     STANDARD
          BEAR.ER  -
c           A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE                                      .




     The wonder of grace is that God rewards His
     own work that He performs through us. In
     the day of judgment all of our own works,
     that we have produce-d, will be consumed
     like straw and stubble in the fire. Nothing
     will remain except Christ's work in us, which
     will be rewarded with a crown of glory and
     with our own personal place in Christ's king-
     dom. All of Christ, none of self.                         `.
       See "Justified Solely in Christ' ' - page 338




.                                               Volume LIX, No. 15, May I,1983    -


338                                                               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.
       Justified Solely in Christ. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .338        Editor-in-Chief:  Prof. Homer C. Hoeksema
                                                                                     Department Editors: Rev. Wayne Bekkering, Rev. Wilbur Bruinsma, pev. Ronald
  Editorial -                                                                        Cammenga,  Rev. Arie  denHartog,  Prof. Robert D. Decker, Rev.  Richard  Fhk-
                                                                                     kema,  Rev. Cornelius Hanko, Prof. Herman Hanko, Mr. David Harbach, Rev.
       Our Calling as Protestant Reformed,                                           John A. Heys, Rev. Kenneth Koole, Rev. Ja Kortering, Rev. George C. Lubbers,
                                                                                     Rev. Rodney Miersma, Rev.  Marinus S 5
                                                                                                                                   C  Ipper, Rev. James Slopsema, Rev.
          Churches to be Specific (1). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .341            Gise J. Van Baren,  Rev. Herman Veldman.
                                                                                     Editorial Office: Prof. H.C. Hoeksema
  My Sheep Hear My Voice -                                                                            4975 Ivanrest Ave. S.W.
                                                                                                      Grandville, Michigan 49418
       Letter to Timothy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .344      Church News Editor:  Mr. David Harbach
                                                                                                          4930 Ivanrest Ave., Apt. B
  Taking Heed to the Doctrine -                                                                           Grandville, Michigan49418
       God's Providence and Sin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .346             Editorial Policy: Every editor is solely responsible for the contents  pf his own
                                                                                     articles. Contributions of general interest from our readers and questIons for the
                                                                                     Question-Box Department are welcome. Contributions  will.be limited to ap
  From Holy Writ -                                                                   proximately 300 words and must be neatly written or typewntten,  and must be
                                                                                     signed. Copy deadlines are the first and the fifteenth of the  month.  All com-
       Believing All the Prophetic Scriptures. . . . . . . . .349                    munications relative to the contents should be sent to the editorial office.
  The Lord Gave the Word -                                                           Reprint Policy: Permission is hereby granted for the reprinting of articles in our
                                                                                     magazine by other publications, provided:  a] that such reprinted  arttcles are
       Missionary Methods (15) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .351            reproduced in full; b) that proper acknowledgement is made!  c) that a copy of the
                                                                                     periodical in which such reprint appears is sent to our editorial office.
  Report From Singapore. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .353            Business Office: The Standard Bearer
                                                                                                      Mr. H. Vander  Wal, Bus. Mgr.                 PH: (616) 2432953
  Faith of Our Fathers -                                                                              P.O. Box 6064
                                                                                                      Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506
       NiceneCreed..............................355                                  New  Zealand Business  Office: The Standard Bearer
                                                                                                                      c/o  Protestant Reformed Fellowship
  Guest Article -                                                                                                     B. VadHerk,  66 Fraser St.
                                                                                                                      Wainuiomata, New Zealand
       The Covenant and the Atonement . . . . . . . . . . . .357                     Subscription Policy: Subscription price, $10.50 per year. Unless a definite request
                                                                                     for discontinuance is received, it is assumed that the subscriber wishes the sub-
  Book Review. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .359    scription to continue without the formality of a renewal order, and he  will be
                                                                                     billed for renewal. If you have a change of address, please notify the  Busmess
  News From Our Churches. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .360                 Office as early as possible in order to avoid the inconvenience of delayed deli-
                                                                                     very. Include your Zip Code.
                                                                                     Advertising Policy: The Standard Bearer does not accept commercial.advertising  of
                                                                                     any kind. Announcements of church and school events, anniversaries, obituaries,
                                                                                     and sympathy resolutions will be placed for a $3.00 fee. These should be sent to
                                                                                     the Business Office and should be accompanied by the $3.00 fee. Deadline for
                                                                                     announcements is the 1st or the 15th of the month, previous to publication on the
                                                                                     15th or the 1st respectively.
                                                                                     Bound Volumes:  The Business Office will  acce t standing orders  for bound
                                                                                     copies of the current volume; such orders are  llled
                                                                                                                                           P  as soon as  possible after
                                                                                     completion of a volume. A limited number of past volumes may be obtained
                                                                                     through the Business Office.

MEDITATION


                                       Justified Solely in .Christ
                                                                          Rev. C. Hanko

                    Ques. 62. But why cannot our good works be the whole, or part of our righteousness before
                 God?
                    Ans. Because, that the righteousness, which can be approved of  before the tribunal of God,
                must be absolutely perfect, and in all respects conformable to the divine law; and also, that our
                best works in this life are all impetiect and defiled with sin.
                    Ques. 63. What! do not our good works merit, which yet God will reward in this and in a
                future life?
                    Ans. This reward is not of merit, but ofgrace.
                    Ques. 64. But doth not this doctrine make men careless and profane? '
                    Ans. By no means: for it is impossible that those, W/IO  are implanted into Christ by a &ue
                faith, should not bring forth  fruits of thankfulness.                            Lord's Day 24. Heidelberg Catechism.


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                             339



  God justifies the ungodly.                              speaks contrary to fact. A mother may see no fault
  That is the keynote that resounds throughout            in her little darling, so that when he is accused of
Lord's Day 23 and which we hear again in this             having done some wrong in school the mother
Lord's Day as we are once more placed before the          arises in his defence, saying, "My boy would never
judgment seat of the living God.                          do a thing like -that." But God is not a man that He
                                                          should lie. His verdict is a true verdict, based on
  We hear His verdict pronounced over us: Not             strictest justice. God justifies the ungodly in His
guilty! He finds no reason to condemn or to punish        eternal righteousness.
us, for He sees no transgression and, therefore, no
guilt whatsoever.                                           For God justifies His people in Christ. Eternally
                                                          He gave them to Christ, and made them one with
  Before we have fully recovered from our amaze-          Him, even as branches of a vine. We were in Christ
ment we hear the divine declaration that we are           from eternity. We were in Christ when He brought
righteous in God's sight, perfectly obedient and in       the sacrifice for sin on Calvary. When He suffered
all respects comformable to the divine law.* God          and died, we suffered and died in Him, so com-
calls us His beloved saints, chosen and precious in       pletely as if we in our own bodies had atoned for
His sight. He assures us of His divine approval and       our sins and merited eternal approval of God.
favor, His covenant fellowship now and eternally.         Christ assures us of this by His indwelling Spirit in
In the great Day of days He will greet us with the        our hearts. We are knit to Him by a bond of living
hearty welcome, "Come, thou blessed, and inherit          faith, whereby we confess that we belong to our
the kingdom that is laid away for thee."                  faithful Savior Jesus Christ, `in life, in death, with
  For us that can only mean one thing, God justi-         body and with soul. We are transformed into His
fies the ungodly.                                         likeness in true knowledge, righteousness, and holi-
  For my conscience condemns me that I have and           ness as saints in Christ Jesus.
do transgress God's commands in all that I say and          Christ alone is all our righteousness. No sin of
do, even every day and every second of the day. I         the past, present, or future can separate us from the
transgress, not merely one or two commands, but           love of God in Him. On the other hand, nothing
all. I admit that when the law is read in the public      that my hand might bring can add to that' perfect
worship on Sunday my conscience accuses me, es-           righteousness which is ours in our Lord. It is all of
pecially in regard to this or that command, yet a bit     faith, all works excluded!
of introspection convinces me that I transgress
every single one of God's commands.                         What! no merit?
  Even so, I have not sufficiently cleared my con-          At this point many voices raise a storm of protest.
science. Shamefacedly I must admit that I not only        What? No works? No merit?
transgress, but also fail to obey God's commands. I         The error of salvation by works is as old, as this
must daily confess sins of commission, but also of        world since the fall in paradise.
omission, for I do not do that which I should do. I         Adam and Eve did not face this problem before
do not love the Lord my God with my whole being.          the fall. When they awoke in the morning they
This becomes evident to me even in my prayers, in         were eager to start another day in devotion to their
which Christ teaches me to make as my chief de-           God. They delighted in all the marvels of God's
sire, "Hallowed be Thy Name." At best I stammer           creation. They joined their voices with the  ,whole
this petition, yet this does not permeate all my          creation in praise to their Maker. With dominion
prayers. How little I actually live to the glory of my    over all the creatures they busied themselves all
God!                                                      day long with serving God. The thought never
  I can hide behind no excuses. There are no ex-          occurred to them that they should have some time
tenuating circumstances to which I might appeal. I        to themselves, much less that they should be re-
cannot even promise to improve my way, for I real-        warded for their labors. Theirs was a service of
ize that "I am evil, born in sin." God desires truth      loving devotion, a foretaste of heavenly perfection,
within. My conscience accuses me that I am the            where the saints tell the praises of Godin complete
chief of sinners.                                         surrender to Him!
  Yet God declares me righteous by His own testi-          But immediately after the fall our first parents
mony in the Scriptures and by His Spirit in my            sought to cover themselves with their own fig
heart (I John 320).         -                             leaves, still not realizing that no cover could be
  The question forces itself upon us, How is that         found anywhere apart from the atoning blood of
possible? One might possibly assume that God              the Savior. Their son Cain brought the firstfruits of
                                                          his crop, expecting God to appreciate his gifts.
* See the answer to question 62 above.                    Israel boasted that they were the people of the Lord


     340                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



     in distinction from all other nations, as if they had a    wanting?
     special merit in the sight of God. From them were            We readily confess that we serve God, not out of
     born the sect of the Pharisees, who needed no              anything in ourselves, but because the love of God
     Savior, because their good works far exceeded the          is poured out in us. We are unprofitably servants,
     requirements of God's law, whereby they would              who never do more than our duty. Christ performs
     merit prominent sea-ts in heaven. We need only add         His work of love in and through us. We are the in-
     to that basic error of the Roman Catholic Church,          struments, even the willing instruments, who by
     of the Pelagians and Arminians of various sorts,           His grace may confess, as a Dutch Psalm expresses
     and of the preachers who proclaim a social gospel,         it, "My service of love to Thee has never yet vexed
     and we realize that the sinful pride of self-righ-         me."*
     teousness is rooted in our very nature. Throughout
     Paul's entire epistle to the Romans, as well as the          The wonder of grace is that God rewards His
     epistle to the Galatians, the Spirit warns us that if      own work that He performs through us. In the day
     our salvation is of faith, then all works are ex-          of judgment all of our own works, tlhat we have
     cluded, and if of works, then our faith means noth-        produced, will be consumed like straw and stubble
     ing.                                                       in the fire. Nothing will remain except Christ's
                                                                work in us, which will be rewarded with a crown of
       Yet the question persists, does not Scripture            glory and with our own personal place in Christ's
     speak of a certain merit? According to our sinful          kingdom. All of Christ, none of self.
     nature we can understand the vehement protest of
     the objector, "What! do not our good works merit,                 "Does not this doctrine make men careless and
     which yet God will reward in this and in a future          profane?"
     life?"                                                       From an entirely different direction arises a new
       There are numerous passages in Scripture that            objection. If we cannot merit salvation and the
     assure the people of God of a reward. In the Old           benefits of salvation by our own works, why do
     Testament, Israel is told, "If ye walk in My ways,         them? This is the argument of the antinomian in us.
     and keep My commandments, thou shalt eat of the              Our old sinful nature raises the argument that,
     fruit of the land and prosper." Also in the New            since we are righteous in Christ we need not strive
     Testament, Jesus tells His disciples that no one has       for holiness and perfection. Or again, what differ-
     left father or mother, field or houses for His sake,       ence does it make if we sin, since our sins are for-
     but is richly rewarded both in this life and in the        given anyway? Or even, we should taste the evils of
     life to come. When Jesus speaks of the final judg-         sin, in order that we may fully enjoy the rich bene-
     ment in Matthew 25, He assures us that those will          fit of forgiveness.
     be welcomed into the kingdom who have fed Him                To this the child of God responds: God forbid!
     when He was hungry, gave Him to drink when He              How shall I, as a new creature in Christ, still sin
     was thirsty, took Him in as a stranger, clothed Him        against my God? Can Christ in me grow careless
     when He was naked, and visited Him when He was             and profane? Can the Spirit of Christ condone sin in
     sick or in prison.                                         me? On the contrary, it is Christ Who makes me
       It is in this assurance that the believers live and      sincerely willing to walk in all good works, to abhor
     die, for they have Christ's promise, "Behold, I            sin and to flee from it. The approval and fellowship
     come quickly; and My reward is with Me, to give            with God means more to us than life itself.
     every man according as his works shall be."                       Christ's righteousness is not like a coat that we
       Our Catechism points out that, "This reward is           put on or shed at leisure, but we are God's work-
     not of merit, but of grace." To this every sincere         manship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works,
     child of God readily agrees.                               which God hath before ordained that we should
      Imagine a father in the home who figures out              walk in them.
                                                                       That work of God is crowned with His blessing.
I    exactly how many hours he works for each
     member of the family and holds them obligated to           To Him be the glory, now and unto endless eterni-
     him accordingly. Or imagine a mother who expects           ty!
     commensurate wages for every hour that she                 * "Uw liefde dienst heeft mij nog nooit verdroten."
     spends scrubbing floors, washing dishes, caring for
     the children and feeding the baby, along with time
     and a half pay for every hour of overtime that she                           Read and Study
I    spends when the family is sick. Or again, imagine a
     child who will obey his parents and run errands                        The Standard  Becrrer
I    only if he receives a proper reward. What kind of
     home would we have if love and acts of love were


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



EDITORIAL


            Our Calling as Protestant Reformed
                         Churches to be Specific (1)
                                               Prof. H. C. Hoeksema




  For various reasons which will become clear, I              THE REFORMATION OF THE CHURCH
trust, as we proceed, I am intending to write an oc-         It is the solemn obligation of the believer, we
casional editorial on the subject which heads this         said (in a previous message, HCH), to seek and join
article. As churches, we must be specific. We must         himself to the true church, the purest manifestation
not be generally Christian. We must not be known           of the body of Christ on earth, distinguished by
or try to be known merely as "conservative," nor           purity in preaching, by proper administration of
even as "conservatively" Reformed. But we must             the holy sacraments, and by faithful exercise of
be clearly, unmistakably,  specificaZZy  Protestant Re-    Christian discipline. To this we now add that, when
formed. We have a distinctively Protestant Re-             the true believer has found this church and lives in
formed heritage. By that heritage we have always           her fellowship, it is also his sacred calling as well as
been known over the years. And by that heritage            his earnest desire to seek the good, the true, spiritu-
we must continue to be known.                              al well-being of that church. And to this calling be-
  This implies necessarily that this distinctively         longs the obligation of constant vigilance lest the
Protestant Reformed heritage must be preserved.            church become deformed and corrupt, and to work
And it implies that this heritage must be passed on        for the continued reformation of the church.
in our generations. Moreover, the passing on of this         Always the church in the world faces the danger
heritage in our churches is primarily-though not           of deformation. Within and without, forces are at
exclusively-the responsibility of the office of the        work constantly that tend to lead her astray, to per-
minister, the task of the pulpit and of the catechism      suade her to apostatize from the truth of the Word
class. It is also the calling of homes and parents. It     of God, to tempt her to depart from the way of the
is also the responsibility of various other agencies       precepts of her Lord in walk and conversation, to
and functions in the circle of our churches. But the       profane the holy sacraments, and to grow lax in the
first responsibility lies with our pulpits and with        exercise of Christian discipline. The reasons for this
those who are charged with the work of the minis-          are evident. The church in the world is never per-
try and the oversight of that work.                        fect. Always there is the carnal seed, those that are
  About this and about the dangers of being and            in the church but not of her, that are outwardly in
becoming less than specific, as well as about what it      her fellowship, but are devoid of her spiritual life.
means to be specific-and I shall be concrete in this       This is the plain teaching of Scripture; and it is
regard-I intend to write.                                  corroborated by experience and by the history of
  While I was doing some research in connection            the church of all ages.
with these planned editorials, I came across a radio          A great multitude it was that followed Moses out
sermon by the late Rev. Herman Hoekzema which              of Egypt. And concerning them the apostle Paul
was delivered in 1945. It was part of a series on the      writes: "Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye
general subject of  The Church.  Its title is "The         should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were
Reformation Of The Church." When I perused it              under the cloud, and all passed through the sea;
once again, I came to the conclusion that this radio       and were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and
sermon not only was in several aspects in line with        in the sea; And did all eat the same spiritual meat;
what I intended to write, but that it could also serve     and did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they
as a fitting introduction to this series of editorials     drank of the spiritual Rock that followed them: and
and furnish helpful background. I am therefore re-         that Rock was Christ. But with many of them God
printing this radio message which was originally           was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in
made available in mimeo form.                              the wilderness" (I Cor. lO:l-5). And the epistle to


342                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



the Hebrews, referring to this same fact in the lan-        preaching of the gospel, are tangible proof of this
guage of Psalm 95, reminds us of the day of tempta-         truth. Always the church is in sore need of hearing
tion in the wilderness, when these same fathers             the admonition of the Scriptures: "Beware, lest any
tempted God, until He swore in His great wrath              man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit,
that they should no-t enter into His rest. And they         after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of
did not enter because of unbelief (Heb. 3:7,ff.) And        the world, and not after Christ" (Col.  2:s). And
the epistle to the Romans in its ninth chapter postu-       again, "Be ye not unequally yoked together with
lates the principle that God's sovereign election and       unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteous-
reprobation cut right through the church in the             ness with unrighteousness? and what communion
world, so that it is always true that not all are Israel    hath light with darkness? And what concord hath
that are of Israel. The Lord Jesus compares the             Christ with Belial? or what part hath. he that  be-
gathering of the church in the world to a field into        lieveth with an infidel? And what agreement hath
which the good seed is sown, but also the tares, and,       the temple of God with idols? . ..Wherefore come
the two shall not be separated until the end of the         out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the
world, when "the Son of man shall send forth His            Lord, and touch not the unclean thing, and I will re-
holy angels, and they shall gather out of His king-         ceive you" (II Cor. 6:14-17).
dom all things that offend, and them which do
iniquity; and shall cast them into a furnace of fire"         The process by which a church yields to these
(Matt. 13:41, 42). And again, He likens this gather-        forces of corruption, so that she finally becomes a
ing to "a net, that was cast into the sea, and gath-        prey to them, is not difficult to describe. There is,
ered of every kind: Which, when it was full, they           first of all, the gradual corruption of its doctrine.
drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good          This doctrinal decline usually begins within the
into vessels, and cast the bad away."                       church itself. The preaching of the Word loses its
                                                            distinctive note. It becomes general and vague. No
  The carnal element, therefore, is always in the           longer does it emphasize sound doctrine. A superfi-
church on earth. It arises from within; for all the         cial message, delivered in fifteen or twenty
children of believers are not children of the prom-         minutes, permeated by all kinds of stories, must
ise. And it joins itself frequently to the church from      suffice. There is no longer heard the clear call to
without. Never can they be completely eliminated.           live in sanctification and separation from the
A pure church of believers only we must never ex-           world. Light and darkness are  mingle'd into a gray
pect in the world.                                          and heavy mist, in which no one can distinguish
  To this must be added, first of all, that believers       the one from the other. Instruction of children and
themselves are not perfect. They have a principle of        of the youth of the church is neglected. Soon an
the new life in Christ, a beginning of the new obedi-       appalling ignorance in regard to the most funda-
ence. And according to that regenerated life they           mental truths of the Christian faith is the result.
love the Word of God and are desirous to walk ac-           Thus the church becomes an easy prey to every
cording to the will of God in the world. But their          wind of doctrine, and to the ungodly influence of
old nature remains with them as long as they are in         the philosophy of the world. And especially in our
the body of this death. The operations of sin con-          modern day these influences are many and mani-
tinue in them. And, secondly, the church is in the          fold, and are exerted upon us through many means
world, with its false philosophy, its opposition to         and avenues: the spoken word of the false teacher,
the truth of the gospel, its lust of the flesh, and lust    the radio (and television, HCH),  and1 the printed
of the eyes, and pride of life, its temptations and         page.
persecutions.                                                 Concomitant with this corruption in. doctrine is a
  Hence, it may truly be said that from a natural           definite degradation of the very standards of life of
viewpoint, the church occupies a precarious posi-           such a church. Discipline is, of course, no longer
tion. The flesh within her is opposed to the truth of       exercised. Anyone is welcome to join, regardless of
the Word of God, and hates the way of God's pre-            his confession and walk. The sabbath is desecrated.
cepts. It loves the lie, and seeks to satisfy its carnal    The church-pews become empty. Soon it is com-
lusts. And in this carnal element within the church         pelled to close its doors in the evening for lack of an
the world without with its philosophy and vain de-          audience. Its members seek enjoyment elsewhere.
ceit, finds a powerful ally. Because of the presence        They become friends of the world. They sing and
and operation of these forces of evil the church is in      dance with the world; they attend theaters and
constant danger of apostasy from the truth and of           movies with the world; they have their card parties
amalgamation with the world. The many places of             and drinking parties with the world; they join the
formal worship in our land, from whose pulpits              society of this world; they speak as and look like
once the clear sound of the pure Word of God was            the children of the world. Christ and the devil seem
heard, but in which one now seeks in vain the               to have joined hands; righteousness and  unrigh-


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                              343



teousness have become an indistinguishable                 church is in the world, but not of the world. Yet,
corruption that is still called religion. The church       our fathers of the sixteenth century did not face the
has become a silly company of adulterers, and the          same problems the church of today confronts. Then
Lord spews her out of His mouth.                           life was comparatively simple, now it is complicat-
  It is difficult to determine just which of these two     ed. Then there were but few different churches,
is first, decline in doctrine or spiritual degeneracy,     now winds of doctrine blow from all directions,
and which must be regarded as the cause of the             and there is no end of heresies and sects. Then the
other. Certain it is that they go together. For a time     church could live in relative isolation from the
it may seem possible to maintain a certain dead            world; now, through modern inventions of steam
orthodoxy, a soundness of doctrine in the face of a        and electricity, auto and airplane, telegraph and
growing laxity in regard-to the life of sanctification;    telephone and radio, the world is literally on top of
but such a situation cannot continue for any length        her. (And how things have changed even since this
of time. And, on the other hand, for a while it may        was written less than 40 years ago! HCH) The prob-
appear as if a church can maintain a certain stan-         lems of worldlimindedness, of dancing and theater
dard of Christian living without the pure preaching        attendance, of sabbath desecration, of divorce,
of the Word and instruction in sound doctrine, but         unionism, and the like, were virtually unknown, in
also this soon proves to be impossible. There is,          their present form at least; today they are acute.
therefore, a reciprocal relationship between the           And with respect to that changing and developing
two. On the one hand, ignorance in regard to the           form of the world, the church must constantly give
truth and laxity in the preaching of the Word are          herself account of her calling, and determine her
conducive to degradation in respect to life and            position, that is, understand the will of her Lord,
walk. But on the other hand, where discipline is not       and keep it. She needs continuous reformation in
exercised, and the life and walk of the church             order to remain stedfast, unmoveable, and abound
members becomes carnal and worldly, the carnal             in the work of the Lord.
element of the church will soon clamor for a                 Hence, the church has the sacred obligation to
preaching that justifies their sinful walk, choose for     watch, and to labor with a view to this continued.
themselves teachers after their own carnal desire,         reformation.
and silence the voice of the Word of God.
  Because of these forces of evil within and with-           Everywhere this calling is emphasized in
out, and because of this danger that the church be-        Scripture. She must grow in the knowledge of the
comes corrupt and moves in the direction of the            Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure
false church, she is in need of continued reforma-         of the stature of the fulness of Christ, that her mem-
tion.                                                      bers be no longer children, tossed to and fro, and
  Just as the individual believer is in need of con-.      carried about with every wind of doctrine (Eph.
stant conversion, so the church, if she is to              4:13, 14). She must repent and do the former
remain true, must pass through a continuous pro-           works, Revelation  2:5; be faithful unto death, Rev-
cess of reformation. And what is true of the conver-       elation 2: 10; put away false prophets and their doc-
sion of the individual Christian, that it consists of a    trine, Revelation  2:15, 16; and all fornicators, Rev-
putting off of the old, and a putting on of the new        elation 2:2Off.; hold fast that which she has, Revela-
man, is applicable to the church: she must repent,         tion 2:25; be watchful, and strengthen that which is
hate sin and flee from it, but also positively grow in     ready to die, Revelation 3:2. And if she fails to hear
grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus               the Word of her Lord, He will reject her and spew
Christ. Wherever a church reveals even the first           her out of His mouth. This, to be sure, is first of all
tendency to depart from the truth and yield to the         the calling of the institute of the church, of her
influence of false doctrine, or to lose her first love     ministry and overseers, but not so that  the'indivi-
and become lax in Christian living, she must repent        dual members have no calling and responsibility at
and return to the way of truth and righteousness.          all in this respect. They, too, must hear the Word,of
But she must also positively increase in the know-         their Lord, watch against intrusion of false teachers
ledge of the truth, become stronger in the faith,          and evil men, and raise their voice in protest
more firmly rooted in Christ, and abound in love           against the church institute, wherever and
and spiritual discernment, in order that she may ap-       whenever she departs from the truth and becomes
prove that which is excellent, and be filled with          unfaithful and corrupt in walk and conversation.
fruits of righteousness. Moreover, she must also           Either in cooperation with the official institute, or
constantly adjust her position over against and in         in protest against her, every believer has the calling
the midst of a changing world. Fundamentally, the          to labor for the constant reformation of the church.
world, in its evil sense, and the position of the            But what to do, if in the church of which you are
church over against it, are always the same: the           member the carnal element begins to dominate?


344                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



What if the institute of the church itself becomes           very seriously. Needless to say, one dare not take
corrupt, the Word of God is adulterated, the sacra-          this final step lightly. For minor reasons or personal
ments are profaned, false teachers and their winds           prejudices no one may apply this measure. On the
of doctrine are tolerated and welcomed, and Chris-           other hand, if one stands before the alternative of
tian discipline is no longer exercised? What if the          denying the Word of God or leaving  ,a certain in-
officebearers will no longer be servants of Christ,          stitute, if it becomes a question of defending and re-
but lord it over the flock? What if they turn a deaf         maining in a certain institute on earth or preserving
ear to all your protests against their evil way? And         the true church, the purest  manifestcation  of the
what if they grow wanton, demand that you sub-               body of Christ on earth, no true believer may hesi-
scribe to their false doctrine, or corruption in life,       tate to take that final step. A sad spectacle it is,
or both; and if you will not be silent, they employ          indeed, to behold the visible church in the world
their official power to persecute you, and cast you          split up and divided into many different parts and
out? In that situation, the church of which you are a        sects opposing one another. But woe unto those
member reveals the marks of the false church; and            corrupters of the truth and of the life of the church
the only way in which you can continue to work for           who are the cause of this offense!
the reformation of the church is by separating your-           When the church in the world reverts to the type
self from the particular institute, and continuing           of that of Laodicea, the Lord Christ Himself is  .ex-
the true church, with its pure preaching of the              pelled from its fellowship. He stands outside,
Word of God, its proper administration of the sacra-         calling to the faithful to open the door, and promis-
ments, and its exercise of Christian discipline, in a        ing them that He will recognize them as the true
new organization.                                            church if they come out to Him. "Behold, I stand at
  Such specific reformations, in the form of seces-          the door, and knock: if any man hear My voice, and
sion and separation from a certain instituted                open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup
church, have repeatedly occurred in the history of           with him, and he with Me. He that hath an ear, let
the church of the new dispensation; and they still           him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches"
take place: And they are unavoidable, unless the             (Rev. 3:20,22).
church takes her task of continued reformation

MYSHEEP HEAR MY VOICE


                                     Letter to Timothy


                                         April 15, 1983      the danger is ever present that we fail to emphasize
Dear Timothy,                                                what Christ has done. And if we fail to emphasize
  I want to conclude our discussion of Christ-cen-           what Christ has done, then we reduce the admoni-
tered preaching in this letter to you. We have dis-          tions of Scripture to moral homilies or pertinent
cussed a number of particular illustrations of               and helpful advice or "hints for better living." And
Christ-centered preaching-illustrations from dif-            this is exactly to rob the Word of God of all its signi-
ferent kinds of biblical material. But there remains         ficance and power.
one kind of biblical material which we must still              It is well that we take a moment or two to empha-
treat. I refer to hortatory texts, i.e., texts which con-    size that also the admonitions of Scripture must be
tain admonitions.                                            preached on in such a way that these sermons too
  Perhaps especially this type of material can               are Christ-centered. There are two points here
easily become Christless. It ought not really to be          which we must notice. Even the admonitions in
that way, but it appears sometimes as if it is. I sup-       Scripture are part of the revelation of God as our
pose that if one casts about in his mind why this is         God Who has saved us through the blood of His
the case, the reason, at least in part, is that              own Son, Jesus Christ; all the admonitions of
hortatory material necessarily emphasizes  our               Scripture emphasize the fact that  Glad saves us
activity as it directs us to our calling. When the em-       through Jesus Christ as rational and moral
phasis in a text falls upon what we must do, then            creatures. But the emphasis falls upon the fact that


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  345



God  saves us-even when it needs to be stressed             this text without paying attention to the fact that
that He saves us, if I may put it that way, without         God's people are called here, "little flock"? And
doing violence to our human character. We do not,           how can he develop that important concept
as the saying goes, go to heaven in the upper berth         without going into the truth of eternal election?
of a pullman sleeper; nor are we pulled into heaven         There are, of course, many other things implied:
as a child pulls a mechanically-quacking duck along         the people of God are compared with sheep, and
the floor. It is not God's purpose or desire to save us     sheep have, according to the Bible, various charac-
in this way, because it is His will to save us in such      teristics which fit the people of God. They are
a way that we experience His salvation so that we           always, in this world, a ZittZe  flock; and this is surely
may give all the praise and glory to Him for His            one reason to be afraid. But while all these things
great grace. Admonitions in Scripture form a part of        are true, the fact remains that election stares us in
that.                                                       the face and cannot be ignored. Another example.
  It is perhaps well too to emphasize that preachers        Supposing that one is preaching out of James: "But
ought to make this explicit. It is spiritually danger-      that ye ought to say, If the Lord wills, I will do this
ous and theologically incorrect to leave this to the        or that." Certainly this is an important admonition,
understanding of the people. Sometimes this                 especially within the context in which it is found.
happens. A minister may preach what is essentially          But it seems to me to be on the surface that it is
a Christless sermon as he admonishes those in his           impossible to preach on this text without carefully
audience to do this or that; and when this is called        explaining what the will of God is. And that, in
to his attention, he responds by appealing to the           turn, will lead us to discover that, not the will of
fact that it is to be understood that he is speaking to     God's command, so called, but the will of His de-
people of God who have the grace of God in their            cree is referred to. And this in turn will surely lead
hearts. But assumptions are not enough on such              us to expound how that will centers in Christ and in
important matters. It is spirtually dangerous to do         the salvation of the church through Christ's work.
this because, on the one hand, we are all, as far as        And only when we understand this, are we able
our natures are concerned, fundamentally  Armini-           also to say, "If the Lord wills, I will do this or that."
an, because we always strive to preserve some rem-            And so we could go on. But perhaps the point is
nants of our shattered pride and keep for ourselves         sufficiently made to show that even this kind of
some element of our work in our salvation. And we           preaching is and must be Christ-centered.
need constantly to be reminded of the truth that              But there is another important aspect of this
this will never do. And, on the other hand, if the          question. It must always be remembered that the
truth of Christ is not made explicit in such preach-        preaching is addressed to the people of God. The
ing, the listening saint will only be filled with a         Scriptures are addressed  as-a whole to the church.
sense of despair as he ponders the hopelessness of          They are the church's Book, God's gracious gift to
this high and lofty calling. But it is theologically in-    His people, Christ's love-letter to His elect bride.
correct because we jerk admonitions out of the              They are specific and particular in their contents,
context of the Scriptures themselves when we do             never general and for all men. They are addressed
not make these things explicit, and present them,           in a very particular way to the saints because they
after all, as our work.                                     are the infallibly written and inspired record of
  How then can we make our hortatory preaching              God's particular revelation to His church.
Christ-centered?                                              It is true, of course, that the preaching of the
  In the first place, it is extremely important to de-      Scriptures has a broader address. This lies in the
velop carefully the  concepts  of the text. If this is      very nature of the fact that the preaching is promis-
done with care and precision and in the light of the        cuous and comes to all who hear whether elect or
Scriptures themselves, we will without fail be led to       reprobate. And God intends also that this be so, for
the fundamental truth of salvation in Jesus Christ          it is the means which God uses to accomplish His
in this way. I do not think that it is an exaggeration      purpose also in the hardening of the reprobate, for
to say, when a sermon is Christless, it is because a        God sovereignly hardens through the means of
minister has failed to pay attention to the concepts        man's unbelief. And it is for this reason that our
of the text on which he is preaching. Perhaps a few         Canons are quite clear on the point that the particu-
examples, chosen at random, will illustrate what I          lar promise of the gospel must be promiscuously
mean by this. Supposing that you are preaching on           proclaimed along with the command to repent and
the text, "Fear not, little flock; it is your Father's      believe (See Canons II, 5). But this does not alter
good pleasure to give you the kingdom." Quite ob-           our fundamental thesis. All the letters of the New
viously, the admonition' here is the calling not to be      Testament were addressed to congregations, even
afraid. And there is surely where the emphasis of           to saints, to the called, to the churches in this place
the sermon must fall. But how can one preach on             or that.


346                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



  This is true even of those texts in Scripture which      ment and constant incentive to press on in our call-
are often given some kind of universal reference.          ing. And, at the same time, it is made clear to God's
When Jesus says, in Matthew  11:28, "Come unto             people that they are enabled to do good works and
Me all ye that labor and are heavy laden. . .," He is      fulfill the admonitions of Scripture just because
speaking to His people who have experienced the            they are the recipients of grace, the objects of God's
burden of sin and guilt and who have, for that             salvation, heirs of the sanctifying work of the Holy
reason, the work of grace begun in their hearts.           Spirit. It is true that this is yet only in principle, so
When Isaiah calls, "`Ho, everyone that thirsteth;          that we have daily to humble ourselves before God,
come ye to the waters and drink. . .  ," the specific      seek His forgiveness, and constantly fight against
address is to the thirsty. And it surely must be em-       our whole evil nature with which we live all our
phasized that this is for the thirsty and for them         life long. But it is also true that, relying upon the
alone. That is, it is for them who have a deep long-       one perfect sacrifice of Christ, we have a sincere
ing for escape from their sin and guilt as they wan-       and earnest desire to live according to all the com-
der in this desert land "where all the streams are         mandments of God.
dry." But that too is the work of God.                       God's Word holds before us perfection, complete
  This particular address of the preaching must            and absolute perfection. Nothing else will do.
always be maintained. And again it must be empha-          Nothing short of this will please God. But by the
sized that this be made explicit in the preaching. It      preaching of that perfection of God's commands,
is never enough, especially in these days of ram-          we are taught how deep are the sins from which
pant Arminianism, simply to assume these things.           God delivers us, how great is the power of the
  My colleague in the Seminary drove this point            cross in which we are more than conquerors, and
home strongly to me the other day when he ob-              how blessed is the perfection which is reserved for
served that, if you stop to think about it, it has only    us in heaven towards which we wend our some-
been for very brief periods of time in the history of      times weary way and for which we long with ever
the church that the church has strongly and                greater longing-in the confident hope that the time
uncompromisingly maintained the doctrines of               will come when we shall finally be gathered with-
sovereign and particular grace. How true this is.          out spot or wrinkle in the assembly of the elect in
Always the tendency is towards Arminianism, be-            life eternal.
cause this is exactly the tendency of our own sinful         The people of God want to hear Christ speak to
flesh.                                                     them. Don't ever forget that. And they want to hear
  If we maintain this truth and make it explicit in        Christ speak to them of the work which He has per-
our preaching, then it is also true that we put all of     formed for them to save them from their sins. In
hortatory preaching in its proper context. We make         the final analysis, when everything else is said and
it clear that this is the way God saves us, that it is     done, this is all they want to hear. And that is what
God's purpose to save us in such a way that, con-          you must preach. For that is the kind of preaching
sciously experiencing His salvation, we give all           which makes God everything so that all things are
praise and glory to Him. And this conscious salva-         only to His glory now and forever.
tion becomes ours in the ways of admonition, re-                                            Fraternally in Christ,
proof, the chastisement of the Word, encourage-                                             H. Hanko

TAKING HEED TO THE DOCTRINE


                     God's Providence and Sin (5)
                                               - Rev. H. Veldman


  We concluded our last article by calling attention       we lose man's responsibility. The Arminian, we un-
to the Scriptural truth that God is free. We noted         derstand, is guilty of the same heresy. Man, he  as-
that Pelagianism would maintain a freedom for the          serts, must be free to accept the general, well-mean-
sinner in the sense that he is free, able to choose        ing offer of the gospel. To him, the preaching is
both the good and the evil. Otherwise, so he claims,       such a general, well-meaning offer of a salvation


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                             347



which the Lord would bestow upon all that hear it.         neither indeed can he be. He can therefore never
How, he objects, can God hold a sinner responsible         give the response: Yes, Lord, I love Thee. The
unless that sinner be able to accept or reject an of-      sinner can only say No to God's revelation of Him-
fered salvation; But, as we noted in our preceding         self. He can only say: Lord, I hate Thee and I refuse
article, God is free, and He is free in the eternal and    to serve and love Thee. But this response he is able
absolute sense of the word. That God is free means         to give. He can do this because he is a moral-ration-
that He, unhindered and unmolested, wills and              al being. This is man's responsibility. And this has
maintains Himself. And this freedom of the Lord            nothing to do with sovereignty, as if the sinner
surely determines our freedom. This is not freedom         determines and controls his lot and destiny.
that I can do as I please. Freedom, perfect freedom          Nevertheless, God's providence and sin are so
for me means that I will be able to serve Jehovah as
unmolested by sin, in purity of heart and life. Un-        related to one another that sin is always a deed of
derstanding this, we may conclude that man's re-           man, remains a deed of man and never of God.
sponsibility does not consist herein, that I am able       Man sins, the Lord never sins. God is sovereign,
to do the good as well as the evil; if that were the       performs all His good pleasure, and this good pleas-
case, we would never be able to speak of man's re-         ure is all-comprehensive in the absolute sense of
sponsibility, of man as a moral, responsible being.        the word, including sin. Man, although never
Fact is, he cannot be subject to the law of God.           sovereignly free, is always morally free. He never
Hence, if man's responsibility consists in his ability     sins because he is forced to sin. We are reminded,
to do good and that, refusing to choose the good, he       in this connection, of the Word of God in Acts 2:23:.
is therefore responsible, then there is simply no re-      "Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel
sponsibility of the sinner. But Scripture surely           and foreknowledge of God ye have taken, and by
teaches man's responsibility.                              wicked hands have crucified and slain." Notice
                                                           how both truths are maintained in this word of
   Speaking of the freedom of a sinner, we may ob-         Peter: God's sovereignty and man's responsibility.
serve that only Adam ever had a free will. Adam            The Lord Jesus Christ was delivered, we read, by
was created good. There was no imperfection in             the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
him. He could choose the good, the service of the          God. How this is emphasized throughout the Word
living God Who had created him But he could also,          of God! Does not the Saviour declare that the Son of
by an act of the will, choose to ally himself with the     Man goes as it is written of Him? Is not the entire
devil, to disobey the command of his Maker *which          program of His suffering set forth in all the Old
was not to eat of the forbidden fruit. This freedom        Testament Scriptures, especially in the prophecy of
of the will was Adam's alone. The sinner, as apart         Isaiah, called the Old Testament evangelist?
from Christ, cannot possibly choose the good. He is        Indeed, He was delivered by the determinate coun-
not, cannot be, subject to the law of God. And the         sel and foreknowledge of the Most High. The cruci-
elect sinner, called out of darkness into God's            fixion of the Man of Sorrows is attributed here
wonderful light, cannot choose the evil. It is true        directly to the will of God, to His foreknowledge.
that he is holy only in principle and that therefore       And this word, we must understand, does not
much evil cleaves to him and that the movements            simply mean that the Lord had prior knowledge of
of sin continue in his members. But the Word of            it, knew of it in advance, but it means that this
God teaches us, as especially in the epistles of the       knowledge is foreknowledge because it determined
apostle John, that that which is born of God cannot        His crucifixion! God's knowledge does not follow
sin.                                                       upon the existence of things. It precedes the
   Speaking of man's responsibility, the responsibil-      existence of things, determines them. This is what
ity of the sinner is never to be identified or con-        we have in Acts  2:23. But we have more in this
fused with sovereignty. Responsibility is a                Word of God. We also read here: "ye have taken,
compound word, consisting of two parts: response           and by wicked hands have crucified and slain."
and ability, meaning therefore the ability to              This is man's sin. And, mind you, we have taken
respond. The Lord has revealed Himself in all the          Him, by wicked hands have crucified and slain
works of His hands and also in the infallible Scrip-       Him. Man is a moral-rational, resonsible being.
tures. In all this revelation of Himself the Lord          They crucified and slew Him by  wicked  hands.
speaks only one language: I alone am God and               They acted wickedly. They were not forced or com-
therefore must be served and loved with all one's          pelled to do this, contrary to their own desires.
heart and mind and soul and strength. And the              Wicked hands took Him and crucified Him. We
sinner is able to respond to this divine revelation by     performed this heinous crime because we willed to
God of Himself. An animal cannot respond to it. But        do it. We were morally free. And, yet, it occurred
the sinner can. Of course, he can give only one re-        by God's determinate counsel and foreknowledge.
sponse. He is not subject to the law of God and            Fact is, the crucifixion of our Lord was surely  di-


348                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



vinely willed. But let us understand, it was divinely     the Lord do all these things"? From where else
willed, sovereignly, as an act of `the sinner. Christ     would sin come, sovereignly, if not from Jehovah?
was slain by wicked hands.                                But wholly different is the conception of author. An
   This should enable us to understand somewhat           author is the conscious, active  perpetr,ator, doer of
the relation between the providence of God and            a deed, himself spiritually in accord with the same.
sin. Sin is always a deed of man, never of the Lord.      An author, therefore, of sin is he who loves
Man, although never sovereignly free, remains             iniquity, does iniquity because he desires it, and
morally free. The sinner, of course, never possesses      who is consciously free, unmolested in his sin. We
the true freedom of the service of Jehovah, yet he is     therefore reject all determinism, as if man would be
consciously, morally free. Man is a rational-moral        a mere stock or block, but we maintain him as a
being, is therefore a responsible creature. An ani-       responsible free-moral agent. In this  :sense of the
mal is not God-conscious and therefore it never acts      word the Lord is never the author of sin, but He
in a conscious relation to the Lord. Whatever man         hates sin with all that is in Him, although He is its
does, however, he does as in relation to God. He is       sovereign origin and cause. The Lord is indeed a
God-conscious because he has been created as              light and there is no darkness in Him at all. He
adapted to God. He is, by virtue of His creation,         never tempts the sinner, we read in James 1, and
image-bearer of the Lord. Hence, he understands           He is never tempted with evil. Never does sin ever
intellectually the speech of God in creation and in       have any effect upon Him. Sin is always the active
the Scriptures. Whatever he does he performs most         operation of our nature against the living God; man
decidedly in relation to God. He hates the Lord or        always rejoices in it. So, the operation of the Lord,
he loves Him. He walks either from the principle of       in connection with evil, is always so that man is its
enmity or of love. He seeks the glory of the alone        author, doing it not because he is forced to do so,
living God or he opposes that God. He is never neu-       but as the desire of his own heart and mind. Hence,
tral. This is his rational-moral nature, always walk-     when the Lord sovereignly and eternally wills sin,
ing in a conscious relation to his Creator. And this      in His eternal good pleasure, He wills it as being
consciousness of the Lord determines and estab-           committed by a sinner, the author of all his evil and
lishes his responsibility. We must understand this        iniquity. This relation between God  (and evil we
correctly. He is not free in the true, spiritual sense    must always bear in mind. The Lord is too pure of
of the word, as if he for one moment would be             eyes to behold sin and iniquity. The eternal love by
independent of the Lord. In this sense he will ever       God of Himself and His hatred of and. aversion to
remain the instrument of the Lord, His agent, ab-         sin and evil can never be stressed too e:mphatically.
solutely controlled and directed by Him Who does          Sin is always far from the Lord. And this also ap-
all things according to His sovereign will and            plies to the sinner. Any fellowship between the
purpose. But the sinner is relatively, morally free,      holy and righteous God is therefore inconceivable
always in complete subjection to the Lord. For in         with the sinner; this conception violates the very
the final analysis we may not speak of man as a           essence of the alone living God.
mere instrument, inasmuch as an instrument is               This surely places us before an unfathomable
wholly passive. Man, however, is an active, moral         mystery. This we readily concede and confess. Man
creature. He is spiritually, morally free in his sin.     is a free-responsible being. He performs iniquity
He sins consciously, not because he must and is           because he loves it. He is unmolested in his sin-
compelled to do so, but because he wills evil. He         ning, is never coerced. And he never wills or
sins out of himself, spontaneously and voluntarily,       desires anything else than sin, is a slave of iniquity,
is never forced to commit, but always remains the         but always a very willing slave. He is free, but only
conscious author of his own evil. This is the             in this moral sense of the word. And God is the
sinner's moral freedom, his morally free will, that       living God! He alone is God. We cannot afford to
he sins as rejoicing therein, choosing the evil al-       lose this truth. If we lose this truth, then we surely
ways as the object of his own desire and will. This       lose God. And then we lose all. However, we will
truth is surely Scriptural.                               continue with this in our following article.
  Herein lies the distinction between origin and
author. We do well to bear this in mind, also when
we read the Canons of Dordt, when our Reformed                 The  Standard  Bearer
fathers emphasize that the cause of iniquity lies in
man. An origin is the willing, determining cause,           makes a thoughtfLl1 gift
the source of everything. That man sins surely has
its sovereign origin in the Lord. Do not the                    for many occasions.
Scriptures declare in Isaiah  45:7, "I form the light,
and create darkness: I make peace and create evil: I


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                            349



FROM HOLY WRIT


             Believing All the Prophetic Scriptures
                                                Rev. G. Lubbers




                     Cbapter VI                           between Abraham and Mount Sinai, the time of the
                                                          "Lawgiving," he has made it impossible for himself
           The "Seven Dispensations" of the               to do justice to the great "Promise" as given already
               Scofield Bible - continued                 by God Himself in Paradise to Adam and Eve at the
  Our starting-point in reviewing the "Seven Dis-         very dawn of history. He has cut the doings of God,
pensations" of Scofield is taken from the Word of         His dealings with man, in such a way that there is
God in II Corinthians 1:20, where we read, "for all       no grand Promise of God which reaches across the
the promises of God in Him (for whatsoever prom-          ages! He really cannot say with Paul "whatsoever
ises of God there are) are yea, and in Him Amen to        promises of God there are, these are (the) Yea, and
the glory of God by us. " Fact is that in the Greek       (the) Amen in Christ"!-
text these promises are "the Yea'! and "the Amen."           Such handling of the Scriptures is not a "rightly
And they are emphatically thus to God's glory! This       dividing of the Word of truth." But it is a mutilation
means that there are definitely no promises in the        of the unity of the Promise, and that too beyond
entire O.T. prophetic Scriptures, which have not          recognition. These sound like strong words. Be it
been fulfilled in Christ. Many are these promises of      so; they are true words. That will be the burden of
God which are recorded throughout these holy              what we hope further to write about this grandiose
Scriptures, which many, many promises, in divers          error! It is one of the winds of false teaching which
times and seasons, have all been fulfilled in Christ's    sweeps through the church here in our land.
death, resurrection, ascension, and glorification at
God's right hand (Heb. 1: l-4).                              Let us take a bit closer look at these "seven dis-
                                                          pensations" of Scofieldian Dispensationalism.
  The "things concerning  me" have an end! (Luke
22;37).                                                      We begin with the first "dispensation," which he
                                                          named "Dispensation of 
  These "things concerning                                                             Innocence."  This must
                               me"  are written in all
the law and the prophets, from Genesis  1:l to            then refer to the brief span of time from the crea-
Malachi  4:6. And their "end" is that Christ, by be-      tion of our first parents on the sixth day till the day
ing numbered with the transgressors, will surely          of the Fall through Satan's temptation in Paradise.
bring His church to glory, and shall see seed of a        How Scofield came to designate this time as a time
numberless throng of His redeemed church, who             of "innocence" we can understand in a measure,
wash their garments in the blood of the Lamb (Is.         provided that "innocence" be properly explained
53: 12; Luke 22:37; Rev. 7: 14).                          by good exegesis of Genesis 1:26, 27. However, it is
                                                          surpassingly strange to denominate this period as a
  Using this measuring rod for the interpretation of       "dispensation" in the biblical sense of the term. For
the Sacred Writings we do not wander off into a           that biblical sense of the term we refer to Ephesians
labyrinth of Satan's errors, nor into the perplexing       1:lO; 3:2; and Colossians 1:25. In every case this re-
combinations of Dispensational errors. We will            fers to the actual dealings of God with His people
then learn from the Prophetic Scriptures that there       through Christ's Cross and resurrection. At best
is basically but one great Promise of God in the Old      this period could be called simply Adam's state and
Testament Scriptures, which promise is fulfilled in        condition of rectitude, a  compliance  with the com-
the Christ, the only begotten Son of God.                  mandment of God. The term dispensation does not
  However, whosoever cuts the Scriptures into              fit here at all. Although it was a time of trial from
"seven dispensations," contrary to the plain teach-        God to Adam, it was not a dispensation, a period in
ing of the Bible, does so because he does not hold        which the reality of a "good conscience" was ab-
on to the Divinely given interpretation as fulfilled       sent. This is by implication the teaching of Scofield.
in Christ, the Christ of the Scriptures. When  Sco-        His concept of "innocence" is not that of one who is
field limits the "Promise" to the chronological time       standing in true knowledge of God, righteousness,


350                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



and holiness, but it is a not yet having a real know-      teaching on the matter of "conscience." We must
ledge of good and evil. Adam and Eve really re-            not be hoodwinked by nice-sounding words.
ceived their actual "conscience" by means of the             Let us take a closer look at this so-called "dispen-
transgression of eating from the forbidden tree: the       sation of Conscience."
tree of knowledge of good and of evil. "Innocence"
is a lack of knowledge of either good or evil!               It is true that the term "conscience" means liter-
                                                           ally: to know with. That is the meaning of the term
  Now according to the orthodox sense of the term,         also in the Greek, as well as in the Dutch and Ger-
"innocence" is not being under the condemning              man. The Dutch has  "ge-weten"   and  th.e German
verdict of standing guilt before God. It meant that        "gewissen." It deals with the moral life in men and
Adam was representative of the human race, and             angels in their conscious relationship to God, as
that in his spiritual rectitude we too were not under      they know the will of God from His law: to love
condemnation, but we were standing in positive             God with all the heart, the mind, .and the soul and
righteousness, a good will and a proper understand-        the strength!
ing of God by means of the "things made." It
meant a proper receiving of God's revelation, both           It is the teaching of Scofield that Adam really had
of God's power and godhead (divinity)-(Rom.                no "Conscience" prior to the Fall. Writes Scofield,
1:20). But innocency was not that man was in a cer-        "By disobedience man came to a personal and ex-
tain "ignorant bliss" concerning the moral life of         perimental knowledge of good and evil-,of good as
right and wrong. God's command was so clear that           obedience and of evil as disobedience to the known
Adam knew the  wrong  of eating of the forbidden           will  ,of God. Through that knowledge conscience
tree contrary to God's command, and the  right  of         awoke" (page 10, note 2 in the Scofield Bible).
not eating, but that he might eat of the tree of life        Now it is simply not the teaching of Scripture
which stood in the midst of the garden. Adam's             that man's conscience "awoke" through the sin of
innocency was woven in the very fabric of the "an-         the Fall. According to this teaching there will be not
tithetical" keeping of God's command.                      an awakened conscience without sin. Furthermore,
  Such is the innocency of which the Bible teaches         this makes the Fall not an act of man followed by
us.                                                        God's pre-announced verdict of "dying thou shall
                                                           surely die," but sin is then a mere stepping-stone, a
  This is an "innocency" which is qualitatively dif-       transition from a slumbering conscience to an awak-
ferent from the wrong version of it as taught by Sco-      ened conscience. It is entirely evident  th.at Adam's
fields Bible notes. Strictly speaking the innocency-       conscience was not merely  awakened  but his con-
conception of Scofield does not allow for the possi-       science became entirely corrupted by sin; Adam
bility of a real Fall as taught in the Bible, a Fall by    and Eve's consciences were such that they kept the
which our nature became so corrupted that we are           truth down in unrighteousness, even when they
born and conceived in sin, a "one transgression" by        tried to cover the shame of their nakedness with
one man in which sin reigned unto death (Rom.              mere fig leaves. Furthermore, even though their
515). In such a "dispensation of Innocence" there          conscience accused them they could not and they
is no real, positive righteousness of the human will,      would not each confess their sinful part in the Fall
nor can in such a conception there be a losing of          (Gen. 3:7-13). They could only do what F'aul writes
our righteous will, a will which through the Fall be-      in Romans  2:15:  ". . .their conscience also bearing
came "wicked, rebellious and obdurate in heart             witness, and their thoughts the meanwhile
and will, impure in affections" (Canons of Dordt,          accusing or else excusing one another."
III, IV, Art. 1). Small wonder that this perverted
presentation of Adam's "Innocence" knows                     Now in such a state of "awakened conscience,"
nothing of the Promise of the victory through              which is really a defiled conscience, a seared con-
"blood of atonement" as clearly taught in the              science, how could this be a positive "dispensa-
sovereign grace of the Protevangel in Genesis 3: 15.       tion" of God to try Adam and his posterity whether
The glad tidings of the Gospel,  a.sfirst  revealed in     they would walk as having conscience being their
paradise, would to Scofield be a meaningless sound         guide? Certainly in the state of rectitude Adam's
indeed!                                                    conscience was "guided" by the revealed will of
                                                           God. And after the Fall Adam was not Left to the
  This brings us to our consideration of the  so-          whims of a corrupted conscience (which is
called "dispensation of  Conscience."                      something else than an awakened conscience) but
  It should be borne in mind that in all false             was graciously renewed in his conscience by grace
teaching there is ever just enough plausibility to         and sovereign mercy. Such was the case with all
make the teaching sound acceptable to the ears of          who "began to call upon the Name of the LORD"
God's children. This is true until we listen a bit         in the days of Enos (Gen. 4:26). The rest walked in a
more sharply and apply the touchstone of biblical          conscience which accused and excused each other,


                                                       THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 351



but which was even in so doing holding down the                           good conscience in the Blood which they saw fore-
truth in unrighteousness (John  1:5: Canons. of                           shadowed in their bloody animal sacrifices. After
Dordt, III, IV, 4). Thus man became ever more.  in-                       the Fall it was the Dispensation of grace for believ-
excusable before God.                                                     ers; and it was the fallen sinful state of those upon
  Hence, before the Fall: a good conscience, doing                        whom the wrath of God abideth.
God's will. After the Fall: a condemning  con-                              A "dispensation of conscience" as God's way of
science, a filthy conscience, a corrupt and  disobe-                      trying man is the mere figment of man's mind,
dient conscience. And for those who received                              which does not "believe the Scriptures"!
mercy, such as Abel,  Enoch, and Noah, a free and

THE LORD GAVE THE WORD


                                 Missionary Methods ( 15)
                                                          Prof. Robert D. Decker



   In the previous article we faced the question:                         in every nation under heaven. There may very well
Along what lines ought the native church be orga-                         be, and in the nature of the case there must be,
nized? Missionaries usually do not face that                              differences in nonessentials, customs, and prac-
question very seriously. They simply assume that                          tices, but never in the essential principles of the
the mission church ought to be organized in the                           government of God's church.
same fashion as the sending church. If the mission-                         This means the three-fold office of Christ must be
ary is Presbyterian he organizes the mission church                       present. The church wherever it is needs preach-
u p o n   P r e s b y t e r i a n   p r i n c i p l e s   o f   church    ers. Initially, of course, the preachers are the mis-
government. The Anglican missionary organizes                             sionaries sent out by the established church. As the
the mission church according to the Episcopal form                        number of converts grows, and as the converts
of church government. Dr. Nevius thinks this is                           grow in the grace and knowledge of God under the
wrong. It is his contention that the church ought to                      preaching of the missionaries, the group or groups
have the form of church government which is dic-                          of converts must be prepared to be organized into
tated by her needs and peculiar circumstances (cf.                        the church of Jesus Christ. This must be the goal of
Planting And Development  Of  Missionary Churches,                        mission work. Suitable men must be trained for the
pp. 55ff.).                                                               office of Christ. There must be qualified elders and
   We can appreciate the fact that churches in other                      deacons and there must be preachers. These must
lands face different problems and exist in a differ-                      be sought out and instructed. This too is an essen-
ent situation than does God's church in North                             tial part of mission work. Missionaries ought not
America. Buddhism, Hinduism, the Moslem                                   remain in a field indefinitely. The native preachers
religion are certainly not of immediate concern to                        must not be called and supported by the sending
the church in North America, but these religions in                       church. This is wrong and for that reason a grave
other parts of the world represent a real threat to                       mistake. The church in the foreign land must call
the church. Levels of education and of spiritual ma-                      its own ministers and must support them so that
turity also affect the organization of and subse-                         they may devote all their time and gifts in the ser-
quent life of the mission church. While all this is                       vice of the church. The foreign church must be
true we cannot agree with Nevius' contention that                         indigenous,  and this means free from the support
the form of government of the mission church                              and rule of the sending church. All of this does not
should be determined by need and circumstance.                            happen overnight. In some lands it may develop
The Reformed or Presbyterian form of government                           over the space of a few years or even less. In other
is based on sound biblical principles. Those princi-                      lands which are more primitive it may take many
ples belong to the eternal truth of God's infallible                      years before an indigenous church can be estab-
Word. Because they do they apply in every age and                         lished. But in either event this must be the goal of
to the church in every land. God knows much bet-                          mission work. The church must have preachers,
ter than we what is good for His church as it exists                      for, "how shall they hear without a preacher?"


352                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



(Romans 10:14).                                             of the Church. This spirit, wherever it is found,
  Nevius continues by warning against appointing            tends to formalism both in the clergy and the laity.
elders and deacons who do not meet the qualifica-           While it is far too prevalent, and it is to be feared
tions set forth in Scripture (pp. 59ff.). He cites two      growing so, we may well rejoice that it is by no
examples from his own work where unqualified                means universal. There are not a few churches in
elders were appointed who later had to be disci-            which the main work of the pastor is  to keep all
plined and even excommunicated. Again we cer-               under him at work. In such churches you will find
tainly agree with this. A mission station which             individual growth and church growth, joy in God's
lacks men who possess the qualifications for office         service and influences for good extending to the
simply is not ready to be organized. But, and this is       ends of the earth" (pp. 63,64).
important, it belongs to the calling of the mission-          It is a bit difficult to react to this  statlement.  Be-
aries to work diligently toward that end. Classes           lievers who are not officebearers certainly are to be
ought to be provided in which instruction is given          more than mere financial contributors to the cause
in the knowledge of Scripture, the Confessions,             of Christ and passive worshippers on the Lords
Church Polity. In this way men may be trained for           Day. Officebearers must not rule the church in
the office. That training which is more than mere           such a way as to inhibit the calling of believers who
intellectual instruction must be done by means of           are prophets, priests, and kings in Christ. But this is
the preaching of the Word. Surely the fruit will be         precisely the point! It is not the office of elder
that in the course of time men of God will emerge           which is to be blamed nor does the fault lie in ap-
who meet the test of Scripture. In this way the             pointing qualified men too hastily. The troubles
church can be organized.                                    must be the misuse and abuse of the office. On the
  Nevius warns in this connection: "The appoint-            other hand we take issue with the statem'ent:  ". . .the
ment of elders should not interfere with the volun-         main work of the pastor is to keep all under him at
tary activities of church members. Rather than en-          work." The main work of the pastor is to preach
courage such an idea I should postpone their (the           the Word. This is something long forgotten in our
elders') appointment" (p. 62). What Nevius wants            day in much of the church. Pastors have become
is that all the converts according to the measure of        professional  counsellors and ecclesiastical adminis-
each one's gifts be actively involved in the work of        trators rather than serious students of the Scriptures
the church. All ought to be encouraging one                 and preachers!
another, teaching one another, witnessing to the              God knows what is best for His church as it
unconverted, comforting one another, etc. He as-            exists and is called out of every nation. What the
serts, "It is not the function of the elder or overseer     church needs is preaching.  Missiona.ries  must
as such to assume and undertake wholly or mainly            preach first of all! This must be the main burden of
the work of the Church, but to encourage, direct,           their task. Missionaries must seek to find and edu-
and assist all believers in the exercise and develop-       cate sincere converts for the ministry of the Word.
ment of their special gifts as members of the one           The church in India needs an Indian preacher, the
spiritual body of Christ; to set an example of work-        church in China needs a Chinese pastor. The
ing for all to imitate; to be leaders and captains in       church also needs discipline. Believers, whether
Christ's army, ruling, instructing, and directing           born and reared in the faith or recent converts,
those who are under their authority and care.               have to fight the old nature daily. For this reason
  "I am disposed to think that the tendency to              God in His mercy has given elders to His church.
make working for the Church the duty of  office-            These must "shepherd the flock" and "take the
bearers alone, rather than of all Christians, is intro-     oversight thereof" (I Peter 5:1-4). The elders must
duced by missionaries from the Church at home.              guard the flock from all false doctrine and ungodli-
There is a prevailing disposition in western lands          ness. They must exercise the keys of the kingdom.
(around the turn of the century, R.D.D.), noticeable        Missionaries must prepare qualified converts to
in Protestant communions to an all-pervading spirit         serve the church in this office. Those who are poor
of ecclesiasticism. The Church is regarded as an or-        need deacons who will dispense to them the mer-
ganization under the direction and superintendence          cies of Christ and speak to them "comfortable
of its proper officer or officers, whose function it is,    words from the Scriptures."
for and on behalf of its members...to undertake and           In no way will all of this prevent the believers
administer all church matters. A Church member              from being active in the church. In fact it will have
has a quieting sense of having discharged his duty if       exactly the opposite effect. Preachers, elders, and
he has contributed generously towards building a            deacons faithfully serving the church by the grace
suitable church edifice and the support of a preach-        of God will cause the church to flourish and grow.
er, is always found in his place as a worshipper,           Believers will be living witnesses of the Gospel.
and attends to the prescribed rites and observances         Husbands and wives will know their callings with


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                             353



respect to one another. Their marriages will reflect       of the Sacraments, the exercise of discipline, and
the mystery of Christ and His Bride, the church.           the ministering of the mercies of Jesus Christ. Once
Parents will faithfully instruct their children ac-        more, to this end the missionary must labor. In this
cording to the demands of the covenant. The be-            great work he will be following the example of the
lievers will visit one another in their sicknesses and     Apostle who confessed: "I kept back nothing that
other trials, pray for one another, rejoice with those     was profitable unto you, but have shewed you, and
who rejoice and sorrow with those who sorrow.              have taught you publicly, and from house to house,
Thus bearing one another's burdens they will fulfill       Testifying both to the Jews and also to the Greeks,
the law of Christ (Galatians  6:2). None of this           repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord
blessed fruit will be evident apart from the               Jesus Christ" (Acts 20:20,21).
preaching of the Word, the proper administration




                            Report From Singapore
                                               Rev. Arie den Hartog



  By the time this article appears in print almost a       above because we do not want to give the wrong
half a year will have gone by since we had opportu-        impression in our reports that the church situation
nity to visit some of our churches on our furlough.        here in this respect is different from that in our
It was a real joy to be back in the U.S.A. for a while     home churches in the U.S.A. The wonderful thing
and to be able to speak on the Lord's work here in         however is that the Lord prospers and blesses His
Singapore. We were much encouraged by the evi-             church in the midst of all her weaknesses and sins.
dent interest and excitement about the mission             We witness some of the most wonderful evidences
work in Singapore that we found among our                  of the Lord's blessing when He delivers and pre-
people. We trust therefore also that you will be           serves His people from their sins and when He
interested in hearing again about the progress of the      abides faithful when we are often so weak and sin-
work. It is proper that you should be interested           ful.
since the work which we by the grace of God are               On the positive side the Lord causes His church
doing here in Singapore is the work which the Lord         here to continue to grow and increase both in
has given to our churches as a whole. We are sent          numbers and in the knowledge and conviction of
out and supported by you and labor on your behalf.         His Word. For the church of Jesus Christ the Lord's
We hope that our reports in the Standard Bearer will       Day is always the great high point of the week. On
give you a sense of the reality of this.                   the Lord's Day we now have two regular worship
  The Lord continues to bless His work and His             services. In the morning we have a worship service
church here in a most unusual and wonderful way.           at our regular meeting place in the kampong on
Surely there are also hardships in the work. The           River Valley Road. This place is usually called here
saints here are by nature sinners, even as saints are      RVO. It received this name in the early days of the
in the U.S.A. There are disappointments. There are         Bible society and stands for River Valley Outreach.
those who come to the church for a time and then           At the morning worship service the attendance
suddenly fall away again. There are also members           averages about 150 people. One of the most signifi-
of the church who struggle with sins in their lives        cant developments lately at this worship service is
and they need to be admonished. Probably the               that we now have regular preaching according to
greatest problem we continue to face is the one of         the Heidelberg Catechism there. We, as your mis-
young men and young women seeking partners                 sionary family, are especially happy that the ses-
outside of the church. This often causes great             sion has agreed to this type of preaching. It is true
sorrow and grief when relationships have to be             that the church must be instructed in the doctrines
broken for the Lord's sake and when great sacrifi-         of the Word of God in a systematic way and she
ces have to be made. These situations usually re-          must learn and know her creeds. This, by the grace
quire a lot of pastoral labors on the part of the          of God, will make the church strong. In the evening
pastors and elders of the church. We say all of the        of the Lord's Day we have a second worship service


354                                        THE STANDARD BEARER



in another location in Singapore called Toa Payoh.       Heidelberg Catechism: In a short while they will be
This worship service is held at a premise that is        ready for baptism. This class has been going since
rented from a Presbyterian church. This service is       last November. This class meets at our apartment
specially orientated for mission work in this area of    because of lack of facilities at RVO.
Singapore. The location of this place is. very good        One of the most exciting things going on in the
since it is right in the midst of one of the largest     church presently is the spate of weddings coming
housing estates in Singapore. That means there are       up. Within the next several months we will have
literally thousands of people living within short        eight weddings. All of these weddings are between
walking distance in row upon row of high apart-          members of our church. What a joy to see this. The
ment buildings. The church is actively engaged in        Lord continues to raise up Christian homes in our
mission work in  Toa  Payoh,  trying to get new          midst. By the time all of these young couples are
people to come to our worship services there. The        married we will exactly double the Christian homes
sermons preached there are usually more simple           of our church. Pastor Lau and I are sharing the op-
and basic so that people who have never before           portunities of officiating at these weddings. Actual-
heard the Christian faith can understand them.           ly, all of these weddings will be solemnized by the
Many of the members of E.R.C.S. are actively in-         state and confirmed in the church. Accorlding  to the
volved in going through the housing estate to en-        last word from the government, Pastor Lau will not
courage people to come to the worship services.          be able to get a license to marry until we have at
This, we are experiencing, is hard work. It is more      least 350 members and a church building of our
difficult than encouraging people to come to the         own. The weddings in E.R.C.S. are very large occa-
morning worship serivce at RVO. Presently atten-         sions because all of the members of the church are
dance at the  Toa  Payoh  Mission averages between       usually involved. They usually include practically a
forty and fifty. Most of these people are members        whole day of festivities ending in the evening with
of our church but we also rejoice to see some new        a large wedding dinner.
people coming from the immediate area. The objec-
tive of this work is to preach the Reformed Faith in       We received good news from the Singapore gov-
Toa  Payoh and ultimately, the Lord willing, to es-      ernment recently. They finally approved the regis-
tablish another church there. Presently Pastor Lau       tration of our church. We had been trying to obtain
and I are alternating preaching at RVO and  Toa          this approval ever since the institution of the
Payoh.  I am sure that many of you would be quite        church. We experienced some difficulties because
eager to join one of our worship services and espe-      of the objection of the government to certain
cially one where Pastor Lau was preaching. We            sections of the constitution of the church relating to
would of course like it very much if you could.          limiting voting and the holding of office to the male
Most of you will have to be satisfied with this          members of the church. They finally did approve
report. Pastor Lau is developing into a very good        even these sections of the constitution. Now that
preacher. It is a thrill to hear him preach the Re-      we are officially registered with the government
formed faith which we so love and to hear also the       the running of the business of the church will all be
evident influence of our Seminary in the U.S.A. in       so much easier. I  cannot go into all the details of
his preaching.                                           this but let me say that there are great advantages to
                                                         being registered with the government as a church.
  In addition to the two worship services on the
Lord's Day we also have three "house churches"             We are looking forward to sending another
that meet in the evening in various locations in         brother from here to our seminary in the U.S.A. for
Singapore. These are small groups of the members         ministerial training. This brother is from an Indian
of the church who gather together for Bible study        family. His name is Jaikishin Mahtani. For the last
or for listening to tape-recorded messages. We have      year Pastor Lau and I have been preparing Jaiki for
told you about these before. These "house church-        seminary by giving him some  instructio,n  in what
es" meet the needs of people who would have great        we in the U.S.A. would call pre-seminary courses.
difficulty in coming to the  Toa  Payoh Mission for      We hope that by doing this his stay in the U.S.A.
various reasons. Because of the smaller size of these    will be shortened. Jaiki will be marrying a Chinese
groups they also enjoy rich and close fellowship,        girl who is a member of our church, Peh Gek Hong.
and as such can serve for great encouragement to         They will together be going to the U.S.A., the Lord
the members of the church.                               willing, some time in July. Many of you will proba-
  On the Lord's Day we are again having  pre-            bly have opportunity to meet them. According to
baptism classes for those seeking baptism and            plans they will be in the U.S.A. for'three years.
membership in our church. We rejoice to see about          Let me conclude with a few things about our
sixteen young converts coming to these classes.          family. We now have four children in school. Be-
Pastor Lau is teaching these young people from the       cause of the fact that schools here operate on a shift


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                355



basis two of our children go to school in the morn-        ganists in the church but as yet none who are able
ing and two in the afternoon. That means a lot of          to play for weddings. Our home continues to be a
disruption of the family life schedule and it seems        busy place. We regularly have seven meetings a
we are either sending off or picking up children all       week here besides "pre-seminary classes," and
day long. They all seem to enjoy school and are pro-       many times people from the church come for coun-
gressing well. Sherry is busy among other things           seling or just for social visits. In all things the Lord
with practicing her organ playing, since she has           blesses us and sustains us in His grace and mercy.
been asked to play for almost all of the coming wed-       Our work is a great joy and filled with excitement.
dings. These weddings will all be held in borrowed         We covet your continued support through prayers
churches since we do not have proper facilities for        and letters.
them at the kampong. We have some budding or-

FAITH OF OUR FATHERS


                                        Nicene Creed
                                               Rev. James SIopsema


Article 1 (cont'd)                                         is undoubtedly with this error in mind that Paul in
  After confessing that the one true God is Maker          1:16 proclaims Jesus Christ to be the Creator of all
of heaven and earth, the Nicene Creed adds the             things. This includes those things that are, in
phrase "and of all things visible and invisible."          heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible.
                                                           These two expressions complement each other.
  This expression appears only, once in Scripture,         Those things on the earth are things visible; where-
in Colossians  1:16. Here the apostle Paul writes,         as those things in heaven are things invisible. It is
"For by Him (i.e. Christ) were all things created,         especially the latter that concerns us. Those things
that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visibZe  and    in heaven which are invisible refer to the angelic
invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or       world. The angelic world is further described here
principalities, or powers: all things were created by      as thrones, dominions, principalities, and powers.
Him, and for Him."                                         These are the angels from the viewpoint of their
  In this and the surrounding verses the apostle           various ranks and positions of authority. And the
Paul establishes the preeminence of Jesus Christ           truth that Paul is asserting here is that they were all
over all things, especially over the angel world. In       created by Christ. They were all created by Him
2:18 of this same epistle we find that Paul inveighs       and for Him. Certainly therefore we are not to wor-
against angel worship: "Let no man beguile you of          ship the angels at the expense of Christ. Let,Christ
your reward in a voluntary humility and  worship-          be exalted by us even above the angels.
ping of angels." It appears from this passage that
there were those in the church of Colosse that were          This error of angel worship was never really
worshipping angels out of a false sense of humility.       purged from the church. The early church fathers
They evidently taught that man is too insignificant        in their writings refer to this same basic evil exist-
to approach God directly in prayer but needs the           ing in the church long after the time of the apostles.
mediation of the angels in heaven. The only way to         Thus, for example, the church father Theodoret,
God is through the angels. Consequently, because           commenting on Colossians 2: 18 which prohibits an-
the angels were willing to perform this service, or        gel worship, states, "The disease which St. Paul de-
in order that they might be obliged to do so, they         nounces, continued for a long time in Phrygia and
were to be worshipped. The apostle Paul here con-          Pisidia." Irenaeus in his work  Against Heresies
demns such notions and practices. We certainly do          (A.D. 182-188) speaks against invoking the angels
not need to approach the living God through the an-        and directs the church to call on the name of the
gels. Nor must we worship them. This elevates the          Lord Jesus Christ. In turn, Michael, the archangel,
angels far above their God-given place and work in         was worshipped widely in Asia Minor even as late
creation. And it detracts from the glory of Christ         as the middle of the 8th century.
Who is the sole Mediator between God and man. It             To the worship of angels was later added the


356                                        THE STANDARD BEARER



worship of various saints. The great saints of the       ings of Manichaeism it is quite evident that this
past who perhaps suffered martyrdom for the faith        philosophy was completely dualistic.  (God is the
were at first remembered and honored by the              author of all that is good. Satan is the originator of
church. Gradually however they were worshiped            all that is evil. Furthermore, sin and evil are not
along with the angels. This practice of worshiping       under God's control. Nor is Satan under the rule of
saints continues even until today in the Roman           God. Satan and his works of darkness stand eternal-
Catholic Church. Mary and a host of other recog-         ly independent of God. God and Satan are locked in
nized saints are worshiped. By worshiping these          a desperate struggle the victor in which will gain
saints and coming to God through them, Rome tells        spiritual control and rule of the world.
us that we can receive blessings which are not
available through Jesus Christ. This is essentially        Manichaeism became a real threat to the early
the same error against which Paul struggled, only        Christian church, more so perhaps than Gnosti-
with a little different twist.                           cism. This was due in part to the highly organized
                                                         character of this movement. The  M,anichaeans
  It is doubtful however that this evil practice of      were organized into a church structure with apos-
angel worship explains the expression that God is        tles, bishops, presbyters, deacons, and itinerant
the Maker of all things visible and invisible. Were      evangelists. Regular worship services `were held.
this in the mind of the church as she formulated the     V.arious  feasts were held and sacraments acknow-
Nicene Creed, she probably would have attached           ledged. This was all of course apart from the struc-
this to the confession concerning Jesus Christ.          ture and worship of the Christian church.
  According to Calvin in his Institutes of the Chris-
tian Religion  (I, xiv, 3) this phrase of the Nicene       It was to combat this false religion of Manichae-
Creed was inserted especially to combat the error        ism that the early church added to her confession
of Manichaeism. Manichaeism was an outgrowth             concerning God as the Maker of the heaven and
of Gnosticism, which we have already discussed.          earth that He is also Maker of all things visible and
Gnosticism had pretty well lost its influence            invisible. Undoubtedly the church selected this
around A.D. 250. It was revived however in `a            phrase of Paul in Colossians 1:16 to emphasize that
slightly different form in Manichaeism. The              God is the Creator even of Satan and his hosts.
founder of Manichaeism was  Mani (A.D. 215-              Satan is not an eternal being that stands next to God
277), a Persian philosopher and astronomer, who          or equal to God. He is a created being under God.
claimed to be the highest prophet of God and iden-       He is part of God's creation. He owes his existence
tified himself with the Comforter (Paraclete) that       to God. And so it is true of all the demonic beasts of
Jesus had promised to send to the church upon His        Satan.
ascension. Mani taught the existence of two eternal        In close connection to this the early church also
kingdoms. There is the kingdom of light which is         confessed in this first article of her creed that God
ethically and spiritually good. Over against this is     the Father is the sovereign Ruler of all. This she
the kingdom of darkness which is evil. Over the          confessed when she acknowledged that God the
kingdom of darkness Satan and his hosts of devils        Father is almighty. In this first article, the church
rule sovereignly. To Satan, especially,  Mani            confessed, "I believe in God, the Father Al-
ascribed such attributes as eternity and self-exis-      mighty...." We have seen earlier that the word "Al-
tence. This virtually makes Satan divine and places      mighty" is better translated "Almighty-One." It is a
him on equal footing with God Who rules over the         word which expresses more than the bare idea of
kingdom of light. According to the teaching of           power or might. It is much richer than that. It ex-
Mani, Satan made an assault on the kingdom of            presses the idea of absolute and sovereign rule over
light, This resulted in the emergence of our present     all things. This is not only the root meaning of the
world which is a mixture of light and darkness, of       word but also the force that this particular word
good and evil. Man, for example, was created in the      has in the New Testament Scriptures. Repeatedly
image of Satan but has a strong spark of light. Fol-     this word is connected in the Scriptures to God's
lowing the lead of Gnosticism, Jesus Christ and the      rule. This is true for example in Revelation  11:17:
Holy Spirit are two aeons or spiritual beings who        "We give thanks, 0 Lord God  AZmighty,  which art,
emanate from God. Through these two, God seeks           and wast, and art to come; because Thou hast taken
to separate the light from the darkness of this          to Thee Thy great power, and hast reigned."
world, to save that which is light and to destroy the      This sovereign rule of God over all things follows
darkness.                                                from the truth of creation. If God is the Maker of
  A complete development of Manichaean thought           the heavens and the earth, of all things visible and
would reveal that it was a mixture of Persian            invisible, it only follows that He also rules over it
Zoroastrianism and Buddhism with a gloss of Chris-       all. All things depend on Him and are controlled by
tianity. In as much as we have set forth the teach-      Him. This is true even of Satan and his hosts. If


                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   3 5 7



Satan is a creature of God, then he stands not sov-                    that as the Maker of heaven and earth, God the
ereignly next to God or independent of God but                         Father is also the Almighty One.
under God and His rule.                                                  `And we too must still confess the same truth
  This rule of God over all things is very clearly                     today. For the sovereign rule of God is also denied
taught in the Scriptures. God, we are told, works all                  today. We need not look for such a denial among
things after the counsel of His will (Eph. 1:ll). This                 the various religious sects that have arisen of late.
rule of God extends certainly to the brute creation.                   Nor need we look to the false religions of the
It is God that "covereth the heavens with clouds,                      pagans. This denial of God's sovereign rule is prev-
that prepareth rain for the earth; Who maketh grass                    alent in the Christian church. It is inherent in the
to grow upon the mountains. He giveth to the beast                     Arminianism that has virtually taken over the
his food, and to the young ravens which cry" (Ps.                      church. The Arminian has no sovereign God Who
147:8ff). God's rule also extends to His rational                      rules over all. He certainly does not rule over the
moral creatures: men and angels. Is not the king's                     heart of man. He can not make so much as one soul
heart in the hand of the Lord? As the rivers of water                  believe. Satan fights Him for the soul of every man.
He turns it whithersoever He will (Prov. 21:l). Nor                    And, more often than not, God loses! Sin and evil
do the Devil and his hosts stand outside of God's                      are not something God uses for the attainment of
rule. Before Satan could lay so much as one finger                     His purpose and good pleasure. Sin is a reality that
on God's servant Job, he needed the permission of                      God must overcome lest it destroy His purpose.
God. God's rule even extends over the sin of man.                      From this kind of mentality also arises the idea that
Is it not true that when  Herod  and Pilate, along                     the present sufferings of this world are not of God
with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, assem-                     but of the Devil. God does not send sickness, war,
bled together to kill the holy child Jesus, they were                  poverty, and the like. Neither does He control
only doing that which God's hand and counsel de-                       them. These are all of Satan.
termined before to be done? (Acts  4:27, 28). The                        This smacks of the dualism of Manichaeism.
Bible knows of no dualism. There is but one God                        Over against all such errors we with the church of
Who rules over all absolutely and sovereignly. This                    the past must confess our faith in one God, the
is what the early church confessed when in this                        Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, of all
first article of the Nicene Creed she acknowledged                     things visible and invisible.

GUESTARTICLE


                 The Covenant and the Atonement
                                                              Rev. K. KooZe


  In his excellent book, The Scripture Doctrine of the                 this that their Bible has shrunk to the New Testa-
Church,  D. D. Barmerman makes the following                           ment, and even that becomes in most of their inter-
points:                                                                pretations outlandishly contrived. But exactly
      I. "The Gospel" was "preached beforehand unto                    because many in Reformed circles do not consider
   Abraham," and received by him. The apostle's whole                  this covenant made before with Abraham carefully
   argument with the Galatian Christians, in the third                 enough, they do not understand the nature of the
   chapter of his Epistle to them, is, that if they do not             covenants as fully as they should, nor for that mat-
   know Abraham's Gospel, they do not know the Gos-                    ter the place of the atonement in the covenant. By
   pel of God's grace at all....                                       using the history of the covenant with Abraham,
      II. The covenant which God made with Abraham                     which Paul in both Romans and Galatians uses so
   and his seed was the very covenant of grace and peace               extensively, we intend to say a few things about the
   whereby we also, if we are true believers, inherit the              nature of the Covenant and the place of the Atone-
   promises.... If we are not in that "covenant confirmed              ment in it.
   beforehand by God," we are not in the covenant at all.
    (PP. 4!5)                                                            In Reformed circles the truth of the Covenant
  With this every truly Reformed man agrees. It is                     has been impoverished because too much attention
because the Dispensationalists have lost sight of                      has been paid to ancient covenantal contracts


358                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



between men and direct analogy then made to the           the strongest of vows. By the slain animals men
covenant of God in His grace with His people. How         said, "So may it be done to me and more also if I fail
the insertion of God into the covenantal relation-        to `keep my word in this covenantal matter." As
ship transforms the entire picture has not received       though His own declaration were not enough ( 15: 1,
due consideration for the most part. As a result, the     2), God condescends to seal His word with this
Scriptural truth of God's covenant with His people        ceremony. "I the Almighty and  eterna.l  God will
has suffered, especially as it is the most brilliant      sooner pass through death than fail to keep My
revelation of God's Sovereign and unmerited grace.        word to bless thee and giye thy seed the land." God
In most covenantal explanations there is too much         alone passed through the carcasses. He required
that clings to them of the earthly arrangement, so        nothing of Abraham. His word was independent of
that to some degree God as the sole worker of Sal-        man. He held only Himself to perform what He had
vation is lost sight of, and to some degree man's         determined to do.
doing something that enables the covenant to
remain in force is suggested. This must be avoided.         Thus you have the most basic expression of the
                                                          Covenant. It is not a means leading to God's love,
  What is accented in the record of Abraham is. not       but in and of itself an expression of God's amazing
a covenant of God with man in terms of a contract         grace and eternal love for an elect recipient and
tendered by God, consented to by man, with cor-           cherished people, according to which He would
responding responsibilities, (however easy the            draw them unto Himself.
terms might be for man), but what we see is a rela-
tionship of abiding friendship into which the Sover-        In this covenant the atonement, Christ's sacri-
eign God out of His own eternal love enters with          fice, has a central place. (This is anticipated already
His elect people, to which relationship God binds         by the bloody carcasses.) It must have, because of
Himself without any qualifying clauses. This is a         God's righteousness. That God is resolved to have
covenant in which the Almighty God  obligates             Abraham's children enjoy His fellowship does not
Himself simply according to His own good pleasure         mean that He intends to "jeopardize" His own
to those whom He in His own good pleasure makes           righteousness by ignoring man's sinful condition
the promises. Almighty God is fully resolved to be        and guilty state. That is made plain by the covenant
forever the God of Abraham and His seed, true             of the Law, which expressed God's righteousness
Jacob Israel (Gal.  3:14-16), come what may. He so        and taught man his sinful unworthiness in painful
commits Himself to blessing them that He cannot           terms. For there to be communion,  thlere would
not  bless them and remain a God of truth. Even           have to be righteousness.
after the covenant of the Law at Sinai, which cove-         Significantly, Scripture tells us `that the Law,
nant Israel horribly transgressed, this is so. The        which was added 450 years later, did not annul,
recurring refrain in the Old Testament is-"Yet for        make of no effect, the covenant made with Abra-
My name's sake...." This is the most important            ham (Gal. 3: 17). It did not add conditions which,
phrase in the whole of Old Testament history.             man being unable to fulfill, would conceal God's
Countless times it alone stood betieen sinful Israel      previous wbrd of promise. That stood. In fact it is
and their being consumed by God in indignation.           because of the prior covenant established with
"Yet for My name's sake...." (Is.  48:9-11). And          Abraham that God was obligated (meaning, had
what "name" is that? "I am Jehovah, the God of            graciously obligated Himself) to provide a way
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." Of that name God              whereby the righteousness could be justly worked
never repents. And it is this alone that carried the      out and obtained. It is not an arbitrary matter that
Old Testament remnant to the New Testament age.           the  ,covenant of grace was made before the Law
  In Genesis 12 God singles out Abraham to re-            was added, before the righteous demands were
ceive the call to leave Ur to go to the land He would     spelled out. The unconditional promise stood, re-
show him. In Genesis 15:7 God reveals that it is His      gardless of the righteous demands of the Law (Gal.
avowed purpose to give him the land for an inheri-        3:17, 18). According to His immutable word He
tance. It pointed to the Kingdom of Heaven which          would bless Abraham and His seed, and. He would
Abraham's seed is to inherit (Heb.  ll:lO, 16). How       not fail even in the face of Jacob-Israel's transgres-
fully God obligates Himself to realize the promise        sion.
with Abraham is seen in chapter 15. Abraham                 By the cross-atonement God kept the covenant.
seeks a seal of assurance that God intends to keep        It is important to say it exactly that way. We do not
His word. Amazingly, God sees fit to honor this au-       say that by the cross God kept His part of the cove-
dacious request born of despair. He uses a cere-          nant, leaving the impression that there remains
mony, common to that day, whereby men sealed              now something that Abraham's seed must keep if
covenantal vows. He passes through the midst of           the covenant is actually to be finalized and operate.
animals slain and cut in half (vs. 17). This served as    The cross is not a means whereby God  can  now


                                                          THE STANDARD BEARER                                                         359
                                                                       *-.             _-,
                                                                                   a Y .>     <. J

work salvation if the children of Abraham co-oper-                     ing through death could not be in vain. As Christ
ate and show the necessary faith. Such is to say far                   states in John  6:37, "All that the Father giveth Me
too little about the reconciliation worked by God.                     shall come unto Me; and him that  cometh to Me I
No, the cross is the event whereby God carries out                     v&l in no wise cast out." In accordance with His
His covenant vow to Abraham, namely, that He                           covenant promises God prepared a Mediator Who
would surely give to Abraham's seed the Kingdom.                       as The Seed of Abraham works all righteousness for
Through this death and its fruit Abraham's seed                        those with whom God had determined to dwell and
passed into the Kingdom. And what seed that is is                      to whom He would give the Kingdom.
set forth in Romans  9:6ff; not his fleshly descen-                      It must not be thought that, following the cross,
dants, btit those elected to be his spiritual sons.                    the heirs of Abraham still had something to keep
  In the cross you have the amazing spectacle of                       and work before the covenant of grace could oper-
Immanuel, God with us, passing through death.                          ate. Christ as the Son of God is The Seed of Abra-
But, the Son of God dies, not because God has                          ham also, and in Him the seed of Abrahalm  fulfilled
failed someplace along the line, and so the Son                        all righteousness. The blood of the coven.ant is shed
must suffer the penalty, but because the unrigh-                       that when God by His Holy Spirit calls the elect ir-
teousness of Abraham and his seed had to be paid                       resistibly unto faith and repentance their faith is
for, dismissed, and replaced by righteousness, lest                    not in vain, but has a God-approved object, a faith
it prevent the fulfillment of God's word. Their righ-                  that indeed obtains righteousness, righteousness in
teousness had to be worked out. The Law revealed                       the One crucified.
that, and exposed man's inadequacy. And so,                               It is of God! It is of grace, grace that staggers the
according to His promise to Abraham, God accom-                        imagination and which overwhelms the soul, grace
plished this requirement in His Son. Rather than                       that magnifies Jehovah's name alone as Jehovah
having His word fail due to His chosen people's sin,                   Our Salvation.
He passed through death. And, certainly, that pass-

                                                   Book Review
LEARNING JESUS CHRIST THROUGH THE                                      be a great deal of use for ministers and people of
HEIDELBERG CATECHISM, by Karl Barth;                                   God who have made the Heidelberg Catechism all
Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1982; 141  pp., $4.95                         but a lifelong study  - as is the case within our
(paper). (Reviewed by Prof. H. Hanko)                                  churches; the material was presented m,ainly  to ac-
   This book contains two sections: the first is a                     quaint those who have little or no knowledge of the
series of lectures on the Heidelberg Catechism de-                     Catechism with its contents, emphases, and char-
livered by Barth at the University of Bonn in 1947;                    acteristics.
the second is a lecture given in 1938 in a course for                     Nevertheless, there are interesting and fresh in-
teachers of religion on the Schauenberg, near                          sights into the Catechism here and there which can
Liestal, Switzerland and entitled: "Introduction to                    only be of benefit to those who read it. And Barth's
the Heidelberg Catechism."                                             own incorrect views (such as his  universaliim)  do
   Both sections of the book are really too brief to                   come out on occasion in the book.
                                                                         The book must be read with care  andl compared
               RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                  with a more orthodox commentary on the Cate-
                                                                       chism, but it can be an interesting addition to one's
  The members of the Adult Bible Class of the Hudsonville Protes-
tant Reformed Church express their sincere Christian sympathy to       library.
Mr. and Mrs. Ted Miedema in the death of her brother, MR. WIEBE
BOONSTRA.
   May they be conforted by trusting in the God of all wisdom Who                                     N O T I C E
does all things well.             _                                      According to the decision of the Synod of 1982, the Consistory of
                                        Mr. Bernard Bruining, Pres.    the Hope Protestan't  Reformed Church of Walker, Michigan, was ap-
                                        Mrs. Joe Van Drunen, Sec'y.    pointed the calling church for the Synod of 1983. The Consistory of
                                                                       Hope hereby notifies our churches that the Synod of 1983 will con-
               RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                  vene, the Lord willing, on Wednesday, June 1, 1983 at 9:00 A.M. in
                                                                       the Hope Protestant Reformed Church, 1550 Ferndale  SW., Walker,
   The Adult Bible Class of Hudsonville Protestant Reformed Church     Michigan. The pre-synodicaj service will be held Tuesday evening,
express their Christian sympathy to Mr. and Mrs. Case Veldman in       May 31, 1983 at 8:00 P.M. The sermon will be preached by Rev. J.
the passing of his sister, MRS. WALTER NOORMAN.                        Kortering, President of the 1982 Synod. Synodical delegates are re-
   We commend them to the care of our Heavenly Father for the          quested to meet with the Consistory before the service. Delegates in
comfort and sustaining grace that only He can provide.                 need of lodging should contact Mr. Don Lotterman, 1382 Su Lew
                                                                       Dr., Walker, Michigan 49504. (Phone 616/453-6552)
                                        Mr. Bernard Bruining, Pres.
                                        Mrs. Joe Van Drunen, Sec'y.                                                   Don Lotterman, Clerk


        THE STANDARD BEARER
             P.O. Box 6064                                          :                      j ,;$EEE~.H, 1
     "Giand Rapids, Michigan 49506





      360                                             THE STANDARD BEARER


                                Netis From Our Churches
         I am glad to receive responses to certain news             "....Pray that the zeal of the Lord may character-
      items. I am informed that "The Reformed Witness            ize our lives and conversations. Pray that the Lord
      Hour has not been on WJBL-FM on Tuesday at                 of the harvest will give us some of the' sheaves He
      12:30 for a number  .of years." The same person            has promised." We wholeheartedly agree with Rev.
      wanted to know if the Reformed Witness Hour                VanOverloop.
      broadcasts over ELWA on a regular basis. ELWA is             Regarding the missionary labors of Rev. den Har-
      not one of the radio stations of the RWH. The tapes        tog, I quote in part from the bulletin 
      they receive must be the cassette-taped copy of our                                                   of  Covenant
                                                                 Protestant Reformed Church in Wyckoff, N.J.
      broadcasts that Mr. Jake Kuiper sends out every             "Rev. den Hartog reports that the E.R.C.S. has
      month overseas for the Reformed Witness Commit-            finally had its registration as a church approved by
      tee of Hope P.R.C. in Walker. Rev. Harbach has             the Singapore government.  `...This  will. make the
      provided me some useful information concerning             running of the Church go a lot smootlher.' Doon
      ELWA. "Responsible for radio station ELWA is the           Protestant Reformed Church has asked the
      Sudan Interior Mission, broadcasting gospel pro-           E.R.C.S. to consider the need for a second mission-
      grams in forty languages to all parts of Africa and        ary in Singapore. The den Hartog's also have a new
      the Middle East and offering Bible correspondence          address `by government decree' even though they
      courses to a constituency of some ten thousand."           have not moved: Pacific Mansion, 16 River Valley
      Apparently, they also appreciate our taped sermons         Close #15-22, Singapore 0923...."
      of the RWH. May God bless this means of pro-
      claiming His truth.                                          By the time this news appears in print, Rev. Heys
        The Evangelism Committee of South Holland                will have returned to the U.S.A. after visiting Singa-
     ' Protestant Reformed Church "will begin broadcast-         pore. "We do not intend to come directly but to
      ing over station WKDC (1530 AM) in Elmhurst on             stop and visit our children in California a.nd Colora-
      March 6. This will be a fifteen-minute broadcast at        do.... Imagine leaving this area at  530 P.M. Satur-
      9:00 A.M. every Sunday morning, on the Funda-              day and arriving in Los Angeles 1O:lO A.M. Satur-
      mentals of the Reformed Faith." Also regarding             day!" Welcome home Rev. and Mrs. Heys.
      radio work, the consistory of Hudsonville                    Rev.  Ho&k has also been busy travelling. He
      Protestant Reformed Church "has decided to                 visited the East in March and then flew out to Cali-
      continue the broadcast through the end of the              fornia to work with Rev. C. Hanko in the  Ripon
      year." That would be over WJBL-FM  (94.5), at 9            area. They will be working for an indefinite period
      P.M., Saturday.                                            of time with a group of interested families.
        I will now quote from a report on the Mission               The following quote regarding the instruction of
      Field in Birmingham, Alabama, that Rev. VanOver-          handicapped children in our churches was taken
      loop has sent me.                                          from the bulletin of Faith Protestant Reformed
         "The greatest development is seen in the                Church. "On March 16th  an. interesting meeting
      spiritual life of those who faithfully attend the wor-     was held at Hudsonville Church.. . . The group
      ship services. Together we can see ourselves grow          decided to organize a society to do this. A Commit-
      in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus              tee was appointed to draw up a  co'nstitution;
      Christ and in the knowledge of the God Who sent            another committee was appointed to investigate
      Him....                                                    regulations governing such a venture.... May our
         "Those regularly in attendance number about             Covenant God bless this venture to His glory and
      twenty-five. Our worship services are at 9:30 A.M.         benefit of our Covenant seed."
      and 6:00 P.M. We are using the facilities of the Bap-         Remember to attend the annual spring lecture at
      tist Deaf Church.. . .                                     First Protestant Reformed Church, May 5, 8 p.m.
         "Two catechism classes are conducted for chil-          Rev. Joostens will speak on, "The Church's Calling
      dren. Of the fourteen who attend these two classes,        in Missions."
      six do not attend our worship services.. . .        :                                                      DH

I


