STANDARD
     BEARER
       A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE                                        .





.  .  . we live in a busy world and lead a busy
life. And there is a very real danger, both for
our family life and our congregational life,
that we more and more let our lives become
so crowded with mundane things which are
not necessarily wrong in themselves that we
reserve only a small portion of our time -
sometimes only the Lord's Day - for spiri-
tual things.
See I `Society Life in Our Churches"
                                                      - page 77


                                           Vol.  LXI, No. 4, November 15, 1984  -


                                                                                     I


74                                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER




                                                                                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER
                                   CONTENTS                                                                                ISSN 03624692
                                                                                                 Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July, and August.
                                                                                                  Published b the Reformed Free Publishing Association, Inc.
      Meditation  -                                                                                    SeconBClass Postage Paid at Grand Rapids,  Mich.
                                                                                       Editor-in-Chief: Prof. Homer C. Hoeksema
         Christian Contentment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .74           Deparhnent  Editors: Rev. Ronald Cammenga,  Rev. Arie den Hartog, Prof. Robert
      Editorials  -                                                                    D. Decker, Rev. Cornelius Hanko, Prof. Herman C. Hanko, Rev. Ronald Hanko,
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                                                                                       Lubbers, Rev. Thomas C. Miersma, Rev. Marinus  Schipper, Rev. James  Slopse-
         Society Life in Our Churches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .77                ma, Rev. Gise J. Van Baren, Rev. Herman Veldman.
         On Being a Shepherdess (A Satire) . . . . . . . . . . . .78                   Editorial  Office: Prof. H.C. Hoeksema
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MEDITATION


                                           Christian Contentment
                                                                          Rev. H. Veldman


                   "For I have learned in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content." Philippians 4:ll b

      What a truly remarkable and apparently contra-                                      them they possess; So, there are thousands who fail
dictory word this is, if we regard it from the aspect                                     to see any cause whatever for thanksgiving and
of the  .world's celebration of Thanksgiving Day!                                         happiness.
Imagine, to be content in whatsoever state I am! The                                          However, what a truly remarkable word we have
worlds conception of contentment is determined                                            here also from the viewpoint of the child of God!
by the things of this present time and the amount of                                      Remember, we have here the statement of a fact.


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  75



This is not a prayer, no expression of a desire which     is brought into perfect harmony with the outer
we express to the Lord, but a factual statement, a        state.
confession of the apostle. Besides, the apostle offers      Now we can understand that, because content-
us this statement that we should repeat it after him.     ment is exactly such an inner spiritual condition of
Are we able to do this? Should we change this             the heart, the apostle can write: I have learned in
positive confession into a humble prayer: Lord,           whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.
teach me to be content? Fact is, the human heart is       Many and various are the states of our life and ex-
very deceitful. And this lesson of our text (I have       istence in the midst of the world: high and low
learned) is surely not an easy lesson to learn.           estate, riches and poverty, health and sickness,
           * * * * * * * * * *                            freedom and imprisonment, etc. What an amazing
  Contentment is not merely satisfaction, the satis-      phenomenon it is always to be content! Inde,ed, this
faction of our carnal desire.                             assertion of the apostle is not a vain boast. He had
                                                          known adversity  - see II Corinthians  11:21-30.
  I, then, may rejoice in an abundance of things.         And notice what we read in the following verse,
The dispensations of the Most High over me do not         verse 12. Can we say this with the apostle? Shall we
always appear to be in agreement with my own will         not rather make a very humble confession? Shall
and desires. .It may then seem as though I can and        we not confess that we have only begun, in a very
do confess with the apostle that I have learned to be     small measure, to learn this lesson? And shall we
content  - however, upon closer and honest  self-         pray,  :`Lord, forgive us our murmurings and
examination I discover that my satisfaction and           grumblings, and teach Thou us to be content?"
contentment is a merely carnal rejoicing. Fact is,                  * *  *`* * * * * * *
one can be satisfied without being content and we
can be content without being  fatisfied.  Our satis-        This contentment is surely not possible of the
faction may be merely carnal; contentment is              natural heart.
always and truly spiritual. Satisfaction changes into       Let us look all around us for this grace of content-
dissatisfaction and grumbling as the external cir-        ment. Mind you, we are now' searching for an ex-
cumstances become less favorable while content-           pression of contentment. And this should not be
ment is constant and enables us to shout trium-           difficult. Nothing should be easier to` find, for it is a
phantly: I am content in whatsoever state I am.           fact that the peace and joy of a contented soul readi-
  Hence, contentment, which is a state of the heart       ly reflects itself in every part of that soul's mirror,
and one of the most beautiful of all Christian            the human face.
graces, is never dependent upon external things            And what do we find? On the one hand, you will
and circumstances. Let a man possess more than            see written upon the faces of some whom you meet
his heart could possibly wish - yet one cannot say        the expression of the self-satisfied fool, or traces of
that such a man is content. Things do not cause           long practiced gluttony and self-indulgence, the
contentment, even though they would satisfy one           gratification of ever increasing appetites. Then, you
to the full. On  the. other hand, let it be said of       will see the face of a greed that knows no bounds,
another that his affliction awaits him every morn-        or the drooping lines of unmistakable weariness
ing, that his condition is that of Lazarus in the         and depression of spirit, or also of fear and worry.
parable of the rich man and Lazarus, and the con-         On the other hand, you will see the faces of those
clusion would not necessarily be warranted that           that are deprived of the goods of this world, that
this poor man is filled with discontentment. Even         witness of worry and anxiety, of bitterness of spirit,
as things do not cause contentment, so the latter         dissatisfaction with conditions, or also of stoical in-
cannot be destroyed by the lack of these external         difference or submission to the inevitable. But in
things.                                                   vain does one seek for contentment.
  Contentment is the grace of perfect submission            And this is not all. We need not look around us in
- not forced submission but perfect submission. It        order to discover that the flesh, the natural man
is the grace of perfect equilibrium between our in-       does not possess this power of contentment in all
ner self and all our outward circumstances. It is the     conditions of life. All we need do is to inspect
inner quiet and peace of the sea while its surface is     ourselves. Fact is, the natural man is enmity against
tossed by storm and tempest. It is rest and peace         God and therefore foolish, deceived, serving divers
and perfect quietness of spirit, never grumbling          lusts and pleasures. It has departed from and
and complaining. Instead of allowing the lust of the      always departs from the Fountain, the overflowing
flesh to dominate and the carnal desire to reach out      Fountain of all good, in Whom alone our soul and
for more possessions and higher glories, content-         all our deepest needs can be satisfied. And having
ment always rejoices, because it is the grace where-      separated itself from the Highest God, apart from
by the inner self with all its desires and aspirations    Whom there is neither life nor bliss, it strives vainly


76                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



after a satisfaction of the flesh through the               wicked, without God, shall have no peace.
treasures and pleasures of this present evil world. It        And God's people? 0, the apostle does not say
rejects the eternal and seeks the temporal; it refuses      that he is content with all things, that he always
the heavenly and seeks the earthly; it despises the         was content in whatsoever state he might be; but he
things that are above and strives after the things          writes that he has learned it! It had been a spiritual
that are below. The conclusion is inevitable. How           lesson to him. He was content through the grace of
can the heart of man have peace as long as it has no        Christ that strengthened him, so that he was able to
peace with the living God? How can it find joy in           do all things; through Christ he knew how to
separation from the Fountain of eternal life? How           abound and how to be abased; yet, also for him life
can there be contentment as long as the heart of            had been a school and he had learned to be content.
man deceives him into a vain pursuit of the earthly,        He had also known the time when he had not been
leaving him stand in despair upon the hot desert            content with the angel that buffeted him; it was on-
sand of a world that is cursed because of sin? Do           ly in the way of repeated prayer and bitter exper-
not the Scriptures teach, emphatically, that the            ience that he had learned to know that God`s grace
wicked shall never have peace? God will not be              was always sufficient for him.
mocked. Apart from Him, in enmity against Him,
man can never find peace and rest.                            Shall it be any different with us? We are
                                                            delivered, indeed, in principle. We are, to be sure,
      Contentment is a spiritual power that is the fruit    partakers of the grace of Christ. And through that
of peace with God in our Lord Jesus Christ. I can do        grace we may indeed fix the eye of faith and hope
all things through Christ which strengtheneth me
-                                                           upon the things eternal, upon the inheritance incor-
      this is the secret of this wonderful power. For in    ruptible, undefiled and that fadeth not away. Risen
Christ we have peace with God. And having peace             with Christ, we seek the things that are above and
with God I know that God is for me. And if God be           not the things that are on the earth. And being justi-
for me, who or what can be against me? All things           fied by faith and having peace with God, we are
must work together in whatsoever state I am.                assured that God is for us and that He will surely
Through Christ I am delivered from the foolishness          give us all things with Christ. But, the flesh is weak,
of seeking the things that are below and from hav-          desperately weak. And the child of God is not
ing the world with all its pleasures and treasures.         perfectly delivered from the body of this death and
And then all the states of my present existence are         from the power of the flesh.
merely means to prepare me and lead me onward
to the state of final glory. The knowledge of- His            Hence, we must learn, always learn. We are
love in Christ Jesus is sufficient to create within my      always in this school. We must learn in watching
heart the peaceful joy of work together for my etier-       and in prayer that we may not fall into temptation,
lasting salvation, and all this for one who is deserv-      and we must learn frequently with bitter experi-
ing of everlasting death and ruin. What wonders of          ences and tears of sorrow. We must learn until we
the grace of God open up here for that saved sinner         shall have reached the end of our earthly pilgrim-
who, because of the eternal and unchangeable love,          age. Then contentment shall be perfected in eternal
has been called out of darkness into God's wonder-          satisfaction. Then we shall receive eternal glory
ful light! And the result of this grace of God? I am        and the liberty of the children of God shall have
content in whatsoever state I am.                           been realized forever.
            * *  * 8       *    * * * * *                     0, the wonderful grace of contentment!
      "In whatsoever state I am, I have learned to be         Only through Christ Jesus, our Lord.
content." Even though contentment is a spiritual              Ever learning, until finally we shall be perfect in
power, a gift of God's unspeakably rich and abun-           the day of Christ Jesus, our mighty Saviour and
dant grace in Christ Jesus, yet its actual experience       Lord.
and practical application in life is a lesson that must
be learned.
      Thus it is in the midst of the world. In the world               The Standard Bearer
one may meet with the attempt to imitate this prac-
tice of contentment. The Epicurean strives to main-                   makes a thoughtful gift
tain a proper balance between his desires and their
gratification by moderate self-indulgence. The stoic                  for the sick and shut-in.
makes a desperate attempt to harden himself
against all the suffering of this present time and to                Give the Standard Bearer.
meet all the evil of his life with profound contempt.
But all these attempts must surely fail because the


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  77



EDITORIALS
Prof H.C. Hoeksema




                    Society Life in Our Churches


  Some weeks ago a brother wrote to me about this            means of a visit or two each year by a committee of
subject, and asked me to editorialize about it at a          elders. For the rest, our societies are  free.
convenient time. He asked me to write about the                But  - and now I am getting to the meat of my
value of various weekly church meetings, but also            correspondent's request - it is precisely in the area
to touch on the question why our Church Order                of that free and voluntary character also that the
"completely ignores this important aspect of the             great virtue of these societies lies. For this means
organic church life."                                        that they lie in the area of the exercise of -the office
  Let me begin by answering the question concern-            of all believers. Because of this office and its anoint-
ing the Church Order. The answer is really sug-              ing, the congregation is not dependent ultimately
gested in my correspondent's question. He refers to          on minister or elders for instruction in and under-
"the organic church life." It is precisely in the fact       standing of the Word of God: "But ye have an unc-
that our various Bible study societies belong to the         tion from the Holy One, and ye know all things . . .
organic aspect of the life of the church that the            But the anointing which ye have received of him
reason lies why our Church Order does not refer to           abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach
it. The Church Order is concerned with the  ins&-            you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all
tional  life of the church: the offices, the lawful call-    things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath
ing, the duties of ministers, elders, and deacons, the       taught you, ye shall abide in him." (I John 2:20,27)
assemblies  (consistoiy,  classis, synod), doctrine,         Because of this it is possible and fruitful for a group
sacraments, and other ceremonies, and censure                of believers to meet together, to study God's Word,
and ecclesiastical discipline. Nothing whatsoever is         and mutually to instruct and to be instructed in that
said about the organic life of the church. The               Word. Because of this it is possible for believers
nearest the Church Order comes to a reference to             mutually to edify one another. And this, I take it, is
the organic life is in the article concerning Christian      the chief purpose of our societies in the churches,
schools, Article  21.  But even there, we must               this, and the fellowship of God's people which we
remember, the Church Order does not speak to the             may enjoy at such gatherings.
subject of Christian education as such and attempt
to regulate it; that would be strictly beyond the jur-         In most of our congregations there are abundant
isdiction of the church institute. It only speaks of         opportunities for such gatherings. There are in
the duty of the consistory with respect to Christian         some of our churches so many societies that some-
education.                                                   times they can hardly find a slot in the weekly and
                                                             bi-weekly schedule to meet. There are one or two
  The same is true with respect to our societies.            Young People's Societies, Men's Societies, Ladies'
The consistory has nothing to do with their estab-           Societies, Junior and Senior Mr. and Mrs. Societies,
lishment or with the internal affairs of such                Adult Bible Study Groups, Choral Societies, and
societies. The only calling of a consistory is super-        lately in some of our churches midweek Ladies' Bi-
visory. Any organization within the congregation             ble Study Groups which meet in the morning.
must submit its constitution to the consistory for           There is abundance of opportunity: no one can say:
approval, but only to see to it that the constitution        "There is nothing for me in our church life."
is Reformed, that the purpose of the society is a
proper one, and that the organization being formed             And yet some of our organizations suffer from
does not interfere, for example, with other already          poor attendance.
existing organizations. Apart from that the  con-              I will not go into all the alibis for this. Nor will I
sistory usually exercises its supervisory power by           take the flat position that participation or non-parti-


78                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



cipation in society life is necessarily a thermometer     and it must be guarded against. Sometimes I think
of one's spiritual life - though sometimes it is that     the problem begins already with the life of our
indeed, in instances in which for no good reason a        young people. Their church life is no longer in most
person simply does not have the interest and              instances the center of their social life. Young Peo-
spiritual ambition to participate. There is some-         ple's society is confined to Sunday. Catechism must
thing wrong, for example, when someone prefers to         preferably be limited to Monday evening.-Nothing
sit in front of the "boob tube" all evening and night     must be allowed to interfere with the basketball
after night rather than fellowship with God's peo-        schedule. And then suddenly we expect that when
ple.                                                      they mature, they are going to form good habits of
      I do wish, however, to touch on some of the         participating in society life in the church, and we
reasons, not alibis, which have to do with lack of at-    are dismayed at the fact that they "have no time."
tendance and participation.                               There has been a change in this respect, a change
                                                          which has come about gradually perhaps  - or
      Sometimes people say, "I don't get anything out     should I say a change which we ourselves have
of it." Now, in the first place, there is a wrong ap-     brought about gradually. I can recall the time in the
proach implied here. The question should not be           days of my own youth when our church life was
what one gets out of it, but what does one contrib-       the center of our social life. In fact, it was very well
ute.  And, in the second place, I point out that one      possible  - and not at all the exception among
"gets out of it" as much as he "puts into it." If you     young people  - to spend no less than three even-
go to society without having prepared or having on-       ings a week at church engaging in non-compulsory
ly given  preparatioln "a lick and a promise," you        activities: choral society on Monday evening,
cannot very well expect to reap much benefit. And         Young Men's Society on Tuesday, Adult Catechism
surely, this is no proper way to treat the study of       (for confessing members and not mandatory) on
God's holy Word!                                          Wednesday evening; and then for some there was
      I also want to caution - no, warn - that we live    Sunday school Teachers' meeting on Friday. And
in a busy world and lead a busy life. And there is a      we enjoyed it! That was the center of our social life.
very real danger, both for our family life and our        There we met our boyfriends or girlfriends, often
congregational life, that we more and more let our        our future mates. Someone will say to me that we
lives become so crowded with mundane things and           cannot bring back those times, and I have no illu-
things which are not necessarily wrong in them-           sions about that possibility. I only mention it to call
selves that we reserve only a small portion of our        attention to a trend against which we must guard
time - sometimes only the Lord's day - for spiri-         and to call attention to a tendency of the times
tual things. Sometimes it is our work; other times it     which we must fight.
is our recreational life and our sports which crowd         If we do so, we will find that there are benefits to
our time and crowd out the spiritual. This is wrong,      be reaped!



                On Being a Shepherdess (A Satire)


(Note: This summer while we were vacationing my           Alan = handsome and Wyatt = leader.)
wife and I were having a discussion about the gen-
eral issue of women in office and the more specific         My friend Alfred Sluiks was saying the other day
issue of women ministers. As we were discussing           that whenever he had thought about a shepherdess
this subject, the thought occurred to me that it          he imagined a picturesque maiden in quaint cloak
would be possible to write a satire in this  connec-      and bonnet, resting gracefully on her crooked staff.
tion which would serve to underscore the issues in        He fancied her reclining peacefully on a sloping,
connection with this subject. This somewhat               grassy hillock, surrounded by contentedly grazing
tongue-in-cheek editorial is the product of our joint     sheep.
efforts. It should be kept in mind that the fictitious      "Now," he told me, with a look of amazement on
names have meaning. Alfred = wise and Sluiks =            his face, "I understand that my assumption is a
clever; Patricia = aristocratic and Vlug = quick;         mere illusion, a myth. Today's shepherdess is  any-


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                               79
I


1 thing but quaint, and surely does not live peaceably          the Bible. It should be, of course; and the Bible's
     with her sheep, not with all of them, that is."            terminology is very precise and clearly written.
       "You know how it is in these modern days of en-          God chose the exact words He wanted to use.
     lightenment and liberation," he went on to say,            When this shepherdess, let's call her Patricia Vlug,
     "when we have at last cut through the barriers of a        is being ordained, what do we do with the words of
     culture that had denied -to women, also shepherd-          the Bible that are quoted in the Form? Change
     esses, the full use of their gifts. Nowadays I under-      them? Change the Bible a little bit here and there?
     stand they may become full-fledged shepherd-               You know the one that is quoted in the Form from
     esses."                                                    II Timothy, Chapter 2, verse 2. Here, I'll read it and
                                                                we'll see how we like it that new way. `And the
       "You mean . . . .  "                                     things that thou hast heard of me among many wit-
       "I mean a woman may become a shepherdess, a              nesses, the same commit thou to faithful  women,
     pastoress, a ministera, with an a as in alumna."           who shall be able to teach others also."'
       "Elderess, deaconess . . . .  "                            I opened my mouth to react, but Alfred was
       Alfred interrupted again. "I've been looking at it       already going on: "What happens when this
     from the point of view of mere terminology. Before         shepherdess of her flock reads the Bible? She can't
     our shepherdess can wield her staff as a ministera,        avoid it, you know, being pastoress and all. She pro-
     she must be called; and that means she will get a          bably won't like Paul's letters to Timothy very
     call letter - the official form-letter which all minis-    well, but she will find them in the Bible. So she
     ters get. I was reading it the other day, wondering        comes to I Timothy 3:2 and reads, `A bishop . . . a
     how a shepherdess would like to be addressed as            bishopess then must be blameless, the husband . . .
     `Dear and Esteemed Brother.' "                             the husbandess of one wife . . . .  "'
       Alfred wrinkled his freckled nose and read on              "Just a minute," I interrupted, "The term  hus-
     silently.                                                  band is masculine."
       "Aha!"  he muttered. `"Listen to this: `Convinced          "So is bishop. But I can see your problem, friend,
     that the laborer is worthy of his hire, and to encour-     and the Rev. Patricia Vlug's dilemma as well. We'll
     age you in the discharge of your duties, and to free       have to change it around and read `wife of one hus-
     you from all worldly cares and avocations . . . . '        band,' I suppose."
     Avocations! Friend, I believe this is one housewife          "Is she married?"
     who gets out of housework before she even moves              Alfred Sluiks ignored me. He was reading the
     in! Maybe that isn't all bad, friend. No mounds of         next verses in the chapter. "See what happens to
     dirty clothes to launder, no greasy pots to scour, no      the Rev. Vlug? She gets to rule the roost at home,
     dust on her furniture to rearrange, no baby - if she       too. Verse 5 here says, `For if a man - change that
     has one  - to feed and change. Maybe that will be          to woman - know not how to rule his - make that
     her husband's avocation - or vocation. But I guess         her  - own house, how shall he  - try  she  -  take
     that's none of our business how her housework              care of the church of God?"'
     gets done. The big thing is to be ordained, you
     know, after she accepts the call. So look what hap-          "I doubt whether she would ever preach on that
     pens when  we go  to the  Form of Ordination of            text," I volunteered.
     Ministers  - uh, Ministerae, Ministeresses,  Minis-          "If she did, someone would be sure to ask her to
     terines  - no, that last one is too much like              preach on Ephesians  5:22 and 23 the next Sunday.
     tangerines.                                                You know how it goes: `Wives, submit yourselves
       "Try the first sentence of the Form. What does a         unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the
     person do with it? `Beloved brethren, it is known          husband is the head of the wife . . . .  '  "
     unto you that we have at three different times pub-          "Or someone will think of I Corinthians  14:34,
~ lished the name of our brother (make that `sister')           `Let you women keep silence in the churches,"' I
     here present, to learn whether any person had              said.
     ought to offer concerning his (sorry, `her') doctrine
     or life."'                                                   "That's it!" Alfred roared. "Silent preaching!
                                                                That's what we need nowadays. She'd  have  to be
       "And that is only the first sentence of the Form.        silent," he added after a moment of reflection, "be-
     Well, maybe I could wade through the Form and              cause she would be too proud to ask her husband at
     try `pastoress, ' `shepherdess,' `bishopess,' `she' and    home, like it says in verse 35. And I ask you how
`h e r , " ' he sighed, mopping his brow. "But that's           our shepherdess would ever get around this one:
     only the start of the trouble."                            `for it is a shame for women to speak in the church.'
       "You see," he continued, "the Form is based on           That-would be a silent sermon!"


80                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



  "There might be problems other than silent ser-         Vernon. So he blurts out, `Patricia, it seems to me
mons in the life of the Rev. Mrs. Vlug practical          the Bible says that if women, meaning you, too, of
ones," I commented.                                       course, want to learn anything, they must ask their
  "They are all practical. But I know what you            husband at home. This husband can teach you
mean: there is more in Rev. Vlug's life than being a      much about problems. I have plenty of them."'
preacheress. She must be a true shepherdess and              "Can't you see the gentle shepherdess bristling at
watch for the welfare of her sheep."                      these words of challenge? Don't you hear her say-
  "Must she do it all alone?"                             ing, `May not a pastor' - she should have said
                                                          pastoress  - `and an elder, both in good standing,
  "No, I think she would go about it in an orderly        discuss their affairs over a cup of coffee? Honestly,
way, with the rest of the officebearers. Mainly the       Vernon, are you going to hold the big stick of a hus-
elders or elderesses. Committee work, we formerly         band's authority over me forever?"'
called it. Team ministry is the term today, I believe.
What if the Rev. Vlug teams up with an elder, say            "And can't you hear Vernon answering, `No, I'll
an elder such as I am: young, rather good looking, a      only hold I Corinthians  14:35 over you, dear. And
good conversationalist; and together they make            probably Titus  2:5, where we read that young
calls to the sick and the troubled."                      women are to be discreet, chaste, keepers at home,
                                                          good, obedient to their own husbands . . . .  ' "
  "No problem so far."                                       "It sounds like the beginning of a domestic
  "Until husband Vernon Vlug says, with a hint of         ruckus," I began. "Maybe she dismissed her team-
an edge in his voice, as he wrestles with the greasy      mate too early. Together they might be able to solve
dinner dishes, `Whom are you teaming up with to-          the new problem."
night?' and the reverend says, `Alan Wyatt.' What
can Vernon do? It's all good, legal church work."            "Not at all. Our shepherdess can shoot her own
                                                          arrows. She would no doubt retort, `Am I not an
  "So the Rev. Patricia Vlug and Elder Alan Wyatt         elder? A teaching elder? Then heed I Timothy  5:1,
are out for the evening, while husband Vernon is          and rebuke not an elder."'
keeper at home. At last, toward midnight, he will
hear the teaching elder and the ruling elder chatting        "But Vernon would be too alert to let his little
together on the porch."                                   ministeress stop there. He would continue and
                                                          quote the rest of the verse: `but  intreat him as a
  "Picture the husband of the shepherdess, my             father,' which, adjusted to our own situation would
friend, as his reverend wife bursts in. `Did you          be `intreat her as a mother.' And he would ask, `Do
have a good evening with your team-mate, dear?'           you want me to do that, Patricia? Treat you as my
`Great,' she says, `Wonderful! We visited two             mother?' ' '
families, then went for a cup of coffee at that cozy
little shop on the other side of town and talked            My friend Alfred Sluiks sighed. "But quarrels
about our problems for a couple of hours."'               between a shepherdess and one of her household
                                                          sheep have a way of resolving themselves. The last
  I could not help interrupting Alfred. "Problems         I think we would hear that evening from the shep-
between the reverend and her elder?"                      herdess's household would be her husband's plain-
  "Don't be obtuse, friend. The reverend and her          tive query, `And whom are you going out with
elder get on great. That is what bothers husband          tomorrow night, dear?"'

MY SHEEP'HEAR MY VOICE


                              Our Order of Worship
                                                  Prof H. Hanko


      In our last article we began a discussion of the    Old Testament, offerings made in the tabernacle
collections which are taken in the worship services.      and temple were commanded by God; we must
That such collections are in Scripture described as a     now quote a few passages from the New Testament
part of worship is clear. We mentioned how, in the        to show that this practice was carried over into the


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 81



new dispensational church.                                  Corinthians to take these collections on the first
   It is not surprising that in the days of Jesus such      day of the week. This specific injunction was ap-
offerings continued to be made. Every Jew was ex-           parently made because it was on the first day of the
pected to give a half-shekel every year to the sup-         week that the New Testament church assembled to
port of the temple service. It is this coin which is        worship. "Now concerning the collection for the
referred to in Matthew  l7:27, in which passage             saints, as I have given order to the churches of
Jesus instructs Peter to catch a fish, in the mouth of      Galatia, even so do ye. Upon the first day of the
which will be found a coin which can be used for            week let every one of you lay by him in store, as
this temple tax. There were also seven chests,              God hath prospered him, that there be no gather-
called "trumpets," in the temple, into which wor-           ings when I come. And when I come, whomsoever
shipers could put their free offerings. Of these            ye shall approve by your letters, them will I send to
Edersheim says: "These `trumpets' bore each in-             bring your liberality unto Jerusalem. And if it be
scriptions, marking the objects of contribution  -          meet that I go also, they shall go with me." In II
whether to make up for past neglect, to pay for cer-        Corinthians 8 & 9 reference is again made to these
tain sacrifices, to provide incense, wood, or for           collections.
other gifts" (The Life and Times ofJesus the Messiah,         From all these passages, certain conclusions can
Vol. II, p. 387). This is the background for the inci-      be drawn.
dent recorded in Mark  12:42 and Luke  21:2  - the            In the first place, these collections to which the
gift of the widow who, although she gave only a             apostle refers in his letter to the Corinthians were
"mite," nevertheless gave more than all those who           to be made on the first day of the week when the
put in great amounts of money.                              saints came together to worship. From this we may
  As was true of all the practices of the Old Testa-        conclude that the apostle intended these collections
ment, so it was true also of this practice: while the       to be a part of the worship service. That is, they
form changed, the essential idea was preserved. It          were themselves  an act of worship.  From the
was undoubtedly in the consciousness of the fact            references we made in this article and in the last to
that offerings were a part of worship in the Old            the Jewish practices in the Old Testament, we may
Testament that the apostles continued such offer-           conclude that this was also the case before the
ings in the New Testament church of Christ. There           Spirit was poured out. The Jews worshiped God in
are several passages which refer to this. We know           the tabernacle and temple. A part of this worship
that the office of deacons was instituted in the            was the giving of gifts, for which provision was
church for the purpose of caring for the needs of           made by placing certain chests or boxes in promi-
Grecian widows, who were neglected in the daily             nent places where the offerings could be placed.
ministrations (Acts 6). In Romans  12:8 the apostle
presupposes giving as a part of the Christian's life          In the second place, while the emphasis in the
when he writes: "He that giveth, let him do it with         New Testament certainly falls upon giving to the
simplicity (liberality)." Cur  Form for the Installation    poor, all the money which was given by the people
of  EZders  and Deacons refers this directly to the of-     of God for all the various aspects of the support of
fice of deacons and in this way makes giving a part         the worship of God were considered a part of giv-
of the institutional life of the church. This Form          ing. We ought to be clear on this point. Sometimes a
does the same with I Corinthians  12:28 where,              distinction is made between giving to the benevo-
among the various gifts which the Holy Spirit distri-       lent fund; giving to support the church, which is
butes in the church, is listed also the gift of             usually done by the "budget"  - in which are in-
"helps." Our Form says this refers to "those, who           cluded the pastor's salary, the purchase of mimeo-
are appointed in the Church to help and assist the          graph ink, the paying of the electric bill, the roofing
poor and indigent in time of need."                         of the church, etc.; and giving for various "king-
                                                            dom causes" such as the  synodical assessments,
  There are a number of references to collections           collections for the  Standard Bearer,  etc. Only the
which were taken in the churches to assist the poor         giving for benevolence is really considered giving in
saints in Jerusalem. In Acts  11:27-30 mention is           the true sense of the word, while giving for the
made of the fact that the church in Antioch sent            other causes of God's kingdom is considered as
relief to the saints in Jerusalem by the hands of Bar-      bills which we are obligated to pay in the same way
nabas and Saul. There are various references in             as we are required to pay for our groceries or car
Paul's epistles to the fact that the churches,              repairs or home repairs. But the Scriptures make no
especially in Achaia and Macedonia, were urged to           such distinctions. Everything which is contributed
take collections for these poor. In this connection,        for the cause of the gospel and for the purpose of
there are two passages which are particularly strik-        the advancement of the kingdom of Christ as mani-
ing. In I Corinthians 16: 1-4 the apostle instructs the     fested here in the world is considered giving. This is


82                                              THE STANDARD BEARER



especially clear in the Old Testament where the               played, the deacons come forward to stand before
tithes which were brought by the people were used             the pulpit. When they are assembled before the
for the support of  .the priests and Levites, for the         pulpit, the minister makes a short prayer with some
needed repairs of the temple, for the purchase of             direct reference to this act of worship. On the other
sacrifices, etc., as well as for the care of the poor.        hand, if these prayers are omitted, the minister,
The practices which were common in the temple in              usually after the congregational prayers, announces
Jesus' day were, apparently, the same (cf. the quote          the offerings with words similar to these: "Let us
of Edersheim above). While there is no specific               worship the Lord in our offerings." Sometimes the
reference to this in the New Testament churches,              minister will quote from Scripture a pertinent
nevertheless, the churches are also admonished                passage such as: "God loveth a cheerful giver."
more than once to support the ministry of the                    The Scriptures are silent on this point; whether a
Word. In Galatians 6:6 Paul writes: "Let him that is          prayer should precede the taking of the collections
taught in the word communicate unto him that                  is left to the judgment of the Consistory and congre-
teacheth in all good things." In I Corinthians 9 Paul         gation. No rule can be made.
commands the Corinthians to do the same thing:
"Say I these things as a man? or saith not the law               The second point has to do with a change which
the same also? For it is written in the law of Moses,         has taken place in our churches. When I was a
Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that                child and even when I was first in the ministry, the
treadeth out the corn. Doth God take care of oxen?            collections were taken during the singing of a
Or saith he it altogether for our sakes? For our              Psalm. So far as I know, this practice was common
sakes, no doubt, this is written: that he that                throughout the churches. But this has changed so
ploweth should plow in hope; and that he that                 that now almost all, if not all, of our churches have
thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope. If          what is called, "Offertory." That is, the collections
we have sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great         are taken as a separate part of the worship service;
thing if we shall reap your carnal things? If others          no Psalm is sung while they are being taken; only
be partakers of this power over you, are not we               the organ plays.
rather? Nevertheless we have not used this power;               Again, no rule or law can be laid down here.
but suffer all things, lest we should hinder the              Either way is acceptable and the Scriptures do not
gospel of Christ. Do ye not know that they which              bind the conscience on this point. However,
minister about holy things live of the things of the          because we firmly believe that Scripture teaches us
temple? and they which wait at the altar are par-             to make our giving an act of worship, it is better to
takers with the altar? Even so hath the Lord or-              separate the collections from the singing. Both are
dained that they which preach the gospel should               separate acts of worship, and it is difficult, if not
live of the gospel" (vss. 8-14).                              impossible, to perform two different acts of wor-
      It is clear from Scripture, therefore, that all giv-    ship at the same time and do so from the heart - as
ing for the causes of Christ's kingdom are included           the Lord requires us to do. To concentrate on the
in the giving which belongs to the worship services.          singing (the words being sung) and to worship
                                                              through the giving of our gifts seems almost im-
      Before we discuss more precisely how giving is          possible. The only way really to avoid this diffi-
an act of worship, there are two other points which           culty is to choose a Psalm to be sung during the col-
ought briefly to be discussed.                                lections which relates directly to the worship of giv-
      The first has to do with the practice, common in        ing.
some churches, of a prayer which is brought by the              We shall have to wait till our next article to
minister before the offerings are taken. Usually this         discuss how giving is in fact an act of worship.
is done in the following way: while the organ is

                    Remember a friend or relative with a
                              gift of the Standard Bearer.

                         Give the Standard Bearer today!


                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                                              83

                                                                               ,-

TAKING HEED TO THE DOCTRINE



             Preservation and Perseverance (6)
                                                       Rev. H. Veldman




  In our preceding article we were calling attention                He which hath begun a good work in you will perform
to the Reformed and scriptural view of this subject:                it until the day of Jesus Christ.
Preservation and Perseverance. In the first place,                    I Thess. 523: And the very God of peace sanctify
we noted that the preservation of the people of God                 you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul
is rooted in God's eternal and sovereign election.                  and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of
                                                                    our Lord Jesus Christ.
This is clearly held before us in passages such as                        I Pet.  1:4,  5: To an inheritance incorruptible, and
Ephesians 1:3-5 and Romans 829-30. Secondly, we                     undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in
observed that this preservation of the saints is an-                heaven for you, Who are kept by the power of God,
chored in Christ's atonement. This is clearly set                   through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in
forth in John 6:39 and 10:15. Thirdly, that the peo-                the last time.
ple of God are preserved and therefore persevere                   From all this we may conclude that this
(the Arminian held to the heresy that we are                     perseverance is certainly rooted in divine preserva-
preserved because we persevere) is assured                       tion. We are not preserved because and as we
because the Holy Spirit abides with them forever.               persevere, as the Arminians would have us believe,
This is literally stated in John 14:16. And, fourthly,           but we persevere because we are preserved.
that the saints are preserved is because God's cove-
nant is unchangeably firm and sure. This truth is                  Besides, because we are preserved we  must
beautifully set forth in that wonderful passage of              persevere. This divine preservation of the elect sin-
Hebrews 6: 16-18. God, willing to shew more abun-               ner does not take place, as it were, round about him
dantly unto the heirs of promise the immutability               but in him and through him. We are not stocks and
of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath, so that we              blocks and treated as such; the power of God's ir-
might have a strong consolation who have fled for               resistible grace does not ignore or cancel our moral-
refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us.                 rational nature, but it operates in our heart and out
God's unchangeable counsel and His oath-bound                    of the heart in our mind and will. It is for this
promise assure us of this eternal glory. And now we              reason, as also our Confessions clearly teach, that
continue with the Reformed and scriptural view of                the grace of God does not make us careless, pro-
the preservation and perseverance of the saints. We             fane, or licentious, but it renders us active, gives us
persevere because we are preserved.                             an understanding heart, opens our eyes and we see,
                                                                 our ears and we hear, etc., enlightens our mind and
  Fifthly, and finally, God does not permit the                  inclines our, by nature, perverted will. And when
elect to be tempted above what they are able (I Cor.             the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts we
10:13). He confirms and finishes the work begun in              fight, must fight, holding fast unto that which God
them (I Cor.  1:9 and Phil.  1:6), and keeps them for           has given unto us and which we have therefore
the coming of Christ to receive the heavenly inheri-            learned to treasure above all the riches of this pre-
tance (I Thess.  523 and I Pet.  1:4 and 5). Quoting             sent time. Indeed, God's irresistible grace makes us
these passages, we read:                                        very active in the things of God's covenant.
     I Cor.  10:13: There hath no temptation taken you             And so we persevere through prayer and the
   but such as is common to man; But God is faithful,           Word of God. The question may be asked: but is
   Who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye          not our fighting and our struggling a condition, at
   are able; but will with the temptation also make a way       least for the conscious enjoyment of salvation? To
   to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.
     I Cor. 1:9:  God is faithful, by Whom ye were called       this we answer: if, by condition, one means that we
   unto the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ, our Lord.       must fight and struggle to obtain the crown, then
     Phil.  1:6:  Being confident of this very thing, that      we have no objection to the use of the term. If, by


84                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



condition, one means that something must happen            because this is the only way in which the Lord
before something else can follow, then it is surely        leads His own into everlasting glory. We must be in
true that the battle precedes the obtaining of the         that way. There simply is no other way. It is only
crown. And yet, also our conscious enjoyment of            the way of the cross that leads home. And that
salvation is strictly unconditional. Why must we           means that we must always walk and conduct our-
pray and watch?  Eecause salvation is completely           selves as pilgrims and strangers in the midst of the
and wholly of the Lord1 As soon as we imagine that         world. The cross of Calvary was erected outside of
we can stand, that something must proceed from             the holy city, outside of Jerusalem. Clinging to that
us, we will surely fall. Salvation is never dependent      cross, we, too, must be outcasts, strangers in the
upon the will of the sinner. This applies also to our      midst of the world. But, that we experience this
enjoyment of salvation. Hence, because we                  assurance only in the way of perseverance is also
persevere through and because of divine preserva-          true subjectively. If we are to rejoice in the hope
tion, we stand only when we watch and pray.                that is set before us, in the gaining of the victory
      Our assurance is  the  blessed fruit of this un-     over all the powers of sin and of darkness, then we,
speakably precious doctrine. I suppose we can at-          also subjectively, must stand in that hope; then we
tach this idea of assurance as a blessed fruit to any      must flee from sin and the enticements of this
doctrine of the Christian's faith. It certainly follows    world, for otherwise the hope that is set before us
from the doctrine of sovereign election, from the          will in that measure mean nothing to us. Only, all
truth of particular atonement, and also from the           our struggle must be in the power of God and of His
doctrine of God's irresistible grace. However, it          might, through prayer and watching, having put on
belongs peculiarly to the doctrine of the certain          the whole armor of God, for no flesh may and shall
perseverance of the saints. This is held before us,        ever boast; whosoever glorieth, must always glory
for example, in II Peter  l:lO, 11: "Wherefore the         in the Lord.
rather, brethren, give diligence to make your call-          This concludes our series of articles on the sub-
ing and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye       ject: Preservation and Perseverance. How impor-
shall never fall: For so an entrance shall be              tant it is that we, as churches, and also individually,
ministered unto you abundantly into the everlast-          maintain the glorious truth that our salvation is
ing kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ."         solely of the Lord. The Arminian can be very clever
In Hebrews  11:l we read: "Now faith is the sub-           and subtle in this denial of the truth. Indeed, he
stance of things hoped for, the evidence of things         will claim that he maintains the Word of God. He
not seen." And throughout the eleventh chapter of          will even emphasize that salvation is all of God,
the epistle to the Hebrews the power of faith is set       that we are saved solely by grace, that to God must
forth as revealed in the lives of the saints through-      be ascribed all the praise and all the glory. Salva-
out the old dispensation. This chapter is often            tion, he will assert, is of the Lord, only of the Lord.
called the chapter focusing the attention upon the         He must bestow upon us all the blessings of salva-
heroes of faith. It might be better to say that            tion. We can never fight this good fight in our own
Hebrews 11 lays emphasis upon the power of faith,          strength; we can never run the race in and of our-
not upon what we are able to do, but upon that             selves. We must put on the whole armor of God,
which faith can and does accomplish in the life of         fight by His grace and power. All this the Arminian
the child of God in the midst of the world. And then       will concede. However, the difference between
we have that beautiful passage of Hebrews 6: 18-19:        him and the Reformed believer is exactly that the
"That by two immutable things, in which it was im-         former causes everything to revolve about the free
possible for God to lie, we might have a strong con-       will of the sinner. Only the grace of God can save a
solation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon        sinner, he will concede, but whether that grace will
the hope set before us: Which hope we have as an           operate in a sinner's life depends upon that sinner's
anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and            free will. Only the Spirit must operate within a sin-
which entereth into that within the veil." Indeed,         ner, but the sinner will and must determine
what a tremendously assuring word we have in this          whether that Spirit will work in him to will and to
particular Scripture, assuring the child of God of         do. Grace only can save us, but I must allow the
everlasting life and glory.                                Spirit and His grace entrance into my heart. And
      This assurance, however, we experience and en-       this does not merely apply to my salvation as far as
joy only in the way of perseverance. This is true,         its beginning is concerned; it applies throughout
first of all, objectively. We must fight the good fight    my life. I must will to be saved to the very end. The
of faith, run the race, cling to the Captain of our        Arminian may say in the fifth point of his Five
salvation, the Finisher of the faith, forsake the          Points of the Remonstrance that he cannot as yet
world, seek the holy city of the New Jerusalem that        declare whether the saint will persevere to the very
is above. That this is true, objectively, is obviously     end, and that this must still be determined from


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                                85



Holy Writ. All this, however, is double-talk on his       conclude by quoting once more that wonderful
part. He certainly does not believe in the sure           passage in the Word of God of Romans  8:35-39:
perseverance of the saints. His heresy is  devastat-      "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
ing. It destroys the very heart and foundation of the     shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or
church of God. Indeed, we shall persevere because         famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is
we are being preserved. Let us hold fast to this          written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long;
truth, that no man may take our crown. Our very           we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay,
salvation is at stake here. And, what is of even          in all these things we are more than conquerors
greater significance than our salvation, the glory of     through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that
the living God is at stake here! That is primarily the    neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor  prin-
issue. The Lord is Jehovah. He is unchangeably            cipalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor
faithful. The work He has once begun shall by His         things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any
grace be fully done. Nothing shall separate us from       other creature, shall be able to separate us from the
the love of God in Christ Jesus, our Lord. May we         love,of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

FAITH OF OUR FATHERS


                                  The Nicene Creed
                                              Rev. James Slopsema



Article 8 (cont'd.)                                         Thus, for example, Christ Himself charged that
  We have already discussed most of the eighth ar-        the church is to baptize her members in the name
ticle of the Nicene Creed. We have thus far treated       of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost (cf. Matt. 28: 19).
the confession of the early church that the Holy          Baptism is not to be administered in the name of
Spirit is "the Lord and Giver of Life; Who proceed-       the Father and Son only. The same honor extended
eth from the Father and the Son." And we have             to the Father and the Son is also to be given to the
seen that all these expressions serve to demonstrate      Holy Spirit. We are to baptize in the name of the
the true divinity of the Holy Spirit.                     Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
  The same is true of the next phrase of this article,      The same is to be said for the blessing that is pro-
which we now discuss: "Who with the Father and            nounced on the church. The closing benediction of
the Son is worshipped and glorified."                     Paul in his second epistle to the church of Corinth
  When the early church confessed that the Holy           was, "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the
Spirit "with the Father and the Son is worshipped         love of God, and the communion of the Holy
and glorified' she was describing first of all her        Ghost, be with you all, Amen" (cf. II Cor.  13:14).
own practice as the church. The church at this time       This benediction is commonly used even today by
worshipped and glorified the Holy Spirit along with       the church in her worship. And in this benediction
the Father and the Son. In her worship she made no        the Holy Spirit is honored along with the Father
distinction between the Father and the Son on the         and the Son as the source and author of all the
one hand and the Holy Spirit on the other hand. All       blessings of the church.
three were worshipped by her. The same was true             The Scriptures glorify the Holy Spirit with other
of her adulations of praise. She praised and glori-       divine honors. The Scriptures, for example, warn
fied not just the Father and the Son but also the         us against blaspheming or speaking evil against the
Spirit.                                                   Holy Spirit. So heinous a sin it is to blaspheme the
  This the church did because of the example and          Holy Spirit that it can not be forgiven (cf. Matt.
injunctions she found in the Scriptures. The Scrip-       12:31, 32). We may also call upon the Holy Spirit in
tures certainly indicate that the Holy Spirit is to be    our oaths to confirm the truth of what we say. This
honored and glorified with the Father and the Son         the apostle Paul did by divine inspiration as he
and thus also worshipped.                                 wrote to the church of Rome, "I say the truth in


86                                             THE STANDARD BEARER



Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me             This was certainly true with  Marcion.
witness in the Holy Ghost" (cf. Romans 9: 1). Final-           And the religion of Marcion was indeed false. For
ly, we are charged to flee fornication and-its defile-       although  Marcion did repudiate many tenets of
ment, for our bodies are the temple of the Holy              traditional Gnosticism, he was nevertheless a
Spirit (cf. I Cor.  6:15-19).                                Gnostic at heart. Along with traditional Gnosti-
      Here again we find very clear proof of the true        cism,  Marcion taught the existence of the Demiurge.
divinity of the Holy Spirit. The divinity of the             The Demiurge in Gnostic thought is the  world-
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit can be demonstrated             maker. The Gnostic did not acknowledge God as
by the fact that divine names, works, attributes,            the Creator., The creation was formed by an inter-
and honors are ascribed to each of them in the               mediary who is finite and is characterized by many
Scriptures. Already in this eighth article the early         imperfections. This Demiurge according to tradi-
church sought to demonstrate the true divinity of            tional Gnosticism and Marcion is Jehovah, the God
the Spirit by ascribing to him divine works. On the          of the Old Testament Jews, Who falsely portrayed
basis of Holy Writ she confessed that the Holy               Himself as the only God.
Spirit is the "Giver of Life." Now she acknowl-                In harmony with this Gnostic principle, Marcion
edged that on the basis of the Scriptures, the Holy          was led into many other errors.
Spirit "with the Father and Son is worshipped and              Marcion, for example, rejected the whole of the
glorified' by her. In so doing she confessed that            Old Testament Scriptures. The Old Testament was
divine honors also are due the Holy Spirit and that,         merely the work of Jehovah, the imposter god of
therefore, He is truly divine.                               the Jews. Following from this, Marcion also saw all
      Finally, the early church confessed in this eighth     sorts of contradictions between the Old and New
article of her creed that the Holy Spirit was the One        Testament. He wrote a book entitled "Antitheses,"
"Who spake by the prophets."                                 in which he sought to demonstrate the antithesis he
      By this the church meant that Spirit Who was           saw between the Old and New Testament. In the
poured out on Pentecost as the Spirit of Christ and          Old Testament Marcion found the law; in the New
Who resides in the church of the new dispensation            Testament the gospel. The God of the Old Testa-
is the same Spirit that filled the prophets of the Old       ment is harsh, severe, and unmerciful; the God of
Testament and moved them to prophecy.                        the New Testament is kind and good. The principle
      This certainly is the testimony of the Bible. In II    of the Old Testament is, "Love thy neighbor, but
Peter  1:21 we read, "For the prophecy came not in           hate thine. enemy." In like manner the Old Testa-
old time by the will of man: but holy men of God             ment teaches, "an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a
spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." The             tooth." On the other hand, the command of the
same truth is found in I Peter  l:lO, 11: "Of which          New Testament is "Love thine enemy."
salvation the prophets had inquired and searched               But  Marcion did not stop there. According to
diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should          Marcion, Christ was not born at all but suddenly
come unto you: searching what, or what manner of             descended into the city of Capernaum as the
time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did              revealer of the true God, Who sent him. He is not
signify, when it testified before hand the sufferings        the Messiah, announced by the Demiurge
of Christ, and the glory that should follow."                (Jehovah) in the Old Testament; although he called
      The early Christian church asserted this very ob-      himself the Messiah to accommodate himself to the
vious truth of the Scriptures in her creed to                expectations of the people. Since he has not a real
denounce the error of Marcion.                               body but only the appearance of a body, his death
                                                             was only an illusion. Christ, furthermore, succeed-
      Marcion was a Gnostic who lived in the second          ed in casting the Demiurge (Jehovah) into Hades
century. We have already discussed the teachings             and secured the redemption of man's soul. This he
of Gnosticism in this series on the Nicene creed (cf.        called the apostle Paul to preach. The other apostles
Vol. 59, pp.  205ff.). Gnosticism was essentially an         were Judaizing corrupters of pure Christianity, and
admixture of Greek philosophy, pagan idolatry,               their writings are to be rejected. Consequently,
and Christianity.  Marcion, however, was not a               Marcion acknowledged only ten epistles of Paul
Gnostic in the traditional sense. He rejected the            and an edited Gospel of Luke as the authoritative
pagan tenets of the Gnostics and thus also many of           Word of God.
the Gnostics' teachings. He also claimed, contrary
to traditional Gnosticism, that Christianity is the            Small wonder that when Polycarp, the great
only true religion. This only served to make  Mar-           church father of Smyrna, met Marcion in Rome and
cion the most dangerous of the Gnostics. The closer          was asked by Marcion, "Dost thou know me?" he
false religion comes to resemble the true religion,          responded, "I know the first-born of Satan."
the more inclined the believer is to be led astray.            Although  Marcion was expelled from the  Chris-


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 87



tian church by his own father, the bishop of Sinope       ets to speak and write. The Old and New Testa-
in Pontus,  Marcion nevertheless gained a rather          ment is all the Word of the one true God. And so is
large following. The Marcionite sect spread even-         the message the same - it is the one gospel of salva-
tually into Italy, Egypt, North Africa, Cyprus, and       tion in Jesus Christ. This is what the early church
Syria. Although this sect was forbidden the               confessed in this last phrase of the eighth article of
freedom of worship, it flourished for quite some          her creed.
time so that remnants of Marcionites could be               And the true church of Christ still confesses the
found yet as late as the tenth century.                   same truth today. She does that over against all the
  To contradict this dangerous heresy of  Marcion         modern day children of  Marcion who would deny
the early church confessed that the Holy Spirit           that the Holy Scripture in its entirety is the inspired
Who proceeds from the Father and the Son, Who             and therefore infallible,  inerrant Word of God. We
with the Father and the Son is Lord of all, Who as        are being told today that the Bible is no longer
the Spirit of Christ is also the Giver of Life is the     trustworthy. It is filled with all sorts of mistakes
same Spirit that moved the prophets of old to speak.      and antiquated ideas that no longer are valid for to-
The implications of this are clear. This means that       day. This is because the Bible is essentially a
the authors of the Old and New Testament are the          human document. It is not of divine origin but is
same. The Jehovah of the Old Testament Jews Who           basically a work of man. This strikes at the very
through His Spirit moved the prophets to speak in         foundation of the Christian faith. And over against
times past is the same God Who later revealed Him-        that lie of hell, we with the early church confess
self through Christ and His Spirit in the New Testa-      that "the prophecy came not in old time by the will
ment. The Spirit that moved the apostle Paul to pen       of man: but holy men of God spake as they were
his epistles is the same Spirit that moved the proph-     moved by the Holy Ghost" (II Peter  1:21).

THE STRENGTH QF YOUTH



                                           Cremation
                                              Rev. Ron Cammenga




  Increasingly today cremation is being practiced.        Besides, there is the economic reason: cremation is
Cremation is the burning of a dead body to ashes.         cheaper than burial. Today funeral and burial ex-
More and more cremation is becoming accepted in-          penses are astronomical. One way to avoid the high
stead of the burial of the dead. Often high-society       costs of burial is cremation.
people, movie stars, entertainers, sports figures will
that after they die their bodies be cremated.               Besides these arguments in favor of cremation,
                                                          we are told that the Scriptures do not explicitly for-
  Is there anything wrong with cremation? Is it an        bid the practice of cremation. Nowhere do we read:
important question what happens to one's body             "Thou shalt not have thy body cremated." And
after his death?                                          isn't it true that whether our bodies are cremated or
  Certain reasons are given for the preference of         buried makes no essential difference as far as the
cremation over against burial. It is said that crema-     final resurrection is concerned? God is just as able
tion is a better way of disposing of the human body.      to accomplish the miracle of the resurrection
It is better for the health of the living, especially     whether the remains of our bodies are in the form
when a person has died as a result of contagious          of dust or ashes. And isn't is also the case that many
disease. It is also argued in favor of cremation that     of God's people, contrary to their own wishes, have
it will save a great deal of land, which in some          been burned? Think of all the martyrs of God who
countries is sorely needed because of a large popu-       have been burned at the stake on account of their
lation. This is one reason why cremation has gained       confession of the gospel. The Reformer John Huss
such acceptance in a country like the Netherlands.        was burned at the stake by the decree of the Coun-


88                                             THE STANDARD BEARER



cil of Constance. After his death, the bones of John         tians viewed as an act of defiance and rebellion
Wycliff were exhumed and burned by the Roman                 against God.
Catholic Church.                                               Today, too, Christians ought to honor decent
      I believe that the Scriptures indicate clearly that    burial. Not only was burial the rule in both the Old
cremation is wrong and that ordinarily the Chris-            and New Testaments. But God Himself buried
tian ought to be buried and ought to do everything           Moses. And our Lord underwent burial, not burn-
he can to see to it that his dead relatives receive          ing. The reasons that people give today for crema-
proper burial.                                               tion are materialistic and unbelieving.
      In the first place, the Scriptures demonstrate           We ought to favor Christian burial because of the
beyond doubt that it was the practice of God's peo-          proper regard that we are to have for our bodies.
ple, both in the Old Testament and in the New                Our bodies are not our own to do with as we please.
Testament, to bury their dead. In fact, we are given         But our bodies, along with our souls, belong to our
no specific example of the funeral of a child of God         faithful Savior Jesus Christ, to use the language of
in which the cremation of his body took place. On            the first Lord's Day of the Heidelberg Catechism.
the contrary, we are given many instances of the             Our bodies have been made by God. David says in
burying of their dead by believers. We have only to          Psalm  139:13 that it was God Who possessed and
think of the example of Abraham in Genesis 23 that           covered him in his mother's womb. And the apostle
he have a place "to bury his dead out of his sight."         Paul teaches us in I Corinthians  6:19, 20 that our
In order that he might bury his dead wife, Abraham           bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit, so that not
purchased from the sons of Heth the cave of                  only in spirit but also in body we are to glorify God.
Machpelah. Although Abraham was forbidden by
God to own any of the land of Canaan, and was re-              We are to respect and take care of our bodies
quired by God to be a pilgrim and a stranger, he             while we live. Explaining the sixth commandment,
was permitted to purchase a place for the burial of          the commandment which forbids murder, the
his wife Sarah. This indicates that the father of            Heidelberg Catechism says that we are to have a
believers considered burial proper and necessary.            care that we do not hurt ourselves or wilfully ex-
                                                             pose ourselves to any danger, Out of concern for
      The fact of the matter is that the Scriptures          our bodies, as well as for the glory of God, we are to
esteem highly a decent burial. If a king was ex-             avoid gluttony and drunkenness and any other ex-
tremely wicked he would not be buried with his               cess by which we might harm our bodies.
fathers. This was regarded as something shameful
and humiliating. It was exactly the judgment of                The same respect that we have for our bodies
God, for example, on wicked Ahab and Jezebel that            while we are alive ought to carry over to death and
they did not receive burial, but that the dogs licked        the care of our bodies after death. Even after the
up their blood and the birds ate their flesh. The            life of the body is gone, we ought not to injure or
greatest evil committed on the altar erected by              destroy the body unnecessarily.
Jeroboam the son of Nebat, according to I Rings                In the second place, we Christians ought to op-
13:2, was that men's bones were burnt upon it. The           pose cremation and favor burial because of our
great judgment of God upon the wicked, Isaiah                hope of the final resurrection. We have this hope.
prophesies in Isaiah  33:12, will be that their bones        One of the articles of our faith is that we believe the
will be burned to lime.                                      resurrection of our bodies. This body in which I
      In the second place, it can easily be shown that       now live is going to be raised up by Christ in the
cremation has its origin among the heathen nations           resurrection of the last day. It's going to be raised
and cultures. Secular history proves this. But this is       up a different body, a glorious body in distinction
even referred to by the Scriptures. According to             from the shame of my body presently. It's going to
Amos 2: 1 the heathen nation of Moab was guilty of           be raised up a body of strength and beauty. It's go-
practising cremation. [God will judge the Moabites,          ing to be raised a spiritual body. But the fact is that
according to this verse, not first of all because of         this my body, this very same body in which I now
what they did to God's people Israel, but because            live, is going to be raised. I'm not going to be given
the Moabites "burned the bones of the king of                a new body in the resurrection. But the subject of
Edom into lime."                                             the resurrection is the same body in which I now
      Historically, cremation has been considered by         live.
God's people as a wicked attempt to annihilate the             And now Christian burial is expressive of that
body and prevent the possibility of a future resur-          hope and expectation of the resurrection. As a seed
rection. The practice rested on the teaching that            that is sown, with a view to an abundant harvest,
there is no life hereafter, at least for the body, and       the dead body of the Christian is laid to rest in the
that death is the end of man. It was a practice Chris-       bosom of the earth. As the seed must die and be


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 89



planted in the earth in order for it to sprout forth,    Lord Jesus Christ comes again. Then that which has
grow, and produce its fruit, so it is with the bodies    been sown in corruption will be raised in power;
of believers.                                            that which is sown in dishonor will be raised in
  With a view to the glorious harvest of the final       glory; that which is sown in weakness will be
resurrection, we Christians bury our dead. We do         raised in power; that which is sown a natural body
that not as those who are without hope. For we           will be raised a spiritual body (I Cor.  154244).
have a hope. That hope will be realized when our
IN HIS FEAK



            God Is a Covenant God (continued)
                                              Rev. Ronald Hanko




  Because the Sabbath both in the Old and New            man had the opportunity to show and declare
Testaments is a revelation of God's covenant of          God's glory. The Sabbath was not meant to be a
grace, the Christian, who loves that covenant and        burden to man, but his servant; and Jesus, as the
rejoices in its blessings, is very careful about the     Lord of the Sabbath, came to make that possible for
Sabbath day. And because God's work of grace in          His people after man had fallen into sin (Mark
his heart is the beginning of his rest from the heavy    2:28).
burden of his sin, he cannot be one who willingly          In the Old Testament there were many Sabbath
profanes or disregards the weekly day of rest that       regulations which God Himself gave, but even then
God has appointed.                                       the keeping of the Sabbath was far more than the
  It is exactly in this connection that legalism is      observance of those regulations, as God reminded
such a great danger to Sabbath observance. Legal-        Israel time and again (Ps.  51:16, 17, Is. l:lO-17).
ism does not disregard the Sabbath, but it destroys      Those many regulations were necessary because
the joy of the Sabbath by making Sabbath obser-          the church was in its childhood (Gal. 4:  l-3), and
vance a matter of endless rules and regulations. We      even as our children need many rules to teach them
have only to remember the example of the                 and to govern them in their immaturity, so the Old
Pharisees to see this. They were exceedingly care-       Testament church needed the many Sabbath regu-
ful about the Sabbath, and Jesus did not fault them      lations of the Old Testament laws.
for it, but they erred in finding the true meaning of      But just as in the lives of our own children there
the Sabbath in various regulations, usually of their     comes a time when they have learned obedience,
own making. We all know how they even counted            and the laws of the home and of life in the world
their steps on the Sabbath, and accused the              are written in their hearts so that they no longer
disciples of Sabbath desecration when they picked        need to be governed by the external code of our
and ate a few ears of corn. They were so diligent in     precepts, so spiritual maturity comes for the church
adding precept to precept and law to law, that final-    through the coming of Christ and the sending of the
ly they themselves had to devise all sorts of ways to    Spirit (Jer.  31:31-34,  Gal.  4:4-7). That spiritual
get around their own rules, and thus they showed         maturity of the New Testament church is the liber-
the utter joylessness of their Sabbath observance.       ty of God's people to obey God and serve Him, not
  This is what Jesus condemned when He told              under the yoke of an external code of precepts, but
them (and us) that the Sabbath was made for man,         out of the law as it is written upon their hearts.
and not man for the Sabbath (Mark  227). Never             That we condemn all legalism, then, does not
was it the case that men existed simply to keep          mean that we discard the Commandments, or even
various Sabbath regulations, but man existed for         just the Fourth Commandment. Nor does it mean
the glory of God, and God had made the Sabbath           that there are no rules for Sabbath observance in
for man as a great gift, through the use of which        the New Testament, nor that God's people do not


90                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



pay attention to what Scripture teaches about the           nant God dwells bodily. Also, it is in that fellowship
Sabbath. Rather it means that through the coming            of the saints that we are able to fulfil our covenant
and work of Christ they are able to understand the          calling to consider one another to provoke one
true meaning and purpose of the Sabbath in a way            another to love and good works (Heb.  10:24). And
that was not possible in the Old Testament. They            that too is of utmost importance, for our responsi-
know the Sabbath as a sign of God's covenant of             bility toward the saints is nothing less than our
friendship  through Christ  in Whom they have the           responsibility to Christ (Matt.  2540).
closest possible friendship with the living God.              That this involves more than the ordinary fellow-
They know what rest is, not any more through the            ship of the saints is also clear from Scripture. At the
pictures and shadows of the law, but through                very center of this fellowship is the preaching of the
Christ, the great Rest-giver, and thus they willingly       Gospel by the ordained officebearers of the church.
and joyfully keep the Sabbath and find in all the           That is why we read in Acts  2:42 that the early
Sabbath ordinances and regulations a guide for do-          church "continued stedfastly in the  apostles' doc-
ing this.                                                   trine and fellowship." Receiving that preaching of
      As a gift of God, therefore, the Sabbath is not to    the Gospel in the public worship of the church is
be despised or cast aside. Just as much as legalism         part of our Sabbath duty, because, as Isaiah says in
constitutes a great threat to the Sabbath, so also          Isaiah  28:9-13,  "This  is the rest wherewith ye may
does the disregard of -the Sabbath that is so common        cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing."
today. Such disregard is a falling away from our            His reference is to the Gospel as the means which
liberty in Christ, a despising of God's sign of His         God uses to teach His people, knowledge and doc-
friendship with His people, a repudiation of their          trine (vs. 9). Just as Israel, the people of God often
rest that they have for their souls in Him, and so          will not hear the Word of rest and refreshing, and
also, a failure to confess the God of the covenant.         grow weary of it; but it still remains the chief
      There  -are those who complain that Jesus never       means of causing the weary to rest. This is also the
specifically commands the keeping of the Sabbath            reason why the exhortation of Hebrews 4: 11 to
in the New Testament, and also that He never com-           labor to enter the rest is given in close connection
mands its observance on the first day of the week.          with the description of the Word of God as a sharp
The fact is that this matter of Sabbath observance in       two-edged sword. That sharp sword of the Word is
the New Testament was too important for God's               God's instrument to cut away our sins and corrup-
people to be left to mere command, and its impor-           tion, that we may rest in Him. And our calling to
tance and observance on the first day are con-              labor to enter the rest involves our submitting to
firmed and taught not so much by command, but               its living and powerful influence.
by all the life and work of our Lord Jesus Christ,            Sabbath observance is not easy on account of
Who revealed Himself to the church as her risen             this. The ways of the flesh are easy, for they are the
Lord only on the first day of the week (Matt. 28:1,         ways of doing our own pleasure on the Sabbath.
Jn. 20:19, 26, Rev. 1:lO) and Who chose to pour out         Proper Sabbath observance requires great diligence
all the blessings of His finished work on that same         in prayer, and in knowing and believing the Word
day. And even before He, as the Lord of Sabbath,            of God. It is such a great work that it is possible on-
changed its observance from the seventh to the first        ly when we set aside our daily cares and cease from
day, He condemned all disregard of the Sabbath by           our everyday labors for that one day. The com-
His example, for we read in Luke  4:16,  "As His            mand to refrain from work on the Sabbath, there-
custom was, He went up into the synagogue on the            fore, is not a command to be idle, but to give our-
sabbath." Ai His disciples, it is our calling to follow     selves with all our hearts and soul and mind  and
Him.                                                        strength  to the remembering of God's covenant of
      At the very heart of joyful Sabbath observance,       grace with us.
then, is the weekly worship of the church. Not                That work is very highly blessed by God, dif-
merely because it is commanded, but because we              ficult though it may be. Those who have experi-
have a great High Priest, Who has consecrated and           enced the blessedness of faithful and careful Sab-
opened for us a new and living way into the very            bath observance can agree with the Psalmist:
presence of God, do we heed the exhortation not to          "Those that be planted in the house of the Lord
forsake the assembling of ourselves together (Heb.          shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall
10:19-25). That assembling of the saints is the chief       bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and
means of covenant friendship with our God, since            flourishing" (Ps.  92:13, 14). The blessings of keep-
it is the communion of the body of Christ. Only as          ing the Sabbath are so great that our hearts grow
members of Christ's body and in the fellowship of           faint to think of them (Ps. 84: 1, 2). They are above
His body do we have fellowship with Christ Him-             all the blessings of a place and name in God's house
self as the One in Whom all the fulness of our cove-        and within His walls, better than of sons and


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                              i 91



daughters, and of an everlasting name that shall not     duties of the Sabbath as a burden, but as a privilege.
be cut off (Is.  56:5).                                  Practically this means that we must not always be
  Nevertheless, the highest purpose of Sabbath           asking whether this is wrong on the Sabbath, but
observance is not that we ourselves may be blessed,      we must ask ourselves what is right and fitting for
but that our covenant-making and covenant-keep-          the Sabbath.!. Then we will find that there is so
ing God may be honored. He has given us the Sab-         much that is fitting and right  - so much which
bath as a sign of His covenant, so that in keeping it    glorifies our covenant God, that there will not even
we may confess His glory, as the God of the cove-        be time for things about which we or others may
nant, in word and deed. When our worship is              have some difference of opinion as to their proprie-
directed to the Father, when it is through the Son       ty-
and His Word to us, and by the Holy Spirit who                  Our children also must be taught this. Certainly,
enables and helps us, then God is known among            because they are young, they must have rules for
His people as the triune, covenant God, Who has          the Sabbath, but they too must be constantly
no need of them, Who has perfect fellowship and          reminded that the purpose of these rules is only to
life in Himself, but Who in the greatness of His         teach them to fill the whole Sabbath with the great
grace and mercy has taken us into the fellowship         works of God's covenant, works of prayer and
and friendship of that life. In other words, our wor-    study of Scripture, works of charity and kindness
ship must be Trinitarian, so that the Triune God is      toward the saints and all those who are afflicted,
praised. It must be covenant worship, that is, the       but above all the works of hearing and believing the
worship of fellowship with Him, that He may be           voice of Christ in the Gospel.
known as the great covenant God.                           Let us, with our children, keep God's Sabbaths,
  Our attitude toward the Sabbath, then, must be a       choose the things that please Him, and take hold of
very positive attitude. We must not look at the          His covenant (Is.  56:4).

NEWS FEATURE


                     Protestant Reformed Teacher
                                      Goes to Ulster


  On August  `14, 1984, Mr. and Mrs. Deane               school was named, is governed by an association
Wassink and their four small children left for           called "Association for Christian Education in
Northern Ireland, where Mr.  Wassink will teach          Ireland" (ACEI), operating through a Board. Mem-
the 1984-1985 school year in Covenant Christian          bers of several Presbyterian churches co-operate in
School of Newtownabbey  - about 15 miles from            the association. One of the association's newsletters
Belfast. The  Wassinks arrived safely, by God's          speaks of the carefulness of the Board regarding ap-
providence; and, at the time of this writing (Sept-      plicants for membership, "in order to maintain the
ember  29), Mr.  Wassink has been teaching for al-       confessionally reformed character of the organiza-
most a month.                                            tion."
  The story behind Mr. Wassink's going to Ulster                In its first year, the school had 14 students; this
begins in September, 1983, when a small group of         year, there are 21 students  - there is growth.
concerned Presbyterians in Northern Ireland                     Because Christian education is new in Ulster,
started the first parental, Protestant, Christian        teachers are not available; and the association has
school in that country. Traditionally, the schools in    needed help from other quarters in the form of a
Ulster have been the parochial schools of the            competent, Reformed teacher for the upper
Roman Catholics and the State schools used by the        "grades." There is a teacher for the lower "grades."
Protestants. Covenant Christian School, as this new      Because the group is yet quite small, it needs finan-


92     =                                     THE STANDARD BEARER



cial help in the form of partial support of the            Christian education. However, he had already
teacher obtained from abroad. The association does         signed a contract to teach in the Hope Protestant Re-
provide some of the support of this teacher.               formed Christian School, where he had taught the
  In late spring of this year, the association learned     year before. But Hope very graciously agreed to
that the school would not be receiving a teacher it        release Mr.  Wassink from his contract and, at that
had counted on for the 1984-1985 school year. Be-          late date, to find another teacher, thus co-operating
cause members of the Bible Presbyterian Church of          on behalf of the school in Ulster.
Larne, Northern Ireland, including her pastor, the           No less gratifying was the response to the news-
Rev. George Hutton, are members of the ACEI and            letter distributed throughout the churches of our
because the Bible Presbyterian Church had recently         denomination, asking for financial support. Our
come into close contact with the Protestant Re-            committee had hoped for $5,000 by September. At
formed Churches, -through our South Holland                the present time, $14,000 has been given, mostly by
Church, the request for help came to the South             members of the Protestant Reformed Churches,
Holland Church for a Protestant Reformed teacher.          from all across the United States and Canada, in
Already, in one of his earliest letters to the Evangel-    large amounts and in small. Some from outside our
ism Committee of South Holland, Rev. Hutton had            churches have also contributed; and their gifts have
written, "Some of us are very concerned about the          been gratefully received. The liberality of our peo-
schooling of our children and are determined to            ple and their zeal for the cause of God's covenant
give them a reformed Christian education. I know           are nothing short of amazing. May God bless the
that the Protestant Reformed Church has years of           gifts and the givers.1 The Diaconate of South
experience in this field and for this reason I am ask-     Holland is administering this charity.
ing if there is possibly any material specially              Several thousand dollars are still needed for the
directed to parents dealing with this particular mat-      work. Anyone who is willing to give should make
ter." (By this time, the Bible Presbyterian Church         his check payable to "Fund for Reformed Educa-
has asked our  synodical Committee on Contact to           tion in Ulster" and send it to Jack Lenting, 17014
pursue close church-relations with her; and our            Wausau Ave., South Holland, IL 60473.
Synod has sent two ministers to her "in order to ex-
plore the possibility of establishing sister church          The address of Mr. and Mrs.  Wassink is:
relationships with (her) .' ' )                                    28 Hillmount Gardens
                                                                   Larne, County  Antrim
  The request was urgent: the school needed a                      Northern Ireland  BT40  1TF
teacher by September.                                        The Wassinks will be encouraged by your letters.
  Several men in different areas of our denomina-          They need our prayers  - remember them and the
tion then undertook to discover whether a teacher          cause of Christian education in Ulster in your
was available and whether there was the readiness          prayers.
of our people to support the work financially. The                                 Cordially in Christ,
results were gratifying in the extreme. Mr. Deane                                  Committee for Reformed
Wassink of our Holland, Michigan Church became                                        Education in Ulster
convinced that the Lord called him to this work of                                 Jack Lenting, Chairman

QUESTION .BOX


                                   Women in the Bible
                                                  Rev. C. Hanko



  The following question appeared in the March             about her role as prophetess to Israel other than my
15, 1984 issue of the Standard Bearer:                     own biblical study. We read and hear much about
   "I have a second question about women,                  Deborah and Phoebe, but nothing about Huldah.
especially Huldah in II Chron.  34:22 ff. I cannot         My second question is this: Will you discuss the
recall every having either read or heard preaching         spiritual and practical implications of Huldah's


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                              93



ministry for the Old Testament Church as well as          king. Wicked Athaliah was the exception among
for the New Testament Church?" (In a later post-          the kings of Judah. When we compare the days of
card the writer asks that this question be expanded       the judges, when Israel departed from the Lord,
"to include Anna as well in Galatians 3:28").             and God sent Deborah as prophetess to shame the
  Actually we know nothing more about the proph-          spiritual cowardliness of the men of that time, with
etess Huldah than is recorded in II Kings 22:13-          the days of king Josiah, when Judah committed
20 and in II Chronicles  34:22-24.  She lived at          every form of abominations before the face of
the time of the reign of Josiah, the last good king of    Jehovah, we can well conclude that the Lord once
Judah, not long before the Babylonian captivity.          more put Judah to shame by speaking through a
She had her home in what was known as the new             prophetess. It was not as if there were no other         ,
part of Jerusalem and her husband Shallum was             prophets at that time, for Jeremiah had begun his
keeper of the wardrobe. This may refer to the             ministry and Zephaniah is also mentioned as a
king's wardrobe or the clothing of the priests in the     prophet. Yet the Lord was willing to confirm the
temple. If it referred to the former, this could ac-      words of His law through a prophetess.
count for the fact that both Shallum and Huldah             It appears to me that the case of Anna, the proph-
were well known to the king. During the repairing         etess at the time of Jesus' presentation in the
of the temple the book of the law was found.              temple, was entirely different. Scripture informs us
Evidently the books of Moses had been completely          that "there was one Anna, a prophetess, the daugh-
neglected in Judah, were not even known by the            ter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Aser." She was at
king, as is evident from the reaction of king Josiah      least  ,a hundred years old and "departed not from
when the law was read to him. For when the king           the temple, but served God with fasting and
heard the law read, particularly the curses that          prayers night and day." Along with the aged  Sim-
would fall upon Israel if they forsook the Lord and       eon she met the Christ child in the temple and
worshiped idols, as recorded in Deuteronomy 28,           "gave thanks unto the Lord, and spake of him to all
he was deeply and alarmingly impressed, to the ex-        that looked for redemption in Israel."
tent that he rent his clothing. His fear for the judg-      The late Rev. Herman Hoeksema writes of her in
ments of God upon the idol worship of Judah and           The Mystery  of  Bethlehem: "The hope of the promise
upon all her other abominations impelled him to           was her heritage in generations. For she belonged
send a delegation to the prophetess Huldah to seek        to that tribe of Israel whose women the books of
the Word of the Lord from her. The Lord also spoke        the wise appraised as especially beautiful, the tribe
through Huldah, warning the king that the                 of Aser, one of the ten that had been swallowed up
judgments and curses recorded in the law of Moses         in captivity. Had not her generations in times long
certainly applied to his time. We read: "And she          gone by, when Ephraim had separated itself from
said unto them, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel,        Judah and walked in the ways of Jeroboam who
Tell the man that sent you to me, Thus saith the          caused Israel to sin, incorporated themselves into
Lord, Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, and      Judah, and had they not, turning their backs upon
upon the inhabitants thereof, even all the words of       the abominations of the golden calves, always wor-
the book which the king of Judah hath read:               shipped in Jerusalem and clung to the temple as the
Because they have forsaken me, and have burned            symbol of their hope? Had they  not,. when Judah
incense unto other gods, that they might provoke          had followed the way of her adulterous sister,
me to anger with all the works of their hands; there-     followed her, finally, also into captivity, mourned
fore my wrath shall be kindled against this place,        the lost estate of God's people at the rivers of
and shall not be quenched" (II Rings 22:15-17). But       Babylon, hanging their harps in the willows and
the king would be spared, because he humbled              refusing to sing one of the songs of Zion as long as
himself before the Lord when he heard these               Jerusalem was a spectacle and God's house lay in
words.                                                    ruins? And had they not obeyed in gladness of heart
  There are very few references to prophetesses in        when the summons was sounded forth to return
the Old Testament. Miriam is mentioned in Exodus          and to rebuild the walls of the Holy City? The hope
15:20, Deborah in Judges  4:4, Noadiah, a false           that Jehovah would still realize the Promise, would
prophet, in Nehemiah 6: 14, and Huldah in the refer-      remember His holy covenant with Abraham and
ences mentioned above. This situation is the very         the sure mercies of David, would redeem Israel
opposite of heathen countries, where women were           from all his iniquities and troubles, would restore
commonly engaged in witchcraft, fortune-telling,          the throne of David to its former glory, yea, exalt
and the like. We are all acquainted with Saul's visit     the mountain of His house above all the mountains
to the witch of  Endor. In the sphere of the church       of the earth, had never died in the generations of
the special gift of prophecy was entrusted almost         Phanuel, whose daughter was Anna, and in that
entirely to men, even as the office of priest and         hope they had never failed to keep their


94                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



genealogies. A blessed distinction, indeed, it was in         and the gentile remains a gentile, yet they are one
the days of apostasy and unbelief, of confusion and           in Christ. The master retains authority and the
indifference, that she could be known as Anna, the            slave remains subject to his master, yet they are
daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Aser."                   one in the Lord. The same applies to the sexes. We
      This true representative of the spiritual remnant       can put it this way: ministers, elders, and deacons
of the ten tribes had waited long, like Simeon, for           are not spiritudy superior, but are equal to the other
the fulfillment of the promise, the redemption in             members of the congregation. All are one in Christ.
Jerusalem. Now she could die in peace, for she had              We meet the same idea when we compare Ephe-
seen the promised Savior,, and dying she could also           sians 4:4-6 with I Corinthians 11:7-g and Ephesians
represent a nation that no longer would exist as na-          5:22, 23.
tion, since it had served its purpose in bringing               Ephesians 4:4-6 reads: "There is one body, and
forth the Christ. A beautiful picture  - Anna, a              one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your
widow, at the end of the' line of generations, now            calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God
ready to die in peace, for her hope of the promise            and Father of all, Who is above all, and in you all."
had been realized!           ,                                Here the emphasis falls on the unity of the various
      This is in complete harmony with Galatians 3:28,        members of the Body of Christ.
where we read: "`There is neither Jew nor Greek,                I Corinthians  11:7-9 reads: "For a man indeed
there is neither bond nor: free, there is neither male        ought not to cover his head, forasmuch as he is the
nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus."              image and glory of God: but the woman is the glory
      Although it is true that the special office in the     of the man. For the man is not of the woman, but
church is entrusted to men, even as the authority            the woman of the man. Neither was the man
over the earthly creation was entrusted to Adam in            created for the woman; but the woman for the
paradise, this does not mean that this distinction            man." Here distinction is made between  man  and
holds as men and women in the Body of Christ.                woman,  between male and female in general, ac-
True, almost without exception the offices of proph-          cording to God's creation.
et, priest, and king were entrusted to men in the
Old Dispensation. The twelve apostles were men,                 Ephesians 5:22 reads: "Wives, submit yourselves
                                                             unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord." Here
while the woman is told to be silent in the church (I         distinction is made between husband and wife. Al-
Timothy 2: 11, 12). But in Galatians 3:28 the apostle        though the wife submits to her husband, she is still
is speaking of the spiritual likeness and oneness of         one with him in the Lord.
all those who are in Christ. In God's sight all men
are equal in the sense that all have sinned, and fall           Each believer is an individual, serving his or her
short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23,  2:11, 3:9-18).        own purpose in the church, yet all are one in
Likewise, "the same Lord is Lord over all, and rich          Christ.
to all that call upon Him" (Rom. 10: 12). As mem-               For further reference, see Free Born Sons of Sarah
bers of the Body of Christ, united to Christ by the          by Rev. G.C. Lubbers, page 111;  Commentary on
bond of a living faith, all differences of race, color,      GaZatians  by William Hendriksen, page 150, et  aZ.
nationality, or sex fall away. The Jew remains a Jew




                                           Book Review

MARTIN LUTHER, PROPHET TO THE  CATH-                         Sheffield, is, in some respects, an important one. It
OLIC CHURCH,  by James Atkinson; Wm. B.                      is in the second chapter that the author sets forth
Eerdmans Publishing; Co., 1983; 224 pp., $7.95               his main thesis. Luther represents true Roman
(paper). (Reviewed by Prof. H. Hanko.)                      Catholic Christianity. The Romish church rejected
      Many books have been published on the  five-           him during his own lifetime and in the centuries
hundredth anniversary of the birth of Martin                 that have followed, but, especially since Vatican II,
Luther. This book, written by the Professor of               the situation has changed dramatically: it has been
Biblical History and Literature at the University of         increasingly inclined to accept him and his


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                                95



theology. Protestantism, if it is to be truly ecumen-      A summary of his argument is to be found on p.
ical, must return to the true Luther, from which         212:
position it had departed; only then will true union              In subsequent (sic) chapters we have con-
be possible.                                                 sidered Luther in his role as a prophetic re-
  This thesis is argued throughout the book. The             former addressing the Catholic Church that
first two chapters demonstrate the change that has           rejected his biblical and evangelical theol-
taken place `in Romish thought in its evaluation of          ogy and allowed him to maintain them in a
Luther. All this change came to a certain climax in          confessional position pnly outside the fel-
Vatican II, under the leadership of Pope John XX-            lowship. This had the effect both of reduc-
III, which council opened the way  ,for reunion be-          ing genuine Catholicism to Roman Cathol-
tween Protestants and Catholics. In the chapters             icism and of rendering the Reformation
which follow, the author examines rather carefully           movement polemical and confessional.
Luther's position on key doctrines, shows how                (Earlier in the book the author argues that
Vatican II, at least in some instances, has adopted          this confessional stance of the Protestant
Luther's position and argues that if Protestantism           churches is something to be regretted, but
would return to Luther, the way would be partially          brought on by the hard position of the Rom-
at least opened for union.                                  ish church, H.H.) I have suggested that the
  A brief examination of some of the chapters will          work of Luther can only begin to be appre-
demonstrate how the author argues.                           ciated properly when i{ is seen as a reforma-
                                                             tion of Catholicism - that is to say, Cathol-
  Luther's peculiar relevance, so the author states,        icism needs Luther in order to be fully ca-
lies in his religious experience. Luther's whole            tholic, and Protestantism needs Catholicism
theology developed out of this religious experience,        to fulfil its raison d' etre.
and cannot be understood apart from it. In em-
phasizing this point, the author all but makes             Although the argument of the author is interest-
Luther a mystic, by divorcing his experience from        ing, and although it reveals the trends in modern
Scripture and its objective truth. Thus he lays          ecumenical thought, it just won't wash. Basically,
altogether the wrong emphasis on this point, but         the author apparently refuses to recognize that
makes this essential to his argument.                    Luther's whole position was fundamentally
                                                         Biblical, a return in the truest sense of the word to
  In discussing the question of the priesthood of all    Scripture as the only rule of faith and life. It was
believers, the author acknowledges that this point       this position which undercut the whole structure of
is a central point of the division between these two     Roman Catholic sacerdotalism, an elaborate system
branches of Christianity, a point of division which      which hangs together as one imposing structure.
remains to this day; but these two views are able to     Attack one element in it, and the whole system dis-
live side by side within one church. Luther would        integrates. To this system belong the authority of
have violently disagreed, and the author all but         the church and tradition, represented in the pope,
concedes the primacy of the pope in the church and       justification by faith and works, the denial of the of-
sacrifices a fundamental principle of the Reforma-       fice of all believers, the doctrine of the mass (as
tion in doing this.                                      well as all the sacraments), the worship of Mary
  On the question of justification by faith, the         and the saints, purgatory and indulgences, as well
author argues that the Romish church has basically       as the doctrine of the church. The Romish church,
acknowledged the correctness of Luther's position        even at Vatican II, has shown no inclination to give
and had conceded this important point to  Pro-           up these essential positions, and the union between
testantism  - something highly dubious to say the        Roman Catholicism and Protestantism can be ac-
least.                                                   complished only by way'of complete capitulation of
                                                         Protestantism to Romish thought. Important
  In his conception of the Word of God, the author       elements in Protestantism are all but prepared to do
is basically Barthian and tries to make Luther a Bar-    this, and this book is a kind of justification for that
thian as well. He makes the distinction between          eventual union  - a union which, on this basis,
Scripture and the Word of God and claims that this       would have made Luther sick.
was the view of Luther. Again, in Vatican II, he
finds the possibility of agreement on this point.                       Read andl Study
  Vatican II also essentially adopted Luther's view
of the church, thus opening the way for union on                    The Standard Bearer!
this matter and understanding Luther now as a true
ecumenist.


      THE STANDARD BEARER
          P.O. Box 6064                                                                        / Gi;EJz~.gF.+". 1
Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506





96                                            THE STANDARD BEARER

                           News From Our Churches
                                                   October 30, 1984
      Reformation Day Lectures were in abundance in           early about such things as the great importance of
our churches at the end of October. Rev. R. Van               Christian marriage and how all of this develops
Overloop  spoke on the "Reformation and the                   because of all the marriages in our church."
Preached Word," in  the; Grand Rapids area. Prof.               Holland Protestant Reformed Church and our
Decker spoke in two  1 places: Kalamazoo and                  churches have a profound evidence of God's peo-
Houston, Texas. In Kalamazoo his topic was "The              ple being gathered from every nation, tongue, and
Reformation and the Offices of the Church." The               tribe when we see the Koops in Jamaica, the
Texas audience heard him speak on "The Foolish-               Wassinks in Northern Ireland, Rev. Miersma and
ness of Preaching." Rev/ K. Hanko spoke on "The               family in New Zealand, and Lim Kok Eng here from
Church and the Word,") and Rev. R. Hanko spoke                Singapore. Rev. Miersma's address is  #20  Maun-
on "The Priesthood of Believers."                             garaki Rd., Korokoro  Petone, New Zealand. Tele-
      As I mentioned in  an' earlier report, this year is    phone number  011-64-4-684-540.
the 150th Anniversary  `of the Secession (The  Af-               In regards to radio, Rev. Bekkering gave a brief
scheiding) in the Reformed Churches in the Nether-            meditation concerning the Christian's responsibil-
lands. Prof. H.C. Hoeksema gave two lectures on               ity in voting, on KGOL. Rev. R. Van Overloop  gives
this historical event. They were: "The History of             a fifteen minute radio program every Sunday on
the Secession and the Doctrinal Issues Involved"              WCFL, 1000 AM in the Chicago area. This station is
and "The Significance of the Secession for Re-                also heard in Randolph, Wisconsin. Southeast's
formed Churches Today." These lectures were                   Evangelism Society is putting sermons on the radio
given in the Chicago, Illinois area.                          from Southeast Church from 11:30 AM to 12:30 PM
      Lynden congregation has extended a call to Rev.         each Sunday on WMAX, 1480 AM.
W. Bekkering; Hull Church has called Rev. Haak;                  Trinity Protestant Reformed Church had this in-
and Faith Church has extended a call to Rev. W.               formation in regards to their supervised commun-
Bekkering.                                                    ion: "Note! We recite part of the form for the Lord's
      Rev. Bruinsma and his family have arrived in            Supper together. At the end of the Prayer at the bot-
Jamaica safely along with Mr. and Mrs. Wes Koops.             tom of page 62 we say the Apostles' Creed together
They had a good trip. They're presently doing a lit-          and then we conclude the Thanksgiving Prayer at
tle house painting. Rev. Bruinsma is looking into             the bottom on page 63 by saying the Lord's Prayer
the possibility.-of buying some goats. The container          together."
carrying their car and: other belongings has been              ' A special program is being arranged for First
delayed several days. The weather is warm but the             Church's last Sunday night in their present church
cool ocean breezes help them to sleep at night.               building on November 25. Their evening service
      A letter from Rev. Arie and Sherry den Hartog           will begin at 7:00 P.M. on that Sunday to make it
reads, in part, as follows:. "We are also thankful            more convenient for attendance at the program.
that there is never any indication of racism even             While they wait for their new church building, they
though our children are almost the only Westerners            will meet in the St. Cecilia building beginning on
in the whole school. If anything our children seem            December 2.                                                   DH
to be favored too much because they are American.
The school year will be over at the beginning of                                         N O T I C E ! ! !
November. One thing we miss very much is that                   After December 1, 1984, all orders for Catechism Books must be
they do not have Christian friends to play with.              sentto: - MR. ROGER DYKSTRA, 5101 BURTON ST., S.E., GRAND
This becomes more i portant as they grow older.               RAPIDS, MI 49506.
On the other hand Te are thankful for the  in-
fluence of the members of our church on the                                 RESObUTlON OF SYMPATHY
children. The zeal and devotion of the church                   The Ladies Society of the Hudsonville Protestant Reformed
members is a good example to them and a good en-              Church expresses their sympathy to Mrs. John C. Lubbers in the loss
                                                              of her brothers HENRY SCHUT and CHRIS SCHUT. May the grace of
vironment for them to grow up in. They also learn             God be with her in this time of sorrow.


