          7-k?
     STANDARD
          BEARER
           A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE                                    b





       .  .  . As God's chosen, redeemed saints we

     are renewed by the Spirit of Christ. We can
     say with the apostle Paul, "I live; yet not I,
     but Christ liveth in me." -
       . . . Christ in His Spirit has come to abide
     with us forever.
     See "The Gift of the Comforter" - page 386





c                                              Volume LX, MO. 17, June 1, 1984  -


386                                              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  -                                                              Secon dClass Postage Paid at Grand Rapids,  Mich.
                                                               Editor-in-Chief:  Prof. Homer C. Hoeksema
       The Gift of the Comforter ................. .386        Department Editors:  Rev. Ronald Cammenga,  Rev.  Arie den Hartog, Prof. Robert
     Editorial  -                                               D. Decker, Rev. Cornelius  Hanko,.Prof.  Herman C.  Ha&o,  Rev. Ronald Hanko,
                                                               Mr. David Harbach, Rev. John A. Heys, Rev. J.  Kortering,  Rev. George C.
       On Synod's  Agenda ...................... .389          Lubbers, Rev. Thomas C. Miersma, Rev. Marinus Schipper, Rev. James Slopse-
                                                                ma, Rev. Gise J. Van Baren,  Rev. HermanVeldman.
     Seminary Newsletter ....................... .391          Editorial Office:  Prof. H.C.  Hoeksema
     My  Sheep  Hear  My Voice -                                                4975 Ivanrest five S.W.
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       Our Order of Worship .................... .392          Church News Editor:  Mr. Da  Id Harbach
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L
MEDITATION


                                The Gift of the Comforter
                                                      Rev. C. Hanko


                 `And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide
              with you forever; even the Spirit of  truth; Whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him
              not, neither knoweth Him: but ye know Him; for He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you."
                                                                                                                John 14:16, 17

     The Comforter.                                               that our Lord spoke these words to His troubled
                                                                  disciples. Considering the circumstances, they cer-
     Let not your heart be troubled. Ye believe in                tainly had reason to be troubled. The deep furrows
God. Ye believe also in Me.                                       of sorrow were plainly evident on the face of their
     It was after the celebration of the Last Supper,             Master as He anticipated the approaching hours of


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                               387



shame, derision, cruel accusations, unjust condem-         but I.am leaving you. I will still care for your needs,
nation, painful crucifixion, and, worst of all, the        but the time for our parting has come."
bitter agonies of being forsaken of God before`              Let not your heart be troubled.
another day would come to its close. Yet He was              In the darkness of your night of sorrow cling to
privileged to look beyond His death to His glorious        Me in faith. Trust Me. I must leave you, even
resurrection, His triumphal march into the heavens         though you do not understand. I seek your eternal
and the glory that awaited Him with the Father.            welfare, for I am going to heaven to prepare a place
  He, and only He, could comfort them, even as             for you in Father's House with its many mansions.
they were His chief concern at the moment. Having          To that Father House I am the Way, because I am
loved His own, He loved them to the end.                   the Truth and the Life. Anxiously, verging on
  Indeed, their souls were like a tempestuous sea          despair, Philip pleads, "Lord, shew us the Father,
that can find no rest, as conflicting thoughts fought      and it  sufficeth us." It was virtually in answer to
for mastery within them.                                   that urgent request that our Lord answers: "I will
                                                           pray the Father, and He will give you another Com-
  Their Master would be taken from them. He                forter." My Father will send you One who will
would die; die in the hands of His enemies!                stand next to you, as it were. He will be My advo-
  Yet how was this possible? Was He not the                cate, for He will tell you of Me, explain to you why
Christ, the. Son of the living God, who had power          I must go, why also this dark hour for you and for
over the winds and the seas, over sickness,                Me is a necessary part of My Work of salvation to
demons, and death? Could He not subdue any                 bring you to glory.
power that would attempt to harm Him?                        Another Comforter!
  Still worse, foremost in their minds was the               Another, yet not different. He is one that is add-
thought that the time had come that He would               ed, as it were to Christ. Even as the Father and the
establish His kingdom, restore the throne of David         Son are One, so also the Son and the Spirit are One
and deliver Israel from the Roman oppression. This         in Essence. For the three persons of the holy Trini-
was to be the hour of His triumph. Yet now, parti-         ty, though distinct in persons as Father, Son, and
cularly at the Supper, He gives every evidence of          Holy Spirit, are one Being. The Son is the replica of
approaching His death, departing from them, that           the Father. He reveals all the fulness of the God-
they will see Him no more.                                 head through the Spirit. The God of our salvation
  Worse than that, they believed and confessed             sent His Son into the world as Immanuel, God with
that He was the Christ, the Son of the living God,         us. The Son, who is fully and completely God, took
who had come to save His people from their sins.           on our human nature, becoming fully and com-
Somehow, they could not understand how, but                pletely man in the person of the Son. For thirty
somehow He would establish an earthly kingdom              three years He dwelled among us. Our eyes saw
and thus bring His church into glory. Now that             Him, our ears heard Him, our hands touched Him
their hopes were shattered as far as an earthly king-      who is the Light and the Life. Apart from Him there
dom was concerned, how could He still be their             is no light, no life, only emptiness, horrible dark-
promised Savior? How well did they recall that             ness of death. The disciples had witnessed His
agonizing moment at Capernaum when the multi-              power over creation, even over sickness, death, and
tudes turned their backs to Jesus to follow Him no         hell. They had marvelled at His power working
more. Jesus had put the question to them, "Will ye         through them as they performed miracles in His
also go away?" It took only a brief soul struggle for      name. They had witnessed the wonder of grace
them to respond, "Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou          when wretched, guilty sinners went their way in
hast the words of eternal life. And we believe and         peace upon His word. It was the power, of His
are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the liv-    Word that privileged them to confess, "Thou art
ing God." All their hopes of eternal salvation             the Christ, the Son of the living God." Now again
centered in Him. As guilty, lost sinners they had          He spoke His Word, soothing their troubled hearts:
found their refuge in Him.                                 I will not leave you comfortless, like orphans. I will
  And now their hopes seemed shattered by a                come again in the Spirit.
single blow. Their sorrow knew no consolation.               For the Spirit is the Spirit of Truth.
Conflicting thoughts gave them no rest.                      Jesus had said, "I am the Truth." He is the true
  They were like children who were told by their           and living God as the Son, who bears the image of
father, "Mother and I are leaving you now. We              the Father. Eternally the Spirit of the Father rests
shall not forget you. But you won't see us again."         upon Him, and the Spirit of the Son proceeds from
Or like a bride at the eve of her wedding day being        Him to the Father, bringing the three persons into
told by her prospective bridegroom, "I love you,           intimate communion of life. Moreover, the Son of


388                                        THE STANDARD BEARER



God is the Christ, who came into our flesh to taber-     applying it to their hearts and lives, so that they
nacle among us and to reveal the Father, the fulness     receive every spiritual blessing which Christ
of God's perfections and glory unto us. He is the        receives for them from the Father. Christ and the
Way of salvation, the Way to Father's House with         Spirit are one.
its many mansions, because He is the only true and         Wonderful gift!
complete Savior, the Truth and the Life. At the time
of His baptism, when He began His public min-              No, the world cannot receive that gift. You and I,
istry, the Holy Spirit came upon Him in the form of      as we are in ourselves, have no right to that gift.
a dove to qualify Him for His earthly ministry           The world, apart from Christ, lies in the darkness of
which brought Him to the cross. As the Captain of        sin and death, under the righteous judgment of
our salvation He went through the gates of hell,         God. They are like a blind man who is still in dark-
even through death and the grave, to arise trium-        ness even though the sun shines brightly round
phantly and to be exalted at the right hand of the       about him; even worse, because they are willfully
Father in the highest heavens. It was the anticipa-      blind.
tion of that glory that made it possible for Jesus to      How were the disciples different? They were
speak of another Comforter, even the Spirit of           chosen of God, renewed by the Spirit, called to be
truth.                                                   Jesus' disciples. The Holy Spirit was with them,
  I will pray the Father.                                speaking to them through the Old Testament Scrip-
                                                         tures and, more particularly, through Jesus. They
  Christ is now our Intercessor in the heavenly          heard the words of eternal life. And they believed
sanctuary before the throne. He prays without            in God. They believed also in the Christ. On Pente-
ceasing day and night. He prays for all those given      cost the Spirit of the risen Lord came to dwell  in
to Him of the Father, that they may receive from         them. Christ was no more  with  them, but now He
Him every spiritual blessing to bring them with          was in them, in a far more intimate communion of
Him in His glory.                                        heavenly life.
  Thus upon His exaltation He prayed that the              The same applies to us. As God's chosen,
Father would bestow on Him the Holy Spirit to            redeemed saints we are renewed by the Spirit of
qualify Him for His mediatorial work as our Inter-       Christ. We can say with the apostle Paul, "I live;
cessor before the throne, to carry out His work of       yet not I, but Christ liveth in me." We have the
salvation in us.                                         complete Scriptures that reveal to us the fulfillment
  The Father heard Him and granted Him this              of all God's promises. We live in the day of the
Spirit, who, in turn, was sent into the church on        Lord, awaiting His return with the clouds.
Pentecost. The Holy Spirit, now as Spirit of Christ,       Christ in His Spirit has come to abide with us
our exalted Lord, came to dwell in us as Christ's        forever. Now we still see in a glass darkly, but then
Advocate. He made His presence known with the            we shall see face to face. Now we know in part, but
sound as of a mighty, rushing wind, with tongues of      we are looking forward to the day when we shall
fire resting upon the heads of all those present in      know as we are known in Father's House, where a
the room, and with endowing them with power to           mansion is being prepared for each of us.
go out among the crowd that had gathered to speak
to each one in his own tongue, proclaiming to him             For sorrow like a pilgrim,
the mighty works of God: the cross, the resurrec-                  May tarry for a night,
tion, and the glory that follow.                              But joy the heart will gladden
                                                                   When dawns the morning light.
  Suddenly, as in a moment, the light dawns. The
minds of the disciples are enlightened, their hearts
are put at ease, their sorrow is turned to gladness.
For they hear the Christ speaking to them through
the Old Testament Scriptures, now interpreted for            The Standard Bearer
them by  Christ"s  Spirit. The Spirit does not speak
concerning Himself. He speaks of the Christ. As the        make a thoughtful gift
Lord Himself had said, "Howbeit when He, the
Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all
truth: for He shall not speak of Himself, but what-          for family & @iends.
soever He shall hear, that shall He speak: and He
will shew you things to come. He shall glorify me:            Give the Standard Bearer.
for He shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto
you." (John  16:13,14). They heard the voice of the
Lord speaking to them, interpreting the Scriptures,


                                         THE STANDARD BEARER                                               389



EDITORIAL



                              On Synod's Agenda
                                            Prof. H.C. Hoeksema





  The Synod of 1984 of our Protestant Reformed          tention. While we are on the subject, I may men-
Churches will convene, the Lord willing, on June        tion also that there is a protest from the Consistory
13, one week later than our Synods usually meet.        of South Holland (approved by  Classis  West)
This year our Hull, Iowa Protestant Reformed            against a decision of 1983 to include with these
Church will be the site of Synod's meetings. That       ecumenical creeds the Creed of  Chalcedon. This-
we meet in Iowa this year is convenient because of      protest will have to be weighed by Synod.
the fact that there are no candidates to be exam-         There are especially two items of a positive
ined; usually when there are examinations, it is        nature in the report of the Committee for Contact
more convenient, especially for the students, that      With Other Churches which will require Synodical
we meet in the Grand Rapids area. That there will       action. One item is that of establishing  sister-
be no examinations should also result in a briefer      church relationships with the Evangelical Re-
Synod, since normally the examinations take up the      formed Church of Singapore. The second matter is
first three days of Synod's time.                       that of contact with the independent Presbyterian
  Judging from the printed Agenda, too, this year's     Church of Northern Ireland (Pastor George
Synod should not be lengthy. There do not appear        Hutton), with whom the Evangelism Committee of
to be any items of an unusual nature, nor any pro-      our South Holland Church initiated contact. The
tests or appeals which appear to be time-con-           Contact Committee asks Synod for authorization to
suming. Many of the reports are rather routine.         pursue closer contact with Rev. Hutton and his
Perhaps the largest part of Synod's time and energy     congregation and to explore the possibilities of
will be devoted to mission matters.                     establishing sister-church relationships. Other than
                                                        these two items, there is not much of a positive
  Let me briefly take you through the Agenda, so        nature in the report of the Contact Committee. It is
that you may have some idea as to what will be con-     especially disturbing that there appears to be little
sidered by our broadest assembly.                       initiative on the part of the Evangelical Presby-
  The first committee report in the Agenda is from      terian Church of Australia toward continuing con-
the Catechism Book Committee, a committee               tact with us and toward establishing any kind of
responsible for maintaining an adequate supply of       relationship between our denominations. There is
our catechism books and distributing them to our        one more item which appears later in the Agenda
congregations. This is one of those "unsung" com-       but which belongs in this category. I refer to an in-
mittees whose work is nevertheless necessary and        vitation from the Reformed Ecumenical Synod to
important. This committee is asking for replace-        send official observers from our denomination to
ments for two brethren who have served for some         the RES Chicago which is convening on July 31 of
twenty years, the brethren John Prince and John M.      this year. It would have been better, I believe, if the
Faber, to work with the remaining long-term             Contact Committee had had opportunity to advise
member, brother Seymour Beiboer.                        Synod on this item. Our churches have received
  Next comes a rather lengthy report from a com-        such an invitation before and have found it
mittee appointed by the Synod of 1983 to give  ad-      necessary to decline it. Before Synod reaches a deci-
`vice concerning the feasibility of adding four         sion on this matter, past decisions will have to be
ecumenical creeds to our present PsaZteu and to ad-     researched.
vise Synod on the matter of adding historical intro-      From Classis  East there are two overtures which
ductions to these creeds. This matter will undoubt-     come to Synod with classical disapproval. The first
edly require a considerable amount of Synod's at-       is an overture that Synodical committees of  pre-


 390                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



 advice be appointed in advance of Synod's sessions.       troubling me for some time, namely, the lack of
 The second is an overture to change the method of         reports and information concerning our domestic
 determining Synodical assessments. From  Classis          mission work. At present the only reports which
 West there are no major items for Synodical con-          we receive are those found in the Agenda once per
 sideration other than the protest from South              year. With exceptions, these reports contain little
 Holland already mentioned above. From both                detailed information. Besides, the Agenda is sent
 classes there are, of course, the annual subsidy re-      only to consistory members. This means that all
 quests from needy churches. These always require          year long our churches receive virtually no infor-
 considerable time and attention. on the part of           mation of any kind concerning our mission work.
 Synod and its advisory committee on financial mat-        In my opinion, this ought to be changed. Our chur-
 ters.                                                     ches are expected to support our mission work
    From the Emeritus Committee there are no ma-           financially. We are also expected to pray for our
 jor proposals. Frankly, I sometimes wonder                missionaries and their labors. How can we do so in-
 whether our retired ministers are receiving ade-          telligently and specifically when, for the most part,
 quate support; but this is the business of the local      we - and I mean officebearers as well as our mem-
 consistories, not that of the Emeritus Committee.         bership at large - do not know what is taking place
 This year the Finance Committee reports that it had       in our various mission fields? This, I believe, is a
 no occasion to take any action.                           problem which ought to receive consideration and
                                                           which needs a solution.
    The report of the Foreign Mission Committee, as
 might be expected, is largely about the work of Mis-        The last item in the printed Agenda is a report of
 sionary den Hartog in Singapore. For the most part,       the Stated Clerk. His report contains good news and
 we have been kept informed about this work via            bad news. The good news is that our long awaited
 the Standard Bearer; there is no new information in       new edition of our Church Order is ready (price as
 the committee's report. An item which Synod will          yet unknown). The bad news is that he received no
 have to consider is the committee's request for per-      report from a committee to index decisions of past
 mission to send emissaries to Singapore.                  Synods.
    By far the longest report is from our Domestic           There are two reports in the Agenda concerning
 Mission Committee. It is impossible in the available      Theological School matters. First of all, there is the
 space to summarize this report in any great detail.       report of the Student Aid Committee. In addition to
 Let me briefly mention the items in this report with      its usual work of making recommendations as to
 which Synod must deal: 1) The matter of the clos-         financial aid for our students, this committee had
 ing of the Birmingham, Alabama field and the              the task of studying the matter of repayment of aid
 possible future labors of Rev. van Overloop  (who at      by those who do enter the ministry. On the latter
 this writing is also considering a call from our Love-    item the committee makes a thorough report. The
 land congregation). 2) The matter of our mission          annual report of the Theological School Committee
 work in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania. This is a work           is rather routine and contains no earth-shaking pro-
 which was initiated in August of last year at the re-     posals.
 quest of a group of brothers and sisters there. At the      The final item in the Agenda is that of voting for
 request of the Mission Committee and Hope                 Synodical committees. There is nothing to report on
 (Walker) Council, Candidate Kenneth Hanko has             this item, except that until now we have not
 been working in Blue Bell since last fall. Besides the    streamlined the procedure of nominating and
 reports of the Mission Committee on this work,            voting.
 there is also a request before Synod from the Blue          May the Lord bless our coming Synod, and may
 Bell group requesting organization. The Mission           the Holy Spirit guide the delegates in their deliber-
 Committee's advice on this request is divided. 3)         ations and decisions.
 There is a brief report on the work in  Ripon,
.  ..California  and a recommendation to continue the
 work in this field, where Rev.  Houck is currently
 working. 4) There is a report concerning the work                    Take time to read
 of Rev. Heys in Wellington and in Palmerston
 North, New Zealand, along with a recommendation                       and study the
 that our churches continue to give help to the
 brothers and sisters there on the same basis as here-
tofore.                                                               Standard Bearer.
    While on the subject of the Mission Committee
 Report, I wish to mention an item which has been


                                       THE STANDARD BEARER

                                                                                                        391


                     T H E O L O G I C A L   S C H O O L
                                      . . . OFTHE...
                      P R O T E S T A N T   R E F O R M E D   C H U R C H E S
                               4 9 4 9   IVANREST  A V E N U E ,   S.W.
                                GRANDVILLE, MICHIGAN 49418
                                     PHONE:.  (616)  531-1490

                                          May 13, 1984

Dear Brothers and Sisters in our Lord Jesus Christ:
         We are nearing the end of another school term, and we thought it well
to end the term as we began it, by communicating with you via our Standard
Bearer.       Without such communication the seminary tends to be somewhat
isolated from the churches, while it is nevertheless the school of the
churches and wants to be remembered as such.
         We reported at the beginning of the term concerning our student body
and its "international" flavor, and we need not repeat that information.
As you perhaps remember, this year we have had one pre-seminarian and three
second-year seminarians from our own churches.                        Our big news in this letter
is about the progress of the latter--and you may take this as an official
announcement.      Beginning June 1, Messrs. Russell Dykstra, Steven Key, and
Charles Terpstra have been licensed to "speak a word of edification" in the
churches under faculty supervision.                This is indeed a milestone for them in
their seminary training, as well as an occasion for joy for the faculty.
These young men already have some pulpit assignments during the month of
June; and undoubtedly many of you will have the opportunity to hear them
from time to time during the summer months.                                We wish them the Lord's
blessing as they go out among.the churches.
         A second item of interest concerns our new word-processing equipment.
Last year synod authorized the Theological School Committee to use some of
our special funds for the purchase of such equipment.                            Early in the second
semester this equipment was received.                  And although there is much to learn
with respect to using it (and this involves "teaching old dogs new
tricks"), we are already making good use of it and enjoying its time- and
work-saving features.          In fact, this letter is being prepared with the
use of one of our units.         Undoubtedly during the summer months we will have
time to learn and to take advantage of more of the many uses to which this
equipment can be put.
         Again this year we have been pleased about the many contributions to
our Library Fund by individuals and organizations.                           At present this fund is
prospering so well that it is not necessary to support it from the
synodical budget.       Prof. Hanko is in charge of the library, and he is
assisted by a student librarian.               During the past term we have again added
a goodly number of books to our collection, and we have spent more than
$1500.00 on what we think are quality additions to our library.
         Finally, we call attention once more to the urgent need for new
students at our school.          We want to impress upon you the urgency of this
need.      Bear in mind that the training of a student requires four years of
pre-seminary training and four years of seminary training; and at present
there are no new students on the scene.                      We ask that you bring this need
before the throne of grace and pray that the Lord will send us suitable
young men to be trained for the ministry of the Word in our churches.
                                               With ChrisJ;ian greetings,


                                                               H.C. Hoeksema (for the faculty)


392                                        THE STANDARD BEARER



MY  SHEEl= HEA&! MY VOICE



                            Our Order of Worship
                                                Prof. H. Hanko





  We propose in this article to discuss the matter of     could not possibly take the active part in worship
congregational singing as it forms an important part      that is taken by the New Testament saints. Now the
of the worship service. Our purpose is not, how-          Spirit has indeed come from Christ to dwell in the
ever, to discuss at length the whole question of          church. All God's people are prophets, priests, and
Psalm-singing vs. the use of hymns. Our churches          kings. And this is also expressed in the worship of
are committed to Psalm-singing in the worship ser-        the congregation.
vices, and we hope and pray that this will continue         But there is other proof. The two well-known
to remain the case as long as there are Protestant        passages in Paul's letters to the Ephesians and Co-
Reformed Churches upon the earth.                         lossians are proof of this. In Ephesians 5:18, 19 we
  Without going into the so-called hymn question,         read, "And be not drunk with wine, wherein is ex-
there are a number of other questions which are           cess; but be filled with the Spirit; speaking to your-
worth discussing in connection with the singing of        selves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,
the congregation.                                         singing and making melody in your heart to the
                                                          Lord." And in Colossians  3:16 we read, "Let the
  Throughout the Scriptures there is evidence of
the fact that singing must form a part of the wor-        word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom;
                                                          teaching and admonishing one another in psalms
ship of God. Singing is not one of those elements of
worship which can be either excluded or included          and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace
in the worship services at will. Singing does not lie     in your hearts to the Lord."
in the area of liberty. We are enjoined by Scripture        It is evident especially from the passage in Colos-
to worship God through song. To exclude this ele-         sians that the Scriptures refer to singing in the fel-
ment of worship would be in direct violation of           lowship of the saints, for the text speaks of "teach-
Scripture and would be an act of disobedience.            ing and admonishing one another" by means of
                                                          singing.
  We need not bring into this article all the Scrip-
tural proof for this assertion. It is sufficient to         Even the church in glory is pictured as singing in
remember that the Psalms themselves were writ-            a mighty choir the song of Moses and the Lamb
ten, for the most part, to be used in the temple for      (Rev.  15:3); and the 144,000 are described as sing-
purposes of worship. It has been argued that this         ing a new song before the throne which no man
can hardly be adduced as proof that the congrega-         could learn but the redeemed (Rev. 14:3). When the
tion is commanded to worship God through song,            Scriptures describe the life of the church in glory as
because of the fact that the Psalms were prepared         singing together in praise to God, it follows that
for the use of "singers" in the temple services, and      singing ought also to be a part of the worship of the
that the congregation of the nation of Israel did not     church on earth.
itself participate in the singing. While this may be       That singing should be a part of the worship of
true, it must not be forgotten that the church in the     the church ought not to surprise us. Music in itself
Old Testament was, after all, living in the dispensa-     is a wonderful gift of God which can, in a unique
tion of types and shadows, and that the Spirit of         way, be used for the purpose of praise to God.
Christ had not yet been poured out upon the               While I know very little about music, it is obvious
church. The saints in the Old Testament did not yet       to anyone who has any feeling at all for music, that
function in the office of prophet, priest, and king.      it can be used in God's service in a unique way, a
For this reason, all the saints in the Old Testament      way different from any other means of praising


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                    393



God. This is perhaps true because music, more              were, sings through Him by the Spirit Whom Christ
than any other method of expression, appeals to            has given to the Church. In what better way then,
and expresses the deepest emotions of the heart.                can the child of God worship than by singing the
Music is an intensely emotional mode of expres-                 Psalms? With them he can confess his faith; he can
sion. This is not to say that it does not involve the      pray; he can express all that lies within his heart as
mind and the will as well - i.e., if it is music pleas-         he pours out his soul before his God; he can lift up
ing in the sight of God. But the fact remains that by           his voice in praise and adoration to the God of His
means of music our emotions are stirred in a way in             salvation Who alone is worthy of all praise and
which nothing else can move us. And music can be                glory. Anyone of God's people will testify that, the
a means of expressing the deepest emotions of our               older he becomes, the more precious become the
hearts in a way nothing else can accomplish.               Psalms to him.
  It is just because music is such a wonderful gift               Because singing forms such an important part of
of God that is can be so horribly abused as it is in            the worship service, the singing must also be con-
the world. The general rule is that the greater the             gregational singing. It has become increasingly
gift which God gives, the greater can be its debase-            common to introduce into the worship services
ment also. And because of the power which music                 choirs and soloists. This is to be abhorred. The wor-
has in our emotional life, the more dangerous to our            ship services are not the place for demonstrations
spiritual well-being is the corrupt and depraved                of singing skills and the particular musical abilities
music of the wicked.                                            of gifted musicians. There is certainly a place for
  Add to the music the poetry of lyrics, the poems              this in the organic life of the church, and we have
of the Psalms - the very Word of God, and there is              plenty of opportunities to hear choirs, soloists,
scarcely a more beautiful and profound way to ex-               quartettes, trios, and other musical groups in the
press our heart's thoughts, desires, longings, fears,           many programs that are rendered in various pro-
and emotions than through the instrumentality of                grams. But in the worship services, the congrega-
music.                                                          tion joins together to lift up her voice to God in
                                                                communal worship. This should not be taken away
  The Psalms are eminently suited for this. The                 from the saints, and to the extent that it is, the wor-
Psalms express all the truths of the Christian faith            ship service is impoverished.
as found throughout the Scriptures. There is not
one doctrine in all God's Word which is not ex-                   There is something about this congregational
pressed in the Bible's Psalter. Thus the Psalms can             singing which is a unique expression of the commu-
be used for confession of the truth in song. The                nion of saints. This will, of course, be perfectly
Psalms also are thoroughly God-centered. This is,               realized in glory. In a perfect choir, there is a
in my judgment, one of the chief differences be-                perfect harmony of parts (sopranos, altos, tenors,
tween the Psalms and most free hymns. Most                      and basses) of differences in qualities of voices, of
hymns tend to be at best wrongly Christ-centered,               timbre, of resonance, etc. As this wide variety of
and at worst man-centered. But this is not true of              different voices is blended together in one glorious
the Psalms which begin and end with God. They                   harmony, there is a beautiful picture of the
are ideally suited, therefore, for praise and adora-            organism of the body of Christ in which are such a
tion. Further, the Psalms are, more than any other              large and wide variety of saints, but in which there
book in the Bible, a spiritual biography of the Chris-          is a perfect unity of the one body of Christ - made
tian in all his life in the world, in his battles and           one by the Spirit of Christ Who dwells in all the
struggles, in his grief and joy, in his longings and            members. But the basic unity is the unity of one
desires, in his temptations and victories. It is not an         faith, one hope, one calling. And this unity comes
exaggeration to say that there is no single ex-                 to expression as the saints together join their voices
perience in the life of the Christian which is not              in one song of praise to God. The congregation is
described in the Psalms.                                        very close when together they sing.
  That this is true is because, fundamentally,                    There are a few other ideas which we wish to
Christ is singing in the Psalms. Some of the Psalms             discuss in connection with congregational singing,
are explicitly Messianic, as, e.g., Psalm 22, Psalm 2,     but these will have to wait for a later article.
etc. But all the Psalms refer implicitly to Christ in
all His work as our Mediator. And because Christ           (           Take time to read
was singing in the Psalms, the Psalms were written
under the inspiration of the Spirit of Christ. This is                      and study the
why the believer finds in the Psalms a reflection of
his own entire life as a child of God. He belongs to                    Standard Bearer
Christ and is part of Christ's body. Christ, as it


394                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER



ALL AROUND US
Rev. G. Van Baren





                                    Creation: a World-view


  There has been in the news recently reports of at-                  in His image, men are either for God or against Him,
tempts made in several states to have  "creation-                    in all areas of life [see Matt.  12:30).  There is no such
science" taught alongside of the view of evolution.                  thing as "neutral observation." . . . .
The theory is that "creation" can be taught as                          Moreover, creationism in the science classroom
science just as easily as can evolution. Both would,                 will do little to ensure us a happier future. Creation is
presumably, be presented on the basis of "scientific                 a world-view, not just a position regarding the origins
facts"  - not at all on the testimony of the Bible.                  of the universe. It implies a particular view of man,
However, there are obvious difficulties with such                    of the nature of reality, of moral values, and so forth.
an attempt. It is, first of all, a compromise with the               Creation may be taught in the science classroom, but
truth. How can any teacher in honesty present both                   will the history teacher point to the finger of God in
                                                                     human affairs? Will the math teacher teach creation-
views as possibly equally valid  - and instruct                      ist mathematics? Will the health teacher teach crea-
children to take their pick? How could an evolu-                     tion health? Will the teacher of psychology teach that
tionist give a fair view of creation - or a creationist              rebellion against the Creator is man's  deenest
                                                                                                                          I
of  evomtion?  But also: how could creation be                       psychological problem, and Jesus Christ, man's salva-
taught  - without reference to Scripture? Scripture                  tion? Christian education involves the application of
itself declares that the belief that God framed the                  biblical teaching to every discipline. Limiting  Chris-
worlds is a matter of faith. But another question                    tian faith to the laboratory seems as misguided as
arises: can "creation-science" be taught in one                      limiting it to homeroom prayer . . . .
discipline  - while it is ignored in others  - as                   And we respond: Amen! If anything is learned
history, mathematics, etc.?                                       from the above, it must be that the only possible
  An interesting comment on this subject is found                 way of incorporating what the Bible teaches con-
in  Christian  News, April 16, 1984, in which the                 cerning creation (and all other truths) is to have
writer, Peter J. Leithart, states:                                parentally controlled schools. The whole problem
                                                                  is not that prayer is ignored in public schools, nor
         The aspect of creationism that draws the heaviest        that Scripture may not be presented there, nor that
       criticism from evolutionists is probably its attempt to    "creation-science" is not offered  - but that the
       win a place for creation science in the public schools.    state erred first of all by intruding itself, into the
       Evolutionists contend that creationism is a religious
       position, and therefore has no place in public schools.    realm of education. Education is a parental respon-
       Creationists counter with the argument that creation-      sibility  - and when rightly fulfilled, there is no
       ism can stand on its scientific merits alone, without      question about subject-matter or manner of ap-
       reference to the Creator.                                  proach. Let us, then, be encouraged to continue in
         In many circles, this battle has been waged on the       the necessary effort of providing our children with
       wrong field and with the wrong weapons, with the re-       such an education as is in harmony with our bap-
       sult that neither position is satisfactory. Clearly, we    tismal vows.
       do not take our stand with evolutionists who strive to
       ban God from education. Yet! it seems strange to this
       writer that we cannot stand unhesitatingly with a pro-               The Standard Bearer
       gram to put a "non-religious" creationism into public
       schools.                                                           makes a thought/i41 gift
         The problem underlying the creationist effort is the
       myth of neutrality. They claim that neutral observa-                for the sick & shut-in.
       tion of the "facts" will yield a creationist viewpoint.
       However, such a neutrality is impossible for creatures
       made in the image of God. By virtue of their creation


                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER                                                          395



                         What Are We Listening To?


  Too many of our young people, it seems, are                       how someone lights up her life . . . gives her hope
fascinated with the songs which are popular on                      to carry on . . . and fills her nights with song. That is
radio and TV today. What are they listening to? Are                 certainly one of the most beautiful love songs of re-
we aware of the words that are entering their ears?                 cent years, but she ends the song with the penultimate
Let each examine what he hears - and consider: is                   slogan of hedonism: "It can't be wrong when it feels
it pleasing to God and does it honor His Name? If                   so right."
not, what are we listening for? A sobering presenta-                  There has been much written about the epidemic
tion was given in  Christian News,  Feb. 13, 1984,                  of teenage pregnancy; about what a bad thing it is for
which quoted from Human Events:                                     society and for the teenager; and about how we had
                                                                    better give Planned Parenthood more money so they
     The other day I was sitting at my desk paying the              can solve the problem. What I haven't seen is much
   bills and tapping my foot to a pleasant little tune by           discussion about why the problem has become an
   Melissa Manchester called `"Nice Girls Do" when I                epidemic. The answer, of course, is perfectly obvious.
   suddenly realized that what "nice girls do" is have sex          Popular culture forces our children to think about sex
   if it's with the right guy in "the right situation." Well,       wherever they turn. Physical sex permeates the popu-
   as you can imagine, my ears perked right up at that.             lar music, jiggles from our television sets, and fills our
   You should perk your ears up, too.                               movie screens. Advertisers seem to believe that sex
     Tune in to a popular music station for a few hours             can sell anything, so they push sex as hard as they
   and listen carefully to the words you hear. Perhaps              push the product. And many parents, impatient for
   you'll hear Olivia-Newton-John telling you to "get               their children to grow up, seem intent on pushing
   physical" and  dommunicate  "horizontally." Perhaps              them into situations where they will be confronted by
   you'll hear Billy Joel singing a catchy little ditty about       these factors . . . .
   how Catholic girls are oppressed by the Catholic                May we recognize the evils of our day - and the
   obsession with chastity. Perhaps . . . a duet with            temptations which confront adults  - but especial-
   Barbara Streisand that urges women to leave their             ly, their children. May the separation between light
   husbands when they get bored with them.                       and darkness also show itself in what we hear and
     . . . Maybe you'll hear Debbie Boone - a squeaky            what we enjoy.
   clean singer if there ever was one  - singing about





                  New Constitution for the R.E.S.


  The Reformed Ecumenical Synod will be                             ways in which Reformed churches deal Christianly
meeting this summer in Chicago. One of the items                    and effectively with each other . . . We should spell
which will be considered is the request for a revi-                 out what our ecumenical calling is, and how and to
sion of their constitution. Reasons are given for that              what extent the RES can be an instrument to fulfill
request. A summary is presented in the R. E.S. News                 that calling."
Exchange, March 6, 1984:                                               With these words the RES Interim Committee sum-
                                                                    marizes the reasons why it is asking RES Chicago 1984
     "We need a new statement of purpose, new articles              to declare that the Synod's Constitution should be re-
   on authority and membership; we need new regula-                 vised. Besides giving reasons for the changes, it pro-
   tions; we may need a new name. We need to reach                  poses guidelines for revision and the appointment of
   clarity on what conciliar discipline is and where its            a constitutional revision committee.
   bounds lie; we also have to devise new and effective


396                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER



         The Interim Committee claims that there is a spiri-                   According to the Committee, "we need new imag-
       tual crisis among the RES churches which has struc-               inative ways of dealing with one another in a non-
       tural and constitutional  consequemzes.  Indications              abrasive, pastoral, healing way." It also finds that the
       of the crisis include the termination of membership               Reformed churches have not assumed their full right-
       by a number of churches, deep disagreements on                    ful place in the midst of the one holy catholic and
       doctrinal and social issues, and the questioning of               apostolic church. Our task among the member
       the membership qualifications of two member                       churches, the Committee contends, is to strengthen
       churches. The difficulties that have arisen, the Com-             them in their confessional integrity and their ecumen-
       mittee claims, concern not only membership in the                 ical calling. The ecumenical calling of the Reformed
       Synod, but "confessional integrity and ecumenical                 churches is to learn from churches of other traditions
       witness." In other words, the issues relate both to               "for their greater edification and to contribute to their
       how we deal with one another as churches of the                   [and our) continuing reformation . . . .
       same Calvinian tradition and how we perform our                  All of the above seems to say that there is a desire
       responsibility toward the world church. "The full             to make the R.E.S. even less distinctive than it
       scope of the crisis can be seen when we consider that         already is, and open it further to closer ties with
       the points in dispute concern no less than the basis,
       the purpose, the authority and the membership of the          other ecumenical organizations. Perhaps one ought
       RES . . . . The crisis concerns our faith and doctrine        not draw conclusions too quickly - still, the above
       as well as our ecumenical calling."                           quotation does not seem to bode well for the future
                                                                     "Reformed" character of the R.E.S.

BIBLE STUDY GUIDE



              II Peter - True Knowledge in Christ
                                                          Rev. J. Kortering





  The background for Peter's first epistle was the                      During the fourth century, the church councils
Roman persecution that threatened those who were                      established the sixty-six books of the canon of Holy
converted to Christianity, whether Jews or Gen-                      Scripture. In doing this, they sought the guidance of
tiles. To them Peter wrote concerning their hope in                  the Holy Spirit so that they would choose only
God. As pilgrims they must expect tribulation and                    those which the Spirit had written by infallible in-
realize that the sufferings of this present time are                 spiration and reject the others. Among the spurious
not worthy to be compared with the eternal weight                    books, that -is, letters or gospels written by fakes
of glory in Christ Jesus. Now, at a later date, Peter                but had the names of apostles attached to them,
directs his attention to the enemy that was rising                   were two attributed to the apostle Peter, but not
from within the church. False teachers were raising                  written by him: The Gospel of Peter and The
their ugly heads and spewing forth their pernicious                  Apocalypse of Peter. Still others were written by
doctrines. By both warning and instruction, the Ho-                  apostles or church fathers and considered edifying,
ly Spirit led Peter to emphasize the blessed know-                   but not inspired by the Holy Spirit.
ledge of God which is in Christ Jesus.                                  Some church fathers considered this second epis-
THE AUTHOR                                                           tle of Peter as spurious, e.g., Didymus of the fourth
  One would think that authorship of this epistle                    century. Others did not want to go that far. They
would be a simple matter, yet it is one of the most                  recognized the problem and placed this letter in the
disputed. He begins, "Simon Peter, a servant and                     category of disputed books, e.g., the historian
an apostle of Jesus Christ" (1: 1). Furthermore, we                  Eusebius. The arguments have continued all
read, "This second epistle, beloved, I now write un-                 through history. Calvin, for example, doubted that
to you" (3:l). Who else could that be but Peter?                     Peter was the author. We can summarize the


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                              397



debate by referring to Harrison's New Testament In-        life in connection with our study of I Peter.
troduction.                                                OCCASION AND HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
  1. The early church fathers seldom quoted from             According to  l:l, Peter addresses this letter to
II Peter. (Neither did they outright reject it as          "those that have obtained like precious faith with
spurious. Eventually it was included in the New
Testament by the church councils, even though              us through the righteousness of God and our Savior
                                                           Jesus Christ." He mentions that this is the second
they were well aware of the controversy over it.)          letter that he is sending them (3: 1). They are then
  2. There are differences in style and vocabulary         the same scattered saints mentioned in I Peter  l:l,
between I and II Peter. (This is true. Some suggest        2. Some were Jews who believed, others were con-
that it may not be due to different authors, but           verted Gentiles (1: 1).
rather that the one author, Peter, used different            He wrote this letter about two years after the first
secretaries. Others suggest that the subject matter        epistle, perhaps about the year A.D. 66 or 67. Dur-
is different and that demands different style and          ing the interim, things had changed somewhat in
vocabulary.)                                               the churches. The persecution by the Caesars be-
  3. The reference in II Peter 3:15, 16 to a body of       came more localized around Rome. A new threat
Pauline writing and to the "other Scriptures," i.e.,       arose, namely, a pernicious philosophy that em-
to the Old Testament books, demand a much later            phasized the supremacy of the intellect (a form of
period of time  when these existed as a distinct           Gnosticism), rejected the second coming of the
grouping. (Such a reference merely refers to the ex-       Lord, and as usually follows such a rejection, advo-
istence of some books, not necessarily to the com-         cated sinful practices. Peter saw these false
pleted canon.)                                             teachers as gaining entrance in the churches and in-
  4. A discussion takes place as to the relationship       creasing in influence.
between Jude and II Peter. Comparisons are made              To deal effectively with their presence, Peter
between II Peter 2: 11 and Jude 9; II Peter 2: 17 and      warned the believers to be on their guard against
Jude 13. Some say II Peter depends on Jude; and            them. He also set forth the true knowledge which is
others reverse this; still others say both II Peter and    in Christ Jesus. He makes reference to knowledge
Jude rely on some third source. (Similarity between        some sixteen times.
letters does not assume dependence and, even               A BRIEF OUTLINE
then, does not destroy its authenticity.)                    1.  Introduction  (1:l). He identifies himself as
  5. The heresy which Peter treats in this letter is       Simon Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ. He also
Gnosticism, an error that did not arise in the             describes his readers as "Those that have obtained
church till a later century. (The seeds of these er-       like precious faith."
rors were already present in the first century.)             2. The nature  of  the true knowledge in Christ
  We believe that the following considerations in-         (1:2-21).  He pronounces the apostolic blessing (1:2)
dicate that there is good evidence for accepting           and mentions that grace and peace come through
Simon Peter as the author of this letter.                  the knowledge of God and Jesus Christ  (1:2). This
  1. He calls himself Simon Peter ( 1: 1). If this were    knowledge is given by the power of God (1:3), and
a spurious letter, the author would carefully copy I       rooted in the promises that make us partakers of
Peter so as not to be detected. In I Peter he calls        the divine nature  (1:4). He lists seven steps that
himself "Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ."               contribute to the fruitful development of know-
  2. The author condemns falsehood and hypo-               ledge: faith, virtue, temperance, patience, godliness,
crisy, chapter 2. It would be difficult to imagine         brotherly kindness, and charity  (1:5-8).  In this way
that he himself would use deceit in the writing of         they will make their calling and election sure and
this book.                                                 gain entrance into the everlasting kingdom (  1:9-l 1).
                                                           Peter expresses a deep need to remind them of this
  3. He makes personal reference to events in his          truth, since he soon will die ( 1: 12-15). This know-
life that closely parallel Peter's life. He witnessed      ledge of the return of Christ is not based on fables,
the transfiguration (1:16-18). Christ had prophesied       but on revelation from God Himself as witnessed in
Peter's death (John 13:36); the writer mentions that       the transfiguration of Jesus and by the written word
his death is not only approaching, but was also            (1:16-M). This Word of God is sure, and each
predicted by Christ (1: 14).                               passage must be interpreted in the light of the
  4. He was well acquainted with Paul (3: 15). Paul        whole Bible, since prophecy came not by the will of
also mentioned this fellowship in Jerusalem in             men, but holy men spoke as the Holy Spirit moved
Galatians 1: 18.                                           them  (1:19-21).
  We have already considered the details of Peter's          3. False doctrine is a threat to true knowledge


398                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



(2:1-11).  False prophets were present in the Old          wonderful that hoping for it should make us holy,
Testament times; they are going to be present in our       patient, and willing to listen to God's Word and
times as well; they bring in damnable heresies,            thereby grow in grace and knowledge. To that God
even denying the Lord that bought them (2: 1).             all glory must be given (3:13-18).
Their method of operation is deceitful: they `use          QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION
feigned words, but actually speak evil of the truth.
They make themselves worthy of damnation  (2:2,               1. Review the proof that Simon Peter is the
3). Since God punishes evil, He punished the fallen        author of this epistle.
angels, the world before the flood, Sodom and                 2. The heresy that was taught by these false
Gomorrah, and will punish those who are evil in            teachers included a denial of Christ's return and a
our days. Meanwhile, He also preserves the faithful        justification for living in sin. Do you see a relation-
as He did the good angels, Noah, Lot, and all that         ship between these two evils?
live godly  (2:4-g). Peter describes these heretics as        3. Reflect on those passages that describe these
brute beasts, sensuous, evil speakers, spots on their      false teachers (chapter 2). How can we discern who
feasts, adulterers, covetous, and like Balaam they         these heretics are in our day, especially since Peter
forsake the right way. They are like a storm, a            warns that more of them shall a.ppear as the end ap-
tempest, a cloud, they speak great words and prom-         proaches?
ise liberty, but bring-men into bondage  (2:10-19).
Their end is worse than the beginning: it would be           4. The true knowledge of Christ is crucial for our
better not knowing the truth at all than, knowing it,      being steadfast unto the end. How does this ac-            .
to return to the lie like a dog to his vomit and a sow     count for the attacks on the Bible and on preaching
to the mire  (2:20-22).                                    in our day?
  4. Hope is evident in true knowledge (3:1-18). He           5. Explain the importance of 1: 19-21 for a proper
writes this epistle having hope that God will stir         method of interpreting the Bible.
their souls to see that the return of Christ was proph-       6. What does it mean that the heretics deny the
esied and that heretics are to be expected  (3:1, 2).      Lord that bought them (2:1)?
These heretics are like scoffers who think that the          7. What comfort is there for us that God does
constancy of natural law is proof that judgment            know how to deliver the just from temptation, e.g.,
cannot come. They are ignorant of the flood which          Noah and Lot (2:5-g)?
brought universal judgment  (3:3-7).  The Lord is
coming, but His clock is based on His eternity and            8. Belief in a universal, catastrophic flood is
He will not come until all the saints are saved            crucial to belief in the end of the world. Explain
(3:8-10).  The knowledge of the destruction of the         (3:3-7).
whole world should make us sober and cause us to             9. How does the study of God's Word in general
look diligently for Christ's return  (3:11,  12). We       and this letter in particular help prepare us for the
must look for a new heaven and earth which is so           return of Christ?
IN HIS FEAR



                           Servants of the Lord in the
                                      Christian Home
                                              Pastor Arie den Hartog




   In the past few articles we have been considering       kingdom and the glory of His own name. We have
the truth that God's people are the servants of the        been made the servants of the Lord through the
Lord. The Lord is pleased to use His people for the        wonder of the grace of God. No man by nature is
realization of His purpose: the advancement of His         the servant of the Lord. By nature men are rebels


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                              399



against the Lord. They seek only themselves, to live       Lord. Though the world may ridicule all of these or-
in lust and wickedness for their own vain glory. We        dinances and set them aside for human philosophy,
are to be the servants of the Lord in every single         the Christian abides by them for the Lord's sake. In
area of our life. The most important area in which         this way the Christian obtains the blessing and
we are to serve the Lord is in the church of God.          favor of the Lord upon his marriage. God has or-
But it is definitely not the only area where we are to     dained that marriage should be a reflection of the
serve the Lord. The second most important sphere           love and faithfulness of Christ for His church. We
in which we are to serve the Lord is the Christian         serve the Lord in our marriages when we strive by
home.                                                      the grace of God to reflect that wonderful love and
   In our modern age men hardly serve the Lord in          faithfulness in all of its rich aspects. God has been
the home. They have rebelled against the Lord and          pleased to make the Christian home the sphere
sought to overturn all the ordinances of the Lord for      where He especially realizes His covenant with
marriage and the home. They have sought to revise          believers and their children. We serve the Lord in
all of these ordinances according to their own vain        our marriages when we seek faithfully to fulfill our
human philosophy in order that they can use mar-           covenant obligations for the glory of the Lord.
riage for sin and wickedness. They seek in marriage          Do we consider marriage from the view point of
`only the lust of the flesh and the pride of life and      serving the Lord? Marriage is not only for the ad-
the glory of man. They justify themselves in mak-          vantage and pleasure of man. Surely God has made
ing and breaking marriage as they will. Ungodly            marriage for man's good. There are great joys and
women do not want to serve in the role which God           blessings in marriage for man. When God gives to
has given to them in subjection to the Lord. Many          man a godly wife of His choosing He gives to him
even refuse to get married at all. They refuse the         perhaps the most precious earthly gift imaginable.
Lord's calling to bring forth and raise children in        But there is a higher purpose for marriage. God is
the fear of the Lord. If they have children at all they    the ultimate purpose of all our life as Christians. To
only train them to be as evil as themselves accord-        serve Him, to do His will and to please Him, to
ing to the standards of greatness and glory of the         bring glory to His name, this is the great desire and
world. Professing themselves to be wise in mar-            calling of the Christian. Together husband and wife
riage they have become fools because they refuse to        must serve the Lord in marriage, each assisting the
acknowledge and serve the Lord. As a result the            other.
curse of the Lord is in the house of the wicked and          This perspective on marriage will have great con-
there is confusion, strife, enmity, and conflict.          sequences. The great desire of young people should
Many of the world"s marriages end in divorce and           be to set up godly Christian covenant homes. This
misery.                                                    is the Lord's purpose for man. Though God has or-
  The Christian recognizes and acknowledges that           dained for some in His wise and good providence
marriage is the institution of the Lord. Therefore         that they should remain single, and He also has a
those who enter into marriage must serve the Lord          wonderful calling for such to serve Him in a special
in it. Because marriage is the Lord's institution the      way, in most cases to refuse to marry, as many in
Lord determines everything about the marriage of           our day are doing, is to rebel against God. When the
the Christian. The Lord has ordained whom we               Christian seeks a marriage partner he does not
should marry and if we follow His guidance as His          merely look for the most handsome or pretty, the
servants He will bring to us the partner He has            most popular, or the one who can provide great
chosen for us. The Lord has ordained what the role         material wealth and honor among men in the
of each partner should be in marriage. He has or-          future. The chief consideration of the Christian
dained that the husband should be the head of the          from the beginning is to find a Christian partner
wife and that the wife should be subject unto her          with whom he can serve the Lord together in a
husband. The Lord has ordained that father and             Christian home. All the rest is secondary. This im-
mother should rule over their children and that            plies careful evaluation of prospective partners ac-
children should obey their parents. The Lord has           cording to the standard of the Word of God. The
ordained that marriage should be a lifelong rela-          Christian always asks, will such a man or-woman
tionship of love and faithfulness between one man          make a good Christian husband or wife who can
and one woman. He has ordained that marriage               assist me in the service of the Lord.
should be a relationship in which a man and                  God has ordained that in marriage husband and
woman become one flesh, living in union and com-           wife should serve one another. When they do that
munion with one another in all of their life. All of       according to the God-ordained order they also serve
these things are absolutes for the Christian in his        the Lord. God gave to man a woman to be his help
marriage. We serve the Lord in marriage when we            meet. The Lord created woman suitable for this
submit ourselves to all of the ordinances of the           role. This means the woman's great calling in mar-


400                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



riage is to serve her husband in subjection unto            beautiful example of this is one of the greatest
him. She does not do this as man's slave, but               women of the Bible called Hannah. She greatly
willfully and joyfully and in love. In doing this she       desired to have children. She prayed unto the Lord
also serves the Lord. That is what the apostle Paul         and confessed that she was the handmaid of the
means when he says in Ephesians, "Wives submit              Lord. Her desire was not carnal. If the men and
yourselves unto your own husbands  as unto the              women of this world do have children it is usually
Lord."  This requires humble service. It requires           for carnal and selfish reasons. They look at children
self-sacrifice and meekness. This is exactly the op-        as an extension of their own pride. They raise them
posite of the modern, 20th century woman of the             for the glory of men. Hannah, the handmaid of the
world who is often egotistical, self-seeking and            Lord, desired to have a son that she might give him
rebellious. They seek only their own glory, and             to the Lord to serve in His house. When godly men
their own wicked lusts and cravings. The Christian          and women seek to have children they seek to
woman with a sober and quiet spirit serves her hus-         fulfill the mandate of the Lord from creation to be
band. She is in the sight of God of great price. Her        fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth. When
glory and honor is of the Lord and not of men. She          a godly couple seeks to have children their highest
is a tremendous testimony in the midst of a wicked          motives are to bring forth the children. of God's
age. God has said that it is not good for man to be         covenant. This takes tremendous sacrifice on the
alone. He needs a companion and partner to help             part of the godly couple. For the woman it involves
him in his great calling to serve the Lord. The godly       great suffering and hardship. But the godly couple
woman serves as such for the glory of the Lord and          confesses that they are the servants of the Lord, and
the welfare of her husband.                                 they humbly offer such sacrifices and willingly
  The husband must also serve the Lord in mar-              bear such suffering and hardship. And the Lord
riage. Though he has been made to be the head of            greatly blesses His servants with Christian families.
his wife he must serve her. That may sound con-             These families are the source of great joy and satis-
tradictory but in fact it is not. We see this especially    faction for the godly couple.
in our Lord Jesus Christ. Though He is the Lord of            Godly parents are servants of the Lord in the
His people He became their servant in order to save         home when they raise their children in the fear and
them. So also it must be with the Christian hus-            admonition of the Lord so that they too will grow
band. God made woman in such a way that she                 up to be servants of the Lord in His church and
needs a head to rule over her. That is inherent in          kingdom. There is no other institution in the world
her nature. The husband serves the Lord when he             that can do this. Though the Christian school can
rules over his wife for her advantage. He is a rebel        assist the parents in this great task, it still remains
against God when he is a cruel tyrant over his wife         chiefly the home where this is to be done. The Lord
and when he rules over his wife for his own advan-          intended that it should be so. Certainly no worldly
tage and glory and for her misery and destruction.          institution can in any way perform this great task.
The woman has a unique and wonderful calling                Parents as servants of the Lord must teach their
before the Lord in marriage. She needs her husband          children the truth of God's Word. They must teach
to help her in fulfilling  .that calling. Her calling in    their children by precept and by true godly exam-
marriage is far too great for her to fulfill by herself.    ple what it means to fear and serve the Lord. All of
She is constantly in need of her husband's                  this takes a lot of work. It requires great sacrifices
assistance. Also on the part of the husband this re-        on the part of the parents. But all these things
quires self-sacrifice and humility. In Ephesians 5          faithful and devoted servants will do for their
Paul says that the husband must give himself  for-          beloved Lord and master. Many of the greatest
his wife. That involves complete self-sacrifice. One        leaders in the church and kingdom of God are a
cannot possibly give more than himself. The hus-            legacy of Christian homes in which they were
band serves his wife and the Lord when he                   raised. The majority of the people of God in the
nourishes, cherishes, supports, and provides for his        church today can testify to their training in Chris-
wife. If he does not do this he is a worthless infidel.     tian homes. I myself thank the Lord daily for the
The godly husband serves the Lord when he rules             training which I received from my faithful parents.
over her in order to lead her in the way of sanctifi-         There are a number of other areas in which
cation according to the Word of God.                        Christians serve the Lord in their homes. Perhaps
  Man and wife have the great calling to serve the          we can mention just one more in closing. The truly
Lord in marriage by bringing forth children. When           Christian home is a house of hospitality. It is open
those of the world refuse to do this they are rebels        to fellow Christians and members of the church.
against God and they again seek themselves and              Christians serve the Lord by receiving their fellow
not the Lord. The godly woman recognizes that she           saints into their homes in order to befriend them
is the handmaid of the Lord. Perhaps- the most              and encourage them and share with them the bless-


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                401



ings which the Lord has given to their home. The            can measure the blessed Christian fellowship and
Christian home is a wonderful sphere of Christian           the joy of the Lord that is communicated to others
hospitality also for non-Christians or new people           through the Christian home? Surely the Christian
that might visit the church worship services. How           home is one of the greatest areas in which we can
many have been added to the church of God in part           serve the Lord. May the Lord in His grace make us
because of the Christian hospitality shown to them          His faithful servants in our homes.
in the homes of the members of the church? Who

GUIDED INTO ALL TRUTH



                          The Return to Scripture:
                                  Preparing the Way .
                                                 Rev. T. Miersma




  The Middle Ages were characterized in our last            tury possible. These events, changes, and develop-
article as a period in the history of the church in         ments must be seen in the light of God's providence
which there was a famine of the hearing of the              as He, the Lord of history, directs the affairs of men
Word of God. Social and political chaos had fol-            for the welfare of His church and her reformation.
lowed the Germanic invasions of Europe, and out of            In the 500 years following Gregory the Great the
that chaos emerged a church, centralized in the             papacy gradually rose to supreme political power in
papacy, with great temporal power and influence,            Europe. Under the leadership of Hildebrand (Pope
capable of lording it over the minds and con-               Gregory VII, 1073-1085) and Innocent III  (1197-
sciences of men. The Word of God was withdrawn              1216) the papacy was elevated to such heights that
from circulation, and learning and even literacy            it was able to force even kings and emperors to sub-
itself declined and were preserved mainly in                mit to its will. As the whole foundation of the
isolated monastic communities. Spiritually the              papacy was laid, not upon Scripture, but upon
church declined, directing its energies into worth-         tradition and the doctrines of men, a return to
less philosophical speculation or mysticism.                Scripture under these circumstances was impossi-
  The result was a Christian church which was in-           ble. Indeed, a return to Scripture as the sole
creasingly corrupt. Offices in the church became            authority for faith and life was a direct threat to the
posts of political and worldly power, sought for            papacy. The papacy had served a purpose in the
earthly advantage and bought and sold as positions          years of upheaval in filling the vacuum left by the
of wealth and power. Spiritually the church was             collapse of the Roman Empire in the West. It had
truly in darkness. This does not mean that there            preserved the heritage of the early church, both
were no men of faith and godliness in the church,           good and bad. It had also been the means to bring
for in every age God preserves a remnant who love           pagan Europe under the influence of Christianity,
the truth, treasure it in their hearts, and in faithful-    albeit a Christianity buried under a mountain of
ness proclaim it. But they were just that, a remnant.       superstition and vain traditions.
  In order for reformation to take place, a return to         But if the church were to be renewed and if
Scripture was necessary. This could not take place          Scripture were again to grip the minds and hearts of
of itself. Certain elements were needed which               men, that supreme power of the papacy could not
gradually emerged in the latter part of the Middle          endure. Under the providence of God there arose
Ages. These formed the building blocks upon                 out of the chaos of medieval Europe new nations
which a return to Scripture could be based and              which gradually grew in power and strength. Fur-
were to make the Reformation of the sixteenth cen-          ther, the Crusades, the attempt to recapture the Ho-


402                                        THE STANDARD BEARER



ly Land and wrest  it, from the power of the             more, in the East, the church had more and more
Muslims, also fueled this development for they           fallen before the advancing threat of Muslim
served to break down the isolated barriers of many       Turkish armies with the result that many fled to the
of the small feudal kingdoms of Europe. The              West, bringing with them a knowledge of the
Crusades aided the consolidation and concentra-          Greek language as well as early manuscripts. With
tion of power into the hands of a few kings. The         the fall of Constantinople to the Turks in 1453 this
Crusades broke down the walls of an isolated and         process was complete. An era of new learning and
provincial Europe. Peasants who before had lived         study in science, literature, and the arts followed
out their whole lives in small communities under         which is called the Renaissance. This revival of
the thumb of a local feudal lord were suddenly           learning had its center in Rome. It was by no means
thrust out of their small world to march across the      a reformation, but rather a return to classical and
continent of Europe. Such men could not be con-          pagan ideas of the ancient Greeks and Romans. It
tent to return to the narrow life they had known         was thoroughly worldly and man-centered, di-
before. Commerce and trade also reawoke in               rected to the development of worldly culture. Nor is
Europe, and with it the need for a more centralized      it surprising therefore that it was also promoted and
government. Nations began to emerge as kings con-        encouraged by the popes of that period who were
solidated their power, nations which could rival the     thoroughly worldly men. The Renaissance served
temporal power of the papacy.                            to spread new ideas throughout Europe and to
  The papacy and the clergy as a whole had               create a more independent frame of mind.
become more and more corrupt in their abuse of             While the Renaissance was in the service of man
power and had degenerated into open immorality,          and not God, yet in God's providence it was to
so that the power and wealth of the clergy and their     serve the church and her reformation. For the
immoral lives became an object of abhorrence and         humanism of the Renaissance, with its emphasis on
ridicule. The papacy began to become the political       man and human freedom would not be bound by
plaything of kings vying with each other for power       the laws and traditions of the church, for it
so that for a time the seat of the papacy was moved      recognized no authority above man himself. In
to France. The result was a schism in the church         such a climate the church in all its abuses was laid
with two popes, each claiming to be the rightful         open to mockery and ridicule. The tyranny of the
pope and pronouncing judgments from heaven               church over men's thoughts and lives could not
upon the other. Church councils were unable im-          continue. This created an environment in which
mediately to heal the breach, and Europe was             the reformers could work, returning to the Scrip-
divided in its allegiance. When finally the breach       tures without the stranglehold of the church's tradi-
was healed, the papacy which emerged was more            tion being placed upon them.
corrupt than ever, seeking to rival even ancient
Rome in its immorality. For such a papacy true             Moreover, with the renewal of learning and
spiritual leadership was impossible. At last  men-       education came a renewed interest in the original
began to question the Biblical and traditional           languages of the Scriptures. For the humanists of
claims of the papacy and to find them empty and          the Renaissance, in their search for the culture of
false. By the days of Luther the papacy had lost not     antiquity, and regarding the Scriptures as another
only its temporal power, but even the moral force        such form of ancient literature, went back to the
to impose its false claims or to put a stop to refor-    languages of the past. They began also to challenge
mation.                                                  traditional accepted interpretations and particular-
                                                         ly to overthrow the allegorical method of interpre-
  A second building block in the return to Scrip-        tation which had severed Scripture from history
ture was the return of learning in general to the        and faithful grammatical exegesis.
darkness of Europe. The monasteries had long
preserved the remnants of the past by making it            In this changing climate dissent became more
their business to copy the existing books so that        marked and open. Throughout the Middle Ages
they became more and more accessible. Along with         there had always been groups which had dissented
this, the schools of the monasteries and cathedrals,     and differed with the church. Many of these groups
originally intended to serve the training of the         were heretical sects or survivors of earlier heresies.
clergy, gradually developed and expanded into uni-       They were largely stifled by the church through its
versities and institutions of general learning. More-    temporal power and through persecution, some-
over, the Crusaders returning from the East              times systematic and brutal. But there had also
brought with them, among their treasures and             been those who on truly Biblical grounds had op-
spoil, many manuscripts and books, including             posed the church's corruption and superstition.
classical Greek and Roman works, acquired from           These too had been largely suppressed or, where
the Arabs and from the Eastern church.  Further-         possible, absorbed by the church and included


                                          THE STANDARD BEARER                                            403



under her umbrella by pressure and compromise.          remnant of the church. The arid ritualism and
But with the changing climate, the church's ability     spiritual life of the medieval church could not
to crush dissent declined. Kings and princes would      satisfy the needs of those who hungered after the
no longer serve merely as the tools of the pope.        Word of God. Thus dissent grew throughout the
  To that growing dissent belonged not only the         Middle Ages and unwittingly paved the way for
humanists of the Renaissance, who in cynicism           reform. In all these developments we see God at
mocked the church and her theology, but also men        work, leading His church, and laying the founda-
who spoke out of genuine spiritual concern for the      tion for a return to the Scriptures as the sole foun-
truth. The famine of the Word of God had created a      dation of the church of Jesus Christ.
spiritual hunger for the truth in the hearts of the

QUESTION BOX



                                   Farm Programs, Etc.
                                               Rev. C. Hanko





  A reader asks:                                        programs were initiated against the backdrop of
  Should a Reformed Christian sign up with the          serious and worsening farm surpluses. Weak
Farm Program, for instance, like the Payment in         domestic demand, declining exports, and record
Kind, PIK, like we had in 1983?  "Every man should      large 1981 and 1982 harvests had increased stocks,
eat of the fruit of his labor."                         lowered commodity prices, depressed farm in-
                                                        come, and boosted Government expenditures. PIK
  Allow me to remark at the outset that I have per-     participants, in exchange for idling a portion of
sonally been so far removed, for such a long time,      their cropland, will receive compensation in-kind
from the problems involving farmers that it is a bit    from the crops held by the Commodity Credit Cor-
difficult to understand and evaluate the various        poration or in the regular and farmer-owned
farm programs that have arisen during the past few      reserve programs."
years.                                                    Obviously our lives have become very involved
  As I understand the PIK, the farmers were al-         and complicated. There was a time when the
lowed in 1983 to take a certain amount of their land    government did not interfere with obtaining our
out of cultivation, and were given free of charge       livelihood. Market prices were controlled by the
80% of their average yearly yield per acre for every    law of supply and demand. Even then, as I recall,
acre in the program. The land idled was to be de-       sincere Christians asked about the propriety of
voted to conserving use, but might not be machine       such things as insurance, especially life insurance,
harvested. The purpose of this program was: 1) To       lightning rods on buildings, inoculation of pigs. The
reduce the large stockpiles of wheat, cotton, rice,     very word insurance, protection against the loss of
corn, and grain which was in government storage.        property, seemed to suggest a lack of trust in God.
2) To reduce the over-production of these com-            Today our problems have become more in-
modities, thus raising the market price. 3) In this     volved. PIK is only one of the many problems we
manner to save the farmer some expense on farm          face. The government involves itself in many of our
machinery, seed, fertilizer, and the like. At the       daily affairs, so that we now have social security
same time giving him the opportunity to improve         programs, medicare, and various relief programs.
the land idled.                                         Medicaid has been introduced as a form of govern-
  To quote from "An Initial Assessment of the Pay-      ment benevolence, replacing in many instances the
ment in Kind Program," issued by the U.S. Agricul-      work of Christ through Christian charity and the
ture Department, "PIK and other acreage reduction       deacons. We have food stamps, relief for afflicted


404                                        THE STANDARD BEARER



areas, as well as grants and scholarships for those      can participate in the various government pro-
who wish to obtain a higher education. The govern-       grams and at the same time commit our trust solely
ment enters into practically every sphere of our         and completely in the Lord. Do we rely on God's
lives as a constant threat of socialism and a fore-      providence? Do we live in the consciousness of
boding of the antichrist.                                God's almighty and omnipresent power whereby
  Much can and has been said pro and con on these        He upholds and governs all things? Are we always
various issues. The question is, in how far can we       aware of the fact that large crops and crop failures,
as Reformed believers go along with these pro-           prosperity and adversity, riches and poverty,
grams. Where do we draw the line? Instead of tak-        health and sickness, yea, all things that befall us in
ing a stand for or against cooperation in these          this vale of tears, come not by chance, but from the
various programs, consistories have avoided mak-         almighty and merciful hand of our heavenly
ing precept upon precept and have to a great extent      Father? Do we conscientiously say: If the Lord will
appealed to our Christian liberty, leaving participa-    and I live, I will do this or that? Do we earnestly
tion up to the individual conscience.                    .and sincerely live out of the hand of God, so that
                                                         we earnestly ask: Give us this day our daily bread?
  There are, nevertheless, serious considerations
that may not be ignored.                                   Finally, we must all give account of the deeds
                                                         done in the body, whether good or evil. In other
  The result of many government programs is that         words, we must give account of our stewardship
the rich have grown richer and the poor continue in      before the great white throne. We will not be asked,
their struggle for their daily bread. Our reader is      what did you do with your time, your life, and
correct when he says that God requires of us that        your possessions? But rather, what did you do with
we shall work for a living, eat by the sweat of our      God's gifts entrusted to  you, health and strength,
brow. Hard work has never hurt anyone. Work is           home and family, field and crops, yes, with your
not a curse, but a blessing when done in the fear of     whole life from the time that you were born until
the Lord. There are many get-rich-quick schemes          the time that you died? "Therefore to him that
that are an abomination to the Lord and a devil's at-    knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is
tempt to deceive the elect. We can mention such          sin" (James 4: 17).
things as State lottery, give away programs on TV,
sweepstakes, etc. All of these make a strong appeal      Note: There are a few more questions for the ques-
to man's covetous nature, his pride, and his greed.      tion box, which will be answered in the very near
                                                         future.
  For each of us the question arises whether we

GUEST ARTICLE



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



                              THE RULES AND METHODOLOGY FOLLOWED

  Great care was taken to give the translators           tion of explanations of Hebrew and Greek words. 3)
guidelines to follow in their work of translating. If    There also were to be Scripture references in the
all these men were going to work together as a har-      margin. According to  Scrivener, there were 8,422
monious whole, they would need some very strict          marginal notes in the  1611  edition of the King
rules to follow. The scheme for the entire work was      James Version. In succeeding editions, thousands
set down in the form of fifteen specific rules. To       more were added. 4) Proper names were to be as
name just a few:  1)  The "Bishops' Bible," the of-      near to the common usage as possible. 5) Old ec-
ficial version of the church, was to be as little        clesiastical words such as "Church" were to be
altered as the truth of the originals permitted. 2)      used. 6) Words with varying interpretations were to
There were to be no marginal notes with the excep-       be rendered in accordance with patristic tradition


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                               405



and the analogy of faith. 7) Other translations were       right of printing for nearly a hundred years. Thus
to be consulted such as Tyndale's, Matthew's,              you can see that some men diligently labored six or
Coverdale's, the "Great Bible," and the "Geneva            seven years, while the main body worked for three
Bible."                                                    or four years.
  Along with such rules as these, the procedure              It must be noted further that the King James Ver-
that was to bring together into one work the transla-      sion translators were very concerned to have an ac-
tions of all these various men and companies, was          curate translation of the originals. They proclaim
strictly set down for them. First of all, each             on the title page, "Holy Bible, containing the Old
translator was to work individually on a translation       Testament and the New: newly translated out of
of the section. After that was done, each man's            the original tongues. . ..I' That proclamation is true.
work was brought to his company as a whole.                For these men have given us, for the most part, a
Evidently the head of the company would read the           word-for-word translation of the originals. They did
passage from the "Bishops' Bible." Whenever one            not follow the principle of dynamic equivalence
of the translators wanted something changed or             (whereby you translate the ideas rather than the
had something to say about the translation, he             words), as do most of the modern translators. Thus
would present his own work. In this way the work           they have produced a very accurate and faithful
of each was compared with the others and the com-          translation as far as the original words are con-
pany as a whole worked out one translation. When           cerned.
each book of the Bible was finished, they would              They were so concerned about it that they even
send it to each of the other five companies to be          took ,over the very phraseology of the Hebrew. We
reviewed. If the latter companies found anything           find in our Bibles all kinds of Hebrew expressions
objectionable, they would note such places and             and concepts that are not natural to the English
send it back to the originating company with their         way of speaking. In fact, it can even be said that the
reasons. If there was a disagreement, it was to be         English of the King James Version is not the English
settled by an editing committee later. If there was a      of the 17th century, nor-of any century. It is an
passage that was especially difficult, all the learned     English that is unique, for it is biblical English-an
men of the land could be called upon to make a             English formed by the Hebrew and Greek of the Bi-
judgment.                                                  ble. It is biblical English because the translators
  According to England's delegates to the Synod of         were more interested in being faithful to the
Dort, after each company had finished their work           originals than in making their translation in the
they sent it to a committee comprised of two men           street language of the day, as do translators today.
from each company which reviewed and revised                 That they sought an accurate translation is fur-
the whole work. Last of all, Thomas Bilson and             ther indicated by the fact that they italicized every
Miles Smith put on the finishing touches and saw it        word that did not have a corresponding word in the
through the press.                                         original. How many modern Bible versions do that?
  It must be noted in particular that the work was         Moreover, to insure the fact that the reader
done very carefully. They did not rush themselves.         understands the meaning of certain original words,
They say in the Translators' Preface, "Neither did         they added 4,223 marginal notes that gave the
we run over the work with that posting haste that          literal meaning of the original word, and 2,738
the Septuagint did, if that be true which is reported      notes with alternate translations. The result is that
of them, that they finished it in 72 days; neither         in the King James Version we have an accurate
were we barred or hindered from going over it              translation that puts the others to shame.
again having once done it, like St. Jerome.. . ." These      In the 3rd place we must note the fact that the
men were not afraid to go over their work again and        translators gave the King James Version a majestic
again until they were satisfied that they had at-          quality that raises it high above all other transla-
tained the best possible translation. If they fol-         tions. They recognized God to be God-a God of
lowed the procedure which was laid down for                glory and majesty. Therefore they were careful to
them, each part of the work must have been closely         translate His word in such a way that it would be
scrutinized at least fourteen times.                       filled with His majesty. That is another reason why
  They understood very well the nature of the              the English of the King James Version -is not the
book they were translating and therefore took great        English of the 17th century. The translators de-
pains to do it right. Some of the translators began        liberately chose words and phrases that were no
their work as soon as they were appointed in 1604.         longer used in general conversation even in their
The entire body was engaged in the work by 1607.           day, in order that they might set it apart from all
The new version was finally published in 1611              others. All you have to do is compare the language
from the press of Robert Barker, who retained the          of the Dedication to King James at the front of your


406                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



Bible with the Bible text itself, and you will see the       There can be no doubt, therefore, that the King
difference immediately.                                    James Version translators went back to the primary
   They tell us that the King James Version is no          sources. Thus they could ask the reader, "If truth
longer useful because its language has become ob-          be (is) to be tried by these tongues (the originals)
solete, but what they do not realize is that its           then whence should a translation be made, but out
language is not a type of English that was ever            of them." Indeed, they recognized the fact that the
spoken anywhere. Oh, it was such that the people           final authorities in this work were the Hebrew and
could understand it, but it was, nevertheless, a par-      the Greek texts.
ticular language deliberately chosen to make the             Yet, the King James Version is not a totally new
King James Version a version that reflects the             work. In terms of literary units (phrases and
reverence and respect which is due unto its Divine         clauses), the King James Version is about  thirty-
Author. In that respec-t, they succeeded too, for          nine percent new translation. Sixty-one percent of
there is no version that even comes close to the           the phrases are taken over from older English ver-
beauty and majesty of the King James Version.              sions. In fact, the King James Version can be con-
                                                           sidered the fifth revision of the work of William
   THE SOURCES USED IN TRANSLATION                         Tyndale, who first translated the New Testament
   The particular English of this version is also due      from the Greek. Before Tyndale there was the
to the fact that the King James Version is at the          translation of John Wycliffe (1380) and the transla-
same time both a new translation and a revision of         tion of John Purvey, but they were translated from
previous translations. It is indeed a new translation      the Latin Bible. Tyndale was the first to go back to
that goes back to the original languages. The              the original languages.
translators had editions of both the Hebrew Old              The first revision of Tyndale was done by John
Testament and the Greek New Testament available            Rogers and is called the "Matthew's Bible" (1537).
to them. Miles Smith writes, "If you ask what they         Under the auspices of Thomas Cromwell, Myles
had before them, truly it was the Hebrew text of           Coverdale revised the "Matthew's Bible" to pro-
the Old Testament, the Greek of the New." The age          duce the "Great Bible" (1539). In 1560 the Pro-
in which they lived was bursting with knowledge.           testants in exile at Geneva produced the "Geneva
Since the fall of Constantinople  (1453), the West         Bible" which was the third revision of Tyndale.
had been flooded with scholars, and knowledge              Finally in 1568 the English bishops prepared what
had increased tremendously. There was renewed              is known as the "Bishops' Bible," which was the
interest in the ancient tongues, and as a result the       version from which the translators were to make
originals were there for them to use.                      their revisions, according to the command of King
  The Hebrew text had been remarkably preserved            James.
by God. At the time the translators were ready to            In actuality they used all of these versions plus
begin their work, they had no fewer than ten               many other translations such as the German and
printed editions of the Hebrew Old Testament               French Bibles as well as many commentaries such
available to them. There was the Complutensian             as Calvin's and Beza's. In their own words,
Polyglot of Cardinal Ximenes, published in 1517,           "Neither did we think much to consult the
which contained the Hebrew text (the fifth com-            translators or commentaries, Chaldee, Hebrew,
plete O.T.) as well as the Latin Vulgate and the           Syrian, Greek, or Latin, no nor the Spanish, French,
Greek Septuagint translations of it. They had four         Italian, or Dutch.. . .' ' Of all the English versions
editions by Daniel  Bomberg (1516-17, 1516-17,             used, more of the phrases and clauses found in the
1521, 1525-28). The last of these was popular with         King James Version come from the "Geneva Bible"
the Reformers. The "Standard Edition" was con-             than any other-about 19 percent. While it is said
sidered to be that of Jacob ben Chayim-the Second          that five-sixths to nine-tenths of the general content
Rabbinic Bible. Besides these, there was the  Ant-         comes from the translation of William Tyndale.
werp Polyglot (1572) with the Hebrew text of Arius                             (to be continued)
Montanus, and the Latin interlinear translation of
Pagninus.
  The Greek text was readily available in the Com-               Remember a friend
plutensian Polyglot  (1514),  the five editions of
Erasmus  (1516-1535),  the four editions of Robert                   today with a gift of
Stephanus  (1546-1551), and the ten editions of
Theodore Beza (1560-1598). They also contained                The Standard Bearer.
the editions of Aldus  (1518),  Colinaeus  (1534),  and
Plantin (1572).


                                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                407



                                                        Book Review
DRENTHE IN MICHIGAN,  H.J. Prakke (Transla-                               ning. The latter at one time lived on the original
ted by the               Dutch-American                    Historical     Lanning farm in the Drenthe area, and he still pos-
Commission); Wm. B. Eerdmans Publ. Co., Grand                             sesses the original deed of that farm. He is, there-
Rapids, MI; 84 pp.,  $8.95,i  paper. (Reviewed by                         fore, a direct descendant of the Afscheiding (Seces-
Prof. H. C. Hoeksema)                i                                    sion) as it took place in Sleen, Province of Drenthe,
  This little book was originally written in Dutch                        The Netherlands. It always makes a book more in-
and published in the Netherlands in 1948. Its                             teresting when one can connect it to people that he
occasion was the centennial of Holland, Michigan                          knows.
(and the surrounding settlements). Now we are re-
membering the sesquicentennial of the Secession of                                        WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
1834. And the colonization of 1847 was, of course,                           On June 10, 1984, our beloved parents and grandparents, MR.
accomplished by Secessionists who emigrated from                          AND MRS. JOHN DYKSTRA, will celebrate their 30th wedding an-
various parts of the Netherlands.                                         niversary.
  Some of'the  colonists in 1847 were from the prov-                         We thank our Lord for the faithful covenant instruction and godly
                                                                          example which they have given us and continue to give. We pray that
ince of Drenthe, and they settled in the area of                          they may always experience the blessings and loving care of our
what became the little village of Drenthe, still in                       faithful Heavenly Father.
existence today, in the vicinity of Holland. The                             "But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon
book traces the origin in the Dutch Province of                           them that fear Him, and His righteousness unto children's children: to
Drenthe of the settlers in Drenthe, Michigan. It                          such as keep His covenant, and to those that remember His com-
                                                                          mandments to do them." (Psalm  103:17, 18)
tells about their part in the Secession, about their                      Don and Cindi De Jong                   Dan and Lori Pastoor
reasons for emigrating to Michigan, about their part                         Daniel, Christiana, Carl               Bradley, Nathan
in the early work of settling in the Holland area, etc.                                                           Doug and Debbie Dykstra
  All in all, the book is verymteresting
                                          I*              and also in-                     WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
formative, especially for one who is interested in                           On June 10, 1984, our parents, MR. AND MRS. TED LOOYENGA
this segment of church history and in the history of                      celebrate, the Lord willing, their 35th wedding anniversary. We are
                                                                          thankful for the Christian parents God gave us to love and instruct us
the Dutch colonization in this area.                                      in His ways. We pray that God may bless them in the years ahead.
  I was pleasantly surprised to learn that the H.J.                          "To God be the glory."
Lanning mentioned in the book as one of the colo-                         Joe and Mary Brummel             Randall and Lindy Looyenga
nists of 1847 was the great grandfather of a member                       John and Pat Sperry              Greg and Nancy Feenstra
                                                                          Larry and Kathy Looyenga         Douglas, Mark, and Karen Looyenga
of our Hudsonville congregation, Mr. Kenneth Lan-                         Robert and Kathy Looyenga             and 14 grandchildren

                                                                                           WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
                  WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                                        On June 16, 1984, the Lord willing,  GERRIT  AND ELEANORE BOL
   On June 26, 1984, the Lord willing, MR. AND MRS. ROBERT                will celebrate 40 years of marriage. We are thankful to our Sovereign
MOELKER will celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary. We, their          Lord that in His providence their marriage was blessed with children,
children and grandson, are thankful to our heavenly Father for bless-     and that they sought to teach us the ways of the Lord. Our prayer for
ing us with God-fearing parents. We would like to thank them for the      them is  (Remans   9:23), "And that He might make known the riches
years of love and covenant instruction they have given us. We pray        of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had  afore  prepared un-
that God will continue to bless them and always keep them in His          to glory."
care.                                                                        Their children and grandchildren,
   "But the-mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon     David and Barbara Bol                   J. Patrick and Priscilla  MacGraw
them that fear Him, and His righteousness unto children's children;          Kristin, Matthew, Kara                  Molly, Daniel,  Megan
To such as keep His covenant, and to those that remember His com-         Mark and Ruthellen Hoeksema             Jonathan and Barbara Bol
mandments to do them." (Psalm  103:17, 18)                                   Stephen, Michael, Sarah, Philip         Nathaniel, Audra, Adam
Henry and Arlene Westhuis                  Miss Amy Moelker
   Henry James                                                                             WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
                                                                             On June 8, 1984, the Lord willing, our parents, MR. AND MRS.
                  WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                                     CLARENCE  KUIPER  will celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary.
   On June 21, 1984, MR. AND MRS. FRED ONDERSMA will, the                 We, their children, thank our heavenly Father for them and for the
Lord willing, celebrate 45 years of marriage. We, their children, are     love and Christian instruction which they have given us.
thankful to God for the heritage of a covenant church and home. May          We pray that God will continue to bless them in their life together
they continue in the work God has laid out for them with zeal and the     and keep them in His care.
hope of His coming.                                                       David and Lori Kuiper
   "0 taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that           Jill, Sara, Joey                          Donald Kuiper
trusteth in Him." (Psalm  34:8)                                           Richard and Beverly Kuiper                   Steven Kuiper
                                                                                                                       Judy Kuiper
Robert and Kaye Moelker                         13 grandchildren             Jeffrey, Daniel                           Joan Kuiper
Gary and Rose Moelker                            1 great-grandson         Gary and Joyce Noorman
Larry and Judy Meulenberg                                                    Lisa

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





408                                         THE STANDARD  B'EARER



                        News From Our Churches
                                                  May 15,198kj

   First Protestant Reformed Church of Holland,              Rev. Jon Smith presented a lecture on the topic,
Michigan has made a change in the singing of the           "The Scriptural Teaching of the End Times," in
doxology. After the morning service, they sing             Edgerton, MN. Rev. Cammenga presented a lecture
Psalter No. 197, and after the evening service they        on, the topic, "Women In Church Office." There
sing the words of "May the Grace of Christ Our             was a good turnout for Rev. Cammenga's lecture,
Savior" to the tune of Psalter No. 222.                    with many visitors present. If you would like a
                                                           cassette taped copy of Rev. Cammenga's lecture,
   This past Lord's Day, Rev. Kortering led in the         send $2 for each&tape to Hull Protestant Reformed
ordination and installation service of Candidate           Church, P.O. Box 497, Hull, IA 51239. Rev.  Veld-
Barry Gritters, at Byron Center Protestant Re-             man spoke on the subject, "Evangelism in the Light
formed Church. Rev. Gritters preached his inau-            of the Reformation," in Wyckoff, New Jersey. Rev.
gural sermon that evening, after which the congre-         Engelsma gave a lecture in Randolph, Wisconsin on
gation held a Welcome Program for him and his              "The Place of the Woman in the Church."
family. May Rev. Gritters and the congregation of
Byron Center continue to experience Gods blessing            The Council of South Holland Church from time
as together they seek to praise Him in all things.         to time adds to the Church Library, books that it
                                                           thinks worthwhile for the congregation to read.
   Rev. Houck has suffered a back injury. He lost          They recently purchased  The Beauty of Reformed
all strength in his right leg and lost all feeling from    Litbrgy   (paperback, 73 pages), on the proper order
his kneecap down. After a couple of days flat on his       of  a Reformed worship service and its elements.
back, Rev. Houck started to gain strength and feel-          The Evangelism Committee Newsletter of South
ing in his right leg. The doctors told him that he did     Holland Church had this to say about  .Rev.
not need an operation but that he must lie flat on         Hutton's visit. "We trust that Rev. Hutton's coming
his back for two weeks. His family is adjusting well       to  ;visit us will result. in a closer relationship be-
to this affliction.                                        tween the Protestant Reformed Churches and the
   In addition to Rev. Houck's back injury, one of         saints in Larne, Northern Ireland.
the couples of the group in Ripon has left. Certainly        `i'Commenting upon his request for a supply of
this has been discouraging to our missionary and to        the pamphlet, `Evangelism and The Reformed
the small group of saints there. Rev. Koole came up        Faith,' he writes: `We have found that this little
to preach one Sunday. Otherwise they are listening         booklet is . . . an excellent though brief explanation
to sermon tapes for their worship services. The con-       and  defence of true biblical evangelism . . . . We
cern of Rev. Houck is that these two circumstances         hope to send a copy of it to a number of ministers
may greatly hinder the work in  Ripon. Therefore,          over here . . .  .'
let us remember Rev. Houck in our prayers, trust-            `1'. . . He concluded his letter by . . . thanking the
ing that God will `work all things to His glory and        congregation for our remembrance of him in the
the gathering of His Church.                               past, stating that `I can truly say that I have been
   Loveland Protestant Reformed Church called              very conscious of the prayers of God's dear people
Rev. Van Over-loop to be their pastor. In addition,        over these past number of weeks especially.'
they also approved the proposal of the consistory to         "Thus is realized how the saints, though
authorize spending money to prepare plans and              separated by many miles, can be a hand and foot to
cost estimates for the construction of a new auditor-      each other, and thus be `fellow-helpers to the
ium with a basement.                                       truth.' III John 8."                                DH


