     The
STANDARD
     BEARERS
      A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE                                 Y





  When we are beset by doubts and fears,
then we have "graven" an image of God as
one Who is weak and helpless and Whose
arm is short. When we complain of our af-
flictions and trials, then we have forgotten
the transcendent glory of God as the One
Who governs and controls all things and
turns them to our advantage.
              See "God Is a Spirit" - page 236




                                    Volume LX, No. IO, February 15,1984 J


218                                                               THE STANDARD. BEARER




                                                                                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER
                                CONTENT%                                                                                 ISSN 03624692
                                                                                                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
       The Necessity of Infant Baptism. . . . . . . . . . . . . .218                  Department Editors: Rev. Ronald Cammenga, Rev. Arie den Hartog, Prof. Robert
                                                                                     D. Decker, Rev. Cornelius Hanko, Prof. Herman C. Hanko, Rev. Ronald Hanko,
  Editorials -                                                                        Mr. David Harbacb, Rev. John A.  Heys, Rev. J. Kortering, Rev. George C.
                                                                                      Lubbers, Rev. Thomas C. Miersma, Rev.  Marinus  Schipper, Rev. James  Slopse-
       "Act of Secession or Return". . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .221               ma, Rev. Gise J. Van Baren, Rev. Herman Veldman.
       An Opportunity to Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .222            Editorial Office:  Prof. H.C. Hoeksema
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MEDITATION


                        The Necessity of Infant Baptism
                                                                           Rev. C. Hanho

                   Ques. 74. Are infants also to be baptized?
                   Ans. Yes; for since they, as well as the adult, are included in the covenant and church of God:
                and since redemption from sin by the blood of Christ, and the Holy Ghost, the author of faith, is
                promised to them no less than to the adult; they must therefore by baptism, as a sign of the
                covenant, be also admitted into the.Christian  church; and be distinguished from the children of
                unbelievers as was done in the old covenant or testament by circumcision, instead of which
                baptism is instituted in the new covenant.                                        Heidelberg Catechism, Lord's Day 27.


  Reading this question and answer, we are  im-                                          consider to be the most beautiful of all our
mediately impressed by the similarity between this                                       cherished Confessions. Both refer to God's  cove-
and our beautifully concise Baptism Form, which I                                        nant as the basis for baptizing our children, pointing


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                              219



out that children as well as adults are included in        - quickened us, made us alive as new creatures in
God's covenant (Gen.  17:7, Acts  3:39), because           Christ! God separates us who are born children of
they also are promised redemption from sin                 Adam in a world of sin, from this present evil world
through the blood of Christ. Circumcision was the          by plunging us, as it were, into the death of Christ,
Old Testament sign of God's covenant and was re-           only to raise us again with Him in newness of life
placed by baptism in the New. Therefore children           (Rom.  6:4). By a living faith we are united with
as well as adults must be baptized.                        Christ and assured that we are partakers of Him
  Both our Catechism and our Baptism Form stress           and all His benefits, not the least of which are the
the necessity of baptizing our children. This is not       forgiveness of sins, the adoption of sons, and the
left up to the whim or desire of the parents. Nor          right to eternal life. God in Christ assures us "that
may this ever be done purely out of custom or              He doth wash us in His blood from all our sins, in-
superstition. But, as our Catechism expresses it,          corporating us into the fellowship of His death and
"Infants are to be baptized." And our Baptism              resurrection, so that we are freed from all our sins
Form makes it even stronger. Parents "may not ex-          and accounted righteous before Him."
clude them from baptism." God also lays this                 How can I be sure that these blessings are be-
necessity upon us in such a way that we count it a         stowed upon me and my spiritual seed? The
great privilege that we  may baptize the children          Catechism states that the Holy Ghost is promised to
God entrusts to us.                                        the infant as well as to the adult. That is, "The Holy
  In baptism, "God the Father witnesseth and seal-         Ghost assures us by this holy sacrament, that He
eth unto us, that He doth make an eternal covenant         will dwell in us, and sanctify us to be members of
of grace with us." * This "us" includes both be-           Christ, applying unto us that which we have in
lievers and their spiritual seed, according to the         Christ, namely, the washing away of our sins, and
promise to Abraham, the father of believers in             the daily renewing of our lives, till we shall finally
Genesis  17:7: "I will establish My covenant be-           be presented without spot or wrinkle among the
tween Me and thee and thy seed after thee in their         assembly of the elect in life eternal." How can we
generations." That seed is the spiritual seed, that is,    ever express more clearly and concisely the rich
all those who belong to Christ as members of His           benefits of our salvation than is expressed in that
body `(Gal. 3:16, 29). God establishes His covenant        statement? It is true that there are those who re-
with them in the line of generations. He assures           ceive the outward sign of baptism, but do not have
them in His Word and by His Spirit in their hearts,        this testimony of the Spirit in their hearts. Yet those
as by an infallible oath, which can never fail, of that    who do have this assurance experience the won-
ever blessed, glorious promise: I will be a GOD            ders of God's grace already in early infancy, as well
unto you and to your seed after you. This promise          as throughout their lives. The Holy Spirit knows
is so rich that we shall never fully understand it         how to apply the blessings of salvation also to mere
until our perfection in the new creation.                  infants, who know more than we often realize. Also
  But what right do I or any of my children have to        in children the Spirit works a daily renewing of
be included in God's covenant? The answer is that          their lives and bestows on them the washing away
redemption from sin by the blood of Jesus Christ is        of their sins as heirs of salvation.
promised to children as well as adults. As we stand          By this sacrament we are admitted into the insti-
at the baptismal font, or as we celebrate the sacra-       tute of the Christian church as members of the
ment of baptism in the congregation, we confess            body of Christ. This is not a conditional member-
that "we and our children are conceived and born           ship, as if our "full" membership must wait until
in sin, and therefore are children of wrath, in so         the time that we personally accept and appropriate
much that we cannot enter into the kingdom of              to ourselves God's promises by a public confession
God except we are born again." Every baptism               of faith. As children we are members of the church
service is a confession of our depravity, our sin, and     institute and are treated accordingly, being pre-
our guilt, causing us "to loathe and humble our-           pared for the time when we can consciously partic-
selves before God, and to seek for our purification        ipate by-a living faith in the communal life of the
and salvation without ourselves." Also our children        church, particularly in the celebration of the Lord's
"are conceived and born in sin, and therefore are          Supper.
subject to all miseries, yea, to condemnation itself."       Our Baptism Form states that in all covenants
Ephesians 2 comes to mind, testifying that we were         there are contained two parts, including our part in
dead in trespasses and sins, children of wrath, even       God's covenant, not as a second party or a co-work-
as the rest of mankind. But GOD! God, who is rich          er in the covenant, but as recipients of Gods grace.
in mercy, and for His great love wherewith He              "Therefore are we through baptism, admonished of
loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath             and obliged unto new obedience, namely, that we
quickened us together with Christ. Powerful word           cleave to this one God, Father, Son and Holy Ghost;


                                       ,
220                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



that we trust in Him, and love Him with all our            vows to the utmost of our power. In fact, all those
hearts, with all our souls, with all our mind, and         children that are baptized are OUY children, for they
with all our strength; that we forsake the world,          belong to the Body of Christ, of which we also are a
crucify our old nature, and walk in a new and holy         part. The responsibility to provide for their instruc-
life." God equips us, as it were, with the uniform of      tion in the home, in the school, and in the church is
Jesus Christ, which distinguishes us from the ranks        our mutual responsibility. Neither the parents nor
of Satan's forces. He places us in Christ's army to        we dare to feed the child small drops of poisonous
fight the battle of faith throughout our lives, with-      doctrine, no more than we would contaminate his
out which we cannot obtain the victor's crown.             food with wee bits of poison.
True, there are those who wear the uniform, but              Through faith in God's covenant faithfulness we
are still in their sins. They are the fifth columnists,    build church edifaces and proper school buildings,
the renegades, the quislings who traitorously resort       call ministers to bring us and our children the
to the camp of the enemy to oppose the cause of the        sound preaching of the Word, and hire school
living God. By their historical presence in the            teachers to instruct our children in the doctrine
sphere of the covenant they tread under foot all           taught in our church. No expense is too great for us
that is holy and transgress God's covenant. They re-       in training those children that God entrusts to us in
veal themselves as one with Esau and Judas, so that        His church and covenant. Ours is the solemn obli-
they also receive a just punishment. Paul speaks of        gation to maintain, in all that we say and do, "As
them through his tears in Philippians 3:18, 19. The        for me and my house, we will serve the Lord"
true soldier of the cross is renewed by God's Spirit,      (Joshua 24:25). For no greater privilege could ever
so that he is deeply aware of his own inability to         be granted us than the privilege of having God's
oppose the forces of darkness. He deeply humbles           dear children entrusted to our care, that God may
himself before God and seeks his strength and              use us as instruments for gathering His saints,
guidance outside of himself. He embraces God's             building His church, and preparing His chosen for
promises and clings to the cross as his only deliver-      heavenly perfection. We look forward to the day
ance from sin and death and his sure claim to              when God's saints will all be gathered and ready to
eternal life. He rejoices in the fact that, before he      be taken to glory, when we shall stand before the
could discern right from wrong, God in sovereign           throne with our spiritual seed to declare in humble
mercy placed the sign and seal of His covenant             adoration: See us, Lord, and the children which
upon his forehead. All boasting is excluded! For           Thou hast given us, for we are Thine! We have
even in his sorest temptation he rests assured that        Jehovah's sure promise: (PsaZter no. 243:9.)
his heavenly Father will avert all evil or turn it to            My oath is steadfast, ever sure,
his profit. He hears God's assuring word: "But                     My Servant's race shall still endure;
now, thus saith the Lord that created thee, 0 Jacob,             His throne forever firm shall stay
and He that formed thee, 0 Israel, Fear not, for I                 When sun and moon have passed away.
have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy
name; thou art Mine" (Isaiah 43: 1). For him faith is      * All quotations from now on are from the Baptism Form un-
the victory that overcomes the world. In that con-          less the reference is given.
fidence he looks forward to the day when he can
say with the apostle Paul, "I have fought a good                The Standard Bearer
fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the
faith, henceforth is laid up for me the crown of
righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge,               makes an excellent
will give me at that day" (II Tim. 4:7, 8).
  Also as parents we find great comfort in present-            gift for any occasion.
ing our children for baptism. We do this because
we cling to God's promise: I will be thy God and
the God of thy seed after thee. What a privilege is                   As a thoughtful
ours that God entrusts His own children unto us for
a time. We marvel at the fact that God loved us                    expression of your
even before we were born, but we marvel far more
when we see His love manifested in His precious
jewels. How we treasure the evidences of grace in                    concern, give the
them, the assurance that God's promises are real-
ized in us who are most unworthy. It is in that con-                Standard Bearer.
fidence that we make our baptismal vows before
God and His church, and strive to carry out those


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                             221



 EDITORIALS
 Prof. H.C. Hoeksema


                        "Act of Secession or Return"

 (This is a translation of the document which marks       tions and prescriptions, without demonstrating that
the beginning of the Secession of 1834 in the Neth-       those are in all things based on God's Word; there-
 erlands Reformed Church, to which we referred in         by this Netherlands Ecclesiastical Board has now
our editorial in the previous issue. HCH)                 made itself equivalent to the Popish Church re-
   We the undersigned, Overseers and members of           jected by our fathers; because not only is the pre-
the Reformed Congregation of Jesus Christ at              viously mentioned corruption observed, but in ad-
Ulrum, having observed for a considerable time the        dition God's Word is rejected or invalidated by
corruption in the Netherlands Reformed Church             ecclesiastical laws and decisions, Matt.  15:4,  23:4,
(Nederduitsch Hervormde Kerk), as well in the             Mark  7:7, 8 and they are persecuted who will live
mutilation or denial of the doctrine of our fathers,      godly in Christ Jesus, according to His own pre-
based on God's Word, as in the degeneration of the        scriptions, recorded in His Word, and the
administration of the Holy Sacraments, according          consciences of men are bound; finally on the
to the regulation of Christ in His Word, and in the       authority of the Provincial Ecclesiastical Board the
almost  complete neglect of ecclesiastical discipline;    preaching of the Word of God by a publicly ac-
all of which matters are, according to our Reformed       knowledged minister in our midst, the Rev. H.P.
confession Article 29, distinguishing marks of the        Scholte, Reformed Pastor at  Doveren and  Gender-
true Church; having received through God's grace          en, in the land of Heusden and Altena, Province of
a Pastor and Teacher who set forth to us according        North Brabant, was forbidden, and the mutual as-
to the Word of God the pure doctrine of our fathers       semblies of the believers, which were held with
and who applied the same both in particular and in        open doors, were punished by fines; - taking all of
general; the congregation was thereby more and            this together, it has now become more than plain,
more awakened to direct its steps in confession and       that the Netherlands Reformed Church is not the
walk according to the rule of faith and of God's          True, but the false Church, according to God's
holy Word: Galatians  6:16, Philippians  3:16; and        Word and Article 29 of our confession; for which
also to renounce the service of God according to          reason the undersigned hereby declare: that they in
human commandments, because God's Word tells              accordance with the office of all believers, Article
us that this is in vain, Matthew  15:9; and at the        28, separate themselves from those who are not of
same time to make us watchful for the profaning of        the Church, and therefore will have no more fel-
the signs and seals of God's eternal covenant of          lowship with the Netherlands Reformed Church,
grace; through this the congregation lived in rest        until it returns to the true service of the Lord; and
and peace; but that rest and peace was disturbed by       declare at the same time their willingness to exer-
the highly unjust and ungodly suspension of our           cise fellowship with all true Reformed members,
commonly loved and esteemed Pastor as a conse-            and to unite themselves with every gathering
quence of his public testimony against false doc-         founded on God's infallible Word, in whatever
trine and against defiled public religious services;      place God has also united the same, testifying here-
quietly and calmly has the congregation with their        by that in all things we hold to God's holy Word
Pastor and Teacher conducted itself to this point;        and to our old forms of unity, in all things founded
various very fair proposals were made, both by our        on that Word, namely, the Confession of faith, the
Pastor and Teacher and by the rest of the Overseers       Heidelberg Catechism, and the Canons of the
of the congregation; repeatedly investigation and         Synod of Dordrecht, held in the year 1618 and
judgment on the ground of and according to God's          1619; to order our public religious services accord-
Word was requested, but all in vain. Classical, Pro-      ing to the ancient ecclesiastical liturgy; and with
vincial, and Synodical Ecclesiastical Boards have         respect to divine service and church government,
refused this most just request, and on the contrary       for the present to hold to the church order insti-
have demanded repentance and regret without               tuted by the aforementioned Synod of Dordrecht.
pointing out any offense from God's holy Word, as           Finally, we hereby declare that we continue to
well as unlimited subjection to Synodical regula-         acknowledge our unjustly suspended Pastor.


222                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



  Ulrum, the 13th of October, 1834.                      tate to say that the Netherlands Reformed Church
                  (signed) J.J. Beukema, Elder           was not the true, but the false church. Therefore
                          K.J. Barkema, Elder            they separated themselves and returned to the old
                          K.A. van der Laan, Deacon      basis of the Word of God and the Three Forms of
                          D.P. Ritsema, Deacon           U n i t y .
                          Geert K. Bos, Deacon             The price of this separation and return, remem-
(Note. At the meeting of the congregation on Octo-       ber, was persecution. I mean persecution in the real
ber 14, 1834 at the home of the Widow Hulshoff           sense of the word! The power of the government
almost the entire congregation agreed with this          was turned against the Secession. There were fines.
position of the Consistory and also signed the Act of    There was imprisonment. There was the forced
Secession Or Return.)                                    quartering of soldiers in the homes of the members.
                                                         There were attempts to prohibit and disrupt the
                                                         gathering of the congregations. There was refusal
  We shall have more to say about this historic          on the part of the government even to recognize the
document and about the Secession, the Lord will-         congregations of the Secession as legitimate
ing, in the future.                                      churches.
  For the time being, however, we call attention to        But the saints endured and persevered, in spite
the fundamental character of the Secession and to        of all the forces of opposition and all the persecu-
its motive. We may notice that the document calls        tion.
attention to: a) the corruption of doctrine in the         Two questions: 1) To how many descendants of
Netherlands Reformed Church; b) the profaning of         the Secession is the matter of the true and the false
the holy sacraments; and, c) to the scandalous           church an important question today? 2) How many
neglect of discipline. Plainly, the question was one     descendants of the Secession today would endure
of the marks of the-true church. And the issue was       the persecution which their ancestors endured for
that of the true and the false church. This small and    the sake of their confession?
despised group of believers at Ulrum did not hesi-



                           An Opportunity to Help

  From the Session of the Evangelical Reformed           owner had decided not to sell the property. [This re-
Church of Singapore I received a copy for the            fers to an earlier proposal and request for help.
Standard Bearer of a letter sent to our  Doon Prot-      HCH] However, we are now finalizing a plan to
estant Reformed Church and the Foreign Mission           buy a property at 43 Blair Road, Singapore (very
Committee. The letter is under date of November          near China Town). Our budget, fund, and needs are
29, 1983. I waited with publishing it until I heard      shown below:
from the Foreign Mission Committee concerning                     Budget
any action they would take. Since all our Protestant              Sale of Property              s$190,000.00
Reformed Consistories will have by this time re-                  Legal/Stamp fee               S$  15,ooo.oo
ceived word from the Foreign Mission Committee,                   Renovation work               S$ 45,ooo.oo
and since this is a matter of concern for our people
and. churches, I now publish the letter:                                              Total     S$250,000.00
The Consistory                                                    Fund
Doon Protestant Reformed Church                                   Present Fund                  s$102,000.00
Dear Brethren in the Lord,                                        Possible Raised Fund          S$  59,ooo.oo
  Greetings in the precious Name of our Victorious                                     Total    S$161,000.00
Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.                             We are short of about S$89,000.00 and are trust-
  Further to our letter Rev. No.  AA/OO1/0007, we        ing the Lord to provide our needs according to His
wish to inform you that the proposal to buy the          riches by Christ Jesus (Phil.  4:19). [Note. It should
property at 35 E, Joo Chiat Place, Singapore, as         be kept in mind that the figures above are in Singa-
described in our letter was abortive because the         pore currency. I do not know the exact current  ex-


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  223



change rate, but it has been running about  50%,            sistories with a cover letter explaining: 1) That the
i.e., two Singapore dollars to one U.S. dollar. In          F.M.C. believes this to be a worthy cause, but that
other words, cut all the figures in half to get the pic-    we do not have the power to speak for Synod on
ture of the funds involved. HCH]                            this matter. 2) That we inform the consistories that
  The Session at its 18th Session Meeting held on           we leave compliance to this request solely to their
25 November, 1983 had decided to make use of the            discretion. 3) Should consistories decide to take col-
property for the following:                                 lections for this cause the F.M.C. will serve as agent
    i. as parsonage to house the family of Rev. Arie        for receipt of these monies. Carried."
         den Hartog,                                               We thank you for your past support and coopera-
   ii. to hold church activities that will eventually       tion in our endeavor to do the work of missions
         lead to the institution of ERCS's 2nd Congre-      upon the island of Singapore. May the Lord give
         gation in Singapore.                               you wisdom to discern His will and the grace to
  We would appreciate if you could share our                perform it in the matter that we prayerfully place
needs to your brethren in the States, and support us        before you.
with your prayer and means.                                 In the Service of Christ,
  Once again, we would like to express our appre-           (w.s.) Rev. Marvin Kamps
ciation for your love, concern and help rendered to                    Sec'y of the F.M.C.
us in the proclamation of the Reformed Faith in this
part of the world. May the Name of our Lord Jesus
Christ be praised.                                                 These two letters speak for themselves and make
                                                            plain what I meant by the title, "An Opportunity
Christian Love,                                             To Help." A few remarks in this connection will
(w.s.)  Johnson See,                                        not be amiss:
         Elder, for the Session                                    1. This is a highly necessary move on the part of
                                                            the young congregation in Singapore to get a place
                                                            of their own. They have no such place now, only
  I also received from our Foreign Mission Com-             rented quarters. Besides, the kampong where they
mittee a copy of the letter about this matter which         now meet is far too small and overcrowded; and in
was sent to all our Protestant Reformed Consistor-          addition, it is slated for eventual demolition.
ies. Here is the letter, under date of January 17,
1984:                                                              2. There appears to be every evidence that the
                                                                 church in Singapore is growing rather rapidly, and
Dear Brethren,                                              that it is by no means a dream that in the not too
  The Foreign Mission Committee has received a                   distant future there may be two, and even three,
request from the Evangelical Reformed Church of                  congregations.
Singapore for financial assistance. This is the                    3. A look at the figures presented in their letter
Church that has been organized through the mis-                  shows plainly that this is not at all an attempt at
sionary labors of our Churches in Singapore. This                free-loading on the part of the Singapore church.
Church owns no church property, but meets in                     They are supporting and proposing to support this
rented buildings. Now it has purchased an old                    project  themsebes  - in my opinion, to an amazing
house in the China Town section of Singapore,                    and even sacrificial extent. They are only asking for
which will be renovated for Church use. Property                 our help.
in Singapore is unusually high-priced due to the
fact that there is a very large demand for this ex-                It is my hope that our people and churches will
tremely limited natural resource in this small island            heed this request and help them generously.  I, am
republic of three million inhabitants.                           well aware that there are many causes and projects
                                                                 in our own midst which we are privileged to sup-
  The Foreign Mission Committee, with the ap-                    port. But as surely as we have become involved in
proval of the Doon Consistory, has enclosed a copy               mission work on this foreign field, so surely we
of the letter from the ERCS Session in which the re-             ought also to support the church in Singapore in
quest is made. Further it should be noted that this              this project with our prayer and means, even as
material is forwarded for your information and                   they request.
prayerful deliberation and is not an instruction            1                                                            I
from our Synod for collections for this cause.                                Read and study
  The following decision was adopted by the
Foreign Mission Committee at its December 20,
1983 meeting: "Motion is made to forward the let-                     the Standard Bearer
ter of the ERC of Singapore to our various  con-


224                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER



ALLAROUND US
Rev. G. Van Buren



                                              Women in Office

  In a recent issue of Christian Renewal (Nov. 21,                 derived from man, not uniquely created," the leader
1983),  attention was called to an old article which               said, and the worshippers responded:
had appeared in the  Grand Rapids Press  back in                      "We fell for all that . . . . We confess that we bowed
December 2, 1972. The quote points to the length                   down to that old ideology. . .  ." But they vowed to
some will go in order to promote "women's lib."                    seek "the liberation of the whole human family and
What was reported in that article is today being                   all creation . . . . "
done, with a greater degree of refinement, in                        Women taking part in the various readings, includ-
churches of Reformed persuasion. The article was                   ing a "litany of praise for women reformers," in-
titled: "Church Women's Celebration Calls Eve's                    cluded [list of women leaders) . . . .
Apple Episode a `Free' Act." It states:                               "Here is the juice of the apple," the leader invited.
       The forbidden "apple," that storied old lure to             "Drink deeply of the ferment of freedom."  .The
   human sin, got a new, honored place at a worship                women quaffed the juice, ate bits of bread, saying:
   service here - as the fruit of freedom.                         "We celebrate Eve's first free act. Let all creation re-
                                                                  joice."
       Church women dreamed up the idea, and cele-
   brated it. They also communed by sipping apple juice.             They also prayed: "0 God, creator, we thank you
   And they joined in affirming the "liberation of                 for making us women . . . . We believe your words
   apples."                                                       that in your time and place there is no male and fe-
                                                                  male, no mankind or womankind, simply your
       Declaring they rejected "man's traditional interpre-       people. Hasten the day of freedom when . . . . we will
   tation" of the Adam and Eve story, the congregation            all be one, even as you are one."
   of Roman Catholic, Presbyterian, Methodist, Epis-
   copal, United Church and various other Protestant                 They also sang a hymn of "My Mother's World, in-
   women chanted in unison:                                       stead of the conventional "My Father's World." Some
                                                                  of the revised words went: "She shines in all that's
       "We affirm that it does not convey truth to us about       fair; in the rustling grass I hear her pass. She speaks to
   apples, and certainly not about ourselves. We hold             me everywhere."
   that Eve performed the first free act."
       "Ah-woman," someone added, instead of the usual           Now, the above makes one to shudder. How can
   "Ah-men."                                                   any, calling themselves children of God, so horribly
       The ecumenical "sister-celebration," held at the        treat Scripture? How can such openly deny the
   Washington Square Methodist Church here recently,           plain teaching of Scripture - making fun of the aw-
   was part of a spreading women's crusade for fuller          ful fall of Eve and Adam into sin? How can such
   rights in church affairs. . . .                             profess to rejoice in the "apple" which Eve ate to
       . . . "We as women feel it is time that the church      her condemnation? How can such make a "com-
   repent of sexism and be reformed," said the Rev.            munion service" of such sin?
   Barbara W. McCall of New York, executive of the               Yet, out of this sort of corruption has arisen the
   United Church Task Force on Women, which spon-              "women's lib' movement in the churches. And
   sored the service here.                                     there is some real truth in what the women did in
       It began with readings of the Genesis account of        the article. Their action within the churches repre-
   humanity's creation and "fall," the first defiance of       sents indeed the same sort of action of Eve in Para-
   God as portrayed by the eating of forbidden fruit  - on     dise. She would not listen to the Word of the Lord
   Eve's initiative. Actually, the story never mentions        but was ready to distort it and disobey. Nor would
   "apple" - a mere elaboration of folklore.                   she have Adam to be her head. Now these "church
       "We were told that we were agents of evil, corrup-      women" seek to make Eve's act of rebellion their
   ters of perfect creation," intoned the leader, the Rev.     "banner" to bring the church into full "liberation"
   Tilda Norberg,  of Staten Island, N.Y.                      for women. These call Eve's act the "ferment of
       Chorused the female worshippers: "We fell for all       freedom." How true  - but the freedom of
   that."                                                      bondage, the liberty of hell. Surely the child of God,
       "We were told that we were subordinate beings,          realizing the spirit out of which arises the


                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER                                                         2 2 5



"women's lib" movement within the churches, as                     issue. The time will come when the Church says,
portrayed in the above article, would not want to                  `That is not the essence of the gospel'."
be associated with that at all.                                       . . . (Kromminga) reminded the audience that in
  Still, within the churches today, the cry  -                     1957 women were allowed to vote in Christian Re-
though not with the degree of godless mockery - is                 formed churches. The effects of change are slow in
increasingly heard. Truly out of Eve's rebellion has               coming, but even when we resist change, we change,"
arisen a similar rebellion against the God-ordained                he said.
order. Some of this has been reported in Calvinist                   Kromminga got a delayed outburst of laughter
Contact,  Dec. 9, 1983:                                            when he ended his speech by saying, "The thought of
                                                                   change will make many of our present leaders turn in
      More than 200 women and men attended the Con-                their grave. . .  "
    ference on Women in Church Office held on Novem-                  .        After the coffee break, a panel of 4 women
    ber 18, 19 at Calvin College. The theme of the confer-         church "officers" talked about their experiences.
    ence was "Partners in the Gospel."                             "Women on the Cutting Edge" was the theme.
      Sponsored by six Christian Reformed Churches                    Beverley Meyers, Adjunct Elder at the Hope CRC
    who have or have had women in office and the Com-              Oak Forest, Ill., told the gathering that her work was
    mittee for Women in the Christian Reformed Church,             like that of an elder, except she was not ordained, she
    the convention according to a brochure, was intended           could not vote. She thought of her three years of
    to "develop a sense of unity among local churches              service as "a very tranquil time" because she ex-
    and church members committed to the full use of                perienced much support. There was a good deal of
    women's gifts."                                                opposition from Classis,  however.
      . . . Friday evening keynote speaker Rev. Cleo Lud-
    wick, RCA Chaplain at Pine Rest Christian Hospital,              Judy Plekker, Associate Deacon at Calvin CRC,
                                                                   Grand Rapids, also has no vote and was not or-
    reflected on the difficulties she and her husband ex-          dained . . . .
    perienced when they faced changes in their relation-
    ship because of her desire to grow as a person . . .             Jane Vander Haagen  is a full-fledged deacon in the
      . . The panel discussion that followed and that was          River Terrace CRC in East Lansing,  Mich. She takes
    entitled "The Church and the Process of Change" was            up collections, explains collections, offers prayer and
    started off by Dr. Louis Vos, Professor of Religion at         is a full voting member of council . . . .
    Calvin College. He focused on theology and change.                .    [Rev. William Brink) said that he was not against
      Vos referred to Galileo's theory that the sun, not the       women in office, but added, "we should not place our
    earth, was the centre of our solar system. "In his days        denomination in jeopardy. . . . I'
    that was a theological question," said Vos. "We say it        It appears that today, more than ever, many
    isn't."                                                     "celebrate Eve's first free act." They have indeed
      Vos predicted that the same will be true of the ques-     drunk deeply of the "juice of the apple." But, one
    tion of women in office. "It will remain a theological      can only cry: "Beware! Remember the conse-
  ' issue as long as the church thinks it is a theological      quences for Eve and Adam!"



                                    Abortion on Demand


  Bethany Christian Services of Grand Rapids,                   a bloodbath in this country  - since more than
Mich. recently sent reminders to all of the local               1,200 criminals are on "death-row," awaiting simi-
churches of the fact that on January 22, 1984 it will           lar execution. One commentator asked if the
be 11 years since the United States Supreme Court               American people could indeed allow such a terrible
issued a decision which declared abortion on                    bloodbath. Remarks were made about the de-
demand legal in all 50 states.                                  humanizing results of such executions. It was
  That reminder was struck home forcefully to me                pointed out that we ought not to take life so lightly.
when, shortly after, I heard news broadcasts telling            Some even claimed that such executions were
the American people that for the first time in many,            murder.
many years, two criminals had been executed in                    Then the announcement concerning abortions
one week. Great stress was placed on the fact that              came back to,me.  It had stated, "The United States
two were killed. Many saw this as the beginning of              now has one of the most liberal abortion laws of all


226                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



the nations in the free world. 4,000 children lose        our land are taken away within one week without
their lives to abortion every day." And: "1.5 mil-        benefit of trial, without a lawyer defending their
lion children lose their lives to abortion every year     "rights"  - while two criminals, guilty of terrible
- a modern day holocaust." If these figures are           murder, duly tried and judged worthy of death, are
accurate, and I have every reason to believe they         slain within one week, creating in the process un-
are, that would mean that about 16 million lives          told cries of horror and prophecies of doom. What
have been snuffed out during the past eleven years.       does that tell of the age and country in which we
That is like destroying the population of five cities     live? There is truly the calling of "evil" to be
the size of Chicago!                                      "good," and "good" to be "evil." All this God will
  4,000 lives of babes who have violated no laws of       judge!
QUESTIONBOX


                           The Unity in the Trinity
                                                 Rev. C. Hanko


  A reader writes:                                        creation; . . . God the Son and our redemption, . . .
   "I have a question that involves the trinity and       God the Holy Ghost and our sanctification." The
prayer. In the Lord's prayer Jesus teaches His dis-       same distinction is made in the second paragraph of
ciples to pray and to address God as "Our Father,         our Baptism Form.
which art in heaven." The Lord's prayer is a com-           Many attempts are made to defend this separa-
plete model prayer. We believe that when we do            tion of the work of each person of the divine three.
this we address not the first person of the trinity,      Some have said that the Father appears on the fore-
but the truine God. How must we understand that,          ground in the work of creation, the Son in the work
seeing God is one in essence, yet three persons,          of redemption, and the Spirit in the work of sancti-
Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The Father is the            fication. Others have said that if appears to us as if
Creator, the Son is our Savior, and the Holy Spirit       each person stands on the foreground in each par-
sanctifies us. All three are co-eternal and co-essen-     ticular work. The fact remains that this distinction
tial. They are all equal and eternal. There is neither    is incorrect, for it separates the three persons and
first nor last. We read concerning the Son in Colos-      destroys their unity. We end up with three God's
sians  1:18, `And He is the head of the body; the         instead of one.
church; who is the beginning, the firstborn from
the dead; that in all things He might have the pre-         It must be maintained that all three persons are
eminence.' And in Philippians  2:6, `Who, being in        active in all of God's works. A comparison of
the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal        Genesis 1: l-3 with John, chapter 1, verses 1-3
with God.' Seeing Father, Son and Holy Ghost are          shows us that all three persons, Father, Son, and
all God, why did Jesus teach us to pray `Our              Holy Spirit were active in creation. Also in the
Father?' Why can we not pray to Jesus, our Lord           work of redemption the Father gave His Son as a
and Savior, who always prays for us, and to the           sacrifice for us, the Son laid down His life, and the
Holy Spirit? We always pray `for Jesus' sake.' This       Holy Spirit, with whom Christ was anointed, sus-
is important and necessary. Why isn't this men-           tained Him in His suffering. John  3:16 tells us that
tioned in the Lord's prayer?"                             God so loved the world that He gave His only begot-
                                                          ten Son. Likewise in the work of sanctification, God
  There are actually three questions here, which          gives the Holy Spirit to Christ upon His exaltation,
will have to be treated separately. In regard to the      whom He, in turn, pours out into the church to
first: This question is very important, since there is    perform all the work of our salvation in us and
much misunderstanding in regard to the unity of           through us.
the three persons in the trinity and in their work.
This misunderstanding actually dates back to a lack         When Jesus teaches us to address God as our
of clarity in our Confessions on this subject. In our     Father in heaven, He includes all three persons of
Heidelberg Catechism, Lord's Day 8, to which the          the trinity. For the triune God is the God and
reader refers, we read, "`God the Father, and our         Father of Jesus Christ (Ephesians  1:3). Therefore,


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                             227



when Christ addresses God as His Father He is                   This is possibly a bit more difficult, but must
praying, not to the first person in distinction from          have passed through the minds of many of us. One
the other two, but is addressing the triune God. For          reason why this is not included in the model prayer
example, the first word spoken on the cross,                  is probably because Jesus wanted to keep this
"Father, forgive them, for they know not what they            prayer as brief and simple as possible. A weightier
do," was addressed to God triune in heaven, who               reason is that this was spoken earlier in Jesus' min-
also heard Him and laid our sins upon Him, so that            istry, actually still in the old dispensation, before
this prayer was also answered, as was evident on              Jesus was exalted in heaven. At that early time the
Pentecost when three thousand were brought to                 disciples could not have understood what it means
repentance (Acts 2:39).                                       to pray in Jesus' name. It was only at the time of
  In this same sense the triune God is our Father in          Jesus' departure from the earth to ascend to the
Christ Jesus. All the blessings of salvation come to          Father's right hand, that He spoke to them  .of the
us from Him in the Beloved, that is, through our              coming of the Holy Spirit and of His intercession in
Mediator Jesus Christ, by His indwelling Spirit, the          heaven. At that time Jesus emphasized this very
Spirit of Christ that dwells in the church.                   strongly. In John  14:13, 14, "And whatsoever ye
                                                              shall ask in My name, that will I do, that the Father
  In close connection with the foregoing the reader           may be glorified in the Son. If ye ask anything in
asks, "Why can we not pray to Jesus, our Lord and             My name, I will do it." In chapter 15, the verses 7
Savior who always prays for us, and to the Holy               and 10, there is a similar reference to asking in
Spirit?" There is, to the best of my knowledge, only          Jesus' name. And in chapter  16:23, 24 we are told,
one prayer in the New Testament addressed to                  "And in that day ye shall ask Me nothing. Verily,
Jesus as our exalted Lord in heaven. That is the              verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the
well-known prayer of Revelation  22:17, "And the              Father in My name, He will give it you. Hitherto
Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that              have ye asked nothing in My name: ask, and ye
heareth say, Come." And again in verse 20: "Even              shall receive, that your joy may be full." That this
so, come, Lord Jesus." The very fact that, with this          refers to Jesus' mediatorial intercession in the
exception, we have no special prayers to the sep-             heavens is evident from Hebrews 4:15, 16: "For we
arate persons of the trinity must point out that we           have not an high priest which cannot be touched
pray to God as triune God, whose works are                    with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all
eternally one in Him. Personally, I consider it very          points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let
wrong to stress Jesus to children, as is so often             us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace,
done, leaving the impression that God is an austere           that we may obtain mercy, and find grace in time of
Being to be feared, but Jesus is kind and gentle.             need." Likewise in Ephesians  2:18, "For in Him
  The third question reads, "We always pray `for              (Christ Jesus) we both (Jew and Gentile) have ac-
Jesus' sake'; this is important and necessary. Why            cess by one Spirit unto the Father."
isn't this mentioned in the Lord's prayer?"

MY SHEEP HEAR MY VOICE


                              Our Order of Worship
                                                     Prof. H. Hanko



  In our last article we concluded our discussion of          worshinL which have been followed in the past,
the elements of the worship service which actually            especially in the Reformed tradition of the Calvin
precede the worship proper: prayers before the                Reformation. If one studies these various orders of
service, the prayers in the Consistory room, the              worship, it is quite surprising that, while they have
organ (or piano) prelude. In this article we begin a          differed rather widely from each other, they have,
discussion of the worship proper and the various              with few exceptions, included the same elements.
elements which go to make it up.                                 There is a word of instruction here which we do
  Before we enter into a discussion of each ele-              well to consider. A great deal of experimentation
ment, it might be well to consider various orders of          goes on in our day in the area of liturgical worship.


228                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



These changes, many of which are taking place             divided the order of worship in such a way that the
even within Reformed churches, assume many dif-           participation of the congregation in various liturgi-
ferent forms. Sometimes worship services them-            cal actions was separated from the role of the min-
selves are discarded or replaced by special pro-          ister. Generally speaking, he preferred to have the
grams, special speakers, dramatic productions,            objective part first, although he allowed for some
liturgical dances, or films and movies. Sometimes,        variations in the order. His order was as follows:
the outward form of the worship service is pre-             Objective part.
served, but the whole of the order of worship is                The reading of the law
changed. Various elements are added to make the                 The confession of sin
worship more liturgical or to add some "sparkle" to             Absolution
what is considered drab and colorless. This                     The creed
happens, e.g., with the introduction of choirs and              Prayer, ending with the Lord's prayer
special musical numbers into the worship. Some-                 Collection
times various elements are taken out in the inter-              Blessing
ests of mere change or to shorten the worship.              Subjective part.
Sometimes such complete alteratbns are made that                Form prayer
one can scarcely recognize that one is in a service             Song
where the church of Christ worships her God.                    Scripture reading
  It is interesting, therefore, to consider the fact            Sermon
that the order of worship as practiced in our                   Prayer.
churches has a long and illustrious history, that it        Dathenus, another great figure in the history of
was formulated with a view to keeping the worship         Reformed liturgy, had the following order:
of the church as near to Scripture as possible, but         Votum
that it also leaves room for that liberty which             The law - read or sung
Scripture itself gives us. We are, in our worship, in       Form prayer for:
good company.                                                   Confession of sin
                                                                Prayer for the minister and the preaching
  That we may have an idea of some of the orders
of worship set up by those in the Reformed tradi-               The law
tion, we will include in this article a few samples.            Creed
                                                            Sermon
Notice how they all, while differing in details, agree      Prayer for the needs of Christendom
in the essential elements.                                  Aaronitic blessing.
  The first one to practice a genuinely Calvinistic         Dr. A. Kuyper also divided the order of worship
order of worship was Calvin himself. He developed         into an objective and subjective part.
an order of worship while he was in Strassburg, and         Objective part:
believed that it was based upon Scripture. It was as            Votum
follows:                                                        Benediction
  The Votum                                                     Confession of sin
  Confession of sin                                             Absolution
  Absolution                                                    Creed
  The reading of the Decalogue                                  Announcement of text
  A form prayer which closed this part of the                   Psalm
       liturgy                                              Subjective part:
  A prayer for the sermon ending in the Lord's                  Prayer
       prayer                                                   Scripture reading
  The sermon                                                    Sermon
  A prayer of thanks to God and for the needs of            Prayer:
       Christendom                                              Of thanks and for the needs of Christendom
  The creed                                                     The law
  The blessing.                                                 The blessing.
  Calvin also introduced into the worship the sing-         There are one or two remarks about these var-
ing of the Psalms; and special versifications  of and     ious orders of worship which are worth making. In
music for the Psalms were prepared for the use of         the first place, it is interesting to note that each one
the people of God.                                        contains a "confession of sin" and three of them
  A.  Lasco,  one of the great liturgists in the Re-      have an "absolution." The idea here is not that of
formed tradition, divided the order of worship into       the Roman Catholic Church, with its "confession-
an objective part and a subjective part. That is, he      al" and absolution by the priest, who has claimed


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                               229



for himself the right to forgive sins. The idea is           Secondly, it is interesting to note that all the
rather that the people of God are required to come         orders of worship referred to above included a
before God in worship in true humility. And  ,this         "prayer for the needs of Christendom." This also is
humility does not only arise from the fact that            important. Perhaps in our order of worship this is
God's people are mere creatures before the face of         best included in the congregational prayer. But at
the Creator of heaven and earth  - all nations are         any rate, it is crucial that this be not forgotten. So
before Him as the dust of the balance and less than        often it is true that the minister, when he leads in
a drop of a bucket' - but it arises also from the          prayer, limits his prayers to the congregation of
c&sciousness  of great sin and unworthiness. We            which he is pastor. He prays for that congregation,
have, in ourselves, no right to come before God, for       brings the needs of that congregation before the
we are sinful and guilt-burdened. Our only right is        throne of grace, prays for those in the congregation
in Christ Jesus our Lqr,d, It is iAt.~is.~on~~~~-~sness    who are sick or dying, who are in special need be-
that the child of God comes before God, and it is          cause of the heavy hand of the Lord upon them -
this which makes his coming an act of humility.            and all this is good; but he forgets to incldde in his
  Scripture often emphasizes this truth also. How          prayers the needs of any of the saints outside his
often did not the prophets castigate Israel for mere       own flock. This is an intolerable omission. He
outward worship, lip-service, while their hearts           ought to pray for all the sister congregations with
were far from God. Agaip and again God reminded            which his congregation dwells in fellowship within
His people that a broken spirit and .a contrite heart      the communion of the churches of the denomina-
was what was pleasing to Him. If they were to ap-          tion; but he ought also to pray for the whole of the
pear before Him properly, they had to come with            church of Christ throughout the world.
deep and profound sorrow of heart that they had              This is so important because of the fact that one
offended God with their sins.                              congregation is not alone in the world and is not, by
  But following upon this confession of sin comes          itself, the body of Christ. The saints worship in the
the blessedness of forgiveness and the assurance of        communion of all the church, in living fellowship
mercy and pardon in the blood of Jesus Christ.             with all the church of all ages, but also living on the
When God's people experience that pardon of sin            earth at any given time. We are one in the body of
by faith in Christ and receive the assurance that          Christ, united with all the saints from every nation
they are, in their blessed Savior, worthy to stand         and tribe and tongue. We  are a part of a church
before God, then also they can worship in the con-         which is truly catholic  - as we confess: "I believe
fidence that God will receive them and their wor-          in an holy, catholic Church." To fail to pray for the
ship and come to dwell with them.                          needs of the whole church of Christ is a narrow
                                                           parochialism, a spiritual self-centeredness which is
  These ideas were emphasized by our fathers               inexcusable.
when they included these elements in the order of
worship. In the order of worship in our churches             For the rest, while the order is somewhat differ-
we do not have such a separate element, and this is        ent, the main elements are all there.
perhaps a mistake. Nevertheless, this conscious-             Within the freedom of the Scriptures themselves,
ness ought to be present in God's people when they         therefore, and the variations which are possible
appear before God, and it certainly ought to be a          within that freedom, we have the assurance that
part of the congregational prayers if it is not made a     our worship and its order stand in the solid tradi-
separate element. It would, I think, be well to            tion of the Reformed faith. The liturgical experi-
consider seriously including some such separate            mentation which goes on today ought to be
element in our order of worship.                           abhorred.
THEDAYOFSHADOWS

                        Loved as an Enemy of God
                                                Rev. John A. Heys


Note: The article which appeared in this rubric on         apologies to our readers, and especially to Rev.
February  1,  entitled "A Tragically Worthless  Suc-       Heys, for this disruption in the sequence of articles
cess," should have come after this article. Our            in this series.


230                                        THE STANDARD BEARER



  There are many reasons  why- people "fall in           see the kingdom of God in a person, we must not
love." A man may fall in love with a pretty face,        seek that one's hand in marriage! The all-control-
and fall in love at first sight. A woman's soul may      ling thing to find in a life's mate is faith in God,
be stirred by athletic prowess, fleshly charisma,        righteousness, a love of God and His kingdom.
and she may quickly fall in love with one of the           THAT Esther did not do, and THAT Mordecai
world's heroes. Beauty, it is said, is in the be-        did not want her to do! As I pointed out last time,
holder's eye. That being the case, what is attractive    she was commanded not to show in any way at any
to one may be utterly unattractive to another. What      time any faith in God, or love of righteousness. And
is beautiful to one may cause another to question        Esther willingly went along and kept Mordecai's
the eyesight of his neighbor.                            command without complaint or objection of any
  But tragic it is in the church when a woman is         kind. Mordecai's command, not God's, was her
loved because she shows enmity towards the living        rule for life. Being yoked to a godless man, living a
God. Disappointing, but also pathetic, it is when a      life of adultery with him, throwing away the first
young man falls in love with a young woman who           table of His law, as well as the second table thereof,
charms him because of her worldly, unsanctified          she went after that which would give joy and plea-
walk of life. The world sees the beauty that God         sure to her flesh. She, as well as Mordecai, was not
gives the daughters of Zion; and there is nothing        doing all this in the interest of God's church, but for
strange about it when the world desires to get ac-       self and for the nation of Israel. Not the church of
quainted with these daughters, to date them and          God which was in the nation of Israel at that time
establish friendly relationships with them. Neither      concerned her, but the nation of Israel at the ex-
is it strange that the young men in the church see       pense of the faith and life of the church in the
the physical beauty of the women in the world. But       nation. Not the kingdom of God and its righteous-
both the young women and the young men in the            ness came first in her life, but the fleshly seed of
church have one powerful weapon to fend off and          Abraham. She pushed all the things of the kingdom
keep away the unbelieving men and women of the           of God aside, and this she did in order to conquer
world. Let them display their faith in God. Let          the world, to be the wife of a godless king, and to be
them show a walk of love toward the living God;          queen in a world power. Do not say that she and
and the world has no interest in them any more.          Mordecai were looking far ahead and for influence
Sad to say, this weapon is not used; and young           to get Israel back into the land of Canaan. Israel had
women and young men in the church end up with a          returned already. Make her a heroine of faith  -
life wherein, if indeed they are children of God,        like those in Hebrews 11  - but why did not the
they are greatly hindered in their walk of faith with    Spirit move the author of this epistle to include her
a life's mate that will not help them in their spir-     then in the list? Besides, can you find anywhere in
itual life and cannot comfort them in their trials       Scripture, or in church history, that a person hid his
and afflictions.                                         or her faith in order to further the cause of Christ?
  The world will love you, if you will only walk as      Is it not always the other way? Does one not exactly
they do in a life that shows no love toward God.         fight with spiritual weapons to protect and defend
And how serious and important it is to emulate the       the church? Come! Come! Let the Word of God,
psalmist who in Psalm 119:63 writes, "I am a com-        that deliberately shows us that neither Esther nor
panion of all them that fear Thee and of them that       Mordecai used God's name in  - as we hope to
keep Thy commandments." How necessary that               point out later in this series - times when it had to
we heed what Paul wrote in II Corinthians 6: 14-17:      be mentioned, and reveals unbelief when it is omit-
"Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbe-           ted, explain Esther's actions.
lievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness            Yes, Esther was a submissive daughter. And that
with unrighteousness? and what communion hath            is amazing for such an earthly beauty. She obeyed
light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ        Mordecai before this beauty contest. Now that she
with Belial? Or what part hath he that believeth         is queen, we find in later chapters, she again obeys
with an infidel? And what agreement hath the             him. She not only kept his commandment not to
temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of       reveal that she belonged to a nation that feared
the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in        Jehovah, the one and only true God, but also when
them, and walk in them; and I will be their God,         he insisted on it that she go in to speak to the king.
and they shall be My people. Wherefore come out            Now women with exceptional beauty in the
from among them, and be ye separate, saith the           world are almost always vain and proud. They seek
Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will re-    to get their way by virtue of their beauty. They use
ceive you." And Jesus gave the rule in His sermon        their beauty as a power over men. And having later
on the kingdom: "Seek ye first the kingdom of God,       on also attained to the place of power and honour,
and its righteousness" (Matthew 6:33). If we do not      by being chosen by the king, Esther still submits to


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                               231



Mordecai. Not once do we read that she sent ser-          and an Old Testament believer, cannot condone
vants to go out and to tell him to leave her alone or     evil, keep silent when unbelievers ascribe God's
else . . . .                                              praises to idols.
   We also read in verse 15 that she submitted to           Let us beware lest we fall in love with Esther
Hege. This was, of course, for her own good. It was       who showed nothing but hatred against God. There
not to keep the fifth commandment in its basic            is nothing in her life, as presented in this book, that
meaning of honoring all in authority. Hege knew           any believing parent would want to recommend to
the king better than she did. And to win the contest      his child. There is so much in her life that a sincere,
she had better get the best help that she could.          covenant parent would want to warn his children
Materialistic goals drove her to this, not spiritual      against, as we hope to see.
considerations. She was wise enough in the ways of          Jesus said it, "If a man love Me, he will keep My
the world not to say to Hege, "I'll do it my way. I'll    words" (John  14:23). And John wrote it in I John
beguile him by my beauty." No, she submitted be-          53, "For this is the love of God, that we keep His
cause there was so much at stake as far as the            commandments." Did Esther do that? Is there in
things of this world were concerned.                      the whole book one work of love toward God re-
   All this submissiveness, however, was not pleas-       corded?
ing in God's sight. It was not in His eyes seeking the      As already pointed out, had she shown one work
kingdom of God and its righteousness. If you have         of love to God, she would not have found favour in
a wicked goal, you cannot properly use righteous          the eyes of the keeper of the women. Had she
means. If your motive is carnal, you cannot use the       showed this when she was ushered in before the
things of God's kingdom properly to get that for          king that night, when she was put to the test by this
which your flesh craves. And certainly failure to         ungodly king, he would have driven her away. He
use spiritual weapons and to confess the God of           was not looking for faith in her. He was not inter-
heaven and earth will never make a wicked motive          viewing her so that he could be told what Jehovah
right in God's sight.                                     said about putting away a wife, and about adultery
   The whole point is that Esther did not submit to       being the only reason Moses gave (not God) for the
God! How could she be submitting to God by deny-          Israelites to live separately, if adultery bothered the
ing Him? We read in Isaiah  43:21, "This people           one mate so much that living with the other was
have I formed for myself, they shall show forth my        psychologically impossible. He was not ready to
praise." And in I Peter 2:9 we have the same idea.        hear God's law proclaimed; and had she begun to
The believers are a chosen generation, a royal            witness of Jehovah, she would have been driven
priesthood, a peculiar people, an holy nation that is     out before she got very far. Jesus said that, "If they
brought into being to show forth the praises of Him       have persecuted Me, they will also persecute you"
Who called them out of darkness into His marvel-          (John  15:20). Had Esther revealed Christ during
ous light. And you cannot do that by not using His        those months of preparation, and then before the
name. You will fail in that glorious work when you        king, she would have been persecuted, not chosen
fail to show that you are His people, as Esther at        to be queen.
Mordecai's command failed to do. The question is            But no, she manifested herself as one of the
not whether a work looks good to man, or outward-         world. She walked as one who hated Jehovah and
ly resembles a work performed by a believer. The          bowed before the king's idols. Such the king can
question is whether it looks good to God Who reads        and did love. And she was loved as one who is an
the heart.                                                enemy of God.
   And to fail to show love toward God is an act of         How could it be otherwise? For she was loved
hatred towards Him. Failure to confess Him is to          and chosen by an enemy of God to be his wife. And
deny Him. And to deceive men, by keeping back an          enemies of God can only choose and love those
important truth that they must know, is walking           who are enemies of God. One who hates God can-
contrary to God's law, and thus is performing an          not love one who loves God. Do not take my word
act of hatred against Him.                                for it. Listen to what the Holy Spirit says about this
   Esther was loved because she walked in hatred          in that passage I quoted from II Corinthians 6.
against God. And if you disagree with this, come          There through Paul He states unequivocally that
with something, just one thing in the book that does      righteousness has no fellowship with unrighteous-
display one act of faith. Show where she stood up         ness; light has no communion with darkness;
for the cause of God. Point out a passage that            Christ has no concord with Belial; the temple of
teaches that she showed forth the praises of God.         God has no agreement with idols; and the believer
Show `where she even attempts to fight for God's          has no part with infidels. The opposite is therefore
cause and to oppose sin and the lie. A Christian,         also true that the unrighteous, darkness, Belial, the


232                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



infidel, and idols want nothing to do with the                teousness and spiritual darkness, she is revealed in
righteousness, spiritual light, Christ, believers, and        Scripture to be an unbeliever. There is a reason
the temple of God.                                            why not one positive act of faith in God is related
  And since Esther did seek cZose  fellowship, com-           concerning her. Listen to what God says; but take
munion, concord, and an intimate part with this in-           note also of what He omits and yet speaks volumes
fidel, who was a friend of Belial and full of unrigh-         about this beautiful but wicked descendant of
                                                              Abraham.
FAITH OF OUR FATHERS


                                      The Nicene Creed
                                                  Rev. James Slopsema


Article 2 -And the third day He rose again, according         ciples had stolen the body while they slept (cf.
       to the Scriptures;                                     Matt.  28:11-15).  According to Matthew  28:15 this
  The wording of this particular article is evidently         explanation was commonly received among the
taken from I Corinthians  15:3, 4: "For I delivered           Jews even till the time of the writing of the Gospel
unto you first of all that which I also received, how         of Matthew which was about 35 years after the res-
that Christ died for our sins according to the Scrip-         urrection. We learn from other sources that this
tures; and that He was buried,  and that He rose              erroneous idea continued on even after that. It was
again the third day according to the Scriptures. If           found among the Jews even in the middle of the
                                                              second century at the time of the church father
  There was an element in the church of Corinth               Justin Martyr. This same idea was also propounded
that denied the resurrection of the dead. Their               by the noted pagan philosopher Celsus, who was a
claim was that the dead rise not. This they applied           chief opponent of the Christian faith in the middle
specifically to the saints who had departed in                of the second century.
death. To counter this dreadful error, Paul set
about to establish the fact of Christ's resurrection.           It is rather interesting that this same falsehood
If Christ be risen from the dead, how can it he said          theory was later revived in the eighteeneth century
that the dead rise not? In the first part of chapter 15       and is still widely accepted today. In fact, a new
Paul establishes the fact of Christ's resurrection. In        twist was even added to this theory by Salvador, a
verse 4 he does this by reminding the saints that the         French Jew. According to Salvador, Jesus was
resurrection of Christ is according to the Scriptures.        saved from crucifixion by the wife of Pontius Pilate
That is, the resurrection of Christ was prophesied            with the cooperation of Joseph of Arimathaea or
even in the O.T. Scriptures. The resurrection there-          some Galilean women. Thereupon Jesus retired to
fore was not some fabrication of recent date.                 the desert to live among the sect of the Essenes, ap-
                                                              pearing later on to a few of His disciples in secret.
  By alluding to this passage the early church also
sought in the Nicene Creed to establish the fact of             Another theory that arose during the second
Christ's resurrection. For there were those even              century was the swoon theory. According to this
then who were denying the resurrection of Christ.             theory Jesus never died on the cross. He merely
                                                              went into a swoon or deep faint. On the assumption
  There were those first who were promoting the               that He was dead, Jesus was placed in the sepulchre
falsehood or fraud theory of Jesus' resurrection. Ac-         of Joseph of Arimathaea only to revive sometime
cording to this theory the disciples had stolen away          before the third day and claim to be risen. This
the body of Jesus from the sepulchre while the                theory also was later revived at the beginning of the
Roman soldiers slept, and later claimed that He had           nineteenth century and is still held by some today.
risen. This idea had first been set forth by the
Jewish leaders at the time of the resurrection. With            Finally there was the vision or hallucination
them of course it had been a deliberate lie. The              theory. This theory concentrates especially on the
soldiers upon seeing the angel descend from                   special appearances of Jesus after His resurrection
heaven had come trembling with fear to the leaders            and which served to convince the church at that
of the Jews telling all they had seen. And the lead-          time of the reality of Jesus' resurrection. According
ers had bribed the soldiers into saying that the dis-         to the vision theory Jesus never did appear to any of


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                               233



His disciples. The disciples merely imagined they             The same can be shown in connection with the
saw Jesus. After Jesus' death on the cross the dis-        swoon theory. Is it really plausible that the Roman
ciples eagerly looked for and longed for the resurrec-     soldiers attending the crucifixion of Jesus, who
tion of their Lord. And in this particular case the        were professional executioners, could not tell the
wish for the resurrection became the father of the         difference between death and a deep faint? And
belief that He had risen. In fact, so strong was this      could it be possible that Jesus, after having gone
belief that soon various disciples reported they had       into a deep faint and suffering a spear thrust to the
seen Him. But these "appearances" were merely              side as well, could then within 48 hours revive,
hallucinations brought about by the misguided zeal         somehow sneak away from the sepulchre and walk
of the disciples.                                          all the way to Emmaus with two of His disciples (cf.
  This theory was invented by the pagan philos-            Luke 24: 13ff.)?
opher Celsus in the second century who, we saw,              The hallucination theory is no less absurd. It is
also advanced the falsehood theory. And these two          certainly plausible that a person so desperately
theories are quite easily combined. Not all the dis-       wants to see something that he actually imagines he
ciples were involved in the attempt to deceive             sees it. This has happened before. However, it is
others into believing that Jesus had risen. Only           quite absurd to imagine that large numbers of
some stole the body and then proceeded to con-             people will have the same hallucination at the same
vince others of the disciples that Jesus had risen.        time. But this is what must be claimed with the hal-
And those who had been so duped in turn began in           lucination theory of Jesus' resurrection. For accord-
their exuberance to hallucinate, seeing visions of         ing to the witness of the Scriptures Jesus appeared
their  .risen Savior. Also the hallucination theory,       to as many as 500 of His followers on one occasion
after being buried out of sight for centuries, arose to    (cf. I Cor. 15:5, 6).
new life in the nineteenth century and gained a              However, the early church didn't answer the op-
great deal of credence in the church world. And            ponents of the resurrection by pointing out the
even today there are many in the church who will           absurdities of these theories. She rather answered
explain the appearances of Jesus in the Gospel ac-         them by pointing to the Scriptures. Jesus rose again
counts in this manner.                                     the third day according to the Scriptures. By the
  Over against the widespread denial of the resur-         Scriptures the early church evidently meant the
rection of Jesus the early church in this fifth article    O.T. Scriptures, the point being that the resurrec-
.of her creed confessed that Jesus has in fact risen       tion had been prophesied centuries before the birth
from the dead. And she did so on the basis of the          of Jesus.
Scriptures. For she confessed that Jesus rose again          The O.T. Scriptures certainly do speak of the
"according to the Scriptures."                             resurrection of Christ. So much is this the case that
  Now it is not that difficult to demonstrate the          Christ Himself spent quite a while on Easter after-
absurdity of the three theories dreamed up to deny         noon expounding to the two travelers to  Emmaus
the reality of Jesus' resurrection.                        from the O.T. Scriptures that He had to suffer the
  Take for example the falsehood theory. How, in           shame of the cross and thus enter into glory (cf.
the first place, can anyone verify this theory that        Luke  24:25, 26). And this certainly implies the
the disciples stole the body of Jesus and claimed a        resurrection. In like manner Paul in Thessalonica
resurrection. As this theory started, the disciples        reasoned for three sabbath days out of the O.T.
stole the body of Jesus while the guards slept. Who        Scriptures that "Christ must needs have suffered,
then saw them steal the body? The soldiers didn't.         and risen again from the dead" (cf. Acts 17:1-3). In
They were sleeping! Besides, this theory is pre-           fact, before King Agrippa Paul summarized his
posterous in light of other facts. Consider for            whole ministry as an Apostle as "witnessing both to
example the faint-heartedness of the disciples. At         small and great, saying none other things than
Jesus' arrest and trial they all fled. On Easter Sun-      those which the prophets and Moses did say should
day they were all huddled in an upper room, doors          come: that Christ should suffer, and that He should
and windows barred, for fear of their lives. Does          be the first that should rise from the dead, and
this sound like a group capable of stealing the body       should show light unto the people, and to the Gen-
of Jesus from under the noses of Roman guards and          tiles" (cf. Acts 26:22, 23).
then convincing others that He had in fact risen?            And if we turn to the O.T. Scriptures we can in-
How absurd! Besides, many of these same disciples          deed find the resurrection of Christ. It is not our in-
charged with this deception later suffered martyr-         tention to cite all these passages, but to mention
dom for their belief in Jesus' resurrection. Does one      just a few. The resurrection of Christ is directly re-
willingly give his life for the sake of what he knows      ferred to in such passages as Isaiah  53:10-12  and
to be a deliberate lie?                                    Psalm  16:lO. The resurrection is furthermore


234                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



typically represented in certain O.T. events, as God       the disciples, or a hallucination suffered by those
sparing Isaac from being sacrificed by his father          overwrought by the death of their Master, or no
Abraham (cf. Hebrews  11:19)  and Jonah in the             fact at all because Jesus never died on the cross  -
belly of the fish for three days (cf. Matt.  12:40).       `how can these claims be made in light of the fact
Furthermore, the resurrection of Christ is definitely      that the resurrection had been prophesied centuries
implied in those passages which speak of the eter-         before in the Scriptures? Certainly the true believer
nal glory that God has for the Promised Christ. This       accepts at face value all that he finds in the N.T.
is especially true if we view these passages in light      Scriptures concerning the resurrection. And there-
of the prophecies that speak of Christ's suffering         fore he has no time at all for all the theories to ex-
and death. How can the Christ of God, Who must             plain away the resurrection. Nevertheless his faith
suffer many things, even death, enjoy the glorious         in the resurrection is confirmed by the prophecies
exaltation spoken of in the O.T. without.a resurrec-       of the O.T. Scriptures concerning Christ's resurrec-
tion from the dead? Confer such passages as II             tion. And these O.T. prophecies also mercilessly
Samuel 7:12-17, Psalm 2, and Psalm 110.                    destroy every argument of the unbeliever as he
  Certainly the prophecies of the O.T. Scriptures          seeks to destroy the resurrection.
concerning the resurrection serve to verify the wit-         Hence, with the early Christian church, and over
ness of the N.T. Scriptures that Jesus Christ is risen     against the same enemy of the truth that the early
from the dead. How can anyone claim that Jesus'            church faced, we confess "and the third day He
resurrection was really only a fraud perpetrated by        rose again, according to the Scriptures."

THE LORD GAVE THE WORD


                          Missionary Methods (22)
                                          (The Views of Rufus Anderson)
                                             Prof. Robert D. Decker


  The Rev. Rufus Anderson  (1796-1880), an or-               In Anderson's day there was considerable discus-
dained Congregational minister, was secretary of           sion and disagreement concerning the proper aim
the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign            of missions. The disagreement centered on two
Missions from 1832 to 1866. Prior to this he served        words: evangelization and civilization. The former
for fourteen years as assistant secretary to this          referred to the simple preaching and teaching of the
board, and after his term in office he continued as        gospel and the latter to a transformation of heathen
an advisor to the board almost until his death. He         society. While there was some argument as to
was both a contemporary and friend of Henry                which should have the priority it was generally
Venn. His views and especially his "three self"            agreed that the two were complementary. Faith
formula influenced American missions until the             and repentance by means of the preaching of the
end of World War II. (Cf. Rufus Anderson, R.               gospel always brought to the heathen (non-Euro-
Pierce Beaver, ed.;  To Advance the  GospeZ,  Eerd-        pean, non-American) the desire to attain "Chris-
mans, p. 10.) The fundamental principle of Ander-          tian," i.e., European-American civilization. Like-
son's views on missions is this: the aim or goal of        wise it was believed that if civilization were
mission work must be the gathering of indigenous           stressed in initial contacts with the heathen it pro-
churches which are self-supporting, self-governing,        duced understanding and acceptance of the gospel.
and self-propagating. We are convinced that if this        Anderson believed that "the civilization which the
"three self" formula be understood in biblical             gospel has conferred upon our own New England is
terms it remains the correct method of doing mis-          the highest and best, in a religious point of view,
sion work. As we examine some of his writings we           the world has yet seen" (Beaver,  To Advance the
shall find that Anderson has a great deal to say           Gospel,  p. 73). He was also convinced that it was
which is profitable for our own Protestant Re-             seriously wrong to make the transformation of
formed mission work. He also is in agreement               society the aim of missions. This might come after a
fundamentally with both John Nevius and Henry              long period of time as a by-product of the preaching
Venn.                                                      of the gospel, but it must not be the goal of  mis-


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                               235



sions. In a sermon which he preached (Oct. 23,              neither the missionary nor the church which sends
1845) at the ordination of a missionary, Anderson           him must expect the heathen among which he
said, "For the Christian religion is identified in all      works to conform to the life-style and culture, the
our conceptions of it from our earliest years, with         "civilization" of his own people. This transforma-
the almost universal diffusion among its professors         tion may very well come, at least to a certain
of the blessings of education, industry, civil liberty,     extent, over a long period of time, but it must not be
family government, social order, the means of a             the object of the missionary's work nor the expecta-
respectable livelihood, and a well ordered com-             tion of the church which sends him in the name of
munity. Hence our idea of piety in converts among           Christ.
the heathen very generally involves the acquisition           Anderson's point, made over one hundred years
and possession, to a great extent, of these blessings;      ago, is well taken. We must not expect those people
and  our  idea of the propagation of the gospel by          to whom we send our Foreign Missionaries to be-
means of missions, is, to an equal extent, the crea-        come like us culturally, politically, socially, etc. To
tion among heathen tribes and nations of a highly im-       be sure, all Christians, all new converts must not be
proved state of society, such as we ourselves enjoy. And    conformed to this world, but transformed by the re-
for this vast intellectual, moral and social transfor-      newing of their minds (Romans  12:2). All Chris-
mation we allow but a short time. We expect the             tians, regardless of their race, culture, or level of
first generation of converts to Christianity, even          civilization must live in harmony with the will of
among savages, to come into all our fundamental             God revealed in Holy Scripture. There are not two
ideas of morals, manners, political economy, social         standards of right and wrong: one for the home
organization, right, justice, equity; although many         church and the other for the mission field. But it
of these are ideas which our own community has              must be remembered that the sole. aim of missions
been ages in acquiring. If we discover that converts        is to preach the gospel to the nations in order that
under the torrid zone go but half clothed, that they        the elect may be gathered into the church, a
are idle on a soil where a small amount of labor will       witness may be left, and the end of all things may
supply their wants, that they sometimes forget the          come (Matthew 24: 14). It is not the business of the
apostle's cautions to his converts, not to lie one to       church through its missionaries to attempt to trans-
another, and to steal no more, in communities               form the society of the people among whom it
where the grossest vice scarcely affects the reputa-        preaches. Nor must the church expect to see such
tion, and that they are slow to adopt our ideas of          transformation occur within two or three or four
rights of man; we at once doubt the genuineness of          years of labor. Let us be specific. We must not ex-
their conversion, and the faithfulness of their mis-        pect the Jamaicans among whom the Lord has
sionary instructors" (Beaver, p. 74). Anderson              given us an open door to become like us. They are
warns: "Unless this influence is guarded against by         not white. They are not "middle class." They are
missionaries and their directors, the result is that        not Dutch-Americans. They are black, poor, and
the missions have a two-fold object of pursuit; the         Jamaican. Nothing is going to change that. Preach-
one, that simple and sublime spiritual object of the        ing the gospel to them is not going to change that.
ambassador for Christ mentioned in the text, `per-          We must recognize this. We must also recognize
suading men to be reconciled to God;' (II Cor. 5:20,        that God has His people in every nation under
R.D.D.) the other, the reorganizing, by various             heaven, Jamaica too! The same is true of any mis-
direct means, of the structure of that social system,       sion field. The brothers and sisters in Singapore are
of which the converts form a part. Thus the object          educated, articulate, industrious, and in many
of the missions becomes more or less complicated,           ways like us. But they too are of a different race and
leading to a complicated, burdensome, and perhaps           culture. We must not attempt to change that.
expensive course of measures for its attainment. I
may be allowed, therefore, to invite attention to             The result of failing to recognize this may very
what is conceived to be our true and only office and        well be as Anderson said: " . . . the missions have a
work in missions to the heathen. `Now then we are           two-fold object of pursuit; the one . . . persuading
ambassadors for Christ; as though God did beseech           men to be reconciled to God; the other, the reorga-
you by us, we pray you, in Christ's stead, be ye            nizing, by various direct means, of the structure of
reconciled to God."' (Beaver, pp. 74, 75; emphasis          that social system, of which the converts form a
in the above quotations is Anderson's.)                     part. Thus the object of the missions becomes more
                                                            or less complicated, leading to a complicated, bur-
  The point Anderson is making is twofold: 1) The           densome, and perhaps expensive course of mea-
singular task of missions is to preach the gospel           sures for its attainment" (Beaver, pp. 74, 75).
among the heathen in order that by this means and           Another result is possible and this is that no work at
only this means Christ may gather the elect into the        all is done among people who are very much differ-
fellowship of His Body, the church. 2) In this work         ent from us. Because people live in very primitive


236                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



huts and worship in equally primitive church               missionaries were ordained and sent to various
buildings; because people do not live in suburban          parts of the world (Africa, India, Jamaica,  et. al.)
English colonials and walkout ranches or high rise         during Anderson's tenure with the American
apartments; because people eke out a simple living         Board.
and do not wear three-piece suits to an office; these        Wherever Christ opens the doors and provides
are not reasons for not sending them missionaries.         the means, let us send missionaries. Let these mis-
These and other similar factors must not be the            sionaries preach Christ crucified and nothing else.
criteria by which we judge a field to be a viable          Let them call all peoples to repentance and faith in
mission. We must listen to and learn from men like         order that through the power of the Holy Spirit the
Nevius, Venn, and Anderson. They and others with           elect may call upon the Lord and be saved, and in
them are pioneers in missions. Long before we              order that all unbelievers may stand condemned.
were born they faced and dealt with many of the            Let this be our aim in all our mission work. This is
same problems we face today. It is interesting to          the biblical way.
note in this connection that some twelve hundred
INHIS FEAR


                         God Is a Spirit (continued)
                                                Rev. Ronald Hanko



  Just as God's self-revelation in the First Com-            It is important that we remember this. The
mandment teaches us that we must "have" Him                Roman Catholic Church, for example, claims
alone as our God to worship and serve in all our           (though this is a lie) that it does not actually teach
thoughts, words, and deeds, so also God's revela-          the people to worship its numerous pictures,
tion of Himself in the Second Commandment                  statues, and other images, and even claims (and this
teaches us  how  we must worship Him. From the             too is a lie) to offer a different kind of worship to
examples of Cain and Uzzah we have seen the irn?           the saints and to Mary and to the angels, but insists
portance of understanding and keeping the Second           that all these things are only a means to worship
Commandment, and to those examples we might                God Himself. Nevertheless, they grossly transgress
add that of the two sons of Aaron (Lev. lO:l-7). The       the Second Commandment and trample underfoot
manner of our worship is so serious, a matter of life      the glory of the invisible God.
and death, exactly because it is God Who must be
worshiped. And the Second Commandment reveals                Even greater than Rome's shame, however, is the
Him to us in all His infinite and transcendent glory       shame of those Protestant churches who have once
as the One Who dwells in unapproachable light, a           again adopted these Romish practices. Many pic-
Spirit Who is not and cannot be seen by the                tures in Protestant churches and Bibles violate this
creature.                                                  Commandment, especially when they represent
                                                           one of the Persons of the Holy Trinity, and when
  It is in harmony with this revelation of God that        they are used to teach God's people the glory of
the Second Commandment forbids the use of                  God. I have seen in quite a number of Protestant
images in the worship of God. It does not forbid           churches, for example, images of God the Holy
images, pictures, statues, or other figures as such,       Spirit in which He is represented by a dove. Not
either in art or for other purposes, but it forbids any    only is this in direct violation of the Second Com-
representation of God or the likeness of any               mandment, but it is not even in harmony with
creature which is to be used in worshiping God, as         Scripture which compares His  descent  at the
the Israelites used the likeness of a calf to worship      baptism of Jesus and not His Person to a dove. The
Him. That images themselves are not wrong is ob-           Holy Spirit also is the One True God, Whose glory
vious from one look at Solomon's temple, which             is unsearchable, and He may neither be represent-
was covered on the inside with graven figures of           ed nor worshiped by means of an image.
cherubim, palm trees, and flowers, and which had
in it the ark of the covenant crowned with two               Something not so clearly understood is the ques-
great images of cherubim (I Kings 6:23-29).                tion concerning pictures of Jesus. The argument is


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                              237



that we can make pictures of Him because He took           ship Him only in times of great trouble as though in
upon Himself our human nature. We may not                  all His glory He exists only for our benefit. When
forget, though, that His human nature is insepa-           we are beset by doubts and fears, then we have
rably united to the divine, and now glorified be-          "graven" an image of God as one who is weak and
sides, so that all the fulness of the Godhead dwells       helpless and whose arm is short. When we com-
bodily in Him (Col.  2:9). Thus a picture in which         plain of our afflictions and trials, then we have for-
we see only His human nature, even if it is ac-            gotten the transcendent glory of God as the One
curately represented, is a lie, and perpetuates the        Who governs and controls all things and turns them
great lie of apostate Christianity, which glorifies the    to our advantage. Even when we seek to worship
humanity of Christ at the expense of His divinity.         God in the company of saints and in the presence of
Furthermore, what picture can ever show us that            Christ without putting away all malice and envy
"God was in Christ reconciling the world unto              and evil-speaking against our brethren, then we are
Himself" (II Cor. 5:19)?  And it is a fact that all the    worshiping according to our own imaginations and
pictures of Christ commonly displayed present              not according to God's revelation of His glory in
such a Christ of man's imagination, in Whom is             Scripture.
found only love and tenderness, and none of the              Here too we see the close connection that exists
fierce, burning wrath of God against sins. Even the        between image worship and idolatry. Image wor-
cross is deprived of its glory and its power by such       ship is always the beginning of idolatry, for just as
representations and becomes only an object of              the "Whom" of our worship determines the
sympathy and sentiment, rather than of deepest             "how," so also the "how" has a profound effect
shame and humiliation. So awful was the mystery            upon the "Whom." When we set up images of
of His suffering and death that even the event itself      Jehovah then we not only set aside the proper
was hidden from human eyes in a cloak of dark-             worship of Jehovah, but we have begun to set aside
ness. That, then, is the reason why Jesus empha-           God Himself. That is clear from the example of
sizes again and again in John 14-16 that it is the         Jeroboam. He led the Ten Tribes into the sin of
Spirit, and He alone, Who teaches us all things con-       image worship because he himself had already set
cerning Christ, our Lord.                                  aside God in his own heart. But it was not long
  Nor may we forget that "graven" images are not           before Israel had also done the same and had begun
the only kind of images that we can make. The              to worship other gods, notably the idol Baal, god of
Second Commandment forbids all visible and                 the Sidonians (compare I Kings 12:25-33 and 16:29-
tactile images and pictures in the worship of God,         33). The same is true of Jehu. Jehu, though he
but it also forbids all mental images of God  - the        destroyed the worship of Baal, sowed the wind in
kind of images we carry and hide in our hearts. In         Israel when he continued in the sin of Jeroboam,
Acts 17, after Paul has declared the glory of God as       and in the days of  Hosea,  four generations later,
One Who does not dwell in temples made with                Israel once again began to reap the whirlwind of
hands and Who is not worshiped with men's                  God's wrath for her worship of  Baa1 (cf. II Kings
hands, he also reminds the Athenians and us that           10:29-31, 17:6-18, and Hosea  2:13).
we ought not even "to think  that the Godhead is
like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and       This too stands as a warning to us. These sins
man's device" (vss. 24-29). So also the Psalmist           must be confessed and repented lest we find that
prays in harmony with the great glory of God and           we are no longer worshiping the God of heaven at
the Second Commandment when he asks, "Let the              all, but altogether another god. Then we too shall
words of my mouth, and the meditations of my               come under the fierce wrath of Jehovah of Hosts.
heart, be acceptable in Thy sight, 0 Lord, my                The positive requirement of the Second Com-
strength and my redeemer" (Ps. 19:14).                     mandment is found in John  4:24: "They that wor-
  It is in this connection that we are able to see         ship God must worship Him in Spirit and in truth."
that, fundamentally, all false doctrine is a violation     This is found in the context of the question of the
of the Second Commandment, for it sets up an               Samaritan woman concerning the worship of her
image of the great Creator and worships and says,          people. They did not worship God in Jerusalem ac-
"These be thy gods, 0 Israel." A god who loves all         cording to the regulations of the Law, but on their
men or who is gracious to the reprobate, or who is         own Mount Gerizim. It is striking that Jesus not
dependent on the will of the sinner, is an image of        only told her that she and her people worshiped in
man's devising, when it is claimed that such a god         the wrong place, but He cited this as the evidence
is the God of Heaven.                                      that they did not even know whom they worshiped
  We make these images ourselves when we in our            (vs. 22).
foolishness imagine that God does not see or deal             Thus Jesus instructs her and us concerning the
with our sins, or when we come to Him and wor-             proper manner of worshiping God when He says


     238                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



     "in spirit" and "in truth." To worship "in spirit"          To replace the preaching with various forms of en-
     means that our worship must be spiritual and not            tertainment is to deny that God is a Spirit, and that
     carnal. Even in our worship and in all its parts there      they who worship Him must worship in spirit and
     must be a tacit acknowledgement that our God is             in truth. But whether we are preaching, singing, or
     not as the gods of the heathen, and that His glory is       confessing our faith, God's Word is the only word
     so great that He must be worshiped in an entirely           which we may take upon our lips. This is also the
     different way than such gods. And in refraining             great argument of the church, in so far as she still
     from the use of images we do confess this. Always           remains Reformed, for singing nothing else in her
     in teaching we find that "a picture is worth a thou-        worship but the Word of God, especially as found
I    sand words," except in teaching the knowledge of            in the 150 Psalms of David.
     God; and that in itself sets the knowledge of God             All this is something that our flesh rejects. All of
     far above all other knowledge before our own                the hypocrisy that passes under the name of wor-
     minds and before the minds of our children.                 ship and all our own false pretenses are stripped
       To worship "in spirit" is to worship God not              bare by this revelation of Himself that God gives us
     through what we can see or touch, but through our           in the Second Commandment. Only in Christ can
     spirits as they are moved and directed by the Spirit        we receive and obey this Word of God. Only in
     of God. That worship is a worship of faith (Heb.            Christ and by His Spirit can we worship God in
     11:6),  and of humility (James 5: lo), which is offered     spirit and in truth, for only through His redeeming
     only in the way of repentance, that is, with a              work do we receive the glorious light of the truth in
     broken spirit and a contrite heart (Ps.  51:16, 17).        our hearts (II Cor. 4:6). As Jesus Himself says, "No
     Such a worship is full of true spiritual joy (Luke          man cometh unto the Father, but by Me" (Jn. 14:6).
     1:47), and is brought willingly and obediently (Ex.         And why? Jesus answers that too when He says, "I
     35:21).                                                     am the way, the truth and the life." He alone gives
       But a worship which is "in spirit" is also of             us the truth in the midst of our life of lies, and only
     necessity a worship that is "in truth." This is only        He gives also the life that is necessary to receive the
     to say, first of all, that there is but one standard for    truth. Thus He is the way to the Father Whom we
     our worship, and that is the Word of God in the             worship and adore.
     Scriptures. The Word of God alone tells us what be-           Let us, therefore, make use of the sword of the
     longs in our worship, and all else is excluded. In the      Spirit which is the Word and revelation of God to
     Old Testament this was laid out in great detail, so         fight the battle of faith on the battlefield of the
     that? as Jesus reminded the woman at Jacob's well,          Second Commandment:
     even the place of worship was prescribed. In the                     For the weapons of our warfare are not
     New Testament there is much more freedom, but                   carnal, but mighty through God to the pull-
     we still may not think that we have license to wor-             ing down of strongholds; casting down
     ship as we please. Now also we are bound by the                 imaginations, and every high thing that  ex-
     regulations of the Word as given in the teaching                alteth itself against the knowledge of God,
     and examples of our Lord and His Apostles. And, as              and bringing into captivity every thought to
     we have seen, those regulations are not arbitrary,              the obedience of Christ" (II Cor. 10:4, 5).
     but founded in God's revelation of Himself as the           In that way we confess His glory in true gratitude
     transcendentally glorious God.                              as the One Who has saved our spirits and bodies
       That we worship in truth means also that the              from eternal damnation, and given to us the glor-
     Word of God is the content of worship. Thus it is           ious light of the truth in Christ, His Son and our
     the preaching, though despised, must continue to            Lord.
     have the central place in the worship of the church.


                                               Book Review

     PERSPECTIVES ON THE CHRISTIAN  RE-                            This book is in the nature of a Festschrift in honor
     FORMED CHURCH, Peter De Klerk and Richard                   of Dr. John H. Kromminga at the occasion of his re-
     R. De Ridder, Editors; Baker Book House, Grand              tirement as President of Calvin Seminary. But it is
     Rapids, MI; 404 pp., cloth. [Reviewed by Prof. H.           not like the ordinary  Festschrift.  The information on
     C. Hoeksema]                                                the dust jacket offers a brief description of the


                                                         THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                 239



book's contents:                                                               "Part Three describes how the Christian Re-
   I, . . . this volume of essays looks at the Christian                   formed Church faced the challenges of ecumenical
Reformed Church in North America from various                              involvement. It portrays a church striving to retain
viewpoints. While most festschriften are of interest                       its heritage and theological distinctiveness as it be-
only to scholars in a particular discipline, the varied                    comes involved with other churches and ecumen-
studies in this volume will appeal also to  layper-                        ical organizations."
sons, especially those who are members of the                                  The eighteen chapters of this volume are by as
Christian Reformed Church. Since the Christian                             many different authors, not all of them Christian
Reformed Church has long exercised an influence                            Reformed. It struck me that, as far as I could tell,
within American evangelicalism disproportionate                            there is no representative of the Canadian wing of
to its size, those outside the denomination will also                      the CRC among the writers. There are writers from
be interested in the eighteen studies in this unique                       the RCA, from the GKN, and from the CRC-of the
volume.                                                                    Netherlands.
   "Part One consists of six studies in the history of                         Naturally, a book of this kind varies greatly, from
the Christian Reformed Church, each of which re-                           author to author, as far as interest and quality are
flects painstaking research. The early years of the                        concerned.
denomination are probed in a fascinating way, re-                              Personally, I found the historical section to be
vealing the development of the church from a tiny                          the most interesting. The theological section, in my
Dutch immigrant church to a healthy American                                   . .        falls rather flat. I do not believe that
denomination struggling to keep its heritage. Sub-                         i!Ezrr$  Hoekema's chapter on the doctrine of the
jects in this section include immigration, architec-                       covenant, for example, is accurate; I have reference
ture of early church buildings, the `Masonic Con-                          especially to his description of W. Heyn's covenant
troversy,' and a revealing sketch of Hendrik P.                            view. Nor do I find that Henry Stob's presentation
Scholte, immigrant leader in Pella, Iowa.                                  does justice to the concept of the antithesis, much
   "Part Two is largely theological in nature and in-                      less to the view of Herman Hoeksema. The section
cludes articles on the lifetime tenure of ministers,                       on ecumenical involvement is, if nothing else, in-
missions, and theological doctrines such as the                            formative.
covenant, the kingdom of God, and the antithesis.                              Interesting reading.


                              NOTICE!!!                                                       WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
  All students'enrolled in the Protestant Reformed Seminary, who              On February 6, 1984, our beloved parents, grandparents, and
will be in need of financial assistance for the coming school year, are    great grandparents, MR. AND MRS. BEN BLEYENBERG, celebrated
asked to contact the Student Aid Committee, Mr. Larry Meulenberg,          their 60th wedding anniversary.
Secretary, 342 Begole, S.W., Grand Rapids, MI 49504. (Phone  616-             We thank our heavenly Father for faithfully guiding them these
453-8466). This contact should be made before the next meeting of          many years and for blessing us with God-fearing parents who in-
the Committee on March 13, 1984, the Lord willing.                         structed and guided us in His ways. Our prayer is that God may
                                                                           continue to bless and sustain them in the remaining years of their
                                                                           earthly pilgrimage.
                     WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                                       "For this God is our God forever and ever: He will be our guide
                                                                           even unto death" (Ps. 48: 14).
   On February 29, 1984, the Lord willing, our parents, MR. AND
MRS. HENRY.  KAMPHUIS will celebrate their 40th wedding anni-              Tony and Wilmyna Jansma             Alvin and Betty Bleyenberg
versary. We, their children and grandchildren are thankful for their       Artie Haverhals                        27 grandchildren
covenantal instruction and pray that God will continue to bless them       `eter and  Bernice  Rynders            24 great grandchildren
and keep them in His care.                                                 John and Lori Hoksbergen

   "But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon
them that fear Him, and His righteousness unto children's children."                                      NOTICE!!!
(Psalm  103:17).
                                                                               The South Holland Protestant Reformed School Board is seeking
Rog and Phyllis King                 Bob and Deb Kamphuis
Rog and Peg Kamphuis                                                       applicants for teaching during the 1984-85 school year.
                                     Dan Kamphuis
Jim and Bev Langerak                Tom and Irene Kamphuis                     Please call Board Secretary James Lanting at 312-339-l 070 or at
Don and Mary Kamphuis                   and 21 grandchildren               312-596-5093 and send resume to Box 156, South Holland, IL
John and Sally Kamphuis                                                    6 0 4 7 3 .


                              NOTICE!!!                                                                   NOTICE!!!
   Classis West of the Protestant Reformed Churches will meet in               Part-time elementary teaching position available at Adams Street
Loveland, Colorado on Wednesday, March 7, 1984 at  8:30 A.M.,              Christian School for the  1984-85  school year. Music background
the Lord willing.                                                          useful but not essential, Send resume to: Adams Education Commit-
Rev. David Engelsma                                                        tee,  c/o James Eldersveld, 2161 Osceola, S.E., Grand Rapids, Ml
Stated Clerk                                                               4 9 5 0 6 .

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





2 4 0                                       THE  STANDARD BEARER





                                Report of Classis East

   Classis  East met in regular session on January 11,       Classis  granted classical appointments to Grand-
1984 at First Church, Grand Rapids. Each congre-           ville and Byron Center according to the following
gation was represented by two delegates. Present           schedule: GRANDVILLE: February 5  - Flikkema,
for the first time were the delegates from the             February 12  - Joostens, February 19  - Haak, March
newly-formed congregation of Byron Center. Rev.            4  - Van  Baren, March 11  - Miersma, March 18  -
B. Woudenberg chaired this session of Classis.             Woudenberg, April 1 - Bruinsma, April 8 - De Vries,
   Classis  had a full day of activities  - this is the    April 15  - Flikkema, April 29  - Joostens, May 6  -
meeting when synodical agenda items are handled.           Haak, May 13  - Van  Baren. BYRON CENTER: Jan-
The usual routine business was also transacted.            uary 22  - Miersma, February 5  - Woudenberg,
                                                           February 12  - Bruinsma, February 19  - De Vries,
   The first item of significance on the agenda was        March 4 - Flikkema, March 11 - Joostens, March 18
the request from 26 brethren from the Grandville,          - Haak, April 1 - Van Baren, April 8 - Miersma, April
Michigan area to establish a new congregation in           15 - Woudenberg, April 29 - Bruinsma, May 6 - De
that locale. At least 20 of these signators were from      Vries, May 13 - Flikkema.
the burgeoning congregation of Hope. Classis  gave
its enthusiastic endorsement to this request.                Subsidy requests for 1985 were presented by
                                                           Byron Center for $9,170, by Covenant for $15,380,
   Two overtures to Synod 1984 were also pre-              and by Kalamazoo for $7,000. Byron Center also re-
sented. The first came from First Church and con-          quested $12,760 for 1984. These requests were ap-
cerned a change of policy for determining synodical        proved and forwarded to Synod for approval.
assessments. First Church is proposing that
churches be allowed to adjust their assessments              Results of voting were as follows: Rev. De Vries
monthly in order to take into account fluctuation in       was elected to a three-year term on the Classical
membership.  Classis  forwarded this overture to           Committee, Rev. Haak and Rev. Joostens were
Synod with its disapproval on the grounds that the         elected as delegates ad examina, and Rev. H. Veld-
present, rules adequately cover emergency situa-           man and Rev. C. Hanko were elected as church
tions, that these rules have served the churches well      visitors.  Synodical delegates were chosen as fol-
in the past, and that confusion both for the synod-        lows: MINISTERS:  Primi:  C. Haak, M. Joostens, R.
ical treasurer and consistories could result.              Miersma, G. Van Baren; Secundi: W. Bruinsma, M.
(Grounds paraphrased)                                      De Vries, R. Flikkema, R. Hanko; ELDERS:  Ptimi:
                                                           G. Bol, C. Doezema, F. Hanko, G. Van Overloop;
   The second overture concerned the early ap-             Secundi:  G. Feenstra, A. Knott, Harlow Kuiper, D.
pointment of synodical committees of pre-advice.           Lotterman.
Classis  also forwarded this overture to Synod with
its disapproval on the grounds that committees can           One discipline matter was conducted in closed
not be appointed for a body which has not yet been         session.
constituted, that men, other then delegates, would           Classis  will meet next at Southwest Church on
be appointing these committees, that there is              May 9, 1984.
danger in having the same men appoint these com-           Respectfully submitted,
mittees year after year, and that there is a danger        Jon J. Huisken
that delegates would come thoroughly prepared              Stated Clerk
only for the material assigned to them. (Grounds
paraphrased)


