper, Rev. James Slopsema, Rev.
                                                                                  Gise J. Van Baren, Rev. Herman Veldman.
       An Appeal for Help With a Large Project . . . . . . 126                    EditoriaZOfice:  Prof. H.C. Hoeksema
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MEDITATION

                                     The Worship of the Magi
                                                                     Rev. M. Schipper


                   "And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary His mother,
               and fell down, and worshipped Him; and when they had opened their treasures, they presented
               unto Him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.  "                                                                 Matthew 2-l 1

  "And when they were come into the house. . . ."                                    of old we have been told that they were three in
                                                                                     number, evidently on the ground that the gifts they
  The gospel narrator has in mind here the magi,                                    presented were three: gold, frankincense, and
or, as the translation has it, "wise men from the                                    myrrh. And tradition has speculated as to their geo-
East."                                                                               graphical origin  - some insisting that they came
  We know not how many they were, nor are we                                         from ancient Babylon, while others believe they
told precisely from which country they came. Prom                                    came from either Persia or Arabia. Yet there is


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                              123



nothing in the description in verse one which deter-       to the question wherewith the magi had confronted
mines either their number or the country from              them. Mind you, they had the Scriptures, but had
whence they came. Very simply Matthew informs              failed to pay attention to its contents; nor were they
us: "Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of               looking for the fulfillment of its prophetic word.
Judea in the days of  Herod  the king, behold, there       Only after searching did they discover that in Beth-
came magi from the rising unto Jerusalem." Or, as          lehem of Judea the promised King should be born.
our King James version has it, "wise men from the          With that information given, the king, feigning
East." It is evident, however, contrary to the expla-      piety, sends the wise men on their way to Beth-
nation of some, that they were not Israelites of the       lehem.
Diaspora, but they appear as representatives of the          Not only were the magi assured by the word of
Gentile world who, all their lifetime, had lived~  out-    Micah the prophet, but their hearts were gladdened
side of the land of the Promise-as it were, in the         when once more the star appeared which they had
shadows of death. Nevertheless, they are men now           seen in the East. That star now guided them-not to
impelled by the grace of God, and enlightened by           the lowly cattle stall, where the King had been
His Spirit and truth, who came seeking the Christ-         born, but to the house, which Joseph evidently had
Child, Whom they believed had lately been born             procured for his family in the little town of the city
King of the Jews.                                          of David.
  They came, first of all, to Jerusalem. Contrary to         And so, we read in our text, when they came into
general belief, His star, which they had seen in its       the house, they saw the young Child, with Mary
rising, had not directed them over the sands of the        His mother. And they fell down and worshiped
desert to the city of peace. Quite naturally, since        Him. For that purpose, and none other, they had
they were seeking the King of the Jews, they would         come.
come to the king's city, looking for the object of
their hope.                                                  Remarkably, in the brief description given in our
                                                           text of their actions, no mention is made of any con-
  But Jerusalem and its king knew not the answer           versation which may have taken place, either on
to their question: "Where is He that is born, King of      the part of the visitors or the visited. No special
the Jews?"                                                 greeting is directed to the mother, nor is any men-
  0, indeed, there were some in Jerusalem and its          tion made of their praise and rejoicing before God
environs who could have enlightened them, had              when they behold the Child, Who was the object of
they only known it. And, had the wise men gone             their quest. No words of astonishment are ex-
directly to them, they would have been sufficiently        pressed on the part of the mother at the sudden in-
informed. There was the aged priest Zacharias with         trusion of perfect strangers into her home. Remark-
his wife Elizabeth who would have rejoiced to in-          ably, too, no mention is made of Joseph, the hus-
struct them in their search. And the aged Simeon,          band of Mary, and the foster father of Jesus. That
with Anna the prophetess, who would have exuber-           he was alive and well is evident from verse thir-
antly explained to them how they had seen Him              teen, where the Lord appeared to him in a dream,
with their eyes, and had lifted Him up in their            commanding him to take the mother and Child into
hands. But these favorites of special revelation
were not among them to whom the wise men had               Egypt*
appealed. Rather, their question had been directed           Are we perhaps allowed here to conjecture that
to the other inhabitants of Jerusalem, and its  self-      Joseph was busy elsewhere in the town of Bethle-
seeking king. That Jerusalem with its king was sore        hem performing his occupation to earn daily bread
troubled when they heard the question of the magi          for himself and his family? Is it permissible for us
can easily be understood. Herod,  the king, who had        here to supply any conversation which may have
already slain even the members of his family whom          taken place?
he suspicioned were aspirants to his throne, would           In answer to these questions, it should be evident
quite naturally be disturbed by the announcement           that because of the brevity of the announcement
that there was born another Who was reputed to be          here, it is not the intention of the Holy Spirit that
King of the Jews. And the citizens of Jerusalem            we should become romantic, and insert a novel
would also be perplexed when they imagined the             based on our imagination concerning what may or
awful consequences that might follow should the            may not have taken place. But it is obviously His in-
king give vent to his diabolical nature and the ex-        tention that we should focus our attention on the
tremity of his wrath, if another should arise who          Scriptural  give& and take special note of the wor-
would remove him from his office.                          ship the magi rendered, and the presentation of the
  The king, however, hiding for the moment his             gifts they brought and laid before the Christ-Child.
wrath, initiated an investigation, and instructed the        Then we note, first of all, their worshipful con-
chief priests and scribes to come up with an answer        duct.


124                                              THE STANDARD BEARER



  They fall down, prostrate themselves, with their             And having opened their treasures, they present
faces to the ground, before the little Child.               unto Him their gifts which they had carried with
  0, you must see this with me! These great,                them from the land of their origin.
wealthy, mature men, falling flat on their faces be-           Gold, frankincense, and myrrh!
fore the holy Child Jesus! Here, indeed, was recog-            How fittingly they enacted the fulfillment of
nition by inspiration! There is no other interpreta-        prophecy!
tion possible.                                                 "The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall
  And they worship Him! Not His mother, as the              bring presents; the kings of Sheba and Seba shall
Romish Church would have us believe. And the                offer gifts. Yea, all kings shall fall down before
word which the gospel narrator uses here for wor-           Him, all nations shall serve Him" (Psalm 72: 10, 14).
ship signifies literally to bow down in reverence,
while the worshipers kissed the hand of Him before             "The multitude of camels shall cover Thee, the
Whom they had prostrated themselves. In holy                dromedaries of  Midian and Ephah; all they from
reverence they acknowledge the little Child as their        Sheba shall come; they shall bring gold and in-
Lord and Potentate. . . . .Moreover,  they recognize in     cense; and they shall show forth the praises of the
Him more than His humanity. They know Him to                Lord" (Isaiah 60:6). And in the last part of the pre-
be very God of God, Who alone may be worshiped.             ceding verse, the prophet states that "the forces
It is their understanding that He is indeed the God          (probably, the wealth) of the Gentiles shall come
of their salvation, Who is come down unto them in           unto Thee."
the flesh to redeem them from all their sin and ini-           No matter that David in the above-mentioned
quity.                                                      Psalm prays concerning his son Solomon and for
  Moreover, they recognize in this little Child their       the exaltation of his kingdom; it is always the Christ
                                                            to Whom the types refer. And when Isaiah penned
divinely appointed King.                                    his prophecy concerning the coming of the Gentiles
  New-born King of the Jews!                                with their gifts, he had in mind ultimately nothing
  Him they had now come to acknowledge, and to              less than the fulfillment of the kingdom of Christ,
present unto Him their regal gifts.                         which in its beginning must be seen in the birth of
  And again, we stand amazed at their knowledge             the King of the Jews, here literally so acknowledged
                                                            when these Gentiles bow down before Him, pre-
and worshipful conduct.                                     senting unto Him their gifts.
  All kinds of questions arise here that cry for an            Gold! The very symbol of royalty, which they
answer. How could they know that the star they              recognized to be in the Child before Whom they
had seen in its rising was related to Him? Did they
perhaps have access to the Hebrew Scriptures, par-          prostrate themselves.
ticularly to the Book of Numbers  (24:17)  which               Frankincense! The symbol of divine worship,
spoke of the star which would arise out of Jacob?           which they acknowledged Jesus is worthy to
Were they acquainted with other Old Testament               receive.
Scriptures, which predicted that the Gentiles                  Myrrh! Which prophetically pointed to His great
would also come under His dominion? Still more              humiliation! For this King would come into His
significant is the question: How is it to be explained      kingdom only after He had first suffered for the
that they know this particular Child to be their            sins of His people.
King?                                                          Wonderful, indeed, was the appearance and the
  Once more, all these questions must be dis-               worship of the magi!
missed when we consider the brevity of divine rev-             Wise men endowed with profound, spiritual in-
elation. All we must do is stand in awe and worship         sights! Not to be understood in th-e light of natural
before God, Who is now performing the central               phenomena.
wonder of wonders. How great is His grace re-
vealed even to these Gentiles brought by Him to                Enlightened by divine revelation and motivated
the Light! How marvelous is His work of grace in            by the Spirit of God to bring their worship and gifts,
them who humbly prostrate themselves before                 as representatives of the Gentile world, to the
God's appointed King of kings! We need not make,            Christ Child.
nor should we offer all kinds of conjectures to ex-            Significantly, they appear shortly after Christ's
plain how all this came about. When God works,              birth, as examples of unexcelled faith. Never doubt-
we silently behold in humble adoration the mighty           ing, though from the point of view of the flesh there
evidences of His loving kindness, shown here to             was much occasion to halt and stumble. When His
the representatives of -the Gentile world, whom He          star which they had seen in its rising as they
is pleased to bring into His everlasting kingdom.           searched the heavens was blotted out from their


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                               125



vision, they hesitated not to begin their long search,      They appear as the first fruits of the Gentiles,
trekking to the Holy Land, looking for their King.        who must also be gathered into the kingdom.
Though Jerusalem's inhabitants with their king              They are our representatives at Bethlehem! That
appear to be oblivious of the birth of the King of the    should bind them to us. For what they did was in
Jews, these men cannot rest until they have wor-          our name and in our place.
shiped Him, Whom they believe to be their
Saviour. Though their King is surrounded with               In this Christmas season, let us also bow down
poverty and is only a Child, their faith moves them       and worship Him, not only as the lowly Babe of
to prostrate themselves as His humble subjects.           Bethlehem, but as our eternal King!
EDITORIALS
Prof. H. C. Hoeksema


                             The Decline of the GKN

   Not long ago a brother from one of our churches        the decline in the number of members began in
wrote me concerning his evaluation of the church          1974 and has gradually become stronger, we can
situation in the Netherlands after he had visited         already make a provisional reckoning of the point
there for several weeks. In his letter he mentioned       in time when we will be back to zero." Now it must
several things which I had up to this time not noted      be kept in mind, too, (though I have no statistics on
in any of the Dutch church papers which I receive         this) that much of this membership loss is not
on an exchange basis; I refer especially to items         through transfer to other denominations but simply
concerning the GKN (Gereformeerde Kerken van              through people becoming unchurched and dechris-
Nederland), the churches in which most of us have         tianized. And the Rev. Kwast complains - rightly-
our spiritual ancestry and which have been so fre-        that up to now the GKN, while it can be concerned
quently in the news because. of the rapid doctrinal       about many `other things, shows little concern
and spiritual deterioration taking place in them.         about this.
However, not long after I received the personal             Even more disturbing, however, is the news
letter referred to, I was also able to confirm some of    concerning the movement known as  "Samen   op
the items mentioned in that letter. For they are          weg" (literally: Together on the way). This is an offi-
mentioned in "B-iefuit Nederland" (by Wiebe Feen-         cial action begun some years ago toward reunion of
stra) in  De  Wachter,   November 23, 1982. This arti-    the GKN and the Hervormde Kerk. For those not so
cle-letter also makes  me&on  of the source of the        well acquainted with Dutch church history, let me
information, the official organ of the GKN called         explain that the Hervormde Kerk (Reformed
Keukinfownatie,  as well as some comments by a Rev.       Church) is commonly known as the State Church.
Kwast in Friese Kevkbode.                                 It is the denomination from which the present GKN
  Various items concerning the GKN are frequent-          were separated. First there was the Secession of
ly in the news currently. Recently attention has          1834, under Hendrik de Cock and others. Then, in
been drawn especially to such things as the recent        1886 there was the separation known as the  Dole-
report on the nature and authority of Holy Scrip-         antie under Abraham Kuyper. In 1892 the two
ture called "God With Us," which represents a             movements, Secession and Doleantie, came
total departure from the Reformed doctrine of             together to form the present Gereformeerde
Scripture. Besides, there is the decision to admit        Kerken van Nederland.
homosexuals to the Lord's table and to church               According to  Kerkinformafie,  it is hoped in con-
membership, as well as the more recent refusal            nection with this "Together on the way"
either to retract that decision or even to attempt to     movement that by 1984, it can be said that this pro-
furnish Scriptural grounds for it.                        cess of reunion must be continued. Mind you, 1984
  But mentioned in the article referred to is some-       is the one hundred fiftieth anniversary of the Seces-
thing which points to the actual decline of the GKN,      sion! Further, according to  Kerkinformafie,  it is
namely, a loss of 13,229 members in 1981. That            hoped that then in 1986 a Declaration can be made
amounts to more than one and one-half per cent of         in which the synods (of the GKN and the Hervorm-
the membership. The Rev. Kwast remarks in this            de Kerk) say that both churches shall be considered
connection that, "Taking into consideration that          to be in a state of reunion. And that date, mind you,


                                                                                                  1
126                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



will be the centennial of the Doleantie!                  the GKN in effect becomes one, or openly states
  How ironic!                                             that  it~hopes  to become one, with the Hervormde
                                                          Kerk? And what effect will this intention of the
  And how sad!                                            GKN have on its relationships-already  troubled-
  What would men like Hendrik de Cock and                 with other Reformed denominations throughout
Abraham Kuyper say?                                       the world, all of whom have their roots, to one de-
  And what would all the saints who literally suf-        gree or another, in the Secession of 1834 and the
fered persecution in these reformations say?              Doleantie of 1886?
  But this also raises some questions.                      In the third place, it is still a question as to what
                                                          the reaction will be in the Hervormde Kerk. The
  In the first place, what will be the reaction to all    latter, you will recall, is already a modalities
this in the GKN? There can be no question but that        church. In it there are three distinct wings: the ul-
vast segments of the GKN badly desire this union          tra-liberal wing (with whom the GKN would feel at
and would feel entirely at home in the .Hervormde         home), the group that may be termed  middle-of-
Kerk-at least in its liberal modality. They have          the-roaders, and those often spoken of as ultra-con-
long since abandoned any  pretence of being Re-           servative, a group which is in many respects very
formed, even when it comes to such fundamentals           Reformed, the Gereformeerde Bond. With the
as the blood of atonement. But what will the con-         latter the GKN will surely not find favor. But it may
servative minority of the GKN do in the face of           also be a question whether the GKN will find favor
such blatant action? Will they simply go along            with others. Eight or nine years ago, when Dr. G.C.
under protest, as they have so often done in recent       Berkouwer and Dr. Herman Ridderbos appeared at
years? Or will they try to continue separately as the     the Synod of the Hervormde Kerk with the pro-
GKN?                                                      posed Unanimous Testimony of Faith (cf. Standard
  In the second place, what will be the reaction of       Bearer,  Vol. 50,  p.318), they found favor with
others to this development? It is a well-known fact       neither the ultra-liberals nor with the Gereformeer-
that the GKN has been a perennial problem in one          de Bonders. Have things changed? Has the way
way or another for the Reformed Ecumenical                been smoothed for "Together on the way"? Would
Synod, both because of its membership in the              it not be ironic if the GKN would say, "We want
World Council and because of things such as its           union, ' ' but the Hervormde Kerk would take a
stand on homosexuals. And some of these matters           negative stance?
are up for discussion at the next RES. But what if          Only time will tell what developments lie ahead.


        An Appeal for Help With a Large Project

The Project                                               has already been completed. The art work is in pro-
  How often, as parents or grandparents, have you         cess and is more than half finished.
wished for a Bible story book that was in every way         As to the stories, here is the important data: 1)
dependable and satisfactory for use with your chil-       The author is Gertrude Hoeksema, who has drawn
dren and grandchildren?                                   on her many years of experience in teaching young
  The R.F.P.A. Publications Committee is planning         children, and, besides, tested several stories
- and, in fact, is already deeply involved in pro-        through actual use by several families before pro-
ducing -just such a Bible story book.                     ceeding with the whole book. 2) The stories are spe-
  Elsewhere in this issue you will find an exact          cifically designed for children from the ages of 3 or
replica of one of the stories to appear in this book,     4 to 8 years old. They are characterized by con-
so that you may see for yourselves-and, frankly, to       scious use of simple terms and by the graphic lan-
tickle your appetite for this book.                       guage which appeals to little children. 3) The
                                                          stories are all dependably Biblical and Reformed.
  But let me tell you about this project.                 You will be able to trust this book in using it with
  First of all, there will be 198 stories from the Old    your young children, and will find that it is unnec-
and New Testaments, varying in length from two to         essary to edit out non-acceptable elements or to
three pages. Each story will also be accompanied by       skip unacceptable stories. 4) There is an attempt to
a picture appropriate to the story. The manuscript        establish a continuity in the stories, rather than to


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                              127



tell isolated Bible stories. For example, the Old           and grandchildren!
Testament stories all converge on the coming of               The simple fact is that this is the most expensive
Christ. 5) At the conclusion of each story there is a       project which the R.F.P.A. Publications Committee
"point to remember" which emphasizes the heart              has ever undertaken. It will cost us thousands of
of the story and which serves to stress a spiritual         dollars to market this book. And we are striving
truth. Hence, these are more than just stories: there       mightily to keep the price within reach,
is in them the element of personal application.             too-approximately around $24.95, not a high price
  As to the art work, first of all, we are fortunate to     in these times for a book like this.
have the services of an artist from our Kalamazoo             But we need money! Not hundreds, but thou-
Protestant Reformed Church, Mr. Jeff Steenholdt.            sands! Right now we are at least $10,000 away from
His regular work is that of a commercial artist. But        being able to publish.
from the start of this project he expressed interest
in it, and he has become deeply involved in the               How can you help?
work, spending many, many hours of his spare                  There are two ways.
time on it. He has been working closely with the              In the first place, we need several very large out-
author in countless conferences. At this stage, the         right gifts, gifts of several hundred or a thousand
illustrations for 80 stories have been completed;           dollars. These, by the way, are tax-deductible. Why
and the illustrations for the stories up to number          not contribute before the end of the year?
150 are at various stages of completion. Most of the
art work will be in half-tones (as in the sample in           In the second place,  we  need  hundreds  of addi-
this issue); but we are aiming to include several           tional RFPA Book Club members. Do you know
full-color illustrations. With regard to the latter, our    that there are fewer than one-fourth of our Protes-
problem is expense:         it costs approximately          tant Reformed families who are Book Club
$1000.00 for the printing of each colored illustra-         members? Let me explain again the advantages of
tion! What is the artist striving for? The following:       this Book Club. They are as follows: 1) As a Book
1) Reverence. There will be none of the  harum-             Club member you automatically receive all RFPA
scarum pictures which appear in so many stories.            books. And these books ought to be in every Prot-
2) Realism. The illustrations will be as accurate as        estant Reformed home! 2) As a Book Club member
possible. But also, there will be no frontal views of       you receive our books at a discount. And the more
faces of Bible characters which are simply the pro-         members we have, the greater the discount! At
duct of the artist's imagination. 3) The artist strives     present it is 0d.y 20%. But if we had a few hundred
to illustrate the positive element in the story. For        more members, we could easily make that 30 or
example, in the sample story in this issue he focus-        40%! 3) Here is the biggest factor for us. If you are
es on the ram which the Lord provided, rather than          members of the Book Club, you automatically help
on a gruesome picture of Isaac on the altar and             us with the publication of every RFPA book. For if
Abraham with his knife uplifted. Further, each              we have a guaranteed market for a large number of
illustration is being carefully placed in the exact         books, it also means that the costs of producing a
place where it belongs in the text of the story.            book are guaranteed in advance.
Those of us who have had the opportunity to see               Will YOU help? For the sake of your children
some of this art work are excited about its quality!        and grandchildren?
The Appeal                                                    The address is: RFPA Publications Committee,
  Are you interested in seeing this project succeed?        P.C. Box 2006, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49501.
As soon as possible? Think of your own children
ALLAROUND US
Rev. G. Van Baren


                     The Church and Persecution

  One might be inclined to say that persecution of          maintained a certain "separation of church and
the church is rather out of the question within free-       state" -going to absurd and evil lengths to see to it
dom-loving countries such as Canada and the                 that there is no reference to God, His Word and
United States. However, these countries have                law, in any public institution. Now, attempts are


128                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER



being made for the state to impose upon the church                     dissolving the corporation". . . .
its own standards of morality. A report of one such                       . ..If a member is excommunicated for reason of
attempt is made in the CZarion, Canadian Reformed                      hardening himself in a sin against any of God's com-
Magazine, of June 4, 1982. In it, Rev. W.W.J. Van                      mandments, the court may require that a Church pay
Oene quotes from Hon. Mr. Walter Baker, a                              all the costs not only for the defence of its own actions
member of the House of Commons in Canada, and                          but also those of the complainant, of the person who
quotes from other sources, about a bill which                          appeals to a court. If the case is dismissed, the com-
would create havoc in the faithful church:                             plainant will have to pay it all back, but in the mean-
                                                                       time the Church would have to pay it with the pos-
         In his letter, Mr. Baker states that his concerns with        sibility that the complainant has nothing to pay back,
       Bill C-10 relate to clauses 116, 214, and 215. The              all of it or even part of it.
       relative clauses are too long to insert here, and there-           . ..The worst aspect is that the civil court could or-
       fore I pass Mr. Baker's summary on.                             der the Church to change its regulations, in other
         Let us assume that a minister is suspended and de-            words, that the civil courts could order the Church to
       posed on the ground of homosexual practices or on the           replace the commandments of the Lord our God by
       ground of adultery; or that a member is excommuni-              human ordinances which are completely contrary to
       cated because of hardening himself in the sin of adul-          the divine ordinances.
       tery, such a member would have the right-according                The courts could also replace all the legitimately
       to  the bill-to appeal to a court of law to have this           chosen and ordained office-bearers and appoint others
       court rule on that disciplinary procedure.                      in their stead, people who, of course, value human or-
         Under clause  214,, if the court felt that the  offence       dinances higher than the Law of our God.
       was not contrary to the laws of the country-homo-                  Let no one think that this law does not apply to the
       sexuality and adultery are both legal in Canada-the             Church. It is An Act Respecting Non-Profit Corpora-
       court could order the church to reinstate the member            tions. As Churches are Non-Profit Organizations, they
       or the minister. The court could further order the              come under this Act.
       church to change its constitution in accordance with
       the court ruling.                                                  . ..Bill C-10, however, shows clearly that persecu-
                                                                       tion may not be all that far from our doorstep, and we
         Even if the entire church membership should sup-              had better realize this....
       port the action taken, clause 215 gives the court the
       right to ignore such support. As the offences as such          It seems to me that I have read more recently
       are not against the Canadian law, are not criminal of-       that the above attempt to regulate even churches
       fences, every one has the right to do these things and       failed. Yet it points out the dangers which the
       he may not be penalized in any way for doing them.. . .      church faces today. In the name of "liberty" and
         . ..Clause 214 gives the court the right to order the      "justice" for all, government will try to force
       corporation "to regulate a corporation's affairs by          churches to conform to the standards of morality
       amending the articles or by-laws or creating or              adopted by the world. Sounds like the days of
       amending a unanimous member agreement." Further              Daniel when he was told what was "good for him"
       the court has the right to issue "an order appointing        to eat-yet he had to refuse because it was contrary
       directors in place of or in addition to all or any of the    to the requirements of God's law. We may have to
       directors then in office." Another right which the bill
       gives to the court is to issue "an order liquidating and     do this too-perhaps sooner than we think.


                            44% Believe in Recent Creation

  In "Acts  & Facts" of the Institute for Creation                     tence was changed to `I...but God guided this process,
Research, there is a report of an interesting survey                   including man's creation," 38% agreed. Only 9% said
by Gallup Poll concerning creation (vs. evolution).                    they did not know. Thus, 82% of a sample represent-
October, 1982:                                                         ing all Americans expressed belief that God was re-
                                                                       sponsible for the creation of man, either directly,
         The first time it ever asked the question, the Gallup         supernaturally, (and recently, 44%) or through some-
       Poll discovered that 44% of the American public agree           how "guiding" a long slow process (38%). The figures
       with this statement: "God created man pretty much               are impressive. Equally impressive, but in the wrong
       in his present form at one time within the last 10,000          sense, were the responses of "leading" clergymen [as
       years."                                                         reported in the  San Diego Union,  Aug. 30, 1982). These
         Only 9% believed that "Man has developed over                 expressions of deep religious conviction, which have
       millions of years from less advanced forms of life. God         had to survive decades of evolutionary indoctrination
       had no part in this process." When the second  sen-             and public ridicule, brought forth expressions of


                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER                                              129



   dismay (not rejoicing, but dismay!) from "prominent"         presents an evolutionary display concerning the
   religious leaders! Kenneth Hicks, a bishop in the Uni-       origins of all things. Passively, the "majority" sit
   ted Methodist Church who opposed the balanced                by, for none would dare oppose "science."
   treatment for creation-science and evolution-science
   law in Arkansas, thought it was almost incredible that         Recently, here in Hudsonville, the minister in
   44% should still accept a recent supernatural creation       the local Baptist Church,-objected to the evolution-
   of man. In an astonishing admission of incredible            ary presentation in an area park supported with lo-
   ignorance, one Episcopal bishop said that he did not         cal dollars. He claimed that if we, the people of the
   know a single reputable Biblical scholar who believed        area, mostly church-going people at that, are to pay
   in the recent, direct creation-of mankind! In fact, a        for such display with tax dollars, we ought to insist
   chief cause for "dismay" in the evolutionary estab-          that it present not evolution but creation. A cry
   lishment, religious or academic, was that a full quarter     arose that we must not allow anyone to foist their
   of the 44% accepting the recent creation of mankind          religious views (creation) upon the people. There
   were college educated!. . . .                                must be "separation between church and state." In
  If `this poll indicates the actual number in this             the meanwhile, a small minority "foist" their views
country believing in the creation account, it would             (hardly scientific either) of evolution on the major-
seem that the evolutionists (evidently only a minor-            ity. If a "majority" rules, then why should this
ity of people), have "pulled the wool" over the eyes            happen? If it is "wrong" to foist one view on others,
of many. It seems that the majority, though they do             why is it right to "foist" the opposite view of the
not believe there was evolution, yet allow that view            opponents?
to be foisted upon the whole of the people. Schools
teach it as scientific "fact." Those who object to the            It seems to me that often we dare say little about
                                                                the whole idea of evolution, since that view is
teaching of evolution are regarded as unscientific,             adopted by the "scientific" community. The Chris-
even backward. Any public display, whether in                   tian ought not to be intimidated by "science" or
museum or in some national, state, or local park,               "men of science."


                                    Changing Congregations

  The Grand Rapids  Press, October 16, 1982, pre-                 It is true that for all of their innovations, the large
sented a survey of membership growth over the                   denominations appear rather to "turn people off."
past decade. The "mainline" denominations, for                  God's people are not being fed-so they seek such a
the most part, declined in membership. Even the                 church where they can again hear the pure preach-
Christian Reformed Church, in Kent and Ottawa                   ing of the Word. And those who retain membership
Counties, had a slight decline in total membership.             in the large denominations, often fail to find reason
That membership should decline in the larger                    to attend church faithfully-entertainment, after
denominations is not so very strange. The  Press                all, is not a good reason to go to church.
stated:                                                           One can not help but notice that also the Chris-
      According to the survey, the major religions haven't      tian Reformed Church, though it is not considered
   kept pace with the population growth, while some of          one of the large main-line denominations, had an
   the smaller, more evangelical religions have experi-         overall loss of membership  .in the two counties
   enced a boom.                                                where it originated. It was, I believe, a little more
      "We are really riding a conservative wave cultural-       than ten years ago that Prof. Dekker of Calvin
   ly," said John  Primus,  professor of religion and           Seminary had proposed that the Christian Re-
   theology at Calvin College.                                  formed Church would be more successful in its
      Referring to the study results, he added that "this is    missionary efforts if it proclaimed "God loves you"
   the first time any big American churches have actual-        to all those encountered. Many novelties have been
   ly lost membership."                                         added to some of the C.R.C. services in the area.
                                                                Great effort is directed towards those of minority
      Primus  said the change is "dramatic." Until the
   decade of the `7Os,  most major denominations experi-        races to bring these into the church. Yet for all of
   enced steady growth. He attributes the decline in            that, there is a decline. Even internal growth, with-
   membership to the conservative swing in the country          out any outside additions, should have produced a
   and people's search for religions that offer them, at        sizable percentage of growth. The decline would ap-
   least as they consider it, "deeper meaning."                 pear to indicate a loss of many of those born with-


130                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



in that church. The decline, it seems to me, can be       in Kent and Ottawa counties gained a total of 27%
attributed to a loss of doctrinal distinctiveness and     membership. I am convinced that there are two
failure to maintain the Reformed heritage. So, as         reasons that might be noted: first, the faithful in-
Primus stated, there is the "people's search for reli-    struction of covenant seed; secondly, the addition
gions that offer them, at least as they consider it,      of such who have joined the P.R.C. because they
`deeper meaning.' "                                       seek that "deeper meaning" in their religion. This
  The P.R.C. were not included in the survey, of          growth, of course, can be attributed ultimately to
course. They are just too small to count. Yet,            the graciousness of our God Who has been pleased
according to my personal estimate, these churches         to provide for the churches in the past years.

TAKING HEED TO THE DOCTRINE


                 The Necessity of the Incarnation
                                                Rev. H. Veldman


  It is surely a good thing, in this Christmas season     However, this "thing" lies in a manger, wrapped in
when our thoughts should be directed to the               swaddling clothes. There is nothing here of the
Wonder of Bethlehem, to dwell a few moments               earth. It is exactly this wondrous Babe that is de-
upon the subject we have selected for this article.       nied today everywhere around us. And if we today
To dwell upon the necessity of the incarnation is         are to see this "thing" we must cut through all the
difficult in itself, even apart from the element of       earthy of our present Christmas season to see it. We
sin. The truths of the Word of God are profound be-       must see a Babe in a manger and wrapped in swad-
cause they involve the living God, and the truth of       dling clothes. It is the earthy that characterizes
the incarnation is surely a truth that involves the       every Christmas season. And it is exactly this
living God. However, to meditate upon the truth of        earthy that is so completely absent here when the
Christ's coming into our flesh and blood is also and      Mystery of Bethlehem occurs.
particularly difficult because of the element of sin.       Besides, who is this Babe of Bethlehem? We read
Our Christmas seasons certainly do not lend them-         in II Corinthians 89: "For ye know the grace of our
selves to spiritual study and meditation.                 Lord Jesus Christ, that, though He was rich, yet for
Everywhere everything is so grossly commercial-           your sakes He became poor." Literally we read
ized. The devil does all within his power to have us      here of our Lord Jesus Christ that, being rich, He
forget the Christ-Child of Bethlehem, forget Him as       became poor. He remained rich when He became
He is according to the Scriptures. Indeed, in this        poor. The same truth is expressed in Philippians
season we see Him and hear of .Him everywhere.            2:6: "Who, being in the form of God...made Him-
But He Whom we see and of Whom we hear is not             self of no reputation," that is emptied Himself. No-
He Who came to seek and to save that which was            tice: being in the form, essentially, of God. Hence,
lost. Let us in this article strive to see the Mystery    while emptying Himself, He remained God. And
of Bethlehem.                                             this we also read in our Heidelberg Catechism, in
  Why is it so difficult, in this season, to concen-      Answer 35: "That God's eternal Son, Who is and
trate upon this Mystery of Bethlehem? Does it not         continueth true and eternal. God." So, the Babe of
seem that all the things about us today lend them-        Bethlehem is God, the eternal Son of God, rich as
selves to this concentration and meditation? Do we        God is rich. And, mind you, He became poor. We
not see the Babe of Bethlehem everywhere about            read in II Corinthians 8:9, "for our sakes," because
us? Does not the Christmas music we hear every-           of our sin. Our sin and poverty necessitated His
where remind us of Him? I repeat: everywhere we           coming into our flesh and blood. This explains the
see Him and hear of Him. But, do we? It is so ex-         difficulty of concentrating upon the Mystery of
tremely difficult even to think of Him! Why? After        Bethlehem. Fact is, this Babe of Bethlehem has no
all, we too must go to Bethlehem and see this thing       form or comeliness that we should desire Him. He
which is come to pass, Luke  2:15. We must see            has no attraction for the natural man. Everything
"this thing." We must not merely see a babe.              about Him is repulsive to the sinner. He saves from
Wicked modernism sees only a babe. But we must            sin, and we love sin and cannot have any desire to
see this thing, this divine wonder, which is come to      be delivered from it. He alone can pay the debt of
pass, which the Lord revealed, made known to us.          sin and no sinner is able to do this. He comes to do


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                              131



His Father's will, to satisfy all the righteousness of     say if the Scriptures would actually teach that Jesus
God; and that God maintains and justifies Himself          had an earthly father as well as an earthly mother?
is so repuslive to the sinner. The sinner hates the        Would it say that with God all things are possible,
idea that God is just when condemning all men to           that Immanuel could be born even as having an
eternal damnation and that this Babe appears as the        earthly father, and that the Babe of Bethlehem is
                                                                                                _-- __           _
Servant of that Jehovah. He Who is and remains             the eternal Son of God, Immanuel,  God  with us'!
rich became poor for our sakes. His coming speaks          Indeed, the world would surely deny the divine ori-
of our sin and guilt and the absolute hopelessness         gin of this Mystery of Bethlehem.
of the sinner, of a salvation which we hate and              We speak of the necessity of the incarnation. We
despise because of our hatred of the alone living          mean that sin necessitated the.coming of the eternal
God.                                                       Son of God into our flesh and blood. This, we un-
  We speak of the necessity of the incarnation. The        derstand, is the viewpoint of our Heidelberg Cate-
Holland word  vZeeschwording  means "become                chism in Lord's Day 14, Questions and Answers 35
flesh," and it means that God, Who is and remains          and 36. And this, of course, is surely true. How-
God, became' flesh. The English word incarnation           ever, although it is true that Jesus came for sin's
means "in the flesh." The meaning is the same.             sake, it is also true that sin came for Jesus' sake.
Holy Writ very plainly and emphatically teaches us         When we say that sin necessitated the coming of
this truth of the incarnation, also called the truth of    Christ this does not and cannot mean that the Lord
the virgin birth. We are all familiar with the Word        is ever determined by circumstances outside of
of God of Isaiah 7:14: "Therefore the Lord Himself         Himself. This is the Arminian presentation which
shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall con-         teaches a divine election and reprobation as based
ceive, and bear a Son, and shall call His name  Im-        upon foreseen faith and unbelief. God, however, is
manuel." It is  ,true that the word translated "vir-       the sovereign Lord of heaven and earth. He is never
gin" may also be translated "a young married               determined by things outside of Himself. He is the
woman." However, it may also be translated "vir-           divine Potter and we are always the clay. He forms
gin." And this is, of course, the meaning here.            the light and creates the darkness; He makes peace
Where would the sign be if merely a young married          and creates evil; He, the Lord, does all these things -
woman conceived? Besides, His name is Immanuel,            Isaiah  45:7. He declares the end from the begin-
which means "with us God." And then there is also          ning, and from ancient times the things that are not
the passage in the Word of God of Matthew  1:19-           yet done, saying, "My counsel shall stand, and I will
25. Mary and Joseph were engaged to be married.            do all My pleasure, " Isaiah 46: 10. He willed sin and
Mary, however, was with child. And Joseph was              darkness, sovereignly, for the glory of His Name.
minded to put her away privily, break the engage-          Of course! The Lord does all things to glorify Him-
ment, because he believed, understandably, that            self. He alone is the absolute, living God. And, yet,
Mary had been unfaithful. And now the Holy Spirit          we understand that sin surely necessitated the
reveals to him that that which had been conceived          coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Sin necessitated
in her was of the Holy Ghost. Clearly, therefore,          the incarnation. Sin necessitated the virgin birth be-
this passage teaches the virgin birth, that Mary had       cause it is only the eternal Son of God united with
conceived without the will of man. The truth of the        our flesh and blood Who could destroy this power
incarnation, the virgin birth, is clearly Scriptural.      of sin and merit for us everlasting life and glory.
  Wicked modernism would have us believe that              Our Saviour must be born without the will of man
Jesus could have been born the way He was born,            because He must be the eternal Son of God in our
that is, as Immanuel, God with us, through the will        flesh and blood. Our Saviour must be the Person of
of an earthly father. Why could Jesus not be born in       the Son of God as He enters into our sin and guilt.
the ordinary way, in the way all men are born, and         Guilt is imputed to the person. That we are all
still be Immanuel, God with us? Are not all things         guilty is because we are all personally in Adam. The
possible with the Lord? Could not the almighty             sin of Adam is, therefore, imputed to the whole
God, had it pleased Him, be born as all men are            human race. If Jesus were a human person He
born? Imagine, however, if Jesus had had an                would Himself be guilty and then it would be neces-
earthly father! Even now, when the Scriptures so           sary for Him to pay for His own sin and guilt. The
clearly teach that Jesus was born without the will of      Babe of Bethlehem, however, did not inherit our
man, that He was born of a virgin, that that which         guilt. He was not guilty because He was personally
was conceived in her was by the Holy Ghost (do             in Adam. He took it upon Himself. He entered into
not the Scriptures "go all out" to set this forth so       our human race, through the wonder of the virgin
very clearly?), wicked modernism continues to              birth, voluntarily assumed responsibility for all the
deny the virgin birth, insists that our Saviour had        sins of His elect own, having Himself no sin and
an earthly father. What would that wicked world                                         (continued on page 134)


132                           THE STANDARD BEARER



       Sample story from Come, Ye Children


             Ahmihamn
             Obeys God

                   When Isaac grew up a little more, God came to Abraham and asked him to
              do a very hard thing - the hardest thing in all his life to do - harder even than
              waiting for Isaac to be born. This is what God said, "Take now thy son, thine
              only son, whom thou lovest,`and  offer him for a burnt offering."
                   Was Abraham hearing God's words right? God said, "Take your only son" -
              he had waited one hundred years for him. God said, "your son, whom you love" -
              he loved Isaac more than anything else in the world. God said, "offer him for a
              burnt offering" - he would have to take a knife in his own hand and kill his own
              son with it. Maybe Abraham would tell the Lord he could not do that. Do you
              know what Abraham did?
                   He got`up early the next morning, made some of his donkeys ready for a
             trip, and started out with two of his servants and his son Isaac; for God had said
             he had to offer Isaac on a mountain far away. He did just what God told him to
             do. It took three days to reach the mountain. Abraham had three whole days to
             think about the hard thing God had asked him. He must have said to himself,
             "How can my children be as many as the stars of the sky, if I must kill my only
             son?" Or, "Maybe the Lord will let me find a lamb to offer on the altar when we
             get there." Or, "Maybe the Lord will raise Isaac from the dead if I must kill
             him." Abraham could have changed his mind and turned around and gone home,
             and said, "No, Lord, I can't kill my only son."
                   But Abraham kept traveling toward the mountain. I don't think he taiked
             very much those three days, do you? How could he tell Isaac what he had to do?
             God was making Abraham choose between his dearest son Isaac and his great love
             for God. Would Abraham choose Isaac or God? Whom did he love most?
             Abraham loved God above everything, and he obeyed God, but he could not
             understand why he had to do such a hard thing,
                  When they were near to the mountain, Abraham left his donkey with the
             two servants and he told them that he and Isaac would go on alone to worship
             God. Then Isaac noticed something was wrong. He knew how to worship God:
             build an altar, put wood and fire on it, and offer a lamb. They had the wood and
             carried some coals of fire, probably in a little pot, but he asked his father, "Where
             is the lamb?"
                  Abraham told him that God would take care of it. Abraham trusted God,
             but don't you think his face became more and more unhappy, and it was hard
             for him to drag his feet up the mountain?


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                        133





           When they were at the top of the mountain, Abraham built an altar, laid the
      wood on it, and took his dear son, and tied him on top with ropes. Isaac did not
      kick and scream and fight, Quietly he obeyed his father Abraham and his Father
      God. As Abraham raised his knife, the Lord, the Son of God, called to him,
      " A b r a h a m ,   A b r a h a m . "
           Oh, how glad Abraham was to hear that voice! What a relief that he could
      answer, "Here am I."
           The Lord told him not to kill his son for, he said, "Now I know that thou
      fearest God." God always knew that, for He knows everything. But Abraham had
      to show how much he loved God by doing this hard thing.
            In a bush nearby, Abraham saw a ram (a father sheep) caught by his horns;
      and he offered the ram on the altar instead of his son. The ram was a picture of
      Jesus, Who was God's Sheep Who would die, just as the father sheep had died.
      Abraham did not have to kill his son Isaac, for God would offer up His Son Jesus
      to die on the cross instead, for the sins of all His people.


      REMEMBER:
           Can you think how much Abraham loved his God? So much that he would
      kill his own son when God asked him to? How much do we love God? Do we
      think about Him every minute of the day, even when we play, or when we ar
      naughty? No, we don't. Ask God to help us love Him more.





,c


134                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



guilt. This explains the necessity of the incarnation       activity  -of our present Christmas season, from all
and of the virgin birth. This is the Mystery of Beth-       the business and materialism of our present day
lehem. And it is only because this Babe of Bethle-          and age, to go to the manger, to see this thing and
hem is the eternal Son of God that He is able to bear       actually appropriate it unto ourselves? Do we un-
the infinite and eternal wrath of God, and that His         derstand this "thing" that has come to pass? And
amazing passion and death have an eternal value.            are we doing what the shepherds did? This we can
The humiliation of the Son of God, that, being rich         and will do provided that we understand personally
as the eternal Son of God, He became poor for our           the necessity of the incarnation. We must under-
sakes, demanded an exaltation of similar degree,            stand, spiritually and personally, His coming into
into the highest heavens. This explains the mystery         our flesh and blood. We must see in that manger
of why our Saviour must be born without the will            the divine Wonder of grace. We must see and ex-
of man, born of a virgn, conceived by the Holy              perience our own sin and guilt and our own utter
Spirit. And to this truth the church of God has             hopelessness. We must desire and long for the
clung throughout the ages. All the powers of hell           fellowship of the living God, see our damnableness,
have not been able to overthrow it.                         and know that our only hope lies in Him Who,
  "And it came to pass, as the angels were gone             being rich, became poor for our sakes. then the
away from them into heaven, the shepherds said              Mystery of Bethlehem will speak to us. Then we
one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethle-             will see that He, with His perfect innocence, covers
hem, and see this thing which is come to pass,              all our sin and guilt. And then we will return from
which the Lord hath made known unto us." Are we             Bethlehem, glorifying and praising God for all the
able to do as these shepherds did, to go to                 things which we have heard and seen. This is really
Bethlehem and see this thing which-has come to              what it is all about in this season. May we ever
pass? Are we able to separate ourselves from all the        understand the necessity of the incarnation..
THE STRENGTH OF YOUTH

                             The Duty of Obedience
                                                Rev. Rodney Miersma


  Youth in the Lord, the last time we met together            As youth you look to the future contemplating a
we saw that the strength of youth and the beauty of         successful and happy life. You can have it only if
youth is the spiritual adornment of obedience. The          you possess obedience. This is not some
earmark of the child of God is obedience unto one's         philosopher or psychologist speaking, but God
parents in the Lord, for the Lord's sake, for this is       Himself. Turn with me to Proverbs 3:1,2: "My son,
right. This was based on the Word of God as                 forget not My law; but let thine heart keep My com-
recorded in Ephesians 6: l-3. We concluded our dis-         mandments: For length of days, and long life, and
cussion last time by pointing out that obedience is         peace, shall they add to thee." Through the Psalm-
well-pleasing unto the Lord, that He loves obedi-           ist in Psalm  91:14-16  the Lord says, "Because he
ence.                                                       hath set his love upon Me, therefore will I deliver
  Youth who are obedient to their parents for the           him: I will set him on high, because he hath known
Lord's sake will also be obedient in all spheres of         My name. He shall call upon Me, and I will answer
life. We wish to elaborate on this a bit in this article    him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him
by drawing your attention to I Samuel 1522 where            and honor him. With long life will I satisfy him,
we read, "And Samuel said, Hath the Lord as great           and shew him My salvation." And if this were not
delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obey-      enough we have yet I Peter  3:10-12, "For he that
ing the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better        will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his
than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams."       tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no
                                                            guile: Let him eschew evil, and do good; let him
  What we see here is that God demands of both              seek peace, and ensue it. For the eyes of the Lord
you and me perfect obedience. Outward appear-               are over the righteous, and His ears are open unto
ance will not be enough, but He who searches and            their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against
knows the heart requires that obedience be from             them that do evil."
the heart, an obedience of love as a friend-servant.


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 135



  This truth Samuel conveys to King Saul, and thus        yourselves; cleanse yourselves from all wicked-
also to us. As king of Israel Saul had been com-          ness; be ye holy, for I am holy." God speaks this to
manded by the Lord to smite utterly the nation of         all of us, but the emphasis in this article is upon
Amalek. Total destruction was the command of              you, the young people. God requires also of you
God: all men, women, children, and animals were           young people that you put away every sin, forsake
to be destroyed. However, King Saul was not of a          every evil way, and walk before Him in love and
mind to obey this Word of God, which was unmis-           obedience according to His Word. Young people
takably clear. He destroyed much,  aZmost  every-         like to think that they are exempt from this com-
thing; but he spared the life of Agag, king of Ama-       mand of God, that somehow they have a special
lek, and took back with him the best of the sheep,        privilege and do not have to walk uprightly until
oxen, fatlings, and lambs.                                they are married and settle down. Youth, you say,
  Upon return he piously informs Samuel that he           is the time to sow one's wild oats, to indulge so that
has obeyed the commandment of the Lord. Samuel            one can get it out of one's system. Later in life one
was not to be deceived, for, in addition to the bleat-    can become serious. Perhaps you even put off mak-
ing of the sheep and the lowing of the oxen which         ing confession of faith with. the mistaken notion
he could hear, the Lord had appeared unto him re-         that now you can do many things which you will
vealing the disobedience of Saul. He demands of           not be able to do after you make confession of faith.
Saul an explanation.                                        Is this what you read in the Bible? Is this what
  Saul excuses himself under the pretext that not         you hear preached from the pulpit? Do your
he but the people had spared the animals. To make         parents and teachers leave you with that impres-
it even more honorable he claims that the people          sion? You know better. Of course not! God's
were highly motivated, in that these animals were         demand is far-reaching, embracing every sphere of
to be used for sacrifice unto the Lord. Noble             your life. There is no such thing as a "sin-privilege"
indeed!.As highsounding  as this may sound, Saul's        for youth. Right now this command covers all that
heart is not pure. He does not seek to please God,        you think, speak, and do. Your relationships
but desires to please men; thus he condones this sin      toward each other must be free from sin. This in-
so that he may hear the people say that he has made       cludes your dating practices, your entertainment,
them rich, rather than God. This evil deed he is try-     the music you listen to, the places you go to, and all
ing to cover with the cloak of righteousness.             other areas of your life. You must separate your-
                                                          selves from all ties by which you are bound to
  Even if we give Saul the benefit of the doubt and       worldliness, and you must seek the purest manifes-
say that in his heart he really was trying to supply      tation of the church of God, submitting yourselves
the altar of the Lord with the best, does it change       to its doctrine and discipline.
anything? May we ever maintain that the end justi-
fies the means no matter how wicked those means             You must not be like Saul and make excuses for
are? May we say that as long as the result is good        yourselves. You must not piously pride yourselves
it does not matter how we obtain it?                      in the fact that you are not using illicit drugs, are
  Do not ask me this question; ask the Lord.              not addicted to alcoholic beverages, are not sexual-
Through his mouthpiece, the prophet Samuel, He            ly promiscuous, and are not in attendance at the
shows how impossible such a position is. "Hath the        theater and dance. You may even say that there is
Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and  sacri-      much good. You go to church regularly, attend
fices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to    Young People's Society, even taking part in the dis-
obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than        cussion.
                                                            -_.       _..              . 1.
the fat of rams." In other words, outward form and          But does this make you obedient to the command
sacrificial service have meaning with God only            of God? Did not Saul also destroy the vile and
when they are done from the heart and in obedi-           worthless? Saul did not sin in destroying the vile,
ence and love. It does not matter how many sacrifi-       but he disobeyed when he kept that which was
ces are made, even if of the best quality. If they are    good in his and the people's eyes. This is only partial
made with enmity in the heart then they are only so       obedience, not complete submission.
many abominations.                                          However, when this sin is exposed and pointed
  As in all sacred, Bible history there is also here      out, the excuses begin to flow abundantly. Sudden-
the Word of God to us. God is saying something to         ly there is a redeeming value, a little bit of good to
us concerning our daily life here on earth. The           be gained from the bad. You may ask, "But how do
Amalekites were an evil people whose cup of ini-          I know it is wrong or bad if I do not do it or try it? I
quity was full. The Word of the Lord to Saul was to       have to see for myself." You try to make yourself
destroy them utterly. That same word of God               believe that the only "fun" for yourself is that
comes to us, although in different form. "Purify          which is wrong, shoving aside the reproof that


136                                        THE STANDARD BEARER



happiness and blessedness is only in the way of           people and walk ye in all the ways that I have com-
obedience to God in love.                                 manded you that it may be well unto you." In
  But wait, do not take my word for it, listen to         Matthew  7:21 the Lord confirms this by saying,
God. On the one hand, in Deuteronomy  28:15-20            "Not all that say Lord, Lord, shall enter into the
He says, "It shall come to pass, if thou wilt not         kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of
hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to ob-        My Father." Disobedience is certain death while
serve to do all His commandments and His statutes         obedience is eternal life.
which I command thee this day; that all these               To walk such a life of obedience takes much
curses shall come upon thee and overtake thee;            practice. In order to live in obedience you must
cursed shalt thou be in the city and cursed shalt         know that you can not do this all by yourself. By
thou be in the field; cursed shall be thy basket and      yourself you are disobedient and gainsaying, hope-
thy store, cursed shall be the fruit of thy body and      lessly lost and helpless. You also must know that
the fruit of thy land, the increase of thy kine, and      Jesus Christ is perfect in obedience. This He dem-
the flocks of thy sheep. Cursed shalt thou be when        onstrated by obeying God from the manger to the
thou comest in and cursed shalt thou be when thou         cross. That obedience was rewarded by God on the
goest out. The Lord shall send upon thee cursing,         third day when He raised Christ from the dead and
vexation and rebuke, in all that thou  settest thy        exalted Him over all. Finally, you must know that
hand unto for to do until thou be destroyed." As          your obedience is possible only in Christ. It is a gift
can be seen, the miseries of today are a result of        from God which He gives to you through His Son.
God's wrath upon disobedient mankind. Greater             His Spirit now reigns in your heart by which you
miseries will follow as the cup of iniquity continues     resist the evil of the world and walk in the joy of the
to be filled.                                             Lord. Hear the Word of the Lord and trust and
  On the other hand, the prophet Jeremiah tells us,       obey, for obedience is better than sacrifice and to
"But this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey            hearken than the fat of rams.
My voice and I will be your God and ye shall be My
FAITH OF OUR FATHERS


                                   The Nicene Creed
                                              Rev. James Slopsema


HISTORY (cont'd)                                          used the term heteuo-ousion  as the test of orthodoxy.
   The statement of faith adopted by the Council of       By that expression they meant that Christ was of a
Nicea (AD 325) had certainly been a victory for the       different essence than the Father. In direct opposi-
truth. Nicea had condemned the error of Arius that        tion to the Arians was the Orthodox party. Their
Jesus was merely a creature and not truly God.            watchword was  homo-ousion.  By this term they
Positively,  Nicea had confessed that Jesus Christ is     meant that Christ was of the  same  essence as the
"the Son of God, begotten of the Father (the only         Father and therefore with the Father is co-equally
begotten, i.e.,  .of the essence of the Father, God of    and co-eternally God. Finally, there were the Semi-
God, and) Light of Light, very God of very God, be-       Arians who took the middle ground. Their watch-
gotten, not made, being of one substance with the         word was  homoi-ousion,  which meant that Christ
Father."                                                  was of  Zike  essence with the Father. They differed
                                                          from the Arians in that they acknowledged that
   The victory gained at the Council of Nicea, how-       Christ is indeed eternal and divine. But they were
ever, was rather short-lived. The three parties that      not prepared to side with the Orthodox party which
had emerged at the Council of  Nicea remained. In         maintained that Christ is God in the full sense of
fact, each became hardened in its position. The           the word as the Father. Hence, Christ is of  Zike
Arians as well as the majority that had taken a mid-      essence with the Father.
dle ground between the Arian and Orthodox posi-
tion claimed that they had signed the creed of Nicea        As a result of these various views, a number of
under pressure. Consequently, the battle resumed          regional councils were held, each taking a position
with three very discernible positions to be found in      in this matter, often contradicting and condemning
the Christian church. There were the Arians who           one another. Many bishops and church leaders .


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                              137



were deposed and banished. Athanasius, who had              ture, a created being. Even as the Father had creat-
emerged as the leader of the Orthodox party, was            ed the Son, so also had the Son created the Holy
deposed several times as bishop of Alexandria and           Spirit. The Holy Spirit therefore is subordinate to
forced to flee in exile. The fortunes of these various      the Son even as the Son is subordinate to the
parties also rose and fell according to the theologi-       Father. This left the Arians with one God and two
cal inclinations of the various emperors that ruled         demi-gods. The Semi-Arians by and large also as-
in Rome. The Roman emperors often took definite             serted the creation of the Holy Spirit. This followed
sides in this debate and were not above using their         from their repudiation of the fact that the Son is of
power and influence to champion the cause of the            the same essence as the Father but is only of like
party with which they sympathized. As the contro-           essence. Even the Orthodox party was at first un-
versy continued to develop it began to appear as            sure as to the identity of the Holy Spirit. There were
though the orthodox position, adopted at the great          some in fact who wanted to make the Holy Spirit
council of  Nicea,  would ultimately be rejected and        merely a divine power or attribute of God.
that the Semi-Arian view would finally emerge vic-            As the question of Christ's identity became more
torious.                                                    and more settled, so too did the question of the
  In all fairness to the Semi-Arians, two things            identity of the Holy Spirit. If the Son is of the same
must be noted. First, they soundly rejected the             essence as the Father, so too is the Spirit. If theSon
error of Arius that Christ was simply a creature and        is co-equal and co-eternal with the Father, so too is
not divine. The Semi-Arians maintained very                 the Holy Spirit. This simply follows from the fact
strongly the divinity of Christ. Secondly, many of          that all three are so often mentioned together in the
the Semi-Arians were hindered by a confusion in             Scriptures. In light of the Scriptures, God can not
terminology. A clear enough distinction had not             be two in one; He must be three in one-triune.
been made between the terms "person" and "es-
sence." Consequently, when the Orthodox party                 This truth which the church now came to see
                                                            rather universally was officially adopted by the
maintained that Christ was of the same  essence  as
the Father, many understood them to teach a unity           second ecumenical council held at Constantinople
of persons. In other words, they suspected that the         in A.D. 381, well over 50 years after the Council of
Orthodox party was obliterating any real distinc-           Nicea. This council was called by the emperor The-
tion between the Father and the Son, so that they           odosius I who himself was convinced of the ortho-
were simply one and the same. Hence, they clung             dox view. After the exit of 36 Semi-Arian bishops
to the term homoi-ousion-Christ is of  Zike  essence        the council consisted of 150 bishops. These repre-
with the Father.                                            sented the eastern branch of the church. The west-
                                                            ern branch or Latin church was not represented at
  With the rise of a new generation of theologians,         all. This was perhaps due to the fact that the Latin
that which separated the Orthodox party from                church had quite some time before this come to see
those that clung to the  Izomoi-ousion  position slowly     the truth of the Trinity. The council of Constantino-
melted away. Many of the Semi-Arians had in their           ple did essentially two things: first, it re-affirmed
heart agreed with the Nicene faith; but because of          the truth of  Nicea; secondly, it went beyond  Nicea
the confusion of terminology had rejected the               and confirmed also the true Godhead of the Holy
formulation of Nicea. Hence, through the efforts of         Spirit. Especially two changes were made in the
men like Basil of Caesarea, Gregory of Nizanzus,            statement of faith adopted at  Nicea in A.D. 325.
and Gregory of Nyssa the Semi-Arians were slowly            First, the conclusion of the original statement of
won to the orthodox position originally expressed           faith was elided. This had been a condemnation of
in the Nicene creed.                                        all those who denied the true deity of Christ [cf. our
                                                            previous article for this conclusion). The second
  At the same time, however, the question of the            change was an additional paragraph spelling out
Holy Spirit also came more and more to the fore.            more in detail the identity and work of the Holy
Not only are the Father and the Son mentioned in            Spirit. The original statement of  Nicea had merely
Scripture; so also is the Holy Spirit. In fact, they are    stated, "(We believe) in the Holy Ghost." The state-
often mentioned together. Consequently, the                 ment, adopted by the council of Constantinople,
church also faced the question of the identity of the       was quite more extensive, "(We believe) in the
Holy Spirit. This was not the center of the contro-         Holy Ghost, Who is Lord and Giver of life, Who
versy. The controversy in the church centered in            proceedeth from the Father, Who with the Father
the identity of Christ and His relation to the Father.      and the Son together is worshipped and glorified,
But the question of the Holy Spirit was unavoid-            who spake by the prophets...one holy catholic and
able.                                                       apostolic church; we acknowledge one baptism for
  Various positions were held concerning the Holy           the remission of sins; we look for the resurrection
Spirit. The Arians viewed the Holy Spirit as a crea-        of the dead, and the life of the world to come.


138                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



Amen."                                                       position of rank over the Son and the Spirit. Hence,
  The council of Constantinople gave us our                  there was added the truth that the Holy Spirit pro-
Nicene Creed in its present form with but one ex-            ceeds also from the Son.
ception. In the statement concerning the Holy                   This addition was not received by the eastern or
Spirit as adopted by the council of Constantinople,          Greek branch of the church. The Greek church op-
the Spirit is said to proceed from the Father. At the        posed this insertion from the beginning and still
Synod of Toledo (A.D. 689) there was added the fact          does today. This insertion, known as the Filioque
that the Holy Spirit also proceeds from the Son.             clause ("filoque" meaning "and the son") along
This addition is rather significant in that it leaves        with the question of the supremacy of the bishop of
no room for subordination in the Godhead. The                Rome as pope led eventually to a split between the
Arians and Semi-Arians had such a subordination.             Greek and Latin church in A.D. 1054. The Greek or
In their views the Holy Spirit is subordinate to the         eastern church is known today as the Greek or
Son Who in turn is also subordinate to the Father.           Eastern Orthodox church. The Latin church which
The statement of Constantinople which confessed              retains the Filioque clause in the Nicene creed
the procession of the Spirit only from the Father left       became known as the Roman Catholic church. Our
room for this kind of subordination. To attribute            roots are historically in the latter church. From her
the procession of the Spirit solely to the Father            we have received the Nicene creed in its present
makes the Father the sole fountain of the Godhead.           form.
This is one step away from giving to the Father a
BIBLE STUDYGUIDE


                     Colossians - Christ the Head
                          of All Things (Conclusion)
                                                 Rev. J. Korteering


  In combating the evil philosophy that had affect-          that he prays continually for their welfare  (1:9-12).
ed the members of the church at Colosse, Paul sets           He mentions specifically that they may be filled
forth the gospel of the  headship of Christ. Rather          with knowledge, wisdom, and spiritual under-
than to turn from this world in an evil spirit of as-        standing  (1:9), that they walk worthy of the Lord
ceticism, Paul exhorts them to see its glory in rela-         (1: lo), that they be strengthened unto patience and
tion to Christ the Head of all things.                       longsuffering (1: 11) I and that they may give thanks
A BRIEF OUTLINE OF. THIS LETTER                              unto the Father for being made partakers of the in-
                                                             heritance ( 1: 12).
  1. The salutation (1:  1,2). Paul identifies himself
as the sender of this letter and includes Timothy               4. He now sets forth the glorious truth that
who is with him at Rome (1: 1). He also addresses            Christ is the exalted Head of all (1: 13-23). Christ po-
the church at Colosse as saints and faithful breth-          sesses a kingdom into which we are translated
ren and extends to them the apostolic greeting (1:2).        through the redemption and forgiveness of sin
                                                             (1:13, 14). He is the image of the invisible God
  2. Paul expresses thanks for the Colossian Chris-          (1:  15), the firstborn of every creature  (1:15); He is
tians  (1:3-8).  He directs his thanks to God, Who is        before all things, hence all things were created by
also the Father of Christ, for he acknowledges that          and for Him. This includes all things in heaven and
He is the real source of all the spiritual virtues pre-      earth, and by Him all these things consist (1: 16, 17).
sent in the church (1:3). He also rejoices in that God       He is the Head of the church (1: 18); He is the begin-
was pleased to use Epaphras as His mouthpiece to             ning, the firstborn of the dead  (1:18);  He has the
bring to them the good news of the gospel  (1:7).            preeminence for in Him all the fulness dwells (1:18,
This same Epaphras reported to Paul that the Colos-          19). By His blood on the cross He has reconciled all
sian believers excelled in faith, love, and hope as          things unto the Father, things in earth and heaven
the manifest fruits of the gospel which was                  (1:20),  including the Colossian believers who in
preached to them (1:8,4-6).                                  time past were alienated, were enemies, and com-
  3. The inspired apostle assures the Colossians             mitted wicked works, but are now holy and  un-


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                               139



blameable (1:21,22). They will remain such as long          ing into things which are not seen. Rather we are
as they continue in the faith ( 1:23).                      to turn to Christ our Head, from Whom we receive
   5. Paul the minister, now reminds the  Colos-            all the blessings of God (2:18, 19). Finally, the error
sians that he was made a minister in order to serve         of asceticism was present. They taught that one
the church by bringing the gospel to them (1:24-29).        could attain unto spiritual perfection by abstaining
This included his suffering for the gospel which he         from earthly things. His answer to this evil is that
considered a way of filling up Christ's suffering for       we are dead with Christ from the rudiments of this
the sake of the church  (1:24).  The message he             world and through His resurrection are alive to
brings is the Word of God which was hidden for              serve God. All denials, such as, "Touch not, taste
ages, but is now manifest to the saints, namely, that       not, handle not" are of men. `All who confide in
Christ is preached, the hope of glory (1:25-27). That       them will perish for they have a show of wisdom
preaching includes warning and teaching in order            and humility, but not after God (2:20-23).
that every man might be presented perfect in Christ            8. Christ, the Head of all, is the source of our
(1:28,29).                                                  spiritual life. It involves mortification of the old
   6. In chapter two, Paul deals more directly with         man and the quickening of the new man  (3:1-17).
the vain philosophies that were affecting the               The spiritual power for this is our being crucified
church. In the opening statement of this chapter he         and raised with Christ. By this energy, we are to
assures them that he cares for them  (2:1-7).  Even         seek the things which are above (3: l-4). This in-
though he has not seen them face to face he has             cludes the mortification of our members, that is,
great conflict for them  (2:l). His burden is that the      the putting away of former sins which were com-
believers may be knit together in love and have full        mitted when we gave way to our evil nature. He
assurance of understanding, that is, that in Christ         lists many of them: various sexual sins, covetous-
all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge of God            ness, anger, blasphemy, filthy communication, in-
are hidden (2:2, 3). If they do this, they will not be      cluding lying  (3:5-g). Rather, we are to put on the
beguiled by enticing words (2:4), for in Christ alone       new man which is a renewal in the image of God.
they are rooted and built up and stablished in faith,       This includes practicing mercy, kindness, humility,
by which they are thankful and able to walk as God          forbearance and forgiving one another, charity
would have them walk (2:5-7).                               (love), letting the peace of God rule our hearts and
  7. The way that Paul deals with the heresies that         letting the Word of Christ dwell in us richly so that
were attacking the church is to show how poor they          we can be a blessing to each other in our singing
were compared to the gospel of Christ's  headship           and giving thanks to God (3:10-17).
over all (8:8-23).  There are four heresies referred to       9. The Colossian Christians are exhorted to
in this chapter. First, Paul deals with the  vain  phi-     demonstrate this faithfulness also in their domestic
losophies, that is the deceitful notion that one must       life (3:  18-4:l). He mentions first that wives are to
be worldly wise or be considered a fool. The                submit themselves unto their husbands in the Lord
answer to this is that such a notion will spoil a           (3:18).  Husbands are to love their wives and be not
man. On a much higher plane, Paul points out that           bitter against them  (3:19).  Children are to obey
knowledge in Christ is complete, for in Him                 their parents in all things for this is pleasing unto
dwelleth the fz&zes of the Godhead bodily (2:8-10).         the Lord  (3:20). Fathers are not to provoke their
Second, he combats the evil influence of Jewish             children unto wrath lest they be discouraged (3:21).
ceremonialism which insisted that one must be cir-          Servants are to obey their masters with a view to
cumcised, watch what he eats and drinks, observe            serving God and not men, for they will receive
holy days, Sabbaths, and moons if he is to be right         from Him their reward for doing either good or evil
with God. The answer to this is that through faith          (3:22-25). Finally, masters also are to give their ser-
in Christ we are spiritually circumcised and bap-           vants what is just, for they must remember that
tized and quickened to spiritual life which is ex-          their Master is Christ Himself (4: 1).
pressed in a far greater way than external observan-          10. A closing thought is given, they are encour-
ces. Christ, through His death and resurrection,            aged to be diligent in prayer and to include a prayer
blotted out the ceremonial laws and triumphed               for Paul that a door may be opened unto him that
over all earthly powers and now reigns over the             he may preach the gospel (4:2-6).  They are to live as
saints in a new life. He warns the Colossians not to        a witness to those that are outside the congregation,
let anyone judge their spiritual condition on the           being ready to testify to any man, having their
basis of what they eat or drink, etc. (2: 11-17). Third,    speech seasoned with salt (4:5,6).
there was present the heresy of angel worship, as if          11. Final greetings and salutations are given (4:7-
angels might help us in our prayers to God. In              18). Tychicus, who delivered this letter, would
dealing with this Paul points out that those who ad-        bring information of Paul's affairs and comfort
vocate this idea are vainly puffed up and are intrud-       them  (4:7, 8); Onesimus will add whatever he can


140                                        THE STANDARD BEARER



(4:9). He extends greetings from those who are with       ing the church.
him: Aristarchus (a fellow prisoner), Marcus                3. How does Paul's emphasis on Christ, the
(sister's son to Barnabas, who was reconciled a-          Head of all things, demolish this evil philosophy?
gain to Paul, and Paul asks the Colossians -to re-
ceive him, should he come).,  Justus  (a Jew),  Epa-        4. Demonstrate from this letter that even though
phras (a laborer in Colosse who did much for the          the church of Colosse was influenced by an evil
church as pastor and was now with Paul), (4: 10-13).      philosophy, Paul showed them love and patience as
Luke also extends greetings (he was Paul's traveling      he wrote them this letter. See 2: l-7 especially.
companion and physician). Demas was still with              5. When you read this letter, point out Paul's re-
Paul (though later he would leave him, see II Timo-       peated references to doctrine and life and that he
thy 4: 10). Now he in turn asks them to give his          shows over and over again that evil doctrine cor-
greetings to the church of Laodicea and to  Nym-          rupts life while the truth sanctifies our life.
phas and the church which met in his house, and to          6. Show from this letter how deadly it is to have
exchange greetings with the Laodicean congrega-           religion based on external behavior and not on the
tion. He finally greets Archippus  (4:15-17). The         spiritual condition of the heart.
final salutation authenticates this epistle as being
Paul's own and he asks them to remember him                 7. Discuss the beautiful section in which
while he is in prison. He closes with the benedic-        Christ's  Headship  is explained  (1:13-20). How are
tion of grace (4: 18).                                    Christ's two natures interwoven in this passage?
QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION                                    8. How does chapter three explain daily conver-
                                                          sion.
   1. Describe something of the history of the or-
ganization of the church at Colosse. See this letter        9. Discuss the various areas of our everyday life
and the book of Acts.                                     that are affected by Christ's Lordship as they are
                                                          mentioned in this letter. See chapter  3:18-4:l. How
   2. Tell in your own words what necessitated this       can we apply this to our own life.
letter. Describe the evil philosophy that was attack-

QUESTION BOX

                          The Proper Relationship
                          of the Woman to the Man
                                                 Rev. C. Hanko


  The  Standard Bearer  received the following ques-      called to replace the men who had gone into the
tion:                                                     service in factories and business places. After the
  "We are living in an age when the women of the          war, women continued to hold men's jobs and soon
world are demanding equal rights, as we see in the        became supervisors over them. Women voted for
E.R.A. We also see in the church world that same          public officials and soon were holding public of-
demand, as women seek the office of minister,             fices, so that today we have a woman in the Su-
elder and deacon.                                         preme Court, and some news commentators al-
                                                          ready predict that we might have a woman running
   "My question is this, what is the proper relation-     for the vice presidency in 1984.
ship of the woman to the man? Did God create the
woman in such a way that she is subject to the man          This is nothing less than a part of the social and
in all spheres of life, or does that submission per-      religious revolution that is sweeping the whole
tain only to the marriage state and the church?           world, in which the ordinances and laws of God are
Does Holy Scripture speak to us on this matter?"          openly defied. There is talk of a "new morality" in
                                                          which God is deliberately cast out and every one
  As the reader suggests, a question of this nature       does what is right in his own eyes. Women demand
would hardly have been brought up a few decades           equal rights with men. (Oh, how they will rue the
ago, especially not in the church.                        day!) Even in the church the women insist on their
  It was during World War II that women were              equal rights. In many churches women already


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                141



attend and vote in school societies and congrega-           or rather, the Holy Spirit points out that these
tional meetings. Women clamor for a place in the            Christian virtues should adorn every woman at all
special office of deacon, elder, or minister.               times. He states, "Whose adorning . . . let it be the
   We are faced with the question, what is the prop-        hidden man of the heart, in that which is not cor-
er relationship between the man and the woman?              ruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet
Have our fathers throughout the centuries always            spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price."
slighted the woman in this relationship? Has a              Meekness and quietness characterize the Christian
deeper insight into the Scriptures and a more thor-         woman, not only in the home but also outside of
ough exegesis discovered that we have never un-             the home. Boldness, arrogance, assuming authority
derstood this relationship properly? What does              over a man does not fit with her virtues as woman.
Scripture say about this relationship in every              Her beauty, her strength, and even her influence
sphere of life?                                             rest in a "meek and quiet spirit." We admire a
   We turn, first of all, to the creation ordinance in      woman for her femininity, as much as we despise
paradise as described in Genesis 2: 18-23, where we         that in a man. This does not mean that a woman is
read in part, "And the Lord God said, It is not good        forced to bury her talents, such as knowledge, in-
that the man should be alone: I will make him an            telligence, and wisdom, but she will wisely use
help meet for him." Adam was created from the               them as a woman both in her home and in the
dust of the earth. Eve was taken from the rib of            church. According to the creation ordinance a
Adam. According to God's purpose Adam stood as              woman always remains a woman, and a man
friend-servant of God, consciously and willingly            remains a man.
devoted to God. He was king of all that he surveyed           This is confirmed in I Corinthians  11:3, 8, 9,
with the calling to devote himself and the entire           .where we read, "But I would have you know, that
creation to God's glory. As such he was the head of         the Head of every man is Christ, and the head of the
the human race, the father of all mankind. But              woman is the man, and the Head of Christ is God.
there was one great lack in his life. Adam was              . . . For the man is not of the woman; but the woman
alone. He needed a companion similar to him. No,            of the man. Neither was the man created for the
he did not need another man next to him to assume           woman; but the woman for the man." Scripture is
authority over the creatures with him. He needed a          not speaking here only of the husband-wife rela-
woman. The stallion had its mare, the lion had its          tionship, but of the relationship between man and
lioness, even the birds had their mates, but Adam           woman. Here the headship, the position of authori-
was alone. He needed a woman as his helper to ful-          ty is stressed. God is the Head, has the authority
fill his purpose and calling as our first father, as        over Christ..' Christ is the Head, has the authority di-
lord of creation, and as head of the human race.            rectly over the man. The man is the head, has the
   This woman whom God gave to Adam was his                 authority over the woman. This follows, according
own flesh and bone, yet physically and psychologi-          to verses 8 and 9, from the creation ordinance in
cally different. He could father children which she         paradise. "For the man is not of the woman; but the
could bear. He could serve God as friend-servant            woman of the man. Neither was the man created
with Eve as his assistant. Adam was qualified to            for the woman, but the woman for the man."
rule over his wife in the capacity of husband, to             Concerning this passage the well-known com-
rule over the children God would give them in the           mentator of the Netherlands, Dr. F. W. Grosheide
capacity of father, and over the creation as its king.      writes, (I translate) : "The apostle says that also in
Eve could  in'no way fill that position, for she was        the realm of recreation, that is in the congregation,
wife to her husband, mother of their children, a            man is the one who rules over the woman. Not his
helper in all the work entrusted to Adam, surren-           own wife, but the woman. The expression is of
dering herself to him, so that his life became her          great importance. In Greece-differing from the
life.                                                       common practice in Rome-the woman was forced
   This is so much the in-created nature of the             to the background. Christianity brought freedom,
woman, lost through sin but restored by grace, that         deliverance for the woman (compare verse 1). Now
Peter says in his first epistle, chapter  3:1, 2, "Like-    in Corinth misuse was made of this freedom. There
wise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own hus-           was an urge toward emancipation, which brought
bands, that, if any obey not the Word, they also may        the women to a misuse of their Christian freedom
without the Word be won by the conversation of              by wanting to be equal to the man in every respect.
the wives; while they behold your chaste conversa-          Paul opposes that by placing the man above the
tion coupled with fear. " Even in a home where the          woman also in the congregation." (Korte  Verklar-
husband is an unbeliever the wife must not play             ing, pages 135, 136.)
boss, but must exercise a "chaste conversation                It is in that light that we can understand I Timo-
coupled with fear. " In the verses that follow, Peter,      thy  2:12, 13, "But I suffer not a woman to teach,


142                                        THE STANDARD BEARER



nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in si-    "Let the woman not enter into the sphere of activi-
lence. For Adam was first formed, then Eve."             ty for which by dint of her very creation she is not
  There is an obvious exegetical question here.          suited. Let not a bird try to dwell under water. Let
Does Paul mean to say that a woman may not teach         not a fish try to live on land. Let not a woman yearn
in- the church, not even, for example, children in a     to exercise authority over a man by lecturing him in
Sunday School? Or does he say that a woman may           public worship. For the sake both of herself and of
not teach in the sense of having authority over the      the spiritual welfare of the church such unholy
man? This question actually does not create a prob-      tampering with divine authority is forbidden. . . .
lem now. The point we wish to make is that the           Her full spiritual equality with men as a sharer in
apostle emphatically states that, "I do not suffer a     all the blessing of salvation (Gal. 3:28: there can be
woman to usurp authority over the man." The              no male and female) does not imply any basic
word used for "usurp authority" in the original          change in her nature  as woman  or in the corre-
means, "to act on one's own authority," as a  self-      sponding task which she as a woman is called upon
appointed master, exercising an authority to which       to perform. Let the woman remain woman! Any-
one has no right.                                        thing else Paul cannot permit. Paul cannot permit it
                                                         because  God's holy Zaw  does not permit it (I Cor.
  Paul bases this on the creation ordinance of para-     14:34). That holy law is His will as expressed in the
dise. The woman has no right to exercise authority       Pentateuch, particularly in the story of woman's
over the man, because of her position over against       creation and of her fall (see especially Gen. 2: 18-25,
the man by God's very act of creation. It is contrary    3:16)."
to the natural, innate, God-given position of the
woman to exercise authority over a man. Paul does           The principle that applies to teaching, or preach-
not suffer it, because God's ordinance in creation       ing in the church, that is, the woman exercising
does not suffer it.                                      authority over the man, applies to every other
                                                         sphere of life-and that according to God's own cre-
  William Hendriksen wrote concerning this pas-          ation ordinance.
sage in his commentary on I Timothy as follows,

THE LORD GAVE THE WORD

                       China in the News and the
                                Good News in China

  In September, the 12th Congress of the Commu-          1982 that when one writes on China, he or she
nist Party in China went through a massive shake-        should not only get the facts straight but also put
up as the pro-Maoists. were purged or forced into        them into China's context. Only then can they be
early retirement. This will mean more openness to        rightly understood in a Western context.
the West, more trade, and more Chinese students            China's anti-religious activity, he observes, is not
in Europe and North America.                             specifically anti-Christian, for Buddhism and Islam
  With one-fourth of the world's population, China       are much stronger than Christianity, and they too
can't help being in the public's attention. Further-     fall under the state's regulation. Further, China is a
more, with the raising of the bamboo curtain, even       tightly controlled society in which no activities are
more attention is being given of late to what hap-       unrelated to the government, no public discussion
pens in China. Moreover, Christians who have             occurs without reference to party policies, and no
prayed for decades that God would again open             one can hold public meetings except the Commu-
China to the gospel have a special reason to be          nist Party and its affiliates.
China watchers. They wonder how the church is              In reporting on China,  ecumenicals  tend to
faring.                                                  praise     the government-recognized Three-Self
  How to report on China: an ecumenical                  People's Movement (TSPM) in China and accept
voice. Raymond Fung, secretary for evangelism of         the latter's downgrading of the house churches.
the World Council of Churches, told a group of re-       Evangelicals tend to take the opposite approach and
ligious magazine editors at  Wheaton College in May      suspect the TSPM of compromising with the Party


                                                         THE STANDARD BEARER  -                                                                143



and of claiming that authentic Christianity is to be                      menical or evangelical) largely controls how one re-
found in the tens of thousands of "congregations"                         ports the facts in their China context.
meeting in homes.                                                            The official position.  China's draft constitution
   What religious liberty? An evangelical view.                           Article 35 says about religious freedom, "Citizens
In the China Prayer Letter of the Chinese Church                          of the People's Republic of China enjoy freedom of
Research Center of Hong Kong, John C. Wang                                religious belief. No organs of state, public organiza-
warns against thinking that full religious freedom                        tions, or individuals shall compel citizens to believe
has returned to China. He reports that the Com-                           in religion or not believe in religion. Nor shall they
munist Party is applying the following measures to                        discriminate against citizens who believe, or do not
keep the churches under state control:                                    believe, in religion. The state protects legitimate
   (1) No private contact with foreigners. Contacts be-                   religious activities.  No. one may use religion to
tween a Chinese church and a foreign religious                            carry out counter-revolutionary activities, or activi-
group outside the  TSPM's supervision is discour-                         ties that disrupt public order, harm the health of
aged. On the surface, the TSPM is doing this to pro-                      citizens, or obstruct the education system of the
tect Chinese sovereignty, but actually it is meant to                     state. No religious affairs may be dominated by any
prevent outside stimulation for evangelistic expan-                       foreign country."
sion.                                                                        It will be a step forward for all of us who are con-
   (2) No evangelistic activity outside the church. Any                   cerned about God's people in China to note China's
religious activity that -takes place outside the ap-                      official position on religion. This will help us to un-
pointed places of worship (which means the Three-                         derstand the progress and the pitfalls of the good
Self churches) is frowned upon by the TSPM, and                           news in China. However, we will also need the
violators could be arrested.                                              China watchers to tell us what it  ,means for the
                                                                          church in China.
   (3) No religion for peopZe under 18. Adults who are
already "hopeless" in religion are permitted to con-                      Copyright (1982) Board of Publications, Christian Reformed
tinue in their faith, but preaching to children under                     Church in North America, reprinted from the October 4, 1982
18 is forbidden.                                                          issue of the Banner, with permission. Written by Dr. Paul G.
                                                                          Schrotenboer, general secretary of the Reformed Ecumenical
   (4) No  reZigion for party members.  Although the                      Synod, and  Bernice Schrotenboer, a retired foreign language
constitution grants all citizens the freedom of reli-                     teacher.
gious belief, party members are forbidden to join
the church.                                                                                            The
   (5) No contribution or assistance from abroad.
Since all Three-Self pastors are paid by the TSPM,
home meetings are forbidden to collect offerings or                                   Standard Bearer
accept any assistance from abroad.
   (6) No imported  BibZes.  Despite the deplorable                                makes a thoughtful
scarcity of Bibles in China, the Chinese customs are
very strict in searching and detaining Bibles carried                         gift for any occasion.
in by travelers to China.
   Although the constitution grants the people free-
dom of religious belief, this does not include free-                                             WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
dom of religious propagation.                                                On December 4, 1947, MR. AND MRS. GORDON VAN  OVER-
   One can go a step farther than Raymond Fung                            LOOP, were married in the Lord. We thank God for giving them these
                                                                          35 years together. We also thank Him for the covenant instruction
and say that in ascertaining the facts one must                           we received from them. May God continue to bless them and keep
know the reporter, for one's viewpoint (here,  ecu-                       them close to Him.
                                                                                                              Their Children and Grandchildren

                    RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                                      RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
   The Senior Mr. and Mrs. Society of Hope Protestant Reformed              The Senior Mr. and Mrs. Society of Southwest Protestant Re-
Church (Walker) expresses its sincerest sympathy to our members,          formed Church expresses their sincere sympathy to their fellow mem-
Mr. and Mrs. Jon Huisken, in the loss of Mr. Huisken's mother, MRS.       bers, Mr. and Mrs. Darrel Huisken, in the death of his mother, MRS.
MINNIE HUISKEN. May our gracious God comfort them by His Word.            HENRY  (MIN) HUISKEN.
"And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are          "And God shall wipe away all tears fom their eyes; and there shall
the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit,    be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be
that they may rest from their  labours; and their works do follow         any more pain: for the former things are passed away." (Revelation
them" (Rev.  14: 13).                                                     21:4)

                                            Prof. H. Hanko, Pres.                                                 Mr. Henry Timmerman, Pres.
                                            Mrs. Bette Dykstra, Sec'y                                             Mrs. Elaine Faber, Sec'y.


.,.
          THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                                   SECOND CLASS
                P.O. Box 6064                                                                                  POSTAGE PAID AT
       Grand Rapids, Michigan  4.9506                                                                         GRAND RAPIDS, MICH.




                                         .I-     ~     ~-     ~~.~     -     ~~-                      --..





       1 4 4                                             THE STANDARD BEARER



                                 News From Our Churches

                                          November 29,1982                          The following quote, also from the bulletin of
                                                                              Covenant Protestant Reformed Church, clearly de-
                                                                              scribes the work that Reverends Houck, Van Over-
           I finally received a welcome letter from Rev. T.                   loop, and Hanko were involved in: we  "...spent a
       Miersma written by his wife Jan. The letter cleared                    very profitable week, visiting and ministering to
       up the question about the difficulties they were                       the needs of various individuals and groups in Ver-
       having with the Canadian Consulate in Detroit. Ac-                     mont, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, and
       tually there were no difficulties, as this quote will                  Maryland this past week. Wherever we went we
       show, "To our surprise when we had the interview,                      were able to rejoice in the communion of the saints,
       on September 27, and asked about the possibility of                    even with those we had never met before, and
       getting such a permit (work permit), the vice consul                   always our bond of union was the glorious truth of
       replied, that he could write that up for us a minute,                  God's sovereign grace. We thank God that He has
       and so we could move immediately if we wanted.. . .                    brought us safely to the end of this work and we
       Two weeks from the date of the interview we were                       pray that it may bring forth fruit, especially if it be
       on our way to Alberta in a caravan of two rental                       His will toward a field for home missions labours."
       trucks and our car." The trip lasted four days. Ed-                    I hope that this is only the beginning of home mis-
       monton is approximately 800 miles (1,280 kilo-                         sions work on the east coast. It is important to
       meters) from the nearest Protestant Reformed                           realize that their schedule was to meet with two or
       Church which is in Lynden, Washington. I am cer-                       three families in Plymouth, Vermont; a group near
       tainly happy that things went smoothly for the                         Boston,       Massachusetts;       two    f a m i l i e s   i n
       Miersmas.                                                              Hagerstown, Maryland; a group in North Cape
           The program presented by Rev. den Hartog was                       May, New Jersey; and a group in Blairstown. May
       extremely valuable for all those who attended. It                      God bring forth fruit from their labours.
       was a good thing that the program was held at First                          Kalamazoo Protestant Reformed Church's Young
       Church, Grand Rapids because the balconies were                        People's Society has been studying the history of
       partially filled that fine evening. Rev. den Hartog                    our churches. To get a clear picture of the years
       presented an overall view of the people and the                        1930 to 1950, they have asked Prof. H.C.  Hoek-
       church in Singapore. I know that the people in our                     sema to talk to them about the development of the
       churches in New Jersey, Iowa, and Washington                           church during those years. I believe that they have
       will be thankful that they were able to see the slides                 also asked Rev. C. Hanko to speak to them.
       of Singapore and also to meet with Rev. den Hartog.
       We are certainly thankful to God for the work that                           The consistory of First Protestant Reformed
       He has performed through Rev. den Hartog in                            Church, Edmonton, Alberta has "decided to make
       Singapore. In a heathen land, the Scriptures and                       the term of office of the deacons to be the same as
       those who trust in them stand out as shining lights                    that for elders; it has therefore been changed from
       in the midst of darkness. The church can not exist                     two years to three years, as the consistory felt that
       without them, as this quote from Covenant Prot-                        two years was too short a time to begin and effec-
       estant Reformed Church's bulletin informs us: "for                     tively carry out the work required by the office."
       this reason Scripture has by divine ordinance, been                          What about the church building in New Jersey?
       made so necessary, -that it pertains not only to the                   "The steps were installed last week on the inside of
       well-being of the church, but to its very being, so                    the building. We hope that the work of the electri-
       that now the church cannot exist without the Scrip-                    cian will also soon be finished."
       ture" (Turretin).                                                                                                               DH


