       - '
               T'he
     STANDARD.
              BEARER
l              A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE

                       SPECIAL ISSUE
              THE PREACHING OF THE WORD
     . . . In general, preaching has fallen upon evil
     times  toda.y . . . even where there is some
     small place left for the sermon, the preaching
                                                                             m
     itself has sadly deteriorated both in form and
     content. Either, the preacher strives to be
     "relevant'" and busies himself with social
                                                                                     .-9
     issues and engages in human philosophy. OrYi'
     the preaching has become just plain cold and
     dry and dead, and God's people are offered
     stones for bread.
     See "What Happens in the `Moment'
                          of the Preaching?" - page 437
                                                   Volume LX,  No. 19, August  1,  1994-


434                                                           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  -                                                                                 SecondClass Postage Paid at Grand Rapids,  Mich.
                                                                                Editor-in-Chief:   Prof. Homer C. Hoeksema
       A Sweet Savour of Christ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .434        Department  Editors:  Rev. Ronald Cammenga, Rev. Arie den Hartog, Prof. Robert
                                                                                D. Decker, Rev. Cornelius Hanko, Prof. Herman C. Hanko, Rev. Ronald Hanko,
  Editorial  -                                                                  Mr. David Harbach, Rev. John A.  Heys,  Rev. J.  Kortering, Rev. George C.
                                                                                Lubbers, Rev. Thomas C. Miersma, Rev.  Marinus  Schipper, Rev. James  Slopse-
       What Happens in the "Moment"                                             ma, Rev. Gise J. Van Baren, Rev. Herman Veldman.
          of the Preaching? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .437    Editorial  Office: Prof. H.C. Hoeksema
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MEDITATIQN

                                   A Sweet Savour of Christ
                                                                 Prof. H.C. Hoeksema


                  For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that
               perish. To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto
               life. And who is sufficient for these things? For we are not as many which corrupt the word of
               God: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ.
                                                                                                                      -II Corinthians 2:15-l 7


  Christ exudes a sweet savour, a perfume, which                                  that are saved and in them that perish, both as a
is pleasing to God!                                                               savour of life unto life and as a savour of death unto
  He does this through the preachers of the gospel,                               death, and thus are well-pleasing unto God.
so that they, as preachers of Christ, are unto God a
sweet savour, a sweet odor, of Christ both in them                                     We are unto God a sweet savour of Christ . . . .


                                           THE   STANDARD  BEARER                                          435



  The apostle is speaking here of his office as apos-     the dead, and Who shall make all things new. In a
tle of Jesus Christ. As an apostle he is called to        word, he must preach the Christ Who is the full
preach. And in and through his preaching he - and         revelation of the God of our salvation. He must
the other apostles are included in this  - dissemi-       preach the full Christ of the Scriptures. He must
nates in every place the savour, the odor, the sweet      preach the Word of God! That Word of God, the
incense of perfume, of -the knowledge of Christ. It       God of our complete salvation in Jesus Christ, the
is as such that he, the apostle, is a sweet savour of     minister must expound in all its riches. Only thus
Christ, well-pleasing unto God, whether as a savour       can he be and will he be a sweet savour of Christ
of death unto death or as a savour of life unto life,     unto God.
whether in them that perish or in them that are             In the second place, this implies that Christ
saved. But this is possible, and true, only if he does    Himself must speak and does speak through the
not make merchandise of and does not adulterate           preacher. The sweet odor is exuded by Christ Him-
the Word of God, but preaches it sincerely and            self, we must remember: it is a sweet odor of Christ.
purely.                                                   A man may spread the pure truth of the gospel, and
  The same is true of the minister of the gospel to-      he may preach with all his power of persuasion.
day. It is true of him not in the direct sense in         But if Christ does not speak through him, there is
which Paul and the other apostles were called and         no sweet savour. Hence, Christ Himself speaks
infallibly inspired. But it is surely true of him in-     through His Spirit. He spreads His own sweet odor
directly, as he proclaims the word of the apostles.       through the apostles and through the preacher. It is
As surely as he speaks the Word of God sincerely          in this connection, too, that it must be emphasized
and does not corrupt and deal deceitfully with that       that the preacher must be  sent.  How shall they
Word of God, so surely he also is a sweet perfume         preach, except they be sent - the apostles directly,
of Christ unto God.                                       and the ordinary preacher through the church? It is
                 *     *    *    *    *                   always and only this sending which constitutes any
                                                          man a preacher and which enables men to say,
  A sweet perfume of Christ!                              "We are a sweet savour of Christ."
  This implies, in the first place, that  Christ  must      Bear in mind, too, that these two elements are in-
be preached.                                              separable. Christ is where His Word is preached ac-
  The minister of the gospel must not preach              cording to the Scriptures. There, and there alone,
himself and his own ideas and his own experiences.        does a sweet perfume arise unto God. And Christ's
In fact, he must beware of this. Nor must he preach       Word is preached only where and when it pleases
the Christian: there is no saving power in the Chris-     Christ Himself to speak; and Christ Himself Speaks
tian, and therefore it does no good and is of no          His own Word only through those whom He has
benefit to preach the Christian. Nor does this exude      authorized and sent.
any sweet-smelling perfume. And he certainly must           Unto God this sweet incense of Christ arises!
beware of preaching all kinds of vain philosophy of
men: all of this is contrary to and leads men away          Notice that, as always, the apostle ends in God:
from the gospel of Christ and from Christ Himself.        "For we are  unto  God a sweet savour of Christ."
                                                          The ultimate question is not whether the perfume
  On the contrary, the minister of the gospel must        of Christ is pleasing to man. Nor is the question
be very careful to take care that he is a sweet odor      whether the preacher of Christ is a sweet savour of
of Christ Himself! He must preach  Christ!  Other-        Christ to man. No, God always causes us to
wise he cannot possibly be a sweet odor of Christ         triumph in Christ. God makes manifest the savour
unto God. In his preaching he must be an odor of          of His knowledge by us in every place. For we are
Christ as the Son of God; an odor of Christ as the        unto God a sweet savour of Christ.
Son of God come into the flesh; an odor of Christ as
the Son of God come into our flesh Who suffered             You will have detected that there is a figure in
and died for our sins, and did so in the place of all     these words. And according to that figure, the odor
His sheep, His elect, and them only; as odor of           of Christ is disseminated through the preacher of
Christ Who was raised again for our justification;        the gospel. And as it is thus disseminated, it arises
an odor of Christ Who was exalted at the right hand       as sweet incense to God -just as in the Old Testa-
of God, Who received all power in heaven and on           ment mention is made frequently of the sacrifice of
earth, Who received the promised Spirit, Who              a sweet-smelling savour, acceptable unto the Lord.
returned in that Spirit unto His church in order to         The meaning of this figurative language is that
dwell with us and abide with us forever and to fill       God is glorified in and through the dissemination of
us with all the blessings of salvation; an odor of        the knowledge of Christ, and thus in and through
Christ Who shall come again to judge the quick and        the preacher through whom this knowledge of


436                                           THE   STANDARD  BEARER



Christ, and thus the sweet odor of Christ, is spread           What? Is not Christ the savour of life? Is He not
abroad. Why is this? God, we must remember,                 Himself the life? How, then, can it be that He is the
delights in Himself and takes pleasure in the revela-       savour of death unto death? The answer is that for
tion of His own virtues. And in the dissemination of        the very reason that He  is  the life, He kills if He
the sweet odor of Christ it is God's perfections            does not quicken. He hardens those whom He does
which are made known abroad. God's righteous-               not save. Indeed, this takes place in the way of their
ness, Gods justice, Gods love, Gods grace, Gods             own sin. Under the gospel men aggravate their guilt
mercy, God's power, God's wisdom are through                and condemnation, because the gospel reveals that
Christ revealed to the highest possible degree. The         they love darkness rather than light. And so they
odor of Christ is a sweet-smelling savour unto the          perish. The savour of Christ is the savour of death
Lord!                                                       in their case, and it is unto death.
  Always! Always He causeth us to triumph in                   But even so the savour of Christ is a sweet savour
Christ! And always the preacher is a sweet savour           unto God!
of Christ unto God! No matter what the result of his           The deepest reason for this?
preaching may be! No matter that the result of his
preaching is always twofold. Whether in them that             According to many, it lies in the sin of men. And
are saved or in them that perish, he is unto God a          to be sure, it is to the wicked that Christ is the
sweet savour of Christ.                                     savour of death unto death. There can be no ques-
                                                            tion about that: it is in the way of their own sin and
  Thanks be unto God!
                       *        *    *                      unbelief that the wicked go to hell. Moreover, the
                                                            text does not speak of election and reprobation
  A savour of lif: unto liie in them that are saved!        directly.
  Christ is the life! This is His own word: "I am the         Yet do not overlook the fact, first of all, that if
way, and the truth, and the life; no man cometh un-         you end here, then we all go to hell; and then Christ
to the Father but by Me." And because He  is  the           would be only a savour of death unto death. For all
life, He can be and is the savour of life unto life.        who hear the gospel are wicked by nature, dead in
And the savour of life is the sweet-smelling savour         trespasses and sins. And Christ Himself must
of Christ arising unto the holy nostrils of God.            quicken us if the gospel is ever to be a savour of life
  Life is not mere existence. Life is harmony, cove-        unto life unto us. And that is a matter of sovereign
nant fellowship with the living God, and that, too,         election! And where there is sovereign election
on the level of the heavenly. It is life eternal! This      there is also sovereign reprobation. The two are in-
life Christ merited for His people, for us, sinners         separable! Besides, the text and the context em-
who are worthy of death and who are by nature               phasize that Christ, in and through the gospel and
dead in trespasses and sins. This life is in Him: He        the preachers of the gospel, is always a sweet
is  the life. And He makes alive us who are dead            savour unto God  - in them that are saved and in
through trespasses and sins. Hence, when the                them that perish. He does not become a sweet
gospel is preached, and when Christ Himself                 savour through the will of men. Nor is the sweet
speaks through the gospel, the effect in those that         perfume of Christ changed into a horrible stench by
hear is that they pass from death into life. And so         the will of men who reject Him. But He hardens
we, ministers of Christ, are a savour of life unto life.    whom He will. And even then He is a  sweet-
Men, elect men, are saved. And in them that are             smelling savour unto God, unto His glory!
saved, we are a sweet savour of Christ unto God.                              *    *    *    *    *
  But also a savour of death unto death in them               Who is sufficient unto these things?
that perish!                                                  Surely, the implication is: no one is sufficient of
  Death is not a mere natural process of disintegra-        himself! And this is emphasized in the subsequent
tion. And it is surely not annihilation. Death is the       context: our sufficiency is of God  (35).
very opposite of life. It is disharmony with God. It
is the being cast out of the fellowship of God. Death         Yet this is not the emphasis in verse 17. The em-
means that God punishes. Death is the effect of             phasis is rather on the fact that not those who cor-
God's curse, the word of His wrath. It includes all         rupt the Word of God, not the hucksters of the
the suffering of soul and body which results from           gospel, not the men who make merchandise of the
that word of God's wrath.                                   gospel for their own benefit, not the men who
  Christ is a savour of death unto death! This is           preach to suit the fancy of their hearers, and who
evidently the meaning of this statement: Christ             therefore surely do not want to be a savour of death
through the minister of the gospel is the savour of         unto death, are sufficient unto these things.
death unto death.                                             But the true minister of the Word is sufficient -


                                           THE   STANDARD  BEARER                                             437



not with a sufficiency which is of himself, but with      vant, responsible to Him, not to men.
a sufficiency which is of God.                              He speaks in Christ, that is, not merely in the
  He is sincere. The reference is not to subjective       name of Christ, but in the sphere of Christ, so that
sincerity, so that he is sincere for his own mind. But    Christ dwells in him and speaks through him.
he is objectively sincere, that is, in harmony with         Only as such true ministers are we able to fulfill
the Word of God.                                          this humanly impossible task.
  He speaks "of God," that is, out of God, so that          And then we have the assurance that we are
from Him alone he receives his message, the               always a sweet savour of Christ unto God!
message of the Scriptures.                                  Thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to
  He speaks in the sight of God, that is, as His ser-     triumph in Christ!
EDITORIAL

              What Happens in the "Moment"
                                   of the Preaching?
                                              Prof. H.C. Hoeksema



  This third and last special issue for the current       given text than some young pastor who is fresh out
volume-year is devoted to the general theme of            of seminary? Why must a veteran minister, who
preaching. The treatment of this theme is not ex-         might be a more capable preacher than the man at
haustive: much more could be written than what is         the podium, listen to the preaching of the Word?
here presented. We tried to choose various signifi-       Why must our congregations listen to the preaching
cant and pertinent aspects of our general theme and       of the same old Heidelberg Catechism year after
asked various staff-members to write on these,            year? Why is it not as spiritually beneficial to stay at
leaving the manner of treatment and the particular        home with a good book of sermons on Sunday
emphasis tothe individual contributors. I think you       morning as to attend church and to hear the
will agree that a surprising unity emerged from this      preached Word?
somewhat random effort.                                     The answer to all such questions  - and they
  It fell to me as editor to introduce the subject of     could easily be multiplied  - lies in the answer to
preaching as a means of grace, and especially to          the question: what happens in the "moment" of the
emphasize the importance and significance of the          preaching?
preaching of the Word. I will do so from the view-
point of the question which forms the title of this         What is preaching?
editorial. Our Protestant Reformed Churches place           "Preaching is the authoritative proclamation of
a strong emphasis on the preaching of the Word, an        the gospel by the church in the service of the Word
emphasis, I dare say, which is not found in many          of God through Christ." (Herman Hoeksema,
places today. It is an emphasis,, too, which is by no     Refowned  Dogmatics,  p. 637) The writer distin-
means disconnected from our peculiar history and          guishes four elements in this definition: "1) Preach-
doctrinal struggle, particularly in connection with       ing is authoritative proclamation. 2) It is the proc-
the theory of the gospel as a well-meant offer of         lamation of the gospel, that is, the whole Word of
salvation.                                                God, as revealed in the Scriptures. 3) Preaching is
  Why is the preaching of the Word important - in         proclamation of the gospel by the church: for only
fact, indispensable? Why is it necessary that God's       the church is able to send the preacher. 4) Preach-
people faithfully attend to the preaching of the          ing stands in the service of the Word of God
Word on the Lord's day? Why is it necessary for a         through Christ: for only Christ, through the Spirit,
man of 70 or 80 years old to come to church and           can make the preaching of the Word powerful and
listen to the preaching of the Word which he has          efficacious as a means of grace."
heard from early childhood, when it is entirely             Now all these elements belong together. But it is
possible that he knows as much or more about a            in the fourth element that we have the answer to


438                                          THE   STANDARD  BEARER



our question: Christ Himself speaks through the            that the preaching of the Word is indispensable for
preaching! About this  Reformed Dogmatics  explains:       the child of God. He  must  hear it. He cannot do
  I, . . . Through the preaching it pleases God            without it. Without it there is no faith and no salva-
through Christ, the exalted Lord, the Chief Prophet        tion.
of God, Who alone gathers His church, to speak to            It is crucial for us to remember this in our day.
His people unto salvation. This is very evident from         In general, preaching has fallen upon evil times
Romans 10:14, 15. In this passage we read, accord-         today. One may debate about the reasons for this.
ing to the original: `How shall they believe in Him        Is it due to the fact  .that preaching itself first
Whom they have not heard?' Through the preach-             deteriorated in quality, departed from the Biblical
ing, therefore, you do not hear about Christ, but          norm for preaching, so that those in the pew
you hear Him. The difference is easily understood.         became disillusioned and lost their desire for the
When you hear about someone, he is not present.            true preaching of the Word? Or is it due to a lack of
You do not hear his own voice, but the voice of            spirituality on the part of those in the pew, so that a
someone else who tells you something about him.            lack of real desire for the true preaching of the
But when you hear someone, you hear his own                Word triggered a downgrading of the importance
voice. He is present with you. He is addressing you        and necessity of sound preaching to which the
personally. And this is the sense of the passage           pulpit catered? Usually these two have gone
from Romans which we just quoted. The text                 together in history, and the one feeds on the other.
teaches us that you cannot believe in Christ unless
you have heard Him speak to you, unless you have             But regardless of the reasons, the fact remains
heard His Word addressed to you. This is exactly           that preaching has fallen upon evil times. More and
the meaning of the text: `How shall they believe in        more the preaching of the Word is pushed into the
Him Whom they have not heard?"'                            background, and it receives an even smaller place
                                                           in public worship. All kinds of other things are in-
  One more quotation from  Reformed Dogmatics              troduced and allowed to take the place of preach-
will clarify this important point: "The word of man        ing. A favorite in many circles is the devising of
is not sufficient to serve as a means of grace or as a     elaborate and largely meaningless liturgies. In some
basis for that certain knowledge whereby I know            instances the preaching of the Word is almost en-
that all my sins are forgiven me, and for that perfect     tirely displaced. Besides, even where there is some
confidence whereby I rely in life and death on my          small place left for the sermon, the preaching itself
faithful Savior Jesus Christ. What we must hear is         has sadly deteriorated both in form and content.
not the word of man, but the Word of God, which            Either the preacher strives to be "relevant" and
`is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-         busies himself with social issues and engages in
edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder         human philosophy. Or the preaching has become
of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and      just plain cold and dry and dead, and God's people
is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the          are offered stones for bread.
heart. Neither is there any creature that is not             Whatever the case may be, the situation in
manifest in His sight: but all things are naked and        general in the church today is that one must travel
opened unto the eyes of Him with Whom we have              long and far to hear sound, faithful, lively, Re-
to do.' (Hebrews  4:12, 13) We must hear Christ            formed preaching of the Word.
Himself addressing us personally. But how shall
they hear this Word unless they hear it from Him-            Against this general tendency and trend we must
self, unless they hear the voice of Christ? And how        be on guard, lest we begin to lose this precious gift.
shall they hear this Word without the preacher?              The first responsibility in this respect lies with
This is the point of the text in Romans 10:14, 15 . . .    our pastors. They must understand that they have
A preacher is not a person who merely speaks con-          no more important task in their ministry than to
cerning Christ, but one through whom it pleases            preach the Word, to expound the Scriptures, and to
Christ Himself to speak and to cause His own               do so antithetically.
voice to be heard by His people. The thing that mat-         In the second place, our elders have a duty in this
ters in any sermon is whether we hear the voice of         respect. They must take the oversight of the
Jesus say: `Come unto Me and rest;' whether we             preaching and of the preacher. They must not be
hear Him say, `Repent and believe,' whether His            passive in this regard, but very insistent that the
voice resounds in our deepest soul, `Your sins are         preacher fulfill his calling faithfully. And they must
forgiven, and I give unto you eternal life."'              also be assistants, so that they free the preacher
  This is the answer to our question: what happens         from other tasks in order that he may give priority
in the moment of the preaching?                            to his primary calling, namely, to preach the Word.
  This is the one factor which accounts for the fact         In the third place, our congregations have a call-


                                            THE   STANDARD  BEARER                                           439



ing also. They must faithfully attend to the preach-       not do without it. And they must, with the elders
ing of the Word: it is indispensable! Do not deceive       and the minister, guard the pulpit, in order that it
yourself in this respect: you and your children can-       may remain strong and sound and pure.



          The Organic Character of Preaching
                  in the Sphere of the Covenant
                                                 Rev. T. Miersma


  The subject of this article, preaching in the              It is so in the first place because the covenant
sphere of the covenant, is a matter of critical impor-     itself must be conceived of organically. It is not a
tance for us as Reformed believers. The definition         mechanical and artificial contractual arrangement
we give to that preaching in the sphere of the cove-       or agreement, but the living communion and fel-
nant goes to the very heart of our distinctive             lowship of God with His elect, established in
Reformed heritage. It sets us apart as Protestant          Christ. It is a relationship of fellowship and friend-
Reformed churches from other Reformed chur-                ship, a Father-son relationship in  the  Son, Jesus
ches. Historically this matter of preaching in the         Christ, and through the Spirit of adoption. The
sphere of the covenant lies at the root of our expul-      elect, as they stand in the counsel of God's cove-
sion from the Christian Reformed Church in 1924            nant and as they are gathered in time, are not a
over the theory of common grace and the  well-             mere collection of individuals or mechanical parts,
meant offer of the gospel. It lies also at the root of     arbitrarily chosen, but a church, the body  of Christ
the controversies in our churches in the early             having design and purpose, in which each in-
1950s. Our view of the covenant and our view of            dividual elect child of God is's living member. That
preaching go hand in hand. And that exactly                covenant household manifests itself as the body of
because preaching is the chief means of grace.             Christ in the world, the gathering of elect believers
  No church exists merely on the basis of rejection        and their elect seed, having one center and one
or negatives. It is not simply our rejection of the        head from which her life flows, Jesus Christ. That
theory of common grace, or of the general offer of         church is known only by faith, for it is a spiritual
the gospel, or of the conditional or Heynsian view         reality and cannot be seen with the physical eye.
of the covenant, which binds us together as chur-            In its visible manifestation as the church in-
ches. Rather, it is the positive principle of the          stitute, that organism includes within it a carnal
organic character of God's sovereign grace and             seed. These are the hypocrites and reprobate who,
covenant. It is this which shapes our preaching in         like dead branches, `appear on the vine and are
the sphere of the covenant.                                mixed with the church. Though outwardly includ-
                                                           ed in the sphere or environment of the church, they
  What is meant by that term organic? That term            have no part in her true life, drawing no goodness
today tends to convey the idea of something which          or grace from the vine. It is to that church that the
is physical, such as organic gardening. Indeed the         Word of the gospel comes organically, addressing it
term does draw a picture from the realm of the             as it exists in the world.
physical creation of a fundamental spiritual reality,
though the reality which it pictures is spiritual, not       The preaching of the gospel must necessarily par-
physical. The term refers to a living unity such as a      take of that organic character of God's work, for its
vine, a tree, or human body, as opposed to a               content is the Word of God. That Word of God is
mechanical or artificial unity, such as an auto-           itself an organic unity, the one Word and revelation
mobile or other mechanical device. Just as a living        of God in Jesus Christ. The Scriptures are not a
creature, an organism, is more than a machine,             mechanical unity, but are the organic, living revela-
with a higher unity and a richer oneness than a            tion of God as the God of His covenant in the face
merely mechanical combination of parts', so that it        of Jesus Christ. That Word is addressed to the
has one life uniting all its parts and so that it grows    church through the preaching as the chief means of
and develops, so also the work of God is an organic        grace.
unity. Such is preaching in the sphere of the cove-          The means of grace, both the special means of
nant. It is organic in character.                          the preaching and the sacraments, and the broader


       440                                        THE   STANDARD  BEARER



       means of grace must be conceived of organically;         must not be conceived of as some mechanical pro-
       and, among them, the preaching is central. For all       cess, like climbing steps. It is but a logical descrip-
       the other means of grace find their center in the        tion of the one organic work of God by which God
       preaching. To it the sacraments are subordinate,         establishes His covenant with us. So also the
       confirming the Word preached. The life of the            believer's growth in grace and assurance in his ex-
       church, the societies, catechism classes, the com-       perience is an organic process. God works that
       munion of saints, find their center in the preaching     grace in connection with the means of grace in har-
       of the gospel of Christ. So also does the life of the    mony with the life of the child of God, so that
       believer, in his own Rible study, in devotions in the    children of the covenant are normally regenerated
       home, in his instruction of his children at home and     in early infancy and grow in the consciousness of
       in the Christian school. All the means of grace find     their salvation and assurance of election. So also
       their center in the preaching of the Word in the         God works that assurance in our hearts, not by
       midst of the body of Christ. They are an organic         fixed, mechanical steps, or mystical conversion ex-
       unity in the life of the organism of the church, at      periences, but organically, through growth in
       the center of which stands the preaching of the          grace. This is the norm in the sphere of the cove-
       gospel of Jesus Christ. By that preaching, Christ        nant and church, even as a more sudden conver-
       through the Spirit speaks to His people, and the         sion may be found on the mission field.
       Lord our God dwells with us and tabernacles
       among us.                                                  God's work is, from beginning to end, organic in
~                                                               character, and such must be the preaching in the
         That Word of the gospel is necessarily particular;     sphere of the covenant. Therein lies the error of
       it is not grace for all. In harmony with the organic     every attempt to make God's grace common or
       character of the church and the preaching, the           general. It is a fundamental denial of the organic
       sound of that gospel does indeed reach the ears of       character of preaching, of salvation, of the church,
       all that hear in the sphere of the covenant, coming      and of God's covenant. For he who would teach
       with the command to repent and believe, but the          that the grace of God is common to all, or offered to
     promise of salvation is particular and uncondi-            all, must conceive of God's covenant mechanically,
       tional, for the elect alone, who by their union with     and of the church, not as an organism, but as a
       Christ in eternity and time are Christ's body. By        mere collection of individuals, each receiving the
      that preaching the vine is nourished and built up         promise. Only thus is it possible to maintain that
       and branches are grafted in. It is also a savor of       salvation is offered to each individual upon the con-
       death unto death to the reprobate, for by it dead        dition that he accept or reject it, or to all the bap-
       branches are also pruned away, for, being par-           tized. Only then can the promise be made general
      ticular, the preaching must also be distinctive and       and objectively for all. The church and covenant
       antithetical.                                            then must be divided into those who are half-way
         In the second place the preaching partakes of the      and those who are fully in the gracious life of the
      organic character of God'swork because by it there        vine, Jesus Christ. Preaching can no more address
      is growth and development. The preaching of the           the body of Christ organically, but must divide the
      word must edify. That term organic emphasizes not         church into converted and unconverted, believing
      only the living unity of God's work, but, as in a liv-    and unbelieving. The preaching then must ap-
      ing creature there is always growth and develop-          proach the congregation as so many individuals
      ment, so also under the preaching of the Word             thrown together, as marbles in a bag. Preaching
      there is an organic fruit to that preaching. By it the    becomes individualistic, and the unity of the gospel
      church and covenant of God grow and develop.              and of the means of grace are lost. Preaching
      The elect are gathered in the generations of God's        focuses upon the individual, his faith, his ex-
      people, and through the work of missions new              perience, his progress in assurance. The particulari-
      branches are grafted in.                                  ty of the promise addressed to the elect as the body
                                                                of Christ is lost and replaced by the particularity of
         In the same way in the life of the individual elect    the individual. Preaching becomes subjective,
      child of God there is an organic work of God in con-      person-centered.
      nection with the body of Christ and the preaching
      of the Word. In the work of grace in salvation, we          There is a danger for us in this as Protestant
      make a logical distinction in the application of the      Reformed people. Individualism is a step on the
      cross of Jesus Christ to His elect and speak of that      road to  Ai-minianism.  The preaching of the gospel
      order as being immediate regeneration or union            in its organic character indeed addresses God's
      with Christ, saving calling through the preaching,        elect personally and individually, calling them by
      conscious faith and conversion, justification, and        name, but it does so organically in the context of
      sanctification. But here also the fruit of God's grace    the body of Christ. The preaching addresses us, not


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                               441



as mere individuals but as the church of which we         experience,  my  emotions,  my  personal practical
are personally living members. If then a sermon on        walk, then we must examine ourselves, for while
the glory of Christ and His church leaves us cold         the preaching of the gospel surely does all these
because we do not see how it speaks to us personal-       things, it does so always `organically as the church
ly, we are in deep trouble. If the preaching of the       of Christ in the world. Where the spirit of in-
doctrine of the Scriptures, which is all one in Christ    dividualism rears its head, Arminianism and
Jesus, and out of which our life flows, leaves us un-     mysticism follow, and the organic character of
moved, we are in, danger, in danger of losing the         preaching in the sphere of the covenant is lost, and
organic unity of God's work. If we are discontent         with it, our Reformed heritage.
with the preaching unless it addresses my faith, my



         The Applicatory Aspect of Preaching
                                              Rev. Ron Cammenga



  Preaching is the chief means of grace. Although         to be impaled on the horns of this unbiblical
the preaching is foolishness to those who perish, it      dilemma. It is impossible to separate practical and
is, says the Apostle in I Corinthians  1:18, "the         doctrinal preaching. You cannot have the one
power of God" unto salvation. The same Apostle            without the other. They are two sides of one and.
declares in Romans  lo:17 that faith  - that fun-         the same coin. There can be no truly practical
damental blessing of salvation by means of which          preaching that is not at the same time doctrinal and
all the other blessings of salvation are received  -      that arises out of the doctrines of the Word of God.
faith "cometh by hearing.". Because he understood         At the same time there can be no thorough preach-
the importance of preaching himself, Paul exhorted        ing of the doctrines of the Word of God, if those
the young minister Timothy in II Timothy 4: 1,2: "I       doctrines are not brought home to the people of
charge thee before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ,        God in their implications and applications to every-
Who shall judge the quick and the dead at His ap-         day life in the world. Doctrine itself is practical,
pearing and His kingdom; preach the word; be in-          useful not only for this life, but also for that which
stant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, ex-      is to come.
hort with all longsuffering and doctrine."                  The preaching must be practical. There must be
  The preacher must preach Christ crucified, and          application in the preaching. This is so because the
the grace of God in the crucified Christ for elect,       Word of God itself is practical, full of application to
repentant sinners. Christ must be preached, what          the lives and conduct of the people of God. You
Christ has done in the past, what Christ does in the      have only to think of the practical nature of the
present, and what Christ shall do in the future.          Book of Proverbs. The apostle Paul in every one of
What must be preached is the gospel, the "good            his epistles was at pains to bring out the application
news." But at the center of this gospel, its heart and    of the gospel to the lives of the believers, whether
core, is Christ, His Person and work.                     they were husbands or wives, parents or children,
  This preaching of the gospel must be practical.         employers or employees, slaves or masters, kings
There must be application in the preaching to the         or subjects. In II Timothy  3:15-17, the classic
hearts and lives of the hearers. This must not be ap-     passage in the Bible on the truth of the inspiration
plication that is artificially tacked on to the end of    of Holy Scripture, the Apostle states that the pur-
the sermon, perhaps the "third point." But this           pose of God in giving us the Bible is the practical
must be application that runs through the preach-         purpose "that the man of God may be perfect,
ing. The practical implications of the message of the     throughly furnished unto all good works." In III
gospel must be brought home to the people of God          John 4 the Apostle states that he has "no greater joy
throughout the sermon.                                    than to hear that my children walk in (the) truth."
  There is a great deal of discussion today on the        Notice, the Apostle's great joy is not that his
matter of practical versus doctrinal preaching. A         spiritual children know the truth, but that they
cleavage is made between these two, and we are            walk in the truth.
made to choose for the one or the other. We refuse          The Lord Jesus Himself paid much attention to


442                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



application in His preaching. One has only to run            II Timothy 4:1, 2 is the charge to preach the Word
through His Sermon on the Mount to see that this is          "with all longsuffering and doctrine." And the
so. In that sermon the Lord applied the principles           Apostle warns in the immediately following verses
of the Gospel and kingdom of God to such subjects            that the time is coming when men will no longer
as persecution, Christian witnessing, hatred of the          endure sound doctrine but shall turn themselves
brother, divorce and remarriage, the swearing of             away from the truth and shall be turned unto
oaths, giving of alms, prayer, anxiety concerning            fables. The Apostle was talking about our day. We
the future, judging, and a host of other practical           must reject, therefore, the movement for "prac-
subjects. At the end of that sermon Jesus issued the         tical" preaching at the expense of sound, doctrinal
warning, "Not everyone that saith unto Me, Lord,             preaching. Ministers, elders, and congregations
Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but            must not cave in to the pressures of this movement,
He that doeth the will of My Father which is in              even when that pressure is applied by members of
heaven" (Matt.  7:21). Exactly because this is true,         their own congregations.
the preacher in his preaching must aim, not simply             But there is a second danger, equally real, that
at the knowledge of the will of the Father by the            we must also avoid. That is the danger of allowing
members of the church, but at their doing of the             the preaching to degenerate into abstract discus-
Father's will.                                               sions of dogma. Then the preaching becomes dry,
  Always there are two dangers that the preacher             scholastic, and theoretical, rather than lively, prof-
and the faithful church of Christ must avoid. The            itable, and full of application to the people of God.
first danger is that there be an emphasis on prac-           This is the danger of dead orthodoxy. It is
tical preaching completely detached from truth and           preaching which, although in itself orthodox, does
doctrine. Then the preaching degenerates, as so              not have the profit and practical usefulness of
much preaching has in our day, to trite moralisms            God's people in view. The needs of God's people,
and superficial homilies on how to live a happy and          their situations and circumstances in life, are left
successful life. Those who cry today for practical           out of view as the preacher uses the worship ser-
preaching are not so much interested in the                  vices to impress his hearers with all  -of the fine
thorough-going application of the truths of the              points of theology that he has mastered and with
gospel to everyday living as they are motivated by a         his own theological and intellectual abilities. We
hatred for the doctrines of the Word of God. This is         must have none of this kind of preaching. It is
the kind of preaching under which so many                    preaching which neither brings glory to God, but to
languish today and which has so impoverished the             the preacher himself, nor serves the edification of
church today. This is the kind of practical                  God's people.                    -.
preaching which has no explicit foundation in the              Martin Luther once warned the young men
doctrines of Scripture and which does not flow               whom he was instructing for the ministry:
forth as the necessary implications of the doctrines
of Scripture. This is the kind of preaching that                   Divinity consists in use and practice, not
establishes no firm foundation and solid basis for              in speculation and meditation. Everyone
the Christian life in the world. Those who sit under            that deals in speculations, either in house-
this kind of preaching "are destroyed for lack of               hold affairs or temporal government, with-
knowledge" (Hosea  4,:6), and become those "tossed              out practice, is lost and worth nothing.
to and fro, and carried about with every wind of                When a tradesman makes his account, how
doctrine" (Eph.  4:14). Their children grow up ig-              much profit he shall reap in the year, but
norant of the Reformed faith and the fundamental                puts nothing in practice, he trades in vain
truths of the Word of God.                                      speculations, and finds afterwards that his
                                                                reckoning comes far too short. And thus it
  If, therefore, the preaching is to be truly prac-             goes also with speculating divines, as is seen
tical, if there is to be solid application in the preach-       to this day, and as I know by experience.
ing, the preaching must first of all be doctrinal. Al-
though the purpose of the Scriptures is the practical          John Calvin was in agreement with Luther in
purpose "that the man of God may be perfect,                 warning against cold, abstract discussions of dogma
throughly furnished unto all good works" (II Tim.            which did not have the profit of the hearers in
3:  17), the very first thing that the Scriptures are        view. In one place he writes:
profitable for according to the previous verse is                  What advantage would there be if we
doctrine: "All Scripture is given by inspiration of             were to stay here half a day (in church,
God, and is profitable for doctrine . . . .  " Only be-         R.C.) and I were to expound half a book
cause Scripture is first of all profitable for doctrine         without considering you or your profit and
is it also profitable for the practical life of good            edification? What advantage if I were to
works of the believer. Paul's charge to Timothy in              speculate vainly and treat many things con-


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                        443



    fusedly? Everyone would return home as he                             All believers are reminded that when
    had come to the sanctuary, and that would                       they are faithfully instructed in the word of
    be to profane the word of God to such an                        God their souls are cultivated and im-
    extent that it would not serve us purpose-                      proved. Have we come here (to church,
    fully. What then is necessary? We must                          R.C.) to be true disciples of God? Then let
    direct everything we say to a certain goal.                     us allow the ploughshare of His word to cut
    And when we treat a matter, we must speak                       into us and the thorns and brambles be
    pertinently, we must know how to strip ir-                      plucked from us. When an area is left to lie
    relevant material from our subject, and                         fallow and waste, much hoeing is required
    there must be no confusion.                                     to get all the noxious roots out. It is likewise
  If preaching is to be practical and of application                necessary for God to probe the very depths
to the people of God, the preaching must bring                      of our heart, to purge all wicked affections,
home sharply the warnings, rebukes, and exhorta-                    all our thoughts. It is then that the  plough-
tions of God's Word. This is practical preaching;                   share of His word passes through us. In this
this is the need of the hour. Today God calls                       way we verily learn that the gospel is a
preachers, as He called Isaiah the prophet in the                   sharp sword which is bringing about the
Old Testament, to "cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy                death of our old nature, as Saint Paul says.
voice like a trumpet, and shew My people their                      When we are shown our vices, made
transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins" (Is.              ashamed of them, convinced of our error
58:l). There is a hue and cry today for practical                   and of the judgment of God, let us not be
preaching. Do those who make this cry the loudest                   angered, but rather humbled, by them. In so
really know that for which they are asking? In                      doing we shall be good pupils of God.
many cases, they do not. For practical,  applicatory              As churches we ought to be grateful to God for
preaching is preaching that exposes the sins of                 preserving among us the pure preaching of His
God's people, preaching that is painful. Often those           Word. Let us continue to recognize the great impor-
who cry the loudest for practical preaching are also           tance of the faithful preaching, and not go in the
the first to complain when the preaching  is  prac-             direction of so many today who disparage and
tical, so practical that it steps on their toes.               replace the preaching. Let the preaching continue
  But this is the kind of preaching that is truly              to be solidly doctrinal, preaching that sets forth the
practical, and that aims at the profit and usefulness          whole counsel of God. At the same time let it be
of God's people. IV-s striking that when the apostle           practical preaching, preaching that applies itself to
Paul charges Timothy to preach the Word, he                    the life and calling of God's people. In this way the
defines the preaching of the Word in very negative             Word of God will show itself to be profitable
language: "reprove, rebuke, exhort . . .  " (II Tim.           among us "for reproof, for correction, for instruc-
4:2). Practical preaching exposes the sins of God's            tion in righteousness: that the man of God may be
people, calls them to repentance and conversion,               perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works"
and points out to them the way of gratitude for                 (II Tim.  3:16, 17).
their salvation from God. Calvin writes:



            Preaching as a Key of the Kingdom
                                                    Rev. G. Van Bar-en



  Jesus Himself speaks of the "keys of the king-                  The reference above is not to be limited to Peter
dom" when He addressed Peter in Matthew 16: 18,                and his supposed successors, the popes of the
19: "And I say also unto thee, that thou art Peter,            Roman Catholic Church. The authority conferred
and upon this rock I will build My church; and the             upon Peter is in effect given to the church of Christ.
gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will         The church is built (not on Peter but) upon the con-
give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven;              fession Peter made: Thou art the Christ, the Son of
and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be               the living God. It is that church, built upon the
bound in heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose               truth Peter expresses, that exercises authority
on earth shall be loosed in heaven."                           known as "key-power."


444                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



   Keys are mentioned elsewhere in Scripture  - at          are really forgiven them of God, for the sake of
least four times in the book of Revelation. Christ          Christ's merits; and on the contrary, when it is de-
possesses the keys which control hell and death             clared and testified to all unbelievers, and such as
(Rev. 1: 18); He has the key of David; His angel has        do not sincerely repent, that they stand exposed to
the key of the bottomless pit (Rev. 9: 1; 20: 1).           the wrath of God, and eternal condemnation, so
   The Heidelberg Catechism defines the keys in             long as they are unconverted: according to which
Lord's Day 31 when in question and answer 83 it is          testimony of the gospel, God will judge them, both
taught: "What are the keys of the kingdom of                in this, and in the life to come."
heaven? The preaching of the holy gospel, and                 The preaching, then, is the key which brings
Christian discipline, or excommunication out of the         elect, repentant sinners into the church  - and
Christian church; by these two, the kingdom of              keeps in the  .church these same repentant sinners,
heaven is opened to believers, and shut against un-         assuring them ever of the forgiveness of their sins
believers." They keys are identified as two:                through the blood of Jesus. But also, the preaching
preaching of the gospel and Christian discipline.           testifies to all impenitent and ungodly that they
   Keys are connected with binding or loosing, ac-          have no part in the body of Christ and will be cast
cording to Christ's instruction. The keys, then,            forever into hell - so long as they are unconverted.
function both to open and to close. That is true for          The preaching is a key of the kingdom all of the
any key which can open or close a lock on the door.         time. Preaching does not become a key at certain
A key with its lock can shut so that one who is             times and under some circumstances. The preach-
within will be kept within, and one who is without          ing is not just instruction at one time, and at
will be kept without. There are those who might             another time a key. The whole of the preaching is
want to leave the church - but are kept in through          and must be a key of the kingdom of heaven. Even
the faithful use of the keys. But there are those           as the gospel is preached, as Christ crucified is set
without who might want to join the church for               forth, that preaching effectively serves as a key of
wrong reasons  - the keys serve to keep such out.           the kingdom of heaven.
But also the key can open - that those without may
be brought within the church, and that those                  Preaching is not only a key of the kingdom, but it
within who show they hate the Lord, may be put              is  the  key. Christian discipline, also a key of the
outside of the church.                                      kingdom, is subservient, to the preaching of the
                                                            Word. Where the Word of God is purely pro-
  It is this twofold function that the preaching of         claimed, there Christian discipline will also be
the Word must also serve.                                   faithfully practiced. But where the Word is not pro-
  John Calvin in his  Institutes  associates the con-       claimed faithfully, one finds that Christian
sciousness of the forgiveness of sin with the  key-         discipline also is not correctly exercised. Both
power exercised by the church. He states, "First,           preaching and discipline are keys, but the latter
that whatever holiness may distinguish the.                 follows out of the former.
children of God, yet such is their condition as long          That key of the preaching is essential in the
as they inhabit a mortal body, that they cannot             church for the gathering of God's elect. In setting
stand before God without remission of sins.                 forth sin and deliverance, the preaching is used to
Secondly, that this benefit belongs to the Church;          bring elect sinners to the cross of Jesus. And that
so that we cannot enjoy it unless we continue in its        same preaching gives hope and assurance to those
communion. Thirdly, that it is dispensed to us by           who confess their union to their Savior Jesus
the ministers and pastors of the Church, either in          Christ.
the preaching of the gospel, or in the administration
of the sacraments; and that this is the principal ex-         Just what takes place in the preaching which
ercise of the power of the keys, which the Lord has         makes of it a key? We must not, of course, misun-
conferred on the society of believers. Let every one        derstand. A key is not such only because it con-
of us, therefore, consider it as his duty, not to seek      demns and berates sin. Some might have that im-
remission of sins any where but where the Lord has          pression. It might be thought that if the preaching is
placed it" (Vol. II, p. 295).                               not pointing the finger at certain individuals, con-
  The Heidelberg Catechism similarly explains               demning publicly their sins, it is not serving well as
preaching as a key: "How is the kingdom of heaven           a key. That whole idea has been made somewhat of
opened and shut by the preaching of the holy                a joke too. Who has not seen the cartoons which
gospel? Thus: when according to the command of              have parishioners pointing at each other with the
Christ, it is declared and publicly testified to all and    claim that the preacher was referring to them?
every believer, that, whenever they receive the               The preaching must serve as key in a far broader
promise of the gospel by a true faith, all their sins       sense. Most important, it is God's way of  instruct-


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                              445



 ing in the truth of His Word. Preaching is a proper        sins. The beauty of the gospel repels the impenitent
 key when it presents the full-orbed gospel. It sets        sinner. It "turns him off." He hates having his own
 forth, as Paul emphasized, Christ and Him cruci-           sins identified and condemned. He hates the idea of
 fied. The preaching presents the whole of the truth        the cross  - which presupposes the reality of sin
 - not just certain aspects of it. The preaching, in        and necessity of deliverance. He hates a God Who
 presenting Christ crucified, must set forth the            is just and holy. He desires to continue in his way
 truths of sovereign predestination  - both election        of sin (though he seeks to escape the temporal
 and reprobation. It presents the "limited" atone-          penalties of his sin). Those who are within the
 ment of the cross. It emphasizes the irresistible          church, who are not elect of God, turn away. The
 character of the grace of God. It sets forth the sure      time comes when these forsake the church and
 preservation of God's people. And all of this em-          openly embrace their way of sin. Those without,
 phasizes the Sovereignty of God Who has eternally          want nothing to do with that church and its pro-
 determined all these things to His own glory.              claimed Word. These will persecute, mock,
    This same preaching emphasizes the thankful             threaten, and even kill any who proclaim that
 walk of the converted. It points to that holiness          Word. So does the key of the preaching keep out or
 which God requires in those who have been turned           send out those who have no part in the kingdom of
 from darkness to the light. The preaching must             God.
 point out that straight and narrow way of life. It can       In presenting the positive truths of Scripture, the
 never allow one to think or say that he lives as he        preaching surely condemns all error and every sin.
 pleases in sin  - since he is forgiven anyway.             It does not allow the sinner to remain comfortable
   The preaching, then, as a key must instruct con-         in his sins. The preaching must point out what is
 cerning the wonder of the work of our God as seen          displeasing to God; what merits His eternal wrath.
 in Christ - and show what are the necessary fruits         The preaching must do this when it runs counter to
 of that work in our own lives.                             government and its decrees. It does this when it
                                                            must condemn even prominent or wealthy men.
   Then a wonderful thing is seen. This key opens           The preaching is surely antithetical. It presents the
 up vistas of grandeur before the elect sinner:' He         positive and negative. It sets forth truth and con-
 who was in great darkness, who saw no hope - is            demns the lie. Thus does it serve God's purpose as
 brought before the light of God as this shines forth       a key of the kingdom of heaven.
 through Jesus Christ. The sinner is brought to
 repentance and is given the assurance of deliver-            God is pleased, thus, to gather His elect people
 ance through Jesus' work. One finds this sinner on         and bring them into the body of Jesus Christ. His
 his knees, crying out for mercy which is assured           purpose is served through the proper use of the
 through the cross. The elect sinner recognizes his         key: preaching.
. . former state: he was a dead sinner. He knows that         God does so that He may deal with men as ra-
 there is forgiveness of sin for him and the promise        tional, moral beings. He does not take man as stock
 of life everlasting. The key of the preaching does         or block. He confronts man with His Word. He
 this when the Spirit applies that to the heart. The        reveals, through that, the wickedness of the hearts
 "key" locks the elect sinner within the kingdom of         of the reprobate. He works in the hearts of His elect
 God. He knows that there he belongs.                       repentance and confession. In this way the Sover-
   But also something dreadful is seen. This same           eign God accomplishes His eternal purpose  - but
 preaching serves to harden the reprobate in his            in a way that man is without excuse.



                        The Address of the Gospel
                                                   Prof. H. Hanko



    The question of the address of the gospel is not        ministers, who wish to be relevant, to begin a wor-
 merely a question of whom the minister, who hap-           ship service with words such as, "Good Morning,"
 pens to occupy the pulpit on a given Lord's Day,           or, "How are you today?" We cannot properly
 happens to speak to when he preaches. It is, at least      answer the question of address unless we  under-
 in part, this wrong idea which leads modern-day            stand, first of all, that Christ speaks through the


446                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



preaching of the gospel. The minister who occupies           We must, therefore, proceed from the assump-
the pulpit does not speak in his own name or on            tion that the gospel is the authoritative Word of
behalf of himself; he speaks in the name of Christ,        Christ which He speaks through His chosen and ap-
as Christ's ambassador, as Christ's mouthpiece, so         pointed ministers and in which He announces the
that, through the preaching, Christ Himself ad-            glad tidings of salvation. He speaks through the
dresses those who are assembled to hear.                   gospel in such a way that the gospel is, to use Paul's
   This is clear from many passages of Scripture. In       expression in Romans 1:16, "the power of God un-
the beautiful description of the relation between          to salvation." Christ accomplishes the sovereign
Christ, the Good Shepherd, and Christ's people, the        purpose of God through the preaching in saving His
sheep, Jesus repeatedly refers to the fact that He         church, His elect people whom He has redeemed
calls His sheep by name and they hear His voice            through His own precious blood.
(John  10:3, 4, 16). In II Corinthians  5:18-20 Paul         To whom then is the gospel addressed?
speaks of himself and his colleagues as ambassa-             The answer to this question must be: to t e
dors for Christ, "as though God did beseech you by                                                               %
                                                           church. That this is true is evident from all the a -
us . . . " In Romans 10, Paul claims that it is im-        dresses of the epistles which were written to con-
possible to be saved except through the preaching          gregations:  " . . . to all that be in Rome, beloved of
because, through the preaching, people hear Christ         God, called to be saints . . ."; ". . . unto the church
Himself: "How then shall they call on Him in               of God which is at Corinth . . .  ";  ". . . unto the
Whom they have not believed? and how shall they            churches of Galatia . . .  ";  ". . . to the saints which
believe Him Whom they have not heard? and how              are at Ephesus . . .  "; etc.
shall they hear without a preacher?" (vs. 14).
   The question is, therefore, not: whom does the            But having said this, we have not answered the
minister address when he preaches? but: whom               whole question. What is meant by this address to
does Christ address when He preaches through the           the church?
minister? To whom does Christ speak when the                  It must be emphasized first of all, that the church
Word is preached? To whom is the authoritative             is emphatically addressed. The Word is not brought
Word of God, the "Thus saith the Lord!" addressed          to an audience, to hearers, or to listeners, as was
when the gospel is officially proclaimed?                  sometimes maintained, also in Reformed churches.
                                                           In the Protestant Reformed Churches, and in many
  The answer to this question depends in large             Reformed churches of the Dutch tradition, the ser-
measure on one's idea of the nature of the                 vice is begun with the words, "Beloved in our Lord
preaching. Other articles in this issue will deal with     Jesus Christ," or, "Beloved congregation in our
this question, so we need not go into it in detail. But    Lord Jesus Christ." This is correct, and must be em-
it is interesting to note the close relationship be-       phasized.
tween these two questions. In more liberal circles,
where the gospel is considered to be little else than        But it will be argued that the congregation which
a learned discourse on some subject which strikes          assembles on the Lord's Day certainly does not con-
the fancy of the speaker, the hearers are considered       sist of elect exclusively, but has in it many hypo-
to be only an audience of people who assembled to          crites, unbelievers, and unconverted people. As
hear the oratory of the one whom they have hired           long as the church is here upon earth, it remains
to run the affairs of the church. In Arminian circles,     impure, tares are present with the wheat. How then
the audience is considered to be a group of people         can the minister speak these words?
who have to be persuaded to accept Christ as their           The answer lies in the truth that the church is ad-
personal Savior, for the gospel is an expression of        dressed as organism. While we cannot go into this
Christ's desire to save everyone, but the decision         matter in detail, (see my book, We and Our ChiZdren,
rests with the hearer. Where the gospel is viewed as       which deals at length with this question), the point
a sincere and well-meant offer, the hearers are            is that Scripture always views the church in this
looked upon as potential recipients who must be            present world as an organism. That is, the church is
shown the great benefits of accepting the offer so         to be compared, e.g., with a vine (Ps. 80, John
that Christ becomes their possession.                      15:1-8),  an olive tree (Rom. 11:16-24), a body (I Cor.
  Closely connected with this is the idea that the         12), etc. This organism includes in it "branches"
audience consists, at least for the most part, of un-      which must be cut out, which, while part of the
converted, who, it is hoped, will come to some con-        organism as it grows and develops, nevertheless are
version experience while sitting under the preach-         pruned away. Or to use another figure of Scripture,
ing. It is interesting to note that in every case the      the church is like a wheat field which, when the
question of addresses is determined by the                 wheat is ripe, is harvested. The straw and chaff,
character of the  gosnel itself.                           which served the wheat while the plant was grow-


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                              447



ing, are now burned with fire when their purpose is         sharply and angrily when we need to be shaken
served. So it is in the church. Within the church as        from our lethargy or called back from our ways of
it is manifested on this earth, carnal seed is always       sin; sometimes He  chastizes, for we need the
present. As Jesus explains in the parable of the            "stick" because of our stubborness. But always His
wheat and the tares (Mt.  13), this will always be          Word is sufficient for every need, and He Who
true, and must be true. This does not mean that             knows our needs far better than we do, can bring us
there is not a separation. When the branches which          His Word to fit that need.
bear no fruit manifest themselves as such, they are           It is in this connection that we face the question
cut off. When the harvest comes, the wheat and the          so often faced in the Reformed church world: is the
tares are finally separated. And so it is in the            congregation addressed as converted or uncon-
church. But the whole organism is called a "vine,"          verted? Or, perhaps, are there two addresses of the
an "olive tree," just as the church is called "Be-          gospel: one to the converted and one to the uncon-
loved in the Lord Jesus Christ." It was `in this way        verted? The answer to this question depends a great
that the prophets in the Old Testament could ad-            deal on what one means by "conversion." If by
dress the nation of Israel as a whole, though "not          conversion one means "unsaved," that is quite dif-
all who are of Israel are Israel" (Rom.  9:6). Some-        ferent from what is meant by it in the Heidelberg
times these words were words of judgment; then              Catechism. In Lord's Day  XxX111,  the Catechism
again words filled with promise and hope. This              speaks of conversion as a "crucifying of the old
simply cannot be understood unless it is under-             man and a quickening of the new man." Very ob-
stood that the prophets spoke to the nation as an           viously, this Lord's Day implies that the new man
organism, but always from the viewpoint of God's            is already present in those who need conversion;
eternal purpose with that nation.                           and it therefore looks at conversion from the view-
                                                            point of the daily conversion of the child of God.
  This is also the reason why the epistles are ad-          Just because a child of God carries his old nature
dressed to the church, the elect of God, saints in          with him all his life in this world, he must daily
Jesus Christ. That there were evil men in these             crucify his old nature and quicken the new man in
churches is evident from Paul's letters to the Gala-        Christ. Surely, in this sense of the Word, the gospel
tians and Corinthians, men who needed to be ex-             is addressed also to the "unconverted." This is also
communicated, in fact. Nevertheless, though the             emphasized in the Heidelberg Catechism in Lord's
apostle was aware of this, he still addresses these         Day  XXX1 when the preaching is said to be one of
congregations as the church of God. And, it ought           the keys of the kingdom when it declares "to all
to strike our attention that these same congrega-           unbelievers, and such as do not sincerely repent,
tions also included children. This is evident from          that they stand exposed to the wrath of God, and
the fact that several of them (see, e.g., Ephesians         eternal condemnation, so long as they are uncon-
and Colossians) include specific admonitions to             verted." And it is because of this that, if there are
children. They are included in the "church," the            those who are unsaved in the audience, the gospel
"elect of God," the "sanctified in Christ Jesus."           comes to them also with the demand to repent and
  This leads us to the second point that needs to be        believe, or suffer the wrath of God against sin.
made. While the church of Christ is addressed as              All of this is, of course, the address of the gospel
"Church," "saints," "elect," etc., nevertheless,            within the established church. On the mission
they are addressed as saints who still live in this         field, the address is somewhat different. There no
world and who are, -therefore, still sinners. They          congregation has yet been formed and no church of
are addressed by Christ their Shepherd, as they             Christ is manifested. Then it would be wrong to ad-
walk in the pathway of this life with all its trials and    dress those who have come to hear as, "Beloved in
sufferings, with all its temptations and burdens, but       our Lord Jesus Christ." This would not fit. On the
also with all the sins into which the saints fall and       mission field, the address of the gospel is to the un-
from which they need deliverance and rescue.                saved, the unconverted in the absolute sense of that
Thus, the address of the gospel is not a distant,           word. Then the truth of the gospel must be
abstract, and impersonal matter; it is Christ speak-        preached so that the promises of the gospel are dir-
ing to His people according to their needs in their         ected to those who believe, and the judgments of
own particular walk in life. It is for this reason that     God's wrath are pronounced upon those who re-
the gospel comes to God's people with all manner            main in their sins.
of instruction. Sometimes it comes with instruction
in the truth as it is the revelation of God in Jesus          There is one more point, finally. The gospel is ad-
Christ, for this is the good news of the gospel; some-      dressed in a very personal way to God's people. In
times Christ speaks words of tenderness and com-            John 10, where Jesus compares His relationship to
fort to ease our sorrows; sometimes He speaks               His people as the relation of a shepherd to his


448                                        THE STANDARD BEARER



sheep, Jesus speaks of the fact that He calls His        to them in the consciousness of this need. It is in
own "name by name." This is interesting and im-          this way that the gospel comes directly to them and
portant. Quite obviously, Jesus does not call them       they hear the voice of their Shepherd speak to them
by the names which are given them of their               personally. Crushed beneath the burden of sin,
parents. There is nothing in the preaching of this.      weary with the greatness of the burden of life, they
But He calls them by their spiritual names: names        hear their Savior say to them personally, "Come to
such as "laboring and heavy laden" (Mt.  11:28),         Me, and I will give you rest." They hear their own
"thirsty" (Is.  55:1, Rev.  22:17), burdened by the      name called by the Good Shepherd, and they come
crushing load of sin, sorrowing, etc. And He does        to follow Him in Whom alone is life and salvation.
this because, on the one hand,. He Himself creates       It is this hearing which is the hearing of faith (Rom.
this great need within their hearts by the work of       10:17, Heb.  4:2).
His Holy Spirit, and, on the other hand, He speaks



                     Proper Catechism Preaching
                                                Rev. C. Hanko




  Ever since the renowned Synod of Dordt                 cle 68 of the Church Order, that "the minister shall
1618-19, it has been the official stand and practice     on Sunday.explain briefly the sum of Christian doc-
of the Reformed churches to preach on the Heidel-        trine comprehended in the Heidelberg Catechism
berg Catechism at least once on Sunday in the            so that as much as possible the explanation shall be
public worship.                                          annually completed, according to the division of
  The Heidelberger is one of the Three Forms of          the Catechism itself, for that purpose."
Unity, which were composed after the great Refor-          Now, three. and a half centuries later, our
mation of the sixteenth century and adopted by the       Catechism has fallen upon evil days, in which
Synod of Dordt as the official expression of the         many in the pew have become "ticklish of
truth of the Scriptures. These Confessions serve the     hearing," and the "people perish because of lack of
valuable purpose of expressing the unity of the          knowledge." One objection that is raised is that no
faith and preserving it for the future generations.      creed may replace the divinely inspired Word of
Moreover, they serve as a witness of the confes-         God. Another is that the creeds are too doctrinal
sional basis of the Reformed churches to those out-      and lead to dead orthodoxy and cold formalism.
side. And, also, they serve as a defence of the truth    Still another, that the Catechism is dated. It may
over against the onslaughts of false doctrines that      have served its purpose at the time and under the
arise against us.                                        circumstances in which it was written, but we now
  The delegates of the famous Synod declared,            live in a different time and culture in which it no
"that the Catechism of the Paltz (where it was first     longer finds a place. Finally, a repeated treatment
adopted), adopted by the churches in the Nether-         of the same material year after year becomes
lands some time ago, and having been taught for          wearisome for both the minister and the audience.
some time, should be carefully examined, and each        As a result, an increasing number of churches no
delegate should state whether there is taught any-       longer preach the Catechism regularly, in spite of
thing in this Catechism that might appear to be          the Church Order.
contrary to the Word of God. Accordingly, all the          All these objections necessarily fall away if we
questions and answers have been thoroughly read,         properly understand and practice what is proper
and each delegate was asked to express sincerely         Catechism preaching.
his own opinion concerning the doctrine taught             This Book of Instruction may never be placed on
therein" (Acts of Synod, page 147).                      a par with the holy Scriptures. We must always be
  As a result, all the delegates expressed their         deeply aware of the fact that the Bible is the divine-
wholehearted agreement with the Confession,              ly inspired, infallible, and authoritative Word of
promising to preserve this truth for the generations     God, while the Catechism is a product of men. We
to come. For that reason the Synod declared, in Arti-    may grant that the same Holy Spirit, Who inspired


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                              449



holy man to write the Word of God infallibly, also        Already in this respect our Catechism distinguishes
guided the fathers into the truth of God's Word.          itself from that of the Arminians, which speaks of
Even at this late date we can only marvel at their        the  greatest comfort. The Arminian seeks out from
deep insight, conciseness, and clear formulation of       among many comforts the one that he considers the
the truth of the Scriptures. One would certainly be       greatest. The Reformed fathers know of only one
very reluctant today to attempt to formulate a new        comfort, that is all inclusive, for body and soul, for
Confession or even to Ury to improve on the Heidel-       time and eternity. In speaking of this only comfort,
berger. Yet the fathers never intended to add to the      it strikes at the very heart of the gospel, declaring
Scriptures or to introduce new doctrines apart from       that this only comfort rests in the fact that, "I am
the Scriptures, but only to formulate the truth of        not my own, but belong to my faithful Savior Jesus
the Word of God in such a way that it can serve as        Christ." We hear the echo of Paul's confession,
instruction for the covenant youth as well as for the     "For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain."
adult members of the church. It is for that reason        Christ is for me the only possible mediator and
that we find Scriptural references alongside each         Savior, Christ is in me the power that saves, and
question and answer, showing how the statements           Christ works through me, that I may walk in thank-
made are based entirely on the Word of God. The           fulness before my God. This only comfort is, there-
Catechism serves as a guideline that leads us             fore, further described as consisting of three parts:
deeper into the truths of Scripture, which are able       The knowledge of how great our sins and miseries
to make us wise unto salvation.                           are, the knowledge of how we are delivered from
                                                          those sins and miseries, and the knowledge of how
  The preacher must not engage himself in  ex-            to show true thankfulness to God for that
egeting each Lord's Day, as he does with the texts        deliverance. It is this appeal to our faith that has
of Scripture. His purpose is not to expound what          always made the Catechism a cherished Confession
man has said about the Bible, but to follow the           for the church, not an appeal to faith as a mere feel-
direction of the fathers in delving ever deeper into      ing, or sentiment, but to faith as a certain
the glorious treasures of the Word. If necessary,         knowledge and an assured confidence.
although he must do so with spiritual sensitivity
and discretion, he may criticize the Catechism,             This triple knowledge comes to us from the
something that he may never do with the Word of           Word of God. We meet this repeatedly in the
God. He may add other proof-texts to those already        Psalms, as, for example, in Psalm 32, 51, 116, and
given, and may certainly expand on the truth ex-          130. This is also implied in very many passages of
pressed in the Lord's Day beyond that which is            Scripture, such as the repeated statement, "The just
given to us, as long as he remains faithful to the        shall live by faith." Moreover, this is the thought
Scriptures. It is not proper to preach on an isolated     that pervades Paul's epistle to the Romans. It is
text in connection with the material before him,          significant that this same threefold distinction of
even though the urge may sometimes arise to do so,        the knowledge of our misery, of our deliverance,
since he is presenting to the congregation the truth      and of our thankfulness recurs in both our Baptism
as revealed throughout the Scriptures. The minister       Form and in the first part of our Communion Form,
of the gospel is never bound by the Heidelberger,         which deals with our self examination. In order to
but he is bound by God's holy Word. He must               do justice to these three elements, the preacher
preach the truth of the gospel as presented to us in      must not separate the three, preaching first on our
the questions and answers of the Catechism,               misery, then on our deliverance, and finally on our
always making sure that he preaches the entire            gratitude, as if the believer passes through these
counsel of God, so that no particular doctrine is ig-     three stages one at a time, lingering either in the
nored or neglected.                                       first or the second phase, and possibly never reach-
                                                          ing the third. It is the believer who already in the
  The Catechism lends itself very well for use in         first Lord's Day confesses that he enjoys the only
the pulpit. It is arranged in questions and answers,      comfort in life and death and daily experiences all
in which the instructor raises the question, and the      three elements of that comfort. He knows the
catechumen, or the believer, answers it. Often the        misery of his sin, guilt, and depravity, he knows
questions are as rich in content as the answers, if       also that he is delivered from the bondage of sin
sometimes not more so. The experiential, subjec-          and death, so that he can live in the gratitude of
tive approach is certainly advantageous. While our        belonging to his faithful Savior Jesus Christ, in
Belgic Confession and our Canons treat the truth          Whom is all his salvation.
from a doctrinal aspect, the Catechism voices the
faith as it lives in the heart of the child of God and       As is evident to all who are acquainted with the
as it becomes a reality in his life. The theme is:        Heidelberger, the 129 questions and answers are
Comfort. The  onZy comfort in life and in death.          divided into 52 Lords Days, with the intention that


450                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



one Lord's Day shall be treated each Sunday, and            There is an inexhaustible number of viewpoints
the entire Catechism discussed in one year. The           in which the various Lord's Days can be treated, in
fathers had in mind, not only a faithful preaching of     order to enrich the content of the sermons from
the Catechism throughout the year, but also the im-       year to year. The material can be treated under the
portance of repetition, in order that the members of      heading of comfort, faith, God's covenant, atone-
the congregation might be thoroughly indoctrinat-         ment, justification, sanctification, and many others.
ed in all the fundamental truths of Scripture, but        The minister who faithfully expounds the truth of
also that they might. pass these truths on to the         the Scriptures according to the guidelines of our
future generations. Our Church Order states that          Book of Instruction will tell you that he never
the minister "shall on Sunday explain briefly the         grows weary of repeatedly preaching through the
sum of Christian doctrine. . . , so that as much as       fifty-two Lord's Days. In fact, he will assure you,
possible the explanation shall be annually com-           that no matter how often he may go through the en-
pleted." This limiting clause, "as much as                tire Catechism, be it twenty or more times, he
possible," proves to be rather important, since           always sees new vistas of the truth opening up
every minister finds that special occasions that fall     before him, even amazing him that he has never
on Sunday, such as special holidays, communion            seen them before. The Catechism preaching is inex-
services, and similar instances prevent holding           haustible, because Scripture is inexhaustible. Also
firmly to the rule every single Sunday in the year.       members of the congregation who have sat for
Besides, there are some Lord's Days that include so       years under this preaching will assure you that they
much and such varied material, that it is simply im-      always enjoy hearing the Word proclaimed from
possible to do justice to it all in one sermon. I have    the aspects of the various subjects brought up in
in mind such Lords Days as III, where man's crea-         our Book of Instruction. This is true, partly because
tion, fall, and depravity are treated together, and       they are acquainted with the Catechism, and partly
also Lords Day XXI, which not only deals with             also because the truth of Scripture is always new to
three different subjects, but is also the one occasion    them. It is like drinking fresh waters from the eter-
where the minister has a wonderful opportunity to         nal streams of living water that flow to us from
point out the truth of God's sovereign predestina-        Christ, Who is the Water of life. Where the Word is
tion. A faithful servant of the Lord will not neglect     preached, where sound doctrine is proclaimed, the
any opportunity to present to the saints in Christ        abundant fruits of grace will surely be in evidence,
Jesus the full counsel of God in all its riches and       for God commends His blessing there.
fulness.



                    Preaching and Pastoral Care
                                            Prof. Robert D. Decker




  No one can deny that there has been a shift in          one two-hour course for one semester in Poimenics
emphasis with regard to the office and task of the        which is "the art and science of Pastoral Care."
minister of the Word over the past decade or two.         Preachers spent the bulk of their time in their
In the Reformed tradition the emphasis has always         studies working with their Hebrew and Greek
been on the preaching of the Word. The office of          Bibles preparing to preach and catechize. Aside
the minister was considered to consist chiefly in the     from visiting the acutely ill in the hospitals and
preaching. The aim of Reformed seminaries (our            comforting those who had lost loved ones, very lit-
own included) was to train good preachers. Most           tle time was spent in pastoral care. Annual family
seminarians had as their goal to become good              visitation was emphasized. There was little or no
preachers. The seminary curriculum emphasized             time at all for counseling. Today all this has
courses in Biblical exegesis from the original            changed. The seminary curricula of today (also in
languages of Scripture, Dogmatics, Homiletics, and        Reformed seminaries) offer major courses of study
Practice Preaching. Scant attention was paid to the       in the area of Pastoral Care. Not a few students
subject of Pastoral Care. For over fifty years our        prepare not to become preachers but to become
own Theological School offered its students only          full-time Pastoral Counselors. Our own Protestant


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                              451



Reformed preachers are increasingly called upon to        by Christ. By means, therefore, of the official
deal with not only the sick and sorrowing but those       preaching of the Word by the church the voice of
who have other problems. Preachers are called             Christ is heard. Preaching is indispensable to salva-
upon to devote more and more time to counseling           tion By means of preaching Christ gathers all
the mentally ill, those with problems in their mar-       whom the Father has given Him out of the world
riages, habitual drunkards, disobedient children,         into the marvelous light of Gods fellowship. This
and more. People, and to a certain extent this is         same truth is emphasized in Ephesians  4:11, 12
becoming true in our churches too, regard the             where Scripture teaches that the ascended Christ
minister as a professional counselor rather than a        gave pastors and teachers to the church. This is one
preacher of the Word.                                     office, viz., pastor-teacher. The shepherd (pastor) is
                                                          primarily a teacher. He shepherds the flock by
  It is not-our purpose to discuss the question why       means of teaching, i.e., by means of preaching. By
this shift in emphasis has occurred. There may be         this means the church is made perfect, edified, kept
many reasons for this, some valid, most not. No           free from error, made to grow up into Christ.
one, however, can deny that there has been one            Preaching is, therefore, the chief means of grace
practical and deleterious consequence arising out         and, for that very reason, the chief mark of the
of this shift of emphasis from preaching to counsel-      church as it exists in the world.
ing: the preaching of -the Word has suffered. This
fact has produced still another deleterious effect:         Pastoral care may be defined as the art of,the of-
most of the counseling done in our day is no longer       ficiaZ care of the members of the church. The nour-
rooted in the Word of God. This obviously means           ishment and oversight of the church by Christ, the
that God's people suffer. For this reason it is well      chief Shepherd, through the office of the ministry
that we examine anew the office of the minister of        of the Word is meant. Pastoral care most em-
the Word. What is preaching? What place ought it          phatically belongs to the office of the minister of the
occupy in the church? How ought a minister con-           Word. There is a double significance to this fact.
ceive of his task? What is pastoral care? What place      For the pastor this means he must care for the
ought this occupy in the church? How are preach-          sheep of Christ in the consciousness that he is first
ing and pastoral care related?                            of all a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Great
                                                          Shepherd of the sheep. The pastor functions by the
  Preaching is "the authoritative proclamation of         grace of Christ, for the sake of Christ, and in the
the gospel by the church in the service of the Word       service of Christ. The people of God, on the other
of God through Christ" (Herman Hoeksema,                  hand, must be aware of the fact that the pastor
Reformed Dogmatics,  p. 637). A fundamental tenet         cares for them as the representative of Jesus Christ.
of the Reformed Faith has always been that preach-          The fact that the pastor is the servant of the Lord
ing is the chief means of grace and, therefore, the       Jesus Christ determines how the pastor cares for
chief mark of the church of Jesus Christ. This must       Christ's sheep. His labor is spiritual. This means
not change! Jesus taught us that His sheep hear His       pastoral care centers in the Word, the Word of God
voice (John 1027). This is one of the distinguishing      in Christ according to the infallible Scriptures. The
marks of the sheep of Christ. They hear His voice.        success or failure of the visiting of the members of
This is as true today as it was when Jesus uttered        the church does not depend upon the personality or
those words. God's people, the sheep of Christ,           the sociability of the pastor, but upon whether or
hear the voice of Christ. How is this possible? The       not he comes as the pastor with the Word of God.
answer is, by means of the preaching of the Word.         The pastor does not offer the members "helpful
This is the plain teaching of the Word of God. Scrip-     hints for good living." He must not approach the
ture says, "For whosoever shall call upon the name        people of God with his own or other men's ideas.
of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call      The pastor comes always and only with the Word
upon Him in Whom they have not believed? and              of God. In all his pastoral work, when he visits the
how shall they believe in Him of Whom ("of" does          sick, comforts the sorrowing, encourages the down-
not appear in the Greek, R.D.D.) they have not            cast, conducts family visiting, or deals with any of a
heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?        host of special problems, the pastor must always
And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as        bring the Word of God. Nothing less, nothing more!
it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that    The Word of God applies to all of life. It is the lamp
preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of     unto the feet of God's people and the light to their
good things!" (Romans 10: 13-15). This passage            path. So strongly did the late Prof. George M.
teaches that in order to call upon the name of the        Ophoff believe this that he wrote in his mimeo-
Lord and be saved one needs faith. In order to            graphed syllabus on "Poimenics": "The minister of
believe, one must hear Christ. In order to hear           the gospel, then, has authority to preach because he
Christ (His voice), one needs a preacher who is sent      is called; and it is the Word of Christ  that he must


452                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



preach. Only in so far as the pastor identifies              must be faithfully preached in all its power and
himself with the Word of Christ, does he actually in         beauty. This must have priority in the minister's
the sight of Christ rule the church, lead, supervise,        life and work. Only where the Word is faithfully
and teach and admonish and exhort and feed the               preached is pastoral care possible. The minister
flock - in a word, shepherd the flock. It is this, not       must allow nothing to deter him from diligently
the pastor, but the Word of Christ that rules and            and prayerfully preparing week after week to go to
feeds. Individual soul-care is nothing else than             the pulpit and say to God's people: "Thus saith the
preaching the Word to the individual sheep of                Lord!" Only when, by God's grace, he is faithfully
Christ" (p. 2.).                                             preaching can he function as pastor.
  At this point the question which must be                     Understanding this fundamental principle we
answered is: what is the relationship between                may also understand how preaching and pastoral
pastoral care and the official preaching of the              care are to be distinguished. In preaching, the em-
Word? It is our firm conviction that Scripture and           phasis is on the  prophetic  aspect of the ministry,
the Reformed Confessions teach that pastoral care            while in pastoral care the emphasis is on the priest2y
is an integral, i.e., essential, constituent part of the     aspect. Preaching in the very nature of the case is
task of the church. Without it the church suffers.           more general, while pastoral care is more specific.
This is precisely the difficulty experienced by vacant       Preaching comes to congregations; pastoral care
congregations even though the pulpits of these con-          has to do with individual members of congrega-
gregations may be supplied without interruption.             tions. Preaching is the  pubZic  proclamation of the
But, the question is: in what way is pastoral care           Word; pastoral care is the private application of the
related to the preaching; and, how is pastoral care          Word.
to be distinguished from preaching?                            Finally there is a reciprocal relationship between
  Let it be clearly understood there can be no               the two. Preaching makes pastoral care possible,
pastoral care apart from the preaching of the Word.          but pastoral care also enhances the preacher's ef-
Preaching is the power which makes pastoral care             fectiveness. It is through his pastoral contacts that a
possible and fruitful. Perhaps we could put it this          pastor gets to know "the face of the sheep." This
way: pastoral care begins in the pulpit! It is by            enables the pastor to adapt his preaching to the
means of the preaching of the Word that Christ, the          peculiar needs of the congregation. On the other
Good Shepherd, cares for His sheep. All true                 hand, pastoral care is the specific application of the
preaching, therefore, must be pastoral in nature.            preaching of the Word. In a very real sense,
The Word of God instructs, comforts, warns, ad-              pastoral care brings the pulpit into the homes and
monishes, encourages, and strengthens God's peo-             private lives of God's people. But, let it be stressed
ple. It reveals the truth which makes them free              once more: without the preaching of the Word
from sin and death and enables them to begin                 there can be no pastoral care. Let the pastor be first
already in this life to live according to all the com-       a preacher. The rest, including effective and fruit-
mandments of God (John  8:32;  Heidelberg Cate-              ful pastoral care, will follow.
chism,  L.D. XLIV, Q., A. 114). This Divine Word



                    Preaching and Our Children
                                                Rev. James Slopsema



  A big thing in the Reformed community today is             ly of no profit for them. Better that for this part of
children's church. The children are present at the           the service they do something more meaningful
beginning of the worship service with their parents.         and worthwhile.
Buy just  @prior to the sermon the children-are  dis-
missed to another part of the building. And while              This practice certainly is not the pattern set by
the adults hear the preaching the children are               the Scriptures.
engaged in various other  spiri&ral  activities. The           It's quite apparent that children were present in
reasoning behind this is the idea that the preaching         the multitudes that followed Jesus during His earth-
is far above the heads of our children and thus real-       ly ministry. Children not only witnessed Jesus'


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 453



miracles; they also heard His preaching. This is evi-        this carnal seed. However, born to believing
dent for example on both occasions when Jesus fed            parents is also an elect, spiritual seed. And the
a large multitude with just a few loaves and fishes.         covenant of God is definitely with them just as well
.In both instances we are told that there were so            as with their parents. It's in this sense that we say
many men, besides women and children (cf. Matt.              that our children are covenant children.
14:21;  15:38). In addition to this, there is at least         In the second place, we must bear in mind that
one instance where Jesus called a little child to His        our covenant seed, exactly because they are cove-
side and instructed His disciples that they must be          nant seed, are also born again, even as children.
as little children to enter the kingdom of heaven (cf.       The Bible gives every indication that within the
Matt. 18:2ff.). This also suggests that children were        sphere of the covenant our elect children are
never far from Jesus, even while He preached and             regenerated in infancy, perhaps even before birth.
taught.                                                      It's true of course that in infancy and early child-
  We find the same sort of thing in the book of Acts         hood our children are not conscious of this new life
with the preaching of the Apostles. The Apostles             they have in Jesus Christ. Nor does that new life
preached to whole households. Peter preached to              immediately bear fruit in their lives, at least not
the house of Cornelius, the Roman centurion (cf.             fruit that is discernible to us as parents. Neverthe-
Acts 10); Paul preached to the Philippian jailer and         less, the power of the new life is present, implanted
his house (cf. Acts 16:25-34). These households cer-         into their hearts by the Holy Spirit.
tainly included children. The Apostles hesitated not           We may view this new life in our covenant
at all to preach to the children along with their            children in much the same way that we view other
parents. The children were not dismissed because             natural gifts with which our children are endowed
what the Apostles had to say wasn't meaningful for           even at birth. At birth our children are endowed
them. No, the children were included because what            with the potential of speaking, singing, walking,
the Apostles had to say was also of vital importance         reading, writing, and a host of other essential
for them.          i                                         things. However, in early childhood our children
  Finally, we find the apostle Paul addressing               are neither conscious of these gifts nor are they able
children in his epistles to the churches. In  Ephe-          to use them. Our children become conscious of
sians 6:1-3 and Colossians  3:21 Paul addresses              these powers and are able to use them only through
children and exhorts them to obey their parents.             proper development and training. In much the
Quite evidently the apostle Paul by inspiration of           same way do our covenant children receive the
the Spirit expected the children of the congregation         power of the new life in Jesus Christ at birth.
to be present in the worship service while these let-          And this is extremely important with respect to
ters were not only read but also expounded in the            the preaching of the Word.
preaching.                                                     This means first that our covenant children will
  From all this it certainly ought to be apparent            be receptive to that Word. A person totally de-
that our children belong in the house of God from            praved, dead in sin, can only reject the Word of
Sabbath to Sabbath. And they ought not to be dis-            God and the blessed gospel of salvation. His only
missed from the rest of the congregation during the          response can be that of unbelief. He will have
sermon to do their own thing. They belong with the           nothing to do with Christ and salvation. A positive
congregation for the whole of the worship service,           response to the gospel, the response of faith,
also for the preaching.                                      necessitates a prior work of God's grace in the heart
                                                             to change it. It requires the gift of a new life. This is
  And there is good reason for this.                         true also with respect to our covenant seed.
  In the first place, we must bear in mind that our          Without the work of regeneration our children can
children are covenant children. God establishes His          only spurn the gospel. All efforts on our part to in-
covenant of grace in the lines of continued genera-          struct and lead them according to God's Word will
tions. Therefore we receive from the hand of the             be fruitless. However, being born again in Jesus
Lord covenant children. It certainly is true that not        Christ they not only are able to respond positively
all children of believing parents are true covenant          to the gospel; they will give such a positive
children. The Scriptures are very clear to demon-            response. This is also true with respect to the
strate that they are  no't all Israel that are of Israel.    preaching of the gospel in the house of God on the
Born into the church to believing parents is a               Sabbath day. The preaching will find receptive
twofold seed. There is the reprobate, carnal seed of         hearts not just among the adults of the congregation
whom it can only be said that they are in the sphere         but also among the children. How out of keeping
of the covenant. For the covenant of God is a rela-          then with the realities of the covenant to pull our
tionship and fellowship and is definitely not with           children out of the worship service just before the


454                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



preaching and deny them the very thing to which           must remember that the church is the gathering of
God has opened their hearts!                              believers  and their  se&d.  To that church he must
   In the second place, we must bear in mind that         bring the Word - not just to part of it but to all of it.
the preaching is also of utmost importance for our        This means, first, that the preacher must seek as
covenant children.                                        much as possible to make the preaching under-
                                                          standable to the children and young people of the
   The Bible everywhere elevates the preaching to         congregation. Now this is not always possible. To
an all important place in the life of the saint. The      feed the sheep of the flock with solid food often re-
preaching is THE power of God to salvation. It is         quires that the preacher go over the heads of the lit-
through the preaching that God works faith in the         tle lambs. Besides, one text or Lord's Day of the
hearts of His people. It is through the preaching         Catechism is easier than another to develop so that
that God also sustains His people in their faith. The     the children can grasp it. And for this reason the
Reformed believer has come to see that the preach-        churches in the Reformed tradition have instituted
ing is the chief means of grace. Without the lively       Catechetical instruction. Catechism instruction is
preaching the child of God can only flounder              the official instruction of the church designed
spiritually.                                              especially for our children on their own level of
   This is also true for our children. The preaching      understanding and comprehension. Nevertheless,
is not the chief means of grace just for adults; it is    the preacher must strive to make his preaching as
also that for children. The Bible makes no distinc-       intelligible as possible for the children and young
tion between adults and children when it comes to         people of the congregation. And he must also take
preaching. The preaching is the power of God to           care to apply that Word to the children and young
salvation to both young and old. More specifically        people. Children (just as well as adults) need to
in the case of children, God uses the preaching to        hear from the pulpit how the Word of God applies
bring them to the consciousness of the new life           to their lives and spiritual struggles. In this way the
they have in Jesus Christ. And He uses the preach-        preacher certainly will promote understanding and
ing to cause them to develop and mature in that           good listening with the younger segment of the
new life so that they one day are able to stand           church.
before the church and world to make public confes-          But parents also have a part in this.
sion of their faith in Christ. Certain it is that God
also uses other means which may not be neglected.           Parents must first of all impress upon their
God uses the instruction of the Catechism room for        children the need to listen to the preaching. All too
this purpose. He uses the instruction of the home         often the attitude of parents is that the sermon real-
and the Christian school. He uses many other              ly isn't for children but children ought to be there
means, as well. But at the heart of it all, God uses      anyway to develop the good habit of going to
the preaching to bring our children to faith and          church. The fruit of this is that children really
build them up in that faith. And so we do not             aren't interested in the preaching and make very
dismiss our children from the preaching during the        little if any effort to listen. Parents must rather see
worship service; we rather take care that they are        the importance of the preaching for their children
present.                                                  and constantly bring this importance before their
                                                          children.
  However, the preaching does not accomplish all
these wonderful things in the lives of our covenant         And parents must seek ways to promote under-
children in some magical, mysterious way. The             standing of the preaching on the part of their
mere physical presence of our children at the             children, which in turn will promote good listening
preaching does not benefit them spiritually. The          habits. This perhaps could be done by discussing
preaching is the power of God to salvation in their       with our children beforehand the text or Lord's
lives only to the degree that they listen and are able    Day that will be expounded in the preaching. This
to understand it. This is true with all the means of      certainly is possible to do when the Catechism is
grace. They benefit the child of God, young and           preached in the morning and the text for the even-
old, only to the degree that they are used in-            ing is announced in the bulletin. A few minutes
telligently.                                              with the children before going to church to ac-
                                                          quaint them with the passage to be expounded and
  Hence, both minister and parents must bend              a few questions for them to keep in mind that may
every effort to promote understanding and good            be answered in the preaching will go a long way to
listening habits for our children as far as the           promote understanding and good listening with our
preaching is concerned.                                   children. It would also promote the same things
  Certainly the preacher must remember the                with us as parents! It would also be profitable to
children of the congregation in his preaching. He         discuss the sermon after the worship service with


                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER                                                               455



our children. This will certainly make the sermon                     ly on their level, this will certainly encourage them
more intelligible to our children. If our children                    to listen more attentively to the sermon.
know that the sermon will be discussed in the fami-
                            News From Our Churches
                                                                                                                            July 9, 1984
  Rev. Heys, after being discharged from the                          Hoeksema gave a series of lectures on the covenant
hospital, returned to his home in Holland,                            in Blue Bell. Tapes are available to anyone who is
Michigan. Rev. C. Hanko was in  Ripon for a few                       interested, by writing to Candidate Ken Hanko, 305
weeks while Rev. Houck was recuperating from his                      Benson Manor, Jenkintown, PA 19046. There are
back ailment. In the latter part of June, Rev. Houck                  four tapes, and the cost will be $2.00 each.
had successful back surgery for the removal of a                         Rev. D. Engelsma has declined the call he was
herniated disc. He is now recovering rapidly and                      considering to our Loveland congregation. Lynden
will soon take up his labors again. His son, Jeremy,                  has formed a trio of the following ministers: Rev.
is also stabilized and enjoying home life.                            G. Van  Baren, Rev. D. Engelsma, and Rev. M.
  Rev. Arie and Sherry den Hartog write in a letter                   Joostens. Rev. W. Bruinsma will preach his
to First Church, May 2, "Last week we traveled to                     farewell sermon, D.V., on July 22, before this news
Trengganu Malaysia . 0 . As I told you before, their                  reaches you.
Lord's Day is on Friday because of the Moslem law                        The Consistory of Hull Protestant Reformed
of the land. So we preached for the church on Fri-                    Church has taken a decision that in the future,
day and spent the rest of the day in fellowship . . .                 along with each benevolent fund collection, they
The church is now pretty strongly in favor of asking                  will also have a second collection either for the
for help from the ERCS and probably in the prov-                      building fund or the organ fund.
idence of the Lord we will go up there again in the
future . . . Presently we are just introducing the                       First Protestant Reformed Church, at a congrega-
Reformed faith to the brethren there . . . .                          tional meeting in the last part of June, approved
                                                                      both proposals of the Consistory  - namely, those
   "For the information of our Singaporean friends                    concerning the building design and concerning the
brothers Fai Cheong and Leng Huat were elected as                     purchase of a pipe organ.
the new elders.                                                          South Holland's Council has decided upon the
   "On the 20th of May we shall have our first                        purchase of a home for Missionary Van  Overloop
multiple infant baptism in the church. Three baby                     and his family in Elk Grove Village. This house will
boys, Pastor Lau's, elder Johnson See's and ours.                     be bought by our Synodical Mission Committee.
  "The Blair road project is going along well. Plans                  The Council anticipates that Rev. Van  Overloop
for the renovation of the place are being drawn up                    and his family will be able to move into the area
by architects. Money for the renovation continues                     about August 1, and to take up his labor at that
to come in slowly. According to estimates, the place                  time.
should be ready for occupation and worship ser-                          The Church Order book of our churches has
vices some time later this year. Meanwhile, forty                     been published which includes: the Church Order
people have signed up for the formation of the new                    and pertinent decisions, Constitution of Synodical
congregation there. Two elders have also commit-                      Committees, and other worthwhile material. Order
ted themselves to the work there . . . We plan to get                 your copies from the Synodical Clerk for $6.00.
the committed people busy on various projects very
soon . . . .  "                                                          Synod will meet in Hudsonville, D.V.,*next year,
                                                                      the second Tuesday of June.
  In May, Rev. Jon Smith gave a public lecture in
Edgerton  at Runnals Hall on the subject of the                         Just in! Faith Protestant Reformed Church has
"Antichrist."                                                         formed the following trio: Rev. Engelsma, Rev.
                                                                      Bekkering, and Rev. Haak.
  During the early part of June, Profs. Hanko and                                                                                      DH

             RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                                        ANNOUNCEMENT!!
  The Ladies' Aid Society of the Hope Protestant Reformed Church         Ciassis East will meet in regular session on Wednesday,
of Grand Rapids, Michigan, expresses sincere Christian Sympathy to    September 12 at the Holland Protestant Reformed Church. Material
fellow-member Mrs. M. De Wald in the death of her brother, MR. T.     to be treated at this meeting must be in the hands of the Stated Clerk
STEINWANDT.                                                           at least three weeks prior to the convening of this session.
  "Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and He shall sustain thee: He                                                               Jon Huisken
shall never suffer the righteous to be moved." (Psalm 55:22)                                                                  Stated Clerk

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


                                                                -.
                                                          .
                                                       .._,                                         ., .-
                                                                      mA;Ey-m-- -
4     5      6                                                 II%-

                     WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                                                                     NOTICE!!!
     On August 14, 1984, the Lord willing, MR. AND MRS. DONALD                  ATTENTION ALL THOSE WHO RECEIVE AND ARE INTERESTED
DE  VRIES will celebrate 25 years of marriage. We, their children, are       IN THE STANDARD BEARER!
thankful to God for blessing us with Christian parents who gave us              This is the 60th year that the Lord has given us as Protestant
love and covenant instruction. May God continue to bless them and            Reformed Churches the blessed privilege to sound forth His glorious
be with them always.                                                         truth in THE STANDARD BEARER. We would like to commemorate
     All praise belongs to the Lord!                                         this occasion with a special night of praise to our Covenant God. Prof.
     "For of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things: to Whom       H.C. Hoeksema will be giving a speech in The Hudsonville Protestant
ke glory for ever. Amen." (Remans 1 1:36).                                   Reformed Church on the evening of September 27, 1984, at 8 P.M.
                                                 Neil and Connie Meyer       After the program there will be refreshments. Be sure to reserve this
                                                    Annette Kay              night.                                              James Koole
                                                 Miss Kathy De Vries                                                             R.F.P.A. Board Sec'y.
                                                                                                                                                          .
                                NOTICE!!!                                                     WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
     Classis West of the Protestant Reformed Churches will meet on              With gratitude to God, our parents and grandparents MR. & MRS.
September 5, 1984 in  Doon, Iowa, at  8:30 A.M. Material for the             TUNIS JANSMA will observe their 35th wedding anniversary, the
Agenda must be in my hands 30 days before the convening of                   Lord willing, on August 2, 1984. Prayers of thanksgiving ascend to
Classis.  Delegates in need of lodging or of transportation from the air-    our Heavenly Father for the years of love and covenant instruction
port should notify the Clerk of the  Doon Consistory.                        they have given us. May they continue to experience the blessings of
                                                  Rev. David Engelsma        our faithful God each step of their earthly pilgrimage.
                                                  Stated Clerk                  "0 taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that
                     ATTENTION TEACHERS!!                                    trusteth in Him." (Psalm 34:8)             Robert and Marlys Brands
                                                                             David and Diane Bonestroo                    Randall and Angela
     The Board of the newly forined Protestant Reformed Christian               Daniel, Doreane, Dean,                  David Griess and Rachel Jansma
School Society of Hudsonville, Michigan, is taking applications at this         Darren and Devin                        Terrance Jansma
time for a PRINCIPAL-ADMINISTRATOR with the view for opening
our school in September, 1985. Those interested, please send                                 WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
resume to Erv Kortering, Secretary Education Committee, 253 E.
.19th St., Holland, Michigan 49423.                                             On August 22, 1984, the Lord willing, our parents and grand-
                                                                             parents, MR. AND MRS. GEORGE HOEKSTRA will celebrate their
                                NOTICE!!!                                    40th wedding anniversary. We are ever thankful to our heavenly
                                                                             Father for the wonderful years they have had together and for the
              ATTENTION ALL W.F.P.A. SOCIETY MEMBERS!                        faithful covenant instruction they have given us. Our prayer is that
     The Annual Meeting of THE STANDARD-BEARER PUBLISHING                    they will continue to experience God's blessing in their remaining
SOCIETY will be held, the Lord willing, on September 20, 1984, at            years.
the Southwest Protestant Reformed Church at 8 P.M. Our speaker                  "So we Thy people and sheep of Thy pasture will give Thee thanks
will be Prof. Robert Decker. We urge all those who are members and           forever. We will show forth Thy praise to all generations." (Psalm
all who would like to become members to be there.                            79:13)                                        John and Floretta Engelsma
     The following men are up for nomination: John Cleveland,                Peter and Judy Hoekstra                       Bob and MaryLou  Vermeer
Jonathan Engelsma, Peter Faber, John De Vries, Henry Kamps and               Bill and Karen Pipe                           Marlin Hoekstra
John Kalsbeek, Jr. From these six men three are to be chosen.                Cornie and Edie Brummel                       Brian and Lois Dykstra
                                                  James Koole                George and Myrna Hoekstra                     Richard Hoekstra
                                                  R.F.P.A. Board Sec'y.      Ed and Brenda Hoekstra                          and 29 grandchildren
                            ON MEMORIAM
     On June 16, 1984, it pleased our faithful Covenant God to take                           WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
unto Himself our beloved husband, father, grandfather and  great-               On July 17, 1984, our parents, MR. AND MRS. CORNELIUS
grandfather, MEINDERT GAASTRA, at the age of eighty-five years.              PASTOOR, celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary. We, their'
     To know that we belong `to our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ in         children and grandchildren rejoice fhat our Gracious God has given.
life and in death is our only comfort.                                       them these precious years together.
     In times like these, we are thankful for the bond of fellowship and        We thank our Covenant God for their Christian example, constant
communion of the saints that only the children of God can ex-                love and patient instruction. We pray for our Heavenly Father's
perience.                                                                    richest blessings on them in the years to come.
     "Precious in the tight of the Lord is the death of  His saints."                                                              Carl and Mary Haak
(Psalm 116: 15)                                                                                                                       Bethany, Keri
                                            Ray and Carol Gaastra                                                                  Linda Pastoor
     Mrs. Susan Gaastra                     Otto and Mary Gail Gaastra                                                             Jane Pastoor
           Anne Lindeman                       17 grandchildren              Grand Rapids, Michigan                                Charles Pastoor
           Edwin and Clarice Gritters          18 great-grandchildren
                        STUDENTS NEEDED                                                REVISED CHURCH ORDER AVAILABLE
     At Synod 1984, the Rector of our Seminary expressed the con-
tinuing need for students. Synod hereby expresses this need to our              The revised Church Order Books are available in a loose-leaf
churches. We must continue to hold this high calling before our young        binder. Orders can be placed with the Seminary Bookstore, 4949
men with the prayer that the Lord will incline those of His choosing to      lvanrest Ave., S.W., Grandville, Ml 49418. Please enclose $6.50
the ministry of the Word.                                                    which includes shipping and handling.
                                                 Rev. M. Joostens,                                                              Rev. M. Joostens,
                                                 Stated Clerk of Synod                                                          Stated Clerk of Synod


