     The
STANDARD
     BEARER
      A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE


 "Teach us to number our days...."
  It is surely a monstrous thing that men can
measure all distances without themselves,
that they know how many feet the moon is
distant from the centre of the earth, what
space there is between the different planets

.  .  . while yet they cannot number threescore

and ten years in their own case. It is  there-
         A
fore evident that Moses had good reason to
beseech God for ability to perform what re-
quires a wisdom which is very rare among
mankind.                                          John Calvin

                                     Volume LX, No. 7, January  I,1984


146                                                                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.
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  Meditation -                                                                         Editor-in-Chief:  Prof. Homer C. Hoeksema
       Remembering  God's Name .................. 146                                  Department Editors: Rev. Ronald Cammenga,  Rev. Arie den Hartog, Prof. Robert
                                                                                       D. Decker. Rev. CorneliusHanko, Prof. Herman C. Hanko, Rev. Ronald Hanko,
  Editor's Note. ............................... .149                                  Mr. David Harbach, Rev~~ohn  A.  Heys:,Rev. J. Kortering, Rev.  Geozge C.
                                                                                                                                          ~-~.-r-l.~.~._   n_..  T
                                                                                       Lubbers, Rev. Thomas C.  rvnersma,   nev.  marmus   ocmpper,  nrv.  James  Slopse-
  My Sheep  Hear My Voice -                                                            ma, Rev. Gise J. Van  Baren,  Rev. Herman Veldman.
       Our Order of Worship ..................... .149                                 EditorialOffice:  Prof. H.C. Hoeksem; B
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MEDITATION

                                  Remembering God's Name
                                                                          Rev. H. Veldman

                    "Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the Lord, our
                God. `I                                                                                                                           P s a l m   20:7


  New Year's Day,  1984!  What shall we say with                                          and will save His anointed. And now, anticipating
respect to the calendar year that now lies before us?                                     this victory, the inspired writer declares that,
  Ln this psalm the church of God of the old  dis-                                        whereas some trust in chariots and others in
pensation is involved in strife with its enemies.                                         horses, we will  ,remember  the Name of the Lord,
David, on whose person the well-being and safety                                          our God.
of the church was dependent, is in difficulty. He                                             Shall we also resolve to do this in the year that
has prayed very fervently unto the Lord. And, as is                                       lies before us? This is our only hope.                                                 I
evident from verse 6, the Lord had heard his plea                                                                            * * * * *


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                               147



   Chariots and horses.                                       of Himself.
   Applied to the church of God in the old dispensa-            From this it must follow that He is also the un-
 tion, these are military terms. Psalm 20 speaks of           changeable covenant God of His people. God is the
 the struggle between Israel and its enemies. With           unchanging Jehovah. This is the precious  sign&
 these weapons Israel's enemies, and later also               cance of this Name for the church of God in the old
 Israel, in conflict with the Lord's direct command,         dispensation. Thus He revealed Himself unto
 had equipped themselves. These chariots and                 Moses at the burning bush, which burned and was
 horses were formidable weapons then; they repre-            never consumed, the symbol of Jehovah Who loves
 sented the highest development in warfare in the            His own and is never consumed, remaining ever-
 time of this psalm. Indeed, the outcome of the              lastingly the same. How wonderful is the revelation
 battle depended upon these weapons.                         of this Name in the new dispensation! That Name is
   Applying it to our day, the new dispensation, we          Jesus! In Jesus our covenant God revealed Himself
 will not call attention merely to the military              in all His unchangeable faithfulness, remembering
 weapons employed by the nations of the world.               and fulfilling His promise of redemption and salva-
 The struggle implied in this text is spiritual. Fact is,    tion, promised to His people at history's dawn. In
 the struggle between Israel and its enemies was             Christ Jesus our covenant God revealed Himself in
 also spiritual in the old dispensation. Israel's            His unchangeable love, loving His own even into
 enemies were determined, also then,. to destroy             the depths of hell upon the cross of Calvary. In
 Israel because she represented the cause of the             Christ Jesus are revealed all His virtues and perfec-
 Lord Jehovah in the midst of the world. How the             tions, His love and also His wrath, all His justice
world today would destroy the church of God, the             and righteousness. In Christ Jesus we see God re-
 cause of the Lord! Unto that end the world will use         vealed as the unchangeable God of His covenant,
all its powers and resources to silence and destroy          the God of our salvation. This is the Name to which
the cause `of God and of His Christ. Hence, these            the inspired writer of this psalm calls our attention:
 "chariots and horses"' represent all the weapons            the Name of our God, our covenant God.
used by Satan and all his host to their uncompro-               This Name, the unchangeable Jehovah, our eter-
mising conflict with the kingdom of our God and of           nal Father, Who has saved us, and in Whom we
His Son, such as the weapons of the lie, of false            have the victory, the victory over sin and death and
philosophy, of heresy, of every wind of doctrine,            hell and grave, and also over the world, as we be-
also of force and violence.                                  hold Him through the Mediator, God with us, must
   Over against these chariots and horses stands the         be the only object of all our remembrance. Indeed,
`Name of the Lord, our God. We would read this               what a contrast we have here: on the one hand,
text as follows: "We shall remember the `Name of             chariots and horses, and on the other hand, the
our God, namely Jehovah." Hence, God, as Je-                 Name of our God, Jehovah. On the one hand, we
hovah, receives here all the emphasis. A name is             read here of the power of the world, revealing itself
the expression of the being of anything; it is that be-      in various human and worldly attempts to destroy
ing's self-revelation. "Adam" is the expression of           the cause of God and of His covenant, but which ef-
what he is  - taken out of the dust of the earth.            forts are all vanity, less than nothing. On the other
Adam named the animals, gave them names in                   hand, we read here of the Name of our God,
harmony with their being.                                    Jehovah, the unchangeable covenant God in Christ
   God's Name is Jehovah. God has many names in              Jesus, out of Whom and through Whom and unto
Holy Writ. Jehovah, however, is the Name of God.             Whom are all things, including the devil and all the
He is Jehovah, first of all and primarily, in Himself.       temporal and temporary powers of sin and dark-
He Himself is Jehovah, the I AM, eternally the               ness. The contrast is ludicrous; they cannot pos-
same, the unchanging God as He is eternally the              sibly be compared. Our God does not simply stand
same in all His virtues and perfections, in all His          over against all these "chariots and horses"; He
love and mercy and goodness and compassion, but              does not simply oppose them and finally have the
also in all His wrath and indignation, righteousness         victory over them. His is the Kingdom and the
and justice. This God, however, is also the Un-              power and the glory; He has the victory, not only
changeable in respect to all things. He is God alone.        over against them but through them; they are in-
All other existence has its life and being from Him,         struments in His hand, they serve His purpose, the
and is determined and controlled by Him. The                 glory of His alone adorable Name.
Lord, however, is ever the same. In fact, should                                 * * * * *
heaven and earth, yea the entire universe, disap-              The world trusts in chariots and horses. There is
pear, the Lord God would remain the same - He is             no reason why we should read "trust" in this text.
dependent upon nothing; He lives exclusively out             The reader will notice that the King James Version


148                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



has the word in italics - hence, it does not appear       all around us see who and what we are, divinely
in the original Hebrew. Literally we read of causing      and sovereignly chosen pilgrims and strangers,
to be remembered, either chariots or horses or the        journeying to a better land, to the City that has
Name, Jehovah, of our God. Even as we, for ex-            foundations, Whose Architect and Builder is the
ample, erect monuments in honour of a Lincoln or          living God. All instruction must serve that purpose.
Washington, a William of Orange, etc., in order           Indeed, some "trust" in chariots and others in
that these men may be remembered, so we cause to          horses; they speak of Man and his exploits. But we
be remembered either chariots or horses or the            will remember the Name of the Lord, Jehovah, the
Name, Jehovah, of our God.                                Name of our God.
  Indeed, the world remembers chariots and                                      ******
horses. The world sets up monuments in order that           The world "trusts" in chariots and horses. Of
the memory of their heroes may be preserved.              course! They know not the living God. They know
Think of all the monuments erected in honour of           Him not as the covenant of God in Christ Jesus.
our heroes in the wars of our country: the Revolu-        Their life is from below. They hate the living God
tionary War, the Civil War, World War I and II.           and His precepts. Higher than this earthly life the
How true this is in the field of Science - physicians     children of the world cannot climb. They would es-
and surgeons must be remembered because of their          tablish themselves here forever, seeking the  kmg-
contributions to the relief of mankind from its           dom of this world and the things that are below.
troubles and diseases. Also the world's efforts to        Man glories in himself; he is carnal in all his lusts
destroy the cause of God and of His covenant must         and aspirations and is a child and servant of the
be remembered. Schools and institutions are built         devil.
that these efforts may ever remain in the memory
of the children of men. Buildings of Natural Science        However, we will remember the Name of the.
are erected to laud the theory of Evolution; semi-        Lord, our God. We will do this, the church of the
naries are built, where the truth is undermined and       living God, in Jesus Christ, our Lord. This we can
the lie is taught, where the truth of divine and in-      do because God, in Christ Jesus, is Jehovah, our
fallible inspiration is denied, where the kingdom of      covenant God. He has redeemed and saved us,
God and of Christ and of heaven is replaced by a          called, us out of sin and darkness into His marvel-
kingdom of this world, characterized by humanitar-        ous light, made us His own. And, therefore, we
ianism, the seeking of this world and the things that     shall also remember Him, our faithful covenant
are below. In these institutions of learning  Armin-      God, in the year that lies before us. Only, this we
ianism and the free will of the sinner are cham-          can do and will do, not in our own strength, but
pioned, and the truth is wilfully destroyed.              only in His strength, through prayer, and in the
                                                          light of His Word.
  However, we shall remember, or cause to be re-
membered, the Name of our God, Jehovah. He                  The world remembers chariots and horses.
shall be remembered as the God of our salvation in          Jehovah, however, is our God, now and forever.
Jesus Christ, our Lord. He shall be remembered as           His Name we shall remember.
being alone the God of our salvation. Whatever
would detract from the truth of His sovereignty,
that He is God alone, must and shall be discarded.
We must and shall erect monuments unto the
honour of Jehovah, our God. We shall witness of
Him in our churches, cause His Name to be remem-               The Standard Bearer
bered in all our preaching and teaching. Engraved
into the cornerstones of our church edifices will be                makes a thoughtful
nothing that speaks of the greatness of man  -
everything must witness of the power and glory
and sovereignty of His grace, of His sovereign will                  gift for fhe sick
and election, and of our calling to walk antithetical-
ly in the midst of the world. Our schools, therefore,                or shut-in. Give
must serve this glorious purpose. In these schools,
primary and secondary, our children are prepared            The Standard Bearer
to assume their place in the midst of the world, and
these children must always be reminded of their
calling, because of the power of God's sovereign
grace, to speak of Him Who called them out of
darkness into His marvelous light. Let the people


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                               149



                                        Editor's Note


  We take this opportunity to wish you, our               book on the market sometime next spring  - if
readers, a blessed New Year. We realize that for          everything goes smoothly, early spring. We also
many of you, especially our overseas readers, this        hope to have the new edition of our Church Order
greeting will reach you a good many days or weeks          (the RFPA is handling the publishing details of this)
after January 1; but this is the proper place for such    available in the near future. Our Managing Editor
a greeting, seeing that this is our first issue in the    encountered considerable difficulty and delay in
year of our Lord 1984. We do well to remember             getting the right kind of looseleaf binder for this
that this is indeed the "year of our Lord," and that,     book; but it appears now as though this difficulty is
too, from every point of view. He is on the throne!       solved.
And while there are increasingly some very                                     *  *  *  *  *
ominous clouds on the horizon of history, clouds
that seem to threaten the very right of existence of         PostaZ Service. Recently I received some personal
the church of Jesus Christ in the midst of the world,     reports that the Standard Bearer arrives very late in
we may have peace in the assurance that He rules          some localities. I may inform you that such tardi-
the world, and that therefore all things must and do      ness is not the fault of our Business Office. Our
work together for good to them that love Him, to          Business Manager invariably has the  Standard
them who are the called according to His purpose.         Bearer in the mail within a day or two of its publica-
                     * * * * *                            tion date. The problem lies with the Postal Service.
                                                          If you are one of those who is the victim of extreme
  PubZication   News. Earlier we had mentioned the        tardiness, please let our Business Office (not the
possibility of publishing the RFPA Bible Story book       Editor) know about it. We will inquire whether
in late 1983. As you now realize, that proved to be       anything can be done about the problem.
impossible. There were simply too many details                                 *  *  *  *  *
connected with the preparation of this book to
achieve that goal. At this writing we are almost             Due to abundance of copy, your editor is taking a
ready to go to press, and we are hoping to have the       vacation for one issue.

MY SHEEP HEAR MY VOICE


                             Our Order of Worship
                                                 Prof. H. Hanho





  Our worship is communal worship, that is, wor-          similar acts which bring him consciously into the
ship of the congregation. There  are; of course, dif-     presence of God. There are also different forms of
ferent ways in which we can speak of the worship          "communal worship." Family devotions about the
of God. Historically, a distinction has been made         table, believers reading Scripture together or
between "solitary worship" and "communal wor-             praying together  - under whatever circumstances
ship." The former refers to the individual acts of        this may be  - all these are various kinds of com-
worship performed by the believer in his own "in-         munal worship. The communal worship of which
ner closet" - to use the expression of Jesus. The in-     we are speaking in these articles is the worship of
dividual worships when he prays, studies, and             the church of our Lord Jesus Christ. This too is an
meditates upon the Scriptures, searches himself in        important part of worship, specifically commanded
true spiritual self-examination, and engages in such      by the Lord and enjoined upon us in the Scriptures.


150      _                                THE STANDARD BEARER



  It is quite important, I think, to consider this as-      The question may very well be asked of all
pect of our worship for a bit. The importance  of         covenant parents: Why do you take your children
considering it lies in the fact that this is being in-    to'church on the Lord's Day when the congregation
creasingly ignored in those churches which engage         is gathered for worship?
in forms of liturgical renewal. I do not refer to the       I recall asking this question on family visitation
fact that in many churches, the church buildings,         from time to time; and sometimes the answer sur-
are half empty during the worship services because        prised me. There were those who answered, in
some of the members of the congregation do not            effect: while it is true that our children do not really
come to church on the Lord's Day. This is true, and       get anything out of the worship service because it is
a situation to be deplored. But I refer rather to the     "above their heads," we take them to church so
fact that it is becoming increasingly common for          that they get used to the idea of going to church and
children to be sent out of the worship services very      so that they learn to sit still.
shortly after the services are begun.                       These are not very good reasons.
  Usually what happens is something like this.              .From another point of view, this same point can
After the service is introduced, the minister             be emphasized by considering the question from
descends from the pulpit, stands before the front         another perspective. There are some of our young
row of pews, summons the children of the congre-          people who, when they are planning their mar-
gation to the front, and talks to them for a few          riage, want a "church wedding." A church wed-
moments about some subject that happens to                ding is a wedding which is held in a worship ser-
strike his fancy. After he has finished, the children     vice. But, for one reason or another, they do not
are ushered out of the auditorium to hold their           want to have their wedding on the Lord's Day and
"children's services" in some other part of the           so they ask permission of the Consistory to hold a
building under the leadership of someone other            special mid-week service at which service their
than the minister. Only the adults remain to partici-     marriage will be solemnized. Usually the reason is
pate in the rest of the service.                          that young people want to have their "reception"
   The argument which is used to justify this course,     on the same night as they are married because they
of action is usually that the service as a whole is       are eager to be off on their honeymoon, and it is not
aimed primarily at adults, that it is far beyond the      proper to have a reception on the Lord's Day.
comprehension of children, and that it is therefore         Now, there is nothing wrong with a mid-week
better to exclude them from the worship service so        service, of course: At the time of the Reformation,
.that they can have their own services under some-        in various places services were held every day of
one other than the minister on a level more suited        the week. Nor is the desire to have a "church wed-
to their intellectual capacities.                         ding" a bad one. I personally favor church wed-
   This is an extremely serious mistake and a totally     dings  - especially in these days when such fierce
,false line of argumentation.                             attacks are being made on the institution of mar-
                                                          riage. But the kind of "church weddings" which
  Whatever may be the nature of those meetings            are held during the week are not really "church
which are held with the children outside the audi-        weddings" because they are not really worship ser-
torium, they can never be called worship services         vices. The Consistory is there; the minister
by any stretch of the imagination. The result is that     preaches a sermon; the liturgy and order of worship
children simply are not given the opportunity to          are followed. But one important element is lacking:
worship God on the Lord's Day. Nor is it true that        the congregation is not there. Perhaps a few of the
the intellectual capacity of children is so small that    members of the congregation are present, but the
they cannot understand anything of the worship            congregation is not. True communal worship takes
services, that what goes on is over their head, that      place in the congregation.
the service' is aimed at adults only. This is all
specious reasoning which has not a grain of truth in         Now there are a few points which have to be con-
it. Of course, we recognize the fact that the capacity    sidered in this connection; and it is well that we
of children to understand is less than that of adults     remind ourselves of this.
- all other things being equal; but, on the one              In the first place, a congregation is, in  itself,_a
hand, children understand a whole lot more than           complete  manifestation of the body of Christ. It  1s
we give them credit for; and, on the other hand, the      true that the whole body of Christ, the full number
ultimate benefit of the service in worship depends        of `the elect as it will someday be gathered in glory,
upon the work of the Spirit of Christ Who works in        is the body of Christ. It is also true, therefore, that
the hearts of the children of the covenant as well as     one congregation is only a very small fraction of
in the hearts of the adults.                              that innumerable company of saints. Neverthe-
   But these are not really my main objections.           less, the individual congregation also is a- complete


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                               151



revelation of that body. It is a kind of microcosm of       nantal, then also it is a worship which includes be-
the whole. All that is true of the whole body is also       lievers and their seed. Children belong in church,
true of the individual congregation. Christ's body is       not to get them used to the idea of going to church,
there in that congregation, and I, as a part of that        and not to teach them to sit still; but.because  they,
congregation, am a part of the body.                        as well as adults, have a place in the everlasting
  This is true from different viewpoints. It is true        covenant of grace. They are a part, an important
because the great variation which exists between            part, a necessary part, of the congregation.
the individual members and by means of which                  They are not there as appendages, but they are
they are one organism is present in the congrega-           there to gather with their parents to worship.
tion. There are old people and young, parents and             Of course, they have to be taught this. Parents
children, different nationalities and races, people         who are conscious of this ought to take pains to
with a wide variety of gifts - all serving the unity        teach their children why they go to church, to teach
of the whole. An organism is, after all, like a tree, a     them the meaning of worship, to help them through
unity which binds together a diversity of parts. But        the worship service so that they may learn to wor-
it is also true that in the congregation the fulness of     ship, to help them to listen to the sermon so that
Christ is manifested. This is true in the office of be-     they also may,receive the preaching as the power of
lievers which all the elect hold; but it is also true in    God unto salvation in them. Parents are sadly
the special offices which are present in the worship        remiss in their duty when they fail in these impor-
service. Christ is present as our Prophet - through         tant respects. And there can be no doubt about it,
the pastor; as our Priest  - through the deacons;           but that, when parents do this, children also re-
and as our King  - through the elders. In all His           ceive much blessing from the worship service.
fullness, in all the riches of His grace as our Medi-
ator and Savior, Christ is present when a congrega-           This is one reason why it is good that families sit
tion comes together to worship.                             together in church. It is an idea to be condemned
                                                            that children are sent out of the service to go to
  Hence, worship is possible only when the corzgre-         their own little room to hear a "Bible story." It is
g&ion is present.                                           equally not good when families are scattered
  But there is another point here.                          throughout the auditorium. I know, young people,
  The congregation of God's people is the gather-           when they get into their teens, like to sit by them-
ing of believers and their seed. `We spoke earlier in       selves - oftentimes so that they can escape the dis-
these articles of the fact that worship is always a         cipline of their parents. But the fact is that when
profoundly covenant idea: God enters into cove-             families sit together, they express the fundamental
nant fellowship with His people, and that covenant          truth of Scripture that a congregation is the gather-
fellowship comes to expression through a "holy              ing of believers and their seed.
conversation',' between God and His people when               Communal worship is covenantal worship. And
the congregation comes together for worship.                covenantal worship is the worship of believers and
  But if the idea of worship is profoundly  cove-           their children.

TAKING HEED TO THE DOCTRINE


                        The Unique Birth of Christ
                                                  Rev. H. Veldman





  There is,-obviously,  a marked and striking differ-       works of God in the old dispensation are generally
ence between the works of God (particularly as the          of a spectacular character. There is, first of all, the
God of our salvation) as they were manifest in the          Scriptural account of the flood as recorded in Gene-
old dispensation, and as they are revealed at the           sis 6-8. What a spectacular display of the saving
time of the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. These           love of God for His church and the wrath of God


 152                                        THE STANDARD BEARER



 upon a wicked world that had become ripe for judg- i     church and the destruction of the world always go
 ment, having filled its measure of iniquity, which,      hand in hand. Secondly, these mighty events (the
 means that it had attained unto the greatest mani-       flood and at the Red Sea) speak loudly of Jehovah's
 festation of sin whereunto it was capable. Forty         sovereignty. It is the Lord Who revealed to Noah
 days and forty nights the rain of God's judgment         that He would destroy the world with a flood. True,
 had descended upon that wicked world, until the          the apostle Peter speaks of Noah in II Peter 25 as a
 waters arose some fifteen cubits above the highest       preacher of righteousness, implying not only that
 mountain. Then, we would call attention to the           Noah preached in God's Name of the coming of the
 work of God which He performed upon the wicked           flood, but also that this flood would be a divine visi-
 land of Egypt. Ten devastating plagues were visited      tation of His righteous judgment. But God revealed
 upon that godless nation, culminating in the.death       it to Noah; God visited the deluge upon the wicked
 of the firstborn of man and beast. And Pharaoh           world; and it is Jehovah Who reveals to Moses the
 knew that these plagues were no accidents, but           feast of the passover and Israel's deliverance by the
 visitations by Jehovah in His wrath upon his un-         Lord's mighty arm; in fact, the plague of the slaying
 godly land directly through Moses. The king of           of the firstborn is `withheld from wicked Egypt.
 Eypty could not possibly have any doubt in regards       Thirdly, need we call attention to the obvious truth
 to the origin of these plagues. And these plagues are    that these events in the old dispensation are dis-
 followed by Israel's spectacular deliverance through     plays of the Lord's mighty power? Fact is, accord-
 the Red Sea, narrated for us in Exodus 14.               ing to Romans 9, God is the Potter and Pharaoh is
 Jehovah's right arm brings  d,eliverance  unto His       but clay in His hand; in His might the Lord sends a
 people. Moses stretched out his hand over the sea;       deluge upon the wicked world, delivers Israel
 the Lord caused a strong east wind to blow all that      through the Red Sea, drowns a wicked and obsti-
 night, causing the sea, we read in verse 21, to go       nate Pharaoh in the same sea, gives His people bread
 back, and He made,the sea dry land and the waters        out of heaven and water out  .of a rock; and then
 were  .divided. Then, when the last Israelite had        displays His awesome power upon Mount Sinai.
 been led upon the opposite shore, with all their         And, finally, these events speak loudly and clearly
 cattle, and the last of the Egyptians had followed       of God's holiness and justice and righteousness.
 them into the sea, the Lord caused the waters to re-     Noah, friend of God, to whom the Lord reveals the
 turn and Pharaoh and all his host were drowned.          secrets of His heart, walking in faith, is saved with
Finally, we would call attention to the Lord's spec-      his family, and the wicked world, having filled its
 tacular display upon Mount Sinai, recorded for us        cup of iniquity, is destroyed by the same water that
 in Exodus 19. We read that there were thunders           saved the church of God. Israel is delivered
 and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the moun-         through the Red Sea, because of the blood of the
 tain, and the voice of the trumpet exceedingly loud,     lamb of the Passover, type and symbol of the Lamb
 and all the people that were in the camp trembled.       of God and of Calvary; and the wicked and ob-
 And we also read in verse 18 that Mount Sinai was        stinate Pharaoh is drowned by the living God with
 altogether on a smoke, because the Lord descended        all his wicked host. And Mount Sinai speaks of the
 upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as       dreadful majesty of the Lord, His awesome holiness
 the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain           and righteousness, to Whom no man of himself can
 quaked greatly. No living creature among Israel,         approach. Our God is a consuming fire.
 man or beast, was allowed to touch this mountain;          Indeed, all these events of the old dispensation
 contact with it would mean instant death. Indeed,        are awesome displays of the living God. This is un-
 what a spectacular display of the presence of the        derstandable. Types and symbols, being earthly,
 living God of Israel!                                    can be revealed. And when they are revealed as
   In connection with these Old Testament displays        types and symbols of the alone living God, the re-
 of Jehovah, the God of Israel, we would make the         sult is the spectacular displays of the old dispensa-
 following brief observations. First of all, as far as    tion. Such is the character of these events in the Old
 the flood and Israel's deliverance through the Red       Testament.
 Sea are concerned, two events occur: the deliver-          If it be true, as it is, that the Lord's revelation of
 ance and saving of the church of God and the             Himself, particularly as the God of our salvation,
 destruction of the world. These two facts always         was spectacular in the old dispensation, being the
 occur simultaneously, in the old dispensation and        dispensation of the symbols and shadows which
 also in the New Testament when Christ comes into         can be revealed, how different is the Lord's revela-
 our flesh and blood, dies upon the cross of Calvary,     tion of Himself in connection with the birth of our
 and returns presently upon the clouds of heaven.         Lord Jesus Christ! Then, at the time of Jesus' birth,
 How true this is of the flood and Israel's deliver-      nothing is spectacular - i.e., nothing is spectacular
 ance through the Red Sea! The salvation of the           as `far as what the human eye can see is concerned.


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                         1 5 3



Of course, the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ is sure-      First of all, why should the announcement of
ly awesomely spectacular. Is it not beyond all            Jesus' birth be made to the wicked? How can it be
human comprehension that a virgin conceives,              declared to the ungodly that "unto you is born this
brings forth a son and remains a virgin? Are not all      day in the city of David a Saviour, Christ the Lord"?
the events wonderful when Jesus is born, such as          Besides, why should this announcement be ad-
the various announcements: the announcement of            dressed in the city of Jerusalem, a city that would
the birth of John the Baptist by Gabriel to Zacharias     presently be replaced by its heavenly fulfillment,
in the temple, the aged priest who with his aged          the heavenly Jerusalem? Besides, the wicked would
wife, Elizabeth, were beyond the age of bringing          never. be able to receive this announcement of the
forth a child; the announcement by the same angel         Saviour, spiritually and gladly.
to a virgin, Mary, at Nazareth; and the subsequent
announcement `of Jesus' birth to shepherds who              Secondly, there is indeed nothing of man in this
were keeping watch over their flock in the fields of      wondrous event in Bethlehem. How true is the
Ephratah? Indeed, all these events are tremendous         song of the angels: "Glory to God in the highest."
and awesome. But, nothing is spectacular as far as        All glory is to God alone. This Jesus is born of a
the human eye is concerned.                               virgin who remains a virgin. Here we have the In-
                                                          carnation, Jesus, the Son of God, Immanuel, born
  Everything appears to be routine. There went out        in our flesh and blood. This is the wondrous fulfill-
a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world          ment of the promise of God as declared by Isaiah,
should be taxed, or that the whole world should be        in Isaiah  7:14, that a virgin would conceive and
registered for the purpose of taxation. In Palestine      bring forth a son, and His name shall be called Im-
this meant that everyone would go to his own              manuel, God with us. There is nothing of man here
native city. There was nothing unusual about this.        because it is all of God.
Augustus was the emperor of Rome, the world em-
pire at that time. He had decreed that all the world        Thirdly, there is nothing of the earth here be-
over`which he ruled, should be taxed to support his       cause it is all heavenly, the-birth of the King of the
world empire. Hence, Mary and Joseph must go to           kingdom of heaven. From the earthly point of view,
the city of Bethlehem, the city of David, inasmuch        all we have here is the sign of the swaddling clothes
as they were of the lineage of David. Of course, this     and.the manger. Shall we remove these swaddling
was according to God's decree - the Son of David          cloth,es  and the manger? Shall we clothe this baby in
must be born in the city of David. But, as far as ap-     royal apparel? Shall we replace the manger with a
pearances are concerned, everything appears nor-          crib in a beautiful and gorgeous palace? However,
mal and routine. And when Mary's firstborn Son is         how out of harmony this would be with reality! Fact
born, He is born in a cattle stall and laid in a          is, this Babe of Bethlehem is a heavenly King to
manger because there was no room for them in the          Whom the ends of the earth have been given as an
inn. The little village of Bethlehem was crowded          inheritance. "My kingdom," He will presently de-
and the travellers from Nazareth had arrived too          clare to the Roman governor, "is not a kingdom of
late to find lodging in the city. And there the First-    this world." Presently they will even remove from
born of Mary is wrapped in swaddling clothes and          Him the swaddling clothes and the manger. Present-
laid in a manger. Nothing spectacular except that         ly they will call Him a rebel, an insurrectionist; they
the Heir of all things is born in abject'poverty! This    will inflict upon Him all that their devilish hearts
is surely spectacular, but it cannot be seen with the     can concoct, finally crucifying Him. But, then, in the
human eye. Everything is so routine. That there was       way of the cross He will suffer and die for His own,
no room for them in the inn was certainly not be-         pay all their guilt, merit for them everlasting life
cause of any animosity- toward them from the              and glory, seal the condemnation of the world. He
world. The world did not even know these weary            will establish, in righteousness, the Kingdom of
travellers from Nazareth, and they surely did not         Heaven, be raised from the dead, ascend to heaven-
know the identity of the Child that would presently       ly glory at the Father's right hand, and then realize
be born. How spectacular the works of God may             His kingdom through all things, establishing His
have been  in'the old dispensation, so completely         Kingdom in everlasting glory and heavenly immor-
different is the coming of our Lord into our flesh        tality. Indeed, there is nothing spectacular here
and blood! And when this Child grows up in the            from the earthly point of view, because this Jesus is
city of Nazareth, except for Scripture's recording of     the promised Messiah, David's Son and Lord,
His wonderful visit to the temple at Jerusalem            God's King in the heavenly sense of the word.
when He was twelve years old, nothing is recorded         "Glory to God in the highest," for unto you, unto
of all those years in His city of Nazareth.               God's people throughout the ages is born this day
                                                          in the city of David, a Saviour, Who is Christ the
  How must this be explained and understood?              Lord.


154                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



THE LORD GAVE THE WORD


                          Missionary Methods (20)
                                              Prof. Robert D. Decker



  (The Euthanasia of a Mission, The Views of Henry         was made all the greater by the rise of what some
Venn)                                                      called a "militant clericalism," represented mainly
  In order to appreciate the views of Henry Venn           by the High Church movement. Henry Venn began
one must understand something of the environ-              his work as Secretary of the C.M.S. during this
ment in which he worked. Venn was appointed                head-on collision of Evangelicalism and High
secretary of The Church Missionary Society in              Church Anglicanism.
1841. The Church  Nlissionary  Society (C.M.S.) was           When Venn assumed his duties as Secretary of
a denominational society of the Church of England          the C.M.S. he immediately concentrated his efforts
(Anglican). John Venn, Henry's father and one of           on resolving this conflict. Under his leadership the
the founders of the C.M.S., characterized the              Society limited itself to what may be called tempor-
Society as "Church but not High Church." (Cf. The          al or lay functions. These functions Venn listed
Responsible Church And The Foreign Mission, Peter          under four main headings: "1. The collection and
Beyerhaus and Henry Lefever, p. 25.) John Venn             administration of funds for the work; 2. the
and his colleagues who founded the C.M.S. were             selection and training of missionary candidates; 3.
decidedly low church and staunchly evangelical.            the sending of ordained missionaries to  mission-
However this may be, they were members of the              stations, and 4. the supervision of the missionaries
Church of England and that communion existed               in their work among non-Christian people. The
wherever there were Anglicans within the British           spiritual side of the work, that is, the arrangements
Empire. Wherever the first missionaries of the             for worship and pastoral care, and, as time went on,
C.M.S. went, they found that the church had                arrangements for the building up of an indigenous
preceded them, if only on paper. They found them-          ministry - in fact; all that in the admittedly narrow
selves in an Anglican diocese, even though only a          sense, might be called "church-work" - is handed
very few of the inhabitants could properly be called       over to the local bishop" (Beyerhaus, Lefever; p.
Anglicans, and that too in an area often many times        26).
the size of all of England. The bishop was there.
From the very  begimring  of the `work, therefore,            These distinctions made it possible for the
there was the question of the relation between the          bishops to accept the Society as a voluntary organi-
bishop and the C.M.S. missionaries working in his           zation co-operating with them in their work. This
diocese.                                                    also implied that the C.M.S. was merely the servant
                                                            of the church, and that, as the church grew, the
  In the early years of the C.M.S. this question            work of the mission might very well change or (as
posed no real problems. The C.M.S. was generally            Venn himself thought) come to an end altogether.
well received within the Church of England as a             Venn considered the goal of missions properly to be
voluntary organization of members of the church.            the creation (or better, gathering) of an indigenous
Henry Venn, as Secretary of the Society, expressed          church. The native church must be completely re-
its position as being: "in subordination to Church          sponsible for all pastoral duties, the ministry of the
authority but upon the basis of voluntary action"           Word and Sacraments, discipline, and its own sup-
(Beyerhaus, Lefever; p. 26). The potential for ten-         port. The missionaries would then be free to evan-
sion and even conflict between church and society           gelize among the unconverted and unchurched
is all too obvious.                                         heathen. Venn stressed this as the goal of missions
  As the C.M.S. grew in strength and in the scope           not to relieve the C.M.S. of financial burdens but
of its operations, it became crucial to find a solution     because he firmly believed the indigenous church
to the problem of how the Society and its mission           principle to be biblical. The development of the in-
work could be fitted into the Church of England at          digenous church ought to be promoted in order that
home, but more especially in its colonial branches.         the native church and its ministry might be, for its
The urgency of finding a solution to this problem           own spiritual well-being and financial security,


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                155



made free, as far as possible, of foreign support            pastors and their congregations. The missionary
over which it had no control.                                will also be able, according to Venn, to relax
  Concerning these views (remarkably similar to              gradually his "superintendence over the pastors
those of John L. Nevius) Peter Beyerhaus and                 themselves till it sensibly ceases" (cf. Beyerhaus,
Henry Lefever correctly observe: "Venn saw, de-              Lefever; p. 28). At this point the missionaries of the
cades before it was at all widely appreciated, the           C.M.S. are to be transferred to other unevangelized
essential evil of missionary paternalism which in            fields of labor. As far as the former field is con-
the name of affection, actually thwarted this devel-         cerned the work of the missionaries is finished. In
opment (the indigenous church, R.D.D.). All this             Venn's words "the euthanasia (painless putting to
led to his epoch-making aim, formulated as Point             death, R.D.D.) of the mission" has taken place.
10 of his Memorandum of 1851: `the settlement of a             Venn's methodology, revolutionary in his times,
Native Church under Native Pastors upon a  self-             is certainly commendable in many ways. There is
supporting system.' Venn realized that the `native           much that we of the Protestant Reformed Churches
church,' on this basis, was still a distant goal, but he     can learn from it. We are still in the "pioneering
was to be disappointed that even his very modest             stage," at least as far as foreign mission work is con-
expectations were not realized. His plans were               cerned. The gathering of an indigenous church
frustrated by this very missionary paternalism               ought to be the goal of mission work. The church
which we have already mentioned, so that, ten                must be native to its own land, have its own pastor,
years later, in 1861, he issued another Memoran-             elders, and deacons. The new church too is called
dum embodying stricter instructions to mission-              of Christ to "go into all the world" preaching and
aries and a more fully worked out program of                 baptizing, making disciples of all nations. The
church-development. Missionaries, he says, are to            "native church" must support itself and it must
limit themselves to evangelistic work, and are not           govern itself in obedience to the teachings of the
to become involved in church-administration  - at            Word of God. Venn's warning against "missionary
least once the native church is established"  (The           paternalism" is also to be heeded. That, is a sore evil
Responsible Church And The Foreign Mission, p. 27).          under the sun and, perhaps more than any other
  The first calling of missionaries, as Venn saw it,         single factor, hinders the establishment and growth
was to organize converts into groups which he                of the church of our Lord Jesus Christ. Apart, there-
called    "Christian    companies"       rather    than      fore, from the obvious differences we would have
churches. At this stage the work was still part of the       with Venn, especially in the area of Church Polity
mission work of the C.M.S. The next stage is                 (Venn was Anglican), there is much we can learn
reached when these Christian companies are trans-            from him.
formed into churches. This step is reached when                There are weaknesses in Venn's methods. There
the missionary considers the group's contributions           are many or at least several questions left un-
sufficiently high to support a native minister. At           answered. When and how is all of this to be imple-
this point the missionary raises the group to the            mented? Just what are the criteria for the organiz-
status of a "Native Pastorate under an ordained              ing of a "Christian company" into a "Native
Native, paid for from the Native Church Fund"                Church"? Is it merely the fact that the group is able
(Beyerhaus, Lefever; p. 28). The native minister is          to support itself financially? What is the relation-
still responsible to the missionary as long as the na-       ship between the "Native Church" and the sending
tive church fund is administered and subsidized by           church? With these questions we shall deal, D.V.,
the C.M.S. The final phase is reached when groups            in the next article.
of these "Native Pastorates" meet together regular-
ly in a District Church Conference. The mission-
aries are to attend this Conference along with the
native pastors but, says Venn: "when any consider-                The Standard Bearer
able District has been thus provided for by an or-
ganized native Church, the foreign agency will
have no place in the work and that District will                   makes a thoughtful
have been fully prepared for a Native Episcopate."
Further, Venn says: "If the elementary principles                            gift for the
of self-support and self-government and self-exten-
sion be thus sown with the seed of the Gospel, we
may hope to see the healthy growth and expansion                          Sick & Shut-in.
of the Native Church" (Beyerhaus, Lefever; p. 28).  -  .~
At this stage the missionary will be able to give over
all pastoral work into the hands of the native


156                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



BIBLE STUDYGUIDE


            James, Evidence of a Living Faith (1)
                                                 Rev. J. Kortering



  This letter of James is placed within the category        talk to Jesus when He was in Galilee. He went with
of "catholic epistles," designated as such because          Jesus to Capernaum and tried to persuade Him to
they were written to the children of God without            go to the Feast of Tabernacles (John  7:3). He was
mentioning a specific church. They are, in this             present with Jesus at this feast in Jerusalem (John
sense, universal-catholic. The author was burdened           7:lO). At this point in his life he did not believe in
by the threat of dead orthodoxy in the churches, so         Jesus (John 7:5).
he challenged them, "Show me thy faith without
thy works and I will show thee my faith by my                  What a change came over James! He progressed
works." We do well to heed this warning in our               from unbeliever to leader of the Jerusalem church.
day.                                                         The change began with a personal appearance of
THE AUTHOR                                                  Jesus to James after the resurrection (I Cor.  15:7).
                                                             He then became active in the early New Testament
The author identifies himself simply as, "James, a           church. He was present in the upper room with the
servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ" (James          disciples (Acts 1:14). When Paul went to Jerusalem
1:l). There are three New Testament men of note              after his conversion on the way to Damascus, he
by that name: There was James the son of Zebedee,            had an interview with James (Gal.  1:19). When
one of the twelve apostles and brother of John.              Peter escaped from prison, he requested that those
Both were fishermen in Galilee and called by Jesus           in the house of John Mark inform James and the
to become disciples. In the course of Jesus' ministry        brethren of his escape (Acts 12:17). By the time that
he became one of the intimate three, the others be-          the Jewish council met, the one which considered
ing his brother John and Simon Peter. Subsequent             the question of the circumcision of Gentile con-
to the crucifixion of Jesus, James became the first          verts, James was `the presiding officer (Acts 15: 13).
martyr when Herod put him to death by the sword              At this council, James gave to Paul and Barnabas
(Acts  12:12). The second James was the son of               the right hand of fellowship, an indication that his
Alphaeus, also one of the twelve apostles (Matt.             approval was significant (Gal. 2:9), and James gave
10:3).  The third one was James, the brother of our          a moving speech that summarized the significance
Lord (Matt. 13:55). The question we have to face is,         of this decision (Acts  15:13-29). Later, when Paul
which of these three is the author?                          returned from his missionary journey, James was
  The best argument for choosing James, the                  still leader of the Jerusalem church (Acts  21:17ff.).
brother of our Lord, lies in the fact that he does not       Such a man was in a position to write a letter to
identify himself as son of Zebedee or son of  Al-            "the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad"
phaeus as was commonly done in the gospel narra-             (James 1:l).
tives for the other two. Besides this, James, the
Lord's brother, had attained a certain notoriety by            For further verification of authorship, we can
the time that he wrote this letter, so that a simple         cite the following. The letter is filled with brief and
description as "servant of God and of the Lord               pointed exhortations, typical of one who is in a
Jesus" was sufficient.                                       position of leadership and authority. A comparative
                                                             study of the words of Jesus in the Sermon on the
  Let's consider some of the background that led             Mount (Matt. 5-7), with the words of this letter (see
James, the brother of our Lord to write this letter.         Hendriksen, Bible Suwey, pp. 326-327) indicate that
  When Jesus toured Galilee, the leaders of the              the Lord's brother did much reflecting upon the
Jews in Nazareth referred to James as one of the             teaching of the Lord Jesus. There is a striking simi-
Lord's brothers (Matt.  13:55). This was to belittle         larity in the use of words between the speech in
the ministry of Jesus, since in the estimation of the       James recorded in Acts 15 and the ones used in this
Jews He came from a lowly family. He was also                epistle (see Harrison, Introduction to the New Testa-
referred to in Matthew 12:46 as one who wanted to            ment,  page 388).


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                               157



   Tradition adds two interesting details that cannot    wealth to work hardship upon the Jewish converts
be substantiated by the Bible; but the Bible does        (James 1:2-11; 2:6ff.; 5:1-6). Still more, some Jewish
not contradict them either. Eusebius, the historian,     Christians were over-reacting against the  Pharisee-
quotes from a Jewish historian, Hegesippius, who         ism which had been prevalent in the church. Re-
describes James, the Lord's brother, as drinking no      jecting work righteousness, they went to the other
wine nor strong drink, eating no flesh, and spend-       extreme, they insisted that all one needed was
ing so much time on his knees praying that they          faith, and that works were not significant. This led
were calloused and looked like a camel's knees. He       them headlong into dead orthodoxy: one need only
was called James the Just because of his piety. He       accept certain truths, without living a Christian life.
also claimed that his piety led to his martyrdom.        To counter this evil, James spells out the true idea
Jewish tradition tells us that James was taken to the    of faith, and that one finds the evidence of such
balcony of the temple and ordered to shout to the        faith in good works (James 2: 10-26). There is no
Jews below that Jesus was not the Messiah. Instead,      contradiction between Paul, who emphasized justi-
James cried that Jesus was the Son of God and the        fication by faith without works, and James, who
Judge of the world. In anger the Jews threw him          taught the need for a working faith. Martin Luther
down and he fell to the ground below. Before he          failed to see the difference and consequently
died, they stoned him and he was finally clubbed to      labelled the epistle of James an epistle of straw, and
death. The year was A.D. 62.                             relegated it to the back of his Bible. One more thing
TO WHOM IT WAS WRITTEN                                   that concerned James was the factious spirit among
                                                         some of the Jews. They showed favoritism (James
  The designation is simply given, "to the twelve        2:  l-7), they were guilty of evil speech (James  3),
tribes which are scattered abroad" (James 1: 1). The
question arises, who is intended with such a de-         there was strife in the church (James  4), they
scription. A similar reference is recorded in I Peter    neglected to care for the sick and pray for one
                                                         another (James 5).
1:l where the definite article is lacking and inter-
pretation allows for Christians, Jewish and Gentile,       This letter deals with the spiritual-ethical prin-
that were scattered throughout the world. Here we        ciples of Christian faith. James is rightly called the
are limited by "the twelve tribes." We may certain-      Amos of the New Testament. As such, this epistle is
ly say that James intended that this letter should be    very important for us today. We too must know the
for Jewish Christians who were scattered by the          important place of good works in our lives and how
dispersion. It would hardly do to say that he wrote      this affects our relationship to one another in the
it for all Jews, whether Christian or not (see James     church.
2: 1). The twelve tribes never returned from captiv-     DATE AND DISTINCTIVE FEATURES
ity, though representatives of the tribes did. Such a
reference to the twelve tribes was common among          Accepting the authorship as James, the brother
                                                         of our Lord, the date usually given is A.D. 45-50.
the early church, indicating their spiritual unity       The things that enter into consideration for this
(see Acts  26:7, when Paul was before Agrippa).          date are the following. It seems to have been writ-
  The problem that arises in this connection is          ten before the gospels, for the doctrinal basis set
whether those Jews scattered by the dispersion,          forth'in the gospels is lacking in James. The eco-
upon the invasion of Palestine by foreign nations        nomic conditions referred to in the letter ceased to
such as Assyria, Babylon, Egypt, Syria, could have       exist with the outbreak of the war with Rome,
been converted to Christianity at this early date. To    around the mid 60s. The church life presented here
answer this, one need but recall the Feast of Pente-     is simple, e.g., reference only to elders (James 5: 14).
cost recorded in Acts 2. Already then, representa-       It contains reference to the expectation of Christ's
tives of all nations were present in Jerusalem for       return which was common to this period. If this is
the feast and were converted to the Christian faith      true, then James was the first New Testament book
by the Holy Spirit. From then on the Christian faith     written.
spread among the Jews and Gentiles.                        Some of the distinctive features of this epistle,
  James, the Lord's brother, as leader of the Jeru-      pointed out by Harrison in his Introduction  to the
salem church and caring in a special way for the         New  Testament,  are the following.
Christian Jews that were scattered throughout the          1. The work has an authoritative tone. Nearly
world, felt the need to write this letter to them. We    every other verse contains an imperative. Yet there
should next examine what circumstances led to the        is no autocratic spirit; the writer addresses his read-
need for this letter.                                    ers as brethren.
  A number of things are indicated in the letter           2. There is a lack of Christian doctrine. There is
itself. It was a time of oppression, many rich land      no teaching on redemption through the death and
owners, both Jew and Gentile, were using their           resurrection of Christ. These doctrines are more as-


158                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



sumed  than expressed.                                    mon on the Mount. Two examples: on judging
   3. The epistle is eminently practical in its ap-       (James  4:11, 12; Matt.  7:l) and on swearing (James
proach. From start to finish the writer accents the       5:12, Matt. 5:34-37).
practical outworking of true religion.                      7. James belongs to the wisdom literature, re-
   4. The letter is notably impersonal. There is no       vealing kinship with the wisdom books of the Old
particular personal relation between him and those        Testament and the Apocrypha.
whom he addresses. The picture of readers and the           8. The Greek of the epistle is of a high quality,
figure of the writer are equally colorless and indis-     comparing favorably with that of Hebrews and I
tinct.                                                    Peter. It has a rather high percentage of words
   5. There is a fine appreciation of nature in this      peculiar to itself among the New Testament
book. It has been said there is more of this in James     writers.
than in all of Paul's letters combined.                     Well may we read and study this letter so that we
   6. The teaching bears marked similarity to that        may benefit from such a true faith as the Holy
of Christ, especially to what is contained in the Ser-    Spirit describes it.
FAITH OF OUR FATHERS


                                   The Nicene Creed
                                              Rev. James Slopsema



Article 3 (cont'd)                                        exalted that it was impossible for Him to create the
   Article 3 of the  I\Ticene  Creed speaks of Jesus      universe directly. Due to His highly transcendent
Christ, the only begotten Son of God, "Who for us         character God could create the universe only
men, and for our salvation, came down from                through an intermediary. Hence, He created the
heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the        Word or Logos as His Son. And it was through the
Virgin Mary, and was made man."                           Word that God in turn created the heavens and the
                                                          earth.
   We have already discussed in a previous article
the idea of the incarnation. Through the wonder              This according to Arius is the chief significance
work of the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin         of the Son of God. It is true that Arius acknowl-
Mary, the eternal Son of God took upon Himself            edged the incarnation of the Son of God. And Arius
our flesh. He Who is eternally God also became a          also connected the incarnation of the Son to the sal-
man. This is the wonder of the incarnation. This          vation of man. The Son of God became flesh to
wonder is set forth in the Nicene Creed especially        bring salvation to man. However, because Arius
in the phrase, "and was incarnate by the Holy             denied the true divinity of the Son it ultimately be-
Ghost by the Virgin Mary."                                came impossible to speak of Arius' Christ as the
                                                          Savior of men. For how can one who is less than
   There needs to be discussed yet the remaining          God reconcile fallen man to God? Besides, this in
expressions of this article, namely, that the Son of      the thought and scheme of Arius was secondary.
God was incarnate "for us men and for our salva-          The primary significance of the Son of God was not
tion," that He "came down from heaven" and that           man's salvation but man's creation. For without the
He "was made man."                                        Son creation was impossible. God created the Son
   The idea that the Son of God was incarnate "for        exactly so that He could through the Son create
us men, and for our salvation" was inserted by the        man and the universe.
early church in her creed to contradict the error of         Over against this idea the early church confessed
Arianism.                                                 that it was for man, that is, for his salvation, that the
   The position of Arius and his followers can be         Son of God was  incarnate.  It is true of course that
summed up in the statement: the Son of God was            the Son of God also took part in the creation of
made for us men and for our creation. In a previous       man. This is John  l:l-3, "In the beginning was the
article we have seen that to Arius God is so highly       Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                159



was God . . . . All things were made by Him; and           face of God. It is in heaven that we can live and
without Him was not anything made that was                 dwell with God in covenant fellowship as nowhere
made." However, the eternal Son of God is also the         else. And therefore it is also from heaven that the
Savior of man. He is that Savior and can be that           wrath of God is revealed against the wickedness
Savior only because He is truly God. He alone is           and unrighteousness of men (Romans 1:18).
able to bring man back to God. Hence, the primary            Quite in harmony with this idea the Scriptures
significance of the Son of God for man is his salva-       also connect the sovereignty of God with the fact
tion. And that salvation is possible only through the      that His abode is in heaven. The will of God is not
incarnation. This is the emphasis of the Scriptures.       limited in any way. God for example is never re-
And this truth the early church also set forth here        quired to do anything against His will. Nor can any-
in her creed.                                              thing frustrate the will of God. That which God has
  In this connection the early church also con-            determined to do He most certainly will accom-
fessed that the Son of God "came down from                 plish. He is the sovereign God. And this is evident
heaven." The Son of God came down from heaven              from the fact that He is in heaven. He Who is so
for us men and our salvation and was incarnate. In         highly exalted that His very throne and dwelling
this way the early church sought to emphasize over         place is in heaven must surely be sovereign in all
against the Arians that the Son of God came into the       His ways. And so we read in Psalm 115:3, "But our
flesh voluntarily.                                         God is in the heavens: He hath done whatsoever He
  According to the Arians, the Son of God is not           hath pleased."
one with the Father. As far as His being or essence          And now in this third article of the Nicene Creed
is concerned He is different from the Father. And          the early church confessed that the Son of God
He is subordinate to the Father. That implies two          came down from heaven for us men and for our sal-
things. First, this means that the will of the Son is      vation and was incarnate. In light of all that we
not the will of the Father. Because they are not one       have just seen it is quite obvious that in this way
in being, neither are they one as to their will. The       the early church sought to confess that the Son of
Father has His will and the Son has His own will.          God took upon Himself our flesh by His own will.
Secondly, because the Son is subordinate to the            The incarnation was not the will of the Father in
Father in every way, so too is the will of the Son         distinction from the will of His Son. No! For the Son
subordinate to the will of the Father. The Son must        of God has His abiding place in heaven. And He
do what the Father wills even if it be contrary to         Whose abode is in heaven does only according to
His own will. Carrying this error through to the in-       His own will. In the incarnation therefore the Son
carnation of the Son, the Arians could only ac-            of God was a willing participant.
knowledge that the Son was incarnate according to
the will of the Father. It was not necessarily the will      This is in harmony with the confession of the
of the Son that He come into the humiliation of            church in Article 2 of this same creed that the Son
man to suffer and die and secure the salvation of          of God is very God of very God, of one substance
man.                                                       with the Father. The Son is one with the Father in
  To emphasize the willingness of the Son to be in-        being. They both subsist in the one divine being.
carnate, the early church confessed that He  came          And to that one divine being there belongs the one
down from heaven for us men and for our salvation.         will of God, which is the will of the Father and the
                                                           Son. What the Father wills therefore the Son also
  We read repeatedly in the Scriptures that God is         wills. This applies also to the incarnation. It was the
in heaven. We are even taught to pray in the Lord's        will of the Father and the Son that the Son should in
Prayer, "Our Father, Who art in heaven."                   the fulness of time take upon Himself our flesh.
  That God is in heaven is of course not to be un-
derstood in the sense that God's very being is limit-        What a beautiful truth this is! How precious is
ed to heaven, to be found only in heaven. For God          our Savior. For He came into our sin and death not
is everywhere present. In recognition of this we are       against His will but according to His will. We know
told in II Chronicles 6:18 concerning God, "Behold,        this for He came down from nothing less than
heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain            heaven itself.
Thee."                                                       Finally, the early church in this third article of
   Nevertheless, the Bible still presents heaven as        her creed confessed that being incarnate by the
God's dwelling place. This is to be understood in          Holy Ghost, the Son of God "was made man."
the sense that God has manifest Himself in a                 Again the church sought at this point to empha-
special sense in heaven. It is in heaven that God          size the truth of God over against the error of the
especially reveals His love and fellowship to His          Arians. The Arians taught that through the incarna-
own. It is in heaven therefore that we can see the         tion the Son of God did not become a complete


160                                        THE STANDAPD BEARER



man. They taught rather that the Son took upon           men as Apollinaris, Nestorius, and Eutyches the
Himself only the flesh of man, that is, a human          early church was forced to develop more fully the
body of flesh. Christ however never possessed a          identity of Jesus Christ. They came to see, on the
human soul. The rational soul of Jesus was the           basis of God's Word, that Jesus Christ is not two
divine mind of the Son of God. Hence, He was not         persons as some claimed, but one person, the
completely man, just as He was never completely          divine person of the eternal Son of God. Further-
God.                                                     more, Jesus possesses through the incarnation not
  Over against this the church confessed that            only the divine nature of God but also a real and
through the incarnation the Son of God became            complete human nature. And these two natures,
man. To express this the church coined a new             the divine and the human, are perfectly united in
word. The phrase, "was made man," is in the              the divine person of Christ "without confusion,
original Greek of the Nicene Creed only one word,        without conversion, without severance,           and
expressing the idea of assuming manhood. Hence,          without division." These conclusions were arrived
the early church, in addition-  to. confessing that      at  .in the great councils of Constantinople (A.D.
Jesus Christ is truly God, also confessed that He is     381), Ephesus (A.D.  431), and  Chalcedon (A.D.
truly man. He is both God and man.                       451).
  If we examine the truths set forth here in the           Having established the full identity of the Savior,
Nicene Creed in the light of subsequent history, we      Jesus Christ, the church was later able also to
find that much more needed to be said by the             develop the relation between the incarnation of
church on these subjects. The truth concerning the       Christ and His work of salvation. This was done
identity of Jesus Christ our Savior had not been         especially by Anselm in the eleventh century. In
brought to its full development in the Nicene            his work Cur Deus  Homo (Why God Became Man)
Creed. Nor did the church at this time fully under-      Anselm developed the truth of the atonement and
stand the incarnation in relation to the salvation of    demonstrated how that to atone for the sin of man
man.                                                     God indeed had to become man. The fruits of
                                                         Anselm's work were later incorporated into our
  However, as the powers of darkness attacked the        own Heidelberg Catechism, Lord's Days 5 and 6.
truths set forth here in the Nicene Creed and the
church was called to defend these truths, she was          But it all began with the Nicene Creed. The
able to bring these truths to a further state of de-     truths confessed here in Article 3 became the basis
velopment .                                              for further development of the doctrines which we
                                                         today hold most dear.
  Thus, for example, through the errors of such

STRENGTH- OF YOUTH


        A Prayer for Youth at Year's Beginning
                                             Rev. Ron Cammenga


  Our Father Who art in heaven, at the beginning           Deliver our young people from the fool's heart.
of  a,new year we approach Thy throne of grace in        Deliver them from the notion, the foolish notion of
behalf of the youth of  -Thy Church. At the end of       the young people of the world, that the good life is
the old year, its weeks and days and moments hav-        the life of doing what they please. The world in
ing sped by, and as we stand at the threshold of         which we live, and especially, the youth of the
another year, impress our young people with the          world, is lawless. On every hand God-ordained
vanity of earthly existence. Apart from Thee, life is    authority is disdained. Deliver our young people
vain. No matter how great the riches, how glorious       from this spirit of the age in which we live. Work in
the fame, how thrilling the pleasures, it all ends in    their hearts love for Thee and the desire to live in
death. Oh, teach us to number our days, to live in       obedience to Thee. Give them the grace to be obedi-
the consciousness of the brevity of our earthly          ent to all authority in their life. May they honor and
existence, so that we set our hearts on wisdom's         obey their parents and teachers. May they receive
w a y .                                                  the instruction and admonition of their pastor and


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                              161



elders. In all their obedience give them the eye to       Thee to make this good confession. May they give
see that by obeying those in authority over them,         serious thought this year to their responsibility to
they are in very truth obeying Thee.                      make public confession of faith in the church and
  Keep our young people, we pray, from the temp-          to partake of the sacrament of the,Lord's Supper.
tations of the ungodly world in which we live. We           Be especially with the young people in their dat-
know the severity of these temptations. And we            ing. May they have serious thoughts about dating
know the weakness of the young people them-               and marriage. Keep them from the filthy use that
selves, the same weak and sinful nature which we          the young people of this world make of dating. May
possess. Keep them from the Devil, who goes about         their lives be characterized by holiness and
to destroy them. With particular severity he tempts       chastity. In their dating may they have an eye on
them. They especially are the objects of his unre-        marriage and their calling from God to marry in the
lenting assaults. For Satan knows that if he can lead     Lord. May they not become entangled with an un-
astray the young people, he has destroyed the             believer, the consequences of which entanglement
church of tomorrow. Give them the strength to             they will have to bear the rest of their life. But for
resist the Devil and to stand steadfast in the face of    the giory of God, the joy of their own married life,
his opposition. .                                         and the welfare of the children which God may
  In the days of their youth, may the young people        given them, may they marry a young man or young
remember their Creator. May they not forget Him           woman who is one with them in the faith. May
or ignore Him at a time in life when so many other        they, even in their dating and marriage, put God
things demand their attention. May they not forget        and God's kingdom first. May they not, for the sake
their Creator by forgetting His Word. Give them           of a husband or wife, leave the church and turn
diligence, and the needed self-discipline, for            their back on God.
regular study and reading of Thy Word this year.            Be with those young people who struggle with
May they be faithful to receive instruction from          the question of their calling in life. May they give
Thy Word in the preaching services and catechism          this question careful and prayerful consideration.
classes of the church. May they not be embarrassed        Cause them to know the particular place in Thy
about Thy Word, but may .they be ready and eager          kingdom to which Thou dost call them. As they
to discuss the Word with one another, especially in       consider their life's calling may the overriding con-
Young People's Society.                                   sideration not be where the most money is to be
  Lord, teach them to pray. May they be more and          had or the most honor obtained. But may their con-
more impressed with the important place that              sideration be first of all, "How can I best serve the
prayer occupies in the Christian life. Through            cause of God's Church.in  the world?" May employ-
prayer may they live the coming year close to Thee,       ment and promising job opportunities, as well as
in conscious dependence upon Thee. The tempta-            the pursuit of higher education, never become with
tions are great, the struggles well-nigh. overwhelm-      the young people a reason to leave the church and
ing. But through prayer Thou wilt give them the           the truth of God's Word.
needed strength and grace. For it is through prayer         We are mindful of those young people who have
that God is pleased to give us His grace and Holy         special burdens to bear. We think of those whose
Spirit. May they be young men and young women             physical health and strength have been taken away
of prayer, then, who in prayer bring their problems       from them. There are those who must spend their
and troubles to God. May they experience God's            days in a wheelchair, those who are handicapped,
answer to their prayers.                                  those who are confined to a bed. Give them, and
  Give our young people this year the grace to be         their loved ones who must care for them, a special
witnesses for Thee in the midst of the world. May         measure of Thy grace. In their times of despon-
they be unashamed of the Christ and of their dis-         dency and questioning grant them the strength of
cipleship of Christ. In whatever place Thou hast set      faith to confess that our life is in Thy hands and
them, whether they work  at*a job, or whether they        Thou knowest what is best for us.
attend school, may it be plain to those about them          We offer up a special petition, heavenly Father,
that they are.disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. May     on behalf of those young people who have strayed
it be plain not only by what they do, but by what         from the path of righteousness and who are walk-
they refuse to do, not only by what they say, but by      ing in sin. They have broken the hearts of their par-
what they do not say, that they are the children of       ents and pastor, they have grieved the members of
God.                                                      the church, but most of all they have offended
  May they confess their faith openly and publicly.       Thee. Some of them simply have no interest in spir-
May they give a testimony of the faith that lives in      itual things. They have become irregular in their
their hearts. Impress upon them their calling before      church attendance, or have stopped coming to


1'62                                       THE STANDARD BEARER



church altogether. Others have fallen into a              Father. Work Thy work in their hearts. Give them
particular sin from which they will not turn. Still       no rest, until they find rest in Thee.
others have made friends with the world and are             May we all together live this new year in antici-
running with the young people of the world.               pation of the day when time shall  ,be no more,
   Oh God, our hearts and our prayers go out for          when the last moment shall have passed, and when
them. We have exhorted, and admonished, and               our Lord Jesus Christ shall come again on the
brought the Word of God. But we are powerless to          clouds of heaven. Then we shall all appear before
touch the heart. We depend upon Thee.                     Him with Whom we have to do, to give account of
   Work repentance! Restore! Break their hard             the deeds which we have done in the body. Then
hearts and subdue their stubborn wills! May they          each one shall stand before the great Judge of
see the error of their way, the foolishness of their      heaven and earth. God grant that we may appear
life. Work in them sorrow over their sins and a           before Him unafraid, without terror. May we have
turning from sin unto Thee. Thou, Oh God, art a           the certainty of hearing  the, Word of our Lord,
God able to bring the prodigal back from the filth of     "Well done, good and faithful servant; enter thou
the pig pen, to restore the wayward to the favor of       into the joy of thy Lord."
GUIDEDIN'TOALLTRUTH


            The Apostolic Fathers and the Word
                                                Rev. T. Miersma



   The apostolic fathers and their writings reflect       as these the care of the churches fell in the days fol-
the doctrine and life of the church immediately fol-      lowing the apostles, and some of their letters have
lowing the death of the apostles. They are called         survived and come down to us.
apostolic fathers because in their days the teaching        It is evident from their writings that at the outset,
and preaching of the apostles was still a matter of       the church, continuing in the teaching of the
living memory in the church of a not yet remote           apostles, regarded the writings and teachings of the
past. The identity of these men and the authenticity      apostles as God's revelation unto His people. Al-
of their writings are to some extent matters of           though the exact boundaries of the Word of God
scholarly debate which need not fully concern us.         had not yet been fully drawn, nevertheless the
They lived and wrote roughly in the period from           early church recognized that Christ had spoken
A.D. 100  - A.D. 200. They include such men as            unto them by-His apostles, who were sent as His in-
Polycarp, the minister of the church of Smyrna,           struments to found and establish the church of the
who had been a disciple of the Apostle John. They         new dispensation, and by which Christ gave His
include also some names which are familiar to us          Word to the church. Clement, speaking of the
from the New Testament, such as Barnabas and              apostles, writes to the church of Corinth, "The
Clement (Philippians  43). Whether these men are          ministers of the grace of God have, by the Holy
to be identified with the men. mentioned in the           Spirit, spoken of repentance" (1st Epistle of
New Testament is uncertain. It is possible that the       Clement, Chapter 8). Similarly in Chapter 47 of the
Clement whom Paul mentions and the writer of a            same letter he says to the Corinthian church,
letter to the Corinthian church are one and the
same individual. The writer of the Epistle of Barn-           Take up the epistle of the blessed Apostle
abas appears to have been merely an individual in             Paul. What did he write to you at the time
the early church who happened to have the same                when the Gospel first began to be preached?
name as the Apostle Paul's co-missionary in the               Truly, under the inspiration of the Spirit, he
Book of Acts.                                                 wrote to you concerning  himself, and
                                                              Cephas, and Apollos, because even then
   The days in which these men lived were days of             parties had been formed among you.
severe persecution for the church. Polycarp himself
lived to be a very old man and ended his life as a          They fully believed that Scripture was the work
martyr, being burned at the stake. Upon such men          of the Holy Spirit through the apostles, and that


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                              163



moreover the apostles were given the Spirit in a dif-          have alike taught us.
ferent way and in a higher sense than they them-           One Word of God concerning Christ, a unity, such
selves wrote and spoke. Thus Polycarp, writing to          are the -Scriptures, and this also did the early
the church of Philippi, recognizes this difference         church confess. The Epistle of Barnabas shows a
and the uniqueness of Paul's letter in distinction         similar sense of the unity of the Word of God. It
from his own. He says to the Philippians in chapter        was written particularly with a view to the
3 of his letter,                                           Judaizers who continued to plague the early apos-
    For neither I, nor any other such one, can             tolic church. This letter is an attempt to develop
    come up to the wisdom of the blessed and               some of the typology  of the Old Testament. This the
    glorified Paul. He, when among you, accur-             writer does by trying to compare Scripture with
    ately and steadfastly taught the word of               Scripture. While there are many weaknesses in his
    truth in the presence of those who were                exposition and principles of interpretation, yet be-
    then alive. And when absent from you, he               hind them stands the sound idea that Scripture is a
    wrote you a letter, which if you carefully             unity which speaks of Christ.
    study, you will find to be the means of
    building you up in that faith which has been             It is evident in their writings also that in har-
    given you. . . .                                       mony with the principle that Scripture is the Word
                                                           of God, these early fathers attempted to develop the
   While one must not read into these fathers a fully      truth of the Word of God out of the principle that
developed doctrine of inspiration, yet nevertheless        Scripture interprets Scripture. The writer of the
the seeds of this truth lived from the very beginning      Epistle of Barnabas. proceeds from this principle in
in the early church. In a similar manner the Old           the whole of his letter. Though it is also quite evi-
Testament was regarded as the Word of God, and             dent that he does not thoroughly understand it with
that as the Word of God to the Christian church            the clarity of later ages, nor does he always apply it
and not as the property of apostate Judaism, as            in a proper manner, yet it is from this principle
some today want to regard it. The early fathers also       which he proceeds. The other apostolic fathers re-
freely quote        other writings,        such as the     flect this same principle and attempt to apply it to
apochryphal books. They sometimes confuse them             the Word of God as they had received it.
with Scripture and they sometimes quote these
books also as if they were Scripture. When seeking           The authority of that Word of God is also evident
to determine their doctrine of Scripture it is irjnI%$     from their writings. It is set forth and expounded
tant therefore to remember that they labored before        and applied to the church as the Word of God,
the full determination of the canon of Scripture.          which the church must hear. The Spirit had spoken
They labored also in times of persecution, and with        to the church through the apostles, and the church
the Word of God written upon scrolls, not always           was to take heed to their word as the Word of
easily obtainable, rather than the kind of books we        Truth. God addressed the church through the Old
have today. The result is that to quote the Scrip-         Testament, setting forth Christ and the coming of
tures, they often did so from memory, sometimes            salvation for the Gentiles. By that Word the church
imperfectly and confusing their sources. Modern            was taught concerning her salvation in Christ. The
apostate scholarship likes to make much of these           Word of God, once given unto His people in the old
things as a -tool with which to attack the truth of        dispensation, now spoke with greater clarity unto
inspiration. In spite of their weaknesses in under-        them, by the fulfilment of the promise. In that
standing the truth of inspiration, the apostolic           Word they rejoiced with thanksgiving, conscious of
fathers nevertheless confessed it, and that principle      its authority in both testaments, as the Epistle of
governed their work.                                       Barnabas (Chapters 4, 5) demonstrates, in which
  Thus, we also find in their writings the idea of         the writer says of a passage in the Gospel According
the unity of Scripture and of the right relation of the    to Matthew, "It is written," and of Isaiah, that it
Old and New Testaments. The Old Testament is               was written not only for Israel but also for us,
used and applied by them to the new dispensation.             And all the more attend to this, my  breth-
It is seen as the Word of God which speaks con-               ren, when ye reflect and behold, that after
cerning salvation in Christ, foretelling His coming,          so great signs and wonders were wrought in
suffering, and death. Polycarp, in chapter 6 of his           Israel, they were thus (at length) abandoned.
epistle to the Philippians, tells them,                       Let us beware lest we be found (fulfilling
   Let us serve Him in fear, and with all rever-              that saying), as it is written, "Many are
   ence, even as He Himself has commanded                     called, but few are chosen."
   us, and as the apostles who preached the                   For to this end the Lord endured to deliver
   gospel unto us, and the prophets who pro-                  up His flesh to corruption, that we might be
   claimed beforehand the coming of the Lord                  sanctified through the remission of sins,


  164                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



         which is effected by His blood of sprinkling.              as a lamb which is dumb before its shearer."
         For it is written concerning Him, partly with              Therefore we ought to be deeply grateful to
         reference to Israel, and partly to us; and (the            the Lord, because He has both made known
         Scripture) saith thus: "He was wounded for                 to us things that are past and hath given us
         our transgressions, and bruised for our  ini-              wisdom concerning things present, and hath
         quities: with His stripes we are healed. He                not left us without understanding in .regard
         was brought as a sheep to the slaughter, and               to things which are to come.





              Believing All the Prophetic Scriptures
                                                       Rev. G. Lubbers



  Chapter X                                                      We must follow the searchlight of the prophets and
     We must say just a word yet about the prophet-              walk in the light of the more sure prophetic word
  ical prediction of God concerning Israel when they             which shines in a dark place, till the daystar  arises
  stood at the nether part of Mount Sinai, after com-            in our heart, the hope of the blessed eternal
  ing from Egypt's cruel and tyrannical bondage.                 morning (II Peter 1:19,21).
     The LORD, Who is faithful to His elect people,                 It is well to itake sharp notice of the term "pecul-
  tells them that if they walk in His ways, and obey             iar people." `The Dutch translation is  volk des
  His voice as they hear this in the Decalogue, the              eigendoms te  z#z. Likewise the German translation
  covenant words, then they shall be a peculiar                  is Eigenthum sein VOY alle Volkem. And Israel is to be
  people unto Him. It is a matter of keeping God's               this in distinction from the nations  (Goiim)  which
  covenant. Contrary to the teaching of Dispensation-            too are the possession of God. Israel is the "elect"
  alism it was not a mere keeping of a dispensation of           generation in sovereign predestination. We see this
  law, which really never existed. The teaching of a             explicitly stated in Deuteronomy 4:37, 38: "And be-
  "dispensation of law" is pure fiction.  _ The                  cause He loved thy fathers, therefore He chose their
  "Covenant" of God was the new redemptive rela-                 seed after them, and brought thee out in His sight
  tionship in which Israel is set by sovereign grace.            with His mighty power out of Egypt, to drive out
  And this Covenant must be kept; it must be kept by             nations before thee greater and mightier than thou
  Israel the redeemed people of God, the  blood-                 art, to bring thee in, to give thee their land for an in-
  sprinkled people (Ex. 12:1-17; 24:8; Heb. 9:18, 19).           heritance; as it is this day."
     Now the Covenant shall be in the generations of               Here we see unfolded before the eyes of Israel
  those who keep it. Yea, those who by grace fear the            the mystery of God in their salvation and deliver-
  LORD shall be a "peculiar treasure unto Me above               ance into the eternal rest. Israel is God's peculiar
  all people: for all the earth in Mine" (Ex. 19:5).  They       possession because of sovereign love and election.
  shall be the people, who were bought with a great              They were not loved because they were greater or
  price. Of these the Holy Spirit says through Peter,            better than the nations who were destroyed before
  "But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood,           them (Deut.  10:12-15). What moving words Moses
  an holy nation,  a  peculliar  peopZe,  that you should        speaks in the plains of Moab to Israel, when he
  shew forth the praises of Him, Who hath called you                      "Behold the heaven and the heaven of
  out of darkness into His marvelous light" (I Pet.              E%ens is the LORD'S thy God, the earth also with
  2:9).                                                          all that therein is. Only the LORD had a delight in
     Only when we interpret Exodus 19:5 in the light             thy fathers to love them, and He chose their seed
  of the infallible application of I Peter 2:9 do we hew         after them, even you above all people, as it is this
, to the line of all the teaching of Scripture, and do           day. Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your
  we not try making a clever biblical mosaic of our              heart, and be no more stiffnecked."
  own human invention. We must for our very life's                 It is in the heartfelt conversion, the putting off of
  sake teach the pattern of sound doctrine in these              the old man in true godly sorrow for sin, and the
  matters. We must not be wise in our own conceits.              putting on of the new man, that Israel can "circum-


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                               165



cise the foreskin of their hearts," whether male or         In the second place, these are they who have
female! To keep the covenant of God is thus as far        tasted that the -LORD is good, and full of kind com-
from a "principle of law" as the east is from the         passion. Are they not elect of God the Father
west.                                                     through sanctification of the Spirit unto the obedi-
   Furthermore, the keeping of the covenant was to        ence and the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus? (I
be of an antithetical nature. They were to remem-         Peter 2:4)
ber the word of James, "Ye adulterers and adulter-          This holy priesthood, thirdly, are they who have
esses, know ye not that the friendship of the world       not rejected the chief cornerstone laid in Zion, as
is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore will be a         did reprobated and unbelieving Israel, who would
friend of the world is the enemy of God" (James           not keep God's covenant but rather establish their
4:4). Israel was to be God's peculiar possession;         own righteousness of the law. They came unto this
they were to gainsay and destroy all that which was       Stone laid in Zion, elect and precious of God (I
contrary to God's covenant of grace. They were to         Peter 2:5-7).
cut down the idolatrous groves, destroy their altars,       These are priests both out of the Jew and the
and burn their graven images, and only worship            Greek. And these priests are, therefore, the church
God in the shadows and types which pointed to the         universal which the Son of God gathers, defends,
Lamb of God (Judges 6:27,28).  Thus they would be         and preserves out of the whole human race, elect
in the world, yet not of the world (Deut. 7:6, 7, 8).     unto everlasting life in the unity of faith! These are
  For the LORD tells Israel that they shall in this       they who have come out of the great tribulation,
way prove themselves to be a "kingdom of                  and who have washed their garments in the blood
priests." They would stand in God's house and             of the Lamb. Always they kept God's covenant,
temple forever, singing God's praises and harping         loved His law and His precepts, and kept them as a
as harpers with the harps of God (Rev.  5:8;  14:2;       great and precious treasure in their hearts.
15:2), They will dwell in Gods temple forever               Yes, Hosea  foresaw this as a prophet of the Lord.
more, when the tabernacle of God shall be with            It was a time when the reprobate shell of Israel, the
men (Rev.  21:3).                                         children of the flesh, utterly had forgotten the
  Such is the prophetic perspective here at the foot      LORD'S covenant, and the great confession of
of Sinai. For those who keep God's covenant are           Israel: "All that the LORD hath spoken we will
they who prove themselves to be anointed with a           do." Of these fleshly Israelites, who never kept
heavenly anointment of the  office~of  all believers.     God's covenant, but are evil fish in the Net of the
No, they shall not merely be a people in whose            Kingdom of heaven, Hosea writes that they are no
midst the Aaronic priesthood stands in the earthly        more considered with the commonwealth of Israel,
temple, which priesthood was done away forever            but are hence forward no more God's beloved, but
in Christ's death on the Cross, but they shall all be     they shall be  .called both  Loruhamah  and  Loammi,
"priests" in God's  kingdom,  the kingdom of              neither beloved nor My people (Hosea  1: l-9). They
heaven. Of this kingdom both  .John th Baptist and        are cut off from the Vine as dead branches (John
Christ spoke when they preached and heralded              15:1-10; Rom. 11:17).
"Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand"           But the promise of Abraham stands. His seed
(Matt.  3:1, 2; 4: 17; Dan.  2:44). The time had come     shall be as the stars in the heavens and as the sand
that all might be made k,ings  and priests unto God       by the seashore innumerable. (Gen.  12:3;  15:5).
(Rev. 1:5, 6).                                            And this promise of God did not fail (Rom. 9:6). It is
  That such is the prophetic perspective here in the      only a remnant that shall be saved (Rom.  9:27; Is.
Word of God, Who proclaims the end from the be-           10:22).
ginning, is evident from I Peter 2:1-10. I suggest          The true Israel did not rashly vow that they
that you read this entire section carefully and pray-     would do all the covenant words of the Lord.  Sco-
erfully from your own Bible. I would meanwhile            field taught that Israel here at Sinai "rashly" left go
call your attention to the following elements here.       of the promise to be placed under a law-principle.
  In the first place, let it be noticed that this holy    Nothing could be farther from the truth. For, as we
priesthood is composed of newborn babes, who are          have already pointed out, God's word to Israel is
born again not of corruptible seed, but of incorrup-      His sure covenant word that He will one day have a
tible, by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth       perfect church, which is His peculiar possession,
forever. These are they who have been brought ef-         about all the nations of the earth.
ficaciously to conscious faith by the Gospel                Dispensational teaching does not believe all the
preached (I Peter 1:23-25, 2:2). These are not under      prophetic Scriptures! This is not a matter of method
a "dispensation of law," no more or less than was         of interpretation, `the literal versus the spiritual, at
Israel at the law-giving at Sinai.                        all. It is a matter of simply taking God at His Word


166                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



and interpreting Scripture in the light of Scripture      foundation of God stands sure, having this seal: the
in childlike obedience of faith in the holy Scrip-        LORD knoweth them that are His. And, let every
tures. For these are all covenant words, priestly         one that nameth the name of Christ depart from ini-
words in God's holy temple, the church the temple         quity" (II Tim. 2: 19).
of the living God.                                          They who teach the doctrine of elective love can
  Dispensationalism does not believe really the           only give heed to the injunction, "Study to shew
doctrine of God's sovereign election, as this is          thyself approved unto God, a workman that  need-
woven into the very pattern of Sacred history.            eth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of
Their teaching lacks the foundation stone of the Cor      truth" (II Tim. 2:15).
Ecclesia,   the' heartbeat of the church. Only this         Let us cling to the Bible, and shun vain and pro-
faithful teaching of the Scriptures will keep us on       fane babblings.
the rock-bottomness of the "Nevertheless, the


                                        Book Reviews

EXPLORING CHURCH GROWTH,  Wilbert R.                      Case Studies, II. Methodological Issues, III. Theo-
Shenk, ed.; Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.,               logical Issues. Among the contributors are:  Ha&e
Grand Rapids,  Mich. 312 pp. (paper) $10.95 (Re-          M.  Corm (Westminster Seminary), Harry R. Boer,
viewed by Prof. R.D. Decker)                              Richard R. De Ridder (Calvin Seminary).
  The Church Growth movement, which has had a               The book ought to be read by anyone interested
tremendous impact upon the field of missions, has         in the subject of missions in general, and especially
its origin in the School of World Mission, Fuller         by  ,anyone interested in the church growth move-
Theological Seminary, Pasadena, California, parti-        ment. It is a book intended primarily for students,
cularly under the leadership of Dr. Donald A.  Mc-        ministers, and professors. At the same time it is cer-
Gavran, now Dean Emeritus of this school. Dr. Mc-         tainly not beyond the grasp of the "man in the
Gavran published in 1970 a book entitled:  Under-         pew."
standing Church Growth.  This volume was revised
and republished in 1980. Shortly thereafter this          THE PRINCETON THEOLOGY  (1812-1921),
book was reviewed in our  Standard Bearer  by the         Scripture, Science, and Theological Method from
undersigned. Without reading  McGavran's  book            Archibald Alexander to Benjamin Warfield, Ed. by
one will not gain much by reading the book under          Mark A. Noll, Baker Book House, 1983, 344 pp.,
review.                                                   $14.95 (paper). (Reviewed by Prof. H. Hanko)
  In the preface the editor states: "The purpose of         Especially within our circles, not a great deal is
this volume is to continue the exploration into the       known of  the! Princeton theologians, Archibald
phenomenon of church growth . . . . we wish to            Alexander, Charles Hodge, -Archibald Alexander
probe further into the premises, principles, and          Hodge, and  Behjamin  Breckinridge Warfield. This
goals of church growth. Our aim is not to offer de-       book is an excellent introduction to them. The edi-
finitive answers, but rather to open up fresh lines of    tor has compiled and edited a number of articles
inquiry  - historically, experientially, methodolog-      taken from their writings in magazines and books
ically, and theologically. We are asking: What            and given in speeches, and has arranged them
issues are pertinent to understanding the growth of       under the general headings of "Method," "Scrip-
the church, and how can we avoid methodologies            ture, " "Science," and "Polemics." Taken together,
which obscure and distort the results of research?        they  constituteIan  excellent survey of the thought
At relevant points we interact with previous              of these outstanding Presbyterian thinkers. They
studies; but our purpose is not polemics. We hope         will give one who takes the time to read them an
to contribute fresh insights and encourage students       overall survey of their approach to philosophy and
to carry the investigation further."                      theology and will help to understand the influence
  The book consists of twenty-two essays by               they have had on subsequent Presbyterian thought.
twenty different contributors. These essays are an          The Princeton theologians were deeply indebted
in-depth and rather scholarly study of church             and committed to Common Sense Philosophy as it
growth. They are divided into three sections: I.          was developed in Scotland over against the rational-


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                                            167



ism and idealism which had vitiated theology in           reign of Nero, and that the battle of Armaggedon
Great Britain. Taking their starting point in-this        was the destruction of the Roman Empire. These
philosophy, they made philosophical principles the        are only two examples of divergent interpretations.
underlying foundation of their theology. Theology,        To get another kind of amillennialism before you,
so they argued, is firmly rooted in philosophy and        we recommend this book.
is built upon it. Philosophy gives one the basic          CONVERSIONS, Edited by Hugh T. Kerr and John
suppositions upon which a truly biblical theology         M. Mulder; Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1983; 265
can be constructed.                                       pp., $12.95. (Reviewed by Prof. H. Hanko.)
  It is this approach to theology which explains the         The information sheet which accompanied this
philosophical characteristics of their writings, and
it is only in this light that one can also understand     book reads in part:
the works of later theologians who stood in this                  The first collection of personal conver-
tradition, viz., the works of such men as J.G.                sion accounts to span all of Christian his-
Machen and C. Van Til. Van Til's Apologetics, e.g.,           tory,  Conversions  is a careful selection of
can be understood only when it is seen that he was            writings in which 50 well-known Christians
deeply indebted to this methodology which was set             tell about their own conversion experiences.
forth by the Princeton theologians.                           From the Apostle Paul, St. Augustine, John
                                                              Bunyan, and John Henry Newman to Leo
  The book is recommended reading, although it                Tolstoy, C.S. Lewis, Simone Weil, Malcolm
must be understood that this reviewer does not                Muggeridge, and Charles Colson - here are
agree with this basic approach to theology. There             first-person conversion accounts of men
are many excellent articles on a variety of subjects,
and the overall result of reading this book will be a          and women whose names are known and
                                                               respected wherever the Gospel is pro-
greater appreciation for Presbyterian thought.                 claimed.
THE RULER OF THE KINGS ON THE EARTH,                         A rather lengthy introduction by the editors dis-
A Clear Look at Amillennialism for the Lay Person;        cusses the meaning of "conversion," but discusses
by R. G. Currell  & E. P.  Hurlbut; Presbyterian and      it from a theological, psychological, and sociolog-
Reformed Publishing, 1982;  118  pp., $4.95 (paper).      ical point of view. The result is that the editors' idea
(Reviewed by Prof. H. Hanko)                              of conversion differs in some fundamental respects
                                                          from that of Scripture. Because of this, conversion
  This book, so the authors claim, is written by lay      stories are included which are Arminian in char-
people for lay people to help them understand the         acter, which speak of conversion to Roman Cathol-
intricacies of the controversy between various mil-       icism from Protestantism, and very general "con-
lennial views. The  authors  were raised  premillen-      versions" to some mystical idea of a Supreme Being.
nialists, but were persuaded to become amillennial-
ists by a study of Scripture and other writings.             Each conversion account begins with a brief, but
                                                          interesting, biographical sketch of the person
  After a brief introduction and an historical            whose conversion account follows.
survey of the whole question of the millennium,
the authors deal with twenty separate questions              The book makes for very interesting reading,
which are the most common questions to arise as           contains some nice devotional material, can even
amillennialists and  premillennialists  defend their      be insniring in some instances, but must be read
respective views. The book is not so much a cri-          with discretion.
tique of premillennialism as a defense of  amillen-
nialism overagainst premillennial claims and obj ec-
tions. It is also an explanation of the passages which
are in dispute between -these two views. From time        piiizic
to time the postmiilennialists are also allowed to
make their contribution to the general discussion.
  The book is considerably different from what                          RESOLUTION OF  SYMPAT.HY
one would expect. It vividly demonstrates the fact          The Council of Southeast Protestant Reformed Church extends its
that there are almost as many different kinds of          sincere sympathy to our brother office bearer, Deacon Marvin  Mast-
amillennial views as different kinds of premillen-        bergen  and his family, in the recent death of his father-in-law, MR.
                                                          MELVIN  WIERSMA.
nial views. And the authors do not take the com-            May God comfort the family through His Word.
monly accepted position on many questions. While            "0 give thanks unto the Lord; for He is good; for His mercy  en-
holding indeed to the idea that the millennium is         durethforever." (Psalm  118:l).
this present period of history, they hold that the        Rev. Carl Haak, Pres.
great tribulation has already taken place during the      Richard H. Teitsma, Clerk

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


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                                                                             .:     we
                                                                       -.
168                                        THE STANDARD BEARER


                         News From Our Churches
                                              December 14, 1983
   Hope Protestant Reformed Church in  Redlands           service."
held a special program on Thursday, December 1,              Kalamazoo Protestant Reformed Church's
marking "50 years of Congregational existences.. . .      November 27 bulletin read in part, "Starting tomor-
Rev. C. Hanko gave the address and Rev. Kortering         row morning at 11:30 our pastor will be conducting
was present to greet the Congregation." In addi-          an open line discussion program on WKPR Mon-
tion, their "50th Anniversary-dedication booklets         day, Tuesday, and Wednesday of each week for the
are now complete.. . .Extra copies may be purchased       next three months. Listen and invite others to do so
from the clerk for $2.00 each."                           also."
  In  Across the  AisZe,  Vol. III, No. 8, December
1983,  I found this news about Jamaica. "Since re-           The Blue Bell mission has for its place of worship
ceiving the mandate from Synod to call a mission-         The Wissahickon Historical Society, The 1895
ary to labor in Jamaica, the council and committee        School House, Route 73 (Skippack Pike)  & School
have been quite busy. After calling Rev. R.  Miers-       Rd., Blue Bell, PA. Their worship services are at 10
ma and Rev. W. Bekkering, the committee met               A.M. & 6 P.M. Candidate Hanko's phone number is
with each one to discuss the field....Both men ex-        572-0786. Candidate Hanko writes in a letter of
pressed that their main concern was their family          November 30,. 1983: "The work is going fairly well.
and the education of their children. This concern is      We are working now on advertising. We have ads
very real when one considers moving to a different        in some newspapers and are planning to begin the
culture and lifestyle. However, the rewards of            distribution of some pamphlets.. ..These will be ac-
working in the field are immeasurable and we be-          companied by a letter of introduction to the PRC
lieve the Lord will prosper our labors." Rev. R. Van      and to our group in Blue Bell. Furthermore, we
Overloop  is now considering the call.                    hope soon to put some literature and an advertise-
                                                          ment for our services in Westminster Seminary,
  First Protestant Reformed Church of Holland             perhaps also in RES."
made this announcement in their December 11 bul-
letin: "Rev.  & Mrs. Heys are now in their own               A recent newsletter of the Reformed Witness Hour
apartment; their new address is below. Rev. & Mrs.        states, "We have an operating deficit of approxi-
John A. Heys, 44A Norton Park Avenue, Lower               mately $5,000 for the year ending December, 1983.
Hutt, New Zealand. Presently their phone number           Our need includes $2,000 to bring the radio sermon
is 011-64-4-676-669. You can dial direct with that        printings up-to-date and $3,000 to pay off the radio
number." Rev. Heys is assisting a small group of          stations. We also covet your prayers."
believers in the city of Wellington and plans to be          The .Hudsonville Protestant Reformed Church's
there six months. "It is our joy and privilege that       Men's Society has published one volume of the late
we can send Rev. Heys to minister to their needs."        Rev. G. Vos' meditations on the Psalms. You can
  In Southeast's November 20 bulletin, I found this       purchase this volume, entitled "0 Taste and See,"
announcement: "Next Sunday we will open our               for $7.00. The November 20 bulletin of  Doon Pro-
pulpit to the Seminary. The consistory has decided        testant Reformed Church read in part, "We need
to have Seminary Sunday every two months. Next            this type of literature in our homes. Our brother
Sunday Prof. Decker will preach in the morning            had an-unique gift of expression and his writings re-
and Prof. Hoeksema in the evening."                       flect the fact that he was mindful of the needs of
                                                          God's people for whom he wrote."
  First Protestant Reformed Church of Grand
Rapids has decided to resume their monthly  15-              From      Hudsonville        Protestant    Reformed
minute Sunday song service. The December 4                Church's December 4 bulletin, I read "The  Hud-
bulletin reads, "The first sing will be held after the    sonville Protestant Reformed Christian School So-
evening service on Christmas Sunday. Then each            ciety organized on Monday, November 21, with
succeeding month, on the last Sunday of the               103 members."
month, a 15-minute song service will be held prior          The Byron Center consistory has made the fol-
to the evening service.. . . Come early on those Sun-     lowing trio: Rev. C. Haak, Rev. B. Woudenberg,
days and become better prepared for the worship           and Prof. Decker.                               DH


