               BEARER
c                A REFORMED  SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE                                     .



                  SPECIAL ISSUE
        The Doctrine of Irresistible Grace

     .  .    . this preserving grace of God is not a

     power that remains external to us, so that we
     are passively, unconsciously perhaps,
     carried into glory: it is a power within us,
     that causes us to hold on to the God of our
     salvation. . . .
             Grace preserves, and we persevere!
                                              Herman Hoeksema
                             See "By Grace" - page 434

                                                 Volume LIX, No. 19. August I,1983 


434                                                                THE STANDARD BEARER




                                                                                                                 THE STANDARD REARER
                                  CONTENTS                                                                                ISSN 0362-4692
                                                                                                Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July, and August.
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                                                                                     Editor-in-Chief: Prof. Homer C. Hoeksema
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                                                                                     Rev. Rodney Miersma, Rev.  Marinus SC5tpper, Rev. James Slopsema, Rev.
       About This Special Issue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .437           Gise J. Van  Baren, Rev. Herman  Veldman.
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MEDITATION

                                                                      By Grace
                                                   /The meditation for this special issue is from the pen
                                       of the late Rev. Herman Hoeksema, and is reprinted from Volume 18.)

                 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.
                                                                                                                                      Ephesians 2:8

  For! . . . ,                                                                          not stand alone, that it is not an isolated truth, which
  Let us not overlook this little but significant                                       one can accept or not accept without much effect
word!                                                                                   for the rest of the contents of his faith; which one
                                                                                        can either deny or confess as of little or no practical
  For  by grace are ye saved! The conjunction  pre-                                     significance and importance.
sents the truth here expressed as a reason for some-
thing else, an explanation of something that has                                            For by grace are ye saved!. . . .
been mentioned in the context.                                                              It means that salvation by grace, and by grace
  It informs us of the fact that this statement does                                    only, is an indispensable condition for something


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                            435



else, a ground, a foundation, without which that           And then it is not of grace!
something else cannot stand. Denying it is-like de-        For then it was man, his goodness, the foreseen
stroying the foundation of an edifice: you pull          choice of his will to receive Christ, that determined
down the whole structure. It is like cutting away at     God's choice. Then it is not grace that makes the
the root of a tree: you kill the tree.                   elect acceptable to, and beloved by God in His eter-
  And that for which this statement is the reason        nal counsel; but it is some element of goodness in
may be read in the immediately preceding verse:          man that induced the Most High to prefer him
"That in the ages to come He might shew the ex-          above others. And when God shews forth the
ceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward       riches of His grace in the salvation of the elect, they
us through Christ Jesus"!                                will always be mixed with this excellency of
  God is rich in mercy!                                  man. . . .
                                                           But God forbid!
  And He saved us! Even when we were dead in
sins, He quickened us together with Christ; and            For you are saved by grace!
raised us up together with Him, and made us sit to-        And this implies that your salvation is of God
gether in heavenly places. . . .                         from beginning to end, from its eternal source in
  All this in order that He might shew the exceed-       the counsel of God to its final manifestation in glory
ing riches of His grace!                                 in the day of Christ.
  Through our salvation the riches of His grace            It was grace that ordained you unto salvation.
must be displayed.                                       And this signifies, not that God's election is arbi-
                                                         trary, but that it has its reason and motive in God
  But how is this possible unless salvation be by        alone. Of Him are all things! God is gracious! Full of
grace?                                                   grace is He in Himself, apart from any relation or
  By grace only!                                         attitude He may sustain to the creature. For He is
                                                         good, the sole Good, the implication of all infinite
                                                         perfections. And as the supreme and only and in-
  In grace your salvation has its source.                finitely Good, He is the perfection of all beauty. He
  For the eternal fountain-head whence the whole         is pleasant and altogether lovely, and there are
blessed stream of your salvation gushes forth is sov-    pleasures at His right hand forevermore. And eter-
ereign election.                                         nally He is attracted by His own beauty. For He is
  Chosen you are unto salvation before the founda-       God Triune, Father, Son and Holy Ghost. And of
                                                         the Father, through the Son, in the Spirit, God
tion of the world. And the motive of God's election      knows Himself, beholds Himself, His grace and
of His people is grace, sovereign, absolutely free       beauty, and inclines unto Himself in eternal and
grace.                                                   infinite divine favor!. . . .
  Pure grace!                                              This infinite loveliness and divine pleasure in
  Nothing else determined God in predestinating          His own beauty is God's grace.
you unto conformity unto the image of His Son.
There are, indeed, those who find the reason and           By grace you are chosen!
the determining factor of God's election in man.           By the knowledge of and attraction to the loveli-
They, too, would emphasize that salvation is all of      ness of His own perfection God was divinely urged
grace, not of works. It is grace that God sent His       to ordain His people!
only begotten Son into the world, and grace that           A people that would be perfect even as He is per-
you may become partaker of the blessings of salva-       fect, lovely as He is lovely. For whom He has fore-
tion in Him. Nay more, they, too, speak of election      known them He also did predestinate to be con-
unto faith, and election unto glory. It is only the      formed according to the image of His Son. . . .
elect that actually become heirs of eternal salva-
tion. But election itself? Is it, too, according to        A people upon whom He might look with eternal
                                                         good pleasure, and that might taste that the Lord is
them, of mere and pure and sovereign grace? Ah,          good!
no! It is not of grace, say they, but of works! Yes,
indeed, of  works,  though they themselves would           A people in whom He might shew forth the
use other terms to describe their view of election.      infinite riches of His grace!
Or is it not an election of works, which teaches that      For by grace are ye saved!
God found or foresaw in the elect a willingness to
accept Christ and the terms of His salvation, in
distinction from others, whom He  foreknew as              Blessed grace!
stubborn and unwilling to come to Christ?                  For by grace are you reconciled unto God!


436                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



  That same grace that motivated the Most High to            And satisfaction of the justice of God with
ordain you unto salvation, according to which it           respect to our sin could be accomplished only by a
was His purpose to make you altogether lovely,             voluntary act of perfect obedience even unto death.
even as He is lovely, explains that and why He             No, not merely to suffer the punishment for sin is
reconciled you unto Himself through the death of           satisfaction. Even the damned in hell suffer the
His Son!                                                   agonies of death, yet they do not atone for their sin.
  For, mark you well, saved you are by grace!              God demands that we shall love Him. And for the
                                                           sinner that violated His law and trampled under
  And that means that you were lifted from the             foot His covenant, this means that he must love
deepest depth of sin and shame, of guilt and con-          Him in His righteous wrath, love Him in death and
demnation, of corruption and death, to the highest         hell, if ever He is to atone!
possible bliss of an eternal righteousness and life
and glory.                                                   And this act of perfect obedience we could never
                                                           perform.
  Saved you are. . . .                                       Reconciled we are by grace!
  Created you were with all the elect, in the first
man Adam who was made a living soul; who,                    For when in sovereign grace He chose us, and or-
indeed, had life, but not in himself; who lived with-      dained us to be conformed according to the image
out being the lord of life; whose glory was corrupti-      of His Son, He chose us in Him. By grace He or-
ble, whose righteousness was ammissable, whose             dained His Son to be the Head of the church, to
life was mortal; and who was of the earth earthy.          become flesh, to assume the burden of our sin and
And in him we violated God's covenant, became              guilt, to enter into our deepest woe, to become sin
guilty, liable to death and damnation, subject to          for us, that we might become righteousness of God
corruption, children of wrath. And our condition           inHim!. . . .
was, as far as we were concerned, hopeless. For in           And by grace He chose the way of suffering and
Adam we could sin, but we could never pay a ran-           death, the way through the depth of hell, there to
som for our sin; we could die in him, but had no           lay upon God's altar the sacrifice that would be suf-
power to regain life in God's favor; we could turn         ficient to satisfy the justice of God.
away from the Fount of life, but never could we              God was in Christ reconciling the world unto
return to Him. We could only increase the guilt of         Himself!
our sin every day, through every word we spoke,
by every deed we performed, with every breath we             That He might shew forth the riches of His
took. Enemies of God we had become, hating Him             grace!
and hating one another!. . . .                               For by grace you are saved!
  Saved we are!                                              By grace only!
  Saved by grace, by free and sovereign grace!
  For even then, when we were dead in sin, objects           Mighty grace!
of God's righteous wrath, that could never be re-            For by grace is also the power of God by which
stored to the favor of God unless we would willing-        you are delivered from the dominion of sin and
ly take our way through the depth of hell, He loved        death!
us, and reconciled us unto Himself!                         Reconciliation alone is no salvation, nor could it
  Us He reconciled. Do not express this different-         possibly lead to salvation if the operation of grace
ly. Do not say that He reconciled Himself to us. For       ceased at the cross. It must be applied, so that from
to reconcile is to restore a relation of love and faith    darkness we are translated into life, from sin into
and friendship that has been violated and broken,          righteousness, and with cords of love we are united
the relation of the covenant. And on His part that         once more with the heart of God!
relation was never violated. He is the eternal I AM,         And how could this be accomplished?.
that changeth not. With an eternal, immutable,
sovereign love He loved His own, even when they              Shall we say that from the cross onward salva-
were rebels in themselves. But us He reconciled.           tion becomes the work of man: God has done His
Us He restored to that state in which we were once         part, now man must realize what God has
more the proper objects of His favor and blessing,         accomplished? Or, at least, shall we allow the grace
the state of eternal righteousness!                        of God and the will of man to mix at this point, har-
                                                           moniously and sweetly to work together in order
  For such is reconciliation: restoration to favor in      that the salvation minifested on the cross of Christ
the way of perfect justice!                                may be perfected? Shall we say that on God's part
  And justice required satisfaction!                       He is willing now to save all men, that the  recon-


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                             437



ciliation accomplished on the cross is offered with         It is not of yourselves; it is God's gift.
the intention to save by God to all, and that, for the      Salvation is of the Lord!
rest, it depends upon the choice of man's will?. , . .      Wonderful grace!
   God forbid!
  The riches of His grace must be revealed!                 Abiding grace!
  By grace are ye saved!                                    For ye are saved!
  Through faith. Mark you well: through faith it is
that we are saved. It is not on condition of faith, a       And because it is by pure and sovereign grace
condition which we must fulfill if God is to bestow       that you are saved, you will surely be saved even
the blessings of salvation on us: there are no con-       unto the end of eternal glory.
ditions unto salvation at all! It is not because of         Always salvation is of the Lord, never does it be-
faith, as if faith is the new work which God re-          come of us; always it is by grace, never does it be-
quires of us by which salvation may be obtained:          come of works. Even as it is in free, divine, ab-
there is no work unto salvation, not even faith, nor      solutely sovereign grace that He chose us, and or-
the work of faith. For by grace are we saved,             dained us to become conformed according to the
through  faith.                                           image of His Son; and even as it was by that same
   Faith is the means unto salvation.                     grace that He reconciled us unto Himself through
                                                          the death of His Son; and even as it was by pure
   For it is the spiritual tie that unites us with        grace that wrought the faith within us whereby we
Christ, the spiritual faculty whereby we may know         do lay hold on the Christ of God; even so, it is by
Him, taste Him, long for Him, trust in Him, rely on       grace that we are preserved unto the final salvation
Him, appropriate Him, live out of Him as the young        that shall be revealed in the last time!
tree draws its life-sap out of the ground through its
roots. . . .                                                By grace ye are preserved!
   Through faith!                                           And through the power of that gracious preserva-
                                                          tion ye persevere!
   It is Gods means, a means of grace, a power that
is wrought in your inmost heart -by the mighty              For, on the one hand, even our perseverance is
grace of God: by grace ye are saved, through faith;       not by works, nor on account of works, nor by vir-
and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God!        tue of our cooperation with the grace of God: it is of
                                                          pure grace. Yet, on the other hand, this preserving
   For by grace He unites us with Christ!                 grace of God is not a power that remains external to
   By the power of grace He quickens us together          us, so that we are passively, unconsciously per-
with Him, making us new creatures.                        haps, carried into glory: it is a power within us, that
   By grace He calls us, powerfully, irresistibly,        causes us to hold on to the God of our salvation. . . .
sweetly, out of darkness into the light of the gospel.      Grace preserves, and we persevere!
   By grace He implants the faith in us, whereby we         And who shall separate us? . . . .
embrace the Christ of God and all His benefits!             Unchangeable grace!
EDITORIALS'
Prof: H. C. Hoeksema

                            About This Special Issue

   This is the third, and final, special issue of our     the doctrine of Irresistible Grace is fourth.
current volume-year. It is the fourth special issue       However, in our Canons it is not designated as "Ir-
devoted to the so-called Five Points of Calvinism,        resistible Grace" but as the doctrine of Man's
and it is devoted in its entirety to the subject of       Conversion to God and the Manner Thereof. This
Irresistible Grace.                                       doctrine is treated in Articles 6 to 17 of Canons III,
   In this instance the popular order of the Five         IV. And, as might be expected, it is treated in a very
Points of Calvinism-designated by the mnemonic            restricted fashion, that is, from the viewpoint of Re-
T-U-L-I-P-and the order which we are following,           formed opposition to the errors of Arminianism.
that of the Canons of Dordrecht, coincide: in both           In this special issue we will not limit ourselves to


438                                                      THE STANDARD BEARER



the scope of the Canons. Actually, of course, the                    resistible Grace and Preaching, and the old ques-
subject of Irresistible Grace includes all those doc-                tion, "Does this doctrine make men careless and
trines which in Dogmatics are treated under "Soter-                  profane?" These subjects will also have a place in
iology" or the Order of Salvation." Even the doc-                    this issue.
trine of Perseverance, though it is treated                            For the meditation this time we have chosen an
separately as the last of the Five Points of Calvin-                 appropriate reprint from the pen of the late Rev.
ism and though we shall also treat it separately, be-                Herman Hoeksema.
longs in this category. And our treatment of this
Fourth Point shall be more inclusive than our                          In behalf of the Staff's committee, I hereby ex-
Canons. Besides, there are related subjects which                    press sincere thanks to all who contributed to this
are significant. Among these are that of the  so-                    special issue.
called "Free Offer," the subject of the relation of Ir-                May our readers profit.

                                              Irresistible Grace

  What is meant by it?                                                 Bear in mind that when the Arminian speaks of
  To understand the meaning of irresistible grace                    "resistible" and "irresistible" he does not have in
we must go back in history to the time of the                        mind merely the idea that the natural man attempts
Arminian controversy. The very term  irresistible                    and strives to oppose and counteract and overcome
cannot be understood, except in that light.                          the power of God's grace, but that he  successfully
                                                                     opposes the grace of God, so that he is not convert-
  The Arminians taught  resistible  grace. In their                  ed to God. This is plain from the articles quoted
third article they seemed to maintain an orthodox                    above, but even more clear from the written opin-
doctrine of man's depravity, although more than                      ions of the Remonstrants which were submitted to
appearance this was not. And in their fourth article                 the Synod of Dordrecht, especially from
they made it very plain that the grace of God in                     Paragraphs 5 and 6:
their system of doctrine is dependent on the will of                     5. The efficacious grace by which anyone is convert-
man. Man, after all, is able to resist the operation of                  ed is not irresistible, and although God through the
God's grace; and if he is able to resist, he is also able                Word and the inner operation of His Spirit so influen-
not to resist. The choice rests with him, and the                        ces the will that he both bestows the power to believe,
efficacy of God's grace depends on the willingness                       or supernatural powers, and indeed causes man to be-
or unwillingness of the sinner.                                          lieve; nevertheless man is able of himself to despise this
  This is very plain when one reads Articles 3 and                      grace, not to believe, and thus to perish through his own         i
4 of the Arrninians together:                                           fault.  (italics added]
                                                                         6. Although according to the altogether free will of
       3. That man has not saving faith of himself, nor of the           God the disparity of divine grace may be very great,
       energy of his free will, in as much as he, in the state of        nevertheless the Holy Spirit bestows, or is ready to be-
       apostasy and sin, can of and by himself neither think,            stow,  as much grace upon all men and every man to
       will, nor do any thing that is truly good (such as saving         whom God's Word is preached as is sufficient for the fur-
       faith eminently is); but that it is needful that he be            therance  of the conversion  of men in  its steps; and there-
       born again of God in Christ, through His Holy Spirit,             fore not only do they obtain sufficient grace unto faith
       and renewed in understanding, inclination, or will,               and conversion whom God is said to be willing to save
       and all his powers, in order that he may rightly under-           according to the decree of absolute election,  but also
       stand, think, will, and effect what is truly good, ac-            they who are not actuaZZy  converted. (italics added]
       cording to the Word of Christ, John xv. 5: `Without
       Me ye can do nothing.'                                          It is over against this doctrine that the Fourth
                                                                     Point of Calvinism maintains the truth of what has
       4. That this grace of God is the beginning, continu-          come to be known as "Irresistible Grace."
       ance, and accomplishment of all good, even to this ex-
       tent, that the regenerate man himself, without preven-          And yet that expression does not occur in our
       ient or assisting, awakening, following and co-opera-         Canons. Neither in the title of the Third and Fourth
       tive grace, can neither think, will nor do good, nor          Heads of Doctrine nor in the articles themselves
       withstand any temptations to evil; so that all good           does the term occur.
       deeds or movements, that can be conceived, must be              Moreover, the expression is not above criticism.
       ascribed to the grace of God in Christ. But as respects
       the mode of the operation of this grace, it is not irre-      In the first place, of course, it is negative: it expres-
       sistible, in as much as it is written concerning many,        ses the idea that the grace of God whereby the elect
       that they have resisted the Holy Ghost, Acts vii., and        are converted cannot be successfully resisted. But
       elsewhere in many places.                                     the truth is positive; and it is always better, if possi-


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                             439



ble, to express that truth positively. In the second             But indeed, even as through the fall man did not
place, the expression itself is not above reproach.            cease to be man, endowed with intellect and will, and
To speak of the power and operation of God's grace             neither did sin, which pervaded the whole human
as "irresistible" might leave the impression that the          race, deprive him of the nature of mankind, but de-
grace of salvation is such that the elect sinner is            praved and spiritually slew him, so also this divine
dragged kicking and screaming to heaven in spite of            grace of regeneration does not operate in men as in
the fact that he resists and fights and pulls back all         stocks and blocks, neither does it take away the will
                                                               and its properties, or forcibly compel it against its
the way and does not want to be saved and does not             will, but spiritually quickens, heals, corrects, power-
want to believe and walk in godliness and sanctifi-            fully and at the same time pleasantly turns it: so that
cation of life. But this is exactly not the case. The          where before the rebellion and opposition of the flesh
Reformed doctrine of "irresistible grace" is actually          had full dominion, now a ready and sincere obedience
a doctrine of effectual, or efficacious grace. This the        of the Spirit begins to reign-in which the true and
Canons emphasize again and again. Article 10 of                spiritual renewal and liberty of our will consists. And
Canons III, IV speaks of the truth that God "con-              unless that admirable  Artificer of ever good deals in
fers upon them (the elect) faith and repentance, res-          this wise with us, there is no hope that man should
cues them from the power of darkness, and trans-               arise out of the fall through a free will, through which,
lates them into the kingdom of His own Son..  .."              when he stood, he plunged himself into ruin.
Article 11 speaks of the fact that God "powerfully           The relation between this Fourth Point and all
illuminates their minds by His Holy Spirit" but also       the others is plain: it is one of perfect harmony. Ir-
"by the efficacy of the same regenerating Spirit,          resistible grace is rooted in eternal and sovereign
pervades the inmost recesses of the man; He opens          election. It has its ground in definite atonement: for
the closed, and softens the hardened heart, and cir-       all the blessings of salvation were merited and
cumcises that which was uncircumcised; infuses             surely obtained by Christ for the elect, and for
new qualities into the will, which though hereto-          them alone. It has its spiritual necessity in a deprav-
fore dead, He quickens; from being evil, disobedi-         ity which is indeed total, a depravity to which the
ent, and refractory, He renders it good, obedient,         only exception is the exception of efficacious grace.
and pliable; actuates and strengthens it, that like a      And it has its continuance and sure result in the
good tree, it may bring forth the fruits of good           preservation and perseverance of the saints.
actions."                                                    Break that perfect harmony, and the inevitable
  And Article 16 goes to the heart of the matter:          result will be the loss of  all  of the Five Points of
                                                           Calvinism.

                Careless and Profane Christians
                                              Prof Robert D. Decker


  The Reformed Faith (the truth of Scripture as set        God, the Lord of lords, the Ring of kings (cf. I Tim.
forth in the Reformed Creeds, especially the               6:15, 16).
Heidelberg Catechism, The Belgic Confession, The             As the sovereign Creator, God is the sovereign
Canons of Dordrecht) proclaims the truth of the            Redeemer of His people in Jesus Christ. For this
absolute sovereignty of God. God is the sovereign          very reason God created all things. God's eternal
Creator of heaven and earth and all that they con-         purpose is to reveal His glory in Christ and in His
tain. In six days, by His almighty and efficacious         body, the church. Of this the inspired apostle Paul
word God created all things (Gen. 1, 2). The Chris-        wrote: "For by Him (Christ) were all things created,
tian confesses with the Psalmist: "By the word of          that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and
the Lord were the heavens made; and all the host of        invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions,
them by the breath of His mouth. He gathereth the          or principalities, or powers: all things were created
waters of the sea together as an heap: He layeth up        by Him and for Him: and He is before all things,
the depth in storehouses. Let all the earth fear the       and by Him all things consist. And He is the head of
Lord: let all the inhabitants of the world stand in        the body, the church: Who is the beginning, the
awe of Him. For He spake, and it was done; He              first-born from the dead; that in all things He might
commanded, and it stood fast" (Ps.  33:6-g). All           have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father
things belong to the Sovereign God Who says, "If I         that in Him should all fulness dwell; And, having
were hungry, I would not tell thee: for the world is       made peace through the blood of His cross, by Him
Mine, and the fulness thereof" (Ps.  50:12). God is        to reconcile all things unto Himself; by Him I say,


440                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



whether they be things in earth, or things in                have nothing to do with his salvation, they neither
heaven" (Col. 1:16-20).                                      merit God's favor nor detract from it. If that be
   The sovereign God, `"To the praise of the glory of        true, it does not matter how one lives. The doctrine
His grace," elected His people in Christ, "before            of irresistible grace is an immoral doctrine which
the foundation of the world (Eph.  1:3-12). These            allows people to sin as much as they wish. A person
elect God gave to Christ, and for these sheep Jesus,         is either saved or he's not. It is all by grace so it
the Good Shepherd, laid down His life. These sheep           makes no difference how he lives. Whether he
hear the voice of the Good Shepherd and follow               walks in sin or holiness he is certain of eternal life.
Him. To them the Good Shepherd gives eternal life            This doctrine of irresistible grace makes people
and no one is able to pluck them out of His hand             careless and profane. It makes people careless
because "My Father, which gave them Me, is                   about their walk of life. No matter how much sin a
greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them           person commits he is saved. Preach this doctrine,
out of My Father's hand" (John  10:25-30). By His            the opponent says, and the church will lose its sen-
irresistible grace the sovereign God draws these             sitivity toward sin. People will become profane.
sheep to Jesus, and all whom God gives to Christ               It ought to be noted that this objection invariably
come unto Him and Christ promises:  "...Him that             comes from those who hate the truth of sovereign
cometh unto Me I will in no wise cast out...and I            grace. The objection does not come from those who
will raise him up at the last day" (John 6:37-44).           are sincerely searching the Scriptures for the truth,
  There is only one conclusion to all of this: It is         but from those who hate the truth but cannot op-
God "Who hath saved us, and called us with an                pose the truth on biblical grounds. That this truth
holy calling, not according to our works, but                makes men careless and profane the Catechism cor-
according to His own purpose and grace, which                rectly calls an impossibility. Those who are
was given us in Christ Jesus before the world                implanted into Christ by a true faith will surely
began" (II Timothy  1:9). Salvation is all of grace          bring forth fruits of thankfulness. `Those implanted
from beginning to end. Salvation is not founded              into Christ reveal Christ. They are one with Christ
upon our works (Eph. 2:8-10). Nor does salvation             by faith so that Christ lives in them and they live
depend on the will of man. It is true the Christian is       out of Christ. The fruit is always there!
called to work out his own salvation with fear and             But this objection is much older than the Cate-
trembling. He can do that, however, only because it          chism. When Jesus proclaimed the truth of sover-
is God Who works in him both to will and to do of            eign, irresistible grace He was bitterly opposed by
His good pleasure (Phil.  2:12, 13). God Himself             the Pharisees with their false doctrine of work-righ-
says, "I will have mercy on whom I will have                 teousness. When our Lord made plain that
mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will             salvation is by grace alone, "Many therefore of His
have compassion. So then it is not of him that               disciples when they heard this, said, This is an hard
willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that            saying; who can hear it?" and they "went back, and
sheweth mercy.. . .therefore hath He mercy on                walked no more with Him" (John  6:60, 66). The
whom He will have mercy, and whom He will He                 Apostles faced the same opposition. In the first five
hardeneth" (Rom. 9:15-18). God is God!                       chapters of his Letter to the Romans, the apostle
  This truth, the truth of irresistible grace of the         Paul develops the truth of justification by faith and
Sovereign God, has been courageously proclaimed              not by works. In chapter six he asks: "What shall
and zealously defended by the church of Jesus                we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace
Christ all through the ages. This "faith of our              may abound? God forbid. How shall we that are
fathers" is living still in the Reformed tradition. It is    dead to sin, live any longer therein? Know ye not,
a truth which has been and still is fiercely opposed         that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus
and much maligned. The Heidelberg Catechism                  Christ were baptized into His death? Therefore we
deals with this opposition. Having established the           are buried with Him by baptism into death: that
truth that our good works cannot be the whole or             like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the
even the part of our righteousness before God, the           glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in
Catechism asks: "But doth not this doctrine make             newness of life" (verses l-4). To speak of a careless
men careless and profane?" The Catechism                     and. profane Christian is a contradiction in terms.
answers: "By no means: for it is impossible that             There are no careless and profane Christians! He
those, who are implanted into Christ by a true faith,        who is justified before God, righteous in Christ, has
should not bring forth fruits of thankfulness"               no joy in sin. He who is careless and profane has
(Question and Answer 64). The argument of those              never tasted the wonderful grace of God.
who oppose this truth runs something like this. If             The Christian, the forgiven sinner, is according
one is justified by faith alone and not of works, if         to Scripture DEAD to sin. This simply is not true of
one is saved by irresistible grace and his works             the ungodly. The ungodly is not dead to sin but


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 441



alive to sin. Sin is. his lord and master; its power is    not careless and profane; the Christian cares very
enthroned in his heart. He is dead in sin. His mind        much!
is darkened, his will is perverse, his heart is corrupt      This does not mean that sin is dead in him. Sin
and full of deceit. The ungodly agrees with his sin.       remains very much alive in him. The Christian is
He does not long to be delivered from sin. Willingly       always tempted. He still retains what Scripture
he yields his members the servants of unrighteous-         calls the old man of sin or the flesh. And he sins.
ness. He finds his pleasure in the lusts of the flesh,     But his attitude toward sin is changed. On account
the lusts of the eyes, and the pride of life. He goes      of his sin and sinful flesh he repents daily in godly
from sin to sin until finally he is ripe for judgment.     sorrow. He confesses with the Apostle: I am
Romans  1:18-32 describes the entire terrible              wretched, lost, prone by nature to hate God and the
process. Outside of Jesus Christ and apart from the        neighbor. The good that I would I do not, the evil
mercy of God's grace "There is none righteous, no,         which I would not, that I do. I thank God, I am
not one" (Rom.  3:lOff.). The ungodly is careless          righteous in Christ by grace alone (Cf. Rom. 7: 14-
and profane!                                               25). Daily the Christian prays, Father forgive my
  But not the Christian! He is bound to Christ by          sins, grant me strength to fight and oppose my sin
faith. He is righteous in Christ and Christ lives in       and to walk in those good works which Thou hast
him. The Christian is dead to sin. His heart is re-        ordained that I should walk in them. His life is
born, his mind is renewed, his will is turned. The         characterized by that constant tension, that fight
fruit is that he no longer agrees with sin. He no          against sin. That is the experience of every child of
longer has his conversation in the sinful world.           God. Where the irresistible grace of God in Jesus
Saved by grace, through faith, God's gift, he is the       Christ is at work in the heart of the Christian there
workmanship of God, created in Christ Jesus unto           is that fruit of thankfulness to the praise of the
good works which God has before ordained that he           glory of God's grace. Once more let it be said: there
should walk in them (Eph. 2:8-10). The Christian           are no careless and profane Christians.
hates his sin and opposes evil at every turn. He is


                The Wonder-Work of Regeneration
                                                Rev. RonaZd Hanko


   "Most powerful . . . most delightful, astonishing,        Scripture speaks of regeneration in many differ-
mysterious, and ineffable." With these words the           ent ways. The word itself means "rebirth," and in
Canons of Dordt celebrate the wonderful work of            such passages as John 3:3ff and I Peter 1:3 we read
God's grace in regeneration (Canons III, IV, 12). In       of being "born again. " This rebirth is not a second
Canons III, IV the truth of Irresistible Grace is          physical birth, as Jesus so patiently pointed out to
taught in close connection with the truth of Total         Nicodemus, but a spiritual birth. By our first birth
Depravity. Regeneration is not the only work of            we are born of earthly parents, and thus "of the
grace mentioned there, but it receives the emphasis        flesh" (Jn.  3:6); by our second birth we are born
because it holds first place among all the other           from above of God, by water and the Spirit (Jn. 1:3,
works of God's grace in the heart of the sinner.           3:3, I Jn. 3:9). By our first birth we are born into this
  In connection with  IJnconditional  Election and         world, but by our second into an inheritance incor-
Limited Atonement we learn of the work that God            ruptible, undefiled, and unfading (I Pet. 1:3,4). The
does  for  us, when from eternity, according to His        very principle of our first birth is a "corruptible
good pleasure, He sets apart for us in Christ all          seed," but the seed of our spiritual rebirth is the liv-
spiritual blessings in heavenly places (Eph.  1~3, 4);     ing and abiding word of God (I Pet. 1:23). Thus it is
and when at the cross He purchases for us poor un-         that by our natural birth we are spiritually still-
worthy sinners those same blessings of life and sal-       born, dead in trespasses and sins (Eph. 2: 1, Ps.
vation. In connection with Irresistible Grace we           51:5), while through regeneration we are born
learn of the work that God does  in  us, when with         again into the fellowship of life everlasting.
everlasting kindness He applies and gives to us all          That regeneration is a work of grace is evident. It
that has been chosen and purchased for us. The             is a work wrought through the power of the resur-
very first work in that application of salvation to        rection of Christ (I Pet. 1:3) and is the beginning of
the elect, redeemed sinner is the wonder-work of           our resurrection with Christ (Eph.  2:5, 6). It is
regeneration.                                              brought to pass through the Spirit of Christ (Jn. 3:5-


442                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



8) and is the gracious cause of all our obedience to        cannot stand against the mighty working of the
the truth and love for one another in the body of           power of God. This is not to be understood in a
Christ (I Pet.  1:22). But what is more, regeneration       fatalistic sense as though the sinner is dragged to
is actually "Christ in us, the hope of glory" (Col.         heaven against his will, kicking and screaming at
1:27). In regeneration Christ Himself, in Whom              every step of the way. Rather, we understand that
dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily and            though the very first work of grace which is  per-
in Whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and             formed in the heart of the sinner is performed
knowledge (Col.  2:3,  9), comes to dwell in our            contrary to his own will, that it is also a work which
hearts by His Spirit. In regeneration the life of           is performed upon his will and heart, so that that
Christ which cannot die, the life of God Himself, is        which was hard is made soft, what was dead is
imparted to us in all its glory and sweetness. This is      made alive, what was evil, disobedient and stub-
proved by the Word of God in I Peter  1:23. That            born is made good, obedient and pliable (cf. Canons
living and abiding Word of God by which we are              III, IV, 11).
born again is none other than Christ Himself. It is           A beautiful example of the work of regeneration
not the Scripture, for that is neither living nor           is found in Lydia of Thyatira "whose heart the Lord
abiding, but the written revelation of the living and       opened, that she attended unto the things that were
abiding Word. Christ as the Word made flesh,                spoken of Paul" (Acts 16:14). God did not knock at
living and abiding forever, dwelling in our hearts          the door of Lydia's heart waiting for her to open her
by the operations of the Spirit, is the seed of the         heart and accept Jesus as her personal Saviour. If
new life. Regeneration is of grace in Christ.               that had been the case, Lydia would have con-
  We also find regeneration described in Scripture          tinued to serve her idols in the temples of Diana
as a "new creation" (II Cor.  5:17), a resurrection         and Jupiter. Rather, the Lord opened her heart and
from the dead (Eph.  5:14, Jn.  5:25), a circumcision       from the heart she received the "Good News"
of the heart (Deut. l&16), a washing and renewing           which delivered her from the service of "vanities"
of the Holy Ghost (Tit.  3:5), an awakening (Eph.           and taught her to serve the living God in spirit and
5: 14), and in the prophecies of Jeremiah and Ezeki-        in truth.
el as the giving of a new heart of flesh in the place         This work of regeneration is therefore, described
of our old stubborn and rebellious heart of stone           in the Canons as a work which is both sweet and
(Jer.  24:7, Ez.  11:19,  36:26). We understand, of         powerful. It is sweet in that by the power of grace
course, that regeneration is all of these things be-        God heals and corrects our heart and will, but it is
cause it is first of all "Christ in us." But what we        also powerful in that it is done irresistibly and ef-
must see is that in all these different ways Scripture      fectually (Canons III, IV. 16).
teaches us that regeneration is indeed a work "most
powerful." It is a work of grace which reveals the            It is the irresistible power of that work that needs
infinite strength of the Almighty, a sovereign opera-       emphasis. Most preaching today assumes that
tion of God by which we are infallibly and certainly        regeneration is a co-operative effort between God
saved. That is also what we mean when we speak              and man. God knocks and man opens. God offers
of "irresistible" grace.                                    and man decides. God seeks, man finds. Apart from
                                                            the fact that such teaching is horrible blasphemy
  To say that the power of this grace is irresistible       and a denial of the Almighty  it is the worst kind of
is to say first of all that regeneration is the only ex-    foolishness. A popular example of this foolishness
ception to our depravity. Without regeneration "all         is Billy Graham's book,  How to be Born Again.
the imaginations of the thoughts of our hearts are          Besides being a denial of irresistible grace, it is as
only evil continually" (Gen.  6:5). Without the             foolish to write a book of that nature as to write a
grace of regeneration we are neither able nor will-         birthing manual for the child who is yet unborn.
ing to come to God, or even to desire that which is         The only book that can be written about being born
good. Jesus said to Nicodemus, "Except a man be             again is the book which God Himself has written,
born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."              telling us how He conceived us from all eternity in
And Jesus meant that apart from regeneration we             His good pleasure, how He carried us and travailed
cannot even believe that there is such a kingdom,           over us in His Son, and how He brought us to the
as the unbelieving Jews so often proved. The                birth through the irresistible operations of His
irresistible grace of God in regeneration is the only       Spirit. And until we are born again we will not un-
hope for a totally depraved sinner.                         derstand one word of what that Book teaches, for it
  But irresistible grace means also, that though by         is written in God's Book that "the natural man  re-
nature we resist the things of God with all our heart       ceiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they
and soul and mind and strength, our resistance is           are foolishness unto him: neither can he know
always broken by the supreme power of sovereign             them, because they are spiritually discerned" (I
grace. The dead flesb and stone heart of the sinner         Cor. 2:14).


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                              443



  Seeing the irresistible power of the work of God        through faith and love, delighting in the wonders of
in regeneration, we see also that His work is "mys-       God we might show forth the praises of Him who
terious and ineffable (inexpressible) ." Regeneration     called us out of darkness into His marvellous light.
is part of the miracle of salvation and the wonder of       Nevertheless, the delight that we find in this
grace which God has ordained for the praise of His        work transcends this present life, for through re-
glory, and therefore is one of His ways which are         generation we are not restored to the earthly para-
"past finding out. " As little as we understand of the    dise and the life of our father Adam, but by this
power of God in the creation of the worlds when           work we are lifted up to the heavenly Paradise
He called the things that be not as though they           where we see God face to face in the face of Jesus
were, so little do we understand of this new crea-        Christ, and where with eternal astonishment and
tion when once again in us God calls the things that      delight we cast our crowns before the throne and
be not as though they were.                               worship Him who lives forever and ever.
  But though we do not and cannot completely                That eternal delight and wonder we taste even
comprehend this work of God "we rest satisfied            now, for "the life which we now live in the flesh
with knowing and experiencing, that by this grace         we live by the faith of the Son of God, Who loved
of God we are able to believe with the heart, and         us, and gave Himself for us" (Gal.  2:20), and we
love our Saviour" (Canons III, IV, 13): mysterious        know that "He which hath begun a good work in us
indeed, but also "most delightful." In fact, that is      will perform it until the day of Christ Jesus" by the
the great purpose of God in regeneration, that            power of irresistible grace (Phil. 1:6).


                 The Sovereign, Efficacious Call
                                               Rev. G. Van Buren

  God calls from the darkness of sin and death to         brated in Scripture, and denominated a new crea-
the glorious light of covenant fellowship with Him-       tion: a resurrection from the dead, making alive,
self. That call is efficacious (powerfully effective);    which God works in us without our aid. But this is
those called do come and assuredly enjoy the com-         in no wise effected merely by the external preach-
munion God promised in Christ.                            ing of the gospel, by moral suasion, or such a mode
  In speaking of the call according to which God          of operation, that after God has performed His part,
brings His elect people to the consciousness of sal-      it still remains in the power of man to be regener-
vation, we understand that this is the powerful ef-       ated or not, to be converted, or to continue uncon-
fect of what is called the "irresistible grace" of        verted; but it is evidently a supernatural work,
God. When God calls, His chosen people come;              most powerful and at the same time most delight-
must  come.                                               ful, astonishing, mysterious, and ineffable; not in-
                                                          ferior in efficacy to creation, or the resurrection
  We must understand of course, what is meant by          from the dead, as the Scripture inspired by the
the "call." It is used in two ways in connection          author of this work declares; so that all in whose
with the wonder of salvation. There is the general        heart God works in this marvelous manner, are cer-
call which involved the promiscuous proclamation          tainly, infallibly, and effectually regenerated, and
of the gospel. Wherever the gospel goes, there is         do actually believe.. . . ' '
also the call to repent from sin and believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ. Many hear that call of the gospel.        The same is the clear teaching of Scripture, as,
It was concerning that call that Jesus said, "For         for instance, in Romans  8:29, 30, "For whom He
many are called, but few are chosen" (Matt. 22: 14).      did foreknow, He also did predestinate.. . . Moreover
Obviously, Christ here meant that the preaching           whom He did predestinate, them He also called;
goes forth; many hear, but will not obey. Yet, God        and whom He called, them He also justified: and
has His people who come-the chosen.                       whom He justified, them He also glorified." Note
                                                          particularly in this "golden chain of salvation,"
  It is clear from Scripture that there is another        those called ARE glorified. The calling here refers
call, a sovereign, efficacious call, which comes to       to that powerful call of God which brings to pass
the elect of God. It is a call so powerful that those     what He determined.
called do assuredly come. It is a call in harmony                                                     `
                                                                                                      -
with the very nature of God: His Sovereignty. It is          The powerful call of God is seen already when
of this that the Canons of Dordt speak in Head III-       He created the heavens and the earth. God brought
IV, 12: "And this is the regeneration so highly cele-     into being that which He called. So we read in


444                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



Psalm  33:9, "For He spake, and it was done; He              man, as in Ezekiel: `A new heart also will I give
commanded, and it stood fast." The creation was              you, and a new spirit will I put within you and I
formed at His very Word.                                     will take away the stony heart out of your flesh,
  So also is His call unto final salvation. It is God's      and I will give you a heart of flesh,' Ezek. 36:26."
call which brings regeneration. But that same call             There is not any contradiction between the irre-
goes forth when the Word is proclaimed. God calls            sistible grace of God whereby He calls unto salva-
dead sinners to new birth-and then to conscious              tion-and man's responsibility. It is true that our
and godly life. Those whom God regenerates, He               minds cannot fully grasp the wonder of the work of
causes also to hear the preached Word. Such hear             God-and how could they, since we are but crea-
not only with their ears nor merely with their               tures, and He is God? Yet we confess that the Sov-
minds, but they hear within the inner recesses of            ereign God so controls all things that He draws
their very being. Their very heart is affected. The          those whom He calls. Is not this the teaching too of
Word preached falls as rain and sunshine upon the            Philippians  12,13:  ". . . Work out your own salvation
seed of life in the heart-and causes that seed to            with fear and trembling, for it is God which
sprout and flourish. God thus awakens the new life           worketh in you both to will and to do of His good
within one and will make that life to develop and            pleasure"? There is clearly the conscious, willing
grow.                                                        activity of the child of God in working out his salva-
  Thus sovereignly the almighty God calls His                tion. He applies himself to that cause. He is inter-
elect to repentance and confession of sin-and they           ested in and concerned with his salvation. Still he
repent. These obey, and must obey, the powerful              knows that God is the One working in him both to
call of God. Therefore the Word states in Romans             will and to do of His good pleasure. Not man is
8:30 that those called shall also be glorified.              "willing," but God works a willingness in the elect
  This call which brings to repentance and glory is          sinner. Not man "does," but God works the doing
part of what is termed the "irresistible grace" of           within the elect sinner. That is the irresistible grace
God. This issue of the Standard Bearer points out            of God whereby one is called-and comes.
how that the irresistible grace of God is involved in          Therefore Jesus could say in John 6:37, "All that
every aspect of the salvation of the elect sinner.           the Father giveth Me shaZ2 come to Me; and hirn that
Here too, we recognize that grace, or the favor of           cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out." And
God toward His elect people, is not to be resisted.          again in verse 44, "No man can come to Me except
His favor, directed toward His own people, will as-          the Father which hath sent Me draw him; and I will
suredly accomplish what he has determined. This              raise him up at the last day."
is true obviously also with respect to the call as that        It is this truth which has constantly comforted
term is used in Romans  8:30. God calls to repen-            saints through the ages. God draws-therefore they
tance and new life, and His irresistible grace will          h a v e   c o m e .
see to it that the elect sinner hears and is converted.        Would some yet complain about this glorious
He cannot resist that call. He will want to obey             truth? Would some still insist'upon the free will of
even as God requires.                                        the sinner to choose or not? Would some willingly
  Some claim a contradiction here. A "call" which            like to maintain that God could give up of His
is obeyed because of "irresistible grace," apparent-         Sovereignty in order to allow for "free will" in the
ly denies the human element, man's responsibility.           sinner?
If there is no chance for refusal, man is made to
appear as a stock or block. Therefore has arisen also          The fact is that unless God is entirely Sovereign,
that terrible doctrine of the "free-will" of the sin-        unless He calls with almighty power, there should
ner. The grace of God is said to be resistible; man is       no flesh be saved. It is not a question of "free will"
able to reject the call. The work of God is reduced to       or not "free will." If salvation depended upon the
a "gentle advising." So also the Canons of Dordt             willingness of any sinner, he would in fact never be
state in the rejection of errors, Head III-IV, 7: "We        saved. Man's situation after Adam's fall into sin is
reject the errors of those who teach: that the grace         such that he cannot hear spiritually. He cannot
whereby we are converted to God is only a gentle             "will" to be saved. He cannot "see" the kingdom of
advising, or (as others explain it), that this is the no-    heaven. To insist on the "responsibility" of man, to
blest manner of working in the conversion of man,            insist on man's ability to choose Christ or not, in
and that this manner of working, which consists in           fact would destroy every possibility of deliverance.
advising, is most in harmony with man's nature....             Nor does the irresistible grace of God in His
But this is altogether Pelagian and contrary to the          sovereign call render any man without excuse be-
whole Scripture which, besides this, teaches yet             fore God. None may ever claim before God that
another and far more powerful and divine manner              since He did not powerfully call and draw him, that
of the Holy Spirit's working in the conversion of            therefore his rebellion is not his own fault. None


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                               445



may ever blame God for his sin. Fact is, God made         wonderful glory of deliverance from sin and death.
man, in Adam his representative head, capable of          These see the wonder of fellowship and communion
obedience. When Adam sinned, and all we in him,           with God in Christ. In them there is worked such a
then man became guilty not only, but also incapa-         longing for those things heavenly, that their whole
ble of obedience. But the sin of disobedience re-         being is filled with desire for that. These would use
mains man's.                                              their time, talents, possessions to God's glory and as
  But every saved child of God can only give God          those who would dwell in His house. Willingly,
everlasting praise that He calls, draws, and pre-         these are found at the foot of Christ's cross.
serves His people to the end. These understand that         And all these shall be saved. None shall be
only because of that irresistible grace of God did        ashamed at the return of our Lord Jesus Christ who
they come. There is no other way but the drawing by       have placed their trust and confidence in Him. He
the Father that accounts for their willing and doing.     shall deliver from this earth with its present corrup-
  This is not to say that any are compelled to come       tions, to bring to the blessed glory in the new
into heaven against their will. None who are drawn        heavens and the new earth. Every child of God is
by the Father remain rebels. Nor can any, insisting       assured that he shall enjoy such blessings-because
on walking in ways of disobedience and sin, expect        the Sovereign God called by irresistible grace-and
that nevertheless the Father will draw him into           he comes to enjoy what is his for Jesus' sake. So
WY.                                                       never, never mock with that wonder of irresistible
                                                          grace and its evidence seen in the call of God's elect
  But rather, Father in heaven draws in such a way        from sin to glory. That remains the only sure basis
that He works the desire and longing for salvation        for hope and comfort in a world of uncertainty and
within the hearts of elect sinners. These hear the        doubt. And all the glory be then to God's Name!
sweet sounds of the gospel. These understand the


                      Faith and Irresistible Grace
                                                 Rev. C. Hanko


  The word `faith' in Scripture is derived from a         devoted himself to God and was prepared to serve
Hebrew word that means `that which is firm,' thus,        Him as King of the earthly creation. With his whole
that which is steadfast, trustworthy, infallibly true.    being he sought God as his highest good, expected
From this is derived the subjective idea, the firm        all things from His hands, and rejoiced in the inti-
unchangeable conviction that God's Word is true.          mate fellowhip of walking with God and commun-
Scripture speaks of this in II Peter  1:19: "We have      ing with Him at the tree of life.
also a more sure (absolutely sure) word of                  Therefore his sin of eating of the forbidden tree
prophecy; whereunto we do well that we take               was characterized by willful disobedience, rebel-
heed." In the New Testament the Greek word for            lion, and breach of covenant. Willfully, even delib-
faith corresponds with that, since it is derived from     erately, he turned himself against God, listened to
a word that means `to persuade,' and thus `to be          the lie of Satan as transmitted to him by his wife,
persuaded,' to believe, to trust with a sure confi-       and allied himself with Satan in the wicked attempt
dence.                                                    to be like God. Since Adam was the head of the
  Adam in paradise had that sure confidence in            human race Adam's guilt became our guilt, and
God. As he came forth from the hands of the Crea-         since he was our first father we are all conceived
tor he intuitively knew God. His first consciousness      and born in sin, our understanding is darkened into
was the deep awareness of the power and glory of          foolishness, our heart is turned against God in
God as revealed to him in the broad expanse of the        wicked rebellion, our will is perverse, so that we
sunny heavens, in the rushing torrent of the              put forth every effort to gain our selfish ends, dis-
streams, in the singing of the birds, in the beautiful    honoring God's Name, misusing and destroying
variety of trees; plants, and flowers, and in the         God's creation, and filling the measure of our in-
peaceful grazing of all sorts of animals. We can well     iquity every day.
imagine that his first cry of wonder must have              Only grace can change that. In fact, grace does
been, 0 my God, how glorious art Thou in all the          not merely restore us to our former state in para-
works of Thy hands! For Adam was created in the           dise, but exalts us to a higher and richer life in an
image of God in true knowledge, righteousness,            even closer intimacy and communion with God as
and holiness, so that he intuitively knew God,            the God of our salvation in Jesus Christ. God sent


446                                               THE STANDARD BEARER



His Son into the world to seek and to save His lost              is not merely intellectual, but involves the heart. It
sheep and to lead them into the sheepfold of                     is a knowledge of an enlightened understanding,
heaven, nevermore imputing our sins unto us. Only                arising out of the life of Christ that is implanted in
the atoning death of the cross could redeem us from              the heart. Paul speaks of knowing Christ and the
sin and death and make us sons and daughters of                  power of His resurrection (Phil.  3:lO). There are
our God, heirs of the salvation that He prepares for             many professed theologians who are thoroughly ac-
us in the Father's House with its many mansions.                 quainted with the Scriptures, but who in their
  Therefore Scripture teaches that there is salva-               spiritual blindness do all in their power to under-
tion in no one but in Jesus Christ. He not only                  mine the truth revealed there, while there are un-
opens the way to our salvation, He not only brings               learned believers who are given spiritual eyes to
salvation, but He is a7Z                                         see, spiritual ears to hear and hearts to understand
                             OLLY  saZvation.  He assures us,
"I am the Bread of Life. " "I am the Water of life,"             the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. "This is
"I am the Way, the Truth and the Life," "I am the                eternal life, that they might know Thee the only
true Vine." It is especially this last statement, the            true and living God, and Jesus Christ, Whom Thou
figure of the vine, that is important to us here. In             has sent" (John  17:3).  Those who know God, also
John  15:1, 2 Jesus says, "I am the true vine, and               know themselves, in all their sin and misery. They
My Father is the husbandman. Every branch in Me                  flee to the cross to seek pardon in the atoning blood
that beareth not fruit He taketh away: and every                 of the Savior and know Him as their only and com-
branch that beareth fruit, He purgeth it, that it may            `plete Savior.
bring forth more fruit. . ..Abide in Me, and I in you.             This faith is also an assured confidence. The be-
As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it             liever not only confesses that God is the only true
abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide               and living God, but also adds, This God is my God
in Me. . ..For without Me ye can do nothing."                    forever and ever. He is assured of the forgiveness of
  At the moment of regeneration we are ingrafted                 sins through the atoning death of the Savior. He has
into Christ like a branch in the vine, to draw our               the adoption to sons and cherishes the hope of eter-
life from Christ. Or, to change the figure, at regen-            nal life in everlasting fellowship with God. In the
eration the life of Christ is implanted in our hearts.           midst of all the trials and sufferings of this present
We become new creatures, born from above. To us                  time He rests assured that God is for Him and that
is given the spiritual faculty, the ability to believe.          nothing can be against him. He is confident that
Just as an infant has all the potentialities that he             God Who has begun a good work in him will surely
will ever have, whatever he may become later in                  finish it. Even in times of doubt and temptation
life, so also the reborn child of God has the full               when God seems far from him he still seeks his
potentiality to believe, even though that faith be-              refuge in God in prayer. He cherishes the beginning
comes evident only later. "I live," says Paul, "yet              of eternal joy in his heart.
not I, but Christ lives in me; and the life I now live             The all important question is, Who works this
in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, Who          faith?
loved me and gave Himself for me" (Gal.  2:20).                    The common conception is that God offers His
Therefore faith is the living bond that unites us to             salvation, but man must believe and accept it.
Christ, whereby we become partakers of Christ and                Christ is presented as standing knocking at the door
of all His benefits.                                             of the heart. The knob is on the inside so that He
  Salvation is by faith and by faith alone. In answer            cannot enter unless the sinner opens the door to let
to the plea of the Philippian jailer, "Sirs, what must           Him in. Or the figure is used of one holding out a
I do to be saved?", Paul answers, "Believe on the                slice of bread, which the hungry person can accept
Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy              or reject. It is maintained that when God created
house (Acts. 16:30, 31). Jesus says in John 3:14, 15,            Adam in His own image the will was not a part of
"And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilder-               that image. At the fall the will was impaired, but
ness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: that             did not become perverse. The sinner can realize his
whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but                sin and misery, can still will the good, even though
have eternal life." Again in verse 36 of the same                he does the evil. Paul's complaint in Romans 7, that
chapter it is confirmed that salvation is by faith,              when he wills the good evil is present with him, is
and by faith alone: "He that believeth on the Son                ascribed to the natural man apart from grace. He
hath everlasting life; and he that believeth not the             can hunger for the Bread of life, can reach out as a
Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth             drowning man for the lifeline that is thrown to him
on him."                                                         in the preaching of the Word. This is a shameful
  This faith, according to our Heidelberg Cate-                  denial of the sovereignty of God, making a helpless
chism, consists of a certain knowledge and an                    Jesus dependent upon mere man; no, worse, upon a
assured confidence (Lord's Day 7). This knowledge                dead sinner. If this were the case, not one of us


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                              447



would ever be saved.                                       that God promises to each baptized child that he is
  There are also those who speak of faith as a con-        an heir to eternal life, but if this child, when he
dition unto salvation. They defend this view in a          comes to maturity, does not accept that promise, he
pretence of maintaining man's responsibility, as if        thereby rejects it and becomes a covenant breaker
God's sovereign grace ever bypasses man's respon-          and is cast out. Apart from the fact that this teaches
sibility. In our own history as Protestant Reformed        a salvation that is dependent upon a dead sinner,
Churches the statement was made from one of our            this also teaches a grace that is resistible and a
pulpits, and ultimately condemned, that "God               falling away of saints. Salvation is not of him who
promises to every one of you that, if you believe          wills, nor of him who runs, but of God Who shows
you shall be saved." No matter how one may                 mercy (Rom.  9:16). There can be no real faith nor
attempt to give this a Reformed interpretation, the        assurance of faith except from God.
fact remains that it militates against the plain teach-      Faith is God's gift, which He works in our hearts
ings of the Scriptures. The general promise that is        through the preaching of the Word and by His Holy
declared to "everyone" is made dependent upon              Spirit. Not by an outside source, such as science,
the condition "if you believe." This can never be          secular history, or anything else that must prove
taken to mean that God says to the lost sinner, "I         the Bible to be true, but by the testimony of Scrip-
promise to save you on the condition that I fulfill in     ture itself. Faith is through hearing, and hearing is
you My own promise, that is, that I give you faith to      by the Word of God (Rom.  10:17). Our Reformed
believe." The only possible interpretation is, that        Confessions maintain that faith is "conferred,
faith is a condition unto salvation, and that man          breathed and infused into man," for God "works in
must believe before he can be saved. Scripture al-         man both the will to believe, and the act of believ-
ways confirms the truth, "For by grace are ye saved        ing also" (Canons III, IV, Head of Doctrine, article
through faith, and that not of yourselves: it is the       14).
gift of God" (Eph. 2:8). Nothing, not the grace, not
the salvation, not the faith is in any sense of man,         Thus we can triumphantly declare, "For of Him,
but it is God's work of sovereign mercy in us.             and through Him, and to Him, are all things: to
                                                           Whom be the glory for ever. Amen." This
  Similar to the view mentioned above is the view          assurance of faith depends not on us, but on God
that God's promise to the baptized child at baptism        alone, and is attained only in God's sovereign
(Gen.  17:7, Acts  2:39) is a conditional promise that     mercy.
is contingent on the child's acceptance. It is said


              Righteous by an Irresistible Grace
                                             Rev. Thomas C. Miersma


  For the believing child of God who clings to             demns, declaring innocence or guilt. He whom God
Christ by faith, the truth that he is accounted righ-      justifies, whom God declares righteous, stands
teous before God is of the greatest significance. The      before the Lord in a state of perfect innocence. He
principle that he whom God declares to be righ-            stands without condemnation before the law of
teous is righteous, is a matter of pure grace to him.      God. To be righteous, then, is principally the fruit
The believer knows himself to be a guilty sinner as        of a legal act of justification on the part of God as
he is in himself. The truth that God justifies the un-     Judge,
godly in Christ affords him a rich comfort and an            In such a state of innocence and righteousness
unshakeable confidence. It is a confidence which           Adam stood in Paradise. His was a created righ-
he has, not of himself, but of grace.                      teousness by nature, for he was created in God's
  What does it mean to be righteous? It means that         image, in righteousness and true holiness. He stood
one stands according to the judgment of God, in            before the bar of God's judgment as perfect, free
perfect conformity with God's own righteousness            from guilt. He did so, moreover, as the representa-
and perfection. Of that righteousness and righteous        tive head of mankind. But Adam fell into sin by
will of God, the law of God is the revelation and the      eating of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and
standard. To be righteous means that according to          Evil. He thereby entered the state of guilt and came
God's own verdict and judgment, one measures up            under the sentence of death. In him, we died, for
to that standard and stands in perfect conformity          by Adam's  offence "judgment came upon all men
with it. God renders a verdict. He justifies or con-       to condemnation" (Romans 5: 18).


448                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



  This was according to the purpose of God. God           Man is by nature a Pharisee, a self-righteous hypo-
purposed to magnify His own grace by justifying           crite, who out of the principle of enmity against
His people in Christ, that our righteousness might        God in his heart, seeks not the righteousness of
not be by creation, or through our own works, but         God in Christ, but a man-made righteousness of
by His grace alone. Thus God ordained Christ to be        outward obedience. A righteousness that is of free
the head and fountain of all righteousness and            grace, he does not want. Rather he accounts it an
chose unto Himself a people in Christ. Them He            unholy thing, a thing to make men careless and pro-
justified in His counsel, as the apostle Paul says in     fane, for a doctrine of free grace destroys all man's
Romans  8:30, "Moreover whom He did predesti-             sinful pride.
nate, them He also called: and whom He called,              But God, Who justifies the ungodly, not only de-
them He also justified:..." that thus He might es-        clares His people righteous in the cross of Christ,
tablish in Christ, a righteousness which is of God,       but by the power of His grace He sovereignly be-
out of pure grace.                                        stows upon them a justifying faith. When God
  Moreover, God in His love and grace sent His            kindles in the heart of a dead sinner a living faith,
only begotten Son into the world in the likeness of       uniting him to Christ, He strips away all that sin-
sinful flesh and for sin that He might condemn sin        ner's pride, shows him to be what he truly is in
in the flesh. Christ was born, made of a woman,           himself, a guilty and totally depraved sinner. By the
made under the law. He took upon Himself our              power of His grace, He reveals to the child of God
state of guilt in Adam, and though being Himself          that all his own righteousnesses are as so many
perfectly innocent and righteous, He suffered in          filthy rags. He works in him a heartfelt sorrow for
our place the condemnation and punishment due             sin, and repentance, and He takes him to the cross
unto us. That righteousness of grace which God            of Christ, there revealing to him the righteousness
purposed for us in Christ, He established on Cal-         which He has wrought for Him in Christ. By the
vary's cross in the way of strictest justice. There       power of that same grace He justifies that sinner in
Christ bore the penalty of our sin and guilt, taking      his own conscience. That faith by which the be-
our condemnation upon Himself, suffering the              liever clings to Christ and which is wrought in him
deepest reproach and pains of hell, as a penal sacri-     by the irresistible power of grace is the means by
fice. In this way, in perfect obedience unto the          which God justifies the sinner before the bar of
Father, He has, by His death, fulfilled all righ-         God's own justice in the believer's conscience.
teousness. The result is that God imputes, puts to          That work of grace is a powerful work of God in
the account of His people, the perfect righteousness      which the Lord speaks His Word into the con-
and satisfaction of Christ. He justifies them, ac-        sciousness of the believing sinner and declares unto
counts them righteous before Him. The Lord our            him that, "There is therefore now no condemna-
God, in the cross of Calvary, established a righ-         tion to them which are in Christ Jesus..." (Romans
teousness which .is of free and unmerited grace, in       8:1),  that the perfect righteousness of Christ is
the perfect satisfaction and merits of Christ. In the     freely given unto him, inputed unto him, put to his
resurrection of Christ, He declared His verdict, pro-     account, so that he stands before God as if he had
nouncing His people righteous, for Christ's sake.         never sinned. God declares that He accounts faith
Objectively and historically, then, the elect of God      unto righteousness, without works, and that, "the
were justified when God raised Christ from the            just shall ive by faith" (Romans 1:17). By that work
dead, Christ, Who `I...was raised again for our justi-    of grace God assures the believer that he is righ-
fication" (Romans 4:25).                                  teous before Him in Christ. That is the confession
  That which God purposed in Christ and accom-            which the child of God makes in our Heidelberg
plished in the cross, He also sovereignly bestows         Catechism, Question and Answer 59, when after
upon His people, by the power of an irresistible          considering all that is contained in the Apostles'
grace. God justifies the believer through faith, by       Creed, the questioner asks, "But what doth it profit
the power of His grace. By nature, sinful man does        thee now that thou believest all this?" And the
not want the righteousness of God in Christ. He           child of God, by the grace of God given unto him,
goes about, instead, seeking to establish his own         responds, "That I am righteous in Christ, before
righteousness. Sinful and fallen man seeks of him-        God, and an heir of eternal life." That confession
self to expiate his own guilt and to propitiate God       he makes through the power of a true faith which
by his own works. The natural man seeks a righ-           God kindles in his heart by the power of an irresist-
teousness, not of grace, but of his own making-by         ible grace through the working of the Spirit. God
good works, by obedience to law, by prayers and           works that confession in him, assures him of it by
fastings, by animal sacrifices and self-torturing.        His grace, and seals it upon his consciousness by
Over the whole world, natural man is busy seeking         His Word.
his own way of righteousness by his own works.              That gracious work of God is powerful and


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                449



efficacious. For it is not possible that he for whom         being justified by faith, we have peace with God
Christ died, who has been justified in the death and         through our Lord Jesus Christ." Through the
resurrection of Christ, should not also receive this         sovereign power of grace, God daily gives unto His
blessing of the cross. But even as Christ died only          people this unshakeable confidence. For though
for His people, so also God bestows upon them and            our conscience condemn us and accuse us of guilt
them alone the blessing of a justifying faith. It is a       and sin, yet the word of God's grace testifies to us
particular work of grace. Nor may we regard faith            that we are righteous in Christ. "It is God that justi-
as a new kind of work, a work of man, as a basis of          fieth. Who is he that condemneth?" (Romans 8:33-
our righteousness. This the Arminian tries to do in          34). He whom God declares righteous is righteous.
His denial of sovereign and particular grace.                This was the confidence of Job, for God testified of
Christ's righteousness alone is our righteousness            him that he was righteous. In that confidence he
before God, and faith is the instrument of an irre-          also walked in uprightness before the Lord, a walk
sistible grace of God to apply that righteousness to         of thankfulness, in sanctification by grace. For the
the consciousness of the elect.                              Lord testified to him in his heart that he was righ-
  The fruit of that grace of God is that it breaks           teous. All the power of Satan could not shake that
down all pride, all self-righteousness of the natural        confidence, nor could the accusations of Job's
heart, and writes upon the believer's consciousness          friends. For the Lord upheld him in His grace, and
the reality of his free justification in Christ. He sees     though his faith was tried by many afflictions,
before him the accounting sheet of his debt of sin           though he struggled in his heart with God's way
upon which God has written, "paid in full in the             with him, yet in all these things he had the testi-
blood of Christ."                                            mony of God that he was righteous, and that these
                                                             things had not come upon him in judgment for his
  By the power of grace, the Lord also assures the           guilt.
believer of his righteousness in Christ day by day.
Though he sins daily, though it is borne in upon him            That confidence and blessed assurance is the gift
that he has kept none of God's commandments                  of God's grace unto His people in Christ, wrought
aright, but daily transgresses them all, nevertheless        in them by His Spirit. In the way of repentance and
God, by the power of His grace, works repentance             faith,  .God renews that assurance day by day,
and faith, causing him daily to flee to the cross of         speaking His Word of peace to our hearts, so that
Christ, there assuring him of his righteousness in           we say with the psalmist David, "Blessed is he
Christ. This affords the child of God great consola-         whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is
tion and comfort. It gives him peace in his soul. As         covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord
the apostle Paul also says in Romans 5:1, `Therefore         imputeth not iniquity.. ." (Psalm 32: 1,2a).


                Transformed by Sovereign Grace
                                                  Rev. J. Kortering


  To think upon grace is to think upon God. In its           God upon the sin of Adam and Eve has worked
deepest meaning, grace is beauty. In  Preverbs  1:9,         through all of history. Wars continue to rock the
instruction in the law of God is called "an orna-            nations. By greed, man rapes the earth of its
ment of grace." According to James 1: 11, when the           precious substances and upsets the delicate
sun burns a flower, the "grace of the fashion of it          balances God placed in nature. The laboring man
perisheth." Spiritually speaking, God is Himself             rises up against the corporate world, while big
gracious, beautiful. The Scriptures speak frequently         business represses the need of the workers. Week
of the grace of God as beauty that flows from God            after week man flocks to the stadium to satisfy his
Who is the source of beauty. Hence in I Peter  5:lO          drive for conquest while steel meets steel. If that
He is called the "God of all grace." This beauty He          escape is not sufficient, he enhances it with liquor
conveys to us through His Son Jesus Christ: "grace           or drugs all in the name of "fun." Meanwhile, the
and truth came by Jesus Christ" (John  1:17).  In            poor of the cities waste away, deprived of the
view of all this it is said of Noah, "he found grace in      necessity of life, and the unwanted unborn are
the eyes of the Lord" (Genesis 6:8).                         ripped from the womb in untimely birth. Oh, the
  How amazing it is that this beauty of God is               evil of our generation rises unto God as a testimony
evident in this world. Indeed, we look about us and          of His judgment. Yet in the midst of all this, the
see the ravages of sin and death. The sentence of            people of God, who by nature are no different,


450                                        THE STANDARD BEARER



offer unto God their hearts, their hands, their very      sleepest and arise from the dead and Christ shall
lives in service unto the one true God. This is the       give thee light" (Eph.  5:14). This is accomplished
evidence that God transforms the sinner by                by grace. In our Reformed tradition we speak of
sovereign grace!                                          irresistible grace. This is true from the point of view
GOD IS GLORIFIED THROUGH SANCTIFICA-                      of the sinner's inability to interfere with its opera-
TION                                                      tion. Man, the natural man, cannot resist God's
                                                          grace when God wills to work that grace in Him.
  Sanctification glorifies God!                           No one can shake his fist in God's face and say no.
  By this we do not mean that God lacks glory in          When God wills to work grace, the power to make
Himself. The glory of God is the sum total of all the     the ugly sinner beautiful in His sight, the sinner
beauty that He is as God. The Revelation of God           cannot stop God in His intent and purpose. The
indicates to us that He is the eternal, infinite, un-     reason is that grace is not only irresistible, it is effi-
changeable, one only true God. His beauty includes        cacious, all powerful. Grace flows forth from God
His wisdom, love, holiness, and righteousness, and        Himself. The Holy Spirit uses this grace as the
much more. Surely, nothing that man has can add           powerful means whereby He applies the salvation
something to that glory of God.                           which Christ merited on the cross for all the elect.
  God sanctifies us nevertheless, in order that we        It is divine power, power that sanctifies.
may glorify Him. We are made spiritually alive so           Thus we read in Ephesians 2:8, "For by grace are
that we may acknowledge before God that He is             ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves,
beautiful. This is the high purpose that God has in       it is the gift of God." Our Netherland's Confession
salvation. As the angels do this now before His           states that faith is active and produces good works
presence so we from the earth must return to God          which, "works, as they proceed from the good root
the glory due unto His most holy name. We do this         of faith, are good and acceptable in the sight of God
with ourlips when we praise Him, we do this with          forasmuch as they are all sanctified by His grace"
our hands when we obey Him, we do this with our           (Art. 24). How can that be? Listen to the Canons of
will when we submit unto Him, we do this with our         Dordt explain: "by the efficacy of the same
minds when we acknowledge that the truth is in            regenerating Spirit, He pervades the inmost reces-
Him.                                                      ses of man, he opens the closed, and softens the
                                                          hardened heart, and circumcises that which was
  It dazzles our minds to imagine what heaven will        uncircumcised, infuses new qualities into the will,
be like. What a day that will be when all creatures       which though heretofore dead, He quickens; from
will bow before Christ, the Perfect Revelation of         being evil, disobedient and refractory, He renders it
God, and praise God for all His goodness. At that
time we will be made perfect, sin will be no more,        good, obedient, and pliable; actuates and
                                                          strengthens it, that like a good tree, it may bring
and our whole being will be brought into subjection       forth the fruits of good actions" (Canons III and IV,
unto Him. Holiness will be expressed in perfect           Art. 11).
consecration unto God, we will be separated from            You see, God guarantees His glory by working in
all sin in order that we may offer unto God the           our hearts and lives by means of this sovereign
sacrifices of thankfulness.                               grace.
  Already now, our life of sanctification glorifies       THE BLESSING OF SANCTIFICATION
God. Out of this sin-cursed world there arises unto
God good works performed by His people who                  When the Holy Spirit works grace in us the result
acknowledge that He is God and gratefully serve           of this is that we walk in sanctification, that is, we
Him.                                                      do good works. Our Heidelberg Catechism
                                                          properly warns us that we must have a correct un-
SANCTIFICATION AND SOVEREIGN GRACE                        derstanding of what good works really are. "Only
  Only sovereign grace is able to accomplish such a       those which proceed from a true faith, are per-
transformation. The more we do justice to the             formed according to the law of God, and to His
Scriptural truth of our natural total depravity, the      glory; and not such as are founded on our imagina-
more we will rejoice in sovereign grace as the only       tions or the institutions of men" (Lord's Day 33, Q.
way unto sanctification. In the measure that many         91). How tempted we are to determine "good" on
in the church tamper with the doctrine of total de-       the basis of human morality. A church corrupted
pravity and claim that man still has some good,           by situation ethics instructs the members that
even the ability to choose the good, in that measure      fornication is not sin if sexual intercourse serves to
they deny the need for sovereign grace. We believe        prepare a young couple for marriage. The supreme
that the Bible teaches that man is dead in trespasses     court of our land has sanctified abortion; yet that
and sins. Only a spiritual resurrection will bring him    does not make it right in God's sight. Good is deter-
out of his spiritual grave. "Awake thou that              mined by God alone, for He has set forth the stan-


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                               451



dard of good in His Holy Word. When the grace of           lives.
God is in us, we look at the Word and believe in             Secondly, we are thankful to God for these
God and give Him the honor to determine what is            blessings and we show this to Him by walking in
good for us and what He wills us to do for His sake.       sanctification and good works. Thankfulness is  not
Then we are motivated by God's glory and not our           forced upon us, it arises from within us. We count
own ambitions. That is indeed sanctification, a            our blessings for God's goodness in saving us. We
making holy, a separating from sin and drawing             are thankful to God that this is our own, not only
near unto God.                                             personally, but also for our families, our loved
  That work of grace in us is not of such a nature         ones, and the church of the living God. How thank-
that we resist it and deplore it, but we receive it        ful we are to God, for from Him alone come all
graciously. God's irresistible and efficacious grace       these blessings of salvation. We do not feel sorry for
does not drag us by the nape of our neck into the          being saved by sovereign grace, we rejoice and are
kingdom of heaven. Rather, the Holy Spirit works           glad in that salvation.
within our nature in such a way that we con-                 Hence, our doing good works are not to merit
sciously enjoy the benefits of grace and are               with God. That is not only impossible, but also
thankful to God for them. This is accomplished in          spiritually forbidden. Paul by the Holy Spirit warns
two ways.                                                  us in Romans  11:6, "And if by grace, then it is no
  First, we become spiritually conscious of the            more of works; otherwise grace is no more grace.
blessing of the new life in Christ Jesus. This takes       But if it be of works, then is it no more of grace:
place when we are able to contrast the life of sanc-       otherwise work is no more work." Our Heidelberg
tification and depravity. Our spiritual judgment           Catechism correctly teaches, "But why cannot our
enables us to see the deplorable consequence of sin        good works be the whole, or part of our righteous-
and to hate and flee from it. An example of this is        ness before God? Because, that the righteousness
Moses, referred to in Hebrews  11:24, 25: "By faith        which can be approved of before the tribunal of
Moses when he was come to years, refused to be             God must be absolutely perfect and in all respects
called the son of Pharoah's daughter; choosing             conformable to the divine law and also that our best
rather to suffer affliction with the people of God         works in this life are all imperfect and defiled with
than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season;           sin."
esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches               The motivation for doing good and living a holy
than the treasures in Egypt; for he had respect unto       life is to glorify God. We are thankful to Him for
the recompence  of the reward." The advantages of          His wonderful work and we desire that the praise
being "son of Pharoah's daughter", which included          and glory be God's alone.
being Pharoah, the treasures in Egypt, the
pleasures of sin weighed but little compared to be-        GRACE FOR GRACE
ing numbered among the people of God, though it               In conclusion we can see that the glorious grace
meant the reproach of Christ. He considered the            of God that transforms the sin-enslaved-sinner re-
duration and the reward: Egypt was for a season            turns unto God. It begins in God, it fills us to over-
and ended in the judgment of God; the people of            flowing, and returns to God in the form of thankful
God had the riches of God's friendship which was           obedience and service.
for eternity. The world may eat, drink, dance, and            The beauty that God has in Himself is reflected
have their pleasure, but it brings untold misery,          in us by the working of grace and radiates unto
broken marriages, broken homes, and ruined                 Him eternally. "For all things are for your sakes
bodies. Obedience to God and service of God may            that the abundant grace might through the thanks-
afford a small place in the world, but it produces         giving of many redound to the glory of God" (II
covenant homes, peace with God and with one                Cor. 4:15).
another, joyful service of God and meaningful

                  Irresistible Grace and Preaching
                                               Pastor Van Overloop

  The link in the golden chain of Calvinism which             The answer of all those who deny or compromise
is called irresistible grace is as indispensable as the    the sovereignty of God is that the benefits of
other four links. This link answers the question,          Christ's cross are not applied UNTIL the recipient
"How are the benefits of Christ's cross applied to         exercises the so-called prerogative of a free moral
the elect?"                                                agent and actually wills to be converted. The  pre-


452                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



suppositions of this answer of the Arminians are           is alongside the work of the Spirit. Hand in glove
many. We list two major ones. The first is that man        these are the divinely chosen means to work con-
is not truly totally depraved, for, they say, man's        version. The Spirit effects the radical change in
will in itself has never been totally corrupted but        man's heart and will and actions through the means
only hindered, and man can use its powers to               of the preaching of the gospel.
choose good. The second incorrect presupposition             The Canons of Dordt explain what is the proper
is that grace is nothing else than a gentle moral          place of the preaching in the bestowal of grace (cf.
suasion which consists in advising the willing heart       III, IV, 17). It draws a comparison between the
of unconverted man to be converted. Thus grace is          natural and the spiritual. Natural life is produced
made to be only a helping hand. Salvation in this          and sustained by an almighty operation of God. In
conception of things is said to be all of grace, BUT       His perfect wisdom and goodness God has willed to
all receive this grace. The only possible conclusion       exert this power upon natural life through the use
to this theory is that the one who remains unsaved         of means. So it is with spiritual life. Such is pro-
is able to resist the grace given to him.                  duced and sustained within men only by super-
  Upholding God's sovereignty we defend the                natural operations of God. Also this life, through
truth that His grace is irresistible.                      the use of means, is produced and sustained by
  Elsewhere in this issue it is shown that  total          God. That means is the preaching of the gospel. The
depravity implies a grace which is irresistible. Also      golden mean must be maintained between the ex-
it is shown that grace is the favor of God which is a      tremes of hyper-Calvinism (and its denial of the use
power to fashion us according to His holy design.          of gospel preaching) on the one side, and of Armin-
God "hath saved us, and called us with an holy             ianism (and its use of preaching as moral suasion)
calling, not according to our works, but according         on the other side.
to His own purpose and grace which was given us              Conversion is the work of the Holy Spirit where-
in Christ Jesus" (II Timothy  1:9). Jesus says, "No        by He softens the hard heart, infuses new qualities
man can come to Me, except the Father which hath           into the spiritually dead will, and actuates and
sent Me  draw  him" and "no man can come unto              strengthens the believer to bring forth good works.
Me, except it were given unto him of My Father"            To this end the perfect wisdom and goodness of
(John 6:44, 65).                                           God uses the sacred admonitions of gospel
                *     *     *     *      *                 preaching. We may not separate what God in His
  In the Canons of Dordt (III, IV, 11, 12) we are          good pleasure has most intimately joined together.
taught of the relationship between efficacious grace                      *      *    *       *    *
and preaching. Efficacious calling, by which God
works true conversion, consists of the external              For this article to provide a more complete treat-
preaching of the gospel and of the regenerating            ment of the relationship between irresistible grace
Spirit pervading the inmost recesses of man. This          and preaching we must consider the practical  out-
calling unto salvation God works in us without our         workings of this beautiful union. We have two
aid. This is effected not only by the external preach-     thoughts we want to present.
ing of the gospel, but also by an internal, super-           The first thought is about the content of the
natural work of the Spirit. In no wise is this effected    preaching. What is to be the content of that preach-
merely by the external preaching of the gospel or          ing which is built on the foundation of the absolute
by moral suasion so that after God performs His            sovereignty of God and His irresistible grace? At
part it remains in the power of man to be converted        the Synod of Dordt the Arminians charged that in
or not. By the work of the Spirit AND by the               such preaching there was no room for admonitions.
preaching of the gospel God calls His own.                   Again the Canons of Dordt (III, IV, 17) provide us
Preaching is the divinely chosen vehicle for the           with the proper starting blocks.  All true preaching
deliverance of irresistible grace. These two               not only must instruct concerning this efficacious
elements of efficacious calling may not be                 grace of God to His glory and the abasement of all
separated. If it is held that conversion takes place       human pride, but also must present the admoni-
without the preaching, one hits the rock of the            tions of the gospel in the exercise of the Word,
errors of hyper-Calvinism. If it is only by the            sacraments, and discipline. The theme of all true
preaching of the gospel and without the internal           preaching is the exaltation of God and the conse-
work of the Spirit, one hits the hard place of all the     quent humiliation of man. The preaching must
errors of Arminianism, for then the preaching is           show the absolute necessity of the blood of  Christ
merely moral suasion on God's part with its success        to the exclusion of all the works of men. Central in
depending on the power of man as to whether he             all preaching must be that the heart of faith is Jesus
will be regenerated and converted or not.                  Christ and His righteousness as efficaciously
  The rightful place of the preaching of the gospel        imputed. The unconverted must not be flattered,


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                             453



nor the converted given carnal ease.                      a warrant to obey Scripture's admonitions. Rather
  All who hear the message of the Gospel are to be        it is while man is exhorted and persuaded to believe
told plainly that their salvation was and is in  thie     in and on Jesus Christ that it pleases God the Spirit
hands of God to give or to withhold. This plain           to quicken spiritually, enabling the sinner to
proclamation is no obstacle to coming to faith and        acknowledge his inability and to desire God's for-
salvation, only to human pride. The true preacher         giveness. We cannot produce faith in ourselves, not
of the gospel knows that his entreaties can never         even by placing ourselves under the means of grace
make men able or willing, but that conversion is          (the preaching). Nevertheless it is only through
the work of the power of God alone.                       these means that we can expect God's irresistible
                                                          grace to work in us. So has God joined together the
  Why then cry, "Repent and believe!"? Because            preaching and His efficacious grace as wrought by
the Spirit effectually works in men (to bring about       the Holy Spirit.
initial conversion in the unconverted and                                *    *     *     *     *
continued conversion in those already converted)
in connection with that preaching, illuminating             The second practical thought we might bring is
men's minds so they may discern the things of the         that there is a place for prayer in this connection.
Spirit of God. Through the means of admonitions to        Accompanying the preaching of irresistible grace,
repent from sin and to believe the work of God in         the true minister of the gospel prays. This is also
Christ, the Spirit makes man discern his inability,       the responsibility of the elect who have already
sinfulness, and guilt. By means of the gospel             been brought to the consciousness of salvation.
admonitions the Spirit enlightens man's                   They who are the recipients of this irresistible or
understanding as to the propriety and necessity of a      efficacious grace owe and give eternal gratitude to
salvation by God alone. Thus man is fully                 God, knowing that he has not made himself to
persuaded of his utter inability to obey apart from       differ from the one who does not believe. There-
the grace of God, which grace must be irresistible.       fore, for that one who has not yet been called, it is
Thus men's obstinate wills are sweetly and power-         our duty to pray to God Who calls the things that
fully bent so that where resistance formerly ruled,       are not as if they were (Cf. Canons of Dordt, III, IV,
now there begins to reign a sincere spiritual obe-        15).
dience to the will of God. Therefore the truths of          Believing God's Word that the effectual fervent
the spiritual inability of man to save himself and of     prayer of a righteous man availeth much, the true
the sovereignty of God in salvation must be               minister of the gospel and all who presently believe
hroclaimed  and the persuasive commands issued in         pray. We pray that the Spirit will use the means of
order for the Spirit to work conversion. Only then        the Word that morning, afternoon, or evening effi-
does the preaching of a salvation of sinners by a         caciously to work initial conversion or to further
sovereign God have hope that God will use His             sanctification in those already believing. Fervently
words to bear upon men's hearts with a power no           this prayer must be uttered before every worship
man can resist. Then I, as a preacher of the gospel       service. Only the Divine Wind (John  3:8) can make
of irresistible grace, beseech sinners to be              the words of the preaching of the gospel to be a
reconciled to God (II Corinthians 5:20).                  power of salvation which no hard heart can with-
  Because the truth of  this relationship between         stand. So we must pray for that Spirit of Christ to be
irresistible grace and preaching is often misunder-       present in every worship service. Otherwise all
stood, let us look at it again answering these ques-      preaching is in vain.
tions: "Why exhort and admonish to believe when                          *    *     *     *     *
faith is a gift of God and we cannot believe of our-
selves?' ' ' 'Why would a sinner try to do what is im-      So we must preach and so we must pray. A
possible for him to do of himself, namely, believe?"      beautiful harmony wrought by Divine wisdom and
                                                          goodness exists between irresistible grace and that
  It does not have to be true that faith is in any way    preaching of the gospel which is accompanied by
a work of man's corrupt nature. Nor is it necessary       fervent prayers.
that Christ be dead for all, in order for man to have

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454                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



           The Free Offer and Irresistible Grace
                                                  Prof. H. Hanko


  The free offer of the gospel is a heresy which           They too maintain a free offer of the gospel and em-
teaches that in the preaching of the gospel God ex-        phatically assert that God desires to save all men.
presses His desire, intention, and purpose to save         But they simply take the position that the grace
all those who hear the gospel. The gospel tells every      which is offered to all men in the gospel is not ac-
man that God on His part wants each to be saved,           tually given until man accepts that grace and
earnestly desires that he take Christ as his own,          actually believes in Christ. This was the position of
eagerly seeks that every one come to Christ, receive       the Arminians against whom the Canons of Dordt
Him as his Savior, and enter into the joy of salva-        were written in  1618-`19. In their "Remonstrance,"
tion. It is true that sometimes within Reformed cir-       formulated in 1610, they write: "But as respects the
cles the term "offer" has been used in a different         mode of the operation of this grace, it is not irresisti-
sense: as the presentation or proclamation of Christ       ble, inasmuch as it is written concerning inany, that
in the preaching which is heard by all. This is the        they have resisted the Holy Ghost." (Italics mine.)
sense in which Calvin used the term, in which it is        And this has been consistently the position of all
used in the Canons of Dordt, III & IV, 9 and in the        Arminianism until the present.
writings of many theologians of both the Reformed             But others who have attempted to claim alle-
and Presbyterian tradition. But this is not its use in     giance to the five points of Calvinism (and the truth
the generally accepted sense of that word. Today           of irresistible grace) while still maintaining the free
(and in the past) most have used the term to express       offer of the gospel have had recourse to "common
God's own personal desire and intention to save            grace." This has been done, e.g., by the Baptist
every one who hears the gospel.                            Errol1 Hulse in his book, The Free Offer: an exposi-
  It is not difficult to understand that this view of      tion of common grace and the free invitation of the
the free offer has a great deal to say concerning          GospeZ.  In this book he writes: "The subject of
grace.  Historically, one of the "five points of Cal-      common grace is inescapably connected with the
vinism" has been the truth of irresistible grace, i.e.,    free offer. It is not possible to deal adequately with
that the work of salvation in the hearts of those          the question of the offer without getting to grips
who are saved is a work which God performs                 with the subject of common grace."
irresistibZy.  Those whom God saves are saved; and            The same is true of the "Three Points of Com-
they are saved by a work of grace which the sinner         mon Grace" adopted by the Synod of the Christian
cannot resist. God overcomes all the natural resis-        Reformed Church in 1924. In the first point the
tance of the totally depraved sinner, conquers             Synod adopted the view that God is gracious to all
mightily and powerfully the force of sin in him, and       His creatures, and that this gracious attitude
brings him to salvation. Nothing can resist that           towards all was especially revealed in the offer of
work. Neither Satan and his hosts of devils nor the        the gospel.
hatred and opposition of the sinner can bring that
work of God to a standstill. "All that the Father             Now common grace, according to the Christian
giveth to Me shall come to Me; and him that                Reformed Church, is different from saving grace.
cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out (John 6:37).       Common grace is for all men; saving grace is only
                                                           for the elect. Common grace is especially revealed
  This grace is worked through the preaching of            in temporal blessings; saving grace is revealed in
the gospel, for the Holy Spirit so works in the hearts     salvation itself. Common grace is only given in
of God's elect that that preaching is grace, a grace       time; saving grace is everlasting. Nevetheless,
that saves. So the preaching stands inseparably con-       grace, even common, belongs to and is a part of the
nected with grace. What then is the relation               preaching of the gospel. And it must not be forgot-
between grace and the free offer of the gospel? Or,        ten that the preaching of the gospel deals with
to put the question a bit differently, how can those       Christ and salvation, and, therefore, with saving
who teach that the preaching expresses God's               grace.
desire and willingness to save all men still maintain
at the same time that grace is absolutely irresisti-          Current Presbyterian thought does the same.
ble?                                                       John Murray, in the book, Collected Writings of John
                                                           Murray, Vol. I, writes: "The universality of the de-
  There have been different answers to this ques-          mand for repentance implies an universal overture
tion.                                                      of grace," and, "This is the full and unrestricted
  The Arminians deny irresistible grace altogether.        offer of the gospel to all men" (p. 60). In the  pam-


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                              455



phlet of Murray and Stonehouse on "The Free Offer          God's own heart, directed to every sinner, and
of the Gospel", (a pamphlet which contains the             given in an irresistible manner. Common grace be-
official decisions on this question by the Orthodox        comes irresistible grace. Common grace is worked
Presbyterian Church made in 1948) the same idea            irresistibly in the hearts of men. And while it does
is taught. In teaching that "God desires the salva-        not save in itself, it is nevertheless God's gracious
tion of the impenitent and reprobate" (p.  3), they        and free gift which comes whether men want it or
claim that this involves God's general attitude of         not.
mercy, benevolence, and grace to all.                        Secondly, this irresistible common grace is
  Now it is not always easy to sort all these things       inseparably connected with saving grace in this
out, and one sometimes wonders how otherwise               way. It is by common grace that a man possesses
clear-thinking men can write so obscurely about            the power to accept or reject the  savirig  grace in
important points of doctrine. But, whatever the            Christ offered in the gospel. After all, we face the
case may be, questions naturally arise. Does the           inescapable question: If God desires the salvation
gospel offer saving grace or common grace? or              of all, why is it that not all men are saved? And the
both? Does the gospel itself work grace in the hearts      answer is that man rejects the grace which is
of all? And if so, is this grace worked through            offered. Thus Berkhof writes in his interpretation
preaching a saving grace or a common grace? or             of Romans  2:4: "The explanation of (the riches of
both?                                                      God's goodness) must be found in the purpose God
  Generally speaking, it seems as if the defenders         had in view with this revelation of His love. And
of the free offer take the position, first of all, that    what was this purpose? Was it to cast the ungodly
with respect to  common  grace, the fact that God          Jews more deeply into perdition? No, but to lead
desires and wills the salvation of all men is an ob-       them to repentance. . . . But in the case of the Jews
jective manifestation of God's grace to all. He shows      the result does not correspond to the intention. They
His favor to all by expressing His desire to save all.     hardened themselves against this revelation of God's
But there is more. It is clear from the decisions on       goodness."  (Quoted from  The  TripZe Breach;  the
common grace made by the Christian Reformed                underscoring is ours.)
Church that the preaching of the gospel also works           So the relation between common grace and
subjectively grace in the hearts of all-although this      saving grace is this: common grace puts a man into
grace worked in the hearts of all is common, not           a position to accept the overtures of saving grace in
saving. The late Prof. Berkhof, e.g., in his defense       Christ, or to reject them, thus frustrating the inten-
of the three points and in his interpretation of           tion of God. So common grace is irresistible, saving
Genesis  6:3 writes: "The Holy Spirit resisted the         grace is not. Saving grace can be resisted so that
ungodliness and perversity of those generations            God's intention can be frustrated.
who lived before the flood. He sought to check               Those who defend the doctrine of the free offer
their ungodliness and to lead them to repentance.. . .     of the gospel insist that saving grace is irresistibly
But the Spirit strove in vain; sin increased rapidly"      given. They do this in the interests of trying to sal-
(Quoted from The TripZe Breach, p. 33).                    vage a semblance of Calvinism and in an effort to
  But saving grace is given only to the elect. They        demonstrate that they still maintain the "five
and they alone receive the benefits of salvation           points." But this will not do. But it simply remains
through grace.                                             a fact, and that fact cannot be denied, that if God
  If one asks how it is possible for God to desire the     desires the salvation of all and expresses this desire
salvation of all men on the one hand, while He, in         in the preaching, then, when all are not saved, it is
fact, saves (and determines to save) only some, the        because man has resisted these overtures of grace.
answer is usually given that God desires the salva-        Grace is resistible. Salvation is no longer sovereign-
tion of all men according to His preceptive decree,        ly accomplished. Salvation depends upon the work
while He actually saves all men according to His           of man. The Arminians  were at least consistent;
determinative decree. And if one asks how it is            Berkhof states as much  - although the meanwhile
possible that two such conflicting wills can be in         professing some sort of strange allegiance to Calvin-
God, the answer is blithely given: This is a mystery.      ism.
  Now there are a couple of conclusions which                But all this is emphatically repudiated by Scrip-
seem to be obvious in all this. The first is that,         ture and the Confessions.
strangely enough, it is common grace which takes             There is an important point here which ought
on an irresistible character. Common grace is given        never to escape our attention. When we talk of the
to all, and it is given without man wanting it, asking     irresistibility of grace, we are not talking about
for it, seeking it, or in any way working to obtain it.    some abstract concept of grace, as if grace were a
It is simply there, given graciously, coming from          power in itself. Grace is  God's  grace. It is His


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456                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



attitude of favor and goodness, of love and mercy.            him to the end to the praise of the glory of God's
Because it is God's attitude, it is an attitude which         grace.
is rooted in His own sovereign will. And that will is
always efficacious. The question is not finally                                           NOTICE!!!
whether  grace  is, in itself, resistible or irresistible,       Adams Street Christian School is looking for a custodian who can
but whether  God's  will  is resistible or irresistible.      do both janitorial and minor maintenance work for the coming school
And all Scripture and the Confessions teach the               year. If interested in part time morning, or morning and after school
                                                              combination, please contact Cornie Brummel at 452-0799 or Don
truth that God is sovereign.                                  Doezema at 243-3712.
  This is the emphasis of Canons III & IV, 11: "But                                       NOTICE!!!
when God accomplishes His good pleasure (note                    Classis  West of the Protestant Reformed Churches will meet in
this emphatic statement concerning God's good                 Edgerton, Minnesota on September 7, 1983, at  8:30 AM, the Lord
pleasure, H.H.) in the elect, or works in them true           willing. Delegates in need of lodging are to inform the Clerk of the
conversion, he not only causes the gospel to be ex-           Edgerton  Consistory.
                                                                                                               Rev. David Engelsma
ternally preached to them, and powerfully illumi-                                                              Stated Clerk
nates their minds by His Holy Spirit, that they may
rightly understand and discern the things of the                                          NOTICE!!!
Spirit of God; but by the efficacy of the same re-               Classis  East will meet in iegular session on Wednesday, Septem-
                                                              ber 14, 1983 at the Southeast Protestant Reformed Church of Grand
generating Spirit, pervades the inmost recesses of            Rapids. Material to be treated in this session must be in the hands of
the man; he opens the closed, and softens the                 the Stated Clerk at least three weeks prior to the convening of this
hardened heart, and  &cumcises that which was                 session.
uncircumcised, infuses new qualities into the will,                                                      Jon Huisken, Stated Clerk
which though heretofore dead, he quickens; from                               WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
being evil, disobedient, and refractory, he renders              We are thankful that our parents, DEWEY AND DENA ENGELSMA,
it good, obedient, and pliable, actuates and                  were able to celebrate their 45th wedding anniversary on July 30.
strengthens it, that like a good tree, it may bring           "He will command his children and his household after him, and they
forth the fruits of good actions."                            shall keep the way of the Lord" (Gen. 18:19).
                                                                                                    David and Ruth Engelsma
  The same is true of the Westminster Confession                                                    Lammert and Mary Beth Lubbers
of Faith in Chapter X, Arts. 1 and 2. And the same                                                  Donald and Lenore Cook
is the teaching of all Scripture. (Cf., e.g., Mt. 11:25,                                            Michael and Brenda Engelsma
                                                                                                   Timothy and Lois Pipe
26; John 12:39,40; Rom. 9:18; Rom. 11:7-10; II Cor.                                                John and Ruthanne Flikkema
2:14-16;  Rom. 8:29, 30; John 6:65, 10:26-30; etc.)                                                Jonathan and Floretta Engelsma
                                                                                                    Mark and Debra Engelsma
  What is the conclusion of the matter? In the first                                                Edward and Elizabeth Ophoff
place, it ought to be clear that it is impossible to                                                Kenneth Engelsma
maintain the doctrine of the free offer without at                                                 Sara Engelsma
                                                                                                   Jordan Engelsma
the same time denying the irresistible character of                                                   and 39 grand children
grace. If there are those who persist in wanting the                                                                Grand Rapids, Ml
free offer, let them openly admit that they do not
want the historic position of Calvinism and the
Reformed creeds. This would, at least, -be honest.                  The  Standard  Bearer
In the second place, it ought not to escape us that
the comfort of the believer is finally in the sover-
eignty of God's grace. If his salvation depended                    makes a thoughtful
upon himself, he would be forever cast about on
the stormy seas of doubt, for he can do nothing for                              gift for the
his salvation since all his works are corrupted by
sin. But his comfort is in resting only upon Christ.                       sick or shut-in.
And resting only upon Christ, he rests upon the
particular and sovereign grace of his God Who has
delivered him from sin and will surely preserve


