      STANDARD
          BEARER
c          A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE                                      .





       What an unspeakable comfort!
       Jesus died for all our sins, entered into our
     death and our grave.
       Now we no longer fear death or the grave.
       The cu.rse is removed.
       Death and grave must now serve to lead
     us into heavenly life and glory.
       Death's terror is gone; we are more than
     conquerors.
                       See "Jesus' Burial" page - 3 14



                                               Volume LX, No. 14, April 15, 1984  -


314                                                               THE STANDARD BEARER




                                                                                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER
                                 CONTENTS                                                                                 ISSN 0362-4692
                                                                                                Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July, and August.
                                                                                                Published b the Reformed Free Publishing Association, Inc.
  Meditation  -                                                                                       SeconBClass Postage Paid at Grand Rapids,  Mich.
                                                                                      Bditor-in-Chief:  Prof. Homer C. Hoeksema
       Jesus' Burial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 44    Department Editors: Rev. Ronald Cannnenga,  Rev. Arie den Hartog, Prof. Robert
  Editorials  -                                                                       D. Decker, Rev. Cornelius Hanko, Prof. Herman C. Hanko, Rev. Ronald Hanko,
                                                                                      Mr. David Harbach, Rev. John A. Heys, Rev. J. Kortering, Rev. George C.
       Editorial Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 3j7     Lubbers, Rev. Thomas C. Miersma, Rev.  Marinus  Schipper, Rev. James  Slopse-
                                                                                      ma, Rev. Gise J. Van Baren,  Rev. Herman Veldman.
       Congratulations to Another New Sister! . . . . . . .31'7                       Editorial Office:  Prof. H.C. Hoeksema
  Correspondence and Reply  -                                                                          4975 Ivanrest Ave. S.W.
                                                                                                       Grandville, Michigan 49418
       About "Our Enemies" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .319               Church News Editor:  Mr. David Harbach
                                                                                                           4930 Ivanrest Ave., Apt. B
  All Around Us -                                                                                          Grandville, Michigan49418
       G.R. Baptist Academy Update . . . . . . . . . . . . . .321                     Editorial Policy:' Every editor is solely responsible for the contents of his own
                                                                                      articles. Contributions of general interest from our readers and questions for the
       State Limits to Church Discipline . . . . . . . . . . . .321                   Question-Box Department are welcome. Contributions will be limited to ap-
                                                                                      proximately 300 words and must be neatly written or typewritten, and must be
       The Rev. Marchiene Rienstra . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .322                   signed. Copy deadlines are the first and the fifteenth of the month. All  corn-
                                                                                      munications relative to the contents should be sent to the editorial office.
  The Day of Shadows -                                                                Reprint  Policy: Permission is hereby granted for the reprinting of articles in our
       The All-Controlling Interest . _ . . . . . . . . . . . . . .323                magazine by other publications, provided: al that such reprinted  arttcles are
                                                                                      reproduced in full; b) that proper acknowledgement is made; cl that a copy of the
  Faith of Our Fathers -                                                              periodical in which such reprint appears is sent to our editorial office.
                                                                                      Business Office: The Standard Bearer
       TheNiceneCreed  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...325                                Mr. H. Vander  Wal, Bus. Mgr.                 PH: (616) 243-2953
                                                                                                       P.O. Box 6064
  In His Fear -                                                                                        Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506
       Servants of the Lord . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .328          New  Zealand Business Office: The Standard Bearer
                                                                                                                       c/o Protestant Reformed Fellowship
  Guided Into All Truth -                                                                                              B. VanHerk,  66 Fraser St.
                                                                                                                       Wainuiomata,  New Zealand
       The Latin Fathers and the Word of God . . . . . . .330                         Subscription Policy: Subscription price, $10.50 per year. Unless a definite request
                                                                                      for discontinuance is received, it is assumed that the subscriber wishes the sub-
  Guest Article -                                                                     scription to continue without the formality of a renewal order, and he will be
                                                                                      billed for renewal. If you have a change of address, please notify the Business
       The Ring James Version of the Bible (1) . . . . . . .332                       Office as early as possible in order to avoid the inconvenience of delayed deli-
                                                                                      very. Include your Zip Code.
  BookReviews..............................                                           Advertising Policy:  The  Standard Bearer  does not accept commercial advertising of
  News From Our Churches. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .335                    any kind. Announcements of church and school events, anniversaries, obituaries,
                                                                                      and sympathy resolutions will be placed for a $3.00 fee. These should be sent to
  Report of Classis  West . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .336            the Business Office and should be accompanied by the $3.00 fee. Deadline for
                                                                                      announcements'is the 1st or the 15th of the month, previous to publication on the
                                                                                      15th or the 1st respectively.
                                                                                      Bound Volumes:  The Business Office will  acce t standing orders for bound
                                                                                      copies of the current volume; such orders are  dled
                                                                                                                                            P     as soon as possible after
                                                                                      completion of a volume. A limited number of past volumes may be obtained
                                                                                      through the Business Office.

MEDITATION


                                                            Jesus' Burial
                                                                         Rev. H. Veldman



                    `And he took it down, and wrapped it in linen, and laid it in a sepulchre  that was hewn in
                stone, wherein never man before was laid."                                                                                   Luke 23:53


  Tremendous is the power of the cross! We read,                                         appears, in the first place, from the fact that,
in connection with Jesus' burial, of Joseph and                                          although the incident of Jesus' burial is mentioned
Nicodemus. They were members of the Sanhedrin                                            in all the gospels, Nicodemus is mentioned only in
and disciples of the Lord. They meet at the cross. It                                    the gospel of John. And, secondly, it is Joseph who
is evident that Joseph is the leader of the two. This                                    goes to Pilate to request the body of Christ. It is ob-


                                              TilE STANDARD BEARER                                             315



vious that their meeting at the cross is pre-                and gnashing of teeth, and nothing else! It is
arranged. Why, otherwise, should Joseph buy only             because of this that man always and really fears
the linen? Indeed, tremendous is the power of the            death.
cross! Imagine what they do! Joseph had until now              And then there is the grave. The grave seals all
been a disciple of the Lord in secret. Now, when all         this. It means that there is absolutely no return.
seems hopeless, when all the disciples had fled,               How humiliating! For us! Man was created as
Joseph and Nicodemus come boldly forward to                  God's image bearer, the highest and most wonder-
bury the body of the Lord! Now, when all seems               ful of all the earthly creatures of the Lord. From the
hopelessly lost, they declare their allegiance to the        top of the earthly creation he is reduced to the dust
Christ of Calvary. They do not hesitate to invite the        from whence he was taken. Whatever he is and has
wrath and hatred of the Jews in this hour of utter           is removed from him.
gloom and despair. Indeed, this is the power of the            But, how humiliating death and the grave are for
cross. What they had failed to do while Jesus was            the Christ! That is true on the one hand, because of
still alive, they are now able to do at His death.           His holiness. Indeed, if we fear death and the grave,
Now their love of Christ breaks through and con-             if we fear the heavy hand of the holy and righteous
quers their fear and has the complete victory, even          God, we who are carnal and hate God and there-
as throughout the ages i-t is the crucified Lord Who         fore fear death only because we love ourselves and
draws His people unto Himself.                               the things that are below, how terrible and com-
  We now call attention to Jesus' burial. Also this          plete this humiliation must have been for the Christ
incident is the fulfillment of prophecy, of Isaiah 53.       of God, the perfect Servant of Jehovah, Who loved
And what a truly amazing burial it is! He Who had            His Father, craved His fellowship more than a hart
been consigned by the Jews to die and be buried              panteth after the waterbrooks. How terrible it was
with the malefactors was with the rich in His death          for Him to taste death and the shame of the grave!
and was laid in a new tomb wherein no man had                Besides, He is the Christ of God, the eternal Son of
ever been laid.                                              God, united in the second Person with our flesh
                   *    *    *    *    *                     and blood, the Anointed of the Father, anointed
  Christ's death and burial - how humiliating!               and destined to be the King of kings and the Lord of
                                                             lords, to Whom the ends of the earth have been
  Death is, first of all, from the viewpoint of this         given as an inheritance. What an utter humiliation
life, from the viewpoint of our experience, of what          for Him!
we can see of it, the complete dissolution of our              And this was necessary.
earthly house, the end of our earthly existence.
Death is simply an utter and complete loss. In death           Christ must suffer and die and be buried. He
man's entire earthly tabernacle is completely de-            must not simply suffer the agonies of death upon
stroyed. It is through the body that man is a living         the cross and then be revived and glorified in the
soul. And when the body dies, his existence in and           sight of all His enemies. He must bear the wrath of
relation to this world is completely gone. Then ev-          God even unto the end. The sinner has indeed
erything is taken from him. He suffers a complete            forfeited every right to his existence in the midst of
loss. Secondly, in the light of what is revealed to us       the world. God takes away his whole earthly house.
in the Word of God, death is much more. Death is             His very name must perish. His body, too, must
not simply the inevitable end of our earthly ex-             collapse, and he must give up the ghost. He must
istence. It is not simply an accident. Death, human-         also be buried.
ly speaking, is not inevitable, the coming to an end           Besides, Christ must humiliate Himself. He did
because we no longer can continue - as, for exam-            not simply die and was buried; His life was not
ple, a clock that simply stops running because it has        taken from Him. He gave His life. God's sentence
run out. Death is punishment, divine punishment,             of death was upon Him, to be sure; but we must
and it is also God's verdict upon us. When we die,           remember that He Himself was in complete agree-
then it is God Who declares that we are not worthy           ment with that sentence. He makes His death an
to live, that we deserve to die.. Thirdly, death is still    act, also His burial. His life He lays down even as
more. Death, according to Scripture, is not merely           God takes it. His spirit He commends to God  .and
an end. It is also a beginning. It is surely the end of      His body He freely gives even into the place of cor-
all existence in this world. But it is also the begin-       ruption. Freely He offers up His Name and position
ning of another, of an endless world. Physical death         to the righteousness of God, saying to God, "Take
is only the beginning of, and the entrance into a            My life, My name, My all." And this Christ could
horrible pit, the pit of endless darkness and desola-        do because He is the Christ of God, the eternal Son
tion where there is nothing  but the experience of a         of God is our flesh and blood, the perfect Servant of
terribly just and holy God. There shall be weeping           Jehovah.


316                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



  Very important is Scripture's emphasis upon the         Joseph addressed his request to the Roman gover-
distinction in burial between the godly and the un-       nor. The request was not unusual in itself; Pilate
godly. There is no place in Scripture for the un-         was only surprised that the Lord was already dead.
godly with the godly in their burial. We refer to         Isaiah  53:9 is fulfilled.
Numbers  1429, Hebrews  3:17, Isaiah  14:19, 20,                             *    *     *    *    *
Jeremiah  7:33 and 3420.  On the other hand, it is a
most lamentable and terrible thing when the                 Two things are prominent in this text: Jesus was
righteous suffer the same fate as the wicked and are      buried with the rich and He was laid in a new
not honorably buried, as we read in Psalm 9:1-2.          tomb.
Lack of space forbids me to quote these passages.           He was buried with the rich. He was wrapped in
  The symbolism of the grave is plain in this             fine, expensive linen and He was laid in a tomb
respect. In the midst of this life the righteous and      hewn in stone. Secondly, Jesus' grave was a new
the unrighteous live together and have all things in      grave.
common.1 In the grave, however, the separation              What this means is plain.
takes place. This lies in the very nature of the case.      Jesus was surely rich in His death. Isaiah informs
Death and the grave are the end, the absolute end         us that He had done no violence and that no deceit
of this life and the beginning of another, the begin-     was found in His mouth. As the suffering Servant
ning of every man's eternal destiny. The soul of the      of Jehovah, the Head of Zion's elect children, He
righteous passes into eternal glory, and that of the      was never rebellious, always obedient unto the
wicked into everlasting desolation. Hence, their          Father, fulfilling all the righteousness and justice of
souls are surely separated. And, as far as the body is    God, paying for all our sins and meriting eternal
concerned, the body of the righteous awaits the           life. How rich He was in His death!
glorious resurrection, but the body of the ungodly
awaits the resurrection of damnation.                       And He was laid in a new tomb. Indeed, His
                                                          grave was also actually new. Apart from Christ all
  Christ's burial was surely divinely appointed.          graves are old, passageways into eternal misery and
  His enemies had assigned His grave with the             desolation. But Jesus saw no corruption because He
wicked.                                                   was the Holy One; He went through the grave into
  This is surely the meaning of Isaiah  53:9 which        eternal and heavenly glory and immortality; He
                                                          made of the grave an entrance into life and glory.
may be read: "Although His place was indeed
assigned with the wicked, yet He was given an               What an unspeakable comfort!
honorable burial." His enemies had assigned Him.a           Jesus died for all our sins, entered into our death
place among the wicked throughout His life upon           and our grave.
earth. Was He not called a deceiver, a gluttonous
man, etc.? Was He not treated as a malefactor               Now we no longer fear death or the grave.
throughout His trial before the Sanhedrin, before           The curse is removed.
Pilate? And they had surely wanted Him burled               Death and grave must now serve to lead us into
with the wicked. Did they not ask the Roman               heavenly life and glory.
governor that the legs of all three who had been            Death's terror is gone; we are more than con-
crucified might be broken in order that they might        querors.
be taken away and thrown into a hastily dug pit at
the foot of the cross? This was their intention.
Then, really, the Lord would not have been buried             The Standard Bearer
at all. Then the Jews would have expressed that
Jesus had passed on into everlasting desolation, ac-
cursed of God, forever separated from the                   makes a thoughtful gift
righteous, and that also His body did not await the
resurrection of the just. Indeed, His enemies had            for the sick or shut-in.
assigned Him an eternal place among the damned.
  How different, however, was the will of the
Lord. Indeed, the Lord had spoken in Isaiah  539.                   Remember a friend
And this word of the Lord must be fulfilled. The
Lord worked in the hearts of Joseph and  Nicode-                    today with a gift of
mus by His grace and Spirit and through the cross
of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God and the Man of               The Standard Bearer.
Sorrows. The Lord removed whatever fear may
have been in these members of the Sanhedrin as


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                            317



EDITORIALS
Prof H.C. Hoeksema





                                           Editorial Notes

Correspondents                                             ginal art work of artist Jeff Steenholdt (of our
  It would be helpful to your editor, when you             Kalamazoo church) will also be displayed and sold.
write to him, to indicate whether your letter is in-       Most of these drawings are half-tones. Seven large
tended for publication. This is not always clear           color drawings will be sold at the end of the even-
from the contents of the letters which I receive.          ing. Author Gertrude Hoeksema and Artist Jeff
And I certainly do not wish to offend a correspon-         Steenholdt will be on hand to autograph your copy
dent by publishing what he intended to be private          of Come, Ye Children and also the drawings you pur-
correspondence. On the other hand, I do not want           chase, should you so desire.
to offend by keeping private what was intended to                           *    *    *    *    *
be public.                                                 Pre-Publication Sale
                  *    *    *    *    *                      The pre-publication sale of  Come, Ye Children
Program                                                    ends June 1. It is to the advantage of Book Club
  In connection with the publication of the RFPA's         members to order now with payment enclosed; this
Bible story book, Come, Ye Children, there will be a       will bring you a double discount. Otherwise Book
program in our Hudsonville Church, D.V., on Fri-           Club members will receive their copies at the
day, April 27, at  800 P.M. After a brief informa-         regular discount of 20%  after  June 1. Consult the     I
tional session in the church auditorium, the book          last page of the April 1 issue for complete informa-
will be available  at the pre-publication sale price of    tion.
$19.95 ($15.95 for Book Club members). The  ori-



      Congratulations to Another New Sister!

  We have another new sister in the family of our            Congratulations, sister-church! We wish you a
Protestant Reformed Churches. .Our baby sister             long and prosperous ecclesiastical life, and also a
was born on February 9, 1984. The vital statistics         healthy growth  - not merely numerical growth,
are that the congregation numbered 25 families and         but growth and establishment in the truth. And
5 individuals; and among these families there are          may you be a faithful witness of our Protestant
numerous children and infants (my informant did            Reformed heritage in your community.
not furnish me an exact number).                             For those who are unacquainted with the
  Most of the charter families of the new Grand-           geography of this region, Grandville is a far south-
ville Protestant Reformed Church came from Hope,           western suburb - though a city in its own right -
Walker. Hope's auditorium has ,been overcrowded            in the greater Grand Rapids area. Coming from the
for a long time, and it was clear that something had       west or southwest, you will find Grandville located
to be done to relieve the overcrowding; this was a         on M21 or Interstate 196. At present the congrega-
natural move. In fact, Hope's auditorium is now            tion is meeting in the auditorium of the Grandville
just nicely filled, as I noticed when I was there          High School, located on Wilson Avenue, Grand-
recently to supply their pulpit.                           ville's main north-south street.


318                                       THE STANDARD BEARER





                       -
  From Elder David Harbach, who is also our              Beginning Sunday, October 9, worship services
Church News Editor, I received an account of the       for the proposed Grandville Church were held in
early history of the new congregation (plus some       Grandville High School's auditorium, 3535 Wilson
pictures of the new congregation and their tempor-     Ave., at 9:30 A.M. and 7:00 P.M. At that time there
ary meeting place). To this report I may add that      were 19 families from Hope Church who were
the congregation chose as their official name,         committed to the organization of a church in that
"Grandville Protestant Reformed Church." They          area. Due to the illness of Pastor Flikkema, Prof.
have extended a call to the Rev. J. Kortering, of      Hanko conducted the first worship services. Two
Loveland, Colorado.                                    elders and one deacon from Hope Church attended
  Here is Mr. Harbach's report, accompanied by         these services.
the pictures:                                            While the future congregation of Grandville was
  On August 18, 1983 the Consistory of Hope Pro-       meeting prior to their organization, four births and
testant Reformed Church called a meeting of inter-     two baptisms took place: Jordan Gise, son of Mr.
ested members in the church with a view to deter-      and Mrs. John Van  Baren; Melissa Lee Engelsma,
mining the interest in organizing a congregation in    daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Jon Engelsma; Jonathan
the Grandville area. All interested persons, both      Daniel, son of Mr. and Mrs. Dan Key; and Jacob
men and women, were welcome to attend. At that         Richard, son of Mr. and Mrs. Richard Peterson.
meeting there were 26 heads of households who          During this period a signed petition requesting per-
showed interest in establishing a congregation; of     mission to organize into a congregation was sent to
these, nine volunteers to serve on a committee to      Classis  East in January, 1984. Prior to organization,
work toward that end.                                  an Adult Bible Class was begun under the leader-
                                                       ship of Prof. Hanko. The class meets on alternate
                                                       Tuesday evenings at the Seminary and is studying
                                                       the book of Judges.
                                                         On January 11, 1984  Classis  East considered the
                                                       request to organize and approved the organization
                                                       of a new congregation in the Grandville area. The
                                                       Consistory of Hope Church was appointed as the
                                                       committee of  Classis  to implement that decision,
                                                       with the Rev. Flikkema appointed to serve as
                                                       moderator for the congregation until such time as a
                                                       minister would accept a call to be undershepherd at
                                                       Grandville.


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                               319



  On the February 5 bulletin of Hope Church, the
consistory made this announcement: "We rejoice
with these fellow saints as their goal to be estab-
lished as an earthly manifestation of the body of
Christ is, D.V., about to be realized. With confi-
dence we commend them to the care and blessing of
the King of His Church. II Cor. 13:11, 12, 14: `Final-
ly, brethren, farewell. Be of good comfort, be of one
mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace
shall be with you. Greet one another with a holy
kiss. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the
love of God, and the communion of the Holy
Ghost, be with you all. Amen."'
  Therefore, by God's grace, the Grandville
Church was organized at a Thursday evening                  Rev. M. Joostens preached the first sermon to the
divine worship service, February 9, 1984, at Hope         newly organized congregation  on  February 12, on
Church. Prof. Hanko preached the sermon, "The             Lord's Day I, Q. and A.  1,  "Our Only Comfort."
Church, The Pillar of the Truth," using I Timothy 3       Since organization two more baptisms have taken
as the Scripture reading. Professor Hanko preached        p l a c e .
on the Identity of the Pillar, the Purpose of the           As of this writing, a trio has been announced:
Pillar, and the Importance of the Pillar. After the       Rev. J. Kortering, Candidate B. Gritters, and Rev.
encouraging word of God by Prof. Hanko, Rev.              D. Engelsma. At a congregational meeting on
Flikkema presented the membership attests of the          March 13, a call will be extended and a name will
charter members - 25 families and 5 individuals. A        be chosen from the following list: Grandville, Cove-
Declaration of Hope's Consistory was read, after          nant, Bethel, Good-Will, Charity, and Trinity. (see
which three elders and two deacons were chosen            note above, HCH).
by free election and duly installed in office.

CORRESPONDENCE AND REPLY


                            About "Our Enemies"
                                              Prof. H.C. Hoeksema




  From two Michigan readers I received letters            word "enemies" leaves me with some questions.               .
about an expression which I used in my reply to a         Do you call them enemies because you consider
letter concerning organizing small churches (March        them God's enemies? Does this mean that the peo-
15 issue, p. 272). The expression occurs in the           ple who left the PRC in 1954 are hell bound? Please
following sentence: "When I think back to the time        do not feel that I am asking this in a sarcastic tone. I
of our synodical meetings in 1954 when our synodi-        really want to know what prompted your use of
cal fund amounted to a big fat ZERO because our           this word.
enemies had run off with our synodical funds, and                                            (w.s.] Harv Nyhof"
when I consider how the Lord had prospered us
and provided for us abundantly, then I can't think          The second letter, from a Hudsonville address, is
in terms of burdens, only of blessings."                  as follows:
  The first letter, from Holland, is as follows:          "Dear Prof. Hoeksema,
"Prof. Hoeksema,                                            "Greetings in the Name of our Lord.
  "I was reading your article, page 272, Mar. 15            "Before I address the issue which concerns me,
issue, under item 6, when I stopped suddenly. Your        please let me take a moment to express my appreci-


320                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



ation  for the Standard Bearer and to you, for your        Unabridged  gives the following definition: "One
dedicated and faithful role in this publication. In-       hostile to another; one who hates, and desires or at-
deed, this magazine is a bright lamp in the darkness       tempts the injury of another; a foe; an adversary;
of the present ecclesiastical and even `Reformed'          as, an enemy of or to a person; an enemy to truth. . ..I'
world.                                                     This definition is applicable. The schismatic group
  "I as a layman also humbly acknowledge your              who left us post-1953 were enemies of the truth
high office and responsible calling; and by God's          which we as Protestant Reformed Churches main-
grace your qualifications to such. But let me never-       tained and still do maintain. First they sought to im-
theless bring to your attention a point that some-         port their heresies into our churches, the very
what troubles me. I refer to your article of "Cor-         heresies which we had denied in 1924. Then, after
respondence and Reply" in the March 15 issue of            they were expelled or left, they themselves publicly
the  Standard Bearer,  specifically to the `enemies'       embraced those heresies, having repudiated the
who ran off with the synodical funds. My question          Declaration of Principles, and found their way back
is: why must this sin be brought up in this article        into the Christian Reformed Church. Along with
and why must one go so far as to call them our             this, in numerous instances they sought to deprive
enemies? Are they allies of Satan? Do they not con-        our churches of name and goods and property, let
fess Christ? Do not misunderstand; I do not                alone the fact that they destroyed several congrega-
minimize their sin or their responsibility in their        tions or converted them into Christian Reformed
role of the 1954 controversy. But does not this state-     congregations. Were they our enemies? Without a
ment feed the fire of bitter hatred and enmity? I          doubt!
cannot see where I am edified by this, or for that           Thirdly, I make and I made no judgment as to
matter see any advantage or purpose in making this         whether they were or are God's enemies; and I cer-
statement in the context of your article. What con-        tainly make no judgment as to their final destiny.
structive purpose can there be in bringing out this        This is not my prerogative, and it is outside my
particular sin of these people in the public fore-         competence. God is Judge! This does not change
ground now? Furthermore, what of those brethren            the fact, however, that they manifested themselves
who left us in `54 and now are in our midst again?         as enemies of our Protestant Reformed Churches -
Enemies? Please, let the Lord alone be the judge of        and in some instances still do so - and that this is
the hearts of these men. I believe, sir, we must be        indeed sin.
strong and stand up, and be counted for who we are          Finally, let me call the attention of both of my
and what we believe. But also, we must always be           correspondents to the context in which I made the
humble. Thank you for your time.                           reference and to my purpose in doing so. I was em-
                     Respectfully,                         phasizing in the paragraph in question the fact that
                    Your humble brother in Christ,         the Lord has abundantly blessed us as Protestant
                    (w.s.) Howard C. Pastoor, Jr."         Reformed Churches. It was in this context that I
                                                           made the reference to enemies. My purpose was to
Reply                                                      stress this blessing of the Lord. Precisely at the time
  First of all, thanks to both of these correspon-         when our enemies sought our destruction by mak-
dents for their letters. It is good to know that one is    ing it financially difficult, if not impossible, for us
not only read, but read carefully. Frankly, I was a        to continue as a denomination, the Lord provided
bit surprised to learn that my use of the term             for us abundantly; and He has done so ever since.
"enemies" attracted their attention. While I  cer-         That work of the Lord is enhanced by the fact that
tainly did not use the word thoughtlessly, but pur-        it stands in contrast with the purpose of those who
posely, I used it with a particular purpose in mind.       sought our destruction. In other words, I did not
When I think the matter over, perhaps part of the          use the term to be abrasive.
difference between me and my correspondents is
due to the fact that I lived through the history
under discussion and, in fact, had an active role in           The Standard Bearer
it and, along with others, experienced firsthand
some of their enmity. Add to that the fact that                 makes a thoughtful
recently I have been deeply involved in research
concerning that period of our history in connection            gift for any occasion
with the book which I am writing; and perhaps this
will help our readers to understand a little "where I         Give the Standard Bearer
was coming from."
  Secondly, I will stand by the term. My Webster's


                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                                       321



ALL AROUND US
Rev. G. Van Baren




                    G.R. Baptist Academy Update

  Some time ago we reported concerning diffi-                letter dated February 13, 1984, they quote the
culties encountered by the Grand Rapids Baptist              following statement from the legal office of the
Academy with the Civil Rights Department of                  Civil Rights Department of Michigan: "This is to
Michigan. The Academy was, apparently, being                 `confirm in writing' that we have no complaint
challenged regarding hiring procedures. They                 pending against the Academy at this time, nor do
were, it was claimed, violating the civil rights laws        we plan to initiate any action."
by asking questions concerning the religious beliefs            One must give thanks to God that this attempt
of the applicants for teaching positions in the              failed. Yet one can easily anticipate that similar at-
school. That challenge has now been dropped. In a            tempts will be made in the future.




                  State Limits to Church Discipline


 cI have noticed, and my attention has been called               cation" to the church, as they said the Scriptures
repeatedly to this, that a recent jury trial resulted in         dictated.
a conviction of a church because it had disciplined                When Mrs. Guinn, who is divorced, refused and
one of its members for the sin of fornication. I have            wrote a letter resigning from the church, the elders
read accounts of the trial and verdict in the Grand              denounced her love affair from the pulpit on Oct. 4,
Rapids Press, New York Times, and Time magazine.                 1981, her suit contends.
Obviously, the decision has created a stir even in                 An issue in Mrs. Guinn's suit against the church
the secular press. From the  N.Y. Times,  March 15,              and three elders, . . . , is not whether a church has
1984, the report is given:                                       the right to discipline members, but how far it can go.
     Three elders of the Collinsville (Okla.) Church of            Mr. Moody told the court today that the boundaries
   Christ, accused in a $1.35 million suit of invading a         of church discipline are defined by Scripture alone.
   woman's privacy, branded her a fornicator "because           In a later issue of the  N.Y. Times,  March 19,
   the Scripture demanded it," one of them testified
   here today.                                                1984, the jury's verdict is reported:
     The suit brought by  Marian  Guinn, 36 years old,             . . . Twelve Tulsa jurors, only four of whom called
   accuses the suburban Tulsa church and the elders of           themselves regular churchgoers, unanimously decid-
   causing her emotional harm by denouncing her in               ed that Mrs. Guinn's privacy had been invaded. They
   front of the congregation for having a love affair and        awarded her $205,000 actual and $185,000 punitive
   ordering the congregation to shun her.                        damages.
      . . . The elders said they counseled Mrs. Guinn              Jurors also said they never doubted that the elders
   about her relationship with a former Collinsville             had erred. Two jurors said the panel wished it could
   mayor, then advised her to stop seeing him.                   have awarded her damages for harassment. "He was
     When she continued, the elders said, they ordered           single, she was single, and this is America," said
   her to repent, or they would reveal her "sin of forni-        one juror . . . .


322                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER



  One often wonders about the accuracy of reports                istered discipline according to Matthew 18  -
of this nature in the press. Misquotes or quotes out             though admittedly they continued the process after
of context can create a different impression on the              the woman claimed to have resigned her member-
reader than the facts warrant. However, the report               ship.
is disturbing.                                                     One wonders what effect such a decision could
  It is true that, according to the report, the cen-             have in the churches. Discipline is not practiced
sured woman had asked for dismissal from the                     faithfully much any more today. But what of those
church before the announcement had been made                     churches who consider this still to be necessary as
concerning her fornication. The elders proceeded                 Scripture teaches? One wonders if now any cen-
with censure, it appears, in spite of her "resigna-              sured person might bring lawsuits against any
tion."                                                           church which carries out its calling. One wonders
  Still, the jury awarded a large sum of money for               even more when a decision seems to be based on
"actual and punitive damages." This means that a                 the philosophy, "He was single, she was single, and
jury has taken it upon itself to judge and condemn a             this is America."
church and its elders for Christian discipline, exer-              The decision is one more sign of the direction in
cised according to their understanding of Scripture,             which this country goes. Though "separation be-
on a woman who did not deny her guilt of fornica-                tween church and state" is a "religion" for the
tion. The woman was voluntarily a member of the                  courts when churches are forbidden to interfere in
congregation and therefore bound to its rules and                any real or imagined'way with state affairs, still the
regulations  - also with respect to Christian dis-               idea of "separation" is increasingly ignored when it
cipline. The procedure followed appears not that                 comes to decisions of the state against practices
much dissimilar from that required in our own                    within the churches. One can also expect more of
Church Order. The church did not beat her, tie her               this sort of activity in the future.
up, or harm her in other ways. They rather admin-



                         T.he Rev. Marchiene Rienstra

  The local press has reported the installation of                   day as senior pastor of Hope Reformed Church, be-
Marchiene Rienstra as pastor in the Hope Re-                         coming the first woman ever to serve in that capacity
formed Church in Holland, Michigan. She had                          in the Reformed Church in America (however, the Re-
been Christian Reformed until the Synod of those                     formed Church has several other women ordained as
churches refused to accept her candidacy into the                    ministers  - one of whom is serving at Pine Rest
ministry. Subsequently, she became pastor of the                     Hospital  - G.V.B.).
United Presbyterian Church of Port Sheldon                                . . . Participants in the service were chosen to em-
(which grew  irom 10 to 70 families during her                       phasize the importance of family, ecumenicity, the
pastorate). Recently, she accepted the call to serve                 role of women and children in the church. Included
as first pastor at Hope Reformed.                                    are members of Rienstra's family, representatives of
                                                                     other denominations, women in ministry and the
  One writer to the Banner stated:                                   children's choirs'.
         This past Sunday afternoon I attended the installa-              Presiding will be the Rev. Rick Van Haitsma of
       tion service of the Reverend Marchiene Rienstra as           Beechwood Reformed Church, president of the Hol-
       the senior pastor of Hope Reformed Church (Holland,          land  Classis.  Also participating will be Rienstra's
       Mich.). As I was walking out, a member of Hope                father-in-law, the Rev. Richard Rienstra, pastor
       Church said to me, "You people in the CRC just keep           emeritus of the Christian Reformed Church. Her
       sending us people like that - we think they're great!"       brother-in-law, the Rev. Andrew Rienstra, senior
       I wonder how long we will continue to do just that.          pastor of First Reformed Church of  Pompton  Plains,
  Reports of this installation were given in the G.R.                N.J., will deliver the sermon.
Press  (Mar. 10, 1984) and in the Holland  Sentinel                       Another brother-in-law, the Rev. Leonard Vander
(February 3, 1984). I quote from the latter:                         Zee, co-pastor of Eastern Avenue Christian Reformed
                                                                     Church in Grand Rapids, will give the charge to the
          The Rev. Marchiene Rienstra will be installed Sun-        new pastor. Dr. Marion de Velder, pastor emeritus of


                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER                                               3 2 3



    Hope Church and former general secretary of RCA,               me that it is. Surely one ought not to take part in ac-
    will deliver the charge to the congregation.                   tivities in other denominations which are forbidden
      Reading scripture will be the Rev. Gerard. Van               in one's own.
    Heest, chaplain of Hope College; Dr. John Francis,                But even more disturbing is that a Rabbi and a
    pastor of First United Methodist Church; Rabbi Phil-           Roman Catholic nun also participated. True, the
    lip Sigal of Ahavas Israel, Grand Rapids; and Neva
    Evenhouse, Western Theological Seminary, senior                Rabbi evidently only read Scripture - presumably
    who served an internship at Port Sheldon Presbyter-            the Old Testament. But can one have an unbeliever
    ian Church with Rienstra. Sister Joan Mary Williams,           (for such are all those who deny Christ and His
    liturgist at St. Francis de Sales Church, will offer the       cross) take part in a church service dedicated to the
    intercessory prayer . . . .                                    glory of God? And this is done under the guise of
   The remarkable thing in the report is not the or-               practicing "ecumenism"? And a Roman Catholic
dination of a woman into the office of ministry of                 Sister can offer "intercessory prayer"? One who is
the Word. This is increasingly being done today.                   charged in the Heidelberg Catechism of "an  ac--
Rather, what is startling is .the report of those who              cursed idolatry" in the celebration of the mass, can
participated in the ceremony in the church. Truly,                 make intercessory prayer in this Reformed
"ecumenism" was evident. One would conclude                        Church? What would Martin Luther or John Calvin
that error breeds errors.                                          have to say of this? I have no doubt about their
                                                                   judgment.
   One notes, first, the members of the clergy in the
C.R.C. participated in the ceremony. Is this partici-                 All this is indication of the wrongness of the path
pation in ordination into the office of a woman in                 chosen - for error follows upon error til nothing of
violation to their own ministerial vows? It seems to               the truth remains.

THE DAY OF' SHAD0iWS



                          T.he All-Controlling Interest
                                                        Rev. John A. Heys




  After Esther had been chosen to replace Vashti as                sought for the king. In verses 13 and 14 we read
the wife of king Ahasuerus  - and thus also to                     that every maiden went in the evening to be with
become the queen of that vast empire of Persia                     the king, and that she returned on the morrow into
with its 127 provinces  - and even after the king                  the second house of the women. That was moving
had made a great feast in her honour, the king's ser-              to the place where they could serve as concubines
vants still brought a new group of virgins for his                 to the king. There is no need to repeat this now
sinful gratification. That must be the meaning of                  after the feast in Esther's honour. But note also that
the statement in Esther 2: 19 that "when the virgins               in Esther 2:19 we read of virgins being gathered the
were gathered together the second time, then                       second time. Those who went in unto the king
Mordecai sat in the king's gate."                                  before Esther did, and before she was chosen, were
  It is claimed by some that this simply means that                not virgins anymore. And it could not be said after
those who had been rejected by the king were                       Esther's feast that these maidens were gathered in-
gathered into another building or room to be his                   to the house of the women as virgins. Verse 19
concubines. Against this however is the fact that                  speaks of a new group of virgins. All through this
the notice speaks of gathering rather than of mov-                 section from Esther 2:2-19 the word maidens is
ing, and of gathering a second time. But more to the               used as well as the word virgin. That word maidens
point is the striking and significant change of words              is carefully avoided here, and an entirely different
                                                                   word  `is used, namely, the word that described
here. And we ought to note this.                                   these maidens before they went in unto the king.
  In Esther  2:2 we read that fair virgins were                    Gathered the second time, if it refers to the group in


324                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



which Esther was included, would also mean that            case, although it does seem a bit strange that no
they were no more virgins. The first time that they        statement of his elevation had been given prior to
were gathered they were virgins. And the virgins of        this statement. It is not at all impossible that he sat
verse 19 are a new group that just arrived in              in the king's gate, that is, was an official of lowly
Shushan from the corners of the kingdom.                   standing long before this time, that he already was
  Consider that in the days of Ahasuerus there             such an official when Esther was taken to prepare
were no phones or radio broadcasts. There was no           for her appearance before the king. Even such
such thing as airmail service and no jet aircraft          work would still allow him to walk nervously
travel. It took time therefore for the king's men to       before the women's house. In fact it might even ex-
reach the extremities of the kingdom to scout out          plain that he could do that and not be driven off as
and bring back to Shushan what they deemed to be           one who was "hanging around" and appearing too
likely candidates  for the queenship. We are so ac-        often near these quarters. One thing we know from
customed to fast-food services, instant coffee, super      subsequent events is that no one in the king's ser-
highways that speed us through and around cities.          vice  knew his relation to Esther.
We are people that want everything done in no                But the text speaks of when and then. Note that
time flat! We hardly know what it means to be              we read, "When the virgins were gathered together
thorough, because we are so insistent that it be           for the second time, then Mordecai sat in the king's
done quickly. But in that day men took their time.         gate." This does not mean that he sat there because
Life was at a far slower pace. And so it happened          the virgins were gathered for the second time. It
that a new group of virgins was brought to Shushan         simply means that at that time he was no longer
after the king had made his choice. There was no           walking through the court but seated in the king's
way to contact these servants and tell them that           gate. And this information is given to us to prepare
there was no need for bringing a new group. A              us for the relating of the incident of the two
plane crashes on the other side of the globe, and at       chamberlains who sought to lay hands on the king.
once we here can be told who they were that died           It simply gives us the time of this incident. It hap-
in the crash. With computers, phones, radios and           pened in the days when the virgins were gathered
even radar we can keep track of who is where, and          the second time, and not during the days before
even know at any moment their exact location.              Esther's selection by the king.
Ahasuerus could not do that. Nor could he contact            Sitting in the king's gate Mordecai is in a place to
them to call them home.                                    overhear the plot of the two chamberlains to lay
  A bit in anticipation, but for further enlighten-        hands on the king. We are not told what filled them
ment, we may also note what is stated in Esther            with wrath against the king. The word chamberlain
4: 11. There Esther complains to her uncle that the        is translated that way 13 times in our translation,
king had not called her to come in unto him for thirty     that is, the King James version. However, it is trans-
days!  That was quite strange for such an immoral          lated 17 times as eunuch and several times as of-
king. Was he too busy with military affairs? Or were       ficer. We find in Esther 2:3 that the man who was
the fair virgins, who had not come in unto him             the keeper of the women is called a chamberlain,
prior to Esther's night with the king, still brought in    namely, Hege. For good reasons the king may have
unto him? One truth which the silence of Scripture         placed all his concubines under the care of
on this score declares is that this new group was not      eunuchs. And it is  quite.possible  that their wrath
sent home.                                                 was because of the king's choice of Esther over and
  What we do read is that "then Mordecai sat in            above another maiden whom they were favouring.
the king's gate. " Before this he according to Esther      We do read that Esther obtained kindness of Hege,
2:11, "walked every day before the court of the            that she pleased him, and that he preferred her
women's house to know how Esther did, and what             above all the other virgins. A thing like that can
should become of her." Now it was settled. She was         easily inflame other eunuchs who were favouring
the queen. His nervous walking stopped, and he sat         another maid. And if the king had seemed inclined
in the king's gate.                                        to choose their maiden until Esther came along, it
                                                           could easily explain that they became wroth with
  There is some question as to the significance of         the king. After all, the king made the selection.
the fact that he sat in the king's gate. Some claim,
on the basis of Esther  3:2, that this means that he         That Mordecai reported the plot and saw to it
had been appointed to some lowly office in the             that it got to the king's ears was really doing
kingdom. This would enable him to be near Esther,          nothing more than what was his duty to do. Yes, he
and to make contact with her through others in the         was a Jew and these men and the king were not. 1
king's service. For it brought him on to the very          And although Mordecai had no love for Israel's  1
premises of the king's palace. This may well be the        God, he loved Israel as a nation. He did not  com-


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                325



mand Esther to hide her kindred and people                  king thereof in Mordecai's name, that she was not
because he was ashamed of being a Jew. As we read           obeying his command. Of this we read just two
in Esther  3:4, he boldly tells some of the officers        verses after that notice of her loyalty to Mordecai's
that he was a Jew. This was volunteered and not             commands. Following the dictates of sinful human
forced out of him, when he refused to bow before            flesh, he was looking for a reward from man, rather
Haman  (Esther 3:4). And for a Jew to save the life of      than striving to be pleasing in God's sight.
the king of a nation that held his nation captive             And yet, as we have seen, it all came to pass out
might seem unusual.                                         of the counsel of God. Here we ought to see that,
  But consider first of all that the life of Ahasuerus,     although Mordecai had a driving interest in
now that he is  Esther"s "husband", was so closely          Esther's good and in the good of the nation of Israel,
wrapped up with Esther's that, if he is killed and          God has an infinite interest in the church, the bride
another gets on the throne, all the things Mordecai         of His only begotten Son. There are human in-
had hoped for and worked for would be lost. He              terests here. But never forget that in every event in
had quite an interest in the king now, you may be           history, and behind every turn of events, is that in-
sure.                                                       finite, unchangeable interest of God in His church.
  But, as I began to say, this was his duty regard-         No one at that time could see it yet. But He was lay-
less of what advantage it might be to him. Whether          ing the foundation for the salvation of His church.
it is a believer or an unbeliever whose life is in          He is paving the way for the fall of  Haman,  that
danger, if you can save that life, you must. Jesus          enemy of the Jews who would have wiped them all
taught us that in His parable of The Merciful               out and off the face of this earth. He is moving men
Samaritan. And the law God gave at Mt. Sinai made           and directing their steps so that there will be a cross
no qualifications; and as interpreted by Jesus it           and its triumph for the church. For He is insuring
states that we must love our neighbour  - not               the birth of His Son which was to be threatened by
stating or qualifying by saying your believing              Haman's  plot.
neighbour only  - as ourselves. The Heidelberg                Always there are divine and human interests.
Catechism states it correctly when it teaches that          God cannot forget His people, for He has them
God commands us to show all kindness to our                 engraven  in the palms of His hands, the very hands
neighbour, and prevent his hurt as much as in us            wherewith He upholds and directs every creature.
lies; and it exhorts us "that we do good even to our        He has them engraven  in His hands - as well as in
enemies."                                                   His mind and heart - because with them He works
                                                            and causes His counsel to be fulfilled. Today as
  With Mordecai it was a case of love of self, rather       always there are human interests. And that ex-
than of the neighbour. His method of reporting              plains the terrible mess the world is in today, and
shows this. He did not go to the police or the equiv-       the awful threats of a nuclear war with indescrib-
alent of that day. Of course there was the danger           able devastation. But do not forget that there is that
that such would fail to attach his name to the warn-        divine interest that works all things together for
ing, and as the source of this important informa-           good to those that love Him. And, as is the case
tion. Yet going through Esther, who still continued         here, He prepares the way for all things to happen,
to do all his bidding, it is difficult to see how, after    so that His Son will receive His bride and bring her
just being told in verse 20 that she still "did the         into everlasting glory. Behind and controlling every
commandment of Mordecai, like as when she was               interest of man is Gods loving interest in His
brought up with him," that when she certified the           church.
FAITH OF OUR FATHERS


                                   The Nicene Creed
                                                Rev. James Slopsema


  Article 6 - and ascended into heaven, and sitteth on      of Christ: His ascension into heaven and His sitting
the right hand of the Father.                               (session) at the right hand of God.
  This article speaks of two very important works             These two works of our Savior are very closely


326                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



related to each other. It was through His ascension        obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
into heaven that Christ is seated at God's right           Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and
hand. This certainly is the teaching of Mark 16:19:        given Him a name which is above every name."
"So then after the Lord had spoken to them (dis-             But the ascension of Christ is also very signifi-
ciples), He was received up into heaven, and sat on        cant for the church. For Christ is not ascended into
the right hand of God."                                    heaven as an individual, but as our representative
  Christ ascended into heaven and is seated at             head. For that reason Christ's ascension into glory
God's right hand for our salvation. This is not only       is principally our ascension.
the teaching of Scripture, which we hope to point            To help us understand this, we may go back to
out in the course of this article, but also the            Adam in paradise. Adam was the representative
teaching of the Nicene Creed. In article 3 of this         head of the whole human race. And that means that
creed the early church taught that "for us men and         Adam represented all mankind in the garden. In
for our salvation" the eternal Son of God "came            fact, Adam represented us in such a way that when
down from heaven." Having come down from                   he sinned against God in the garden, we all sinned
heaven, the Son of God was not only incarnate              in and through him. Consequently, when Adam fell
through the virgin birth, He was also crucified            we all fell.
under Pontius Pilate, suffered, was buried and rose
again the third day. All this Christ did on earth for        In like manner, Christ is now the representative
our salvation. Now, according to the creed, He             head of the church and all the elect. That means
Who came down from heaven to perform all these             that there is the closest possible relationship be-
mighty works is also ascended back into heaven             tween Christ and His church. So close is this rela-
and sits at God's right hand. And this too is for our      tionship that Christ is called the head, and the
salvation.                                                 church His body. Consequently, when Christ suf-
                                                           fered and died on the cross, the church died with
  The ascension was essentially a change of place          Him. And when Christ arose again the third day,
for Christ. From the time of His birth until the mo-       the church arose with Him (cf. Rom. 6:3-6). And, in
ment of His ascension, the dwelling place of Christ        like manner, when Christ ascended into heaven the
was on the earth. This was in harmony with the             elect of God also ascended with Him. Principally
human nature He assumed through the virgin                 the ascension of Christ into glory was our ascen-
birth. It was flesh and blood, of the earth earthy.        sion. We ascended in and through Him. Hence, we
However, at the resurrection His body was glori-           read in Ephesians i:6 that God "hath raised us up
fied. It was changed from an earthly to a heavenly         together, and  made us sit together in heavenly
body, from a physical to a spiritual body, from a          places in Christ Jesus." The Heidelberg Catechism
body adapted to live on the earth to a glorious body       states this very beautifully in Q  & A 49 when it
adapted to live in heaven. Consequently, Christ            teaches us that through the ascension of Christ "we
ascended into heaven in His glorified human                have our flesh in heaven as a sure pledge that he, as
nature 40 days after His resurrection. As far as His       the. head, will also take up to himself, us, his
human nature is concerned, Christ is no more with          members." In other words, because Christ's ascen-
us on the earth. He has departed from us and is            sion is essentially and principally our ascension, we
now in heaven.                                             may know that one day we too will ascend into
  The ascension is very significant.                       glory with Christ and have a share of His glory.
  The ascension was, first of all, significant for           And this the early church evidently understood.
Christ Himself. For Christ the ascension meant His         For the early church fathers, in speaking of Christ's
own glorification and exaltation. Heaven is the            ascension, emphasized that the ascension was not
place of glory. It is that because it is God's dwelling    merely the ascension of a man but of man. In other
place. God is in heaven in His friendship and fel-         words, when Christ ascended into heaven mankind
lowship as nowhere else. To live in heaven is to           ascended. And by mankind we understand man-
know God's love and fellowship perfectly. To live          kind as eternally chosen to salvation, mankind as
in heaven is to enjoy God fully. And it was to that        redeemed in Christ. That mankind ascended into
place of glory that Christ entered through His             heaven at Christ's ascension.
ascension. In fact, Christ was exalted to the very           And to her belief in this great work of salvation
pinnacle of heavenly glory. None is so highly ex-          the early church gave expression when she con-
alted as Christ. And this great glory of Christ is all     fessed in this 6th article, "and ascended into
the reward of God for His perfect work on earth as         heaven."
our mediator. Certainly this is the teaching of Phil-
ippians  28  & 9: "and being found in fashion as a           Having ascended into heaven Christ now sits at
man, He (Christ) humbled Himself, and became               the right hand of God.


                                        THE STANDARD BEARER                                                327



  That the ascended Christ sits on God's right hand       and thus serve Christ. But through the power of
is taught in many passages of Holy Writ. It was           grace Christ changes that. He transforms the heart
prophesied already in the Old Testament Scriptures.       of every member of the church so that they become
The expression itself is found in Psalm  110: 1,          willing servants whose chief delight is to keep
where David writes, "The Lord (Jehovah) said unto         God's holy commandments. This is the rule of
my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make          Christ in the church and it is the salvation of the'
thine enemies thy foot stool." And although this ex-      church. For it is in the way of willful obedience to
act expression is not found elsewhere in the Old          God's law that the church finds God's blessing both
Testament, the idea it expresses is found repeated-       now and eternally.
ly. The same is true of the New Testament Scrip-            But there is more. Christ also rules in the church
tures. At His trial, Christ Himself informed the          as King under God to preserve the church in this
Sanhedrin that they would see the Son of man sit-         obedience and salvation. There are spiritual powers
ting on the right hand of power (Matt. 26:64). Peter,     that seek to lead the church away into sin and
in his speech on Pentecost, informed the crowds           destruction. There is the Devil and his host. There
that the same Jesus Whom they had crucified was           is also the world of wicked, unbelieving men. If the
now risen and exalted to the right hand of God            church will remain faithful to the service of God
(Acts  2:33). And there are more such passages.           and continue in the way of her salvation, she must
Christ's sitting at God's right. hand, therefore, is a    be preserved. For the church has little strength of
thought running throughout the whole of Scripture.        herself. And this Christ also does in His rule over
  Christ's sitting at the right hand of God must be       the church. He protects and preserves her against
understood in a figurative sense. Certainly we must       the wiles of the devil and the onslaughts of the
not imagine that God has a right hand in the literal,     world so that the church is kept through the ages
physical sense of the word. Neither is there a parti-     and will one day be glorified with Christ in heaven.
cular place in heaven that can be designated as be-         Finally, the rule of Christ serves the salvation of
ing at the right hand of God. Nor does God literally      the church because Christ also rules over the wick-
sit in heaven. Hence, we must understand that to          ed world. Over the world of ungodly men Christ
sit at the right hand denotes in Scripture a position     rules not in His grace but in His power. That means
of rule and authority. In Bible times the one who         that over the world Christ too has set the holy law
sat at the right hand of the king was the one upon        of God and demands obedience. But the world, be-
whom the king had bestowed great powers and               ing devoid of grace, refuses to obey. It walks in
authority. He was the one who virtually ran the           open rebellion against Christ and refuses to serve
country for the king. He was the second in com-           Him. Nevertheless, Christ rules. And He rules
mand. It was this sort of position that Joseph oc-        them in such a way that He uses their very
cupied when he was made ruler of all Egypt under          rebellion to accomplish His purpose. This no other
Pharaoh. In like manner is Christ seated at God's         king has ever accomplished. Many kings have ruled
right hand. At His ascension, God clothed Christ          and accomplished their purposes  in spite of  those
with all power and authority. Consequently, Christ        that rebel. But Christ accomplishes His purpose
rules over all things on the behalf of God. It is         through the rebellion of the world. And when He is
through Christ that God exercises His rule over all       done using their rebellion for His own glorious
His creation. And this position Christ shall occupy       designs, He casts them all into hell. And what is
for all ages and for all eternity.                        this grand goal of Christ for which He uses even the
  This session of Christ at the right hand of God is      wickedness of the world? It is the salvation of His
the salvation of the church. This is due to the           church!
nature of Christ's rule.                                    And, sensing the essence of this truth, the early
  Christ rules, first of all, over the church. And the    church confessed in the Nicene Creed that "for us
church He rules in His grace. Whenever we speak           men and for our salvation" Jesus Christ "sitteth on
of the rule of a king, we must speak of laws. To rule     the right hand of the Father."
implies the right to impose one's will on another,
or, if you will, to establish law. And this is what
Christ does as King under God. He places all men                Take time to read
under the holy law of God and requires obedience
to it. However, when it comes to the church, Christ                   and study the
does more than to set God's law over her members.
He also works in their hearts by the power of His                    Standard Bearer
grace so that they willfully and cheerfully keep that
law. By nature, of course, no man can keep the law


328                                        THE STANDARD BEARER



IN HIS FEAR



                              Servants of the Lord
                                              Rev. Arie den Hartog




  Throughout the Scriptures we find that the peo-         pletely for the service of the Lord. He came not to
ple of God are repeatedly called the servants of the       do His own will but the will of His heavenly Father.
Lord. This is a great truth. Many examples of out-         He so humbled Himself that He took upon Himself
standing servants of the Lord in Scripture can be         the form of a servant. He sacrificed Himself on the
cited. Moses the man of God is often called the ser-       cross. He was perfectly obedient to His heavenly
vant of the Lord. He was himself a beautiful picture       Father. He sought not His own glory but'the glory
of what it means to be the servant of the Lord. God-       of the righteousness and holiness of God. He came
ly king David often refers to himself by the designa-      not to be ministered unto but to minister unto His
tion servant of the Lord, especially in his prayers to     people that He might bring them all to salvation.
the Lord. We find that the faithful prophets of God
in the Old Testament are constantly referred to as           It is really a tremendous thing to be a servant of
servants of the Lord. In the New Testament we find         the  Lord. There is nothing more blessed and
the apostles often beginning their letters with            glorious for man. Are we profoundly conscious of
reference to the fact that they are the servants of        our calling as the redeemed people of God to be the
the Lord Jesus Christ. Not only do we find that the        servants of the Lord? This is a practical reality for
special leaders of the people of God are called the        our lives. Those who call God their sovereign Lord
servants of the Lord but we find that all of God's         and God must confess that they are His servants
people are called by that name. In the beautiful           and they must live and act like the servants of the
prayer of Hannah in which she prayed so earnestly          Lord. Otherwise, of course, all of our confession of
for a son from the Lord she  makes, the confession         the sovereignty of God means nothing and we are
concerning herself: "the handmaid of the Lord."            but hypocrites.
Even the child Samuel, when the Lord called him              To  be. the servants of the Lord means that we
during the night, was to answer, "Speak, Lord, for         know and acknowledge God as our sovereign Lord
Thy servant heareth." Nehemiah, when praying to            and Master. It means that we see as our whole obli-
God for Israel, says, "Now these are Thy servants          gation and responsibility only to obey and serve
and Thy people, whom Thou hast redeemed by Thy             God. It means that we understand that God has
great power, and by Thy strong hand" (Nehemiah             given us work to do and that we faithfully perform
1: 10). When the virgin mother Mary was told the           that work. We understand that God has saved us by
wonderful news that she would become the mother            His grace. He has freely given us all things. He gave
of the Lord Jesus she answered the angel, "Behold          us even the wonderful gift of His Son Jesus Christ.
the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according          He gave us all spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus. All
to Thy word." After the aged Simeon had seen the           that God has in love given to us cannot possibly be
Lord's Christ he said with joy in his heart, "Lord,        measured. Christianity however is not just know-
now  lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace ac-          ing and receiving from God, as wonderful as this is.
cording to Thy Word." We find in many of the               It also involves serving God, our Lord and our
parables of the Lord that He refers to His people as       Savior. We must serve Him because He made us
servants in His kingdom. On the day of Pentecost,          and because He redeemed us. There is no other
when the Spirit of the Lord was poured out upon            reason why He leaves us in the midst of His world
the church, Peter declares that this Spirit was            than that we must serve Him. Any man who does
poured out according to the promise of God upon            not serve God is a rebel against Him and he will be
the servants and handmaids of the Lord.                   justly condemned to eternal destruction. If we do
  Our Lord Jesus Himself is the supreme example            not serve the Lord we do not love Him and we are
of the servant of the Lord. He gave Himself com-           not truly thankful for His wonderful salvation.


                                           `THE   sTmm13~   BEARER                                           329



  To understand what it means to be the servants          advise God on what we should do. The servant of
of the Lord we must begin by putting away all vain        the Lord is one who submits absolutely to the will
notions about this that are so current among many         of the Lord. He does not question or challenge the
who call themselves Christians. We must always            Word of the Lord because He knows that the Word
proceed from the great truth of the absolute              of the Lord is the word of the absolutely wise and
sovereignty of God. In all things we must proceed         just and good sovereign God of heaven and earth.
from this most central of all truths. God is sover-       The only calling of the servant of the Lord is to
eign over us because He made us. He sovereignly           know and do the will of the Lord. Nevelfmay he do
gave us our life, our breath, and all things. We have     his own will. There are absolutely no substitutes
nothing of ourselves. Daily the Lord sustains our         for the servant of the Lord to surrendering his own
life. In Him we live and move an<, have our being.        will completely to the will of the Lord. No matter
Without Him we are nothing,  [ nd we can do               what happens to the servant of the Lord, this and
nothing. The Lord is sovereign ov'; r us because He       this alone must he do. The only thing that can
redeemed us through the death  ; f His Son Jesus          enable a man who is by nature a rebellious sinner
Christ. We were once guilty dam worthy sinners,           against God to do this is the almighty and irresisti-
totally depraved, unable to serv God with any             ble power of the Spirit of God in Him.
good, dead in trespasses and  sins: The Lord, by a
sovereign and almighty operation I f His grace and          The servant of the Lord must be humble. The
Spirit, made us alive. He made  u new creatures,          proud man cannot be the servant of the Lord. In
creating us after the image of j
                                     1 is Son in true     humility the servant of the Lord acknowledges the
knowledge, righteousness, and holiness. He trans-         absolute Lordship of God over His life. The servant
formed us from being the servants of the devil to         of the Lord knows his own smallness before his in-
being the servants of the true and living God of          finitely great and mighty Lord. He knows his own
heaven and earth. God sovereignly made us His             worthlessness and depravity before his perfectly
servants. We must not imagine that God needed us          righteous and holy Lord. The servant of the Lord
to be His servants, that He would have been hope-         knows his complete dependence upon his Lord. It
lessly at a losswithout us. Some men vainly think         is only by His grace and strength that the servant of
that God cannot get along without them and that           the Lord can do anything at all. The very fact that
His great cause and kingdom will never prosper            the Lord should continue to have him as His ser-
without them. The Lord of heaven and earth does           vant is the reason for humble gratitude and praise
not dwell in temples made with hands, nor is He           on the part of the true servant of the Lord. Never
worshiped by men's hands as though He needs               does the servant of the Lord boast in his own
anything. We must not imagine that when we serve          works. He glories in the Lord alone who enables
the Lord we give to God something of ourselves. In        him to do all that he does. In humble gratitude to
all of our service to the Lord we can never give Him      God he offers to the Lord what God has first given
anything that He has not first given to us. All that      to him.
we have, including our very life, all our talents, all      The servant of the Lord must be meek. He must
of our possessions we have only because the               never seek his own advantage and glory. Often in
Sovereign God has given them to us. We must not           the world the servant of the Lord is mocked,
imagine that when we serve the Lord we begin              ridiculed, and persecuted for the Lord's sake. But
somehow to repay Him for all that He has given to         he does not insist upon his own honor and glory
us. That is forever entirely impossible for us to do.     among men. He is willing to be put to shame before
The very fact that we have been made to be the ser-       men as long as the name of his Lord and master is
vants of the Lord is a wonderful gift of His grace. It    glorified and as long as he does His will. The ser-
is an honor and glory that God has bestowed upon          vant of the Lord remembers how his Lord was
us, though we were by nature wholly undeserving           crucified because He was hated and rejected by
of it. When the Lord did not need us at all and when      men. The servant of the Lord remembers the words
we could not at all serve Him of ourselves norgive        of his master that the servant is not greater than his
anything to Him, He of His own good pleasure              Lord. In meekness the servant of the Lord is willing
made us Hisservants. He is pleased to work in us          to suffer for well-doing that the Lord's name might
and through us for the glory of His own name.             be praised. The servant of the Lord does not seek
  The Bible clearly outlines what is required of the      vengeance against his evil persecutors because he
servants of the Lord. First of all they must do the       knows that vengeance belongs alone unto his Lord
will of the Lord and perform the work which He            and Master.
has ordained for them. Absolute obedience is the            The servant of the Lord must be willing to sacri-
first requirement of the servant of the Lord. We          fice his all for his Lord. He knows that all that he
must not seek our own will nor imagine that we can        has really belongs to the Lord. Therefore he will


330                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



withhold nothing in the service of the Lord. He               The servant of the Lord must be holy in all of his
gives freely and liberally his money unto the ser-          life. God will not be served by evil and corrupt
vice of the Lord. He is willing if necessary to sell all    men. If there is any unconfessed sin that is not
that he has and give all to the Lord. To do anything        repented of in our life it will hinder us in the ser-
less than that would be to keep back rebelliously           vice of the Lord. If we defile ourselves with the cor-
from the Lord the very things He has given to us.           rupt philosophy. and practice of the world we will
The servant of the Lord gives of his time, his              not be able to serve the Lord. In the service of the
talents, his energies for the service of the Lord.          Lord we must show forth holiness, righteousness,
Above all he gives himself and his own heart unto           and truth in all our life. The life of the servant of
the Lord. A person who is self-centered therefore           the Lord must manifest the mercy and love of God.
cannot be a servant of the Lord. A person who               Those who have hearts full of bitterness and wrath
keeps most of what he has received of the Lord              and cruelty cannot be the servants of the Lord.
while imagining that the Lord will be satisfied with          The servant of the Lord must be steadfastly com-
a few meager offerings which represent only his             mitted unto the Lord. The Lord has no part-time
leftovers cannot be the servant of the Lord. This           servants. Nothing in life must deter the servant of
matter of sacrificing unto the Lord is extremely dif-       the Lord from his calling and obligation. The ser-
ficult. Very few even among those who call them-            vant of the Lord cannot be satisfied with serving
selves Christians are willing to do that. All these are     the Lord in only certain areas of his life while keep-
disqualified for the service of the Lord. A person          ing other areas for himself and the world. The ser-
who is consumed with the lusts of the flesh and the         vant of the Lord must constantly be on his guard
pride of this life cannot be a servant of the Lord.         against every temptation that might draw him away
One who loves money and seeks only to aggrandize            from the Lord. He must constantly cleave unto the
himself and increase in this world's goods cannot           Lord his God and find all his strength from Him so
be the servant of the Lord. The true servant of the         that he does not become discouraged nor fail in his
Lord does not even count his own life dear to him           service.
when he is called upon to sacrifice it for the Lord's         The above-named characteristics of the Lord's
sake. He is willing to suffer extreme poverty and           servants are very simple and basic. We have all
terrible hardship for the Lord's sake. The true ser-        learned of them before. We can see them all por-
vant of the Lord would count it a great blessing and        trayed in the servants of the Lord mentioned in
honor to suffer and even to die for his Lord.               Scripture and especially in the great Servant of the
  The servant of the Lord must be zealously                 Lord Who is the Lord Jesus Christ. Yet it is
devoted unto the Lord. Service of the Lord is a             necessary for us to consider them over and over
deeply spiritual matter which requires the offering         again. We need constantly to examine our own
of one's heart unto the Lord. The Lord is not               lives whether we are truly living as servants of the
pleased with mere outward ceremony and ritual.              Lord. Where we have failed we must repent in true
No matter how great a man's works may appear to             sorrow of heart before the Lord. Each day we must
men, in God's sight they are worth nothing unless           seek again to be more faithful in our service for the
they are offered in faith and devotion to Him. The          Lord.
servant of the Lord must constantly burn with fer-            In the next several articles in this department we
vent love and devotion unto his Lord. The Lord              shall consider some of the practical implications of
hates lukewarmness in His servants. He requires             being the servants of the Lord in the.various areas
sincere and wholehearted devotion unto Him.                 of our life.
GUIDED INTO ALL TRUTH


       The Latin Fathers and the Word of God
                                                  Rev. T. Miersma



  Thus far in considering the early church's  ap-           and it its approach to Scripture. The difference be-
preach to Scripture, we have treated the church as          tween the eastern Greek-speaking churches and the
a unity. This it was fundamentally, both in doctrine        western Latin-speaking churches were matters of


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                               3 3 1



temperament and character, not doctrine. Both             Great to power, the church found peace from
branches received the doctrines of the Trinity for-       persecution under the first Christian Roman
mulated at Nicaea and the Christology of  Chalce-         emperor, and Christianity soon became the state
don. So also, the church's doctrine of Scripture, as      religion. In the years that followed, the church in
it was formulated by the church at the end of the         the west, particularly as centered in Rome, was
early period of church history, was one common            more and more submerged by invasions of Ger-
doctrine. The principles developed by the early           manic tribes into Western Europe. Constantine
fathers continued in the church into the Middle           moved the capital of the empire eastward to Con-
Ages. The threefold approach of Origen which we           stantinople, leaving a vacuum in power in the West
considered last time, though it was moderated             which was soon filled by the church and particular-
somewhat and used with more restraint, became             ly the bishop of Rome. The Latin-speaking West
the fundamental basis of the church's approach to         and Greek-speaking East, already divided by
interpreting the Scriptures.                              language and temperament, became more and
  The Greek church however differed in tempera-           more separated. In 590 Gregory the Great became
ment from the West. The Greek church was more             bishop of Rome and the first real pope of the
speculative in its turn of mind, directing its            church in the West. The separation between East
theological energies toward the development of the        and West was to continue until it became formally
doctrines of the Trinity and of the person and            complete in the middle of the medieval period.
natures of Christ. In a certain sense it exhausted it-      This has significance for our study of the history
self in the controversies which surrounded these          of the doctrine of Scripture and its development. It
doctrines, and with this exhaustion, doctrinal lead-      is through the Latin-speaking church fathers that
ership and development passed to the West. The            the church's common doctrinal heritage, also of
line of the history of doctrine runs therefore            Scripture, was transmitted to the West. Men such
through the western church, and this is true also of      as Hilary of Poitiers, who could read the Greek
the church's development of the doctrine of Scrip-        language, brought into the Latin heritage the views
ture.                                                     of Origen and the Greek church fathers. By such
  The western church had a more practical turn of         men the foundation of medieval doctrine was laid
mind. In part this was due to the difference in           in the church. Of these men, two demand our
temperament between the Greek and Oriental                special attention: Jerome and Augustine. These
peoples of the East and the Romans of the West.           men were contemporaries: Jerome lived from
While the East gave rise to the heathen philoso-          340-420 and Augustine from 354-430. Both had a
phies of Plato and Aristotle, Rome devoted itself to      profound effect upon the history of the church,
law and jurisprudence. These cultural differences         though in different ways.
also made their presence felt in the development of
the church in east and west. The West had not been          Augustine stands out for his development of the
disrupted by the theological controversies concern-       truths concerning sin and grace, concerning the
ing the Trinity and the doctrine of Christ in the         depravity of fallen man, and concerning God's
same way that the eastern church had been. And            sovereign grace. He was perhaps the greatest
so, while the eastern church focused its attention        theologian of the ancient church. Augustine has
on the truth and significance of the incarnation, the     significance also for the church's doctrine of the
western church directed its thought to the signifi-       Word of God, and that significance is both positive
cance of the cross, of the atonement, and of sin and      and negative. Because Augustine did not know
grace. This interest came to a head in the contro-        either Greek or Hebrew he stands on the fore-
versy between Pelagius and Augustine in the early         ground, not so much for his exegesis, for which he
400s. In this controversy, while the church formal-       was not well-equipped, but for his comprehensive
ly repudiated the Pelagian doctrine of free will and      understanding of the Word of God in its underlying
                                                          unity, rooted in the truths of sin and grace. Positive-
the natural goodness of man, it also failed to en-
dorse the truth of total depravity and divine pre-        ly, he led the church to see the Scriptures in their
destination as developed by Augustine. Instead it         unity, generally following in his work the literal
tried to take a middle position between the two, a        sense of the passage, though occasionally falling in-
semi-Pelagianism. These doctrinal issues in the           to allegory. His theology was not based on isolated
                                                          texts. Indeed, his inability to read the original
western church and the attempted compromise be-           languages forced him to approach Scripture in its
tween them were to form much of the basis of
medieval theology.                                        essential unity and to penetrate that underlying
                                                          unity as it was revealed in the sovereignty of God
  The church was also entering a new era. In A.D.         and His grace. He emphasized the necessity of tak-
323, with the complete rise of Constantine the            ing Scripture as a whole and interpreting Scripture


332                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



with Scripture. Doctrine was not to be developed            of Scripture. The development of the truth under
from one text alone, a common tactic of heretics,           such circumstances stagnated. Augustine was by
but Scripture as a whole, in its doctrinal unity,           no means the sole cause of this unhealthy tradition-
must set forth the rule of faith.                           alism, but he aided in its development.
  At the same time there is a negative element of             Jerome also was to some extent a traditionalist in
his work. Because he was limited in his labors by           this sense. He was also an ascetic who promoted
his lack of knowledge of the Biblical languages, he         the monastic ideal which was taking hold of the
also emphasized that exegesis was to be governed            church. He is unique among the ancient fathers in
by the historic interpretation of the church, for the       that he took great pains to learn not only Greek, but
rule of faith included also the church's traditional        also Biblical Hebrew. In his commentaries, which
understanding and interpretation of the Word of             were often hastily written, he follows an eclectic
God. This approach, in Augustine's use of it, had an        method, doing some of his own work while also
inherent weakness.                                          drawing much upon the work of those who preced-
  It is true that the church, in her study of the           ed him. He was well acquainted with Origin's
Word of God as she is guided into the truth of that         works as well as others of the Greek fathers, and he
Word, sets forth that truth in its unity as an organic      served as an instrument of transmission both for
whole. Our own creeds and confessions give ex-              their comments on Scripture and for their methods
pression to that unity. We do not approach Scrip-           of interpretation.
ture as theologically neutral or in historical isola-         Jerome's major contribution was his translation
tion, for the creeds and confessions and the                of the Bible into the Latin language. Various older
church's interpretation of the Word of God are the          translations had already existed before his time, but
fruit of the leading of the Spirit of Truth. But that       Jerome went back to the original languages to pro-
work of the church in the past is not infallible. We        duce a new translation. The fruit of his work was
bind ourselves to it freely because it is a faithful ex-    the Latin Vulgate. While far from perfect it had the
pression of the truth of the Word of God and of the         advantage that, particularly in the Old Testament,
rule of faith.                                              Jerome attempted to work directly from the
  Augustine's weakness was that he went a step              original Hebrew rather than merely translating the
further, and made the past interpretation of the            Greek Old Testament translation into Latin. In this
church and the traditions of the church authorita-          he departed from the common position of the
tive for exegesis in such a way as to stymy theologi-       church which had regarded this Greek translation
cal development. Thus, difficult passages which             as if the translation itself were inspired. In doing
were hard to understand were to be explained ac-            this he also rejected the  apochryphal books which
cording to traditional interpretation. It can be well       were included in the Greek translation, but not
understood that Augustine, lacking the necessary            found in the Hebrew. Though he was forced to in-
linguistic tools, needed to adopt such an approach,         clude them in his translation because of the popu-
but the effect was to elevate tradition and the             larity of these books, yet he denied them the status
received interpretation of the fathers above Scrip-         of Holy Scripture. By his work he gave to the
ture and make it of greater authority than the Word         Western church a better translation of the Word of
of God. By such a line of thought theological               God in the common language of that day than was
development must necessarily grind to a halt. We            to be had prior to this time. His translation, the
find this to be the case in the Middle Ages, that the       Vulgate, was to serve the church in the West for
commentaries of the fathers and the study of the            centuries as the standard Bible.
doctrine of the church superceded the direct study
GUEST ARTICLE

       The King James Version of the Bible (1)
                                                 Rev. Steven Houck


THE INCEPTION OF THE NEW VERSION                            perform mighty wonders for His church. Who
  Many times God uses the incidental, the  unex-            would ever have expected that the words of a little
petted, and even the seemingly evil things of life to       Jewish maiden would lead to the conversion of


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                             333



Naaman the Leper? Who would ever have thought               The Puritans did object to the translations of the
that the evil deeds committed by Joseph's brothers        "Great Bible" and the "Bishops' Bible" which
would have resulted in the preservation of Israel in      were quoted in the Prayer Book, but they did not
the time of famine? But so it was in the wondrous         feel that much of a need for a new translation. They
providence of God.                                        were content with their "Geneva Bible" and its
   So it was also in the production of the King James     Calvinistic notes. The motion for a new translation
Version of the Bible. This version, used of God in        was incidental to them. In fact, if it were up to
such a mighty way, had its beginnings in a very           them, there probably would not be a King James
unexpected and incidental way - yea, in the midst         V e r s i o n .
of great disappointment on the part of some of              On the other hand, the bishops were not im-
God's people.                                             mediately in favor of a new translation either.
  Four Puritans, along with fourteen representa-          Bishop  Bancroft of London expressed his opposi-
tives of the Church of England, were gathered             tion this way: "If every man's humor should be
together at Hampton Court for an ecclesiastical           followed, there would be no end of translating." In-
conference in January, 1604. The Puritans had             deed, the bishop made a very good point. That is ex-
many objections concerning the English church as          actly what we have today with all of the new ver-
it was than established. They were hoping that            sions. Thus neither party in the Church of England
their new king, James I, would so guide the church        was zealous for a new translation.
of God in England that there would be further               It was the king's zeal and enthusiasm for the pro-
reformation of the church. In fact, they had already      ject that caused the work to be undertaken and that
met him on his way to London where` he was to             saw the work through the end. In the Dedication to
receive the English crown and had presented him           the King, found in most of our King James Version
with a petition stating their grievances. The petition    Bibles, we read this concerning the king: ". . . your
was signed by about a thousand clergymen and              Majesty did never desist, to urge and to excite those
therefore called the "Millenary Petition." It was on      to whom it was commended, that the work might
account of that petition that James had called the        be hastened, and that the business might be ex-
conference "to hear and determine things pretend-         pedited in so decent a manner, as a matter of such
ed to be amiss in the Church."                            importance might justly require." Indeed, the king
  It did not go so well for the Puritans, however.        seems to have been the driving force behind the
Not only were they in the minority at the con-            grand undertaking.
ference, but King James, rather than sympathizing           Yet we make a mistake if we attribute his zeal to
with them, supported the cause of the bishops of          totally good motives. It may have been that he had
the church. In the midst of their struggle Dr. John       a genuine interest in the Scriptures. He is said to
Reynolds, the Puritan president of Corpus  Christi        have done some translating of the Bible himself.
College, suddenly petitioned the king "that there         Most, however, attribute his zeal to an ambition to
might be a new translation of the Bible, because          advance his own cause and glory. He disliked great-
those which were allowed in the reigns of Henry           ly the marginal notes of the "Geneva Bible," which
VIII and Edward VI were corrupt and not answer-           he thought encouraged disobedience to kings, and
able to the truth of the original." This motion of the    therefore wanted a new translation to replace it. He
Puritan leader evidently was not something that he        was shrewd enough to see that a new translation,
had planned but something that was introduced in-         which was acceptable to all, would do much to
cidentally in order to keep from losing all ground at     enhance his own glory.
the conference.                                             We must conclude from all of this, therefore,
  This is `confirmed by the Translators' Preface to       that our King James Version of the Bible, as to its
the Reader which is found in the first edition of the     source, is not a "Puritan Bible," nor an "Anglican
King James Version. There we read,  ". . . the very       Bible," and no, not even a "King James Bible."
historical truth is that upon the importunate peti-       How,could a Bible which is so great and which has
tions of the Puritans, at his Majesty's coming to the     been used of the Lord for hundreds and hundreds
crown, the conference at Hampton Court having             of years be merely the product of an incidental sug-
been appointed for hearing their complaints; when         gestion or the zeal of mixed motives? No! It is God's
by force of reason they were put from all other           Bible. It was conceived in His Divine mind,
grounds, they had recourse at the last, to this shift,    brought into being by the wondrous working of His
that they could not with good conscience subscribe        providence, and all motivated by His great love for
to the Communion Book, since it maintained the            His church. This Bible is the result of the almighty
Bible as it was there translated, which was as they       work of God. Even the translators acknowledge
said, a most corrupted translation."                      that it was God who had put the zeal for a new


334                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



translation into the heart of the king. They exhort        take charge of this great undertaking. Bishops and
us, "Let us rather bless God from the ground of our        Puritans alike with great zeal and dedication were
heart, for working this religious care in him, to          ready to begin their tasks. By June 30, 1604 (six
have the translations of the Bible maturely con-           months after the Hampton Court Conference),
sidered of and examined." God in His providence            fifty-four men had been approved as translators of
took the incidental remarks of a Puritan, the zeal of      the new version, and a plan of procedure had been
a king for his throne, and in the midst of the opposi-     set down. Bishop Bancroft, entrusted with the gen-
tion of bishops, gave to His church a Bible that has       eral management of the work, was busy making all
been her blessing and strength for three hundred           the necessary preparations.
and seventy years.                                           The translators were formed into six companies:
  Some men praise it for its pure English and force-       two meeting at Westminster, two at Cambridge,
ful style, others for its beauty and majesty, and still    and two at Oxford. Genesis through II Kings was
others for its masterful translation. It is all of that    translated by the first Westminster company, I
and  morel But even more important, we must see            Chronicles through Ecclesiastes by the first Cam-
the King James Version as the Bible which God has          bridge company, and Isaiah through Malachi by the
providentially given to His English speaking               first Oxford company. The second Oxford company
church. It is the Word of God  - that is, a faithful       translated the four Gospel accounts, Acts, and
translation of the inspired originals which have           Revelation. The second Westminster company did
been providentially preserved by God in the                Romans through Jude. The Apocrypha was done by
thousands of manuscripts which have come down              the second Cambridge company.
to us. Thus we can be assured that with this Bible           Not that the Apocrypha was considered to be the
we have the authoritative Word of God.                     Word of God. It was translated and bound with the
THE TRAN                                                   Bible, but the King James Version translators did
             SLATORS  0~ THE KJV                           not count it as God's Word. In that they differed
  In the providence of God, although all other             from the Roman Catholics. The fact that the
seemed little concerned about a new translation,           Aprocryphal  books were separated out of the Old
the suggestion of Dr. Reynolds was fixed in the            Testament and put after it indicates that they did
mind of the king. In due season that suggestion            not consider it to be part of the Bible. In later edi-
ripened into personal enthusiasm on the part of the        tions it was dropped all together.
king and also on the part of those he appointed to                                               (to be continued)


                                        Book Reviews

DANIEL, SIGNS AND WONDERS  (International                  nezzar becoming as a beast, R.D.D.) have any his-
Theological Commentary), by Robert A. Anderson;            torical basis? Are there any records suggesting that
Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1984; 158 pages, $5.95            what is described in vs. 33 did befall Nebuchadnez-
(paper). (Reviewed by Prof. R.D. Decker).                  zar? If a negative reply is given to these questions, it
  The author of this commentary: 1) does not               is not wholly on the grounds of an argument from
believe Daniel to be the secondary author of this          silence. Nebuchadnezzar was an extremely impor-
book of the Bible; 2) refers to the author as "the         tant king; his reign extended a little over four
compiler" or "storyteller"; 3) dates the book very         decades from 605 to 562 B.C. and was well docu-
late (174-164 B.C.); 4) finds a historical inaccuracy      mented. Nothing would indicate an absence from
in chapter  l:l, 2. For a good explanation of these        regal duties nor give any evidence of abnormal
verses one should consult the late Edward J.               behaviour" (p. 48). Then follows a rather elaborate
Young's Commentary on Daniel (also an  Eerd-               explanation suggesting that the reference might be
mans' publication).                                        to Nabonidus, the last of the new-Babylonian rulers
                                                           who reigned from 556 to 539 B.C.
  The following quotation is part of the author's
comments on chapter  4:28-33 (the account of                 When Jesus spoke of the signs of the coming of
Nebuchadnezzar becoming as a beast). It will fur-          His Kingdom He called attention to Daniel the
nish the reader a sample of the kind of exegesis           Prophet who spoke of the abomination of desolation
found in this commentary. "Does this  (Nebuchad-           (Matthew  25:15; Mark  13:14).  Concerning this


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                               335



     reference the author writes: "The Book of Daniel           CALVIN'S DOCTRINE OF THE ATONEMENT,
     has from time to time exerted considerable influ-          Robert A. Peterson; Prebyterian and Reformed
     ence on Christian thought. This influence extends          Publishing Co., Phillipsburg, New Jersey; 113 pp.,
     as far back as some of the New Testament writers,          $4.95 (paper). [Reviewed by Prof. H.C. Hoeksema]
     if not to Jesus Himself. A thorough investigation of          The subject matter of this book is set forth by the
     this would amount to a study in itself. Our im-            title. The book deals with the question, "What was
     mediate purpose is met if we single out two areas          Calvin's doctrine of the atonement?" And this is, of
for relatively brief mention.                                   course, a worthwhile subject.
       "The first Gospel to be written, Mark, contains a           As I have stated before when commenting on
long discourse in its thirteenth chapter, attributed            books about Calvin, one must always be cautious
by the writer to Jesus. This chapter contains some              about accepting what a book says that Calvin
     thirty instances of knowledge or use of the text of        taught. The same is true of this book. There are
     Daniel. In an exhaustive treatment of the prov-            numerous quotations from Calvin as well as refer-
     enance of Mark 13, I,.  Hartman concluded that             ences to Calvin's writings in this book. This is a
     `perhaps the apocalyp-tic ideas in Daniel played a         plus. However, to appreciate Calvin and to be sure
     more important part in Jesus' thinking than                that Calvin is correctly represented in the book, it is
     modern, nonapocalyptic, sober-minded western               necessary to check up on the quotations and to con-
     scholars may imagine at first glance' (Prophecy In-        sult the writings of Calvin himself in their context.
     terpre ted, 250). Not all scholars have been unaware       Only then can one fully grasp and appreciate
     of this possible influence on Jesus, but at times the      Calvin's doctrine.
     suggestion that it may have been formative has
     been stoutly resisted . . .  " (pp. 153, 154).                In as far as I have checked, Calvin is for the most
                                                                part correctly represented in this little work.
       The believing student will not get much assis-
tance exegetically from this commentary. If one                    There are two exceptions to this statement. In
wishes to know (and one ought to) what is currently             the first place, I would disagree with the author's
being done in Old Testament Exegesis and                        contention that it is uncertain what position Calvin
Isagogics he should read this and similar books.                would have taken on the question of the extent of
                                                                the atonement, i.e., the question whether the atone-
       The book would be "tough going" for anyone               ment was limited or unlimited. The argumentation
who lacks a formal, theological education.                      on this subject (pp. 90,91) is extremely weak, in my
I                                                          I    opinion. In the second place, I would be inclined to
                   Read and Study                               question the claim that Calvin largely bypassed
                                                                Anselm with respect to the doctrine of satisfaction.
               The Standard Bearer                                 Nevertheless, this is a worthwhile book on an in-
                                                                teresting and important subject.





                            News From Our Churches
                                                       March 30, 1984


       Congratulations to Candidate Barry Gritters who          ton is: 3304 W. 43rd St., Bradenton, Florida. The
has accepted the call to be the first pastor of Byron            church services are held at 10 A.M. and 4 P.M. May
Center Protestant Reformed Church. Candidate                    He Who gathers His church remember this work.
Gritters' examination will be at Classis  East on May              The Building Committee of First. Protestant
9. His ordination is set for Sunday, May 13. May                Reformed Church is presently negotiating for a
God bless Candidate Gritters' and Byron Center                  building site on the northeast corner of Fulton and
Church.                                                         the East Beltline. Negotiations with a potential
       Rev. C. Hanko is busy in Bradenton, Florida. The         buyer for our East Paris property are also in pro-
attendance from Sunday to Sunday ranges from six-                gress.
ty to eighty. The address of the church in  Braden-                The Reformed Witness Hour is still financially in


   THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                             SECOND CLASS
        P.O. Box 6064                                                                             POSTAGE PAID AT
 Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506                                                                   GRAND RAPIDS, MICH.





 336                                         THE STANDARD BEARER


 the red. The deficit has been reduced from $5,000                          WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
 to $3,000. This has enabled them to catch up on the          On April 19, 1984, our parents, MR. AND MRS. DEWIE VANDER
 printing and mailing of sermon booklets. The ser-         SCHAAF, will celebrate their 35th wedding anniversary. We are
 mon booklets are good for personal devotions and          thankful for the love and Godly instruction that they have and yet pro-
                                                           vide, and we are grateful to our covenant Father for granting them
 distribution to others who show interest in the           these years together.
 truths of God's Word.                                        "Lord, Thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations."
    Southwest Protestant Reformed Church has a                                                                      (Psalm 90: 1)
 new Clerk, Mr. Gerald Feenstra. His address is            Peter and Dorothy  VanDer  Schaaf
                                                           Gary and Karen  VanDer  Schaaf
 7643 Cardinal Drive, Jenison, MI 49428.                      and six grandchildren



                                 Report of Classis West
                                                  March 16, 1984


    Classis  West of the Protestant Reformed Chur-         Isabel, and Pella, in the amount of $51,108, were
 ches met in Loveland, Colorado for two, full days,        approved and sent to Synod. Besides these re-
 on March 7, 8, 1984. Eleven ministers, twelve             quests, Houston's request for subsidy will be sent
- elders, and one deacon represented the churches of       to Synod through the Classical Committee. Isabel
 the West. Rev. W. Bekkering presided over the             adjusted its subsidy for 1984 by reducing it $1,000.
 Classis.  Elders B. Driesen (Hull) and P. Van Dyken       Classis  approved and sent to Synod the request of
 (Lynden) and  DeaconsL. De Zwarte (Pella) were            Hull to be relieved from paying $2,776 of their
 present as delegates for the first time and signed the    synodical assessments for 1983 because of a loss of
 Formula of Subscription. Rev. R. Van Overloop,            families.
 missionary in Birmingham, Alabama, was present               Results of the necessary elections were the
 and was given advisory vote.                              following:  -
   An appeal against the decision of a Consistory          Stated Clerk: Rev. Engelsma
 was treated in closed session.                            Assistant Stated Clerk: Rev. Bekkering
   Classis  approved and sent on to Synod the pro-         Classical Committee: Rev. Kamps
 test of a Council against the decision of the 1983        Delegates ad examina:
 Synod to add the Symbol of Chalcedon to the three            1)  Primus:  Rev. Lanting
 trinitarian creeds (the Apostles, the Nicene, and the        2) Secundus: Rev. Kortering
 Athanasian) that are to be placed in The Psalter.         Church Visitors: Rev. Kortering and Rev. Lanting
   A brother appealed the decision of his Consistory       Primi  Minister Delegates to Synod: D. Engelsma,
 allowing ministers to preach in churches of other            M. Kamps, J. Kortering, J. Slopsema
 denominations that are not confessionally one with        Secundi Minister Delegates to Synod: W. Bekkering,
 the Protestant Reformed Churches. Classis  decided           R. Cammenga, K. Koole, G. Lanting
 that the appeal was not legally before Classis  on the    Primi  Elder Delegates to Synod: W. Buys, Egbert
 ground that the appeal was, in reality, a protest            Gritters, T. Hugg, L. Regnerus
 against decisions taken by the Synods of 1977 and         Secundi  Elder Delegates to Synod: R. Brands, P.
 1978, which decisions must be considered settled             Brummel, E. Van Ginkel, B. Van Maanen
 and binding (Article 31 of the Church Order) and             Classis  will meet next in Pella, Iowa on
 on the ground that matters once decided upon must         September 5, 1984, the Lord willing.
 not be raised again unless there is a good reason for                                              Rev. David Engelsma
 doing so (Article 46 of the Church Order).                                                                      Stated Clerk
   Subsidy requests from Edgerton, Edmonton,                                                                    Classis  West


