            The
     STANDARD
            BEARER
r           A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE





     .  .  . Just as our response to the preaching of

     the Word and to the Sacrament of Baptism is
     a response of faith, so also we must respond
     to the signs of Holy Communion with the
     testimony: I believe..... If we partake as a
     mere formality or obligation, failing to focus
     our attention in all sincerity upon the broken
     body and shed blood of our Lord, we can
     only suffer a spiritual decline in our lives.


       .

                                                Volume LX, No. 13, April 1, 1984 -


290                                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER




                                                                                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER
                                   CONTENTS                                                                                 ISSN 0362-4692
                                                                                                  Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July, and August.
                                                                                                   Published b the Reformed Free Publishing Association, Inc.
                                                                                                        &con dClass Postage Paid at Grand Rapids,  Mich.
  Meditation-                                                                           Editor-in-Chief: Prof. Homer C. Hoeksema
       The Institution  of the Lord's Supper  . . . . . . . . . .290                    Deparfment Editors: `Rev. Ronald Cammenga,  Rev. Arie den Hartog, Prof. Robert
                                                                                        D. Decker, Rev. Cornelius Hanko, Prof. Herman C. Hanko,. Rev. Ronald Hanko,
                                                                                        Mr. David Harbach, Rev. John A. Heys, Rev. J.  Kortermg,  Rev. George C.
  Editorials -                                                                          Lubbers, Rev. Thomas C. Miersma, Rev.  Marinus  Schipper, Rev. James  Slopse-
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       Editor's Notes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .293
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MEDITATION


                 The Institution of the Lord's Supper
                                                                              Rev. C. Hanko



                    Ques. 75. How art thou admonished and assured in the Lord's Supper that thou art a
               partaker  of that one sacrifice of Christ, accomplished on the cross, and of all His benefits?
                   Ans. Thus: That Christ has commanded me and all believers, to eat of this broken bread,
                and to drink of this cup, in remembrance of Him, adding these promises: First, that His body
                was offered and broken on the cross for me, and His blood shed for me, and the cup communi-
                cated to me, as certainly as I see with my eyes, the bread of the Lord broken for me, and the cup
                communicated to me; and further, that He feeds and nourishes my soul unto everlasting life,
                with His crucified body and shed blood, as assuredly as I receive from the hands of the minister,
                and taste with my mouth the bread and cup of the Lord, as certain signs of the body and blood
                of Christ.


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  291



             Ques. 76. What is it then to eat the crucified body, and drink the shed blood of Christ?
             Ans. It is not only to embrace with a believing heart all the sufferings and death of Christ,
          and thereby to obtain the pardon  of  sin, and  life  eternal, but also, besides that, to become more
          and more united to His sacred body, by the Holy Ghost, Who dwells both in Christ and in us; so
          that we, though Christ is in heaven and we on earth, are notwithstanding, "Flesh of His flesh,
          and bone of His bone"; and that we live, and are governed forever by one spirit, as members of
          the same body are by one soul.
             Ques. 77. (Deals with the passages of Scripture that refer to the institution of the Lord's
          Supper. Matthew 26.26, I Corinthians 11.23). Lord's Day XXVIII  of  the Heidelberg
          Catechism.


  When we read this Lord's Day we are immedi-                  Egypt was a type of the bondage of sin and death
ately impressed with  the similarity between these             and of the cruel oppression of the powers of dark-
questions and answers and those:of Lord'q Day 26.              ness. God sent Moses, the Old Testament mediator
Both speak of the sacraments as instituted by God              and type of Christ, to bring deliverance to His
to be administered by His church for the strength-             people, according to His promise to Abraham,
ening of our faith. They are two, and only two,                Isaac, and Jacob.  ,After  the ninth plague Pharaoh's
means of grace which God has graciously added to               heart was hardened to the point where he was de-
the preaching of the Word for our edification. In              termined never to let Israel leave the land. Exactly
that respect they are alive.                                   then God told Moses to instruct the people to pre-
  Yet there is also a marked difference. Baptism is            pare for their departure by making ready for the
a sign of our entrance and being received into                 feast. On the appointed night the men of Israel did
Gqd's covenant through the one perfect sacrifice of            not rest from their labors to be ready for another
Christ on the cross, while the Holy Supper is a sign           day of servitude on the morrow, but they
of our continued fellowship with God within the                proceeded to streak the blood of the slain,
covenant through that same sacrifice. Baptism                  unspotted lamb on the doorposts. Then they
points us to our regeneration, while the Supper                gathered with their families to eat the lamb with
speaks to us of our sanctification. Therefore bap-             unleavened bread and bitter sauce. They stood as
tism is administered only once, for we enter only              they ate, in faith fully prepared to leave at a
once, while the Lord's Supper is repeated as a con-            moment's notice. It was while they ate the bread of
stant testimony of our covenant fellowship with                affliction, reminding them of their years of slavery
God in Christ. In Baptism we are passive, while in             under a foreign power, and the lamb pointing them
the Supper we actively participate as an act of faith          to the sacrifice of Christ's atoning blood, that the
wrought by the Spirit in our hearts.                           angel of death moved through the land, destroying
                                                               the firstborn in every home in Egypt where the
  Our Lord instituted His Holy Supper in the night             occupants were not covered by the blood of the
in which He was betrayed. He had strongly                      lamb. In Egypt's bitter anguish at'the death of their
desired, as He tells us, to partake of this last Supper        firstborn, threatening the lives of every one of
with His disciples. The same zeal that impelled                 them, they were only too eager to drive the Israel-
Him to go to the cross to bring the sacrifice for our           ites from the land, hoping never to see them again.
sins also impelled Him to be host at this Supper.               In that night God instituted the Passover feast as a
Through neglect the disciples, particularly those               lasting memorial for Israel even until the time of
who had prepared the meal, had failed to wash the               Christ.
feet of the participants as they entered the room.                When Jesus celebrated His last Supper with His
Jesus took this occasion to gird Himself like a slave,          disciples this feast had taken on a definite form of
to kneel at the feet of each disciple and to perform            celebration. There were three cups, or three times
the usual custom of washing their feet. We know                 in which the participants drank of the wine
how Peter objected, and how Jesus pointed out that              together. After the first cup the lamb was eaten
"If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with Me."                along with the unleavened bread and bitter sauce.
Thereby Jesus showed His great love for us and His              Thereupon, while they partook of the second cup,
willingness to humble Himself in the form of a ser-             it was customary for the father, in this case, Christ,
vant even unto the accursed death of the cross to               to relate the account of the deliverance from the
cleanse us from our sins. Thereupon followed the                house of bondage. Evidently now Jesus became ex-
Passover feast.                                                 ceedingly sorrowful, burdened with the presence
  This feast was a repeated reminder of Israel's de-            of the deceiver at His side, and sent him out into
liverance from the bondage and servitude of Egypt.              the night to carry out his dastardly deed. Relieved


292                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



that the traitor had left, yet conscious now more            broken for me, and the cup communicated to me;
than ever of His anticipated death on the cross,             .and further, that He feeds and nourishes my soul to
Jesus  .takes the bread, breaks it, and shares it with       everlasting life with His crucified body and shed
the disciples. Thereupon He takes the third cup,             blood, as assuredly as I receive from the hands of
the cup of thanksgiving, and tells them all to drink         the minister, and taste with my mouth the bread
of it. Thus the lamb and the bitter sauce fall away.         and the cup of the Lord, as certain signs of the body
The Lord gives us two new signs, the bread and the           and blood of Christ" (Heid. Catechism).
wine, to become the elements in our celebration of             As we eat Christ's flesh and drink His blood we
the Supper as a "glorious remembrance of His bit-            become flesh of His flesh and bone of His bone in
ter and shameful death."                                     the eternal mystical union with Him, as members
  The entire meal is rich in symbolism.                      of His body or as symbolized in the marriage of
  Our attention is directed to the Host, Christ,             husband and wife and realized in the eternal
Who administers the Supper. He gives us the bread            Supper in glory.
and the wine, so that we may eat His body and                  Since we partake together of these bounties, the
drink His blood, assuring us that through His aton           riches of grace in Christ Jesus, we are also united to
ing death His flesh is meat indeed and His blood is          one another by the bond of faith and love that
drink indeed. That makes the administration of the           unites us to one Lord. With Christ we say, This is
Supper official ministry, carried out by the minister        my father, mother, sister, and brother, who does
and the elders of the church, and we must regard it          the will of my Father in heaven.
as such. We hear the voice of Jesus speaking to us:            Therefore, on the one hand, the Lord's Supper is
"Take, eat, this is My body that is broken for you.          a memorial feast. We do this in remembrance of
. . . Drink ye all of it (the cup), which is the new tes-    Christ in His perfect sacrifice once accomplished
tament in My blood."                                         on the cross, of His merited righteousness and His
  At least symbolically we sit about the Lord's              promise of everlasting covenant fellowship with
table as His guests, in fellowship with Christ and           Him in glory. As Paul states, "But God, Who is rich
with His saints, anticipating the wedding feast of           in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us,
the Lamb.                                                    even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened
                                                             us together with Christ, . . . and hath raised us up to-
  At the table we see the bread broken before our            gether, and made us sit together in heavenly places
eyes, reminding us of Christ's body that was                 in Christ Jesus" (Ephesians 2:4-6).
broken as atonement for our sins. We see the wine
poured out as a reminder of Christ's blood that                On the other hand, the Table of Comrnunion is a
oozes forth drop by drop as the obedient Servant             foretaste of the better things to come, creating in us
gave His life for His sheep. Our Communion Form              a longing for and eager anticipation of the eternal
reminds us so strikingly, that this sacrifice for our        blessedness of sitting as guests at God's table, to
sins was not limited to the last hours `of Jesus' life,      behold His glory in the glorious face of Jesus Christ,
but that all His life He bore the wrath of God               to hear Him speak to us, to see His infinite perfec-
against our sin, and especially when the bloody              tions of almighty power, holiness, righteousness,
sweat was pressed from Him in the garden, where              truth, and grace, to be satisfied with His fulness
He was bound to free us from the bondage of our              and to enjoy His fellowship unto the praise of the
sins; afterward to suffer innumerable reproaches             glory of His grace in the Beloved. That will be
and pains of hell, that we may never be confound-            glory, glory unspeakable!
ed. He was condemned to death in order to acquit               This can be experienced in the Holy Supper only
us from our guilt, and suffered His blessed body to          through faith. Just as our response to the preaching
be nailed to the cross, that He might fix thereon the        of the Word and to the sacrament of baptism is a
handwriting of our sins. He humbled Himself unto             response of faith, so also we must respond to the
the deepest reproaches and pains of hell, both in            signs of holy Communion with the testimony: I
body and soul on the tree of the cross to be forsaken        believe. Only through faith in Christ Jesus and in
of God. Thus He confirmed with His death and the             His atoning death, as the Catechism so strongly em-
shedding of His blood the new and eternal                    phasizes, can we experience the forgiveness of sins
covenant and reconciliation when He said: "It is             and the right to eternal life. And this faith is God's
Finished."                                                   gift, wrought by His Spirit in us.
  Christ gives us the bread and permits us to eat of           Therefore Scripture warns us, that to eat and
it. Thereby He assures us personally of a twofold            drink unworthily is to eat and drink condemnation
promise: "That His body was offered and broken               to ourselves. If we partake as a mere formality or
on the cross for me, and His blood shed for me, as           obligation, failing to focus our attention in all sin-
surely as I see with my eyes, the bread of the Lord          cerity upon the broken body and shed blood of our


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                              293



Lord, we can only suffer a spiritual decline in our       riches of salvation in Christ Jesus, that endure unto
lives.                                                    life everlasting with Him in glory.
  The Lord's Supper requires preparation,  prayer-                He feeds with good the humble soul
ful soul-searching, that spiritually we may be                          And satisfies the meek,
prepared to sit at God's table, partake of His boun-            And they shall live and praise the Lord
ties, and be satisfied with His abundant grace, the               Who for His mercy seek. (Psalm 22)

EDITORIALS
Prof. H. C. Hoeksema



                                       Editor's Notes

   PRE-PUBLICATION   SALE.  F o r   c o m p l e t e         PUBLICATION   PROGRAM.   This is advance
information as to the pre-publication sale of the         notice of a program being planned for the evening
RFPA's forthcoming Bible story book,  Come, Ye            of April 27, D.V., at our Hudsonville Protestant Re-
Children,  turn to the back cover of this issue. Be       formed Church. At this program there will be brief
sure to read both sides, and follow the directions        presentations concerning Come, Ye Children  by the
carefully. We have planned this page so that you          author and by the artist and others. After the  half-
can cut off the back page and use the order blanks        hour program there will be opportunity to get
without damaging the rest of your Standard Bearer.        copies of the book, to get them autographed by
Permit me to call special attention to the following:     author and/or artist, and also to purchase the origi-
`1) Even though the book will come out by the end         nals of the artwork of the book.
of April, the pre-publication sale will extend to June
1. This is to give all our readers the opportunity to       IDEAS  WELCOME!  As you know, from time to
take advantage of the special prices. 2) Note the         time we have produced special issues of our
RFPA Book Club members can get a  double dis-             magazine in recent years. The response to these
count,  but  only-  if  you  pre-pay.  Otherwise you      special issues has been gratifying to the Staff and
will be sent the book automatically at the normal         especially to the committee in charge. My guess is
book club discount of  209%  off the regular price.       that this policy will be continued, and that the Staff
This is an added incentive to join the book club          will be deciding at its next annual meeting on
now. 3) If you wish to have the book mailed to you,       themes for future special issues. The thought
be sure to include the extra amount for postage. If       occurred to me in that connection that some of our
you plan to pick up your copy, omit the postage. 4)       readers might have suggestions as to subjects, or
In the greater Grand Rapids area you will have a          themes, for such special issues. If you do, and if
good opportunity to take advantage of the pre-pub-        you would like your ideas to be considered, why
lication sale at the special program being planned        not drop me a note in the near future? You will find
for the publication date, April 27 (see below).           the address of the Editorial Office in the masthead.




          Limited Atonement and the Free Offer


  Errol1 Hulse and his magazine,  Reformation             formed Baptist. We have always claimed that the
Today, represent a type-of Baptist who claim to be        names  Reformed  and  Baptist  are a contradiction
Calvinistic and who sometimes call themselves Re-         in terms. And Mr. Hulse and his colleagues are an


 294                                              THE STANDARD BEARER



illustration of this contradiction.                              universalist scheme that our Lord died for all equally
   A recent issue of Beformation Today, No. 76, con-             and without exception and therefore part of the
firms this contention. In the first place, there is a            Gospel message must be, `Christ died for your sins.'
lengthy article by Mr. Hulse himself on "The Love                But the message that our Lord died for al1  the sins of
of God for All Mankind." In this article, which                  all men and that such a death must motivate them to
                                                                 make their religious decision we simply do not find in
promises to be part of a new book by Mr. Hulse to                the Word of God! Never in Scripture is it stated-even
replace his The Free Offer of the Gospel, the writer             in the inspired preaching of the Apostles, which
goes to extremes to which, in my opinion, he has                 should be our measure and model for preaching-do
not gone before. For example, he now refers to the               we discover such a declaration! Such preaching
common grace which was supposed to be the basis                  actually cheapens the precious blood of our Lord! It
of the "free offer" as a "benevolent love" of God                makes His suffering and death of little value!! It puts
for all men; and he explains a passage such as John              the centrality of the Gospel, which in reality is the
3:16 as referring to this alleged benevolent love. All           power of God unto salvation, in the realm of mere po-
in all, his writings remind one strongly of the posi-            tential and impotency! Indeed, if carefully thought
tion taken by Prof. Harold Dekker in the 1960s                   through, such preaching must restrict the full, free
with respect to a redemptive love of God for all                 declaration of our Lord's work for sinners!. . . .
men, though Hulse still wants to distinguish two                I said earlier that Dr. Downing approaches the
loves of God. Besides, in his lengthy article on this        real problem obliquely in this paragraph. It is evi-
subject Hulse thoroughly confuses what in our own            dent that he does so from the viewpoint of a pos-
history we referred to as the "common grace"                 sible Arminian argument, namely, that limited
aspect of the First Point of 1924 and the "general           atonement constitutes a  restriction  on the offer of
grace" aspect of it. To offer a critique of Mr.              the gospel. Over against this, Dr. Downing insists
Hulse's article in this issue, however, would take           that he does not want the doctrine of universal
up more space than is available in this issue.               atonement and that he does not want to preach a
Perhaps we shall give attention to this subject later.       message that Christ died for all the sins of all men,
                                                             that this is not according to Scripture and not
  In the same issue of Reformation Today there is an         according to the example of the preaching of the
article by a Dr. Bill Downing entitled "Some Prac-           Apostles.
tical Implications of `Limited Atonement.' " Mr.
Hulse refers to this article in an editorial and says,         We agree.
"There is no contradiction between the teaching of             Nevertheless, Dr. Downing does not approach
Bill Downing and the article on the benevolent love          the real problem that is involved here, nor does he
of God." He makes no effort to prove his conten-             seem to see that very real problem. That problem is
tion, however. And it seems to me that the                   not one posed by the Arminian, but a problem
advocates of this alleged benevolent love of God             which any Reformed man must raise and must face
and of its concomitant doctrine of the so-called             with respect to the so-called "free offer" in relation
"free offer" have a very real problem in this con-           to the truth of particular atonement. The problem is
nection, a problem to which we shall point a bit             this-and I will put it very bluntly: how can God
later. It would almost seem as though Mr. Hulse              offer to all men that which He does not have and
sensed this problem when he penned the statement             which He Himself has not provided? For if the
quoted above.                                                atonement of Christ is particular, and it is; and if
  Mr. Downing approaches the problem in his                  that particular atonement means that Christ, and
article, though rather obliquely. In his article Mr.         that, too, according to the sovereign purpose of God,
Downing is certainly less explicit on the doctrine of        has purchased for the elect, and for them only, all
definite atonement than are the Canons of Dordt.             the blessings of salvation; and that is precisely what
However, I will not criticize this. After explaining         it means; then God has all the blessings of salvation
the doctrine, distinguishing it from universalism            only for the elect. How then can God nevertheless
and from Arminianism, and presenting briefly its             offer salvation to all men?
Scriptural foundation, he writes as follows:                   Bear in mind that this is indeed the question. The
   We move on to consider three areas of practical truth.    question is not: how can men, preachers, offer sal-
   The first of these we pose in the form of a question:     vation to all? But how can God, and that, too, well-
   What relationship does the extent of the atonement        meaningly and in what Mr. Hulse calls "benevolent
   have to the free offer of the Gospel? We reply that a     love," offer salvation to all men when He has salva-
   so-called `limited atonement' brings no restriction to    tion only for the elect?
   bear upon the free offer of the Gospel! None what-
   soever! This objection does not stem from Scripture or      Let no one say that this objection does not stem
   even Scriptural reasoning, but rather from an un-         from Scripture or from Scriptural reasoning. There
   scriptural message. It assumed on the inconsistent        could be no more Scriptural question than this. For


                                          THE STANDARD BEARER                                                    295



at bottom this is a question concerning God                 which the doctrine of the offer inevitably leads.
Himself. It is a question concerning the veracity  of       2) God does not and cannot offer salvation to all
God Who cannot lie!                                         men, for the Gospel is that Christ died and merited
  And since God cannot and does not lie or dis-             the blessings of salvation.for the elect, and for them
simulate in the preaching of the gospel, there are          only. This is the Scriptural and Reformed solution.
only two conceivable solutions to this problem:               This is, of course, not by any means the only
1) God can and does offer salvation to all men be-          problem which the proponents of the "free offer"
cause Christ by His death actually obtained salva-          must face. But it is a significant one.
tion for all men. This is the Arminian solution, to

MY SHEEP HEAR MY VOICE




                            Our Order of Worship
                                                   Prof. H. Hanko




  In our last article, we talked about various orders       recognize the fundamental truth that the congrega-
of worship which have been used throughout the              tion really participates in the whole worship.
history of the Reformed Churches, and some com-             Whether the minister is himself speaking or
mon features which characterize them all.                   reading from the Scriptures, whether the minister
  In this article, we want to begin our discussion of       is praying or singing along with the rest of the con-
the various elements which go to make up our                gregation, the congregation ought to be taking an
order of worship. It is perhaps best that we discuss        active part. We will, therefore, follow the distinc-
the various elements which go to make up the order          tion which has been most commonly used.
of worship in our churches, and discuss the place in           The first element in which the minister leads is
which they should be included in connection with            the reading of Scripture. This is, perhaps, not the
this discussion.                                            first element in the  order  of worship; but it is the
  Generally speaking, liturgists have divided the           first element which we intend to consider.
elements in the worship service into two main sec-             It might be well that we make a few remarks first
tions: the elements in which the minister leads, and        of all concerning the Biblical basis for this practice.
the elements in which the minister speaks. In a             Already in the Old Testament there were times
way, this is an arbitrary distinction, and other dis-       when the Scriptures were read in the audience of
tinctions could be used. The idea behind this dis-          the people of God. We read of such practice, e.g., at
tinction is to place emphasis upon the fact that the        the time of Ezra and Nehemiah (Nehemiah 8:1-8).
minister, as the ambassador of Christ, leads in the         The same thing is true of the time of our Lord. It
entire worship service. With a little thought, it can       was evidently an established practice in the syna-
be clearly seen that other distinctions all have ob-         gogues already before our Lord came to earth. He
jections of one sort or another. The distinction             Himself' followed this practice and read from the
which we have suggested is open to criticism, e.g.,          Scriptures before preaching to the people when He
that it does not say anything about those elements           made use of the synagogue. So we read in connec-
in the worship service in which the congregation             tion with His sermon in the synagogue of Nazareth
takes an active role. But the fact remains that             that He asked for the scroll of the prophecy of
should another distinction be introduced, which              Isaiah and read from chapter 61. The apostles
would speak of those elements in which the congre-          followed the same practice, especially when they
gation takes a part, one would face other objec-            used the synagogues for their pulpits. Thus we read
tions. Chiefly, such a distinction would fail to            in Acts 13: 15 that it was after the reading of the law


296                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



and the prophets that Paul began his great sermon         minister to lay his notes. But during the worship
which he preached to the Jews of Antioch. We              service, and particularly during the preaching, the
know too that it was very common in the apostolic         Bible is not even visible to the congregation. The
church for the congregations to read the letters          same thing is true of some styles of modern pulpit
which were sent to them by the apostles and to            furniture. The pulpit is constructed in such a way
circulate copies of these letters so that all the         that the Bible is hidden behind a rather high front
congregations could read them in their worship ser-       board so that it cannot be seen. This is, to my mind,
vice. It is not surprising, therefore, that the  post-    something less than desirable. It can, of course, be
apostolic church followed the same practice and           argued that all this is mere symbolism and that,
that Scripture reading was, from the beginning, an        after all, the important thing is that the sermon
integral part of the worship service. And this prac-      itself be an exposition of Scripture; but the fact of
tice continued throughout the centuries with little       the matter is that symbolism in the worship service
exception. The major exception was, of course, the        has always been important, and we have lost some-
failure either to read Scripture or to preach during      thing of the heritage of the Reformation when we
the Middle Ages when the Romish Church was in             fail to do this. By the presence of the Bible on the
control of the entire lives of the people. Because of     top of the pulpit throughout the worship service we
the emphasis on sacerdotalism and because of the          clearly state that the Word of God stands at the
terrible illiteracy of the clergy, Scripture reading      very center of our worship, and its presence there,
was all but abandoned in many instances. The              in view of the entire congregation, reminds them
Romish Church believed that the members of the            constantly of this important truth.
church did not need the Scriptures and, in fact,            The reading of Scripture is such an important
thought that the Scriptures would be harmful for          part of the worship service because: 1) it is through
the people of God. And so Scripture reading was no        the Scriptures that God speaks to His people; 2) it
longer practiced.                                         forms the basis for the preaching; 3) it has been
  The Reformation brought all this to an end. The         stated correctly that the liturgy of the worship ser-
Reformation was, above all, a return to the               vice is an integral whole and the principle of that
Scriptures; and the Reformers were convinced that         unity is surely the Word of God around which the
it was essential not only that the people of God          whole revolves and which gives to the whole its
have the Scriptures in their possession, but also that    basic unified structure.
the worship services include Scripture reading.             It has been argued that Scripture ought to be read
  It is in this connection that an interesting point      systematically in the worship service from begin-
ought to be brought up. The Reformers not only            ning to end. The reason for this is that much of
firmly believed that the Scriptures ought to be read      Scripture is never actually read in the worship ser-
in  the  worship services, but that the Word of God       vice and that many people of God never hear the
ought to occupy a central place in the preaching.         whole of Scripture read to them. This can hardly be
The congregation was gathered around the Word of          considered an objection, however, if there are sys-
God, and that Word was the controlling feature of         tematic family devotions in the home. It is usually
worship. In order to impress this upon the minds of       better to read a passage which relates to the text
people, they insisted that the pulpit ought to stand      upon which the sermon is based.
in the center of the platform, in the place of the          There has been some change in the particular
altar which had stood there in the old Romish             place in the order of worship which the reading of
Churches. The altar was the center of worship in          Scripture occupies. It was not so long ago that
the Romish Churches because the mass was the              Scripture reading was usually prior to congrega-
center of the worship, where the elements of the          tional prayers. In recent years, most of our
bread and wine were changed into the body and             churches have shifted Scripture reading to after the
blood of the Lord. Intent on showing the people           congregational prayers and just before the sermon
that the mass was an accursed idolatry and that the       proper. I personally do not like this change very
Word of God stood at the center, the Reformers            well. I know that the argument is that the reading
disposed of the altar and replaced it with the pulpit.    of the appropriate Scriptural passage fits much
But upon this pulpit was the Bible, lying open, in        better just before the sermon so that the congre-
view of all the people of the congregation. This was,     gation can clearly see the connection between the
of course, symbolic, but there is here an important       passage and the sermon. But the fact is that, unless
value in the symbol for all that.                         the material for the sermon is announced on the
  Something of this is sometimes lost within our          bulletin, the congregation does not even know
own church buildings. For one thing, there is an in-      what is being preached on until the service is  one-
creasingly common practice to clear the top of the        third over. And the elements of worship which pre-
pulpit of the Bible, perhaps to allow room for the        cede the congregational prayers are crowded


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 297



closely together-especially the two songs which           and it ought to occupy a prominent place in the
are sung before and after the reading of the law or       worship. It goes without saying that the minister,
the Apostolic Confession.                                 when reading the Scriptures, ought to read them in
  There is one possible way in which both these           such a way that his reading is easy to follow. That
problems can be avoided: a passage of Scripture can       is, he ought to read Scripture expressively and in-
be read both before the congregational prayers and        terestingly. Nor is it out of place to make, from time
after them just before the sermon is preached. In         to time, a few brief comments about the particular
fact, this  .is done in some Presbyterian Churches        meaning of a passage which he reads. And the
where there is a reading of Scripture both from the       congregation ought to listen attentively to the
"Old Covenant" and the "New Covenant." When               reading of Scripture as God's own Word to them. It
this is done, a passage from the Old Testament            has been said of Dr. A. Kuyper, that his reading of
Scriptures which relates to the sermon is read in the     Scripture was in itself a sermon and often edified
early part of the order of worship, and a passage         and blessed the congregation as much as the
from the New Testament is read just prior to the          sermon itself. This was apparently due to his way
sermon-or vice versa, if the sermon is from the           of reading it rather than of any comments which he
Old Testament. This way of doing things appeals to        made in the course of reading, something he almost
me very much and ought seriously to be                    never did. Even in the reading of Scripture Christ
considered.                                               speaks to His people through His blessed Word;
                                                          and the congregation ought to say, as the Scriptures
  It remains a fact, however, that the reading of         are read, "Speak, Lord, for Thy servant heareth:"
Scripture is essential. It is central and important
FROM HOLY WRIT




          Believing All the Prophetic Scripture
                                                Rev. G. Lubbers




                    Chapter XI                            21:37;  22:42; John  15:22; Heb.  1:2; I John  510-12).
                                                          The  immediate result  of this testing was the re-
   Scofield's "Sixth  Dispensation  Of Grace"             jection of Christ by the Jews, and His crucifixion by
  Dispensational Premillennialism further holds           Jew and Gentile (Acts  4:27). The  predicted end  of
that, besides the several dispensations which we          the testing of man under grace is the apostasy of the
have passed in review in the former Chapters, there       church (see apostasy-I Tim. 3:1-8 note) and the
are also the dispensations of "grace" and of the          resultant apocalyptic judgments."
"kingdom." According to Scofieldian dispensation-           From this quotation it is quite evident that  Sco-
alism, the time of "grace" is in no way the same as       field, and those following his teaching, teach that
the time of the dispensation of "the kingdom." The        there is no law in any sense in the dispensation of
kingdom begins at the time of the "rapture," the          grace, and that there is no grace in the dispensation
secret return of Christ. The "kingdom" is really          of law.
Jewish. in nature; it belongs to national Israel in
contradistinction from the "Church."                        Let us take a look at what the Scriptures teach on
                                                          this point, and then consider whether  "Dispensa-
  Writes Scofield  in his "notes" on John 1: 17, "as a    tionalism" believes and teaches all the  Prohetic
dispensation grace begins with the death and resur-       Scriptures.
rection of Christ (Rom.  3:21, 22;  4:25, 26). The
point of testing is no longer legal obedience as the        We hold they do not believe all the Scriptures.
condition of salvation (John  1:12, 13;  3:36; Matt.        The position of the dispensationalist does not do


     298                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



     justice to the key passage in John  1:17 (supra) "for      cleft of the rock, as the LORD passes by to show
     the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth            him His glory. In that Old Testament dispensation
     came by Jesus Christ."                                     "no (sinful!) man might see God and live" (Ex.
        It ought to be evident that Scofield, in quoting        33:19,20). Yet, Moses might hear the great Name of
     this Scripture, thinks of the "law" as being in abso-      the LORD proclaimed by God as His glory passes
     lute contrast with "grace and truth"; the two,             by. It must be remembered that this was the glory
     according to him, have nothing in common. How-             which did not yet come in full grace and truth; it
     ever, Scofield, and many others with him, overlook         did speak of this glory to come. The form of that
     the true meaning of this text; he misinterprets. He        glory was that it spoke of the future when the Gos-
     overlooks the grand fact that the conjunction "for,"       pel of the glory of the blessed God would be
     in verse 17, assigns the reason why in the New             preached to Jew and Gentile alike (I Tim.  1:ll).
     Testament dispensation "we all" have received              That would be grace and truth.
     from Christ's fulness, grace for grace. In the Old            And this grace and truth became for us a reality
     Testament the believers also received from the             in the incarnation of the Son of God, in His death,
     covenant, blessings. They too received the                 resurrection, and ascension. Did not God come to
     forgiveness of sins and obtained joy and peace from        tabernacle in our midst as the most blessed God?
     the sacrifices in the temple, but they did not receive     Yes, when Jesus died He said, "It is finished." And
     the fulness  (,,Zeuooma) which is the full measure of      when the soldier pierced Jesus' side with a spear,
     the grace in the crucified, risen and glorified Christ.    from the riven side flowed forthwith "blood and
     They did not yet receive from Him, Whom Paul               water" (John 19:30, 34).
     calls the Son, in Whom all "the fulness of the                Thus a fountain was opened in Jacob.
.    Godhead dwells bodily" (Col.  2:9). The rivers do
     not yet flow from the bowels of the believers (John          Literally we read in Zachariah 13:1, "In that day
     7:37-39). The waters, which Jesus gives, now               there shall a fountain be opened to the house of
     become in those who receive it by a true and living        David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin
     faith "a fountain of living waters, springing up unto      and for uncleanness."
     everlasting life" (John 4:13, 14).                           Such are the grace and truth of the blessings
       Did not the prophet Ezekiel write, "and by the           spoken of in Psalm  25:lO: "all the paths of the
     river upon the bank thereof, on this side and on           LORD are mercy and truth unto such as keep His
     that side, shall grow all trees for meat, whose leaf       commandments and testimonies."
     shall not fade, neither shall the fruit thereof be con-      Grace was fully revealed in the Word made
     sumed; it shall bring forth new fruit according to its     flesh!
     months, because their waters they issued out of the          However, grace was also revealed in the  Old.
     sanctuary; the fruit thereof shall be for meat, and        Testament dispensation. Noah found grace in the
     the leaf thereof for medicine"?                            eyes of the LORD (Gen.  6:8). The Psalms are re-
        Here Ezekiel speaks of the effect of the waters of      plete with God's grace and mercy to the Old Testa-
     the Holy Spirit as they flow from the temple and as        ment saints. This we read, "but Thou, 0 LORD, art
     they become a veritable river of life. And did Jesus       a God full of compassion, and gracious and longsuf-
     not say in John  7:38, "as the Scripture hath said,        fering, and plenteous in mercy and truth" (Ps.
     out of His belly shall flow rivers of water"? Hence,       86:15); "the LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to
     this is the fulness of Christ, the Fountain, as this is    anger and plenteous in mercy" (Ps.  103:8); "the
     revealed in the church, which is the fulness of Him        LORD is gracious and full of compassion" (Ps.
     Who filleth all in all" (Eph. 1:23).                       11:4b); "unto the righteous there ariseth light in
       In the Old Testament we had "`the law" as given          darkness: He is gracious, and full of compassion,
     by Moses. This law was first given to Moses                and righteousness" (Ps.  112:4); "Gracious is the
     through angels at Sinai (Gal.  3:19, 20; Heb.  2:2).       LORD and righteous; yea, our God is merciful" (Ps.
     However, the "law" in John 1:17 is not a mere "do          116:5); the LORD is gracious and full of compas-
     this and thou shalt live thereby" (Lev.  18:5; Gal.        sion, slow to anger and of great mercy" (Ps. 145:8).
     3:12; Rom. 105). It refers to the entire lawgiving in        Need we quote yet also Psalm 136 with its refrain
     the temple in which Moses was a faithful servant           "for His mercy endureth forever"?
     (Heb.  3:2). This was the old temple of the old              Truly, the LORD is thus merciful to whom He
     dispensation, the shadows and types which por-             will be merciful. This is the sovereign mercy which
     trayed the Christ to come. But Christ is the Builder       is revealed to Moses (Ex. 33: 19; Rom. 9: 15).
     of the true temple, the abiding house of God (Heb.           In the context of John 1:17 we read of Jesus, "He
     3:6).                                                      came unto His own things (temple, etc.) but His
       In the Old Testament we have a Moses in the              own received Him not. Yet as many as did receive


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  299



Him, to them He gave power to be called the               of God and of the Lamb. And these waters are for
children of God, who were born not out of flesh,          the trees of the garden of the heavenly Paradise,
nor out of blood, nor by the will of man, but who         which are for the healing of the nations.
were born out of God (John l:ll-13).                        No, the Old Testament saints were not merely
  Yes, there was grace in the Old Testament under         under a legal regiment of a legal code of conduct. It
the shadows and types! However, now that Christ           was not a mere testing of men to save themselves
has come we receive showers of blessings. "And I          by keeping the law. Such was the interpretation of
will make them places about My hill of blessing;          the Pharisees of Jesus' day; and such is the teaching
there shall be showers of blessing" (Ezek. 34:25).        in the Talmud. And Scofield is in the camp of the
  John the Baptist cried of this Jesus in the wilder-     latter in his teaching of the dispensation of law.
ness.                                                       But the Scriptures always held before the people
  Now we ask once more: is it really true that there      of God in the Old Testament the Rest which was
was no grace in the Old Testament of God? Did             prepared for them; it was the rest not of Joshua in
"grace and truth" in the real sense of the term, first    the earthly promised land, but it was the true
become the portion of the saints after Calvary, or        "Sabbatismus" which was always spoken of as
was there a certain revelation of grace and a partici-    "another day" (Heb.  4:8, 9). Into that rest David
pation in it by faith and hope for the Old Testament      and all the Old Testament saints strove to enter in
saints?                                                   hope. They saw that the Christ was the end of the
                                                          law for righteousness to every one that believeth
  Scofield says there was not!                            (Rom. 10:4).
  The Bible teaches that there was such grace in            Let us then believe all the Scriptures, and cherish
Him Who was the surety of this grace in the Old           in our hearts the beautiful and evangelical answer
Testament (Heb. 7:22).                                    in Ques. 19 of the Heidelberg Catechism which
  When we take a hard look at John 1: 17 and we           goes as follows,
notice that in Moses' law we see the promisory               `I... from the holy Gospel, which God Himself
Gospel, while in Christ Jesus, the Word made flesh,       first revealed in Paradise; afterwards published by
we see the fulness of these blessings, from which         the patriarchs and prophets, and represented by the
both Jew and Greek received.                              sacrifices and other ceremonies of the law; and
  We all received from this fulness.                      lastly, has fulfilled in His only begotten Son."
  Grace for grace!                                           Such was the fulness promised.
  And this grace for grace is super-abundant                 Such is the fulness which we now all received:
measure of grace. It speaks of the streams of mercy       grace for grace.
never ending-waters which flow from the throne

FAITH OF OUR FATHERS



                                  The Nicene Creed
                                              Rev. James Slopsema




  We saw in our last article that the early Christian     rection of Jesus from the dead. As we saw, the
church was very careful to confess the fact of the        world even in the early history of the church had
resurrection of Christ. In Article 5 of the Nicene        invented various theories to explain away the
creed she confessed that Jesus Christ rose again the      resurrection of Christ. According to some the  dis-
third day, according to the Scriptures. This she con-     ciples stole the body of Jesus from the sepulchre
fessed over against the unbelieving world of both         and claimed a resurrection. According to others
Jew and Gentile that emphatically denied the resur-       Jesus never died on the cross. He merely went into


300                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



a deep faint simply to revive several hours later in         cross? Who, for example, will appear before God as
the grave. Still others sought to explain the                our Advocate to gain the forgiveness of our sins on
appearances of the risen Jesus in terms of delusions         the basis of the cross? And who will work in our
on the part of the disciples. Over against all this,         hearts to give us the new life merited for us on the
however, the early church was very emphatic to               cross? And who will preserve us in that new life
confess in this fifth article of the Nicene creed that       from all the wiles of the devil? And who will come
Jesus Christ did in fact rise again from the dead on         down from heaven one day to destroy the world
the third day. This He did according to the prophe-          and bring the church to her final glory in a new
cies of the O.T. Scriptures.                                 creation? All these works of salvation must be per-
  It is of extreme importance that the resurrection          formed for us and in us or we have nothing. We
of Christ be maintained. The question may be                 have nothing to preach about, nothing to believe in,
asked: What difference does it make whether Jesus            nothing to hope for. And these works are all the
is risen from the dead or not? Why must the church           works of Christ as our Savior, which He has
involve herself in controversy with those who deny           promised to perform. But if He is not risen, if He is
the resurrection? The answer is to be found in I             still dead in the grave, how shall He accomplish
Corinthians 15. In verse 14 of that chapter we are           them? And if Christ can not do these for us, who
told, "And if Christ be not risen, then is our preach-       will? One need not penetrate too deeply into the
ing vain, and your faith is also vain." The word             subject to understand that if Christ be not risen we
i'vainl I as used in this particular verse means             have absolutely nothing.
"empty, without content." And that, says Paul,                 The world certainly understands that. That is
would be the case with his preaching and our faith           why it sought from the very beginning to under-
if Christ be not risen. Paul, and for that matter any        mine the fact of Jesus' resurrection. When the
preacher, would have nothing to preach about.                Roman soldiers fled to the Jewish leaders on Easter
Nor, therefore, would we have anything to believe            morning with the report that an angel had descend-
in. In verse 17 of this same chapter Paul adds, "and         ed from heaven to roll away the stone from the
if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet      sepulchre of Jesus, the leaders immediately sensed
in your sins." The word "vain" in this latter verse          the significance. Were Jesus to be raised from the
is not the same word as in verse 15. In verse 17 the         grave, as He had claimed, it would mean that some-
word "vain" has the idea of "without effect."                how Jesus had managed to defeat them. Their vic-
Hence, if Christ be not risen, then our faith is with-       tory of Friday, as they saw Him crucified, was
out effect. It is fruitless. It certainly does not result    gone. And so they bribed the Roman soldiers to
in our salvation as the Scriptures teach us and as we        spread the lie that the disciples had stolen the body.
have believed all along. For if Christ be not risen,         To destroy the faith of the people in Jesus, they had
we are still in our sins and therefore liable to the         to destroy the resurrection. And as we saw in our
condemnation of God.                                         last article, the wicked have not given up in this at-
  Nor do we need to be very theologically inclined           tempt. From the days of the early church until now
to feel the thrust of this. If Jesus is not risen from       the world has sought to destroy the fact of the res-
the dead, then He is still dead in the grave. And if         urrection. For if it can accomplish that, it has
He is still in the grave, then the suffering and death       effectively destroyed the whole work of salvation,
of our Savior mean nothing but bitter defeat; they           the faith of the saints, and the church itself.
are the end of all our hopes and aspirations for               This also explains the zeal of the true church,
salvation. For, in the first place, a dead Jesus would       even from the beginning of her existence, to defend
be a most damning testimony to the ineffectiveness           the fact of Jesus' resurrection. The church too has
of the cross. If, after all, the cross is powerless to       always understood that without the resurrection of
deliver Jesus Himself from the death of the grave,           her Lord she has nothing.
what good will it ever accomplish for us. All our              Because our faith stands or falls with Jesus' res-
hopes and dreams of salvation are founded on the             urrection, God was very careful to leave behind
cross. But if the cross could not even secure the re-        various proofs of the resurrection. There are espe-
lease of our Savior from the clutches of death, that         cially four things that point conclusively to the
cross has absolutely no meaning for us. We too one           resurrection of Christ.
day will die. And the cross will be just as powerless
to deliver us from our last and most dreaded enemy             There is first the empty grave. When the women
as it was to deliver Christ. But there is more. Let's        came to the sepulchre on Easter morning to anoint
assume once that the cross could still serve as the          the body of Jesus, they found to their surprise that
foundation of our salvation, even though it did not          the grave was empty.
deliver Christ from the grave. The question arises:            In the second place, there are the grave clothes.
Who will bring us that salvation implied in the              The gospel accounts relate quite specifically that


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 301



the grave bands wrapped around the body of Jesus          Jesus had risen, but also to provide Jesus the oppor-
had not been disturbed but were perfectly intact as       tunity to instruct the disciples in the meaning and
they had been wound around the body of Jesus on           significance of the resurrection.
the day of His burial. This points us not only to the       These proofs of the resurrection serve to confirm
fact of His resurrection but also to the nature of the    our faith in the resurrection. The Scriptures are
resurrection. Through the resurrection Christ             very clear to proclaim the resurrection of our Lord.
received a heavenly and spiritual body that was not       And on the basis of that claim alone we believe that
limited by physical barriers as are our bodies of         Jesus is risen. This is in harmony with the character
flesh and blood. In light of these grave clothes no       of faith. Faith believes all that is contained in the
one can possibly claim that the disciples stole the       Scriptures. We believe that Christ is risen from the
body of Jesus or that Jesus merely went into a deep       dead simply because the Bible tells us so. However,
faint on the cross simply to revive in the grave and      in light of the fact that the resurrection is all impor-
sneak off.                                                tant for our faith and because therefore the powers
  In the third place, there was the message of the        of darkness would destroy the resurrection, God in
angel to the women at the sepulchre. The women            His wisdom has given these proofs of the resurrec-
that came to anoint Jesus on Easter morning not           tion of our Savior. Their purpose is to confirm and
only found an empty grave and Jesus' grave clothes        strengthen our faith in the blessed resurrection.
intact; they were also met by an angel. And the           Clinging to these proofs we are able to remain
angel explained it all to them: "...I know that ye        steadfast in the faith in spite of the onslaughts  .of
seek Jesus, which was crucified. He is not here: for      the world to move us from the faith. With these
He is risen as He said" (Matt. 285, 6).                   proofs we cut to pieces the silly attempts of the
  Finally, there were the ten appearances of Jesus        world to deny the resurrection of Christ. And
to His disciples from the day of His resurrection to      strengthened by these proofs we confess with the
the time of His ascension forty days afterwards.          church of all ages that Jesus Christ, our Savior, rose
The purpose of these appearances was not only to          again the third day, according to the Scriptures.
establish for the sake of the disciples the fact that

STRENGTH OF YOUTH



                     The Christian and Gambling
                                              Rev. Ron Cammenga





  "Old doubts and fears about games of chance are           Some statistics. Studies by federal researchers
falling by the wayside as states, churches and other      have found that more than 60% of the adult popu-
organizations cater to people's growing desire to         lation engage in some form of gambling, and 80% of
bet." So ran the subtitle to an article on gambling in    the people surveyed in a 1982 Gallup Poll approved
an issue of U.S. News last spring. In the last couple     of legalized gambling. A flood of recently approved
of years many Americans have felt the effects of a        laws permitting lotteries, racetrack betting, and
harsh economy. One business at least has experi-          bingo has left only four states-Mississippi, Indi-
enced no slowdown, the gambling business.                 ana, Utah, and Hawaii-that still prohibit all forms
Business is brisk, in fact it has never been better.      of gambling. It's difficult to place an accurate figure
The piles of money being gambled away in every            on the amount of money won and lost in social
part of the U.S. continue to get bigger every year,       gambling among friends, at church bingos, raffles,
recession or no recession. Never before have so           and sporting events. And it's even more difficult to
many people used so many ways to bet so much.             say for sure the total amount lost in illegal profes-


302                                              THE STANDARD BEARER



sional gambling. But according to statistics cited in        bling, the churches have taken the lead in promot-
the November 25, 1983, editorial of  Christianity            ing gambling. Bingo games and raffles have become
Today,  researchers calculate that professional              big business for the churches, a new and better way
gambling interests net $50 billion every year. Esti-         to raise money at a time when contributions were
mates of the total amount wagered range from $500            down.
billion up to $1 trillion per year. Statistics indicate         The government too has legalized gambling with
that there are from 7 to 10 million compulsive               its own interests largely in view. Faced with finan-
gamblers in the U.S.-more than the number of                 cial woes, many state governments have been
alcoholics.                                                  forced to seek new sources of revenue. Gambling
   Last year 17 states, including the District of            seemed to have at least two advantages. First, many
Columbia, sold $4 billion in lottery tickets. Twenty-        lawmakers thought that by legalizing gambling the
four additional states are in the process of joining         effect would be to discourage illegal gambling asso-
those who operate government lotteries. Even                 ciated with big crime. This expectation, for various
though lotteries return less than half of the money          reasons, has not been realized. In fact the illegal
they take in, low in comparison to the 75% to 88%            gambling racketeers have used the legalizing of
payouts of racetracks and casinos, public response           gambling to their own advantage. Second,
to them has been overwhelming.                               lawmakers thought legal gambling to be a rather
   The last couple of years has also witnessed a             painless alternative to increasing taxes in order to
comeback of racetrack betting. In-May of last year           raise needed money.
the Iowa Legislature passed a law allowing parimu-             It's not as though there has been no opposition to
tuel betting on horse races. Voters in Oklahoma              the legalizing of gambling. There have been those
and Minnesota had already voted by more than a 2             who, for various reasons, have spoken out against
to 1 margin to add their states to the 31 that already       this modern trend. Some critics have pointed out
permit racetrack betting.                Legal betting on    that those who gamble are those who can least
Thoroughbreds, harness horses, quarter horses,               afford it, people with low incomes and even those
and greyhounds netted more than $22 billion in               on state welfare. A study conducted in Michigan
1982.                                                        showed that people with less money spent a larger
  Especially on the increase is sports betting. This         percentage of their incomes on the state lottery.
is due largely to the boom in televised athletics.           The expectation, of course, is to win big so that all
Sports betting was estimated at between $65 and              one's financial worries will be over. Other criticism
$75 billion last year. This moved sports betting into        concerns the crime and cheating that are inevitably
second place in the nation's race for the most costly        associated with gambling's promise of easy money.
illegal pastime, with illicit drugs, estimated at $79        Since gambling has been legalized in the state of
billion a year, still in first place.                        New Jersey, per capita crime in Atlantic City,
  Technological advances have opened up new                  which is fast becoming the gambling capital of the
frontiers to the nation's gamblers. Coin-operated            nation, has tripled. The legalizing of gambling has
                                                             taken its toll. Still today, God punishes sin with
lottery machines, cable-television hookups, and              more sin.
telephone banks providing instant transmission of
wagers all over the country are just some of the               The legalizing of gambling has swelled the ranks
latest inventions to promote the gambling enter-             of compulsive gamblers. There is even an organiza-
prise.                                                       tion for "addicted" gamblers, Gamblers Anony-
                                                             mous. (What next, pray tell!) This organization
  The result of it all is that, everywhere we turn,          currently operates over 500 chapters throughout
we are encouraged to gamble: football and basket-            the U.S.
ball pools, magazine sweepstakes, lottery tickets at
the checkout lanes in the grocery stores, raffles and          "But, what's really so bad about gambling? At
bingo games by charitable organizations, private             least if one doesn't get too carried away? It's really
bingo and card parties, as well as the horse and dog         rather harmless and great fun. And everyone is
races. The number of compulsive gamblers rises               doing it." These are remarks that I've heard, and
drastically every year. These people become so ob-           I'm sure you have heard similar remarks.
sessed with gambling that this sin takes over their            I believe that there are several Biblical principles
entire life, to the ruin of their families and the loss      which prohibit gambling and which condemn the
of their jobs, as well as every penny that they own.         practice of gambling by Christians.
  The two organizations most responsible for the               1. Gambling is a denial of the God of provi-
re-introduction of gambling in the U.S. are the              dence. Rather than put his trust in God, the
government and the churches. Rather than speak               gambler replaces God with a world governed by
out clearly and forcefully against the sin of gam-           pure chance and places his trust in blind luck. This


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                            303



is a denial of providence. Lord's Day 10 and 11 of        to render account to Him as regards our use or
the Heidelberg Catechism teach us that it is God          abuse of those possessions. "Moreover it is re-
Who "upholds and governs" all things by His eter-         quired in stewards, that a man be found faithful" (I
nal counsel, that we are to rely upon God entirely,       Cor.  4:2). See also Eccl.  12:14; I Pet.  4:lO; Luke
and not to doubt that "He will provide me with all        12:42-48;  16:1-12.
things necessary for soul and body." Because of the         5. Gambling leads to covetousness and arises
truth of God's providence, the Christian knows            out of covetousness. Often this is the desire to be
that "all things come, not by chance, but by His          rich, to have money and what that money will buy.
fatherly hand." You might also look up the state-         The lure of high stakes and a big jackpot tempt
ment of the Belgic Confession, article 13, on the         many into the sin of gambling. For others, it's not
doctrine of providence. Some Scripture passages           even the desire for money itself. Rather it's the de-
that have bearing on this point are: Acts  17:27;         sire to have the reputation of beating the odds, of
Matt. 10:29, 30; Heb. 1:3; Ps. 55:22; Matt. 6:19 ff.      making it big, of being known as a big winner. No
  2. Gambling violates the Biblical principle of          matter, in either case it's a matter of covetousness.
work. The truth of providence teaches us that God         And no covetous man or woman shall have a place
provides for us. Ordinarily, the way in which God         in the kingdom of heaven. See Ps.  10:3; I Cor. 5:9-
does this is through our working. The believer is to      11; 6:9, 10; Eph. 5:5; II Pet. 2:14.
obtain his daily bread and his earthly possessions          As Christians it's clear to us what our position
by means of working. "For even when we were               ought to be in regard to gambling. Of this sin, too,
with you, this we commanded you, that if any              the word of the Apostle applies in Ephesians  5:3:
would not work, neither should he eat" (II Thes.          I'... let it not be once named among you, as  be-
3:lO). See also Rom. 12:ll and Eph. 4:28.                 cometh saints." Let us flee the temptation our-
  3. If, in spite of our working or because of our        selves to gamble. Let us be a witness to the Word of
inability to work, we become poor, we must not            God against this sin to those around us, especially
turn to gambling to solve our financial problems,         our friends and neighbors, who gamble or who
but we must turn to the church, first to our rela-        approve of gambling. And let us exert ourselves
tives and then to the deacons. This is the teaching       that this sin does not become approved by the
of Acts 6:1-8 and I Tim. 5.                               church. Let each of us labor faithfully to provide
  4. Gambling risks our possessions, and therefore        for ourselves and our families in that particular
is bad stewardship. God has entrusted even our            station in life in which God has set us. And let us
earthly possessions to us, and one day we will have       above all look to our heavenly Father for all that we
                                                          need, both for the body and the soul.

IN HIS FEAR



                                           God is Holy
                                               Rev. Ronald Hanko




  The Apostle Peter tells us in I Peter  2:9 that the     ness of our mouths, but in our whole life. Such a
great purpose of our salvation is found in God and        shewing  forth of God's praises in a life of obedience
not in us, "that (we) should shew forth the praises       is possible only because the law is His law, founded
of Him Who hath called (us) out of darkness into          upon His glory and demanding that which is in
His marvellous light." Through the irresistible           harmony with His high glory.
operations of the Holy Spirit we begin to fulfil this       We have seen that the First Commandment of
purpose and to learn in so doing that it is a wonder-     the law gives us the privilege of shewing  forth His
ful privilege. In His law God gives us the oppor-         glory as the One True God by teaching us to reject
tunity to enjoy this privilege, not only in the wit-      all other gods and their worship, and to have and


304                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



hold Him as our only Saviour. In connection with            All this means that when we use God's Name we
the Second Commandment He reveals to us His               are dealing with God Himself insofar as we are able
transcendence and the unsearchable height of His          to know Him. There are many passages of Scripture
glory, teaching us to worship Him in spirit and in        which impress this upon us. Scripture reminds us
truth by refraining from all wrong practices in our       that God's Name is our defense (Ps. 20:1), our help
worship. Thus we learn to make a living confession        (Ps. 124:8), a strong tower to which we run and find
that He Who is our God is "above all glory raised."       safety (Prov. 18: 10). By His Name we are preserved
  In the Third Commandment God calls us to                in the world (John 17: 11). His Name is our trust (Ps.
praise His holiness by reminding us of the holiness       33:21) and our glory (I Chron.  16:lO).  We are
of His Name and by instructing us in the proper use       exhorted to call upon His Name (Ps. 105:l) and our
of His Name. By heeding this instruction we are           service to Him consists in walking in His Name
able to worship Him in the beauty of holiness,            (Mic.  4:5). Our salvation is nothing less than being
giving to Him the glory due to His Name (Ps. 29:2;        baptized into His Name, that is, into the very fel-
96:8-10).                                                 lowship of the Trinity (Matt. 28:19), and so too we
  God's Name, of which the Third Commandment              are called by His Name (Is.  43:7, Rev.  3:12). All of
speaks, is a "Name above all names." Our names            Scripture, therefore, has but one purpose, that of
are little more than "labels" given us for the pur-       revealing to us the great Name of God. This, in it-
pose of identification. They could just as well be re-    self, should make us very careful about the use of
placed by numbers, and in our age of electronic           His Name.
marvels they often are, in government records and           Scripture teaches us many different Names of
in business transactions. In Scripture there are          God and all of them reveal His glory like the many
many names given by God or by men which tell us           facets of a diamond, but Scripture usually speaks of
something about the circumstances of a person's           His "Name" in the singular. This is not td deny that
birth or about his place and calling in God's             He has many Names, nor is it to say that there is
kingdom, but God's Name is above them all. God's          one Name more important than all the others; but it
Name is His revelation of Himself to us. In His           shows us that all these Names together reveal One
Name He tells us Who He is that we may know               God. In the baptism formula in Matthew 28: 19 God
Him, have fellowship with Him, and enjoy Him              reveals the "Names" that He has in the Trinity:
forever:                                                  Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. But all together they
  Because God is a Spirit  "Whsm no man hath              are still one Name, even as God Himself is One.
seen, nor can see" we can know Him only through           Into that Name we are baptized by the precious
this revelation of His Name. This is beautifully il-      blood.of Jesus.
lustrated in the last part of Exodus 33 and the first        In His different Names God reveals to us all His
part of Exodus 34. There God promises to "show"           glory. We must always pay special attention to the
Moses His glory in order that Moses and Israel may        particular Name of God that is used in any passage
be assured of God's favour. When God carries out          of Scripture, for the Spirit does not use them care-
this promise, we find that this does not mean that        lessly, but always to teach us something about God
Moses actually "sees" God, for as God Himself             Himself as He speaks to us in each passage. Never-
says, "There shall no man see Me and live" (33:20).       theless, in all these Names, all together revealing
Rather it means that the Lord proclaims to Him the        the One great Name of God, the holiness of God
Name of the Lord  (34:5-7).  And even that is             stands on the foreground. We read again and again
"seeing" only God's "back parts"  (33:23), so great       of His "holy Name" (Lev.  22:32, I Chron.  16:35,
is His glory.                                             29:16, Ps.  103:1,  111:9, Ezek.  36:20-33,  etc.). Also,
  In Christ God comes even nearer to His people,          one of the most important Names of God in Scrip-
for in Christ that Word through which God reveals         ture is the Name "Holy One" (II Kings  19:22, Job
His Name becomes flesh and dwells among us, full          6:10, Ps. 71:22, 89:18, etc.). In fact, the prophecy of
of grace and truth (Jn.  1:14).  In Christ, therefore,    Isaiah has as one of its main themes the truth that
we see God "face to face in the face of Jesus Christ"     God reveals Himself in the midst of His people as
(I Cor.  13:12, II Cor.  4:6). Even then, however, we     the Holy One. This is ultimately the reason for all
are seeing only a reflection of God's glory in the        the judgments which are threatened against Judah
human nature of our Lord, for even in our flesh He        and also for the glorious salvation which is
is the "image of the invisible God" (Col. 1: 15).         promised to her.
Jesus sums up His whole ministry from this point            In the sixth chapter of Isaiah's prophecy God re-
of view in John  17:4-Q: "I have finished the work        veals Himself to Isaiah in order that Isaiah may
which Thou gavest Me to  do...1 have manifested           bring that revelation to God's people. In that revela-
Thy Name unto the men which Thou gavest Me out            tion, as in every revelation of God's Name, it is
of the world."                                            holiness which is seen first of all and above all.


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                      305



That holiness causes the Cherubim to cover their              in them when He sends them His Holy Spirit that
faces and their feet and to use His Name with the             the high praises of God may fill their lips and their
greatest possible reverence and fear as they praise           life. And He fulfils that purpose finally and
the Lord God Almighty. It is that same holiness               gloriously when He gathers them into His glory (I
which leaves such a powerful mark upon the soul               Chron.  16:35, Ps. 106:47, Is. 63~12-14,  Rev.  15:3,4).
and conscience of Isaiah, so that he confesses his              He gives us the Third Commandment, therefore,
uncleanness and the uncleanness of Israel.                    to remind us that this only is the purpose of our re-
  To understand all this, we must understand                  demption and calling and to show us that we fulfil
what God's holiness is. The basic idea of the word            this purpose especially in a faithful, holy, and
"holiness" in Scripture is the idea of  separation.           reverent use of His Name. We must understand
This is beautifully  taught in Exodus 28. There               that the Third Commandment not only forbids all
Aaron and his sons are "separated" from the rest of           profanity and blasphemy, but that by it we are
Israel in  -l-heir  work and calling, in their place          commanded and admonished to make use of His
among the tribes and in their inheritance. Even               Name for His glory in the world. It is not enough to
their dress must be different td show that they are           stop taking His Name "in vain." We must also
separated. The golden plate that Aaron, as  High-             "take" His Name as our confession in every task
priest, wore upon his forehead explained that                 and with every word. As those whose help is in the
separation. He and his sons were "Holiness to the             Name of the Lord we hear with joy God's Word to
Lord" (vs. 36). In this they represented the whole            us concerning the use of His Name:
nation of Israel, but they had to be separated to                   0 give thanks unto the Lord; call upon
show that Israel had no holiness in herself, but only             His Name: make known His deeds among
through that holy, mediatorial office and work of                 the people.
the Aaronitic priesthood.                                           Sing unto Him, sing Psalms unto Him:
  Furthermore, we learn from this that holiness is                talk ye of all His wondrous works.
not only separation from that which is unholy and
profane, but also that it is separation  zinto  the                 Glory ye in His holy Name: Let the heart
service of God. In II Corinthians  6:14-18 the truth              of them rejoice that seek the Lord.
that holiness involves separation from all that is un-                                               (Ps. 105: l-3)
holy is taught in connection with our calling in the          This obedience separates us from the world which
world. But such passages as I Peter  2:5 and 9 and            changes the glory and truth of God into a lie and
Leviticus 27:28-30  make it clear that holiness is also       consecrates us to Him a living sacrifice of gratitude.
a positive idea. We must also be consecrated in
holiness to God and to His service. Another
example is the holiness of the Sabbath. As a holy
day, the Sabbath is not only separated from all
other days, but in a very special way it is conse-
crated to God.                                                     The Standard Bearer
  When we say that God is holy, we mean, then,
first of all, that He is separated from all that is pro-        makes a thoughtful gift
fane and sinful (Ps. 5:4-6, Is. 59:2, I Jn. 1:5). That, of
course, is the fundamental reason why He cannot
justify the sinner apart from the way of blood                   for the sick or shut-in.
atonement and satisfaction through the work of
Christ. But in the second place, God's holiness
means that above all He is consecrated to Himself
and to His own glory. In all His works He seeks, de-                Remember a friend
sires, and performs only that which brings glory to
Him (Rom. 11:36, I Pet. 2:9, Rom. 9:22,23).                          today with a gift of
  In His perfect holiness He gets Himself glory
even in His counsel of reprobation and in His work                The Standard Bearer.
of hardening and damnation (Rom.  9:17, 22, 23).
Nevertheless, in His infinite mercy and goodness,
He has chosen also to seek His glory in the salva-
tion of His saints. For this purpose and for no other
He elects them. To this end He sends His  sob to
redeem them. He begins to work out this purpose


306                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



GUIDED INTO ALL TRUTH




                              Origen and His Legacy
                                                 Rev. T. Miersma




  We have now come, in our consideration of the            sion and the distinction between the old man of the
development of the doctrine of Scripture, to a point       flesh and the new man in Christ became exter-
at which the various trends and movements of the           nalized into a distinction between nature and grace,
early church's understanding of the Word of God            body and spirit. iVlortification  of the old man of the
and its principles of interpretation come together in      flesh therefore came to be conceived of particularly
the writings and labors of the church father,              in terms of subduing the lusts of the body. And thus
Origen. Origen was born in A.D. 185 in Alexandria          celibacy (abstaining from marriage), fastings, and
of Egypt. He was a very gifted man, so much so,            other bodily exercises were viewed as special acts
that when Clement of Alexandria, of whom we                of piety. The fruit of this trend in the church as it
spoke last time, was forced to flee the city because       ultimately developed, was the monasticism of the
of persecution, his pupil, Origen, was made head of        Middle Ages. Even the great theologian Augustine
the catechetical school there in 203 at the age of 18.     was not free from this thinking and after his con-
Like his teacher Clement, he showed a fondness for         version lived in a celibate state.
philosophy and allegory and made it a significant
element in his approach to Scripture. He had an              Origen reflected this trend in his own life and
active and fertile mind which rendered the church          carried it to the extreme. Taking the Lord's
invaluable service in bringing together in a system-       commands in Matthew 10: 10 and Luke 10:4 literal-
atic way the learning of his day. He also, however,        ly, he owned but one coat and no shoes. He gave
took delight in speculative reasoning which led him        himself to study and prayer, sleeping little. In a
to set forth new and strange doctrinal views, which        similar way he approached the passages of
were matters of controversy in his own day and             Matthew  26:31-33  and Mark  9:42-47, that if thy
were condemned by the church in following cen-             hand or thy foot offend thee cut it off, and applying
turies as being heretical. It is difficult to make a       this to Matthew  19:12, that there be some which
proper assessment of Origen. In fairness to him it         have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of
must be pointed out that he lived in a period in          heaven's sake, Origen emasculated himself, that in
which the church had yet to develop any settled            his role as a teacher, also with female students, he
doctrinal position concerning even such basic             might not give any occasion for talk or a sin against
beliefs as the Trinity. His labors served the early       the seventh commandment.
church, both as a source upon which the church               By his scholarship, extensive labors, and  letter-
drew positively and to which it also reacted nega-         writing, Origen not only spread his influence
tively. In both ways, God used him in the develop-        within the church, but also received respect from
ment of the church's doctrine.                             some in the heathen community for his learning.
  In harmony with the growing trend in the church          This eventually led to jealousy and conflict which
to world-flight, Origen lived a life of ascetic  self-    forced him to leave Alexandria and settle in
denial. Under the influence of Gnosticism and              Caesarea where he founded another catechetical
Greek Stoicism the church had begun to                     school. During the reign of the Roman emperor,
incorporate into her thinking the false idea that          Decian, he was cast into prison and tortured for his
matter was evil in itself. This led the church to con-    faith. He was condemned to die, but was set  free
fuse the distinction between sin and grace, spiritual     when Decian died. Not long afterward Origen
and carnal, with the Greek idea of mind and body.          himself died in about 254, partly as a result of his
The result was that the Scriptural idea of conver-        injuries and imprisonment.


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                             307



   Origen taught a threefold approach to Scripture.       repudiated the allegorical method and fought
In the first place, he emphasized a literal approach      against it. This school was itself indebted to Origen,
to the truth of Scripture and stressed a need for         however, for its principles of grammatical and
careful grammatical study of the text of the Word of      literal interpretation. It was founded by Diodorus
God. In the second place, he taught that beyond the       of Tarsus toward the, end of the fourth century and
literal sense of Scripture lay an ethical or moral        with him, Theodore of Mopsuestia. The latter in
level of meaning which arrived at a deeper under-         particular did much to develop a sound
standing of truth and morality. And finally, he also      grammatical, historical, and spiritual approach to
saw in Scripture a mystical or spiritual level of         exegesis and the study of Scripture. Out of this
meaning by which one, through the use of allegory,        school were to come some of the best thinkers of
arrived at the deepest eternal truths of the              the early church, the defenders of the orthodox
Scriptures. He proceeded to set forth this threefold      doctrines of the Trinity and of the person and
method of interpretation and to lay down the              natures of Christ. In Chrysostom, a friend of Theo-
principles of its use.                                    dore, the church was to receive one of the ablest
  Origen's application of his own method of inter-        preachers of the era. Eventually, however, this
pretation is a study in inconsistencies. On the one       school lost its influence over suspicions of heresy in
hand he labored much with the text. He developed          connection with the Nestorian controversy over the
the earliest study of the text of the Old Testament       distinction between the person and natures of
by setting, side by side, the Hebrew and various          Christ.
Greek versions in a multi-language parallel text            In the second place, however, the school of
which included notes and comments. The purpose            Alexandria and its method, as systematized by
of this text was a defense of the Greek version of        Origen, lingered in the church and gained a solid
the Old Testament known as the Septuagint which           foothold. While it is true that the allegorical or
Origen regarded as the inspired version.                  mystical method was not used with the sarne
  He also wrote numerous commentaries on Scrip-           excesses of Origen and the Alexandrians, it never-
ture which included not only notes on the                 theless shaped the church's whole approach to
Scriptures, but also extended expositions and prac-       Scripture. It was imported into the Latin-speaking
tical suggestions for preaching and applying the          Western branch of the church in the writings of
text and its meaning. These works, especially             Hilary of Poitiers who labored in France in the
because of their systematic character, had a wide         middle 300's and by others. One finds also such
influence in the church. At the same time he consis-      Latin church fathers as Jerome using this approach
tently makes very lit-tle of the literal meaning of       to Scripture. Even Augustine, the great theologian
Scripture in his work, rarely using the moral or          of the fourth and fifth centuries often used this
ethical approach which he had proposed and fre-           method of interpretation.
quently using the allegorical method even where he          The general effect of Origen's work then was,
violates his own principles in its use. His constant      positively, to clarify a sounder approach to Scrip-
use of allegory in the historical books of Scripture      ture through careful study of the grammar of the
often flies in the face of the plain meaning of the       text. At the same time, however, he submerged that
text and undermines it.                                   study in a speculative system which would prevail
  This threefold principle of interpretation which        in the church for many centuries. With these de-
Origen set forth and the principles of its application    velopments the church's approach to Scripture
were actually just a refined systematizing of the ap-     began more and more to depart from the more solid
proach of the school at Alexandria and of his             foundation of its beginning. Even as the era of per-
teacher, Clement. In his hands the Scriptures be-         secution subsided and the greatest developments in
came a book of hidden puzzles and mystical                the church's expression and understanding of the
symbols whose meanings are hidden from the ordi-          doctrines of the Trinity and Christ's divinity and
nary believer and can be known only by the spiritu-       humanity were occurring, the church was, at the
al elite. This thinking was to make its presence felt     same time, drifting gradually away from a clear
in the church for many centuries. It contributed to       conception of the Word of God. This drift was not
the development of the idea that the Scriptures           rapid, but as the faulty principles of allegory and
were not for the laity, and that the majority of          mystical interpretation became rooted in the
believers who lacked this mystical insight could not      church, they also became a part of the church's
properly understand the Word of God for them-             tradition of exegesis and interpretation, perpetuat-
selves.                                                   ing themselves until the time of the Reformation.
  The effects of Odgen's teaching were twofold. In            Study The Standard Bearer
the first place there arose in Antioch a school which


308                                        THE STANDARD BEARER


                                       Book Reviews


TYPOS:  THE   TYPOLOGICAL   INTERPRETA-                     cans) slept while the tidal wave of the New
TION   OF  THE   OLD  TESTAMENT   IN  THE                   Revolution swept over them; they neither
NEW, by Leonhard Goppelt, translated by Donald              agreed nor disagreed; they simply dozed.
H. Madvig; Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1982; 264                 It is time to wake up, America, and live!
pages, $15.95 (cloth). (Reviewed by Prof. R.D.
Decker)                                                    The author of this book was a member of the
                                                         Southern Presbyterian Church in which she served
  This book deals with the subject or discipline of      as missionary, and in which her husband served as
Typology  which is a branch of Hermeneutics. The         pastor. In the course of her work, she discovered
book was originally Dr. Goppelt's doctoral disserta-     that the Church was, knowingly or unknowingly,
tion presented to the faculty at Erlangen in 1939. It    being influenced by Communist propaganda, espe-
was reprinted with some additions in 1969. This          cially that propaganda which originated in the Ecu-
1969 edition was translated from the German by           menical Institute, which had its headquarters in
D.H. Madvig.                                             Chicago. She relates how she attempted to expose
  Anyone involved in the study of  Typology  will        this influence, but without success, until the
want to study this volume. In addition to valuable       direction of the denomination was, in great
insights into the way the Old Testament is interpre-     measure, determined by those who wanted to de-
ted by the New Testament, the book offers a rather       stroy the foundations of this country.
good survey of what has been and now is being              The book has as its purpose, at least in part, to ex-
written in this field. In the introduction Goppelt       plain one of the reasons why the Presbyterian
presents the various definitions which have been         Church in America was formed when a large
given to Typology. The three main sections of the        segment of the Church separated from the old-line
book are:  Typology  in Late Judaism,  Typology  in      Presbyterian Church. But the book has also for its
the New Testament, and Apocalypticism and                purpose to warn existing denominations of the
Typology  in Paul.                                       danger of subtle communist influence which can
  The book is highly technical and scholarly study.      destroy mainline denominations and so undermine
For this reason its best use will be made by theo-       the basic institutions of this country.
logical students, professors, and ministers. For one
who has no formal training in the original langua-
ges of Scripture and in Hermeneutics and Typology        A  PRIMER   ON  JUSTIFICATION,   by John H.
the book is too difficult.                               Gerstner; Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing
  Leonhard Goppelt was professor of New  Testa-          Company, 1983; 26 pp., $1.50 (paper). (Reviewed
,ment at the Ludwig Maximilian University of             by Prof. H. Hanko)
Munich until his death in 1973. He is the author of        John Gerstner has written an extremely and
the two-volume Theology of the New Testament, also       helpful pamphlet on what'he calls, "the hinge of the
an Eerdmans publication.                                 Reformation," and "the core of the gospel." Al-
                                                         though it is a relatively small pamphlet, it contains
MY  HEAD  IS  BLOODY   BUT   UNBOWED,   by               in it the essential truth of justification by faith
Matsu Crawford; REF Typesetting  & Publishing,           alone. He does this by way of treating five different
Inc., 1983; 111 pp., $5.00 ($1.00 for shipping),         views of justification and the relation between this
(paper). (Reviewed by Prof. H. Hanko)                    work of God and both faith and good works. The
                                                         five views which are treated are: 1) Liberalism, 2)
  The blurb on the back cover of this book reads:        Neo-orthodoxy, 3)Antinomianism,   4 )   R o m a n
         My Head is Bloody  But Unbowed  tells           Catholicism, and, 5) the Biblical view. Each section
       what went on for years in every avenue of         is begun with a small diagram which defines the
       our American life. Recent happenings in           position which each of the above views takes.
       church assemblies, in the educational pro-          The pamphlet is very clearly and interestingly
       cess and in politics tell us where we are         written and will be helpful to anyone who wishes
       headed.                                           to understand this important doctrine. It is well
         So many church men (and other Ameri-            worth the modest price.


                                                          THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                     309
                                                                                                                               1
   If there is one weakness in the book, it is this:                                                       NOTICE!!!
Gerstner is so intent of explaining what each of the                          The Hope Christian School of Redlands, California, is in need of a
above positions teaches concerning the relation be-                         Kindergarten thru the 4th grade teacher beginning in September of
tween justification and both faith and works that he                        1984. Teachers interested in applying for this position please write
does not take the time to set forth carefully what                          to Bill Feenstra, 831 Sylvan Blvd., Redlands, CA 92373 or phone him
                                                                            at  (714) 793-3597.
justification itself means. This idea is not altogether
lacking, but it is somewhat incidental to the main                                          LEAGUE MEETING NOTICE
purpose of the book. An improvement would have
been an introductory chapter in which this truth of                           The Spring Meeting of the League of Eastern Men's and Ladies'
                                                                            Societies will be held, the Lord willing, on Tuesday, April 10, 1984,
justification is concisely and clearly set forth.                           at 8:00 P.M. at the Holland Protestant Reformed Church.
   One more remark: one wonders why Gerstner                                   Rev. Gise Van  Baren will speak on "Entertainment (secular)  -
brought into the book, admittedly in an aside, the                          what effect is it having on the Church?" Members and all interested
                                                                            in the topic are urged to attend.
idea of the free offer when it does not really belong                                                                Gwen Van Kampen (Mrs. Joe)
to the general purpose of the book.                                                                                               Secretary

                                                                                                           NOTICE !!!

               RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                                               CHANGE OF ADDRESS
                                                                               The  Synodical  Treasurer of our Protestant Reformed Churches in
  The Mens Society of the  Doon Protestant Reformed Church                  America has a change of his home address. The new address is:
extends its sympathy to Rev. Kamps and his family in the death of his                   MR. RICHARD H. TEITSMA
mother, MRS. GEORGE KAMPS, SR., who went to be with her Lord                            4830 GREEN MORE COURT
on February 21, 1984.                                                                   HUDSONVILLE, Ml 49426
   "For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us        His new phone number is: (616) 669-l 881
a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory -". (II Cor. 4: 17)
                  WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                                                      RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
                                                                               The Congregation and Consistory of the  Doon Protestant Re-
   On April 2, 1984, the Lord willing, our beloved parents, MR. AND         formed Church wish to express their sincere Christian sympathy to
MRS. DONALD DYKSTRA, will celebrate their 60th wedding anniver-             their pastor, Rev. Marvin Kamps and his family in the death of his
sary. We thank our Heavenly Father for blessing us with God-fearing         mother, MRS. NELLIE KAMPS.
parents who instructed and guided us in His ways. Our prayer is that
God will continue to bless them and keep them in His care.                     "For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us
                                                                            a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory: -) II Cor. 4:17).
   "For the Lord is good: His mercy is everlasting: and His truth
endureth to all generations." P.S. 100:5                                                                                    Ed Van Ginkel, Vice Pres.
                                                                                                                            Jim Hoogendoorn, Clerk
Tunis & Rose Dykstra                  Richard & Faye Dykstra
Albert & Harriet Dykstra              27 grandchildren                                       WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
Arnold & Donna Dykstra                31 great grandchildren
Donald Dykstra                                                                 On March 30 our dear parents, MR. AND MRS. ADRIAN LENTING,
                                                                            celebrated their 45th wedding anniversary. We thank and praise our
                            IN MlEMORlAM                                    covenant God for them and for using them to instruct us in the fear of
                                                                            His name. Our prayer is that they may continue to experience the
   On March 3,1984, our covenant God took to Himself our husband            Lord's blessing in their earthly pilgrimage.
and father, RALPH VANDER MEULEN, at the age of eighty-two
years. Our only comfort in life and in death is that we belong to our          Their grateful children:
faithful Savior Jesus Christ, Who is the resurrection and the life (John    Mr. & Mrs. Henry Lenting              Mr. & Mrs. Robert Lenting
11:25). We are thankful for the assistance and the fellowship of the        Mr. & Mrs. Adrian Lenting             Miss Corrie Lenting
saints especially at this time.                                             Mr. & Mrs. Jacob Lenting              Mr. James Lenting
Mrs. Etta Vander Meulen            Mr. & Mrs. Mel Yonkman                   Mr. & Mrs. William Lenting            and 21 grandchildren
Mr. & Mrs. Peter Vander Meulen     Mr.  & Mrs. Sweitze Vander Meulen
Mr.  & Mrs. Andrew Vander Meulen      Mr. & Mrs. Ted Vander Meulen                         RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
Mr.  & Mrs. Lawrence Silves        Mr. & Mrs. John Hoksbergen
Mr. & Mrs. Wilbur Stuit            Mr. & Mrs. Bob Vander Hoek                  The Consistory and Congregation of the Lynden Protestant Re-
Mr. & Mrs. Henry Vander Meulen                                              formed Church extend their heartfelt sympathy to the entire Vander
Forty grandchildren and ten great grandchildren.                            Meulen family in the death of their husband, father, grandfather, and
                                                                            brother, MR. RALPH VANDER MEULEN, who went to his eternal rest
Sumas, Washington                                                           on March 3, 1984. May the truth "For to me to live is Christ, and to
                                                                            die is gain" sustain us all the days of our pilgrimage.
               RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                                                                        Rev. D. H. Kuiper, Pres.
                                                                                                                             D. Scheele. Clerk
  The Ladies Society "Ruth" of Hope Protestant Reformed Church
of Grand Rapids, Michigan, expresses its Christian sympathy to Mrs.
Cornelius Kamps, Mrs. Louis Kamps, Mrs. Marinus Kamps and Mrs.                                             NOTICE!!!
Gilbert Schimmel in the death of their mother-in-law and mother,               Classis East will meet in regular session on Wednesday, May 9,
MRS. GEORGE KAMPS.                                                           1984 at the Southwest Prot. Ref. Church. Material to be treated at
   "The Lord is good, a  stronghoOd in the day of trouble; and He           this meeting must be in the hands of the Stated Clerk at least three
knoweth them that trust in Him." (Nahum I:71                                weeks prior to the convening of this session.
                                             Rev. H. Veldman, Pres.                                                                    Jon J. Huisken
                                             Mrs. H. Velthouse, Sec'y.                                                                 Stated Clerk


310                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



                        News From Our Churches
                                                 March 14, 1984





  Rev. George G. Hutton, the minister of The Bible           In a letter to First Church, Candidate Hanko
Presbyterian Church, Larne, visited the South              wrote, "It is exciting work since the people are very
Holland, Kalamazoo, Grand Rapids areas in the              enthusiastic and filled with their first love. They
middle part of February. He spoke to numerous              have read many of our books, and especially enjoy
groups of people, including some of our school             the preaching on the `Heidelberg Catechism.' On
children, about his being led by God through some          Tuesday evening we meet to discuss the `Belgic
of our Protestant Reformed literature. The struggles       Confession' and some of the pamphlets published
that he faces in Ireland as a believer in the Re-          by our churches. It is a great joy to see and share in
formed truth can be appreciated by those of us who         the spiritual growth of these people.. . . In February
have lived through similar circumstances in the            the men composed a letter to the Mission Commit-
early history of our churches. There was an inter-         tee requesting organization. Although this is a small
national meeting of sorts too when Rev. Hutton,            group and relatively new to the PRC we have seen
Mr. and Mrs. Mahatani, and I spent a Saturday              that they know and confess with us Protestant Re-
afternoon together discussing the differences and          formed distinctives. We are, therefore, convinced
similarities among our churches. May God gra-              that the group is ready for organization, and hope
ciously watch over Rev. Hutton and his flock of            and pray that the request will be granted." The
families in Ireland. His address is: 23 Upper Cairn-       Mission Committee has recently completed a visit
castle Road, Larne, BT40 ZEF, Northern Ireland.            to the brethren in Blue Bell, PA.
  Rev. Arie and Sherry den Hartog wrote in a letter          Grandville Protestant Reformed Church (that is
to the congregation of First Church, "The biggest          now their official name) has called Rev. Kortering
thing going on in our church is the progress we are        to be their undershepherd. Rev. Kortering is also
making towards the formation of a second church            considering the call from First Church to be
here.... Slowly we are getting more people to com-         missionary to Jamaica.
mit themselves to the second congregation. The               Southeast Church celebrates forty years in exis-
session has now decided to make March 18 the               tence this spring. Set aside the evening of April 26
deciding date.. . . At the end of March the purchase       to help commemorate God's faithfulness to His
of the property will be finalized.. . . We had the op-     church.
portunity to survey the inside of the place carefully        Byron Center Church had this announcement
the other day. It is not a bad place. With some reno-      from their consistory: "The consistory at its last
vation work it can also be made into a good home           meeting decided to use the Nicene Creed in place of
for our family.... The whole ground level area can         the Apostle's Creed on Prayer Day, Good Friday,
be used for church meetings.. . . This will be particu-    Ascension Day, and New Year's Eve. We will
larly good for our family when the new baby                remain standing during the reading of this creed.
arrives. ' ' ' 'We are now having a Reformed Doctrine      We will use the Athanasian Creed in place of the
class beginning with a study of the Five Points of         Law on Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, and
Calvinism. It seems that there will be between 15          New Year's Day. We will sit down as usual at these
and 20 people attending this class. . . . A number of      morning services. The Creeds are in accordance
those attending this class have a special concern for      with Article 9 of the Belgic Confession and the
the second congregation to see this new endeavor           action at our 1983  Synod."The congregation also
begin in the right way with a strong foundation."          approved the purchase of a parsonage located at
  Byron Center Protestant Reformed Church has              8360 Clyde Park.
made up a list of those who volunteer to help keep           May 10 is the date set for the Spring Lecture,
in touch with our missionaries to let them know            D.V. Rev. Woudenberg will speak on the topic,
we're thinking of them. Every two weeks there are          "Separation of Church and State: Religious
three new people who send a card or letter to the          Freedom and Our Society."
missionary within two weeks.                                                                             DH


                                        THE STANDARD BEARER                                               311




                      REFORMED FREE PUBLISHING
                                        ASSOCIATION
                (Permanent Committee for the Publication of Protestant Reformed Literature)

                                              P.O. Box 2006
                                      Grand Rapids, Michigan 49501

                                                                         COME,
      PRESENT  I  NG                                    %iiE CHILDREN
A storybook... wonderfully told Bible stories... a great undertaking for
the RFPA...      an illustration with each story... full page color drawings --
these 'are thoughts that accompanied the progress of the RFPA's newest
publication.

Five years ago the author, Mrs. Gertrude Hoeksema, started a project she
had pondered long and hard.                 She outlined stories, pared her list of
stories, gathered research materials, and began writing.                                       Before the year
was out, Jeff Steenholdt made the first of many trips from his home in
Kalamazoo to Grand Rapids to consult about illustrating the story.                                       He
went home to read the manuscript, to do research on art styles of various
periods of Bible history, and to draw -- first thumbnail projections,
then rough sketches, and finally photo-ready drawings.

Meanwhile, the Permanent Committee for Publication of the RFPA began to
act on the request to publish the Bible storybook.                                 They raised questions:
Will it sell?        Can we afford it?               How will we pay the artist?                    If we in-
clude color illustrations, how many can we afford (at $1000.00 each)?


                  JOIN THE BOOK CLUB NOW FOR YOUR DISCOUNT

    I would like to join the Book Club.               I understand that I automatically
    receive each new publication at a 20% discount.
    I can also purchase other RFPA publications at 20% off.
   I understand that only Standard Bearer subscribers are eligible.

                            Signature
                            Street
                            City
                            State                                           Zip

                            Mail to:          RFPA P.O. 2006
                                              Grand Rapids, MI 49501


  THE STANDARD BEARER
        P.O. Box 6064
Grand Rapids,  M'ichigan  49506





312                                     THE STANDARD BEARER


Does our small organization have the technical "know-how" for producing
such a book?             Tentatively, they started making decisions -- ten color
illustrations (later reduced to six); the artist would donate his services
but be reimbursed for his expenses, share royalties with the author,
and be given an opportunity to sell his drawings; solicit donations toward
the publishing costs of the book; send the editor to,confer with the
printer in Ann Arbor.
On another scene, the typesetter, Mrs. Judi Doezema, began typesetting the
manuscript.              It was a slow, sometimes frustrating, process because she had
to blend print with illustrations.                  After it was proof read, she typed
many correction and changes -- many of them not her fault -- and when
she was finished, she sent a bill that did not reflect at all her time
and effort, but instead.the love of God's cause and His little children.
Jeff made his final trek to Grand Rapids with the cover design, the
author and editor made a final inspection of the copy, the RFPA committee
decided to print 4000 copies, and the book was trundled off to Malloy
Lithographing in Ann Arbor.               Now the unbound copies are being bound at
Dekker Bookbinders and will be ready by April 1.
Come, Ye Children is top quality -- in its stories, in its beautiful,
uniqueillustrations, in its technical execution, in its physical aspect
(an excellent paper and binding were chosen) in its size (600 pages) in
its appearance (cloth cover imprinted with a picture).                     Its cost will be
$22,95.         To guarantee the RFPA some sales and to offer.you a good deal,
the RFPA is offering a special pre-publication price of $19.95, pre-
paid, plus postage, until June 1, 1984.                  If you are a book club member,
you.can order Come,
                         - - Ye Children for $15.95 pre-paid, plus postage (no
limit on the number of copies ordered with the discount).                     If you live
in the Grand Rapids area, you may save postage by picking up the book
from the editor's home (Eunice Kuiper/ 6551 Ivanrest, S.W./ Phone 534-1927)
or by purchasing the book at a program planned to promote the book.
                         WATCH FOR ANNOUNCEMENTS ABOUT THE PROGRAM.

                                      ORDERBLANK
                                   aXE,YEc!HILDREN
              (by Gertrude Ibeksema, ill. by Jeff Steenholdt, 600 pages)

       Book Club Members              number of copies at $15.95
       Non Book Club Members          number of copies at $19.95
                                      postage at $1.55 per copy
       Mail to:                       total enclosed
       RFPA P.O. 2006
       GrandRapids,                   NC3l-E
       MI 49501                       Street
                                      Citv
                                      State                         Zip


