                        _  `..




                   The
      STANDARD
                   BEARERS
r                        A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE                                  b





       .     .     .              The wheel of providence rolls over
     "change in all around I see," but it spins on
     the axle of immutable love. "Heav'n and
     earth shall pass away, Changeless, Thou shalt
     live for aye!  " "Unchanging is the- love of
     God, From age to age the same-,-Displayed to
     all who do His will and reveren6e,LHis  name."
                                  See "God's Immutability' IL - page 33





                                                        Volume LX, No. 2, October  15,1983  -


26                                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER




                                                                                                                        THE STANDARD BEARER
                                     CONTENTS                                                                                  ISSN 0362-4692
                                                                                                       Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July, and August.
                                                                                                        Published b the Reformed Free Publishing Association, Inc.
      Meditation -                                                                                           SeconBClass Postage Paid at Grand Rapids,  Mich.
         Jehovah,  My All-Sufficient Shepherd. ...... . . . 26                             Editor-in-Chief:  Prof. Homer C. Hoeksema
                                                                                           Department Editors: Rev. Ronald Cammenga, Rev. Arie den Hartog, Prof. Robert
      Editorials -                                                                         D. Decker, Rev. Cornelius Hanko, Prof. Herman C. Hanko, Rev. Ronald Hanko,
                                                                                           Mr. David Harbach, Rev. John A.  Heys, Rev. J. Kortering, Rev. George C.
         The Calling  of Our Protestant  Reformed                                          Lubbers, Rev. Thomas C. Miersma, Rev.  Marinus  Schipper, Rev. James  Slopse-
                                                                                           ma, Rev. Gise J. Van Baren, Rev. Herman Veldman.
             Churches to be Specific ................ .  .  . 29                           Editorial Office: Prof. H.C. Hoeksema
         The Christian News Encyclopedia . . . . . . . . . . . .  . . 30                                      4975 Ivanrest Ave. S.W.
                                                                                                              Grandville, Michigan 49418
      All Around  Us -                                                                     Church News Editor:  Mr. David Harbach
         Signs of the Times .............. .I. ....... . . . 31                                                   4930 Ivanrest Ave., Apt. B
                                                                                                                  Grandville, Michigan 49418
         World Council of Churches. .............. .  .  . 31                              Editorial Policy:  Every editor is solely responsible for the contents of his own
                                                                                           articles. Contributions of general interest from our readers and questions for the
         Total Depravity ......................... .  .  . 32                              Question-Box Department are welcome. Contributions will be limited to ap-
                                                                                           proximately 300 words and must be neatly written or typewritten, and must be
      Guest Article -                                                                      signed. Copy deadlines are the first and the fifteenth of the month. All com-
                                                                                           munications relative to the contents should be sent to the editorial office.
         God's Immutability. ..................... . . . 33                                Reprint Policy: Permission is hereby granted for the reprinting of articles in our
      The Day of Shadows  -                                                                magazine by other publications, provided: a] that such reprinted articles are
                                                                                           reproduced in full; b) that proper acknowledgement is madei c) that a copy of the
         Significant Silence. ...................... . . . 35                              periodical in which such reprint appears is sent to our editorral  office.
                                                                                           Business Office: The Standard Bearer
      Faith of Our Fathers -                                                                                  Mr. H. Vander Wal, Bus. Mgr.                 PH: (616) 2432953
                                                                                                              P.O. Box 6064
         NiceneCreed ........................... . . . 37                                                     Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506
                                                                                           New 
      Strength of Youth -                                                                          Zealand Business  Office: The Standard Bearer
                                                                                                                            c/o Protestant Reformed Fellowship
                                                                                                                            B. VariHerk,  66 Fraser St.
         The Christian and Dancing ............... .  .  . 39                                                               Wainuiomata, New Zealand
      Guest Article -                                                                      Subscription Policy: Subscription price, $10.50 per year. Unless a definite request
                                                                                           for discontinuance is received. it is assumed that the subscriber wishes the sub-
         The Wonder of Adoption  (4) .............. . . . 41                               scription to continue without'the formality of a renewal order, and he will be
                                                                                           billed for renewal. If you have a change of address, please notify the Business
      Annual  Report of the R.F.P.A. ............... . . . 43                              Office as early as possible in order to avoid the inconvenience of delayed deli-
                                                                                           very. Include your Zip Code.
      My Sheep  Hear My Voice -                                                            Advertising Policy:  The  Standard Bearer  does not accept commercial advertising of
                                                                                           any kind. Announcements of church and school events, anniversaries, obituaries,
         Our  Order of Worship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44              and sympathy resolutions will be placed for a $3.00 fee. These should be sent to
                                                                                           the Business Office and should be accompanied by the $3.00 fee. Deadline for
      Book  Reviews.  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  . . . . . . 46    announcements is the 1st or the 15th of the month, previous to publication on the
                                                                                           15th or the 1st respectively.
      Report  of Classis West . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  . . . . .48         Bound Volumes:  The Business Office will  acce t standing orders for bound
                                                                                           copies of the current volume; such orders are  rlled
                                                                                                                                                    P     as soon as possible after
                                                                                           completion of a volume. A limited number of past volumes may be obtained
                                                                                           through the Business Office.

MEDITATION


                  Jehovah, My All-Sufficient Shepherd
                                                                              Rev. H. Veldman


                                                 TYhe Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. `I Psalm 23:l


      How strikingly obvious is the connection be-                                            Psalm 24 this care of our Shepherd, firmly ground-
tween the Psalms  22-24! In Psalm 22 we have a                                                ed upon the cross of Calvary, attains unto its climax
typical setting forth of the sufferings of our Lord                                           in the glory of everlasting and heavenly immortal-
Jesus Christ. Psalm 22 must surely be borne in                                                ity, in and through the everlasting doors.
mind in connection with Psalm 23. Our heavenly                                                      The heart of Psalm 23 is expressed in verse 1:
Shepherd's care in Psalm 23 rests upon the ground                                             "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want." The
of and follows from the suffering of Jesus,  Im-                                              rest of this beautiful psalm is a divinely inspired
manuel, God with us, the Man of Sorrows. And in                                               setting forth of the words, "I shall not want."


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                              27



  How rich in symbols is the Word of God! In this           His face in love and favor, to walk with Him in
text we have the figure of a shepherd with his flock        blessed covenant fellowship. The bread of this
of sheep. The idea of a figure in the Scriptures is al-     Shepherd is that which can feed and sustain me in
ways that the eternal heavenly is the reality. This         covenant fellowship with the Lord. This feeding is
text is really a parable: the parable of a shepherd         indeed the first requisite of the work of this Shep-
with his sheep. Psalm 23 is a parable. The Lord             herd - I must first possess and taste the living God
created all the earthly a figure of the heavenly. The       as the God of my salvation. The Lord, Jehovah is
implication of this is that, in God'seternal counsel,       my Shepherd. He leads me in those green pastures,
the heavenly is first and the earthly is secondary to       gives me that bread of life.
it. All of this life, including sin and this huge valley      The Lord is my shepherd  - He leads me. How
of the shadow of death, from the very beginning of          absolutely necessary is this leadership and
the history of the world, is a divinely and sover-          guidance! How can we cope with and protect our-
eignly willed means to realize the Lord's everlasting       selves against our own errors? Sin is ever present in
kingdom of heaven. All these things, according to           me, which I have learned to `know and hate. Al-
Mark 4: 11, the things of the mystery of the king-          ways these inner movements of sin clamor for and
dom of heaven and of God, are done, happen, take            demand my attention. Who can cope with them?
place in parables. The earthly is a figure of the           And then we must contend with sickness, misery,
heavenly. In the Old Testament the city of Jeru-            death, and the grave. Through all this the Lord now
salem is a figure of the eternal City of God; the           leads me. Always He leads His own in the paths of
earthly bread a symbol of the heavenly bread, the           righteousness, preserves within me the principle of
earthly water a figure of the heavenly. Sun and             the new life, protects me so that sin may not have
moon, stars, sunshine, ram, plants and animals are          the victory over me. And He leads me through sick-
all parables, pictures of the heavenly reality. In-         ness, misery, death, and the grave, yea, causes all
deed, the earthly, as far as God's counsel is con-          things to work together for my good.
cerned, is not first, so that the coming of Christ and
the kingdom of heaven are divine afterthoughts,               The Lord is my shepherd - He protects and de-
decided by the Lord when Adam violated the                  fends me. Indeed, God's flock is surrounded by
"covenant of works." Christ and the kingdom of              enemies. How often the writer of this psalm speaks
heaven are first in the will of God, and all things are     of these enemies, also in this psalm. There is within
symbols of the heavenly. And so it pleased the Lord         us the enemy of sin, who would carry us off into
to symbolize in the earthly figure of a shepherd            destruction, cause us to err and depart from the
with his sheep the blessed fellowship of Jehovah            faith. There is also the enemy all about us. The
with His people, His covenant friends. This figure          world seeks the destruction of this flock of God,
of speech contains three elements. The first ele-           would destroy the people of God and deny them
ment is that of feeding. The sheep must have green          the City that has foundations. And this mighty
pastures which the shepherd must provide. The               enemy is led by the devil, the prince of the powers
second element is that of leadership and guidance.          of the air, and they have a strong ally in the power
The character of a sheep is that it quickly errs and        of sin that is within us. And I surely cannot cope
wanders. This is true especially of a lamb. And             with all these powers of sin and evil. But, the Lord
when a sheep wanders away from the fold it cannot           is my Shepherd. God protects and defends His
.possibly find the way home. The shepherd must              flock. He keeps us safely in the paths of righteous-
also guard against the proneness of his sheep to            ness, although we often do not walk consciously in
wander. And the third element is that of  defence.          the same. And He is constantly preserving us in
The sheep must be defended against the wolves               connection with the powers of the world. The Lord
which constantly threaten them. The shepherd                assures my safety in the midst of the world. There
must defend his sheep, even unto death. This dis-           is no enemy who can really do me any harm. Even
tinguishes a true shepherd from an hireling.                as the three friends of Daniel were perfectly safe in
                                                            the fiery furnace, made seven times hotter, so that
  The reality of this' figure is obvious. The Lord is       their hair was not singed, their clothing was not
my shepherd. The text is personal. To be sure, the          changed, and the smell of fire was not even upon
Lord is the Shepherd of His church, the one church          them, so the people of God are safe throughout the
of God throughout the ages and also of every con-           ages. No harm really befalls them. Whatever afflic-
gregation. But here the psalmist speaks personally.         tion they must endure is a means of this Shepherd
   The Lord is my shepherd  - He feeds me. He               to lead them into everlasting life and glory, prepare
feeds me with the bread of everlasting life. God is         them for that which the Lord has laid away for
for me eternal life. To know Him, not merely in-            them. Indeed, the Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not
tellectually but spiritually, is for me life eternal  -     want. Never will I be in want, in any need. All
to experience and taste His life and light, to behold       things are for me, nothing is against me.


 28                                               THE STANDARD BEARER



       The Lord is an all-sufficient Shepherd.               speaks in this psalm of the valley of the shadow of
       Psalm 23 reminds us immediately of John 10. In        death. We read in verse 6 of all the days of our
John 10 the Saviour declares of Himself: "I am the           lives. Hence, whatever may befall me and be my
Good Shepherd." Hence, the Shepherd of Psalm 23              lot, whatever my sorrows and troubles and afflic-
is the same as in John 10: God in the flesh,  Im-            tions, always I will possess only the good. Fact is, I
manuel. Jehovah is our Shepherd, in Christ Jesus.            shall not want, never be in want. This does not de-
       The Lord is our Shepherd in Christ Jesus, first of    pend upon you or me, upon my subjective inclina-
all, as centrally upon the cross of Calvary. Does not        tion of heart and mind. God shall provide for me
the Saviour say in John 10 that He lays down His             every moment, and if we may stand in that faith,
life for His sheep? How wonderful this is! No                then we take this blessed assurance, with the poet,
shepherd, in earthly life, lays down his life for his        upon our lips: I shall not want; my Shepherd is the
sheep. The enemy takes his life from him. He does            Lord.
not give his life; on the contrary he fights for his life                * * *    ***    ***    * * *    ***
to the very end, although it is true that he fights for        The ground for this wonderful assurance? This:
his life in behalf of his sheep. The Shepherd, how-          the Lord is my Shepherd. The Lord here is Jehovah,
ever, gives His life for His sheep. His death is an act      the I AM THAT I AM, the Rock, the Unchangeable
of the will, an act of voluntary obedience to the will       One. He is that in Himself, never dependent upon
of His God. He dies atoningly, pays for all the sins         anything outside of Himself. Were the heavens and
and guilt of all the elect throughout all the ages,          the earth to disappear, the Lord remains. Hence,
completely satisfying all the justice of the living          He is unchangeable in relation to all His virtues,
God. His death seals the condemnation of the                 such as His wrath and indignation, also His love
world and merits everlasting life in heavenly im-            and grace and mercy. He is therefore also un-
mortality for all His own. Indeed, the Lord is my            changeable in relation to His people. Loving them
all-sufficient Shepherd, centrally upon the cross of         He loves them forever and unchangeably. Being
Calvary.                                                     their Shepherd, in Christ Jesus, He is their Shep-
  Besides, throughout the ages, this Shepherd is all-        herd forever. Thus Jehovah loves His own with an
sufficient. He imparts everlasting life to His own.          unchangeable love. He is also almighty, able to pro-
He preserves me in that salvation once bestowed              vide and care for His sheep. And He is all-wise, the
upon me. This principle of the new life in me can            Omniscient One, using the highest means to glorify
never perish. He gives me all that I need. I shall not       Himself and to save His own even unto the utter-
want, never be in want. What we receive, also af-            most.
fliction, is exactly what we need. Always He is pre-           Shall we say this with the psalmist: The Lord is
paring me for the glory once laid away for me.               my shepherd; I shall not want? We can. The Lord is
  I shall not want, also in the subjective sense of          my Shepherd. Jehovah, the I Am, the Rock, ever-
the word. When I may stand by the grace of God               lastingly the same, cares for me. He loved me
consciously in the faith, with the eye of faith              eternally. He loved me in Christ Jesus, even in the
focused upon my God, may thus behold the power               depths of hell upon the cross of Calvary. He will
of sin within me and the power of sin all around             surely love me even until the end. Indeed, I shall
me, also all the fearful elements of nature all about        not want, never, even forevermore.
me, also sickness, misery, death, and the grave, I
shall not want. I can view all these things without
fear. Peace of heart, rest of soul, the awareness of
the full, everlasting good - the Lord is all-sufficient
and gives me peace and rest in my soul. Then I can               The Standard Bearer
sing through the tears, rejoice in the midst of all my
misery, never disturbed although sorrowful. The
Lord fulfills all my needs. And now I know that the              makes a thoughtful
Lord, objectively and subjectively, whether in my
consciousness or in my unconsciousness, will al-                             gift for the
ways give me all good. What a wonderful knowl-
edge in which to stand and rejoice!                                   sick or shut-in.
  And do not ignore the certainty of this all-suffi-
ciency - I shall not want. The poet does not merely
refer to the present, not knowing what the future
will bring. But we read: I  shall  not want. What a
wonderful word! This is the issue in this psalm. He


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                              29



EDITORIALS

       The Calling of Our Protestant Reformed
                             Churches to be Specific
                                                 Prof. H.C. Hoeksema


  A few months have intervened since we last                 distinctive position, namely, that even in the midst
wrote on this subject (cf. June 1 issue, No. 17, Vol.        of Reformed churches, the so-called Reformed
59), and it may be well that we review a bit.                community, we occupy a distinctive position. And
  We are in the process of answering the question:           in the term "Reformed" in this connection I in-
in what sense are we called to be specific?                  clude not only all those churches which are of con-
                                                             tinental European origin and which actually use the
  Let me remind you that to be specific is not the           name "Reformed," but also those Reformed
same as being distinctive. It rather implies and pre-        churches which have their historical roots in the
supposes that we are distinctive, that we do occupy          United Kingdom and go by the name of Presby-
a singular position (and I use that term  singular liter-    terian. Among them all, to a greater or lesser de-
ally) as churches. To be specific means that in clear,       gree, we occupy a distinctive position as Protestant
pointed, unambiguous, exact, and antithetical lan-           Reformed Churches. And it is from that distinctive
guage we give expression to our distinctive Protes-          position that our calling to be specific stems.
tant Reformed position.                                        Historically, this distinctive position stands con-
  It is necessary, therefore, that we understand             nected with the very origin of our churches in 1924.
clearly what that distinctive position is. In this con-      Ever since the Christian Reformed Church in 1924
nection, we have already emphasized that we are              cast us out, we stand as churches in principal dis-
called to be specific, in the first place, in distinction    tinction from that denomination. We stand in
from and over against all modernism and the                  distinction from those who hold the doctrine of
modernistic church. And when last we wrote on                common grace. The latter, according to the Three
this subject (June 1 issue) we emphasized the dis-           Points of 1924, includes the doctrine of the general,
tinction between our Protestant Reformed position            well-meant offer of salvation. But it also includes
and that of what may be termed orthodox Chris-               the doctrine that God shows grace to the reprobate
tianity in general. We stressed the fact that in dis-        in the gifts He bestows upon all  men.in general. It
tinction from orthodox Christianity in general we            also includes the doctrine that God by a non-regen-
are Reformed.                                                erative operation of the Holy Spirit restrains sin in
  In this connection, we pointed out that this               the heart of the individual and in the community. It
means that we stand historically in the line of those        also includes the doctrine that the natural man can
great churches of the Reformation which trace                do good in the affairs of this present life. Our dis-
their doctrinal and spiritual descent from the Refor-        tinctive position as Protestant Reformed Churches
mation as it took place under Calvin, and that our           consists in the fact that we deny this entire theory
distinctiveness lies in the truth of the absolute sov-       of common grace and maintain that it is contrary to
ereignty of God in the salvation of His people               Scripture and to our historic Reformed faith as ex-
(fundamental to which truth is the truth of sover-           pressed in the confessions.
eign, double predestination) and in the truth of               But our distinctive position is not merely nega-
God's covenant. Parenthetically I may point out              tive and does not merely consist of denials. No
that I called attention to this distinctive position,        church can exist by negatives and mere denials,
though in a different setting, in my Seminary Com-           however true it may be that the truth is antithetical
mencement address, "At The Point Of The Wedge"               and always implies the No of the Yes.
(cf. July 1 issue).                                            Our distinctive position as such is positive and
   We belong, therefore, to the Reformed family, to          positively Reformed. The positive aspect of our his-
what is sometimes called the "reformed commun-               toric distinctive position may be stated as follows:
ity, ' ' although in our day it bears less and less the      1) The preaching of the gospel, while promiscuous,
character of a community, except in name.                    is grace only for the elect.
   And that brings us to the third aspect of our             2) Men have all things in common in this present


30                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



world, except grace.                                         This is our historically distinctive position as it
3) Sin is not restrained by an operation of common         arises out of our very origin as Protestant Reformed
grace, but develops organically with the  develop-         Churches. And it is this historically distinctive posi-
ment of the human race, and that, too, according to        tion which gives rise, in the deepest sense, to our
the counsel of God.                                        calling to be specific.
4) All the deeds of the natural man, the man who is          There is more to be said about this, but that must
by nature totally depraved, are sin. The single  ex-       wait for the next issue.
ception to this total depravity is the wonder of
regeneration.


                    The Christian News Encyclopedia

      This is the title of a large two-volume set which    critical of liberal trends at Concordia Seminary, St.
the Rev. Herman  Otten, editor of  Christian News          Louis. His paper is an independent paper, not
was kind enough to send me for review. Usually we          church-controlled. And while it is broader in scope
do not include book reviews in this department;            today than when it was known as Lutheran News, it
but since our book reviews appear somewhat spor-           still concentrates to no little extent on issues of sig-
adically, in order to expedite the appearance of this      nificance in the LCMS. In fact, Mr.  Otten and his
review, we are including it in the editorial depart-       paper could probably be characterized as the
ment.                                                      "gadfly" of the LCMS. In the battles about liberal
      I mentioned a large two-volume set, and that is      trends which have raged in the LCMS in recent
probably an understatement. The pages are 10%" x           years,  Christian  News has undoubtedly been very
16", and the two volumes include nearly 1800               influential not only in keeping people informed but
pages. The hard-cover edition, which I received, is        also in maintaining or returning to a more conserva-
sturdily bound (priced at $31.95 plus $4.00 post-          tive stance in the LCMS. And while a Reformed
age). There is also a soft cover edition for $24.95        man can, of course, find many points of disagree-
plus $3.50 postage. These are available from: The          ment with Lutheran theology, one can only have
Christian News Encyclopedia, Box 168, New                  admiration for the untiring battle of Herman Otten
Haven, Missouri 63068.                                     and Christian News against the forces in the LCMS
                                                           which, for example, trampled the truth of the infal-
  This is no ordinary encyclopedia. It contains a          libility of Holy Scripture.
mass of writings on a wide variety of subjects
which have appeared during the last ten years in             Nevertheless, as I said, the scope of this encyclo-
the paper of which the Rev. Otten is editor,  Chris-       pedia is wide-ranging. Even as one always finds
tian News (formerly Lutheran News), a paper with           items of interest in Christian News, so there is a vast
which we have had an exchange arrangement for              amount of information of general interest to the
many years. This means, of course, that to a certain       Christian reader. Here is a sample of some general
extent this encyclopedia has a rather limited scope.       categories included in the g-page  Table of Contents:
But having said this, I also want to stress that this      Abortion, Africa, America, American Translation of
rather limited scope is nevertheless wide-ranging.         the Bible, Apologetics, Baptism, Baptists, Bible,
Christian News has always been a paper which has           Bultmann, Campus Crusade, etc. Also enhancing
by no means been liited to things Lutheran, but            the usefulness of these volumes is an extensive
carries a vast variety of news items and articles of       index (of subjects and of writers) at the end of
interest to conservative and evangelical Christians        Volume II.
in general. Naturally, the viewpoint from which              While admittedly an encyclopedia of this kind
many items are expressed and/or criticized is that of      has limited value, it is nevertheless both useful and
a very conservative Missouri Synod Lutheran                interesting as a reference work.  Christian News,  a
stance.                                                    relatively small publishing organization, is to be
  Meanwhile, it should be kept in mind that Chris-         commended for this undertaking.
tian  News is not an official voice of the Lutheran
Church Missouri Synod. In fact, while Mr. Otten is
pastor of the church in New Haven, Missouri, he is
not on the roster of Missouri Synod pastors, due to
the fact that already in his student days he was


                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER                                                         31



ALLAROUND US
Rev. G. Van Buren


                                        Signs of the Times

  Some months ago I read several magazines which                   1946 to 1956 there were 7; from 1956 to 1966 there
quoted an article on earthquakes and their                         were 17 of that degree of violence. But in the year
frequency. If the report is correct, and I have no                 1967 alone they numbered 17; in 1968, 19; in 1969,
reason to doubt it, this makes for some interesting                21; in 1970,24;  and in 1971 there were 34 above 6 on
proof that the end of the age approaches rapidly. In               the Richter scale. From 1967-1976 there were accord-
OutZooh,  May 1983, this report is presented:                      ing to other statistics a total of 180 earthquakes regis-
                                                                   tering above 7 on the Richter scale. Should we let
     Among the "signs" which our Lord mentioned as                 these increasingly frequent and violent catastrophes
   signalling His approaching return were "earthquakes,            pass without noticing what they tell us of the Lord's
   in diverse places" (Matt. 24:7). An article in the Janu-        approaching return and our need to be ready for it by
   ary, 1983, issue of Getrouw by Alexander Seibel on              believing in and serving Him?
   "The Background of Terrorism Illuminated from
   the Bible" calls attention to these signs mention-             Another reminder, this is, of the nearness of
   ing especially the increasing frequency and inten-           Christ's return. He who would close his eyes to the
   sity of earthquakes in our time. Citing as author-           clear evidences would be a fool indeed. Let us
   ity a book, The Cosmic Conspiracy by Stan Dyo, he            watch  - and labor, knowing that the night is far
   points out that from 1897 to 1946 there were 3 earth-        spent and the day is at hand.
   quakes registering above 6 on the Richter scale. From



                          World Council of Churches

  This past summer the W.C.C. met in Vancouver,                    permeated this assembly. The  fheosis   motif  - the
Canada  - its sixth assembly since the founding.                   special Orthodox emphasis on our vital union with
Many reports have been given about this assembly.                  Christ in His death and resurrection, and our salvation
Some have found that it appears to have become                     through participation in the divine life  - especially
more conservative and spiritual. Others, while con-                lent itself to the theme of this assembly, "Jesus Christ
ceding that the evangelicals have had a louder voice               - the Lord of the World."....
at this assembly, believe that the W.C.C. continues                   . ..The majority of evangelicals who  caucussed at
down the steep road of apostasy. Christianity Today,                the assembly were also enthusiastic, so much so that
Sept. 16, 1983, contains a lengthy and positive re-                 they produced a statement, commending the World
port about the assembly - but includes also a short                 Council and inviting evangelicals to add their gifts to
comment from one who dissents from this positive                    its process. The main drafter of "Evangelicals at Van-
assessment. The positive report states:                             couver: An Open Letter" was Arthur Glasser, who re-
                                                                   flected the contributions of a group of about 40 others,
     After its Uppsala, Switzerland, assembly in 1968,             including Waldron Scott and Orlando  Costas,  who
   the World Council of Churches (WCC) espoused liber-             was an advisor at the assembly. The evangelical state-
   ation theologies, sent money to liberation movements,           ment made the front page of the assembly newspaper.
   and acutely criticized Western failures. This, com-              Emilio Castro, head of the WCC Division of Mission
   bined with comparative silence about Communist                  and Evangelism, was ecstatic about the support pro-
   societies, convinced many evangelicals that it was              vided for evangelical concerns in the council, and pre-
   controlled by the political and theological Left. But the        dicted that the open letter would turn out to, be the
   Sixth Assembly of the WCC in Vancouver, which con-              most important event at the Siih Assembly. More
   cluded last month, may significantly alter that percep-         than 200 persons signed the document, and many
   tion, and may introduce stronger evengelical currents            others thanked us for it.
   in the council.                                                    Not all evangelicals at the assembly-affirmed this
     Vigorous Trinitarian theology with a' strong em-              statement. A counterstatement produced by Peter
   phasis on eternal and supernatural life in Christ               Beyerhaus was signed by American missiologist


32                                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



       Arthur Johnston and a Korean Presbyterian professor,                 observers from non-Christian religions at previous as-
       Myung Yuk Kim. The Beyerhaus statement admitted                      semblies, the assembly here marked the first time that
       some of the progress noted by the other evangelicals                 a plenary session had been addressed by non-Chris-
       but called attention to theological vagueness, a  neo-              tian representatives. At the World Council's New
       Marxist "theology of the poor," feminist  neopagan-                  Delhi assembly in 1961, it was not even possible for
       ism, the presence and counterwitness of spokesper-                  people of other faiths to be accredited as press repre-
       sons for non-Christican  religions, unbalanced criticism            s e n t a t i v e s .   -
       of the West, shallowness in perceiving sin, and a lack             It is evident that the WCC has accommodated it-
       of eschatological perspective. It concluded by warning           self somewhat to the evangelicals in its midst. But
       evangelicals to stay clear of the WCC process, just as           this, perhaps, makes the organization more decep-
       the open letter called for their involvement.. . .               tive and dangerous. The reports indicate that the
      Other reports of the WCC appeared in Christian                    WCC has drawn closer to the non-Christian reli-
Renewal, Sept. 12, 1983:                                                gions. Thus, while trying to soothe some of the
         Representatives of Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism                 fears of the evangelicals, the WCC has at the same
       and Islam told an international gathering of Christians          time accommodated itself to the other "religions"
       here how their traditions view life as a gift from God.          of the world. How can any of the faithful churches
       They took part in a plenary session of the sixth                 participate with those who increasingly seek union
       assembly of the World Council of Churches devoted                between "light" and "darkness"? Clearly, there is
       to an assembly sub-theme, "Life, A Gift of God." and             continued development toward the one church and
       made history in so doing. Although there have been               one world concept of the antichrist.


                                                  T o t a l   D e p r a v i t y

      One is encouraged when reading of others a                            His hands in the realm of salvation because He has
strong emphasis upon the total depravity of natural                         granted a "free will" to His creatures, so that He is
man with a clear-cut denial of the so-called free-will                      dependent upon them whether heaven will be popu-
of the sinner. Such a statement appears in the  Re-                         lated by a few or many men. Because so many men
formed  HeraZd,  September, 1983, a publication of                          perish in Hell, `because they improperly exercise their
the Reformed Church in the U.S. (Eureka Classis).                           free will, one Arminian called Hell a "colossal monu-
The Rev. Steven Schlei writes about "Cement                                 ment" to the failure of God in saving men.
Shoes' ' :                                                                    According to this view, man's sin has left him in
                                                                            rough shape, but man can pull  himself out of the
         . ..A few years ago, a popular South Dakota evangel-               dilemma he is in, if he will only take hold of Christ.
      ist visited Minot to urge the evangelical ministers of                Man is drowning in his sin. On that all Christians
      this community to sponsor him in an evangelistic                     would agree. The common conception though is that
      crusade in the city. He wanted a guaranteed purse of                 man is yelling for help on the top of the waves, and he
      $25,000 to cover his expenses so that he could come.                  could find that help if only he would take hold of the
      The ministers wanted him to come, but they were                       life preserver floating beside him. We believe man is
      quite hesitant to make such a large commitment to                     drowning in sin all right, but he is not floating on the
      cough up so much money. Sensing that money was                       surface. Instead, he is at the bottom of the sea wearing
      the only issue in whether or not he could come, the                  cement shoes and having his pockets filled with lead.
      evangelist rebuked and admonished the ministers,                     In short, man is not merely in trouble; he is dead....
      "Brethren, it has been our experience in previous                   It is refreshing to find such strong emphasis on
      crusades that for every $25 invested, one soul is
      saved. We are talking here about the salvation of 1000            the depravity of the sinner. Indeed, he has no "free
      people in Minot. How can you quibble over such                    will," nor is he capable of catching the "lifeline" if
      things as money?' He went on to urge the ministers to             he will, but he is truly dead in sin and iniquity. Sal-
      "sell" this plan to the Christians of Minot by telling            vation, then, is of God alone through Jesus Christ.
      them they could buy a soul for $25 or a whole family
      for the gift of $100.
         My dear brethren, let me tell you that these and                           Read and Study
      other similar horror stories make my blood boil....
      These blasphemies come from a view of God which
      sees Him as having done all that He can to save sin-               The Standard Bearer
      ners, and now He must await the outcome of their in-
      dividual and collective decisions. This "god" has tied


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  33



GUESTARTICLE


                                  God's Immutability
                                                Rev. Robt. C. Harbach


  "We all believe with the heart, and confess with           nant"-another biblical proof of the Deity of the im-
the mouth, that . . . God . . . is . . . immutable . . ."    mutable Christ. This is "Jesus Christ the same
(Belgic Conf'n), as it is written, "For I am the Lord,       yesterday, and today, and for ever" (Heb.  13:8). It
I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not con-        is also to be noted that the verb "to be," am, is in
sumed" (Malachi 3:6).                                        italic, indicating that it is not in the original. There-
  God in this passage of the divine Word declares            fore  Jehovah  is not the predicate of the sentence,
His own essential attribute of immutability and              but in apposition with the subject,  I, and Jehovah
glories in it. Negatively, this means God is per-            the immutable Messiah stands in contrast to the
petually changeless; positively, He is ever the              changing sons of Jacob.
same. The verse begins with the preposition  for,              God is immutable in all His perfections, in His
statingthe reason for that just previously expressed         omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence, holi-
(in v. 5). Here the Lord shows that He is both Judge         ness, righteousness, knowledge, goodness, and
of and Witness against evil-doers. Specifically, He          mercy. He is immutable in His counsel, decree,
identifies these impenitent sinners as sorcerers             purposes and plans, and in His love, covenant, and
(dealers in the occult, astrology, witchcraft, and the       promises. The changeless God created, sustains,
drug traffic), adulterers (cp. the modern sex rebel-         and governs all change (including revelation, incar-
lion), false swearers (perjurers), oppressors. The           nation, and redemption), yet without Himself
latter include crooked politicians who get into              changing. So the words, "In the beginning God
office by perjury, lies, and deceit. When once in            created" (Gen.  1:l) do not imply any change in
office, they, through their sorceries and adulteries,        Him. Nor does "My Father worketh hitherto" (Jn.
enslave the people who are then much easier to               517);  nor does He "worketh all things according to
handle, to defraud, rob, and oppress. But God will           the counsel of His own will" (Eph.  1:ll). This
testify against, judge, sentence, and punish these           means that God's power is always the same. He
criminals.  For  He is Jehovah, the eternal,  self-          gets neither weaker nor stronger. His power is
existent God who never changes, immutable in His             never exhausted nor ever in need of  .renewal. His
being, justice, goodness and truth. He is just as            knowledge is not increased as with His intelligent
much the Enemy of sin as He ever was, and evil-              creatures. His mind is not a sieve, but retentive of
doers, in time and in eternity, always find Him so.          all things in eternity, in past, present, and future, in
The Judge of all the earth needs no new legislation          one divine thought. He is the unchanging, over-
passed in order to save the poor and oppressed. For          flowing Fountain of all good, ever ceaselessly pour-
His law and the judgments rendered on the basis of           ing out His goodness on His creatures in an
it are never antiquated, never out of date. They             abundant, unabated, steady stream continually the
continue relevant and in full force. So also the curse       same. He never can change from holiness to sin,
of His law continues in its power against all law-           nor from righteousness to wickedness. His counsel
breakers. God is an immutable Judge and Witness              is immutable (Heb.  6:17). His purposes none can
against them. "I am the Lord," the unchangeable,             frustrate nor annul. He never changes His mind;
covenant God, faithful to His covenant, "therefore           never has to, since His thoughts and counsels are
ye sons of Jacob are not consumed." Sons of Jacob            eternally perfect. He changes His  providences, yet
are true believers, the sons of God's election, but so       they are all ordained and brought to pass according
unworthy because they all have the deceitful                 to His unchangeable will.
nature of Jacob. Yet, because of the immutable love            So immutability belongs to all God's attributes.
of God, manifested in the blood of the cross which           Just as all the colors of the spectrum flow forth
washes away all their sins, they are not consumed.           from their center in the light, so the attributes of
   "I change not!" The speaker, it is to be noted, is,       God (all one in Him!) have their center in the sun of
from the first verse, the promised Messiah, "the             immutability. God's mercy could never change.
Lord Whom ye seek, " "the Messenger of the  cove-            (What could it change to and still be a divine attri-


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   I
34



bute? and not degenerate?) How could His holiness           ience. For the Lord will not change His determined
change? This is to ask, How could God cease being           purpose to punish sinners and their sins in order to
God? His being and His perfections are the same.            gratify men's lusts in continued enjoyment of their
He is His attributes! Of every one of them we may           evil ways. What! God dishonor Himself to ease men
sing, "As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever         in their carnal security! Must God change His
shall be, world without end. Amen!"                         nature, cease being God, so that they be undis-
      Only the Lord God can say in truth, "I am that        turbed in their vileness? God invariably loves the
which I am." Methuselah, who lived for 969 years,           right, and as much as ever hates the evil. He is the
could not say this for one quarter of an hour. For          same unchanging Enemy to the wicked, the same
the creature must confess, I am not what I was just         Friend to the righteous. As He always has been,
a moment ago. I am this very instant undergoing             with a strong aversion to sin and that in justice to
change. In the future I will not be what I am now.          punish it, so He will be still. Daily He judges sin
Only God is the immutable IAm! God could not re-            and sinners throughout all time and unto eternity,
main God and say anything else! It would be                 This is His immovable decree: "He that believeth
Barthian nonsense to make God say, "I AM that I             not . . . the wrath of God  abideth  (is continually
am, yet at the same time I am something other than          kept) on Him" (Jn. 3:36). The same decree declares
that." We cannot say in modern parlance, "God is            with finality, "He that believeth not shall be
`something else.' " (Like what? Isa.  40:25a). God          damned."
cannot be one thing one time and "something else"             But, on the other hand, what a comfort this prop-
another time. "He is the living God, steadfast for-         erty of the divine nature is to the Lord's people!
ever" (Dan.  6:26). God  is!  God is Himself. God is        His immutable decree has determined the bounds
God! If He were not always God He could never be            of the sea (Job 38: 11). If this decree were not im-
God.                                                        mutable, were capricious, we might well fear the
  Immutability is therefore not a quality which             devastating inundation of our land from both the
may be considered in itself, apart from other               Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. No one lives under
things, as though, in some sense it may be consid-          this dread because God's decree is fixed. Also at the
ered even apart from God. It is said that because the       Cross God's face still shines upon us in mercy.
reprobate in hell are in the miserable state of im-         There He is as ready as ever to accept any who
mutable malice against God, and the elect in                come to Him for rest! In the Cross we see that His
heaven in a state of immutable and infallible happi-        love never changes (Jer.  31:3), and that His truth
ness that then there is immutability in the creature.       endureth for ever (Ps.  117:2). Is there then more
But these steady states are what they are because           reason to doubt His love than His truth? For the de-
they are utterly dependent upon  God's  immutabil-          cree of His love is, for all walkers in the Light, "the
ity, and that in connection with His immutable jus-         blood of Jesus Christ . . . cleanseth (keeps cleansing
tice and mercy. In reality there is no (dualistical)        and cleansing!) us from all sin" (I Jn.  1:7). The
"immutability considered in itself." Holy Scrip-            wheel of providence rolls over "change in all
ture, the only infallible rule of faith and life, is the    around I see," but it spins on the axle of immutable
ground of reality, not "the thing of itself."               love.  "Heav'n and earth shall pass away, Change-
  To reject God's immutability is to reject all His         less, Thou shalt live for aye!" "Unchanging is the
attributes, deny the very being of God. God's               love of God, From age to age the same, Displayed to
"name is being" (H. Bavinck). True, for His name is         all who do His will and reverence His Name."
"the I Am." "This name is an unchangeable name"
(H.B.). True, for His name is I-am-that-I-am. His
name is, I am He Who is, Who was, and Who is to
come. Therefore, God never comes with a New                     The Standard Bearer
Deal. "He has always had the one and only immut-
able will" (H.B.) or plan, and that is eternally per-             makes a thoughtful
fect. "God is the I WILL BE THAT I WILL BE"
(H.B.). There is no "before" or "after" for God. But
there are creatures, things, which before did not                       gift for the sick
exist and afterward do exist. There is no parallax in
God. (Optical, binocular parallax is the apparent                     or shut-in. Give
change in position of an object seen separately first
by one eye and then by the other.)                           The Standard Bearer
  The immutability of God, so far from being a
comfort to the persistently wicked, is, and will be,
for them a fearful thing in their thoughts and exper-


                                          THE STANDARD BEARER                                               35



THEDAYOFSHADOWS


                                Significant Silence
                                              Rev. John A. Heys


  The second chapter of the Book of Esther is very       mind what had happened, and, being sober, felt the
revealing, if one does not approach it with a mind       loss.
biased by the general notions concerning the princi-       Note that the king remembers "what had been
pal characters in the book but lets the facts speak      decreed" against her. We do not read, "what he had
for themselves. It reveals nothing but deeds of un-      decreed against her." It is true that he authorized
belief both on the part of the Gentiles mentioned,       her debasement and departure from the palace. But
of whom it can be expected, but also of the Jews,        the decree had not originated in him. He was
who knew the law and the prophets. And whilethis         furious. He wanted her punished. But he was not
chapter already is revealing, what follows in the re-    ready to punish himself by getting rid of a wife in
maining chapters also underscores what we wrote          whom he had such pride, and was to him such a
before, namely, that not one of the persons men-         treasure, as is evident from his desire to show off
tioned by name in the book was a believer. Indeed        her beauty at the feast. His eagerness for another
some reveal that they know that there is a God, but      beautiful wife is plain from the fact that the sugges-
without exception all show that they have no faith       tion of his servants that there be a beauty contest,
in  God. Let us look carefully at what the one true      so he could have another most beautiful wife, is
God makes known to us in this chapter.                   adopted.
  King Ahasuerus divorced his wife Vashti and did           Having made all this known to us the chapter in-
not so much as claim that it was because of              troduces Mordecai. Now surely he was not the
adultery. Nor could he correctly do that. God,           same Mordecai who is mentioned in Ezra  2:2 and
therefore, continued to consider her his wife; and       Nehemiah  7:7, and was one of the men who with
all men were required to take that same position.        Zerubbabel led the Jews back to Jerusalem. Some
Being an unbeliever, not heeding God's word that         claim, or suggest this, but the somewhat detailed
what God joined together no man might put                description of his geneology - as well as all the acts
asunder, the king put her out of the palace. Advised     of unbelief which he displays in the book - forbids
by his "wise men" he sought another wife. Note           such a conclusion. He is presented as a descendant
that the "wise men" who accused Vashti of "too           of Kish (most likely the father of Israel's first king)
much contempt and wrath" proceeded to show               and as from the tribe of Benjamin. It is not impor-
contempt for God's laws and to advise deeds rooted       tant to determine whether this Kish is actually the
in wrath against God.                                    father of King Saul. What is important is that he is a
  Shortly thereafter the king began to miss Vashti       Benjamite, and thus a descendant of Abraham,
and considered restoring her. For we read in Esther      Isaac and Jacob, whose youngest son was Ben-
2:l  that the king's wrath was appeased. And that        jamin.
word appeased is the same word that appears in
Genesis  8:l  where we read of the waters of the            In a broad, general sense then we may say that
flood being assuaged. In Esther  7:lO  we find it        Mordecai was a covenant father, that is, one born
translated as pacified. There we read of the king's       among the covenant people that in generations had
wrath being pacified after  Haman was hanged on          been taught the law and the prophets, and knew
the gallows he built for Mordecai. What is more, we       God's covenant promises. In his eloquent plea
also read in this verse that he "remembered Vashti,       which he makes before Esther, Mordecai reveals
and what she had done, and what was decreed               this to be the case. He speaks of enlargement and
against her." Verse 2 also makes it known that the        deliverance that wiZZ arise to the Jews from another
king revealed that he missed her. For we read that        quarter, if Esther does not speak to the king (Esther
his "wise men" said, "Let there be fair young             4:13). Note here his significant silence consisting in
virgins sought for the king." They wanted no re-          this that he does not mention God's name, when
storation of Vashti and were aware of the king's          there was a beautiful opportunity to use it, and a
loneliness and regret. Now that alcohol no longer         time when it was required.
warped his thinking, the king, reviewing in his             But there are two matters here that must be con-


I    36                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



     sidered.  He is in Shushan long after the Jews had         of the wicked beauty contest. There was a way
     returned to Jerusalem and the promised land.               which he knew would disqualify her. There was a
     Mordecai's heart was fixed on the world, and he            way whereby he could keep her from all that sin.
     had no interest in returning to Jerusalem and in           Just let it be known that she is a Benjamite, a
     worshipping God in His temple. His burning desire          Jewess, one whose nation professed to believe in
     to see Esther become queen of a godless nation, and        the God Who clearly stated, "Thou shalt not
     wife of a thoroughly corrupt heathen king, reveals         commit adultery, " and no  matter.how  beautiful of
     that.                                                      face, the king, if not the king's men, would have no
           The other matter is that although he was, in that    part in entering her into this beauty contest to be
     broad sense of the word, a covenant father, of an          the queen of their land. How, 0 how, can you exalt
     adopted daughter whose father also was born in             a man like this and hold him up as a hero of faith?
     and raised up in the covenant sphere, she being the           Consider that his command to Esther means that
     daughter of his own brother, he did not bring this         she might never pray to Jehovah. And for what
     daughter up with covenant instruction. And what            would she pray - if she did it secretly on her bed at
     those who extol Mordecai and Esther as great               night in the dark? Would she pray for forgiveness of
     heroes of faith disregard completely is that Morde-        her sins in which she intended to continue to walk?
     cai does nothing (and that word nothing can be un-         She was preparing for fornication and had set her
     derscored), to keep Esther out of this sinful, im-         face to go that way, at her uncle's command. Could
     moral beauty contest, is so eager to see her win it, is    she sincerely pray for forgiveness of a sin she in-
     not at all concerned by the fact that to become the        tended to hold on to until her fleshly ambitions
     wife of Ahasuerus is a flagrant violation of the           were satisfied?
     seventh commandment, and that in order to get
     that position he not only instructs her but com-             Not to reveal her kindred and her people meant
     mands her to turn her back completely upon God's           that Esther had to desecrate the Sabbath so she
     covenant. Let us look at that a moment more fully.         could be kept on the list of candidates who would
                                                                commit fornication to be joined to a godless, unbe-
           We will not accuse Mordecai of entering Esther       lieving king and be one flesh with him! It meant
     into the wicked contest. We do not read that. We           that she could not confess Jehovah and must not
     read that the king sent out men to look for fair           speak one word of faith or hope or love toward
     virgins. Now Mordecai could have tried to hide her,        Him! It meant that, what the three friends of
     for a time at least, but he makes no attempt. And          Daniel, and Daniel himself, would not do, she
     even as there are ways to accentuate beauty of face        would gladly do, namely, eat and drink things of-
     and body, so there are ways, if one has a will and a       fered up to idols! She was to turn her back upon the
     mind to do so, to cover up and play it down. He            Lamb of God and declare by her works that she had
     makes no attempt and spoke no command to Esther            no connection with Him whatsoever. There was no
     to do so. More of this in a moment. But note that          way in this heathen land and palace of a godless
     "Mordecai walked every day before the court of             king that she could keep the Passover and manifest
     the woman's house, to know how Esther did, and             faith in God's wrath passing over her because of
     what should become of her." That cannot mean               His Son's blood.
     that he was worried about her spiritual life. It can-
     not mean that he feared that she would fall into             But let us concentrate for the moment on this
     temptation. He knew that she had to spend a night          father who commands all this of her. And later we
     with the king. This was not a sin she might fall into.     will have occasion, the Lord willing, to point out
     It was a sin required to obtain the queenship.             several times when he could have used God's
     Mordecai was quite happy to have Esther. pass this         name, and as a believer most assuredly would have
     test of "trial marriage" and "lustful compatibility."      done so. Instead there comes out of his mouth not
     Here too he is completely silent. No warning is            one word that indicates even a weak faith in Him.
     given Esther, no command to refuse going in unto           How dare anyone hold him up before his children
     the king. In fact, both knew that all this "purify-        as a hero of faith, a man after God's heart who
     ing" of the candidates was with a view to this forni-      ought to be emulated and praised for what he did
     cation.                                                    for God's church?
       And all this fits in so perfectly with that                Mordecai was interested in Israel as a nation, but
     command of Mordecai that she in no way at any              not as the people of God. He was interested in
     time show that she belonged to the nation that             having one of the seed of Abraham in the king's
     served Jehovah! That is what it means that she             palace, but he was not interested in having the God
     must hide her kindred and her people. And that is          of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob confessed and
     what Mordecai wanted her to do. Now let me come            praised in that palace. Not only did he with interest
     back to that failure of Mordecai to keep Esther out        watch to see whether his daughter would succeed


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                               37



in this immoral night of "sleeping" with the king,          But also in New Testament language take careful
he taught her also to break the ninth command-            note' of what Jesus said in Matthew  10:32, 33:
ment. 0, yes, you can bear false witness by silence.      "Whosoever therefore shall confess Me before
Silence can speak louder than words, as well as           men, him will I confess before My Father which is
actions often speak louder than words. And Morde-         in heaven. But whosoever shall deny Me
cai's unbelief becomes manifest not only in what          before men, him will I also deny before My Father
he did but in what he did not do; in what he said,        which is in heaven." That holds true also for those
but also in what he did not, would not, and could         who teach their children not to confess Christ.
not say. Indeed we have significant silence here in         You can extol Mordecai, though he never uses
this book. A silence that loudly speaks of unbelief?      God's name and forbids his daughter to use it. But
  Consider that in New Testament language what            the point is that Jesus in no uncertain terms teaches
Mordecai commanded Esther was, "In no way, at             that such He will not confess before His Father in
any time, let anyone think that you are a Christian.      heaven. How terrible that silence is, and what
Be sure all think you are one with the world. Let         significance it carries!
your speech be in every way the speech of the
world."

FAITH OF OUR FATHERS


                                        Nicene Creed
                                              Rev. James Slopsema


  Article 2 of the Nicene Creed reads as follows:         infinite chasm from man and the creation. Begin-
"And (I believe) in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-      ning with this concept of God, Arius could not
begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before        imagine the possibility of God directly creating the
all worlds, Light of Light, very God of very God,         universe. Due to His highly transcendent character
begotten, not made, being of one substance with           it was possible for God to create the universe only
the Father; by Whom all things were made." We             through an intermediary. Hence, He created the
have already discussed much of this second article.       Word, or Logos, as His Son. And it was through this
We have discussed the confession of the church            Word that God in turn created the universe. Ac-
that there is one Lord Jesus Christ by Whom all           cording to the view of Arius therefore the Son of
things were made. We have discussed too the con-          God is not eternal. Certainly He existed before the
fession of the early church that Jesus Christ is the      universe; for the universe was created by Him. Yet
only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father          He has a beginning. There was a time when He was
before all worlds. There remains yet to be discussed      not. He is therefore not eternal. Nor is He of the
the truth that Jesus Christ is "Light of Light, very      same essence or being as the Father. Arius did con-
God of very God, begotten not made, being of one          tend that the Son is divine. However, His divine
substance with the Father." These expressions             nature is different from that of the Father. Being a
were inserted in the Nicene Creed especially against      created God, the Son is to be viewed as a lower
the followers of Arius. You recall that the contro-       God, a subordinate God to the Father. In turn
versy with Aruis and his followers was the histor-        therefore He is limited in knowledge and power
ical occasion for the writing of this creed. It was       and wisdom. The Son is able also to sin so that He
especially to settle this controversy that the Council    constantly needs the grace of God the Father. Nev-
of Nicea was convened in A.D. 325 and this particu-       ertheless, because He is the Son of God, He is the
lar creed was formulated. It was especially through       proper object of our worship. Finally, Arius taught
these expressions which we now consider that the          that this Logos or Word was incarnate. Through the
early church set forth the truth of God's Word over       virgin birth the Son of God came into our flesh, the
against the error of the Arians.                          Logos or Word taking the place of the reasoning
  What were the teachings of Arius? Arius began           human spirit. Such in brief were the views of Arius.
with the transcendence of God. To Arius, God the             To contradict especially these views and to con-
Father was a far away, unknowable, inaccessible           fess the truth of God's Word over against them, the
God, hidden in deep mystery and separated by an           early church confessed that Jesus Christ is "Light of


38                                             THE STANDARD BEARER



Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made,              as the Father is truly God. And as true God He finds
being of one substance with the Father."                      His source in the Father.
      First then we have the expression that Christ is           It is rather interesting to note that in its original
"Light of Light." Now the word "of" in the expres-            form as adopted by the Council of  Nicea in A.D.
sion "Light of Light" has the idea of source. Hence,          325, the Nicene Creed simply confessed that Jesus
the meaning is that Jesus Christ is Light out of or           Christ is "God of God." But as you recall from
proceeding from Light. And this is Scriptural. It is          previous articles, the controversy concerning the
true that we do not find this expression as such in           identity of Christ still raged in the church after this
Scripture. Yet the idea expressed here is definitely          council, so that another council was called in Con-
in the Scriptures. For, first of all, Christ is identified    stantinople in A.D. 381 to settle the question once
in the Scriptures as Light. This we read for example          and for all. At this latter council the original creed
in John  1:6-9.  Here we are told that John (the              was altered somewhat to deny the position of Arius
Baptist) "came for a witness, to bear witness of the          any room whatsoever in the church. One such revi-
Light . . . . He was not that Light, but was sent to          sion was to strengthen the phrase "God of God" to
bear witness of that Light. That was the true Light           "very God of very God." The reason for this
which lighteth every man that  cometh into the                change was that the followers of Arius found that
world." And according to the context this Light is            they could very well live with the idea that Jesus is
Jesus Christ. But, in the second place, we also read          "God of God." For they too proclaimed that Jesus is
that God is Light. "God is Light, and in Him is no            God. They simply reserved the right to add that
darkness at all" (I John  1:5).  Now the point of the         Jesus was not God in the same sense that the Father
expression "Light of Light" is that the Light of              is; that He is a subordinate God. Hence, to rule out
Christ finds its source in the Light of God and is            any idea of subordination of the Son and to empha-
therefore identical to the Light of God. There                size that Jesus is God in the same sense as is the
are not two Lights which shine and radiate in the             Father, the early church amended her creed to con-
creation. There is only one. This Light is the pure           fess that Jesus Christ is "very God of very God."
perfection of God's very being. That Light Christ
also possesses. And through Christ, the Light of                The next phrase inserted in the Nicene Creed to
God's infinite perfections is manifest to and in              contradict the error of the Arians is that Jesus is
man. Hence, Christ is not essentially different from          "begotten, not made." It is rather striking that in
God the Father but essentially the same. This idea            this second article the early church already con-
is certainly expressed in Hebrews  1:3 where Christ           fessed that Jesus Christ is the "only-begotten Son of
is called "the brightness of His (i.e., God's) glory."        God." Why then the addition that Jesus is "begot-
God's glory is the radiation or manifestation of the          ten, not made"? The answer is to be found in the
perfections of His divine being. It is the shining            fact that the Arians also claimed that Jesus is the
forth of God as "the Light in Whom is no dark-                only-begotten Son of God. However, they did not
ness." And the brightness of that glorious Light of           give this term the content that the Scriptures do.
God is Christ. Even as the rays of the sun are the            We have seen in a previous article that the title
brightness of the sun, so is Christ the brightness of         "only-begotten Son of God" given to Jesus indicates
the glory Light of God. He is "Light of Light," one           that He is brought forth by the Father in such a way
with the Father.                                              that  `He possesses the whole of the divine nature
                                                              with the Father. He is co-eternal, co-essential, and
  What was expressed figuratively in the expres-              co-equal with the Father. Any honest study of this
sion just considered was expressed outrightly in the          term in light of the whole of Scripture will reveal
next phrase of the Nicene Creed, viz., that Christ is         this fact. However, the Arians did not interpret this
"very God of very God." The word translated                   title in this manner. Nor could they and still main-
"very" could perhaps better be translated "true."             tain their teaching that Jesus was created of the
It is a Greek word meaning "real and true,                    Father, is essentially different from the Father and
genuine." Hence, Christ is "true God of (out of)              is subordinate to the Father. Hence, they inter-
true God." The Scriptures designate both God the              preted the expression under consideration in a
Father and Jesus Christ as the true God. Thus for             figurative sense. That Christ is begotten of God
example in John  17:3, Christ praying to God the              means that He was created of God. That Christ is
Father proclaims, "And this is life eternal, that they        the only-begotten means that He was the first crea-
might know Thee the only  true God." In like                  ture of God through Whom God created all things.
manner we read of Jesus Christ in I John  5:20,               To rule out this erroneous and unbiblical interpre-
"This is the true God, and life eternal." Now fol-            tation of a most important and beautiful expression
lowing the idea that Christ is Light of Light, the            in Scripture, the early church proclaimed that Jesus
early church continued to confess that He is true             was  f'begotten,  not made." The effect of this inser-
God out of true God. That is, He is truly God even            tion therefore was to emphasize that Jesus is not


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                             39



begotten of God in the sense of creation.                or being with the Father. And this is the expression
   Finally, there is the phrase "being of one  sub-      we find here in the Nicene Creed. The expression
stance with the Father." It was this phrase that         "being of one substance with the Father" was the
especially marked the defeat of Arianism in the          watchword of the orthodox camp. Its inclusion into
church. This particular phrase was not  incorpor-        the creed of the church by the Council of  Con-
ated into the original creed as formulated and           stantinople in A.D. 381 marked the complete  vic-
adopted by the Council of Nicea in A.D. 325. It was      tory of the Orthodox party and the truth of God's
added later by the Council of Constantinople in          Word on this particular issue!
A.D. 381 which made minor revisions on the creed.          This truth the true church of God confesses even
The inclusion of this phrase reflects the  contro-       today. The trend today in the church world is to
versy that continued after the Council of Nicea and      view Jesus as merely a man. He is essentially no dif-
which we considered some time ago at the  begin-         ferent from any one of us. We call this Modernism.
ning of our series on this creed. You recall that the    However, this is essentially the same error that pre-
Council of  Nicea failed to settle the controversy in    vailed in the early church. It may come in a little
the early church concerning the identity of Christ.      different form. But it is essentially the same lie. The
Afterward especially three camps emerged, each           ago old lie of the devil to deny the true identity of
with its own watchword. There were first the             our Saviour has never really died. And over against
Arians whose watchword was  hetero-ousion.  By this      this lie the church of Jesus Christ must still confess
they meant that Christ was different in substance        with the early church her faith "in one Lord Jesus
or being from the Father. Then there was the             Christ, the only begotten-Son of God, begotten of
middle camp which spoke of homoi-ousion, that is,        the Father before all worlds, Light of Light, very
Christ has a like substance or being with the            God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one
Father. Finally, there was the orthodox camp             substance with the Father; by Whom all things
whose watchword was  homo-ousion.  By this they          were made."
meant to emphasize that Christ is one in substance

STRENGTH OF YOUTH


                       The Christian and Dancing
                                              Rev. Ron Cammenga


  In the past dancing was primarily an activity in         This movement to approve the dance is a threat
which the world engaged. It was an activity upon         to us and to our young people. The churches that
which the church frowned and against which of-           have given official approval to the dance are
fice-bearers and parents warned their young              churches that are close to us. The Christian colleges
people. Those who did dance had not the courage          that allow and sponsor dances are Christian col-
to do it openly, but for the most part did it "on the    leges which many of our own young people attend.
sneek."                                                  The weddings and parties that include dancing in
  Recently, however, the dance  .has begun to re-        their festivities are the weddings and parties of our
ceive official approval as an acceptable activity for    own Christian friends and relatives. What are we
the Christian, especially the Christian young per-       going to say to them? Are we going to approve of
son. Now church synods approve of the dance, and         their dancing? Are we ourselves going to begin
call upon the members of the church to redeem the        dancing? How are we going to defend our tradition-
dance. Dancing is approved at Christian colleges         al disapproval of the dance?
"...as an acceptable and wholesome, on-campus,             By the dance we have in mind social dancing.
recreational activity.. . ." More and more there is      We are referring to the mixed dancing of men with
dancing at the receptions of Christian weddings.         women for the purposes of entertainment and
Even the parties that the young people of high           recreation. Usually this dancing goes on to the ac-
school age attend are likely to include dancing. And     companiment of fitting music, the loud, raucous,
there is even a movement to introduce dancing into       and sensual rock music. And usually it is done in
the worship services of the church, liturgical danc-     the context of a party, often a wild party, where
ing.                                                     there is a great deal of frivolity and boisterous


40                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER



merriment.                                                             John Calvin's oppostion to the dance is well
      One thing that cannot be denied, even by those             known. Calvin not only wrote against the promis-
who are promoting the dance in the churches                      cuous dancing that was all too common among the
today, is that their approval of the dance runs                  citizens of Geneva, but publicly preached against
counter to the traditional position of the church                dancing. In sermons on Deuteronomy 5: 18, Deuter-
with regard to dancing. One thing that cannot be                 onomy  22:5-8,   .I Corinthians  10:25-30, and  Ephe-
gainsaid  is that, for the most part, the church in the          sians  429,  30, for example, he condemned the
past has always condemned dancing. One thing                     dance and warned against the lusts and fornication
that cannot be refuted is that at least the Reformed             which the dance incites. The influence of Calvin's
churches have always in the past reprobated danc-                opposition to the dance is reflected in the following
ing.                                                             decision which the Consistory of the Reformed
                                                                 Church of Geneva took: "Anyone who sings in-
      This all by itself ought to cause us to sit up and         decent, dissolute, or outrageous songs or dances the
take notice. This had better cause us to stop and                fling or some similar dance shall be imprisoned for
make careful evaluation. Were our fathers before                 three days and shall then be sent before the  Con-
us really such simpletons and so naive when it                   sistory."
came to their judgment of the dance? Was their life
such a sheltered life that they really did not stand in                The Puritans, both in England and those who
any position to condemn the dance? Any young                     fled religious persecution in England by coming to
person who has a healthy respect for the work of                 the American colonies, condemned the dance. In
the Holy Spirit in the past, and who has his eyes                1684 a group of Puritan ministers in Boston issued a
open to the worldliness that inundates the churches              tract against the dance entitled  An Arrow Against
today, ought to be leery of this sudden reversal of              Profane and Promiscuous Dancing, drawn out of the
position that now gives approval to the dance.                   quiver of the Scriptures.
  The attitude of the church of the past against                       This same condemnation of the dance has histor-
dancing is overwhelming. Already the ancient                     ically been the position of the Dutch Reformed
church fathers spoke out against the dance, espe-                churches, both in the Netherlands and in our own
cially as it was practised in pagan society. Already in          country. Dr. H. Bouwman, in a book which in
the fourth century Ambrose, an early champion of                 English would be titled  EccZesiusticaZ  Discipline,
Christianity against paganism and the heresy of                  speaks of this historical opposition of the Reformed
Arianism, a man who exercised a great influence                  Church in the Netherlands to the dance.
over Augustine, condemned the dance. In one                               Some sins have been repeatedly mentioned by
place he wrote, "Dancing belongs to the adulter-                        name as censurable sins by the ecclesiastical as-
ous, not to the chaste." In another place, comment-                     semblies. So too dancing. Already the national Synod
ing on the words of Jesus in Luke  7:32, "We have                       of Dordtrecht in 1578 had declared that "the dance is
piped unto you, and ye have not danced," Ambrose                        commonly a frivolity, which is not becoming to a
says, "And so one must be on one's guard, lest, de-                     Christian, and is an enticing of the fleshly lusts, and
ceived by any common interpretation of this say-                        thereby sanctified persons are the more threatened
ing, one should suppose that the movements of                           especially in times of the common (sexual) need," and
                                                                        it was judged that those persons "who clung to it,
wanton dances and the madness of the stage were                         must be punished, and should they stubbornly persist,
commended; for these are full of evil in youthful                       after several different warnings, be suspended from
age."                                                                   the fellowship of the Lords Supper." Later Synods, as
  The great preacher John Chrysostom, a con-                            for example the Synod of Gorinchem, 1622, article 35,
temporary of Ambrose, maintained the same posi-                         expressly decided to hold to the same position. The
tion against the dance as acceptable Christian be-                      Fresian Synod of 1602 decided that the Lord's Supper
havior. More than once he condemned the dance as                        should be denied to those parents who continued to
                                                                        send their children to dance schools. Also the theolo-
devilish and promiscuous. In a passage that has a                       gians expressed themselves against the dance (p. 129).
great application to those who promote dancing
today he writes:                                                       Dr. Abraham Kuyper, whose theory of "Com-
                                                                 mon Grace" is often appealed to in support of
         He who admires a dancer .  `. . uses every exertion     dancing, was himself a staunch opponent of the
       and contrivance not to come off worst in any disputes     dance. In his Lectures on Calvinism he declares that
       concerning him, and they string together long             Calvinism has placed a distinct veto upon dancing.
      panegyrics  (arguments), as they compose their de-
       fense against those who find fault with them, and cast    He goes on to say concerning the dance that it is
                                                                 I,
       sneers without number at their opponents: but when              . . . the  Rubicon  which no true Calvinist could
       arguments for Christianity are proposed, they all hang    cross without sacrificing his earnestness to danger-
       their heads, and scratch themselves, and gape, and        ous mirth, and the fear of the Lord to often far from
       retire at length the objects of contempt."                spotless pleasures."


                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER                                               41



  The Presbyterian churches in our country have                    ing. With one voice, and from generation to genera-
traditionally condemned the dance. In a  Manual  of                tion, Christians have recognized the evils of danc-
Presbyterian Law for Church Officers and Members,                  ing and have condemned the dance as immoral be-
issued by the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. in                 havior. This entire heritage and tradition is now
1937, the dance is roundly condemned and the                       being set aside. Today, despite the clear testimony
churches are called upon to make those who partic-                 of the past, the churches are opening their doors to
ipate in the dance objects of discipline.                         the dance. Now the dance, which for so long was to
  This has also been the position, until recently, of             be shunned and rejected by believers, is to be em-
the various Reformed churches in our country. In                  braced and redeemed.
the past, this has been the position of the Christian                One wonders. Is it really the case that the fathers
Reformed Churches who, in 1928 and 1951,                           in the past did not know what they were talking
through the Synods spoke out against the dance,                    about when they warned of the wrong of dancing
forbade the members to dance, called the preachers                 and the evils associated with the dance? Is it really
to preach occasional sermons against dancing, and                  the case that the church today, in contrast to the
exhorted consistories to exercise discipline against               church of the past, has reached such a degree of
those who partook of this worldly amusement.                       spiritual maturity that now she is at long last ready
  Even the world recognizes the traditional opposi-                to redeem the dance? Or is it not rather the case
tion of Christianity, and particularly of Calvinism,               that those who are promoting dancing in the
to dancing. A certain Richard Kraus in his book,                   churches today are the same heretics who are busy
History of the Dance in Art and Education, states:                 overthrowing every doctrine and every practice
                                                                   that has come down to us from the church of the
      Although it is commonplace today to say that the             past? One wonders.
    centuries-old Puritan disapproval of dance has now
    died out, it would be false to assume that  it has dis-          One of the apparently strongest arguments of
    appeared completely. A number of schools and col-              those who are bringing the dance into the church
    leges, particularly those in rural areas of the country        today is the reference to dancing in the Bible,
    or those which are affiliated with fundamentalist              especially the Old Testament, and the approval
    Protestant sects, still prohibit any form of dancing -         which the Bible gives to this dancing. Several pas-
    as instruction, entertainment, or recreation. To a de-         sages of Scripture can be cited in which the people
    gree, these attitudes are a throwback to the old Calvin-       of God dance, and their dancing is approved of by
    ist teachings, or the fire-and-brimstone religious re-         the Lord. But do these passages really support and
   vivalism of the 19th century.                                   condone social dancing? Next time we'll look at
  There can be absolutely no doubt as to the                       these passages and face this question.
historic position of the church on the issue of danc-

GUESTARTICLE


                          The Wonder of Adoption (4)
                                                        Rev. Ronald Hanko


  The final phase in the revelation of our adoption                tion is found in Romans 8:23. There we read of our
as God's children takes place in the judgment day.                 adoption as something for which we are still wait-
The adoption of sons which God has predestinated                   ing. Romans  8:23, therefore, cannot refer to our
in His eternal counsel and prepared in Christ, and                 adoption in Christ's blood, the legal foundation of
which we possess through the Spirit of adoption is                 our  sonship,  since that is something that God has
perfected when at last we leave our earthly house                  already revealed. Nor is the application of adoption
of this tabernacle and receive from God a house not                by the Spirit the subject here, for that is something
made with hands, eternal in the heavens (II Cor.                   which is even now being revealed. This passage
5: 1). Then we see our heavenly Father face to face                must refer to the final glorious revelation of our
in the face of Jesus Christ and enjoy the blessings of             sonship, and this is also abundantly evident from
Father's house forever.                                            the context. But before we look at this passage in its
  Proof that the judgment day and the glory which                  context and at the other parallel passages of the
we receive in the judgment day is part of our adop-                Word of God we ought to see the unspeakable com-


42                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



fort that there is in this for God's people. Though all     In verses 19-23 he speaks of this final revelation of
the terror of God is revealed in that last day, and         our  sonship in three different ways. In verse 19 he
though the heavens and the earth burn with fire,            speaks of the "manifestation of the sons of God"; in
that day is a day of hope for everyone of the saints        verse 21 he uses the expression, "the glorious liber-
because then finally all the glory of our  sonship          ty of the children of God" which shall be ours
shall be revealed to us.                                    when at last we are delivered from the bondage of
      The importance of this final revelation for God's     corruption; and in verse 23 he identifies the adop-
saints is explained in I John  3:2. In verse 1 John         tion as being the same as "the redemption of our
celebrates the wonder of our adoption even as we            body." Each of these verses sheds glorious light
now enjoy it: "Behold what manner of love the               upon the truth of which we are speaking.
Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be               When Paul mentions first of all "the manifesta-
called the sons of God." In verse 2 he emphasizes           tion of the sons of God," then he is describing the
again that "Now are we the sons of God." Never-             character of this final revelation. There is coming a
theless, that is not the whole story of our adoption,       time, Paul says, when all that is now hidden of our
for John adds that "it doth not yet appear what we          sonship shall be "manifested." Before the holy
shall be." This final revelation is necessary, then,        angels, before our own conciousness, and before all
because our sonship  does not yet "appear."                 creatures God shall publicly declare and make
   John does not mean by this that our  sonship  is         known our  sonship and shall claim us as His
completely hidden while we are in this life. In verse       children. This manifestation of the sons of God is
1 he even speaks of the fact that the world does not        described in Matthew  25:34 in more detail. There
know us. Rather John is reminding us that our like-         the Lord Jesus describes the judgment day "when
ness to Christ as God's children is still hidden.           the Son of man shall come in His glory, and all the
Then "we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as         holy angels with Him," when He shall "sit upon the
He is"; but now that does not yet appear. Because           throne of His glory, and before Him shall be gather-
of our sins and because we are still "of the earth          ed all nations" (verses 31, 32). This manifestation
earthy" it does not appear to the world around us           or showing forth of the sons of God takes place
that we are God's sons and daughters. They see              when the King shall say to those on His right hand,
very little of the glory of God and of eternal life in      "Come ye blessed of My Father, inherit the king-
us and treat our hope as only an empty dream. Nor           dom prepared for you from the foundation of the
does the glory of our sonship appear very clearly to        world." Then the inheritance of sons shall be ours
us. We also know our sonship  but in part and see its       forever and we shall enter into the fulness of the
glory "through a glass darkly" (I Cor.  13:12), nor         joy of our Lord.
have we received our inheritance, and the result is           The Roman Christians to whom Paul was writing
that we ourselves are often beset with doubts and           understood this very well, for the Romans had a
fears and need to hear the reassuring word, "I will         custom which they called "the showing forth of
receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye          sons." After a man had adopted a son  - a very
shall be My sons and daughters" (II Cor. 6:17, 18).         common practice among the Romans  - and after
Only when our Lord returns shall we see face to             he had finished with the legal process of adoption,
face as Father and children and know even as also           he would call all his friends to a feast at which a
we are known. As John says, "When He appears we             public declaration of his adopted son's status would
shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is."          be made and all would rejoice together over his
Then the glory of God's house and of His Son shall          good fortune. God also does this for His children,
not only be within us, hidden in our hearts, but            only for them the feast and the joy never end.
then it shall radiate forth from our faces and be re-
vealed in our resurrection bodies, for we shall be            In verse 23 Paul tells us how this final manifesta-
changed and shall have passed through death into            tion of our  sonship shall come to pass when he
life.                                                       speaks of the "redemption of our bodies" as part of
                                                            the adoption. Now we have only the firstfruits of
   All of this is true because the work of the Spirit is    the Spirit, then we shall have the full harvest of
not yet finished. And because the work of the Spirit        blessing which God has promised. That shall be
is not yet finished we have not perfect fellowship          ours through the redemption of our body. The
with our heavenly Father, nor even the full assur-          word redemption here, as always, means purchase.
ance of sonship. Far from our Fatherland and from           Now we know that we have already been pur-
our Father we wait and hope and groan.                      chased body and soul, in life and death through the
   In order to understand exactly what this aspect          blood of Christ. How then can the apostle speak of
of our adoption involves we must turn back to               our still awaiting the redemption of our body? We
Romans 8 and to the different descriptions of our           understand, then, that he is not speaking of the pur-
final adoption that the apostle Paul gives us there.        chase itself but of the application of that purchase.


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   43



That is not yet finished. The whole man has been           which we taste now shall be our daily bread. That
purchased, but only our hearts and souls have              freedom shall be more glorious even than that
actually been delivered from the bondage of cor-           which Adam enjoyed in Paradise. There he was
ruption as a result of that redemption. In the flesh       free to serve God and love Him, but Adam's
we still serve the law of sin. Death still works in our    freedom depended on the choice of his own will
bodies, and our bodies are still "vile." In the judg-      and was lost. The freedom that we shall have in
ment day when the bodies of the saints are raised,         glory shall no longer be dependent on the choice of
changed, and glorified, then the price of Christ's         our own will, but on the will of God in Christ. No
blood shall have its final application and we shall        longer will there be even the possibility of sin or
enter with body and soul into our incorruptible in-        death, but we shall have liberty to serve God with-
heritance. Then this corruptible shall have put on         out fear in holiness and righteousness before Him,
incorruption and this mortal shall have put on im-         all the days of eternity.
mortality and death shall be swallowed up in vic-            The gloriousness of that liberty shall be the glory
tory (I Cor. 15:53, 54).                                   of fellowship with the ever blessed God. It shall be
  Now our bodies are not fit for glory, for "corrup-       the glory of our renewal in the image of God and of
tion cannot inherit incorruption." Now our bodies          dwelling in His temple, of freely walking the streets
are slow and unwilling instruments of our regener-         of the City and of eating of the tree of life. It shall be
ated hearts, so that the good that we love we do not       glorious liberty to sing the song of Moses and the
do and the evil that we hate, that we do. Then our         Lamb before the throne in the company of all the
bodies, raised in newness of life, shall be made fit       saints. That liberty shall be so glorious that all crea-
and willing instruments for the service of God and         tion shall participate in it when sun and moon have
for the showing forth of His everlasting glory.            passed away.
  In verse 20 Paul tells the wonder of that final            It is for that we wait. Now we walk oftentimes
manifestation when he speaks of the "glorious              with heavy step, for this life becomes a burden
liberty of the children of God." That stands in con-       when we are still far from the house of our Father.
trast to the bondage of corruption in which we now         And when we think of the glory that shall be re-
live according to our old nature. When Christ re-          vealed in us we groan within ourselves in the midst
turns we shall be made free of all corruption, free        of all our cares, for we know that while we are at
from the cause of our corruption which is sin, and         home in the body we are absent from the Lord (II
free also from all the evil fruits of sin: from death,     Cor.  5:6). Yet we also wait, and wait patiently, for
from tears, from fears and sorrow, and from all            we know that our Father will not forgive us; and
trouble. That is liberty indeed and glorious beyond        while we wait we also labor that whether present
what eye hath seen or ear heard. Then the freedom          or absent we may be accepted of Him (II Cor. 5:9).


                    Annual Report of the R.F.P.A.

Dear Brethren,                                                This past year the board has spent some time
  It is at the close of this another year of printing      looking into purchasing a new Address-O-Graph
The Standard Bearer that we the board come to you          machine. Our old one is over forty years old and is
to report on our activities of the past year. We must      not in very good condition any more. It is also
first express our thankfulness to our Covenant             rather expensive to repair when it does break
Father who has kept us through this past year and          down. New machines were looked at and found to
given us a year wherein we might once more wit-            be very expensive.  The Beacon Lights  informed us
ness of His glory by means of the printed page. We         that we could have the Address-O-Graph they no
must never be ashamed of proclaiming, through the          longer use. It is now at Wobbema Printing Com-
printed page, the glorious truth which has so              pany ready to be used.
graciously been given to us as Protestant Reformed            The board has also spent some time looking into
Churches.                                                  a place to store all of our Standard Bearer material.
  The Standard Bearer  has now been printed for            For years we have used First Protestant Reformed
fifty-nine years and, the Lord willing, we go on into      Church, but now that the church is sold our place
the sixtieth year of printing. A committee of the          of free storage is gone. The day is soon approaching
board has been busy looking into ways to                   that all the material must be moved.
commemorate this milestone.                                   The board was approached by a committee from


44                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



one of our churches to see if there was a way in         not see the work that this brother does. He gives
which they could use The Standard Bearer to inform       hours every day and many more hours when it is
others about the materials we as churches have to        mailing time to the cause of this printed page. It is
offer. This material consists of books, tapes,           our prayer that God will continue to care for this
pamphlets, etc. The postal service will not allow us     brother and, if it be His will, to give him strength to
to put or staple any loose paper in our magazine, so     continue his labors.
we looked into a way of getting the last page of The        We also thank our Editor-in-Chief, Prof.  Hoek-
Standard Bearer made so one could tear it out with-      sema, for his diligent labors and thought-provoking
out ruining the rest of the magazine. We were in-        editorials in each issue, and our ministers who pre-
formed by the printing company that this would be        pare articles for our magazine. We thank our God
possible, but the cost of this project would add         for giving us the truth in His Word and also for
another third to the cost of printing each issue. We     servants who are faithful to proclaim that truth.
came to the conclusion that this idea was too ex-
pensive to take on.                                         The members of the board who retire this year
                                                         are. Mr. Arnold Haveman and Mr. George DeVries.
      Our business manager reports that we are now       Mr. Bill Lafferty would be retiring this year also,
printing 1900 copies each printing, of which 775         but for reasons of health he resigned earlier. We are
copies go in and around the Grand Rapids area, 753       grateful to these men for their years of labors, and
copies go to the rest of the state and all the other     our prayer is that God will continue to watch over
states combined, and 150 copies go to foreign coun-      them.
tries. The Standard Bearer itself keeps 150 copies to
be used in the yearly bound volumes. Our manager            We as board ask that you as individuals and as
also reports that there are 20 new subscriptions         churches continue to remember the cause of The
being sent to Northern Ireland this year.                Standard Bearer  and continue to support it in the
                                                         year ahead as you have so kindly done in the year
      While we are reporting on our business manager     gone by. May we as children of God of the church
we would like to take this opportunity to thank Mr.      militant never take this great privilege for granted.
Vander Wal for his faithful service. He has now
been the business manager of  The Standard Bearer                          With you in Christ,
for fifteen years. We as board and subscribers do                                           James Koole, Sec'y.

MYSHEEP HEAR MY VOICE


                              Our Order of Worship
                                                Prof: H. Hanko


  When we consider what elements belong to the           were right; Jerusalem was the place. But this was
order of worship in our worship services, and the        only true in the Old Testament. When the New
place in the order of worship which each element         Testament would come with the outpouring of the
ought to occupy, it is important that our decision on    Holy Spirit, this question would be irrelevant, be-
these matters be made on a sound basis and not in a      cause, "the hour  cometh, and now is, when the
willy-nilly fashion. To make proper decisions re-        true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit
quires that we understand the true idea of worship.      and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship
  We began a consideration of this in our last           Him."
article and were considering the instruction which          But this worship of God which characterizes the
the Lord gives to the Samaritan woman in John            people of God in the New Testament is determined
4:24: "God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him        by the nature of God Himself: "God is a Spirit . . . ."
must worship Him in spirit and in truth."                   The reference here is not to the third person of
  Jesus was answering the question of the Samari-        the Trinity. That is, Jesus is not speaking of the
tan woman: "Our fathers worshipped in this moun-         truth that God works His works through the Spirit
tain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place         - as true as that may be. Rather, Jesus is referring
where men ought to worship." Jesus told her that,        to an attribute of God's essence. God, the triune
as far as the question itself was concerned, the Jews     God, is spiritual. His essence is spiritual.


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                               45



  That God is spiritual in essence means, first of             To worship God "in truth" means that our wor-
all, that God is not like this earthly and material          ship must always be an expression and confession
creation which He has created and which we can               of the truth as God has revealed it in His holy
touch, see, taste, handle, and examine. That which           Word. God has revealed Himself in the Scriptures;
is spiritual cannot be weighed, measured, and                this is the truth, the truth of God. Hence our wor-
studied with earthly senses. But the spirituality of         ship must really be a recitation of what the Scrip-
God's essence does not mean either that God is               tures say. The Scriptures tell us that God is the God
like the angels. The angels, and the whole heavenly          of our salvation in Jesus Christ, and that He alone is
creation, are also spiritual. Hebrews  1:14 calls the        worthy of all praise and glory. We are not worthy to
angels ministering spirits; and they are spiritual in        come before Him because of our sins, and we can
character in distinction from this material world in         come into Him presence only because He comes to
which we live. But God is not like that either. He is        us and takes us to Himself through Jesus Christ and
the transcendent God, high and lifted up above  aZZ          by His great grace. This must be the focal point of
His creation, the Wholly Other. God is pure spirit           all worship - a confession of that great truth. Then
in His essence.                                              worship is truly "in truth."
  We cannot say very much about this, however,                 This has some important implications.
for this is a truth which defies comprehension. We             Our worship of God must never be external. This
cannot know the transcendent being of God. But               was already true in the Old Testament, although
this truth does mean that God is the absolutely in-          then the worship of God was bound up in external
visible One Who dwells in a light unto which no              ceremonies. We know how often God castigated
one can approach. He is infinitely exalted, infinitely       His people for worshipping Him outwardly while
glorious, God alone, Who can be known only when              their hearts were far from Him. But this becomes
He reveals Himself.                                          even more true in the New Testament. It is very
  It is this truth which determines the nature and           easy to come to church out of custom and habit, to
character of our worship. In, the Old Testament,             go through the outward forms of worship while our
God was worshipped in a visible and material way.            minds and hearts are far from what we are doing.
This was necessary because Israel could not yet              We sing mere words without any thought of what
come into the very presence of God in the tab-               we sing. Our minds wander during prayer. Our
ernacle and temple. Worship was bound up with                thoughts are elsewhere while the minister preach-
external forms: the priesthood, the sacrifices, the          es. All the motions are there, but there is no wor-
ark, the candlestick, the altar of burnt offering, etc.      ship.
But with the coming of Christ, all this changed.               We sometimes think that this spiritual ailment
Christ opened the way into the inner sanctuary of            can be corrected by alterations in the liturgy. And
heaven itself. He went there as our Head and Advo-           so many today make fundamental changes, in the
cate. And He pours His Spirit upon His church so             hopes that worship will become more "meaning-
that by the work of that Spirit, His people may be           ful." But this is sadly wrong and the spiritual weak-
drawn to Him, and through Him to God in the                  ness  ,which pervades our lives is not corrected so
highest sanctuary of God's dwelling place. So wor-           simply. The fault lies with us, and only deep
ship in outward forms is no longer acceptable; it            changes in our own spiritual lives will make wor-
must be worship "in spirit and in truth."                    ship "in spirit and in truth." In fact, generally
  To worship God in spirit, evidently does not               speaking, a well-known order of worship following
mean that we worship God by the work of the Holy             the "old paths" is the most conducive to worship.
Spirit in our hearts. This is, of course, in itself true.    Years ago I attended a Lutheran worship service
We cannot worship at all except we have the Spirit           which was filled with extensive liturgy: the minis-
of Christ Who unites us to Christ, makes us one              ter went through countless liturgical motions  -
with Christ's body, and works in us the spiritual            bowing, kneeling, turning around, crossing him-
power to worship God as He commands in His                   self, and waving his arms; the people engaged in all
Word. But that is not the meaning here. Evidently,           sorts of responsive readings and congregational
Jesus means that our worship must be spirit&  wor-           responses; the liturgy was complex and involved.
ship; we must worship God in a spiritual way. We             But I could not  worship.  I had to concentrate so
must not worship God with outward forms, but                 much on what was happening, what came next,
spiritually. That is, we must worship God in such a          what one was supposed to be doing, that there was
way that we consciously enter into God's presence,           no room for thoughts of God. To feel comfortable
consciously enjoy fellowship and communion with              and at ease, to be at home in the liturgy, to follow
Him, consciously enter into conversation with                well-worn paths  - this is conducive to worship.
Him. We must worship God with our hearts and                 Then one can concentrate on what is being said or
minds and wills and emotions.                                sung or prayed. Then one can worship in spirit and


46                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



in truth.                                                   or three minutes; then our minds wander here and
  Thus, in worship, God's speech is first and deci-         there. Worship is then hard work, requiring
sive. Worship is to enter into conscious covenant           constant attention and deep concentration. But the
fellowship with God. God speaks to us and we                same is true of our wills. We worship only when
speak to Him. But His speech is first. It is central        our hearts pant for God as a hart pants for water
and all-important. His speech creates our speech            brooks; when we want the things of God - far more
through the Spirit of Christ. He speaks through the         than the things of this present world; when we set
votum, through the benedictions, through the                our affections on things which are above where
Word preached. And this creates our speech in our           Christ is seated at the right hand of God.
singing, our prayers, and our confession. We                  But even the emotions are involved in worship.
respond. He says, Seek ye My face. And our hearts           This is really unavoidable, but is also important and
say, Thy face, Lord, will we seek.                          necessary. We are humbled by the preaching when
  This involves the activity of our whole nature.           we see our sins, and our hearts cry out in sorrow
The whole man must be caught up in worship.                 for sin before God. We are filled with joy at the
Even our bodies become a part of the means where-           truths of salvation in Christ Who has redeemed us
by we worship God. Not only do we see with our              when the glorious truths of salvation are brought to
eyes and hear with our ears, but it is impossible           our attention and applied to our hearts. We are
truly to worship while slumped down in our seats            overcome with the love of God Who has dealt so
with our knees propped up against the pew ahead             wonderfully with us. We are made conscious of our
of us. We sometimes sit in the presence of God in           own nothingness and the greatness of the God
ways which would be insulting in the presence of            Whom we love and serve. Worship is and ought to
our friends. And such posture is not conducive to           be profoundly emotional.
worship.                                                      When we are caught up in worship in this way,
  But we also worship with our thoughts and de-             then we worship as Christ commands us. All this
sires. Our minds must be active and involved con-           requires a spiritual attitude throughout and intense
tinuously in worship. It seems as if the attention          concentration. It is hard work to worship, and he
span of people is very small nowadays. Perhaps this         who goes to church to relax and be at ease will not
is due to the fact that people do not think very            and cannot worship. All the liturgy in the world
much any more. They are fed steady diets of tele-           will never change this.
vision and pictures. And they do not learn to think           But in worship is blessedness, for we enter into
through things. But we can concentrate on some-             the full consciousness of fellowship with God.
thing, especially if it is a bit difficult, only for two



                                         Book Reviews

PRACTICAL TRUTHS FROM THE PASTORAL                          and many interesting insights into these words en-
EPISTLES, by Eugene Stock; Kregel Publications,             rich the understanding of the letters. At the same
1983; 342 pp.,  $12.95.  (Reviewed by Prof. H.              time, these Greek words and their treatment do not
Hanko)                                                      make the book less valuable for the reader who has
  This is not a recent book; Eugene Stock lived             no acquaintance with this language. They are all
from 1836-1928 in England where this book was               transliterated and discussed in connection with
first published.                                            their translation either in the AV or the RV. The
                                                            Greek itself, though sparingly used, is relegated to
  It is not exactly a commentary on the pastoral            footnotes. The author himself speaks of the fact
epistles, but treats the three of them under several        that he wants the book to be of value to anyone of
major topics: General Introduction, Doctrinal               God's people who wishes to learn more of the epis-
Teaching, False Teaching, Ethical Teaching,                 tle, and he succeeds.
Conclusion. While somewhat brief, it is, in many
ways an excellent little book and gives a thorough            There are certainly interpretations with which
survey of the teachings of these important, though          one will disagree-e.g., he believes that the epistles
often neglected, epistles of Paul. One outstanding          teach the need for deaconesses and he is less than
feature of the book is its careful analysis of the          sharp on the so-called "universalistic passages" in
many important Greek words found in the epistle,            these writings. But, in general, we recommend the


                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER                                                             4 7




book as a worthwhile addition to a Christian's li-                         The doctrine or message of Scripture, which alone
brary.                                                                   is infallible and inerrant, is hidden in the historical
                                                                         and cultural witness of the biblical writers (p. 135).
  The value of the book could have been consider-
ably enhanced by the addition of a textual index,                      For this reason Scripture is not the infallibly in-
because it does not treat the material by proceeding                 spired and written record of God's revelation, but it
verse by verse through the books.                                    is "a witness to divine revelation, a witness that
                                                                     points beyond itself to a supernatural reality" (p.
THE AUTHORITATIVE WORD, Essays On The                                143, underscoring is ours).
Nature of Scripture; edited by Donald K.  McKim;                       In Chapter 11 the whole history of dogma to the
Eerdmans Publishing Co., i983; 270 pp., $10.95                       present, including the development of the doctrine
(paper). (Reviewed by Prof. H. Hanko)                                of Scripture, is interpreted in terms of a swinging of
  The debate over inspiration, infallibility, and the                the theological pendulum between Platonism and
authority of Scripture goes on. Donald McKim has                     Aristotelianism. This interpretation quite easily
brought these essays together as a kind of summary                   gives the opportunity to level some bitter attacks
of what is called in the blurb, "a well-conceived                    against the inerrantist position.
middle position in the biblical authority debate." It                  In defending literary and historical criticism, the
is, in fact, a fierce attack against the position of                 book reduces all truth to relative statements which
those who hold to an infallibly inspired Bible and a                 were appropriate and fitting at certain times-and
summary of what has become the position of  neo-                     therefore, valuable, but which have to be changed
evangelicalism.                                                      as times and circumstances change.
  The book is divided into three sections: Sources
and Canon; Doctrine and Its Development; Current                           There are no absolutes in time. From the beginning
                                                                        to the end of time all is time-conditioned (p. 233).
Views. The authors include such men as Paul Ach-
temeier, F. F. Bruce, Donald G. Miller, Donald G.                    It comes perilously close to denying the divinity of
Bloesch, G. C. Berkouwer, H. N. Ridderbos, Jack B.                   Christ:
Rogers, and Avery Dulles.                                                  (Jesus) can be understood adequately only when
  We cannot review in detail a book of such                              His words and actions are observed in their Jewish
diverse authorship and content, but a few summary                        setting. But that in no way contradicts the Christian
remarks will perhaps give the reader some idea of                        faith in Him as uniquely one with God or the reality of
                                                                         the divine action in Him for humanity's redemption
what the book is all about.                                              (p. 233).
  Chapter 1, explicitly denying inerrancy, shows                     Arius would have had no disagreement with that
how traditions were altered to fit different purposes                description of Christ.
by the biblical authors. Chapter 3 sets out to prove
that Paul's writings were controlled by rabbinic                       In this same pattern, the book defends the  deu-
forms of exegesis. Chapter 4 claims that New Testa-                  tero-Isaiah position and the old (and discredited)
ment writers used the Old Testament in a way                         documentary theory of the Pentateuch (p. 236).
which did violence to the real meaning of the text,                    So we cannot recommend the book as an impor-
      used the Old Testament for their own  pur-;                    tant and worthwhile contribution to the debate
ities. Chapter 8 speaks of the Bible as culturally                   over inerrancy; it is the opposite. But we can and do
and historically conditioned:                                        recommend the book as a summary of current neo-
                                                                     orthodox views on this question, something which
       We must also bear in mind that the prophets and
    apostles were men of their times though the message              all of us ought to know.
    that they attested transcended their age  andevery  age.
    The enlightened biblical Christian will not shrink
    from asserting that there are culturally conditioned                                      NQTICE!!!
    ideas as well as historically conditioned language in
    the Bible (p. 134).                                                               REFORMATION DAY RALLY
                                                                      Topic:           "The Reformation: A Battle For The
                                                                                          Bible"
                  WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                                 Speaker:         Rev. Ron Cammenga
  On October 10, 1983, our parents, MR.  & MRS. GERALD DE             Date:            Mon., Oct. 31,  1983,8:00 P.M.
VRIES celebrated their 25th Wedding Anniversary. We, their chil-      Place:           Hull Protestant Reformed Church
dren, give thanks to God for the years they have had together and
pray He will be with them in the years to come.                                        1204 Third St., Hull, Iowa
   "But Thou, 0 Lord, shalt endure for ever; and Thy remembrance            THE PUBLIC IS CORDIALLY INVITED!!!
unto all generations." (Psalm 102:  12)
Carol De Vries
David De Vries


      THE STANDARD BEARER
-7          P.O. Box 6064
Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506





48                                                          THE STANDARD BEARER


                                          Report of Classis West
                                                                September 19, 1983

      The long Classis  of Edgerton, Minnesota, having                       "because police work is a work of present neces-
convened on Wednesday morning, September 7,                                  sity, it is a work in which the child of God is permit-
finally adjourned, about 9:00 P.M., on Saturday                              ted to be engaged, if this work does not occasion the
evening, September 10. Much of the work of the                               neglect of the means of grace on the Sabbath Day."
Classis  was done in closed session.                                           Classis responded to two requests from  Consis-
      Rev. J. Slopsema led  Classis  in opening devo-                        tories under the questions of Article 41 of the
tions, addressing  Classis  from I Peter  4:8: "And                          Church Order.
above all things have fervent charity among your-                              Classis will meet next in Loveland, Colorado on
selves: for charity shall cover the multitude of                             March 7, 1984, the Lord willing.
sins." Rev. J. Smith presided over the  Classis.
Elders T. Hugg [Houston) and F. Van Baren (Love-                                                             -Rev. David Engelsma, Stated Clerk
land) were present as delegates for the first time                                                              Classis West
and signed the Formula of Subscription.
      The Reading Sermon Committee (Edgerton Con-
sistory) reported a shortage of reading sermons. It
asked the ministers of Classis  West to prepare more
sermons; and it asked the Consistories to return the
sermons that they have used.
      Classis upheld a former decision, that the remov-
ing of a man's name from public nomination for
office by a Consistory is subject to protest and
appeal, against the protest of this decision by a
Consistory.
 Classis treated the appeal of a brother against his
Consistory concerning the Consistory's reception
of a member who works on the Sabbath as a police-
man.  Classis upheld the Consistory, declaring that

                   WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
      On October 16, 1983, the Lord willing, our parents and grand-
parents, MR. & MRS. GORDON TERPSTRA will celebrate their 30th
wedding anniversary. In remembrance of that day we give thanks to
God for His Providential care over them and us and for His infinite            r%.  KS NOTCHA,GED  DURING         (21
                                                                                                               - HAS CHANGED  DURWG    ,"t7mI<?,  o~M~h,h..mw,ams .,~I.M.M 0,
goodness in providing us with instruction in the fear and love of
Jehovah through them. It is also our prayer that God will bless them
and keep them in His care.
      "Praise ye the Lord. Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord, that
delighteth greatly in His commandments. His seed shall be mighty
upon earth: the generation of the upright shall be blessed." (Psalm
112:1,2)
D.ave and Sue Looyenga
      Lisabeth, Brendan, Brianna
Tom and Luanne Schipper
      Jason, Dirk, Nicole
Chuck and Verna Terpstra
      Corey, Amber, Kimberly
Todd Terpstra
Jeff Terpstra


