STANDAR-D
                        RER                                               .
        A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE                                       I



            SPECIAL ISSUE
      THE WORK OF THE SPIRIT

Dear Reader:
  This is th.e second of our three special issues in the cur-
rent volume-year. It is devoted in its entirety to the subject,
"The Work of the Holy Spirit." This is a subject which oc-
cupies a very important place in the body of Reformed
truth, a subject with many interesting aspects, but also a
subject which probably does not always receive its due.
  You will find a variety of aspects of this subject treated in
the several articles in this issue, though this treatment is
not, and is not intended to be, by any means exhaustive. We
hope that you will find much spiritual enjoyment and in-
struction in this special issue.
                                                                    HCH


                                            Vol.  LXI, No. 12, March 15, 1985  -


266                                                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER




                                                                                                                                            THE STANDARD  BE+RER
                                           CONTENTS                                                                                                  ISSN 03624692
                                                                                                                           Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July, and August.
                                                                                                                            Published b the Reformed Free Publishing Association, Inc.
  Meditation -                                                                                                                   SecondClass Postage Paid at Grand Rapids,  Mich.
                                                                                                                 Editor-in-Chief:  Prof. Homer C. Hoeksema
       Thoroughly Purged .................. .  .  .  . 266                                                       Deportmenf   Editors:  Rev. Ronald Cammenga,  Rev. Arie den Hartog. Prof. Robert
                                                                                                                 D. Decker, Rev. Cornelius Hanko, Prof. Herman C. Hanko. Rev. Ronald Hanko,
  When the Spirit  Was Not Yet ............ . . . . 269                                                          Mr. David Harbach, Rev. John A. Heys, Rev. J. Kortering, Rev. George C.
                                                                                                                 Lubbers, Rev. Thomas C. Miersma, Rev.  Marinus  Schipper. Rev. James  Slopse-
  The Holy Spirit  as the Spirit of Christ ...... . . . . 271                                                    ma, Rev. Gise J. Van Baren,  Rev. Herman Veldman.
  The  Signs  of  the  Spirit   .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .274           Editorial  Office: Prof. H.C. Hoeksema
                                                                                                                                  4975 Ivanrest Ave. S.W.
  The Spirit of Truth in the Church . . . . . . . . . . . . . .276                                                                Grandville, Michigan 49418
                                                                                                                 Church News  Editor: Mr. David Harbach
  The  Comforter  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .278                            4930 Ivanrest Ave., Apt. B
                                                                                                                                      Grandville, Michigan 49418
  Salvation and the Covenant Spirit. ............ .280                                                           Editorial   Policy:  Every editor is solely responsible for the contents of his own
                                                                                                                 articles. Contributions of general interest from our readers and questions for the
  Holy Spirit  Baptism or the Second Blessing ..... .282                                                         Guestion-Box  Deuartment are welcome. Contributions will be limited to  ap-
                                                                                                                 l%oximately  300 words  and must be neatly written or typewritten, and must be
  The Holy Spirit  - and the Restraint of Sin ...... .285                                                        signed. Copy deadlines are the first and the fifteenth of the month. All com-
                                                                                                                 munications relative to the contents should be sent to the editorial office.
  Book  Review  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .287      Reprint  Policy:   Permission is hereby granted for the reprinting of articles in our
                                                                                                                 magazine by other publications, provided: a) that such reprinted articles are
  News  From Our Churches.  . . .  . . . . . .  . . . . . .  . . . .287                                          reproduced in full; bl that proper acknowledgement is made; cl that a copy of the
                                                                                                                 periodical in which such reprint appears is sent to our editorral  office.
                                                                                                                 Business  Office: The Standard Bearer
                                                                                                                                  Mr. H. Vander  Wal, Bus. Mgr.                  PH: (616) 243-2953
                                                                                                                                  P.O. Box 6064
                                                                                                                                  Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506
                                                                                                                 New  Zealand Business   Office: The Standard Bearer
                                                                                                                                                  c/o Protestant Reformed Fellowship
                                                                                                                                                  B. VariHerk,  66 Fraser St.
                                                                                                                                                  Wainuiomata: New Zealand
                                                                                                               I Subscription Policy; Subscription price, $10.50 per year. Unless a definite request
                                                                                                                 for discontinuance is received. it is assumed that the subscriber wishes the sub-
                                                                                                                 scription to continue without the formality of a renewal order, and he will be
                                                                                                                 billed for renewal. If you have a change of address, please notify the Business
                                                                                                                 Office as early as possible in order to avoid the inconvenience of delayed deli-
                                                                                                                 very. Include your Zip Code.
                                                                                                                 Advertising  Policy: The Standard Bearer does not accept commercial advertising of
                                                                                                                 any kind. Announcements of church and school events, anniversaries, obituaries,
                                                                                                                 and sympathy resolutions will be placed for a $3.00 fee. These should be sent to
                                                                                                                 the Business Office and should be accompanied by the $3.00 fee. Deadline for
                                                                                                                 announcements is the 1st or the 15th of the month, previous to publication on the
                                                                                                                 15th or the 1st respectively.
                                                                                                                 Bound  Volumes:  The Business Office will  acce t standing orders for bound
                                                                                                                 copies of the current volume; such orders are  dled
                                                                                                                                                                        P     as soon as possible after
                                                                                                                 completion of a volume. A limited number of past volumes may be obtained
                                                                                                                 through the Business Office.

MEDITATION



                                                                Thoroughly Purged
                                                                                             Prof. H.C. Hoeksema

                       John answered, saying unto them all, I indeed baptize you with water; but one mightier than
                   I cometh, the latchet  of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose: He shall baptize you with the
                   Holy Ghost and with fire: Whose fan is in His hand, and He will throughly purge His floor, and
                   will gather the wheat into His garner; but the chaff He will burn with fire unquenchable.
                                                                                                                                                                  -Luke  3:16,  17


  What a forerunner was John the Baptist!                                                                           distinction that he was given to point directly to the
  As the Lord Jesus Himself said, he was the great-                                                                 Christ, and that, too, in connection with His mighty
est  - that is, of the old dispensation. It was his                                                                 work of baptizing with the Holy Spirit and with fire


                                                       THE STANDARD  BEARER                                                    267



and in connection with I/Es bringing in the kingdom                unknown. It is the Spirit of the new dispensation,
of heaven with purging and judgment, so that the                   the Spirit of the exalted Christ of Whom John is
wheat is gathered into His garner, while the chaff is              speaking. He is the Spirit Who makes the church
burned with fire unquenchable.                                     partakers of all the spiritual benefits of Christ, all
  Indeed, among them that are born of women,                       the blessings of salvation. It is probably hard for us
there was not a greater than he!                                   even to imagine what a tremendous difference
       *       *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *     *          there is in this respect between the new dispensa-
                                                                   tion and the old. But in the old dispensation all
  In the context, John had evidently made such an                  those blessings of salvation were a matter of prom-
impression on the multitudes that came to him in                   ise.  They were possessed only in promise. They
the wilderness  - common people, Pharisees and                     could be enjoyed only by way of promise. They
Sadducees,  publicans, soldiers - that there was an                were the object of hope. In the new dispensation all
air of expectancy among them. They began to muse                   these benefits of salvation are realized. There is
in their hearts whether he were the Christ or not.                 atonement and reconciliation, the forgiveness of
And the verses on which we meditate are John's                     sins in His blood and the adoption unto children
answer to this musing of the people.                               and heirs. There is resurrection and new life, the
  In relation to the Christ, he told them, I am so                 life of Christ. There is freedom from the law. There
small and insignificant that I am not worthy to per-               is the reality of fellowship with God.
form the task of the meanest slave: I am not worthy                  And all these are wrought powerfully and effica-
to unfasten the latchet of the shoes of the Coming                 ciously and are richly multiplied unto the church
One. I am unworthy to be called His lowliest slave!                by the Spirit, the Spirit of the exalted Christ!
By so much is the Christ greater  - "stronger" the
original has - than I.                                               By so much is Christ stronger than John!
                                                                             *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *
  And this greater strength of Christ is described in
the words that follow.                                               He shall baptize you in the Holy Spirit!
  John baptized with water. Christ will baptize in                   John speaks of baptism with water and with fire,
the Holy Spirit and with fire!                                     but of baptism in the Spirit. The meaning is that one
                                                                   who is so baptized is wholly immersed in the Spirit
  John is but the forerunner. Christ will come fan                 of Christ. He comes completely under the power
in hand to purge thoroughly His floor and to finish                and domination of that Spirit. The Holy Spirit spiri-
the harvest and usher in the kingdom of heaven in                  tudizes such a man. That is, He separates him from
perfection.                                                        sin and cleanses him, justifies and sanctifies hi,
       *       *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *     *          and fills him with new life, heavenly life, the life of
  Christ is mighty to baptize with (the original uses              Christ. Further, He accomplishes this work in the
"in") the Holy Spirit and with fire.                               whole man: heart and mind and will, and, ultimate-
  By so much is He mightier than John, who bap-                    ly, soul and body. In this way the Spirit becomes
tizes with water.                                                  the life of his life!
  The meaning, of course, is not that John's bap-                    Remember, too, that this is not some kind of
tism was a mere water-baptism, a baptism to which                  special baptism, some kind of second blessing,
no inward spiritual reality corresponded in them                   reserved for an elite and holy few of Gods
that were baptized. This could not be. For John's                  children. No, this is Christ's baptism Whoever is
baptism was the baptism of repentance. And repen-                  baptized of Christ is baptized in the Holy Spirit.
tance is surely the work of the Holy Spirit; and it                And whoever is baptized in the Holy Spirit is so im-
was such even in the old dispensation, to which                    mersed in the Spirit of Christ that he becomes the
John the Baptist still belonged, though he was on                  recipient of all the blessings of salvation in Christ
the doorstep of the new.                                           Jesus.
  But, in the first place, the spiritual reality of bap-             Nor is baptism "with fire" something additional,
tism was not in John's power. All that John could                  some kind of second baptism next to that in the
do, after all, was to administer the outward sign of               Spirit. But they are one. The baptism of the Spirit,
that inward spiritual reality and preach repentance.               in the Spirit,  is  a baptism  with fire.  His baptism
Christ, however, to Whom John pointed is                           works as fire. The meaning, therefore, is that he is
mightier. He is infinitely stronger. The One to                    baptized in the Holy Spirit and thus with fire.
Whom John pointed could and would also work the                      He is thoroughly purged!
spiritual reality of baptism.                                        In verse 17 you find the figure of the  husband-
  Besides, in the second place, these words of John                man threshing and winnowing the wheat, separa-
point to a promise of the Spirit such as was hitherto              ting the wheat from the chaff in the threshingfloor,


268                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER



so that the wheat may be gathered ultimately into               His threshing-floor. He has a winnowing shovel, or
his garner, while the chaff is burned. But this figure          screen, which is shaken in the wind in order to
of purging may be applied to the baptism of the in-             separate the wheat from the chaff.
dividual child of God in the Holy Spirit and with                 "His" floor refers to the church as it appears his-
fire. This "purging" begins in the heart and life of           torically in the world and is Christ's property. In
the individual elect child of God.                             that historically existent church there is wheat and
  Fire here, of course, is not physical fire but is to          chaff. The chaff represents, from God's viewpoint,
be understood figuratively. It has a spiritual mean-           the reprobate; and from their own viewpoint they
ing. If you will, it is "spiritual fire."                       are the wicked who do not repent and who love un-
  Now what does fire do? It burns away and                     righteousness. The wheat represents the elect of
separates the silver and the dross. In the refiner's            God, chosen from before the foundations of the
fire it purges away all the impurities and leaves the          world; and from their viewpoint, they are the
refined and purified silver.                                   righteous in Christ, those baptized in the Spirit.
                                                               Notice that they are ripe. It is the threshing-time,
  And what does spiritual fire do?                             the hour of judgment. They have grown up to-
  It does in the spiritual sense of the word what              gether  - one mankind  - one historically existent
physical fire does in the natural sense of the word.           church in the midst of the world. They were one
That is, it burns away spiritual dirt and dross, and           organism, with the chaff serving the growth and
thus it purifies spiritually. It burns away all the cor-       development of the wheat. But now it is the time to
ruption of the old nature, all the sin, all the filth, all     separate. The wheat is gathered into the garner, in-
the death, all the darkness of the lie, all the per-           to the heavenly glory of the eternal kingdom. The
verseness of the will, all the impurity of our affec-          chaff is burned with fire unquenchable, the fire of
tions, all the opposition to God, all the foolishness,         the wrath of God in hell.
all the ignorance, all the lust  - until ultimately               The realization of all this?
there is nothing left but the redeemed and sancti-
fied and purified and glorified child of God, perfect             First of all and principally, it takes place at Pente-
in heavenly perfection in body and soul.                       cost, at the outpouring of the Spirit. Israel of the old
  The purging of "his floor," therefore, which is              dispensation was Christ's floor. They were one na-
referred to in verse 17 under the figure of the win-           tion, the seed of Abraham. But there was chaff,
nowing-process, begins with the individual sinner              much chaff, there, as well as wheat. Election and
and takes place through the "fire" of the Holy                 reprobation cut right through the nation of Israel.
Spirit. When the child of God shall finally be                 That Israel was united by external bonds: by their
gathered into the heavenly garner, he will be                  descent from Abraham, by national bonds, by cir-
thoroughly purged!                                             cumcision, by temple and altar, by priesthood and
                                                               sacrifices, and by all the external bonds of the law
  And this is a matter of experience, is it not? In-           of Moses.
deed, it is Christ's work, and Christ's work alone,
through His Spirit. All the emphasis falls on this, to            But John points to the fact that this would
be sure. Christ is stronger, infinitely stronger, than         change. The kingdom of heaven was at hand. It
John. But we experience this baptism in the Spirit.            would be realized through the cross and resurrec-
We experience it in repentance: that is the work of            tion of Jesus Christ and in the outpouring of the
the mighty Christ through His Spirit. We experi-               Spirit. That event would make an end to all out-
ence it when we purify ourselves and cleanse our-              ward forms and bring about the establishment of
selves from all the filthiness of the flesh and of the         the church spiritual, leaving all carnal Israel
spirit: it is all the fruit, the effect, of baptism in the     behind.
Holy Spirit.                                                      Still more, the process goes on throughout the
  And when we shall finally appear before Him                  new dispensation. Again the church develops in the
without spot or wrinkle in the assembly of the elect           line of generations. Again chaff and wheat develop
in life eternal, we shall forever acknowledge that it          together. And. the church, Christ's threshingfloor,
is all of the mighty Christ, the revelation of the             He fans and winnows by His Spirit and Word. This
sovereign God of our salvation!                                is the deepest cause of all separation. Where this
       *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *     *         winnowing-process no longer takes place, there the
                                                               church is no more.
  But Christ does not merely baptize individuals in               But the prophetic word of John looks forward
the Spirit; He gathers His church! And this involves           even to the end of the age. There and then the
a purging process.                                             separation will be complete and final. Then there
  The imagery here is familiar. Christ is standing in          shall be unquenchable fire, eternal punishment, in


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                              269



hell. And the ripened wheat will be gathered in the      Spirit and with fire, guarantees that thus it will be!
heavenly garner.                                           Repent!
  The mighty Christ, Who baptizes in the Holy               For the kingdom of heaven is come nigh you!





                    When the Spirit Was Not Yet
                                              Rev. John A. Heys





  No, I do not for the smallest fraction of a minute     other translations, "given," does not belong to the
wish to maintain that the Holy Spirit once was not       text, and to what John wrote. "The Spirit was not
in our world, and that He came into it at a particu-     yet, because Jesus was not yet glorified" is the idea.
lar date in history. He is co-equal with the Father         This certainly raises many questions, since, as
and Son; and He is also co-eternal with them. Do         pointed out above, the Spirit was there in the begin-
we not read in Genesis  1:2 that He was moving           ning moving upon the waters. He was there over-
upon the face of the waters, when the Triune God         shadowing Mary before Jesus was conceived and
was creating the heavens and the earth? Indeed He        born. We may add that He was there descending
was there before time began.                             upon Jesus in the form of a dove at His baptism. Of
  Nor do I have in mind the fact that there is a mo-     Him we read, long before Jesus' glorification, that
ment in time when the eternal Spirit comes into the      He led Him into the wilderness to be tempted. We
heart of an elect child of God, causing him to be        stand in need of an explanation of the fact that the
born again, and thus beginning the work of sancti-       Spirit was not yet throughout the whole Old Testa-
fication in him. In that sense we can say that the       ment dispensation. How can that be?
Spirit was not yet in that child of God. Even as we         There is abundant evidence that, from the crea-
can say that there was a moment when the Spirit          tion of the heavens and the earth, the Spirit was in
overshadowed Mary, and the wonder of all                 our world. We may point out first of all that all
wonders took place - and that was some four thou-        things exist by His power, and because He is in
sand years after time began  - so we can say that        them. Yea, even the devil exists because the Spirit
there was a moment when the Spirit came into an          upholds him; and He gives existence to hell.
individual elect child of God. But I do not have that    Because He is in oxygen and hydrogen, these when
in mind.                                                 combined in the right proportions become water.
  The fact of the matter is that I was asked to write    He is in our foods, and that is why they nourish us.
concerning the work of the Holy Spirit in the Old        He is in fire with its warming, but also in its de-
Testament dispensation. And Holy Writ does teach         structive powers. Do we not read in Psalm  33:6,
us that, in a certain sense, we can say that in the      "By the word of the Lord were the heavens made;
Old Testament times the Spirit was not yet. If you       and all the host of them by the breath of His
will look up John  7:39 you will read, "But this         mouth"? And that word breath may be translated
spake He of the Spirit, which they that believe on       Spirit. Do we not in Acts  17:28 read, "For in him
Him should receive, for the Holy Spirit was not yet      we live, and move, and have our being"? And what
come; because that Jesus was not yet glorified."         about Psalm  104:30?
Your Ring James version, which I quoted, has that          What is more, it is so very evident from many
word "come" in italics, indicating that the original     passages of Holy Writ that in the Old Testament
Greek version does not say "was not yet come" but        dispensation the Spirit qualified and strengthened
"was not yet." And we are obliged to explain the         both believers and unbelievers for the work to
text as though that word "come" - or, as in some         which the sovereign God had appointed them. In I


270                                        THE STANDARD BEARER



Samuel  10:6 we read, "And the Spirit of the Lord          How then must we explain John 7:39? Even if we
will come upon thee, and thou shalt prophesy with        leave in that word "come" in our King James ver-
them, and shalt be turned into another man." That        sion, or substitute, as some other translations have
was spoken of Saul, the first king of Israel. Then in    it, the word "given," how can it be said that the
I Samuel 11:6 we read, "The Spirit of the Lord came      Spirit was not yet come or given, when the Old
upon Saul when he heard those tidings, and his           Testament Scriptures clearly reveal Him and His
anger was kindled greatly." Before this he was a         work?
bashful, shy man who hid behind the stuff and              Very simply, the Spirit was not there as the Spirit
dared not stand before the people over whom he           of the glorified Christ, that is, as the Spirit sent out
was appointed to be king. In I Samuel  16:14 we          by the resurrected, ascended, and glorified Christ.
read further, "The Spirit of the Lord departed from      Note the word of Jesus in John 16:7. "Nevertheless
Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled          I tell you the truth; it is expedient for you that I go
him." He now became a coward without the                 away; for if I go not away, the Comforter will not
strengthening power of the Spirit that made him a        come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto
new man. Now he commits suicide. Indeed during           you." Before Jesus was born He could not preach to
the Old Testament times the Spirit did qualify men       the people. Before He died He could not rise from
for the work God decreed in His counsel that they        the dead. So before He is glorified He cannot send
should perform.                                          the Spirit from the vantage point in heaven to
  More to the point, as far as the subject assigned      which He ascended. He must first die, rise again on
to me is concerned, is the work of the Spirit upon       account of our justification, ascend up to heaven,
and in the saints. He was there since the fall of        and reach the glory which He came to earn and
Adam in the work of sanctification in every elect        prepare for us. Then He is given the Spirit and can
child of God from that time onward. He caused            send Him down upon His church. Throughout the
every one of them to be born again. He united each       Old Testament times the Triune God sent the Spirit
one to Christ by the bond of faith, calling them in-     to perform all the works which we mentioned
ternally and irresistibly. He sustained them in their    above. Now the Son of God, Who came in our flesh
spiritual warfare against the forces of wickedness,      at a moment of time and ascended up into heaven
comforted them in their sorrows, wrought true            on a particular day, having received the Spirit is the
repentance in them, and brought them to the mercy        One Who now sends the Spirit into the elect
seat of God for assurance of the forgiveness of their    children of God. Before He was glorified He could
sin. The Spirit was there alright, and He performed      not do this. He, the Spirit, was not yet the Spirit of
some wonderful works in and for the church.              the glorified Christ.
  Turn once to Psalm 51:ll. David prays, "Cast me          Consider also the fact that now there is a far
not away from thy presence; and take not thy Holy        richer measure of truth for the Spirit to bring unto
Spirit from me." David could not pray that, if he        the church. Pentecost reveals that so clearly. And
did not have the Spirit. And if John 7:39 means that     that tremendous change that took place in the
the Spirit was not yet in existence, or not yet          disciples of Jesus reveals this. The truth that the
operating in the church in the Old Testament dis-        Spirit wrote in the hearts of the saints in the Old
pensation, David could not have had Him in his           Testament dispensation was rich. Make no mistake
heart. But God Himself had David pen down these          about that. All that man needed to know to have
words for us, so that we could see that the Spirit       faith, not only in God, but in the coming Christ was
was there to sanctify, teach, comfort, and sustain       in the Old Testament Scriptures, which the Spirit
the elect of God.                                        moved men to write, illuminated their minds  -
  Or, if you will, turn to Isaiah  48:16, where we       mind you, Moses knew all about creation week
read, "The Lord God and His Spirit sent me." And         before man was even created, and all by the Spirit's
in Isaiah 61:l we read, "The Spirit of the Lord God      revelation  - and infallibly guided them to write it
is upon me; because the Lord bath anointed me to         exactly as it is in Gods mind. But now the richer
preach good tidings to the meek; He hath sent me         measure of those truths is brought to the church
to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty       and written in the hearts of the children of God.
to the captives, and the opening of the prison to          Now the Spirit, as sent out by the glorified Christ
those that are bound." In no way can it be said then     and as the Spirit of Christ, can teach the saints con-
that in the Old Testament times the Spirit was not       cerning that glory as a realized, attained glory. In
in the church yet. Were that the case there would        the Old Testament times He taught the saints of a
have been no faith in that period, no love of God,       coming glory. Now He shows it realized as that
no sorrow over sin, no hope for the things of God's      bestowed on Him Who died for our sins, and ful-
kingdom, no looking for Christ to come. And these        filled to the last detail God's law in our stead. Now
definitely were there.                                   He can show what the disciples did not understand,


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                            271



namely, that cross, as so very necessary for Him to        justification, and ascended to God's right hand; but
reach that glory as our forerunner and Head. That          also because Christ had not yet received the Spirit
is why Jesus said to His disciples in John  16:13,         to send down to the.church  with that message. The
"Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he         Old Testament saints were shown these truths by
will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak      means of types and shadows. It was the day of
of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall       shadows. Now the reality is in our midst; and the
he speak: and he will show you things to come." In-        Spirit sent out by the glorified Christ shows us
deed, He now leads the church into  all  truth,            Christ in glory as our Head and forerunner. He
because all the glory promised to the church has           shows us not a King on David's earthly throne, but
been reached by Christ. Not only can He now lead           enthroned in heaven over all things. He shows us
the church into seeing that all the things promised        not an earthly Canaan and Jerusalem, but the new
in the Old Testament dispensation have been ful-           Jerusalem and a new creation wherein righteous-
filled, but now He can teach the church the necessi-       ness shall dwell.
ty of that cross of Christ, His humiliation, His aton-       In the Old Testament dispensation the Spirit was
ing for our sins. And Peter could respond on the           sent out by the Triune God to reveal unto the
day of Pentecost and say what he could not have            church all that the church could receive and needed
said the day before. He could quote Old Testament          for faith in God's promises. All the truth could
prophecies which he knew before that day, be-              not be shown to the church yet, that is, all the
cause the Spirit was there in the Old Testament            details of how God would work it out could not be
dispensation, but which he did not fully under-            given, because of man's limitations, not  Gods.
stand. A richer measure of the truth of these pro-         Even as a child cannot be taught all about himself
phecies the church now had.                                and the earth on which he lives, in the early years
  Throughout the  Old Testament times the main             of his training in school, so the church, which Paul
message of the Spirit was, "Christ is coming." Now         in Galatians 3 and 4 likens to a child, was by the
it becomes, "Christ is come." And although we              Spirit taught all that was needful, and all it could
sing, and may sing, from the Psalms, "Christ shall         receive; but after Christ's ascension new details,
have dominion Over land and sea, Earth's remotest          richer explanation of the truth was given. It was no
regions shall His empire be," we now, because the          new doctrine, but a richer measure of the same doc-
Spirit of the glorified Christ is sent by Christ into      trine. It was, when Christ sent forth the Spirit, a
our hearts, can sing, "Christ  now  has dominion           richer explanation of the instruction given in the
over land and sea, Earth's remotest regions  now           Old Testament times, but also truth that strength-
His empire be." The Old Testament saints could             ens our faith in the conviction that Christ is still
not do that, because Christ was not yet born, had          working for us, and that He will come to bring us to
not yet died for our sins, risen on account of our         the glory that He now has.





         The Holy Spirit as the Spirit of Christ
                                                 R-of: H. Hanko





  At least in some measure the confusion in the            distinction which Scripture makes between the Ho-
church over the special gifts of the Spirit and the so-    ly Spirit as the third Person of the Trinity, on the
called second blessing have risen because of a             one hand, and as the Spirit of Christ, on the other
failure to understand what Scripture means when it         hand. This mistake is very clearly evident in Edwin
speaks of the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of Christ. This    Palmer's book, "The Person and Ministry of the
failure is, at bottom, a failure to understand the         Holy Spirit." We quote from pp. 20, 21.


272                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



         In this world there are special functions              nature. He stands there as the Servant of the
       and works performed by each Person of the                Lord, Who is not come to do His own will,
       Trinity in distinction from the other two.               but the will of Him that sent Him. That this
       When we think of creation, for example, we               doing of the will of the Father includes the
       think chiefly of the Father, and not of the              incarnation itself, and that Christ also under
       Son or the Holy Spirit . . . . And when we               the old dispensation was Mediator and  ap-
       think of sanctification and the working out           pears as such does not alter the case. It
       of salvation in our lives, we do not think               simply means that this Mediator's relation,
       chiefly of the Father, nor the Son, but of the           this relation of the Servant of His Lord, of
       Holy Spirit. He is the one who dwells within             the One that is sent to His Sender, is deter-
       the Christian. In fact, it is because of the             mined in God's eternal counsel, and that
       neglect of these distinctions that some peo-             also in this respect all the works of God are
       ple who are in anxiety and distress go to the            known unto Him from eternity. If, how-
       Father or Christ for comfort, when, in reali-            ever, there is indeed a covenant of peace
       ty, they could go to the Holy Spirit, who is             between the Three Persons of the divine
       the Holy Comforter.                                   : Trinity, this covenant must needs stand
  A view such as this leads, if carried logically to its        behind the relation wherein Christ stands as
conclusion, to Tritheism, which teaches that there             the One that is sent to His Sender.
are three Gods. And it certainly is contrary to Scrip-        Hoeksema has a great deal more to say about
ture to say that we must go to the Holy Spirit in           this, especially as it relates to the truth of the cove-
times of anxiety, for the Scriptures repeatedly com-        nant. But the point here is that we must distinguish
mand us to go to God when we are "in anxiety and            between the second Person of the Trinity and
distress." The Psalms contain innumerable refer-            Christ. The distinction is not a personal distinction.
ences to this very truth. But the mistake lies in fail-     The Person of our Lord Jesus Christ is the Person of
ing to distinguish between the Holy Spirit as the           the Son of God, the second Person of the Trinity.
third Person of the Trinity and the Holy Spirit as          But although the Person of our Lord Jesus Christ is
the Spirit of Christ. And it is important that we pay       the second Person of the holy Trinity, Christ is this
close attention to this distinction.                        second Person of the Trinity  in OUY  flesh, in which
  In order to understand it, we must, first of all,         flesh He united perfectly the divine nature to the
say a bit about another distinction which Scripture         human nature in His own divine Person. Within
makes which is related to this one. I refer to the dis-     the Trinity, Christ is very God of very God. He is
tinction Scripture makes between the second Per-            the second Person Who, with the Father and Spirit,
                                                            is the one true God, one in essence and three in Per-
son of the Trinity and our Lord Jesus Christ. H.            sons. But the second Person of the Trinity, while re-
Hoeksema speaks at some length concerning this
distinction in `his "Reformed Dogmatics" in con-            maining God, became man and dwelt among us.
nection with his discussion of "The Pactum                  He did this as the fulfillment of God's counsel in
Salutis." We quote from p. 312.                             which God eternally purposed to make redemption
                                                            for His people through His Son become flesh.
         Fact is that in the interpretation of these
       and similar texts (which have been used to             We cannot go into this matter now, for it would
       support an erroneous idea of the "counsel            carry us too far away from our subject. But permit
       of peace," H.H.) we may never lose sight of          me this parenthesis at any rate. This distinction is
       the distinction between the Person of the            crucial for an understanding of Scripture. All the
       Son in the divine nature and the Person of           works of God, including creation, redemption, and
       the Son in the lmman nature. In His human            sanctification are works which the triune God per-
       nature the Son is subordinate to God as His          forms through Christ and by means of the Spirit of
       Father. In the divine nature He is co-equal          Christ. And only when this crucial distinction is
       with the Father. In His human nature He              made and clearly understood can we also come to a
       stands in relation to God as one that is sent        proper understanding of the covenant of grace and
       stands to one that sends him. In His divine          of Christ as the Head of the covenant. In fact, it was
       nature He is, together with the Father and           this crucial point, with all that it implies, which
       the Holy Spirit, Sender, not Sent. His               was, in my judgment, one of the chief contributions
       human will is subordinate to the will of the         which Rev. Hoeksema made to covenant theology
       Father. But in His divine will He is One             and to the Reformed faith as a whole.
       with the Father and the Holy Spirit. In John           However that may be, this same distinction must
       6:38,39  the Savior does not speak according         be applied to the Holy Spirit. And we cannot prop-
       to His divine, but according to His human            erly understand the work of the Holy Spirit without


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                273



understanding this distinction.                             33). At the time of His ascension, God fulfilled His
   There is an important passage in John 7 which            promise in Christ in giving to Christ the Holy Spirit
clearly sets this forth. I refer to verses 37-39: "In       as His own. This Spirit Christ poured out on His
the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood       church on Pentecost.
and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come             All of this does not mean that there was no mani-
unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the         festation of the Spirit of Christ in the Old Testa-
scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers     ment. Indeed there was. But, it must be remem-
of living water. (But this spake he of the Spirit,          bered, there was also a manifestation in the Old
which they that believe on him should receive: for          Testament of Christ. Every time the Old Testament
the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that              Scriptures speak of the "Angel of Jehovah" the
Jesus was not yet glorified.)"                              Scriptures speak of Him, in distinction from other
   Now, it is especially to the expression in the           angelic appearances, as divine (see, e.g., such
above verses, "for the Holy Ghost was not yet               passages as Gen.. 16:7-14, 19:24, 32:24-32). And the
given, I ' that I refer. If you will consult your Bibles    reference is to the old dispensational manifestation
(KJV), you will discover that the word "given" in           of Christ. The same is true of the Spirit of Christ.
that text is printed in italics. This means that it was     The Spirit of Christ, while not given to the church
added by the translators, but does not appear in the        as a whole, nevertheless was given to those who
Greek in which the New Testament was originally             were anointed to the special offices of prophet,
written. In other words, according to the Greek, the        priest, and king in Israel (see such passages as
text reads, "For the Holy Ghost was not yet." Now,          Isaiah 61:1-3, I Peter 1: 11, etc.). In fact, without the
it is very clear from this that the apostle John,           old dispensational manifestation of the Spirit of
under the inspiration of the Spirit, means to say,          Christ, the prophets would not have been able to
"There was no Holy Spirit as yet. He did not as yet         speak and write their prophecies of Christ which
exist." And the reason for this is: "Because that           fill the Old Testament-Scriptures. This is clear from
Jesus was not yet glorified." The Holy Ghost could          what Peter writes in the passage referred to above:
not exist until such a time as Jesus was glorified.         "Of which salvation the prophets have enquired
                                                            and searched diligently, who prophesied of the
  That surely strikes us as a strange statement. We         grace that should come unto you: searching what,
might even be tempted to say that such a passage as         or what manner of time the  Spirit  of  Christ which
this denies the eternity of the Spirit. We might want       was in them did signify, when it testified before-
to take issue with the text and remind John that,           hand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that
after all, the Holy Spirit is also true God; that God is    should follow" (vss. 10, 11).
eternal; and that, therefore, the Holy Spirit also is
eternal. The Holy Spirit always was, always is, and           Nevertheless, in all His fulness, the Spirit was
always shall be. How then is it possible to say, "The       given to Christ when Christ ascended into heaven.
Holy Spirit was not yet?"                                   And that- Spirit, given to Christ, Christ pours out
  It is, however, possible to say this in the same          upon His church on the day of Pentecost so that
sense in which it is possible to say that Christ,           now every believer receives that Spirit in all His
before His birth of the virgin Mary, "was not yet."         fulness. And that Spirit abides with the church for-
There was no Christ prior to His birth, for the Old         ever  - i.e., not only to the end of the world when
Testament church lived, not in the reality of His           Christ comes again, but into all eternity in heavenly
presence, but in the hope of His coming. So it is           lb-Y*
true of the Holy Spirit.                                      Through the Spirit as the Spirit of Christ, Christ
  We must make a distinction between the Holy               becomes all that He is in Himself and all that He
Spirit as the third Person of the Trinity and the Ho-       has received through His glorious and perfect work
ly Spirit as the Spirit of Christ. Once again, this is      for the church. We can mention only briefly what
not to be construed as a personal distinction, for the      that implies.
Person of the Spirit of Christ is indeed the third Per-       Through the Spirit of Christ as His own Spirit,
son of the holy Trinity. But the Holy Spirit as the         the church becomes one with Christ, united to Him
third Person of the Trinity becomes the Spirit of           in mystical union as His body. This is very real. We
Christ at the time of Christ's ascension when the           aYe the body of Christ. We are related to Him as the
Spirit is given to Christ as a reward for His perfect       branches are related to the vine (John  151-8). We
work. This is why Peter, in his powerful sermon on          are so much a part of His body that we are the
the day of Pentecost, says, "Therefore being by the         members of the same body of which Christ is the
right hand of God exalted, and having received of           Head (Eph. 5:23, I Cor. 12:12ff.).  We are so closely
the Father the promise  od the Holy Ghost, he hath          united to Christ that we become with Him one
shed forth this, which ye now see and hear" (vs.            flesh, of which marriage is a picture (Eph. 530-32).


274                                      THE STANDARD BEARER



We are a part of His glorified human nature, united        the Head of the covenant; through His Spirit we are
spiritually to Him to become one with Him. This is         taken into that covenant so that in Christ and
possible only because of the Spirit of Christ, given       through the Spirit we have everlasting fellowship
to Him at His ascension and given to us by His             with the Triune God, the God of our salvation.
grace.                                                       -Thus, all the blessings of salvation, which Christ
   Through the Spirit of Christ we are brought into        earned on the cross and with which He was filled in
covenant fellowship with Christ, and through               His glorious exaltation, are given to us through the
Christ, with God. Christ is the temple of God in           work of the Spirit in our hearts. We are blessed
Whom God dwells bodily (Col. 2:9); but we, as the          richly and everlastingly as the Spirit of Christ gives
members of that body of Christ, dwell in fellowship        to us all that is in Christ. And it is for this reason,
with God, such perfect fellowship in fact that Peter       too, that salvation is by grace. It is Gods work, the
does not hesitate to say that we are partakers of the      triune God's work, through Christ and by means of
divine nature (II Peter  1:4). Hence, our bodies are       Christ's Spirit.
the temples of the Holy Spirit (I Cor. 6:19). Christ is





                              The Signs of the Spirit
                                               Rev. Ron Cammenga





  Accompanying the outpouring of the Holy Spirit           but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it
on the day of Pentecost were three outstanding             goeth:  sd is every one that is born of the Spirit."
signs. There was first the sound as of a rushing
mighty wind that filled all the house where the 120          The cloven tongues as of fire were also a sign of
believers were gathered at the time that the Spirit        the Spirit. They pointed to the purifying and sancti-
was poured out (Acts 2:2). There was secondly the          fying power of the Holy Spirit. Fire was used in Bi-
appearance of cloven tongues as of fire that sat           ble times, not just for cooking and burning, but also
upon each of them (Acts  2:3). And, finally, there         for purposes of purification. The Bible speaks of
was the speaking with other tongues, as the Spirit         gold ore being purified in the fire. Just as the fire
gave them utterance (Acts 2:4).                            purified the gold, so the Holy Spirit cleanses and
                                                           purifies the child of God, washing away his sins
  These signs were signs of the Spirit Who was be-         and breaking in him the power and dominion of the
ing poured out. Each of them pointed in a distinct         filth of sin. John the Baptist already had compared
way to the power and work of the Spirit of Pente-          the work of the Holy Spirit to fire: "I indeed baptize
cost.                                                      you with water unto repentance: but He that com-
  The sound as of a rushing mighty wind was a              eth after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am
sign of the Spirit. This was a sign of the invisible       not worthy to bear: He shall baptize you with the
operation of the Spirit. Just as the wind cannot be        Holy Ghost and with fire" (Matt.  3:ll).
seen, but only its effects and influence, so the work
of the Spirit is an invisible work. The wind was also        The third sign of the Spirit was the speaking by
a sign of the truth that the operation of the Spirit is    the disciples in other tongues. This was a sign of the
an irresistible, sovereign operation. Just as the wind     result and outcome of the work of the Spirit of
blowing at gale force, a rushing mighty wind, can-         Pentecost. The result of the Spirit's work would be
not be resisted, so the work of the Spirit is an ir-       the universal gathering of the church, the gathering
resistible work. Jesus Himself compares the Holy           of believers out of every nation, tongue, and tribe
Spirit to the wind in John  3:8: "The wind bloweth         under heaven. Of this the speaking by the disciples
where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof,      in the many different languages was a clear sign.


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                             275



  It was the speaking with other tongues that was           The gift of tongues was a sign of the work of the
chief among these three signs of the Spirit on the        Holy Spirit in the new dispensation, the work of
day of Pentecost. That the speaking with other            saving all of the nations of the world. The speaking
tongues was chief among the signs of Pentecost is         in tongues was a sign. That's presupposed by the
plain from the very nature of the sign itself. For not    question which the people asked, "And they were
only was the tongue-speaking a sign that pointed to       all amazed, and were in doubt, saying one to
the Holy Spirit, but it was something worked by the       another, What meaneth this?" (Acts  2:12). It was a
Holy Spirit Himself within the disciples. In that         sign of a great aspect of God's salvation that now
respect the sign of tongue-speaking differed from         begins to be realized in the world with the outpour-
the other two signs. The sound as of a mighty             ing of the Holy Spirit. An important aspect of God's
rushing wind and the cloven tongues as of fire were       sovereign counsel now begins to be worked out,
signs that accompanied and that indicated the com-        and is signified in the Pentecost miracle of tongue-
ing of the Holy Spirit. But the speaking with other       speaking. That counsel of God is His eternal will to
tongues was itself a work which the Holy Spirit per-      save all the nations of the world, not just one na-
formed within the believers. That emphasizes that         tion, but all the nations.
this sign was the outstanding sign of Pentecost.            This was something new on the day of Pentecost,
  That the speaking with other tongues was chief          something not dreamed of before. In the Old Testa-
among the signs of Pentecost is also indicated by         ment, though there were a few exceptions here and
the fact that in a somewhat altered form this sign        there,, God saved one nation, the nation of Israel,
continued in the apostolic church. It was something       the Jews. All of the other nations, the Gentiles, He
that, in distinction from the other signs, recurred.      caused to go on in their own way and perish in their
We read of tongue-speaking, for example, at the           ungodliness, ignorance, and idolatry. Oh, the inclu-
time of the conversion of Cornelius and his house-        sion of the Gentiles was prophesied in the Old Test-
hold (Acts  lo), and in the case of the group of          ament. And looking back at the Old Testament in
believers to whom Paul preached in Ephesus (Acts          the light of Pentecost we can see that it was clearly
19). Tongue-speaking was also one of the "gifts"          prophesied. The apostle Peter quotes some of those
that was found in the church at Corinth, as we            Old Testament prophecies in his Pentecost sermon.
learn from I Corinthians 12-14.                           Nevertheless, so faint was that revealed in the Old
  There are different explanations of the nature of       Testament, so apparently contrary was what God
the tongue-speaking that occurred on the day of           began to do on Pentecost with what He had done
Pentecost. There are some who take the position           before this, that the apostle Paul could speak in
that this miracle was not in the speaking, but in the     Ephesians 3:5, 6 of a "mystery," a mystery that was
hearing. They say that the disciples spoke one,           not made known unto the sons of men, but is now
common language, but that the Holy Spirit caused          revealed unto His holy apostles and prophets by the
the audience to hear them speak in many different         Spirit. What is that mystery hidden from all the
languages. There is the view, similar to this, that       ages? That the Gentiles, the heathen, the nations to
teaches that the Holy Spirit caused the 120 be-           the ends of the earth, should be fellow-heirs, and of
lievers to speak one, heavenly language, a language       the same body, and partakers of His promise in
never before spoken on this earth; but that the Holy      Christ by the gospel. The mystery was that God's
Spirit then caused the audience to hear that one,         salvation was to be a salvation that included all of
new, heavenly language in their own individual            the nations of the world.
dialects and languages.                                     This is of the greatest practical significance for
  These explanations of the tongue-speaking sign          us. We are Gentiles. We are not Jews. Historically,
are mistaken. A careful look at Acts 2 shows that         we stand outside of the covenant and kingdom of
the miracle consisted of the Holy Spirit's causing        God. We are heathens. But now we and our
the 120 to speak many different foreign languages,        children are become fellow-heirs of the people of
existing languages, all of the languages spoken by        God. What happened there on the day of Pentecost
the people in the audience gathered about them.           is of the greatest significance for us! That's why
When the Spirit was poured out on the 120 be-             we're members of God's church; that's why we be-
lievers, they began to speak with other tongues.          lieve on that only name given under heaven where-
They spoke these other languages as the Spirit            by we must be saved, the name of Jesus; that's why
worked in them to utter these languages. And that's       we are saved.
what the audience said, too, in Acts  2:ll:  ". . . we
do here  them speak  in our tongues the wonderful           This was what was signified by the speaking in
works of God." And that only stands to reason,            tongues. If only Jews were to be saved, God would
after all. The Holy Spirit was not poured out upon        never have caused the 120 to speak in many dif-
the audience, but upon the 120.                           ferent foreign languages. But when the Holy Spirit


276                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



causes them to speak in many foreign languages,           with our mouths to the wonderful works of God.
God shows that He (causes His great works in Jesus        Here is the test by which you can determine where
Christ to be preached to all the nations of the           the Holy Spirit is present and working. Here is the
world, so that the nations may hear the gospel, and       test by which you can determine where the true
as many as are ordained to eternal life in the na-        church of Jesus Christ is. Where do you hear the
tions may by faith embrace Jesus Christ preached          preaching and teaching and confession of the won-
in the gospel and be saved.                               derful works of God? Not the wonderful works of
  This is so because of Jesus Christ. "What               man, what man has done and man can do. But the
meaneth this?" asked the multitude when they              wonderful works of GOD. There the Spirit of Pen-
heard the disciples talking in all these different        tecost is dwelling and operating with saving power.
languages. And what was the disciples' answer?              The calling, in the second place, is the church's
"Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of             calling to go out into all the world, in the language
Nazareth . . . ." What meaneth this? What explains        of every nation, tongue, and tribe, and proclaim the
this? What accounts for it that now the word of           gospel of Jesus Christ. In that way the elect of God
salvation goes out in all languages to all people?        will be brought to faith and to repentance, and
There is only one answer: Jesus of Nazareth, cruci-       gathered into the church of Jesus Christ. In that
fied and risen. He is not the Savior of one nation        way the nations of the world will be saved. Such
alone; He is the Savior of all peoples of the world.      preaching by the church will NOT bring all men in
He didn't die for one nation only; He died for all the    all nations to faith. That preaching itself will work
nations. He doesn't cause His Spirit to work in one       to harden many in the nations of the world. There
race only; but He causes that Spirit to work in all       will always be many who react as those of whom
races. God wills to save by His grace a world, the        we  ready in Acts 2, that they mocked the disciples
human race, in Jesus Christ. In that human race,          and rejected their testimony. But there will be
made up of His elect out of all the nations, the ful-     those, pricked in their hearts by the Spirit, who cry
ness of Christ's body is manifest, a body made up of      out, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" There
many and diverse members, a body made up of               will be those in whom the Spirit will work faith.
members out of all the nations of the world.              There will be those whom He will save.
  In this sign of the Spirit that was worked on             May God give us grace as churches to be faithful
Pentecost is clearly~implied our calling. That calling    to our Pentecost calling, to declare in all the world,
is, first of all, as individuals to make a testimony      to all the nations, the wonderful works of God.





              The Spirit of Truth in the Church
                                                Rev. T. Miersma





  The Holy Spirit, in the Word of God, receives             When our Lord stood in the upper room in the
certain names which by their very nature serve to         night in which He was betrayed, He spoke with His
reveal to us His Person and work. He is called the        disciples particularly of the coming of the Com-
Spirit of Christ because He is given to Jesus Christ      forter which He would ask and receive of the
our Lord at His ascension, to be the Spirit of the        Father and Whom the Father would send in His
Mediator. He is also called the Comforter, as the         Name. It is also in that discourse, as it is recorded in
One Who comes in Christ's name and works the              the Gospel of John, that Jesus speaks concerning
comfort of salvation in the hearts of God's elect. So     the coming Spirit as the Spirit of Truth. This word
also He is called in Scripture, the Spirit of Truth.      the disciples most needed to hear, for Jesus had said


                                             THE STANDARIJ  BEARER                                                277



to them that He was going away, He Who was Him-             the body of Christ as it is now manifested in the
self the perfect revelation of the Father, the Word         church institute, that Christ gave the promise of the
made flesh, the Way, the Truth, and the Life.               Spirit of Truth; and it was also upon that church
Would then that Word of God, that truth as it is in         that He poured out His Spirit in fulfillment of that
Jesus Christ be taken from them and they be left            promise.
comfortless? This could not be. For Jesus was going           By that Spirit in the church Christ would give His
to the cross, that there the truth of Gods saving           truth unto His people in objective form in the writ-
promise might be established, and mercy and truth           ten Word of God and lay the foundation of His
meet together in His suffering and death, and our           church. The apostles needed to hear this that night
salvation be accomplished. Nor would our Saviour            in the upper room. Jesus would not now cease to
leave His church without the comfort of His                 teach them, but, on the contrary, when the Com-
presence, but would Himself come in the Spirit to           forter Who would be sent in Christ's Name would
fill His church with all the blessings of salvation ac-     come, He would teach them all things and bring to
complished in His cross and with the truth, as it is        remembrance whatsoever Jesus had said (John
in Jesus. Therefore  in  John  14:16-M   our Lord           14:26). Moreover, by the power of that Spirit of
speaks to His disciples of the promise of the Com-          Truth in them, they would also preach that Word
forter, the Spirit of Truth which the world cannot          (John 15:26,27),  and the Spirit Himself would testi-
receive, but Who should be in us, and by Whom He            fy of Christ by it, reproving the world of sin, and of
Himself would come to us.                                   righteousness and of judgment (John 16:7-l 1). Thus
  Therein lies the work of the Spirit of Christ as the      we read in John  16:12-14:
Spirit of Truth. For by His Spirit, Christ Jesus our           I have yet many things to say unto you, but
Lord gives us to know the truth, that truth as it is in        ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when
Him, so that we might find in Jesus Christ all our             he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide
salvation. He anoints us by His Spirit, that we                you into all truth: for he shall not speak of
might know and understand spiritual things, know               himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that
His Word, discern the truth from the lie, and walk             shall he speak: and he will shew you things
in the truth. In the light of that work of the Spirit of       to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall
Truth in the believing child of God, the Scriptures            receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.
speak of the office of believer. In I John  2:20, 21,         By that work of the Spirit of Truth we as the
   But ye have an unction from the Holy One,                church of Christ received the New Testament
    and ye know all things. I have not written              Scriptures. In like manner also the Spirit of Christ
   unto you because ye know not the truth, but              spoke through the prophets in the Old Testament
   because ye know it, and that no lie is of the            (II Peter  1:20, 21). That Word of God is not the
   truth.                                                   work of man but the work of the Spirit of Truth,
and again in verse 27,                                      Christ's Word to His church, the objective founda-
   But the anointing which ye have received of              tion of the truth and our faith. By that work of `the
   him abideth in you, and ye need not that                 Spirit we have received the Word of Truth, the
   any man teach you: but as the same anoint-               Word of God.
   ing teacheth you of all things, and is truth,
   and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you,             That same Spirit of Truth also abides in the
   ye shall abide in him.                                   church and works in the church to guide her into
It is as the One Who both gives us to know the              all the truth of that Word. Through the working of
truth, Himself works the truth in our hearts, and           the Spirit in the church in the communion of saints
keeps us in the truth, that the Spirit of Christ is         and under the preaching of the Word, we are led to
given us as His people, and as such also comforts us        lay hold of that Word of truth and to appropriate
in the truth.                                               the truth of Jesus Christ. The same Spirit Who gave
  That work of the Spirit of Truth must not be con-         that Word also works by that Word in the hearts of
ceived of in an individualistic way, however. As            God's people, convicting us of sin and calling us un-
believers, as partakers of the Spirit of Christ, we are     to faith and the knowledge of the truth.
united by that one Spirit in the body of Christ as            The result is that we grow in the knowledge of
members of one another, having one Spirit, one              the truth. This is true moreover, not only for us as
Lord, and one faith. When our Lord set before His           individuals, but also for the church of Christ.
disciples in the upper room the promise of the              Under the leading of the Spirit of Truth, the church
Spirit of Truth, He was addressing not a mere group         of Jesus Christ is led to develop the truth of the
of individual believers, but the apostles, by whom          Word of God, to elicit from the Scriptures in ever
and through whom He would lay the foundation of             richer form the doctrines contained in them.
the New Testament church. It was to the church, as          Fundamentally the church always possesses that


278                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



truth, for she possesses Christ in Whom that truth         ultimately destroy it. As a result, the people of God
lies centrally. But under the leading of the Spirit she    are driven to the Word to defend that truth. Thus in
grows in that truth, perceives it more clearly, holds      God's Providence, heresy also must serve the Spirit
it more richly and develops in an understanding of         of Truth in the church by driving the church to ex-
that truth for all her faith and life.                     plore the truth and its riches more thoroughly and
  This work of the Spirit of Truth is an organic           to confess it more clearly. The church institute
work in the life of the church, by which, in the gen-      itself may become corrupt and depart from the
erations of God's people, the church is guided into        truth. It may even do so while claiming to be led by
all the riches which she possesses in Jesus Christ.        the Spirit, though departing from the Word of God,
Each generation builds upon the heritage of the            the Word of truth. But by the Spirit of Truth, God
truth which they have received from those who              not only keeps His church in history, but also
have gone before, enriching that heritage and pass-        reforms it, and if need be founds it anew by way of
ing it on to those who follow. By this work of the         reformation and renewal in the truth. For even as
Spirit of Truth the church is given to confess the         the church develops in the truth, so also, alongside
truth in the creeds and confessions of the church          it, the lie and the assault of the lie develop. For the
and to build upon it. Such growth and development          false church always develops at the side of the true
is not the result of the leading by the Spirit of sim-     church of Christ, and indeed from within it. That
ply any one individual, but His leading of the             church therefore which would remain true to
church, as she stands as the body of Christ in the         God's Word must ever contend for that faith once
midst of the world.                                        delivered to the saints by the Spirit of Truth. This
                                                           too is the work not simply of believers alone, but of
  To accomplish this work the Spirit uses the              Christ, Who by His Spirit keeps His people in the
growth and development of believers as they stand          truth and preserves also  His  church and  His  truth
together in the bond of faith and as they are called       by  His Spirit and Word, and by the exercise of the
to confess that faith together, to contend for the         keys of the kingdom.
truth over against the lie, and to live out of that
truth in the midst of the world. Nor does the truth          In that warfare the church shall stand victorious
always develop in a straight path. For heresies have       in truth, for Christ keeps His church by His Spirit
arisen and will continue to arise in the church,           and guides her ever into all truth. He it is Who has
which would corrupt the church's heritage and              promised, "I will not leave you comfortless: I will
                                                           come to you" (John 14: 18).





                                          The Comforter
                                                Rev. Ronald Hanko





   The work of the Holy Spirit as Comforter is not         Christ to His church on the night of His betrayal. In
always understood  among God's people, with the            that hour of great need Christ promised His
result that they do not enjoy the comfort of the Ho-       disciples that He would send them the Holy Spirit
ly Spirit as they should. When the church of Christ        as Comforter. That promise was so important for
is strong and spiritually healthy and is edified by        the disciples, as well as for the future safety and
the Word of God, then the people of God walk "in           help of His church, that He repeated the promise
the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy       four times  (Jn.  14:16, 26,  15:26,  16:7). The Heidel-
Ghost" (Acts  9:31).                                       berg Catechism reflects this emphasis of Christ
   The importance of the Holy Spirit's work as             when it summarizes the whole purpose of all the
Comforter is clear from the four-fold promise of           Holy Spirit's work with the words, ". . . that he may


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                279



comfort me, and abide with me forever" (Lord's               refuse to make our bodies His temple. If we are to
Day XX, 53).                                                 have comfort and assurance we must not seek some
  That name, "Comforter," is a translation of the            special revelation, but through the Spirit seek these
Greek name, "Paraclete," a word which has come               graces of the Spirit and pray for conversion from
into our English language even though it is not com-         our sins, for faith, and for a new, godly, and sancti-
monly used. That name is so rich in meaning that it          fied life. They are the comfort of the Holy Spirit in
is very difficult to translate. An idea of this difficul-    which we must walk.
ty can be gotten by looking at the different English           The first gift the Holy Spirit gives us when He
versions of the Bible. Almost every version has a            comes to us with comfort and assurance is His
different translation: "Advocate," "Counselor,"              work of weaning us away from our old comforts
"Teacher," "Helper," and all of these different              and comforters, whatever they may be. He shows
translations are part of the meaning of the name             us that human help is vain, and that there is no con-
"Paraclete." The translation "Comforter" is prob-            solation in the lying philosophies by which men
ably best in that it covers all the others. A                live. He does this by revealing our sins and the
Paraclete or Comforter, then, is someone who                 depravity of our whole race to us till our spirits are
stands by us (cf. Phillips Translation), who comes           overwhelmed. When he has finished this work in
to help us in our need. Advocates, counselors,               us we cry out, as so many cried to the Apostles on
teachers, and helpers are all different kinds of Para-       the day of Pentecost, "Men and brethren, what
cletes. Christ Himself is called our "Paraclete" in          must we do?" Nor is this a work which He does on-
the sense of "Advocate" in I John  2:l.                      ly once, but again and again through our lives.
  The Holy Spirit is all of these things to us and             That gift of sorrow for sin is the beginning of
many more besides, and is, therefore, our Com-               comfort because it is through that that the Spirit
forter in the highest sense of the word. When we             shows us our need for all His rich gifts of salvation.
are weak, weary, and fainting, He helps us (Ps.              And having shown us our need, therefore, He also
143:7, 10). When we are "without one plea" before            fulfills that need by giving all His gifts. Just as
God and unable to lift our heads, He is our Advo-            quickly as the Apostles responded to the cries of the
cate and Intercessor (Rom.  826). He counsels us             multitude on Pentecost, by speaking of repentance,
when we are afraid, in trouble, or in danger (Rev.           baptism, and the remission of sin, so quickly does
2:7, 11, 17, 29, etc.). When we fail of words to con-        the Holy Spirit respond to these cries by giving us
fess the Name of Christ, when we know not what               those graces and blessings of which the Apostles
we should ask for in our prayers, and when our               spoke, and others besides.
worship falls short of God's praise, He teaches us             All of those further gifts of the Spirit add up to
and gives us words to speak and sing (Matt. 10:19,           one thing, the fulness of Christ Himself. The
20, Rom. 826, Phil. 3:3). He shows us the way and            Heidelberg Catechism says that it is the peculiar of-
restores us when we wander (Ps.  51:11-13). He is            fice of the Holy Spirit "to make me, by a true faith,
the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, of counsel           partaker of Christ and all his benefits" (XX, 53). For
and might, of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord          this reason He is called in Scripture "the Spirit of
(Is.  11:2). Thus He is our Comforter.                       Christ" (Rom.  8:9) or the  "Spirit of the Son" (Gal.
  In sum, this means that the comfort which the              4:6). Not only is He given to Christ and sent by
Holy Spirit gives is not some vague, ill-defined sen-        Christ, but it is His work to reveal Christ. And,
timent, nor even some fitly spoken words, but His            therefore, Christ is comfort which the Holy Spirit
own presence, gifts, and works. His first and great          gives us both for body and soul.
work of regeneration is the beginning of comfort,              Jesus Himself tells us that the Holy Spirit as
His last work of raising and changing our bodies is          Comforter will not come with His own special bap--
the crown of our comfort..He comforts us by calling          tism and works, such as the Pentecostals seek, but
us, by giving us faith, by: converting us to God, by         only .with Christ: "But the Comforter, which is the
sanctifying us, and finally .by glorifying us. In other      Holy Ghost, whom the Father shall send in my
words  - the words of the prophet Isaiah  - the              name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all
Lord comforts us through the Spirit by making our            things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said
wilderness like Eden, and our desert like the                unto  you" (Jn.  14:26). The Holy Spirit tells us of
garden of the Lord (51:3).                                   Christ's work on earth, on the cross, in Hell, and in
  How significant all this is for us as we seek com-         heaven. He teaches us Christ promised, Christ
fort for our poor, comfortless souls! If the presence,       come in the flesh, and Christ coming again. He
gifts, and mighty works of the Spirit are our com-           brings to our remembrance Christ humiliated and
fort, then certainly there is no possibility of comfort      Christ exalted, and shows us the wonder of the
when we scorn His gifts, despise His works, and              work that Christ has done both for us and in us and


280                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



the glory of Christ, our Prophet, Priest, and King.         enjoy through the Spirit are our only comfort.
And even this He does not do with His own words,               For all of this work the Spirit is abundantly quali-
but with the words of Christ as they are recorded in        fied. He has power to speak with the divine voice of
Holy Scripture. As Jesus says in another place, "He         Christ because He also is God of Gods. He is able to
shall testify of me" (Jn.  15:26).                          show me that all work of Christ is Gods work, ap-
  This testimony of the Spirit, however, is not just        proved and blessed by the Majesty on High, for He
a verbal testimony, but an application and gift of          is able to show me the very heart of God Himself,
Christ to us. He does not just tell us about Christ's       all His secrets and all His purpose, as the One Who
work as the great Shepherd of His people, but               searches the deep things of God (I Cor.  2:lO). No
opens our ears that we may hear His voice and               one is better able to apply to us all the work of
teaches us to recognize that voice of the Son of God.       Christ, for He is the One through Whom Christ of-
He does not just speak about the suffering of Christ,       fered Himself (Heb. 9:  14), Whose power raised
but causes us to look upon Him as the one Whom              Christ from the dead (Rom. 8:  ll), and Who was
we have pierced, so that we mourn for Him as one            given to Christ at His exaltation (Acts 2:33). As far
mourns for an only son  (Zech.  12:lO).  He fills our       as my need is concerned, He knows that also and
hearts with Christ's own resurrection life. He              better than I do, for He created me in my mother's
bathes us in the blood of Christ and feeds us with          womb and searches my soul and spirit (Ps.  139:7,
Christ's own broken body till our filth is washed           15, 23).
away and our souls satisfied. He pours the cup of              For this work He is poured out upon the church
the wine of Christ's blood for us to drink that our         to abide with her and in her forever. Without the
eyes may be bright with the joy of salvation and our        constant care and presence of the Spirit the church
spirits refreshed by the grace that is in Him.              has nothing, and especially in our present
Through Him Christ lives in us and we in Christ.            weakness and sin we cannot live apart from Him
  This is true of all the work He performs. In              for a moment. By dwelling in us and making our
regeneration it is the blood of Christ which He             bodies His own temple He is able to provide the
sprinkles on our hearts to soften and renew them.           help we need at all times. His care for us is like
In conversion He speaks with the voice of Christ to                     that of a godly mother, who with sacri-
turn the raging waves and dispel the storm clouds               ficing love studies the characters of her
of our rebellion. In sanctification He separates us             children, watches over their souls while
from sin by setting the cross of Christ between our             they themselves have no thought of it,
old sinful nature and the new man. He glorifies us              nurses them in sickness, prays with them
in the last day, by allowing us to hear the voice of            and for them, so that they may learn to pray
the Son of God, that hearing we might live. Thus                for themselves, bends a listening ear to their
He is our Teacher and Counsellor, our Advocate                  trifling griefs, and who in and through all
and Intercessor, our Helper and Comforter.                      this spends the energy of her soul with
                                                                warnings and admonitions, now chiding,
  This manifold work of the Spirit is the reason                then caressing, to draw their souls to God.
why the Spirit is called in Scripture the "Promise"             (Abraham Kuyper,  The Work of the  HoZy
(Lk. 24:49, Acts 1:4,2:33).  All of the promises of the         Spirit,  Funk  & Wagnalls, 1900, p. 535).
Word of God are fulfilled to us by the work of the          Through that care, the Spirit's gift of Christ to us,
Holy Spirit, just as Christ fulfilled them for us by        we have the assurance of our salvation, and com-
His work on the cross. Those promises which we              fort on all sides (Ps. 71:20, 21).





              Salvation and the Covenant Spirit
                                                Rev. Ban-y Gritters



  If we even think very much about the Spirit and           His work. I say  cold  because we think in terms of
our salvation, we usually have a fairly cold view of        the Spirit merely handing to us, or pumping into us


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                               281



the blessings of salvation from a reservoir in              given Him at Pentecost now applies those blessings
heaven. And though this might be a nice figure to           to us, or works them IN us. He regenerates, calls,
teach us how the Spirit works, it sometimes leads to        and converts us, gives us faith, justifies, sanctifies
an abstract and cold perception of the Spirit.              us, gives us the assurance of forgiveness, testifies to
  It's also true that our common notion of the              our spirit that we are God's sons, preserves and
Spirit's work is fairly  narrow.  And I say narrow          glorifies us. And though these blessings are
because we think of the Spirit in terms of One Who          marvelous beyond compare, we still view them in a
only sanctifies, or One Who only works IN us. Just          cold way when we think of them apart from the
look at the confessions and the forms in the back of        covenant  - vibrant and living fellowship with Ab-
the Psalter and you will notice that our fathers had a      ba, Father.
much broader and warmer view of the-Spirit's in-              The goal of the Spirit's work is to bring us into
volvement in our salvation.                                 the comfortable home. of, and fellowship with, that
  But when we think of the Spirit in terms of the           Father in heaven. Or, to use another figure of Scrip-
covenant, or the living fellowship with our living          ture, the Spirit makes us "one flesh" with our
God, our perception of the Spirit not only broadens,        Bridegroom, Jesus Christ, preparing us for the great
but warms up. The Spirit of Christ is a  covenant           wedding feast in glory when our marriage will be
Spirit, actively involved in all of God's work, not         consummated in the fullest sense.
only in us, but for us; not only giving us things, but        The Spirit performs that by giving us the bless-
making us what God decreed for us; and not only             ings of salvation. This is the proper way to view sal-
saving us, but bringing us into intimate fellowship         vation. Salvation, then, is not first of all receiving
with God.                                                   the blessings that Christ merited for us, but is being
  We usually divide the work of salvation into two          brought out of the darkness of separation from God
parts: the work of God FOR us (when Christ paid             into the marvelous light of His blessed fellowship.
for our sins and earned for us the grace of salvation)        The Spirit does that first by making us ZegaZZy  one
and the work of God IN us (when the Spirit gives            with Christ, THE Son of God. The Spirit applies the
us these blessings Christ earned for us). The               righteousness of Christ to all Gods sons and daugh-
Baptism Form and the Heidelberg Catechism both              ters whom He chose from eternity. Without that
make this distinction. Surely it is the Spirit of Christ    righteousness we have no right to fellowship with
Who works salvation IN us. But it is just as true           God, for "righteousness has no fellowship with un-
that the Spirit worked salvation FOR us. Let's see          righteousness" (II Cor. 6:14). But now we have the
how this is the case.                                       right to be in Gods presence. God tells us, as it
  The New Testament begins by informing us that             were, "You  may  come into My home, and dwell
Jesus was conceived by the Holy Ghost (Matt.                with Me. You may be in My home in My presence
1:20).  This is the beginning of Christ's work FOR          and taste My goodness." That is justification, what
us, a work not usually ascribed to the Spirit. But          we usually call the "fourth blessing" of salvation.
there is more. As a child, Jesus came "by the Spirit          Second, the Spirit brings us into covenant fellow-
into the temple" (Luke  2:27). The Spirit anointed          ship with God by giving us the life of Christ. The
Christ for His work of redemption (Mark 1: 10). And         Spirit is primarily a life-giving Spirit. God breathed
after His anointing, it was by the power of the Spirit      life into Adam's body. John tells us that we are born
that Christ was led into the wilderness to begin His        of the Spirit. Romans  8:ll says that we are raised
battle with the devil, as well as brought back out of       from the dead by the Spirit. When, therefore, we
the wilderness (Luke 4: 1, 14). He preached by the          are given the life of Christ, we are not only given
`Spirit (Luke  4:18). And, amazingly, as we read in         the  right  to live in God's home, but God  actually
Hebrews  9:14, Christ offered Himself through the           makes His Home in us! It is the fulfillment of God's
same "eternal Spirit." He was raised from the dead          promise to "dwell in them, and walk in them . . .
by the Spirit and was justified in the Spirit (I Peter      and be their God" (II Cor. 6:16). And that is regen-
3: 18 and I Tim. 3: 16).                                    eration, what we usually call the "first blessing" of
  And though this is all part of the work of Christ         salvation.
FOR us, the Spirit was actively involved in all of it.        Included in that new life of regeneration is that
That is, God's work of salvation FOR us is not only         the Spirit actually conforms us to the image of the
the work of the Son made flesh, but very much the           Father, changing us from glory to glory (II Cor.
work of the Spirit as the Spirit of Christ. That            3:18). As sons and daughters of the Father, we are
begins to give us a much broader view of Who the            made, in a creaturely way, to reflect the glories of
Spirit is and what He does in our salvation.                the Father. So when we are brought into God's
  Since Christ (by the power of the Spirit) has per-        house and presence, we not only have the right to
formed the work of salvation FOR us, the Spirit             be there, but we belong there and feel comfortable


282                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



there. This is true because they who do not look           Spirit works these blessings in us by the preaching
(spiritually) like the Father, not only do not belong,     of the gospel. That makes sense too. The preaching
but have no place and therefore no desire to be            of the gospel is the proclamation of the Word of
there. But they who look like the Father and the           God in Christ. And the Spirit is the dynamic of that
Son, feel very comfortable and in place with Them          Word. The Spirit empowered the writers of the
in Their Home.                                             Scripture to set down that word, because the Word
  What we sometimes call the "third blessing of            is Christ and the Spirit is the Spirit of Christ. So
salvation" is actually the means that God uses to         when we hear the Word preached, it comes to us by
bring us into living "connection" with Christ. Faith       the power of the Spirit in the preacher. It meets in
ingrafts us into Christ (John 15:5, Romans 11:17-20,       our hearts with the Spirit, and becomes effective to
Heid. Cat. Q. 20, 80). By means of faith, a gift of        the increase of our covenant fellowship with, and
God through the Spirit, we are grafted into Christ,        knowledge of, our Father in heaven.
drawing from Him His life and gifts and love.                "Most delightful, astonishing, mysterious, inef-
  The Spirit brings us into fellowship with the            fable; not inferior in efficacy to creation or the
Father, finally, by working in us a desire to be with      resurrection from the dead, as the Scripture,  in-
Him in heaven. The Spirit stirs up in our hearts the      spired by the author of this work declares . . . ." In
cry that our children cry when they desire to be           this we "rest satisfied with knowing and experi-
with their father. That cry, "Abba, Father"                encing, that by this grace of God we are enabled to
(Romans 8:15), is an expression of our love for Him        believe with the heart, and love (our) Saviour."
and our desire to be with Him not only in Spirit, but      (Canons III, IV, Art. 12, 13).
in person. And by the strength of faith, we reach            . . . that is a warm view of what the Spirit does.
out,  cling to God, and more and more receive His         That is a part of "covenant theology." That is the
fellowship and love.                                       doctrine of the Spirit which is not cold, but warm,
  Each of the blessings of salvation  - given us by       comforting knowledge of God.
the Spirit  - are means to bring us into fellowship          When we view the work of the Spirit in our sal-
with God. The Spirit is the means that God uses to        vation in that way, we won't have any problem
reveal Himself as "a Father unto you." And all of         either with what the Spirit will do after we are glori-
this is done with a view to bringing us to the perfect    fied. For during the eternal wedding feast, the Spirit
goal of our salvation  -  eternaZ  glory with the         will continuously bring us into the presence of the
Father.                                                   Father by Jesus Christ. And eternally we will be
  How is it then, you ask, that the Spirit performs       with Him, eating from the tree of life and drinking
this in us? The Spirit does not inject us coldly with     from the fountain of living waters. There is no
these blessings, does not save us when we are un-         other way that we can say, and sing eternally, "To
conscious. Rather, as the catechism tells us, the         God be the glory."





                                Holy Spirit Baptism
                             or the Second Blessing
                                             Prof. Robert D. Decker





  Back in the early seventies the Pentecostal and          teaching may be summed under three heads. With
Neo-Pentecostal movement swept through the                 but minor variation, all Pentecostals are in  agree-
world and churches like wildfire. Though the initial       ment on these three salient points. The first of these
enthusiasm has waned, millions are still committed         may be called "The Baptism in or with the Holy
to the teachings of Pentecostalism. * Pentecostal          Spirit" or "The Second Blessing." Pentecostals


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                             283



teach that, subsequent to and distinct from regener-      them forever, guide them in the truth, comfort
ation and conversion, some of God's people receive        them (John 14, 15, 16). Our Lord speaks of the ful-
a "second blessing," namely, "a baptism with the          fillment of all this in Acts  1:5 at the time of His
Holy Spirit." All Christians are through regenera-        ascension to glory:
tion and conversion baptized by the Holy Spirit into          For John truly baptized with water, but ye
Christ, but not all Christians are baptized by Christ         shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not
in or with the Holy Spirit. Thus, according to their          many days hence.
teaching, when we are born again and converted,           For this reason they are to "wait for the promise of
we receive Christ, but there is  more.  That  more  is    the Father, which, saith He, ye have heard of me"
the "indwelling" or "in-filling" or  "fumess" of the      (Acts  1:4). This was fulfilled ten days later, "when
Holy Spirit. In addition to being baptized into           the Day of Pentecost was fully come" (Acts 2). In
Christ, some Christians are baptized with the Holy        obedience to the Lord's command, "that they
Spirit Who comes personally into their hearts and         should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the
lives bringing to them the  charismata,  the extra-       promise of the Father" (1:4), the one hundred and
ordinary gifts and powers which they need for per-        twenty disciples "were all with one accord in one
sonal growth and for a more complete life of service      place" (2:l). Suddenly they were filled with the Ho-
to God in the church and in the world. This is a          ly Spirit Who came with the signs of cloven tongues
crisis experience in the life of the Christian, in        like fire, the sound of a rushing, mighty wind, and
which Christ baptizes him with the Holy Spirit.           they spoke in tongues the wonderful works of God
Secondly, Pentecostals teach that this "Holy Spirit       (2: l-4). When the news of this strange event spread,
Baptism" is evidenced by the recipients' speaking         the multitude of devout Jews out of every nation
in tongues. Thirdly, Pentecostals teach that there        came together and were confounded, "because that
are certain conditions which every believer must          every man heard them speak in his own language"
actively and consciously seek to fulfill in order to      (vss. 5ff.). Peter then explained that what had hap-
receive "Holy Spirit Baptism."                            pened was the fulfillment of Joel's Prophecy. The
  It is to the first and chief point, "the second         Day of the Lord has come, the Day  wh.ich marks
blessing," that we direct our attention in this arti-     the end of the Old Testament types and shadows,
cle. Does the Bible teach a so-called second bless-       the Day of reality, the Day when God would call
ing? The Bible, God's inspired and infallible Word,       His own out of every nation, the Day which would
and not the believer's experience must be the norm        ultimately culminate in the appearing of the
for our faith and life. There are seven instances in      Saviour. Being pricked in their hearts by the Sword
which this expression occurs in the Bible. Four of        of the Spirit they asked, "What shall we do?" Peter
these are found in the Gospel narratives:                 responds: "Repent and be baptized every one of
   I indeed baptize you with water unto re-               you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of
   pentance: but he that  cometh after me is              sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy
   mightier than I . . . he shall baptize you with        Ghost" (vss. 37-40). Three thousand gladly received
   the Holy Ghost, and with fire. (Matt.  3:ll)           the Word and were added to the church, and subse-
    See parallels in Mark  1:8 and Luke 3:16.             quently the "Lord added daily to the church such
In these three passages John the Baptist prophesies       as should be saved" (vss. 41ff.).
that Jesus shall bring the reality of which his             The passage teaches that the Day of the Lord has
(John's) water baptism is the type. That reality is       come and has been fulfilled in Christ. The promise,
the baptism with the Holy Spirit and with fire.           the types, are now fulfilled and the Spirit is poured
John's baptism, while essentially the same in mean-       out upon all flesh. The Spirit of Christ now fills the
ing and significance, was still a sign of what Jesus      church, the elect in Christ. All, not some, received
would make real in the lives of  aZZ  believers. The      the Spirit. All the three thousand and all whom the
fourth instance of Jesus baptizing with the Spirit is     Lord added daily to the church received that Spirit.
found in John  1:33:                                      And, they received the Spirit not as a "second bless-
   And I knew him not: but he that sent me to             ing"; but all received the regenerating Spirit of
   baptize with water, the same said unto me,             Christ.
   Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit                      The sixth mention of "baptism in the Holy
   descending, and remaining on him, the                  Spirit" occurs in Acts  11:16:
   same is he which baptizeth with the Holy                  Then remembered I the Word of the Lord,
   Ghost.                                                    how that he said, John indeed baptized with
That these passages do not refer to some "second             water, but ye shall be baptized with the Ho-
blessing" is clear from Jesus' explanation of them.          ly Ghost.
He speaks of the Spirit which is not yet (John 7:37),     These words of the apostle Peter occur in the con-
promises to return in the Spirit and abide with           text of his explanation to the Jewish Christians in


284                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



Jerusalem of the conversion of Cornelius and his             2) The text does not say, as the King James  in-
house. The record of this we find in Acts 10. Verses       dicates,  that all believers are baptized by one Spirit.
44-48 inform us that while Peter was preaching,            The text says all believers are baptized in one Spirit.
"the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the           The preposition translated "by" in the King James
word. And they of the circumcision which believed          is the Greek,  en,  and while that preposition does
were astonished . . . because that on the Gentiles         have an instrumental use, its primary meaning is
also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost"            "in the sphere of." In this text, as in the six others
(vss. 44, 45). The evidence was unmistakable: "For         cited above, the Holy Spirit uses this same preposi-
they heard them speak with tongues . . ." (vs. 46).        tion,  en.  When Pentecostals use the passages from
At this point Peter baptized them with water in the        the Gospel accounts and Acts to support their view
name of the Lord (vss. 47, 48). Again, the "baptism        of "Holy Spirit Baptism" as a "second blessing,"
in the Holy Spirit" is not a second blessing, it is the    and then use this passage as if it were referring to
blessing! The regenerating, sanctifying Spirit of          one's being baptized by the Spirit into Christ, they
Jesus Christ fell on them, and after this happened         are at best being dishonest in their use of Scripture.
Peter baptized them. Pentecostals cannot appeal to         They are distorting the plain teaching of.the Word
this passage for support of their view that "Holy          of God. What Paul says here in plain language is
Spirit Baptism" is a second blessing. Nor can they         that all (not some) of God's people are baptized into
appeal to this passage in support of their view that       the body of Jesus Christ. All the elect are members
only  some  receive this "second blessing." All  who       of the one body of Christ.
heard the Word received the gift of the Holy Spirit.         3) This is further explained in the last clause of
     The seventh occurrence of the concept "baptism        the text: "and have been all made to drink into one
in the Holy Spirit" we find in I Corinthians  12:13:       Spirit." This is obviously parallel to the first clause.
       For by one Spirit are we all baptized into          In other words, to be baptized in the Spirit into one
       one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles,           body is to be made to drink of one Spirit. All the
       whether we be bond or free; and have been           elect then are incorporated into the body of Jesus
       all made to drink into one Spirit.                  Christ. This is what the Scriptures mean by the
The Pentecostal view of this verse is as follows: It is    phrase, "to be baptized in the Spirit."
granted that all are baptized by the Spirit into Christ
-                                                            We conclude then that Scripture's use of "Holy
       this is regeneration conversion which all be-       Spirit Baptism" is not some "second blessing" to be
lievers share. This is the first part of the text: "For    sought by all believers and which is received by on-
by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body. . . ."    ly some believers. It is the entire work of the Spirit
The second part of the text refers to their view of        of Jesus Christ by which the merits of Christ are ap-
"Spirit Baptism":  ". . . and were all made to drink       plied in the hearts and lives of God's elect. Of this
into one Spirit." This is the "second blessing"            reality, baptism with water in the name of the
which is the baptism by Christ in or with the Holy         triune God is the sign and seal. Frederick Dale
Spirit. This is one of the clearest instances of Pente-    Bruner is absolutely correct when he writes, "It is
costalism's distorting of the plain teaching of the        worth noting, then, that Pentecostalism builds its
Word of God. What does the Bible say here? Note:           doctrine of a necessary second entry of the Holy
     1) This verse is the ground or reason for what        Spirit on texts that teach his one entry" (A Theology
Paul has been saying in the preceding. The Apostle         of the Holy Spirit, Eerdman's, p. 214).
describes the unity of believers in Christ. In verse
12 he states that, just as the physical body is one        *For a more detailed discussion of this subject see
organism with many members, so also is the                  my article "Holy Spirit Baptism, A Refutation of
spiritual body of Jesus Christ one organism made            Pentecostal Teaching," in  the  Protestant Reformed
up of many members. Why is this true? Because by            Theological Journal, May 1973, vol. VI, 2. Available
one Spirit, we are all baptized into one body and           at a nominal cost from our Seminary.
have been all made to drink into one Spirit.

                           The Standard Bearer makes a
                   thought/M  gift for the sick or shut-in.
                               Give the Standard Bearer!


                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER                                               2 8 5



         The Holy Spirit-and the Restraint of Sin
                                                       Rev. G. Van Baren





  The work of the Spirit ought to be of real interest             good which is pleasing in God's eyes. These con-
and concern to each child of God. Jesus' word to                  fuse the work of the Spirit in providence with
Nicodemus in John  3:5 indicates the principal                    Divine favor  - an error which becomes more ob-
reason for this interest: "Verily, verily I say unto              vious when one considers that the same Spirit also
thee, Except a man be born of water and of the                    rules so over the devil himself.
Spirit, he can not enter into the kingdom of God."                  The question is one of importance because it
His work results in our salvation.                                necessarily affects one's understanding of God and
  But there is additional work of the Spirit which                His attitude towards the wicked - but also definite-
also deserves our attention. What does the Spirit                 ly will affect one's attitude toward the wicked and
work outside of the realm of salvation? Is the                    that which he does. When the wicked is said to be
Spirit's work evident upon the reprobate?                         graciously restrained from sin, thus allowing him to
  The question is of more than passing concern to                 do certain good works, then the conclusion follows:
members of the Protestant Reformed Churches.                      the Christian can "redeem" these works for the
The question, with the answer given in the "Three                 benefit of the church. Then one can claim also to be
Points" of common grace, by the Synod of Kalama-                  able to "redeem" the movie and the dance.
zoo in 1924, became part of the reason for the                      This subject itself has been treated extensively in
separate existence of the P.R.C. from the Christian               theological works. For further study, one can read
Reformed Church.                                                  Berkhof in his  Systematic Theology  and Hoeksema in
  It was the "Second Point" of common grace                       his Reformed Dogma tics.
which dealt with the question of the restraint of sin                Berkhof states in his Systematic Theology, (p. 439),
in the wicked by the Spirit. Editor Kuyvenhoven, in               "Special grace is supernatural and spiritual: it
the  Banner,  Feb. 4, 1985. summarized that point                 removes the guilt and pollution of sin and lifts the
thus:                                                             sentence of condemnation. Common grace, on the
         Without renewing the heart, God's Spirit restrains       other hand, is natural; and while some of its forms
   sin in unregenerate individuals, and by the same ac-           may be closely connected with saving grace, it does
   tivity he makes human society possible (Gen.  6:3,             not remove sin nor set man free, but merely
   Acts  7:42, II Thess. 2:6-7, etc.).                            restrains the outward manifestations of sin and pro-
  It might seem unnecessary to treat a subject as                 motes outward morality and decency, good order in
this which was discussed in great detail over 60                  society and civic righteousness, the development of
years ago. Further articles might be like "beating a              science and art, and so on . . .  ."
dead horse." There appear to be so many more in-
teresting and significant subjects which can be                      H. Hoeksema in  The Protestant  Refowned Chur-
studied.                                                          ches in America,  gives this explanation to the
                                                                  "restraint of sin" in natural man: "There is the  all-
  Others still insist that there is not now, and never            overruling power of God, who indeed gives men
was, any essential difference between the P.R.C.                  over into unrighteousness, and in His righteous
and the C.R.C. on the question of restraint of sin. It            judgment punishes sin with sin; but who also con-
is said that what the P.R.C. termed the "provi-                   trols the progress of sin and leads it into those chan-
dence" of God, the C.R.C. called "common grace"                   nels which are conducive to the realization of His
in the second point.                                              counsel. There is the limitation imposed upon
  Yet, the C.R.C. speaks specifically of "grace"                  every man by the measure of his gifts, powers, and
(common to all men) - not just a "restraint of sin,"              talents, by time and occasion, by means and cir-
but a favorable work, a  gracious restraint  of sin               cumstances, by character and disposition. All men
within the wicked. Also, the teaching includes by                 do not commit all sin; each one sins according to his
implication the "third point" which speaks of the                 place in the organism of the race and in history. It is
civic good of the reprobate. The wicked can, by                   determined and limited by various and often con-
virtue of this common grace of God, do certain                    flicting motives, such as fear and shame, ambition


286                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



and vain-glory, natural love and carnal lusts, malice      teaches in verse 3, "For rulers are not a terror to
and envy, hatred and vengeance. And it is in-              good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be
fluenced by the power of the magistrates. But in all       afraid of the power? Do that which is good, and
these channels and under all these controlling and         thou shalt have praise of the same." Government,
determining factors, many and various though they          including the policeman, serves as a form of deter-
be, the current of sin and corruption moves onward         rent to the wicked.
without restraint and interruption, until it shall           The Spirit uses also other means to govern out-
have served God's purpose and the measure of in-           ward sin. He does this by sending consequences
iquity shall be filled!"                                   upon the disobedient. The alcoholic can develop
  In brief summary, we can state several things            cirrhosis of the liver. The homosexual and the pro-
concerning the work of the Spirit outside of the           miscuous persons contract various sexually related
realm of salvation. First, the Spirit is that Person of    sicknesses, some, as AIDS, very serious. Many
the Trinity Who gives life. Already in Genesis  1:2        refrain from certain outward acts of sin to avoid
we read of the Spirit moving (brooding) upon the           these consequences.
waters. He gives life to creation which the Triune           Peer-pressure effectively limits the activities of
God formed. The Spirit is the life-giving Power            others. These would be well-thought-of by their
Who instills not only spiritual life, but also gives       neighbors. These would gain the approval of
natural life.                                              others. Therefore, some lead the kind of lives
  Also Scripture indicates that the Spirit controls        which can be praised by men.
and directs all things  - using even the wicked to           Self-preservation serves also as a means to deter
serve the purpose of our God. He leaves them               the wicked. These would preserve their own lives
without excuse in the judgment day, for we read in         by insisting that all adhere to certain rules. The
Genesis 6:3, "And the Lord said, My spirit shall not       Spirit uses all of these things to keep the wicked
always strive with man . . .  ." Although the CRC          from carrying out many evil designs - thus direc-
claimed that this represents the failing attempt of        ting that the very development of sin in this world
the Spirit to restrain wickedness within the sinner,       at the same time will serve His Sovereign purpose.
there is no basis for this in the passage. Rather, the
striving of the Spirit with man takes place principal-       The Spirit governs all things that God's counsel
ly through the preaching of God's Word. The Spirit         may be fulfilled. The Spirit is indeed active in the
testifies against the wicked through that preaching.       world of sinners. This is not, however, a gracious
Jude 14, 15, states, "And  Enoch also, the seventh         act upon the sinner, nor does it affect any sort of
from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold,            moral improvement in the sinner. The sinner re-
the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, to       mains dead in sin, prone to all evil. His heart is cor-
execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that        rupt and he refuses to do anything pleasing to God.
are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds          And through the ages, man continues to develop
which they have ungodly committed, and of all              and grow in sin and evil.
their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have               It can not, then, be shown that there is any sort
spoken against him." The preached Word is used             of spiritual benefit or blessing to the sinner because
by the Spirit to testify against the ungodly - but the     of this "restraint." Nor can the sinner, because of
flood would bring an end to that in Noah's day             this government of the Spirit, now perform certain
when the wicked are destroyed.                             good deeds. There is no benefit to the sinner either
                                                           here or hereafter.
  Scripture gives other indications of the work of
the Spirit upon the wicked. In the case of King Saul,        Nor is this "restraint" in any way the fruit of the
the Spirit governed his rule over Israel. In I Samuel      work of the cross. The wicked derive no spiritual
11:6 we read, "And the spirit of God came upon             benefit from that cross. But the Spirit does control
Saul when he heard those tidings, and his anger            the wicked and govern them in their activities that
was kindled greatly." Saul was given that which            Christ's purpose of saving His people might be
was necessary for his task of ruling over Israel  -        realized.
and later God also took all this away from hi. But           Then we can understand the outward "restraint"
Saul's heart was not affected, and the very abilities      or government of the wicked - and surely it is not
given him served further to condemn this king who          a manifestation of the favor of God upon them.
refused to rule to God's glory.                              For the wicked, God directs that all things lead to
  The Spirit does use various means in order that          the greater damnation of the reprobate wicked.
outward  sin be restrained. Sin must develop in a cer-     Asaph speaks of that in Psalm  73:18: "Surely thou
tain way through the various ages. God will not            didst set them in slippery places: thou castedst
have all sin committed all at once. Romans 13              them down into destruction." What is "favorable"


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                                    287


                                                               :     r.


                                                          ,

in such activity of the Spirit?                          -wicked thus,,, is  that God's counsel might be  ful-
  In the day of judgment, it becomes clearly  evi-       filled: His people must be gathered and defended in
dent that the wicked knew that they walked ever in       this world of evil. The work of the Spirit which is to
transgression of God's law. Even their outward           the condemnation of the wicked, serves at the same
restraint, for fear of certain consequences on this      time unto the salvation of the church.
earth, is itself a testimony against them. The wick-                 Thank God that the work of the Spirit is not
ed indicate that they abstain from certain sins not      limited to the church - but that His rule and direc-
because of any improvement of their hearts (for          tion extends also over the wicked. God continues to
their evil intents and desires remain), but for  cer-    rule in all things and over all creatures. Then the
tain selfish advantage.                                  church confesses that everything works together
  But the purpose of the Spirit in ruling over the       for their good.

                                       Book Review
THE REFORMED FAITH,  by Loraine Boettner;                Remonstrance with the five points of Calvinism.
The Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Co.,                        For a brief statement of the Reformed faith, the
1984; 28 pp.,  $.95 (paper). (Reviewed by Prof. H.       book is valuable, but there are several weaknesses
Hanko)                                                   in it. For example, the author speaks of God's per-
  Loraine Boettner is well-known to many in              missive will in relation to sin, of angels, who
Reformed and Presbyterian circles for his clear and      become elect by remaining to stand in their original
incisive writing. He has authored such books as          state, of the fact that devils are endlessly punished
"The Millennium," "Immortality," "Studies in             because they endlessly sin, and of common grace.
Theology, " "The Reformed Doctrine of Predestina-        We were aware of the fact that the author holds to
tion," to mention but a few. The strength of his         some of these doctrines, which weaken the defense
writing is always his clarity of expression, and this    of the Reformed faith, but the reader should
book is no exception.                                    recognize that here is no completely consistent
  The book is a brief statement of the Reformed          defense of the Calvinistic position.
faith and includes chapters on: "The Sovereignty of                  Nevertheless, we recommend the book to our
God," "Man's Totally Helpless Condition,"                readers. Perhaps it can serve as a model for a work
"Christ's Atonement," "God's Foreknowledge,"             prepared by one of our own ministers and which
"The Universalistic Passages," and "Two Systems          would serve as a brief statement of our position.
Contrasted." In the latter chapter the author com-       Such a booklet would be an invaluable aid on the
pares the Calvinistic and the Arminian systems of        mission field.
theology by briefly explaining the five points of the


                           News From Our Churches
                                              February 28,1985



  Rev. Jon Smith, his wife, Kristie, and their three      ference held in Randolph Church in Wisconsin in
children have settled into Trinity Church in              conjunction with the March meeting of  Classis
Houston, Texas. Pastor Ron Cammenga conducted             West. The topic was the "Theonomy," which
the Installation part of the morning worship serv-        refers to the view that the Old Testament civil laws
ice, on February 3.  Edgerton  Church in Minnesota        are binding upon us today. This position is gaining
has extended a call to Rev. David Engelsma from a         more acceptance in Reformed and Presbyterian
trio including also Rev.  DeVries and Prof. Hanko.        circles.
Hull Church in Iowa has extended a call to Rev.
Gise Van  Baren from a trio which included also                      The Theological School Committee is reminding
Prof. Hanko and Rev. R. Hanko.                            our churches of the critical shortage of Seminary
  On March 5 there was an Office Bearers' Con-            students training for the ministry. "Without the


.d



                   THE STANDARD BEARER
      2,`<&#             *P.`O.  B o x   6 0 6 4           _     -~ __~~  -.~~  ~-  ~~--
       :_                                                                                     :
       :        Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506





                                                                              m_--m__


             `"- 288                                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R


                regular ministry of the Word our Churches cannot                                   beginning March 14 and continuing for six weeks
                be expected to flourish. Shepherdless Churches are                                 each Thursday evening at  7:30 P.M. This seminar
                Churches abnormally situated. God has so consti-                                   will be for young couples who have been married
                tuted our spiritual life for the Church militant, that                             for less than two years and those who plan to be
                constant care and nourishment are necessary. Con-                                  married in the next year. The seminar will focus on
                sequently Ministers of the Gospel must ever be                                     all areas of married life.
                available. ' ' The Church Order Commentary,  Van                                     Loveland Church in Colorado held a special con-
                Dellen and Monsma, page 85.                                                        gregational meeting February 28 to consider a pro-
                   Hope School in Walker, Michigan sent Rev.                                       posal from the consistory re the building of a new
                Bruinsma some money for the children of Jamaica.                                   church. Maybe I will find out what was decided by
                Rev. Bruinsma will purchase Bibles on the island                                   the next installment of the Church News.
                and distribute them. This method seems to be the                                      Southeast Church in Michigan has decided to
                best way to get Bibles for the Jamaican children                                   add a fifth elder to the Council. This was done
                because of the high cost and uncertainty of sending                                because of the increase in church membership.
                books through the mail. Rev. Bruinsma writes in a                                  Nominations for this office will be presented to the
                letter that both the missionary work and the school-                               congregation in the next few weeks.
                ing of their children is going quite well.                                           The Reformed Witness Hour plans on relocating
                   The Reformed Witness Committee of Hope                                          in the new church building of First Church, Grand
                Church, Walker, has sent regular mailings of ser-                                  Rapids, Michigan. First Church is providing an un-
                mon tapes,  Standard Bearer,  pamphlets and old                                    finished space in their basement for this purpose.
                "Sunday School" papers to many organizations and                                   However, the RWH must finish and equip the
                individuals in Ghana and Tanzania, West Africa,                                    room. They look forward to occupying their new
                New Zealand, Australia, Taiwan, Singapore, and to                                  home in the near future.
                many individuals in our own country. The commit-                                      The Board of the Society for Protestant Reformed
                tee is also responsible for coordinating four pro-                                 Special Education in the Grand Rapids, Michigan
                grams a year at the Christian Rest Home in Grand                                   area is accepting applications from teachers who
                Rapids, Michigan. They have also sponsored week-                                   are certified or experienced in learning disabilities.
                ly written meditations'by our ministers in the G.R.                                Please direct inquiries or applications to Peter
                Press and the publishing and printing of new pam-                                  VanDerSchaaf, 6935 Sherwood Dr., Jenison, MI
                phlets. They even conducted a door-to-door cam-                                    49428; telephone l-616-669-0703.                                     DH
                paign to determine the interest in our denomina-
                tion.
                    The area ministers in Grand Rapids, Michigan                                                   WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
                are planning on conducting a "Marriage Seminar"                                       On March 8, 1985, our parents, MR. AND MRS. WILLIAM  LEN-
                                                                                                   TING celebrated their 45th wedding anniversary.
                                                                                                      We, the children and grandchildren thank our Heavenly Father who
                                  RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                           gave them to us and we pray that God will continue to be near them
                                                                                                   and bless them in the years to come.
                    The  Hudsonville  Mens Society mourns the death of a member,                      "Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and His greatness is
                 MR. JOHN B. LUBBERS, who has gone to glory January 21, 1985.                      unsearchable. One generation shall praise Thy works to another, and
                    We extend our sincere Christian sympathy to his family and pray                shall declare Thy mighty acts." (Psalm 145:3, 4)
                 the Lord will sustain them in their sorrow.                                       Marvin and Carolyn Davis                Adrian Lenting
                    "I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my                Henry and Marcella Lenting                    and 8 grandchildren
                 help. My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth."                 Bill and Janet Lenting, Jr.             South Holland, Illinois
                 (Psalm 121 :l, 2)
                 Gerald Bouwkamp, Pres.                                                                            LEAGUE MEETING NOTICE
                 George Hoekstra, Vice Sec'y.                                                        The Spring Meeting of the League of Eastern Men's and Ladies'
                                                    NOTICE!!!                                      Societies will be held, the Lord willing, on Tuesday, April 9, 1985 at
                                                                                                   8:00 p.m. at Southeast Protestant Reformed Church.
                    Covenant Christian School of Lynden, Washington, is in need of an                 Rev. Meindert Joostens will speak on "World Hunger and our
                 additional teacher for the 1985-88 school year for either grades 3-5              Responsibility as Churches or Individuals." Members and others in-
                 or Junior High, Please send your application to Covenant Christian                terested in the topic are urged to attend.
                 School, c/o Mr. Albert de Boer, 9088 Northwood Road, Lynden,
                 Washington 98264.                                                                 Elsie Kuiper, Secretary


