     STANDARD
               EARER
r           A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE                                    .





       Whether ministers have taken over the
     vast majority of (pastoral) work because
     they, with a sense of their own importance
     and expertise, have taken it from elders, or
     whether the work has been pushed on them
     by elders who do not want to do the work
     given them by Christ, the fact remains that
     the congregation suffers. It suffers because.. .
          See "The Calling of Elders" - page 29 5





L                                               Vol. LXI, No. 13, April 1, 1985  -


290                                                             THE STANDARD BEARER




                                                                                                              THE STANDARD BEARER
                               CONTENTS                                                                                ISSN 0362-4692
                                                                                             Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July, and August.
                                                                                              Published b the Reformed Free Publishing Association, Inc.
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                                                                                   Editor-in-Chief:  Prof. Homer C. Hoeksema
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  E d i t o r i a l   -                                                            D. Decker, Rev. Cornelius Hanko, Prof. Herman C. Hanko, Rev. Ronald Hanko,
                                                                                   Mr. David Harbach, Rev. John A.  Heys. Rev. J. Kortering, Rev. George C.
       Preaching: On the Wane? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .293              Lubbers, Rev. Thomas C. Miersma, Rev. Marinus  Schipper, Rev. James  Slopse-
                                                                                   ma, Rev. Gise J. Van Baren,  Rev. Herman Veldman.
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                                       Outi -Sincere Conversion
                                                                         Rev. C. Hanko



                  Ques. 88. Of how many parts does the true conversion if man consist?
                   Ans. Qf two parts; of the mortification of the old man, and the quickening of the new man.
                    Ques. 89. What is tke mortification of the old man?
                   Ans. It is the sincere sorrow of heart that we have-provoked Gad by our sins; and more and
                more to hate and flee from them.
                    Ques. 90. What is .the quickening of the new man?
                   Ans. It is a sincere joy of heart in God, through Christ, and with love and delight to live ac-
                cording to the.will of God in all good works. Heid. Catechism, Lord's Day 33.


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                               291



  Behold, he prayeth!                                     maimed, yes, and even to a leper. Jesus touched a
  This was said of Saul, who later was known as           .leper while He cleansed him. Touched the man
Paul the apostle, but who at this moment was              with his ugly, putrid sores!.  Surely He has borne our
stricken with blindness in Damascus after he had          griefs and carried our sorrows! Regeneration is
seen Christ on the way.                                   Gods almighty power that implants new life, the            .
                                                          life of Christ, in us, whereby children who bear the
  You can be sure that Saul, the Pharisee, had            image of the devil are transformed into sons and
piously mouthed many prayers during his life time.        daughters of the living God through faith in Jesus
Even shortly before this he had thought that he was       Christ. Amazing wonder! Boundless grace! For
doing God a service by trying to wipe out the Chris-      such a wretch as I!
tians. Undoubtedly he had been very satisfied with
himself as he sat at the feet of Gamaliel, and as he        Upon this regeneration conversion must follow.
watched the stoning of Stephen.                           Just as when Jesus stood by the tomb of Lazarus
                                                          power went forth from Him into that dead body,
  Yet now Christ from heaven informs Ananias              creating new life and enabling Lazarus to hear
that Saul is on his knees for the first time praying a    when Jesus called his name, to stir, to arise, and to
divinely acceptable prayer. This was the wonder of        come forth from the grace, so also Christ brings' to
grace wrought by the Spirit in one who would              consciousness the new life He has implanted in us.
become the apostle to the gentiles!                       Just as birth follows conception, or as a seed sown
  What a wonder!                                          into the soul sprouts forth into a plant that bears
  When our fathers at Dordt spoke of this first work      fruit, so also the first work of God's grace in us
of grace in the heart of the sinner who `is dead in       resultsin  a conscious life, evidenced in our conver-
trespasses and sins they wrestled to find words to        sion.
describe it. Human language hardly suffices as they         By the indwelling Spirit we are become new
stammer: "But when God accomplishes his good              creatures, ingrafted into Christ, living the life of
pleasure in the elect . . . he . . . powerfully  il-      Christ according to the new man. -Our heart is
luminates their minds by his Holy Spirit, pervades        renewed. Also our mind is renewed, from which
the inmost recesses of the man: he opens the              issue evidences  of. that new life in our desires,
closed, and softens the hardened heart, and circum-       thoughts, words, actions, and deeds. A radical
cises that which was uncircumcised, infuses new           change takes place in our lives. Sin no more has
qualities into the will, which though heretofore          dominion. Grace abounds. Our pride is broken, so
dead, he quickens; from being evil, disobedient and       that we humble ourselves in dust and ashes before
refractory, he renders it good, obedient, and             our God. That which we formerly delighted in now
pliable." And later: "It is evidently a supernatural      causes deep sorrow, sorrow that we have trans-
work, most powerful, and at the same time most            gressed God's commands and offended Him with
delightful, astonishing, mysterious, and. ineffable;      our sins. In deepest shame we beg for mercy. Scrip-
not inferior in efficacy to creation, or to the resur-    ture uses two different words to describe this work
rection from the dead" (Canons of Dordt, III, IV,         of God in us. The one refers to an inner change, a
11, 12).                                                  turning about of the mind. The other refers to a
  As we read this we are reminded that the fathers        resultant turning about in our outward life.
did not clearly distinguish between regeneration            Before our conversion we walked in darkness,
and conversion, but used the terms interchange-           our backs turned against God, our faces directed
ably. Scripture speaks of both regeneration and           toward hell. We were hell-bound enemies of God,
conversion. It speaks of regeneration as the very         willing slaves of sin, delighting in the lusts of the
first work of the Holy Spirit in the dead sinner, who     flesh, the lusts of the eyes, and the pride of life. We
cannot see, hear, speak, or feel, any more than a         craved sin, and sought it wherever we might find it.
corpse in the cemetery is able to do any of these.        Daily we sank deeper into the mire of corruption,
  Nowhere does Scripture ever present an attrac-          assuring ourselves that this momentary fling would
tive picture of the sinner lost in sin and misery.        have no lasting consequences. Yet sin, like an oc-
Sometimes we are compared to a lifeless corpse            topus, kept wrapping its powerful tentacles about
that can only be resurrected by the almighty power        us. Fools that we were! But God, who is rich in
of the living God. Sometimes we find our likeness         mercy,, because of that great love wherewith He
in the  demoniacs of Jesus' day, driven by the ir-        loved us even in the sacrifice of His dear Son for
resistible power from within, which constantly            our sins, raised us up from the dead, and gave us
works to destroy us. Only He that is mightier than        grace to hear the voice of Jesus calling us out of
Satan can storm his fortress and destroy him.             darkness into His marvelous light! We are turned
Again, Jesus compares us to the blind, the deaf, the      about, now with our backs toward the realm of


292                                           THE STAND ARD BEARER



darkness, our faces uplifted toward God and                  ly conversion, or growth in sanctification. Scripture
heaven, our eye of faith fixed upon the hope of              describes this as a putting off of the old man and a
everlasting communion with God in glory. The                 putting on of the new man. Sometimes this is re-
Spirit of Christ is now the power within us unto             ferred to as a crucifying of the old man, stressing
salvation!                                                   how painful it is to give up our old habits, to con-
  Even as a tree is known by its fruits, so we begin         demn our character faults, to humble ourselves in
to bring forth fruits unto eternal life! As we read of       shame and confess our guilt before God and before
Saul, Behold, he prayeth!                                    those whom we have offended. Our Catechism re-
                                                             fers to this as a sincere sorrow for sin, hating it, and
  A new life in a body of sin.                               fleeing from it.
  Although our first reaction may be that the                  This sincere sorrow stands in sharp contrast to a
power of sin is completely broken, so that now we            sorrow that is not sincere. The world also expe-
can live sinless lives on the mountain tops of faith,        riences a certain sorrow for wrongdoing. We think
always rejoicing, thanking and praising God, we              of Cain, of Esau, and of Ahab. One can be filled
soon discover that the battle has just begun! To our         with remorse, even with deep remorse that ends in
chagrin we are soon faced with the reality that, as          suicide, as was the case with Judas. This remorse
our fathers expressed it, the most holy have but a           arises from sinful pride  - to think that this hap-
small beginning of the new obedience in this life!           pens to me! It is a strong sense of shame at being ex-
  We are our own worst enemy! There is the new               posed. It is often accompanied by anger, bitterness
man in Christ, but there also still remains the old          against others, mainly because we hate the horrible
man of sin. This new man is I, the reborn saint in           consequences of our wrongdoing. That kind of sor-
Christ. Yet it may never escape us that the old man          row, Scripture says, can only work death. It is soon
is also I myself. Sin is not an evil force outside of        forgotten, and the sinner finds himself in another
me, some power over which I have no control,                 evil. The sincere sorrow is the world of God in us,
something foreign to me. No! I am evil, born in sin!         the awareness that we have sinned against the Most
Evil desires arise within me, often inadvertently.           High God! The remorse of the wicked works death;
These are my desires. Evil thoughts within me are a          the repentant sorrow of God's child bears a lasting
part of my sinful self. Evil words, spoken so glibly,        fruit unto life eternal.
are my words. My eye is lured to sin, my ear                   Accompanying the putting off of the old man is
reaches out to hear it. It is I who is sinning. It is the    the putting on of the new man in Christ.
old man with all his character faults. Yet even
while I sin my conscience condemns me. The new                 This consists, according to the Heidelberger, of a
man in Christ hates sin and wants no part of it. Not         sincere joy of heart in God through Jesus Christ.
as if I live in a sort of dualism, with two wills, two       How different this is from the hollow laughter,
conflicting desires, two persons in one body. Thank          the joy of the world. Their humor is often
God that this is not the case! Rather, the pure              blasphemy, mockery of all that is holy, finding
thoughts that issue forth from my renewed heart              pleasure in the misery of others, enjoying the filth
are always contaminated by the sin that wars in my           of the gutter, and all the while trying to drown the
members. At the same time the new man con-                   grief that gnaws at their vitals.
demns the evil that is still present in me. Therefore,         The joy of the believer is genuine, a sincere ex-
on the one hand, I cry out, "0 wretched man that I           pression of an inner peace with God, and an ex-
am!" On the other hand, I can say: I thank God               uberant thankfulness with all the saints as the
through Jesus Christ, my Lord! I will the good, even         beginning of the eternal, heavenly joy!
though sin is always present in me. And that will,
by God's grace, always triumphs!                               By grace we are able to walk in those good
                                                             works, which God has before ordained for each of
  There is, besides the initial conversion, also a dai-      us, that we should walk in them! (Eph. 210)

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                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                               293



EDITORIAL



                         Preaching: On the Wane?
                                               Prof H.C. Hoeksema





  A recent edition of The Grand Rapids Press car-           large, to consider whether preaching is on the wane
ried in its "Religion" section a report concerning an       in any of our churches, and, if so, to do something
address at Calvin Seminary by  Haddon  W. Robin-            about it. Hence, "Whom the shoe fits, let him put it
son, president of Denver Conservative Baptist               on."
Seminary, on the subject of preaching. The title of           One more introductory remark. I do not put
this report was "Preaching: A Lost Art?" and the            much stock in the general comment which is some-
sub-title, "Good Sermons Demand Work, Teacher               times made, that our younger ministers do not
Says." The report was of interest to me because Dr.         preach like the "old-timers." Why not? First of all,
Robinson's address dealt with a very real problem           there is the obvious fact that our younger ministers
in American pulpits in general. Preaching of the            are not "old-timers," and therefore cannot be ex-
Word is largely a lost art today.                           pected to preach as such. Secondly, and in close
  It is not my intention, however, to comment on            conne,ction  with this, do not forget that our  "old-
Dr. Robinson's address as such. A brief press report        timers" did not always preach as they do now; they
would furnish insufficient material for such com-           were also novices once upon a time. I can personal-
ment. Besides, that is not my purpose.                      ly recall the days when many of them were
                                                            students who occasionally ascended the pulpit of
  My intention is rather to use some of Dr. Robin-          First Church and were "nervous as a cat," as well
son's reported remarks as an occasion and back-             as obviously lacking in experience. Every one of
drop for a few comments of my own concerning                them would testify that he does not preach now as
preaching in our own Protestant Reformed pulpits.           he did when he first entered the ministry. Thirdly,
I hasten to add that I have not been going about in-        again in close connection with the preceding, we
cognito eavesdropping on the preaching in our               must not forget that there is a certain seasoning
churches. Other than the preaching of my own                process which takes place in the life of a minister. To
pastor or that of an occasional guest minister or           that seasoning process belong in general all the ex-
now and then a broadcast sermon, I very rarely              periences of being in the ministry for a time, but
hear any of our ministers. Once in a while, how-            also the experiences of participating in the "wars."
ever, I hear criticisms of preaching in our churches.       It makes a tremendous difference whether a minis-
Sometimes the criticism is of a rather general              ter is just fresh from seminary, for example, or
nature, such as, "Our younger ministers don't               whether he has lived through and participated in a
preach like our veteran ministers, like the  `old-          struggle such as that through which our churches
timers.' " Sometimes the criticism is more specific,        passed in 1953 or in the immediate post-1924 years.
and I am asked for' advice as to what can be done to        In other words, we should keep things in perspec-
bring about improvement in a given instance. Criti-         tive.
cism may center on the alleged fact that the
preaching is too superficial, too shallow, or that it is    Preaching Must Have Priority
too general, not specific enough, not sharp, not suf-          "Pastors today have to be so many things to so
ficiently antithetical. When asked for such advice, I       many people that they don't have the time left to
try to steer the individual in the right direction with     put into sermon preparation." Again: "Churches
respect to his complaints. My present remarks,              say they want a good preacher, but then they won't
therefore, are not to be understood as directed at          give him the time to prepare properly." And again:
any individual. They are rather intended to spur all        "People want their preacher to be relevant, but
of us, preachers and elders and congregations at            how can he be when he spends his week making


 294                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



  hospital visits, counseling couples, making plans         is the calling to exercise oversight of the preaching
  for the new church and writing out the checks."           and of the preacher. If they detect that the preach-
  These  are. comments of Dr. Robinson reported by          ing is not  .up to par, it is their calling to take the
  The Press.                                                pastor in hand and to remind him of his calling and
    All of these comments have one thought in com-          insist that there be improvement. If they observe
 mon - without regard now to the validity of some           that the minister does not have his priorities
  of the alleged reasons why ministers don't have the       straight and that he is not devoting sufficient time
 time to prepare sermons properly  - namely:                to this most important aspect of his calling as
 preaching must have the priority in the work of the        minister, it is their duty to call his attention to this
 minister. He is called to be a Minister of the Word        and to admonish him. But, in the second place, the
 of God. This can only mean that by far the greater         .elders have the duty to take care of much of the
 part of his time and energy must be devoted to his         pastoral labor which. only too often is left to the
 preaching and catechetical instruction. `And this, in      minister. I will not enlarge on this subject here. I
 turn, can only mean that by far the greater part of        call your attention to the fact that there is a very sig-
 .his time and energy must be spent in his study in         nificant article on the work of the elders from the
 preparation for preaching and, in part, for his in-        pen of Prof. Hanko in this issue. Be sure to read it.
 structional work.                                          Don't Blame The Seminary
    This is his calling! Yes, for this purpose the con-       The report of Dr. Robinson's address also stated
 gregation has called him. But even more, this is his       the following: "Many lay people figure the semi-
 calling by God!                                            naries focus -on preaching. Not so. People who
    Neither minister nor consistory nor congregation        teach in seminaries have an academic back-
 may ever forget this. The minister is not called           ground." It goes  .on to state: "So, many of these
 primarily to do all kinds of "pastoral" work. He           teachers don't really hold preaching in high regard.
 may not use his preoccupation with pastoral work           In these Bible schools, preaching is the Cinderella
 as an alibi for poor sermons and poor sermon               that never gets to go to the ball."
preparation. He may probably be considered a                  Now whatever may be the truth of this in the
 "nice man" and a "sympathetic pastor" when he              other seminaries  - and in my opinion Robinson
 spends fifty per cent of his time visiting the sheep       makes some rather sweeping statements - I assert
 and counseling, etc., but it is far more of a compli-      without reservation that this is not true of our
 ment and a testimony that he is faithful to his call-      Theological School.
 ing if he hears an occasional complaint that "pastor         In the first place, it is not true that our professors
 spends too much time in his study."                        have an academic background in distinction from a
    Why?                                                    pulpit background. All of our professors came out
                                                            of the churches after having served in the pulpit
    The answer is that no minister can prepare good         ministry  for. several years. The Constitution of our
 sermons without spending hours and hours of                seminary deems this important: for it stipulates that
 study. The heart of good preaching is sound and            in  electing~professors  preference shall be given to
 thorough exegesis  of, the Scriptures. But this takes      those who have served in the pastoral ministry.
 time. It takes careful study: But it is the only way to    And your current professors themselves deem this
 "relevant" preaching. For "relevant" preaching is          to be important. That is also the chief reason, by the
 preaching of the Word of God! It is an insult to that      way, why it is important that the churches give our
 precious Word and an insult to his Sender when a           professors opportunities to preach. It is important,
 preacher does anything less than his  best  in every       yea, necessary, that the professors keep in touch in
 sermon to deliver to God's people His Word and to          a practical way with the pulpit ministry.
 unfold to them the riches of that Word every time
 he stands at the pulpit!                                     In the second place, there is a very strong em-
                                                            phasis at our seminary on the training of preachers.
    The minister himself must understand this. If he        All our students receive two semesters of instruc-
 is unwilling to devote that kind of time and effort to     tion (instruction which includes practical exercises
 his ministry, he should get out. He should under-          and experience) in Homiletics, the science of the art
 stand, too, that it is only in the way of such diligent    of preaching. And in connection with this course
 labor and burning of "midnight oil" that he will           the central importance of preaching is strongly em-
 ever grow and develop as a minister and become             phasized. Further, in our curriculum every student
 one of those "seasoned veterans."                          receives three years of practice preaching. This in-
    As we have indicated in an earlier editorial some       volves the preparation and delivery of two sermons
 months ago, the elders play an important part in           per semester, or a total of twelve practice preaching
 this regard. They do this, first of all, because theirs    sermons'. Each of these sermons is carefully and


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                              295



thoroughly criticized in class; and then the student         struction of our seminary.
is required to submit a revision, having taken into            May God give all our ministers grace to be faith-
account the criticism of his fellow students and of          ful to this calling and to count themselves expend-
the faculty.                                                 able in the work of the ministry!
  In the third place, the entire curriculum of our
seminary is geared to the preparation of preachers.                              Correction
Preaching is considered central. This is the reason
why, for example, there are no fewer than eight                In the article on the trip by Rev. Engelsma and
                                                             Prof. Hanko to North Ireland a mistake was made
semesters of exegesis, not counting those courses
which are preparatory to exegesis. If the minister is        which should be corrected. In that article it was.
                                                             said that the Evangelical Presbyterian Church was
to preach, he must learn to be an exegete: otherwise         organized under the leadership of W.J. Grier who,
he will never be a capable preacher. This is why             with others, left the Free -Presbyterian Church in
even the teaching of Dogmatics is geared to the
future task of the preacher to teach sound doctrine,         the late Forties. This is incorrect. The Evangelical
                                                             Presbyterian Church was organized under the lead-
to proclaim all the riches of the truth as it is in Jesus    ership of Rev. James Hunter in 1927 with the
Christ.                                                      assistance of Rev. Grier. Both men left the Irish
  The preaching of the  Word.& and must remain               Presbyterian Church at that time. Rev. Norman
central in our churches; and for that reason prepar-         Green, in whose church in Omagh Prof. Hanko
ation for preaching is and must remain central in            preached, left the Free Presbyterian Church in the
the life of the Minister of the Word of God; and for         early Eighties and joined the Evangelical Presby-
that reason preaching and training for preaching is          terian Church somewhat later. We apologize for
and must remain central in the curriculum and in-            this mistake.

FEATURE




                                The Calling of Elders
                                                   Prof. H. Hanko





(This article is the substance of a speech presented         tinguishes between two kinds of elders. Paul writes
to the Officebearers' Conference held in Southeast           to Timothy: "Let the elders that rule well -be
Church on January 8, 1985. It is prepared for print-         counted worthy of double honor, especially they
ing at the request of the Consistory of Southeast            who labor in the word and doctrine." Three things
Church which sponsored the meeting.)                         are evident from this passage: 1) to elders belongs
  Reformed and Presbyterian Churches in the trad-            the rule of the church; 2) ministers who labor in. the
ition of the Calvin Reformation have a form of               word and doctrine are also elders; 3) a distinction
church government known as Presbyterianism.                  must nevertheless be made between elders who
The name derives from the Greek word, presbyter,             rule and elders who, in addition to ruling, labor in
which means "elder." The term refers therefore to            the Word and doctrine. Hence, some churches
the fact that the government of the church of Christ         speak of two kinds of elders: ruling elders and
is the responsibility of elders. It was the conviction       teaching elders, the latter referring to the ministers
of John Calvin (as well as those who are the                 or pastors. I am primarily concerned in this speech
spiritual heirs of his reformatory work) that rule by        with ruling elders, and only incidentally with
elders in the church of Jesus Christ is Biblical.            teaching elders.
  It is clear from I Timothy 5:17 that Scripture dis-          The office of ruling elder is gradually being lost


296                                         THE STANDARD `BEARER



in the church. It is not easy to know the reasons for     church  - the pastor's salary, the building pro-
this. No doubt one reason is the placing of men into      grams, etc.
this office who lack the qualifications for the office     The situation described above is not equally bad
as set forth by Paul in I Timothy 3:1-7. That such        in all Presbyterian and Reformed Churches. But the
men are frequently placed into office is obvious.         trend is here and the result of the trend is that work
Why they are put into office is not always evident.       which rightfully belongs to the ruling elders is more
Sometimes it is difficult if not impossible to find       and more considered to be the responsibility of the
qualified men. Sometimes qualified men refuse for         trained pastors or other expert staff members.
one reason or another to serve. Sometimes  Con-           Large amounts of time during the week are there-
sistories themselves do not exercise care in  the.        fore spent by the pastor in what we often refer to as
preparation of a nomination, and they put men on          "pastoral work," and almost no time remains for
nomination, not because they have the Biblical            the minister to be in his study to prepare for
qualifications, but because they are men of wealth,       preaching and catechetical instruction, to study,
influence, prestige; or because they ought to be          read, develop, grow spiritually, and work for the
given a chance to serve; or because they ought to be      development of the riches of the truth of God's
made to feel at home since they are new in the con-       Word. The spiritual life of the congregation is hard-
gregation. When unqualified men who lack Scrip-           ly known to the elders; the problems of God's peo-
ture's qualifications for office are nevertheless or-     ple are guarded by pastoral confidentiality; and the
dained to that office the result is that the office of    work of ruling elders is limited to meeting in the
ruling elder goes into eclipse.                           Consistory room a couple of times a month and tak-
  Another reason why the office of ruling elder suf-      ing care of routine work of the church. In this way
fers in our day is the growing practice of entrusting     the office of ruling elders is minimized and finally
the care of the congregation to "specialists," rather     lost, and the congregation suffers in one way or
than to the elders whom Christ appoints. Many be-         another. The "expert" minister does all the work,
lieve that the needs of people in the congregation        while the sermons preached are not worth the
with special problems cannot be dealt with by un-         paper they are written on.
trained ruling elders; these needs are to be handled             *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *
by specialists of one sort or another. The unmarried
must be cared for by those who have made special            If we consult what others in the past have said
studies of the needs of the unmarried and their prob-     concerning the work of ruling elders, it may come
lems, and perhaps written a doctrinal thesis on the       as something of a shock to us to learn how much of
subject. The mentally troubled must be cared for          the work of the congregation is assigned to the men
by psychiatrists or psychologists. Men trained in         who hold this office. And we do well to examine
counseling must be hired to deal with people who          some of this material.
need counseling. Experts in rehabilitation must             The Biblical point of departure is Acts  20:28
deal with those who are drunkards or drug addicts.        where Paul admonishes the elders of the church of
Para-ecclesiastical organizations are formed to deal      Ephesus: "Take heed therefore unto yourselves,
with problems which cannot be handled by ruling           and to all the flock over which the Holy Ghost hath
elders who lack the necessary expertise to make the       made you overseers, to feed the church of God."
work effective.                                           Scripture here gives the work of oversight in the
  Sometimes "ministers" with expertise in various         church, including feeding the flock, not to the
fields are hired to do this work, and the "staff" of      ministers and pastors, but to the body of elders  -
many congregations becomes very large. Some-              of which body the minister is one member.
times the pastor himself receives special training to       These ideas have been developed in our "minor
deal with these matters and such work becomes his         confessions." Our Church Order (the one used in
specialty. All the problems of the congregation are       the Protestant Reformed Churches) defines the du-
cared for by others than ruling elders. If the pastor     ty of elders in Article 23: elders are told that they
happens to be an expert in these various fields, he       must visit the families of the congregation in order
also becomes the dominant figure in the  Consis-          particularly to comfort and instruct the members.
tory. He is the one who does the work in the con-         While the reference here is to what we call family
gregation, and the Consistory under his expert            visitation, it must be remembered: 1) that the arti-
guidance acts as little more than a rubber stamp on       cle requires such visits to be made far more often
matters brought before it. And, as the complexity of      than once a year - as is common among us; 2) the
the whole situation increases, ruling elders are no       purpose of such visits is specifically to comfort and
more those entrusted  .with the rule of the church,       instruct the members. In connection with this last
but form "Boards of Directors" whose responsibil-         point, it is obvious that the Church Order has in
ity it is to take care of the temporal matters of the     mind the comfort and instruction of the members


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                    297



in connection with their daily walk in life with all its           Without a doubt, the individual elders
problems and troubles.                                          may and must do a great deal of pastoral
  The Formula of Subscription which all elders are              work upon their own initiative.
required to sign binds elders by a solemn vow to ex-               By all means, let our Elders diligently call
ert themselves to keep the church free from error.              upon the sick, the erring, the unfaithful, the
This responsibility rests not only upon the                     mourning, etc.
preacher, but upon the whole body of elders.                   They refer again to the Convention of Wezel
  The Form for the Ordination of Elders and                  which ruled that elders should visit every home
Deacons speaks at length of the work of elders. The          every week. And they even go so far as to say that
Form calls elders "ministers" who are helpers to             family visitation is not, in the first place, the work
the pastors, as Levites were helpers to the priests in       of the ministers.
the Old Testament. Elders are instructed to take the               Does home-visitation also belong to the
oversight of the church, which oversight includes:              task of the Ministers? Not in the first place.
1) diligently to look, whether everyone properly                In the first place it belongs to the office of
deports himself in his confession and conversation;             those that are called to be overseers, the
2) to admonish those who behave disorderly, where               Elders. Consequently, it is not even men-
the reference is not to official discipline calls, but to       tioned in Article 16, which indicates the
daily oversight in the congregation; 3) to serve all            task of Ministers. But inasfar as Ministers
Christians with advice and consolation. Further,                are teaching-Elders, (cf. Form of Installa-
they are to admonish and caution everyone against               tion), and in so far Elders, the work of
his ruin and to see to it that Godliness is maintained          Elders, (government, discipline, etc.), also
in the church.                                                  falls to them, though not primarily.
  That the work of elders is indeed as broad as                Van  Dellen and Monsma do not object to
described in our Form is evident from many                   ministers doing pastoral work, of course; but they
sources. Already the Convention of Wezel  (X86),             place this in proper perspective:
one of the earliest assemblies of the Reformed
Churches in the Lowlands, had this to say about                    As much as their primary duties allow,
elders:                                                         Ministers should do personal work through
      The Elders shall faithfully investigate                   home-visitation, visiting of the sick, the af-
    whether they (the Church members) mani-                     flicted, and the aged, calling on delinquents,
    fest themselves uprightly in walk and con-                  etc. All this may be included under what Ar-
    duct, in the duties of godliness, in the faith-             ticle 16 terms "to watch over the Congrega-
    ful instruction of their households in the                  tion." Moreover, effective ministerial work
matter of family prayers, (morning and                          also requires close contact with the Congre-
    evening prayers) and such like matters; they                gation through personal work. But again,
    shall admonish them to these duties with                    primarily, Ministers must preach and teach.
    consideration, but also in all seriousness                  And that, if they are to do it correctly and ef-
    and according to conditions and circum-                     fectively, will require nearly all their time.
    stances; they shall admonish them to stead-                 And primarily home-visitation, etc., is the
    fastness, or strengthen them to patience, or                work of the regular Elders.
    spur them on to a serious minded fear of                   With this we agree. Ministers should not isolate
    God; such as need comfort and admonition                 themselves from their congregations and live only
    they shall comfort and admonish, and if                  in the ivory tower of their own studies, surrounded
    need be they shall report a matter to their              by their books, making abstract sermons which
    fellow Elders, who together with them are                never touch the lives of the people of God. And
    appointed to exercise discipline; and besides            surely to avoid this danger, they must know their
    these matters they shall correct that which              sheep whom they are called to feed. But the danger
    can be corrected according to the gravity of             is very real that we have reversed the order of
    the sin committed; nor shall they neglect,               priorities of which Van Dellen and Monsma speak.
    each one in his own district, to encourage               The primary work of ministers is to preach and
    them to send their children to catechism.                teach, and this requires nearly all their time. What
  In their Commentary on the Church Order (old               is left can be used for pastoral work. We have
edition) Van Dellen and Monsma sum up what has               turned it around. The minister is busy all week
been said by Church Order authorities throughout             visiting sick and shut-ins, counseling and admon-
the history of the Reformed Churches. We quote               ishing; and the little time he can squeeze out of a
excerpts from pp.  106-111.                                  hectic schedule he spends in his study preparing to


298                                               THE STANDARD BEARER



preach and teach. As often as not, the result is half-          From all this it is clear that the office of elder is
baked sermons, instruction without preparation, or           much broader in scope than is generally recognized
a practice of "turning over the pile" to preach ser-         today. All agree that what today goes under the
mons made long ago and far away.                             name of "pastoral work" belongs in large measure
  In an interesting book entitled "The Ruling                to the office of ruling elder. To perform this work
Elder," Samuel Miller makes clear that the Presby-           all agree that the elders must visit regularly all the
terian tradition gives the same emphasis to the              families of the congregation. This is not what we
work of elders:                                              call "family visitation" done once a year. Nor is the
                                                             reference to decisions of the Consistory appointing
            The Church Session (Consistory) is               a committee to visit certain people in the congrega-
       charged with maintaining the spiritual gov-           tion. The idea is rather that each elder, on his own,
       ernment of the congregation; for which pur-           has the responsibility of visiting regularly those
       pose they have the power to inquire into the          families in the congregation particularly assigned to
       knowledge and Christian conduct of the                his "oversight." (Usually this is done by dividing
       members of the Church; . . . to admonish, to          the congregation into districts, with two elders
       rebuke, to suspend, or exclude from the sac-          responsible for each district.) He must visit the
       raments, those who are found to deserve               families, not because something is wrong in the
       censure; to concert the best measures for             families, not because problems have risen which
       promoting the spiritual interests of the con-         need to be dealt with (although this must also be
       gregation . . . (p. 3).                               done by the elders); but that he may know the peo-
            It is their duty to have an eye of inspec-       ple of the congregation, the sheep of Christ; that he
       tion and care over all the members of the             may instruct and warn, comfort and encourage,
       congregation; and, for this purpose, to               speak with children and young people, "oversee"
       cultivate a universal and intimate acquain-           the spiritual life of families, etc. The emphasis falls
       tance, as far as may be, with every family in         not so much on "dealing with problems," but
       the flock of which they are made "over-               rather on oversight which, if properly done, will
       seers." They are bound to watch over the               avoid untold problems, or at least acquaint elders
       children and youth, and especially baptized           with them before they have gotten entirely out of
       children, with paternal vigilance, recogniz-          hand. The picture is of elders concerned with the
       ing and affectionately addressing them on              spiritual well-being of the saints and doing all that
       all proper occasions; giving them, and their          is necessary to help God's people in the difficult
   parents in reference to them, seasonable                  ways in which the Lord leads them, and to assist
       counsel . . . . It is their duty to attend to the     them to grow in grace and in the knowledge of
       case of those who are serious and disposed            C h r i s t .
       to inquire concerning their eternal interest
       -                                                        Whether ministers have taken over the vast ma-
            to converse with them, and, from time to         jority of this work because they, with a sense of
       time, to give information concerning them             their own importance and expertise, have taken it
       to the Pastor. It is their duty to take notice         from elders, or whether the work has been pushed
       of, and admonish in private, those who ap-             on them by elders who do not want to do the work
       pear to be growing careless or falling into            given them by Christ, the fact remains that the con-
       habits in any respect criminal, suspicious or          gregation suffers. It suffers because elders are not
       unpromising. It is their duty to visit and             doing that which Christ calls them to do and Christ
       pray with the sick, as far as their circum-            is not, in that measure, in the congregation; it suf-
       stances admit, and to request the atten-               fers because ministers have no time for study and
       dance of the Pastor on the sick, and the dy-           reflection, for reading and meditating,  for,prepara-
       ing, when it may be seasonable or desired              tion for preaching and teaching.
       . . . (p. 6).                                                   *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *
            It is the duty of Ruling Elders, also, to
       visit the members of the Church and their                While most if not all who busy themselves with
       families - with the Pastor, if he requests it,         the work of the church would agree with all this,
       without  him, if he does not  - to converse            certain objections are bound to be brought. It is
       with them; to instruct the ignorant; to con-           well to anticipate some of them here and answer
       firm the wavering; to caution the unwary; to           them.
       reclaim the wandering; to encourage the                  Almost all the objections center in one form or
       timid; and to excite and animate all classes           another in the fact that elders feel themselves un-
       to a faithful and exemplary discharge of du-           qualified to do the work which their office requires.
       ty . . . (p. 6).                                       There are several things which ought to be said


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   299



about this. In the first place, it is absolutely essen-    congregations, if there is too much work, ought to
tial that Consistories take great care in forming          appoint full-time elders who are paid by the congre-
nominations for elders that those put on nomina-           gation to do the work.
tion may indeed have the qualifications mentioned            But finally,  1. cannot accept this excuse about
in the first verses of I Timothy 3. This will take care    lack of qualification. It arises from the mistaken no-
of the matter of qualification.                            tion that the problems in the congregation can be
  In the second place, it is sometimes objected that       dealt with only by specialists and trained coun-
qualified men who are willing to serve are difficult,      selors of one sort or another. This I do not believe.
if not impossible, to find. If this is indeed true then    All the solutions to all the problems in the life of the
it is not only a great shame on the church of Christ,      people of God are to be found in the Word of God.
but we can look for dark and grim days ahead. The          Elders are called to bring that Word, and they are
welfare of the church depends upon her elders who          just as qualified to do this as ministers, presuppos-
rule in the name of Christ.                                ing that they give themselves to the study of the
  But it must never be forgotten that one reason           Word and to prayer. They need not be experts in
why congregations lack qualified men is because            counseling, take courses in alcohol rehabilitation,
the important verse with which Paul begins his             become experts in youth work. All they have to do
discussion of the qualifications of officebearers is       is bring God's Word (and that, thank God, is
forgotten: "He who desireth the office of a bishop,        enough). To that calling they are appointed by
desireth a good thing." This is emphatic. Before the       Christ; that and that alone is the strength and
apostle discusses the subject of qualifications, he        authority of their office; in performing that work
makes this statement about desiring the office of          Christ has promised to bless the congregation.
bishop. The whole matter of qualifications there-          Elders must believe that, armed with the Word of
fore presupposes men who desire the office. There          Christ, they have the only weapon they need to
must be men in the congregation who desire the of-         defeat all the powers of sin. In fact, in some
fice of bishop - not out of a sense of their own im-       respects, elders are more qualified than ministers to
portance; not to push themselves forward into posi-        do this. Ministers, after all, are in a congregation for
tions of prominence; but in eager desire to serve in       a little while and then they leave to minister else-
the church of Christ. And, desiring the office of          where. Elders are in the same congregation for
bishop, they must, before they are ever put on             many years, and some may have been born and
nomination, prepare themselves for this work.              raised in the congregation in which they serve.
Preparation is part of "desiring" the office. Why do       They know that congregation much better than any
we expect would-be ministers, not only to desire           minister ever can, and can bring God's Word to
the office of minister but to engage actively in the       God's people in their needs with an understanding
pursuit of that calling by committing themselves to        which ministers cannot attain in short periods of
the work and preparing themselves for it  - while          service.
we frown in dismay on others who do the same in              We must see to it that everything is done to pro-
preparation .for the office of ruling elder?               vide the church with qualified elders. We close
                                                           with a quote from Miller:
  In the third place, many complain of a lack of
time on the part of elders to do all the work that               Were the foregoing views of the nature
needs to be done. Not a lack of qualification keeps          and duties of the Elder's office generally
them from the work, but a lack of time. And un-                adopted, duly appreciated, and faithfully
doubtedly there is truth to this when many elders              carried out into practice, what a mighty
must care for their families, work full time to sup-           change would be effected in our Zion! With
port their families and do other work in the king-             what a different estimate of the obligations
dom. But here, too, several things must be said. If a          and responsibilities which rest upon them
lack of time on the part of elders to do the work             would the candidates for this office enter on
leads to a lack of time on the part of ministers to           their sacred work! And with what different
work in their studies, the situation has to be cor-           feelings would the mass of the people, and
rected, no matter what. Further, it is not unreason-          especially all who love the cause of Christ,
able in our day when most men retire at 65 and                regard these spiritual  counsellors and
look for a part-time job, to find men who have                guides in their daily walks, and particularly
served before, who are eminently qualified for the            in their friendly and official visits! This is a
office, who are  elders  in the truest sense of the           change most devoutly to be desired. The in-
word, to give themselves full-time to the work. Dr.           terests of the Church are more involved in
A. Kuyper, in his pamphlet, Concerning the Refor-             the prevalence of just opinions and practice
mation of the Church,  even speaks of the fact that           in reference to this office, than almost any


300                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



       other that can be named. Were every con-                   in a word, willing to "take the oversight" of
       gregation, besides a wise, pious and faithful              the flock in the Lord, and to labor without
       Pastor, furnished with eight or ten Elders, to           ceasing for the promotion of its best inter-
       cooperate with him in all his parochial                    est. Were every Church furnished with a
       labors, on the pkan which has been sketched:               body of SUCH ELDERS, can anyone doubt
       men of wisdom, faith, prayer, and Chris-                   that knowledge, order, piety, and growth in
       tian activity; men willing to deny and exert               grace, as well as in numbers, would be as
       themselves for the welfare of Zion; men                    common in our Churches as the reverse is
       alive to the importance of everything that                 now the prevailing state of things, in conse-
       relates to the orthodoxy, purity, order and                quence of the want of fidelity on the part of
       spirituality of the Church, and ever on the                those who are  nominaZZy  the overseers and
       watch for opportunities of doing good; men,                guides of the flock? (pp. 11, 12).

BIBLE STUDY GUIDE




        Revelation - Christ's Victorious Return
                                             (concluded)
                                                   Rev. J.  Kortering





  13. The pouring out of the seven vials (bowls),             saints. Another soul out of the altar acknowledges
(Rev.  15:1-16:21). The seven angels who have the             God's justice in His judgments .( 16:4-7).  The fourth
seven last plagues are introduced (15: 1). Before             angel pours his vial upon the sun and men are
they come forth, the saints who are victorious are            scorched with fire. They in turn blaspheme God and
pictured as standing upon a sea of glass which is             repented not  (16:8, 9). The fifth angel poured his
mingled with fire. They are singing the song of               vial upon the seat of the beast (place of rule); and
Moses and of the Lamb, praising God and acknowl-              his kingdom became filled with darkness and they
edging that all glory is His. And the nations have            suffered great pain for which they blasphemed the
come to worship Him  (15:2-4).  The temple is                 God of heaven (16:10, 11). The sixth vial is poured
opened and the seven angels having the seven last             upon the great river Euphrates and the waters are
plagues come forth (15:5, 6). One of the four beasts          dried up so that the kings of the east can come. He
gives to the seven angels the seven golden vials, full        sees three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the
of the wrath of God. The temple is full of smoke              mouth of the dragon. These are false prophets who
and no man is worthy to enter the temple till the             work miracles and cause the kings of the earth to
seven plagues are fulfilled  (15:7, 8). A great voice         gather in the battle of the great day. This is called in
tells the angel to pour out the vial (16: 1). The first       the Hebrew tongue, Armageddon (16: 12-14, 16). An
angel pours the vial on the earth. A grievous sore            interjection is expressed: "Behold Christ comes as a
fell on all the men who had the mark of the beast             thief, and blessed are they who watch and keep
and on those who worshiped the image (16:2).  The             their garments clean"  (16:15). The seventh vial is
second angel poured the next vial upon the sea; and           poured in the air. A voice sounds from the temple,
it became as blood, and every living soul in the sea          "It is done." Thunder, lightning, earthquakes, and
died (16:2).  The third vial is poured upon the rivers        hailstones destroy the earth. Babylon is divided in-
and fountains of water and they became blood. An              to three parts under the fierceness of God's wrath.
angel declares that God is righteous in destroying            The ungodly respond with even more blasphemy  1.
the wicked for they have shed the blood of the                (16:17-21).


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  301



  14. The mystery and fall of Babylon the great            thigh is "King of Kings and Lord of Lords." Out of
(Rev.  17:1-18:24). The angel invites John to come         His mouth comes a sharp sword  (19:X, 16). An
and see the judgment of the great whore with               angel calls to the fowls to come and eat the flesh of
whom the kings and people have committed forni-            kings, of men and horses, for the enemy is defeated
cation (17: 1, 2). The Spirit carried John into the        (19:17, 18). The opposition from the kings of the
wilderness and he saw a woman arrayed in scarlet,          earth is defeated once and for all. The beast and
riding upon a scarlet beast, holding in her hand a         false prophet and their followers are cast into the
cup filled with the filthiness of her fornication          lake of fire  (19:19-21). An angel with a key to the
(17:3,  4). She has the name, "Mystery, Babylon the        bottomless pit binds Satan and casts him into the
great, the mother of harlots and abominations of           pit so he cannot deceive the nations for a thousand
the earth" (17:5).  She is drunk with the blood of the     years (20: l-3). During this time the souls of the mar-
saints (martyrs), and all who follow her are the un-       tyrs reign with Christ  (20:4).  This is called the first
godly whose names are not in the book of life              resurrection. Blessed are they who share in it, for
(17:6-8).  The beast represents kings that have            the second death does not touch them  (20:5, 6).
reigned, and some must yet reign who make war              After the thousand years, Satan is loosed in order
with the Lamb but are overcome by the King of              that he may deceive the nations, Gog and Magog, to
kings  (17:9-14).  The whore that rides the beast          bring them in battle against the camp of the saints
represents the false prophets who influence people         (20:7-g).  God intervenes and casts all these enemies
with evil (17: 15). In the end the nations shall turn      into the lake of fire which according to a later verse
against her and make the whore desolate ( 17: 16-18).      is called the second death. Christ sits on the great
An angel descends from heaven and announces the            white throne and judges all creatures. Even the sea,
fall of Babylon, for the measure of her iniquity is        death, and hell give up the dead for this purpose
full (18:1-3).  A call is given to the people of God to    (20:10-15).
come out from Babylon, for God will reward her                16. The new Jerusalem and the final state of
evil with the cup of wrath in the measure she com-         glory (21:1-22:5). The heavens and earth pass away
mitted abominations (I-8:4-8). The kings of the earth      and are replaced with a new one (21: 1). Upon that
bewail her destruction, "Alas, Babylon is fallen."         new earth, John saw the new Jerusalem coming as a
The merchants who dealt in all manner of                   bride adorned for her husband. The tabernacle of
delicacies and were made rich by her, weep. "In            God is with men and God shall wipe away all tears
one hour, so great riches is come to nought." The          (21:2-4).  Christ declares that He makes all things
sailors weep when they see the smoke of Babylon            new  (21:5-8).  An angel introduces the bride of the
rise heavenward. They cast dust on their heads and         Lamb. She is presented as the New Jerusalem, with
cry out in desolation  (18:9-19). The faithful people      twelve gates, twelve foundations, and streets of
are exhorted to rejoice over Babylon's fall  (18:20).      gold. There is no need for the sun, for the Lord God
An angel casts a great millstone into the sea and          is the light. The gates are open for there is no oppo-
once again the harpers, musicians, and craftsmen           sition; the wicked are cast into the lake of fire
are silenced. There is no business or pleasure, for        (21:9-27). The river of life flows from the throne of
God has come in justice to destroy Babylon                 God and waters the tree of life whose fruit is for the
(18:21-24).                                                inhabitants and whose leaves are for the healing of
   15. Christ comes to judgment over all people            the nations. All the inhabitants of heaven see the
(19:1-20:15). The saints in heaven introduce the           face of the Lamb. God illuminates them and they
next vision with a hallelujah chorus. They rejoice in      reign with Christ for ever and ever (22: l-5).
that the great whore is judged and the blood of the          17. Conclusion of the book  (22:6-21). The angel
saints avenged. They are joined by the twenty-four         assures John that the words of the vision are faith-
elders and four beasts, even the great throng of           ful and true and contain the things that must short-
angels singing, "The Lord God omnipotent                   ly come to pass (22:6).  Christ assures the reader that
reigneth"  (19:1-6).  We now learn that the joyful         He is coming quickly. Blessed are they that keep
song introduces the marriage of the Lamb with His          the sayings of this book. John must not worship the
bride, the church. The bride is adorned in fine            angel, but worship God and `make known the con-
linen, white and clean. John must write: "Blessed          tents of the book because the end is at hand and the
are they who are called to the marriage supper of          spiritual character of mankind is determined for
the Lamb." He bows before the angel, but is ad-            eternity  (22:7-11). Again Christ says, "I come
monished, he is to worship God (19:7-10).  Christ is       quickly, I am alpha and omega. Blessed are they
pictured as a judge, riding upon a white horse, with       that do my commandments. They have the right to
eyes of flaming fire and whose name is, "Word of           the tree of life. Without are dogs and liars"
God." The heavenly armies follow Him on white              (22: 12-17). The personal testimony is given that the
horses (19: 11-14). The name on his vesture and            words of the prophecy of this book are true. A


302                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



warning is given that no one add or subtract any-           ments that are prophesied upon the wicked. Next
thing from it lest they forfeit their place in the holy     to this list, make another list of the promises and
city  (22:18, 19). The closing words are, "I come           comfort that are prophesied for the people of God.
quickly. Even so come, Lord Jesus." The apostolic             6. Reflect upon the letters to the seven churches.
blessing closes the book  (22:20, 21).                      How do these letters apply to the congregation of
QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION                                    which you are a member? Do some of the warnings
                                                            in these letters apply in a special way to your
  1. Why is the sub-title, "Christ's victorious             church?
return," an appropriate description of the content
of this book?                                                 7. Show from the Revelation that creation
                                                            (nature) is subject to both the curse of God and the
  2. Consider the reasons why we believe the                blessing of God.
apostle John wrote this book.                                 8. The truth of the antithesis emphasizes that the
  3. The Revelation is full of symbolism (most can-         church is in the world, but not of the world. Refer
not possibly be interpreted literally). As you reflect      to passages from Revelation that teach this very
upon this book, make a list of the outstanding sym-         clearly. What is the importance of this truth as the
bols of the book (e.g., numbers, colors, images, vi-        end of the world draws near?
sions) and next to them make a brief note as to their
meaning.                                                      9. Make a list of the visions that you believe
                                                            speak to you in a special way. What is their mean-
  4. The Revelation does not give us a time-table           ing and why are they precious to you?
for the return of Christ. How should we interpret
this book as far as learning how close we are to the          10. According to our flesh, there are  many
end of the world is concerned?                              things that we learn in Revelation that make us
                                                            afraid. List some of them. Next to them, quote a
  5. Make a list of the terrible warnings and judg-         passage from this book that offsets this fear.

M I S S I O N   N E W S




                    A Report of the Mission Work
                               in Northwest Chicago
                                             Pastor Ron, Van Overloop




  February, 1985                                            her pastor had been developing the work unto this
  Greetings in the name of Ebenezer, for Jehovah            goal for almost a year and a half. Five families (with
hath helped us (I Samuel 7: 12). In the confidence of       six children) and one individual welcomed the mis-
Ebenezer do we labor in the cause of the truth and          sionary pastor and his family, and have served as
for the establishment of permanent beacons of the           the core group. South Holland's congregation and
brilliant truth of the glory of God and the salvation       counsel continue to show strong support by their
of sinners.                                                 frequent presence at the worship services and their
                                                            prayers for God's blessing upon the work. This sup-
  For already six months the church extension               port is greatly appreciated, for the distance which
work of the South Holland Protestant Reformed               separates South Holland and the work in the North-
Church in the northwestern suburbs of Chicago has           west suburbs is about 50 miles.
been united with a missionary of the Gospel who
can give himself to full-time labors. Prior to that,          The labors are within three suburbs to the west
South Holland Church with the diligent efforts of           and north of O'Hare International Airport, the


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                               303



world's busiest. The missionary's family, along             because it is almost impossible to know the listen-
with three of the families, live on the western side        ing audience. This makes for a deeper conscious-
of Elk Grove Village. The two other families live in        ness of dependence upon the Lord and for earnest-
Des Plaines. And the location of our worship serv-          ness in prayers that He will bless His church
ices is in Bensenville. They are held in a rented           through these efforts. Efforts have been and are be-
Episcopalian Church. An earnest and warm                    ing made to advertise extensively the broadcast, as
welcome is extended to all to visit us and our wor-         well as the worship services, in a variety of news-
ship services. We are using St. Bede's Church,              papers. Favorable responses have been received
which is located on Highway 83, one mile north of           already (some even from Wisconsin), and these are
its junction with I-290. Because we are renting we          used of the Lord to encourage the continued efforts.
hold our worship services at 2 p.m. and 6 p.m.                Along with the worship services and the radio
Lord's Day mornings are used for two catechism              work, there are other efforts to extend our witness.
classes, which are held in the missionary pastor's          A mid-week meeting is held at the church building.
study.                                                      This has been a continuation of a study of the great
  The six months of labor have served to acquaint           Reformational truths treated in the Canons of
the missionary with the field. There has developed          Dordrecht. Two other studies have recently begun
a good cooperation between the missionary and the           and are looked at as God-given opportunities to pro-
men of the core group, so that the labors are a             claim His truth unto the strengthening and salva-
united effort. Thus the work is not that of one man,        tion of His people. There is a Ladies' Bible Study
nor merely those of the calling and sending church          held on Thursday mornings, which serves as an ex-
and denominational Mission Committee. This                  cellent way to bring in neighbors. Also the mission-
creates the best of situations for the foundation of a      ary has been asked to lead an informal, lunch-hour
potential congregation, if the Lord wills. All in-          Study of the book of Mark for fifteen to twenty pre-
volved in the labors of the proclamation of the             med students at Loyola.School of Medicine. God is
precious Gospel are very conscious of Ebenezer.             to be thanked for providing these opportunities.
Without the blessing of the Lord all human efforts            For all of the work your prayers are coveted that
are vain, but by His grace mighty works can be ac-          the glorious Gospel of the Sovereign and Gracious
complished.                                                 God will be boldly proclaimed, and that His grace
  A part of the work is the broadcasting of the             will enable the great responsibilities to be met (II
radio program, "A Reformed Witness," on WCFL                Thessalonians 3: 1). It is difficult to be patient and
(lOOO-AM) (a 50,000 watt, clear channel radio. sta-         zealous at the same time. Pray that the laborers
tion) on Sunday mornings at  11:45. This proves to          may be patient and remain zealous, waiting for the
be both interesting and difficult work. It is difficult     Lord to bless the seeds which are sown.

GUIDEDINT~ALLTRUTH



               Tlhe Reformation and thk Source
                           of Scripture's Authority
                                                 Rev. T. Miersmiz




  In the return of the Reformation to the truth of          however, was what kind of authority did Scripture
God's Word and the controversies with Rome, a               possess? What was the nature of that authority?
central issue was the question of Scripture's               And how was that authority to be understood and
authority. Both Rome and the reformers were                 interpreted? These questions were all interrelated
agreed that Scripture was the Word of God, infal-           and are worth some careful attention. The first
lible and inerrant, possessing authority. The issue,        question which must be answered in this  connec-


304                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



tion is this: what is the source of that authority? On      With such a system, the idea of indulgences also
this point the reformers and Rome disagreed. Both           made sense, namely that as a means to escape
acknowledged that the Scriptures were of God; that          purgatory, one could buy grace with money, and
itself was not the issue. But how and in what way           thus receive the forgiveness of sins and enter
was this understood to be true?                             heaven. The church made a lucrative business out
  The church of Rome maintained the position that           of both the sacraments and indulgences.
Scripture derived its authority as the Word of God            To prop up this system a distinction was made
from the church. There were several elements in-            between the people and the clergy, in which the
volved in this position, and they find their center in      clergy were seen as the dispensers of grace and the
Rome's need to maintain the authority of the                embodiment of the church institute. The pope
church hierarchy, particularly the supreme                  stood at the head as the visible head of the church
authority of the papacy. To understand this we              through the hierarchy, personally manifesting
must see that the entire system of Rome was                 Christ's headship  over the church. The authority of
founded upon the principle of maintaining a system          God in Christ over His church did not reside there-
of external grace, physically bestowed by the sacra-        fore first of all in the Word of God, but in the clergy
ments, through a  visible  priesthood. The Romish           with the pope as the supreme authority; and the
system is founded upon the idea that grace is               working of the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of truth was
physically conferred. Thus, for example, Rome               restricted to the clergy alone.
teaches that the water of baptism is not merely a             When, therefore, the forerunners of the Refor-
sign and seal of grace, but that the water of baptism       mation began to teach the principle of the church as
itself, the physical washing with water, actually           the gathering of the elect, a spiritual body, to distin-
washes away original sin. Likewise, they taught             guish it from the church as visible and institute, the
and teach that the sacrament of the Lord's Supper           entire foundation of the Romish church was
actually confers grace by the physical eating and           shaken. Likewise when Luther and the other re-
drinking of the literal body of Christ.                     formers taught justification by faith and salvation
  This latter idea of the Lord's Supper,  transub-          by grace alone without works and began to attack
stantiation, was combined with the idea that the ad-        the system of indulgences, they were in fact laying
ministration of the Lord's Supper, the mass, was            an ax to the root of the whole Romish system.
itself  `a repetition of the sacrifice of Christ, though    When they began to assert the authority of the
in an unbloody  manner, and therefore required a            Word of God over the church and to stress the
visible priesthood. Moreover, as all who partook of         priesthood of believers, the entire foundation of the
the Lord's Supper must, according to this view, be          papacy was attacked and undermined.
partakers of Christ by eating with the mouth, Rome
also identified the church as the body of Christ, ex-         Therein also lay the division between Rome and
clusively  with the church institute in' its visible        the reformers over the source of Scripture's
form. All who were baptized were then objects of            authority. Rome taught that ultimate authority re-
grace and were included in the church. To maintain          sided in the clergy and the hierarchy. This author-
such an idea they set aside the Biblical ideas of elec-     ity, they maintained, was received from Christ by
tion and reprobation and the distinction between            Peter and passed along by apostolic succession to
church visible and invisible, reducing the church to        those who, following Peter, occupied the office of
the visible institute. This meant also that all of          bishop in Rome. It is in this succession of persons
salvation was conceived of in conditional and exter-        and in the  visibZe  headship of Christ in the papacy
nal terms. Sorrow for sin was reduced to outward            that true divine authority was to be found. Along
acts of penance, holiness to outward acts of obe-           with this they maintained certain ideas concerning
dience and devotion by means of repeated prayers,           Scripture. First, they maintained that Scripture re-
pilgrimages, fastings, and such like. To be religious       ceived its authority from the church, that is the
or spiritual, one entered the sacrament of marriage,        clergy, since the clergy, as successors of the
while to advance to an even higher plane than that          apostles, preceded the Scriptures in origin. The
of the ordinary layman, one became a priest, monk,          church was established first, they said, then Scrip-
or nun and lived a life separate from the world.            ture was given to the church. The church's author-
Works and participation in the sacraments became            ity therefore was first and above that of Scripture.
the means to merit and obtain grace, and without            Secondly, it was the church which had the right to
them one could fall from grace and be lost. It is in        determine and had determined which books were
this context that the idea of purgatory also became         to be received as Scripture. Scripture therefore
necessary as a place in which, after death, one             possessed its authority because the church gave it
would pay the temporal penalty for sin, and as the          that authority when it gathered and collected the
place in which sanctification would be completed.           books which make up the New Testament.  More-


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                        305



over, it was the church institute which had pre-           Luther writes in his address to the German nobili-
served the Word of God through the centuries by            ty,
copying it, translating it, and declaring its interpre-            The second wall is even more tottering and
tation and meaning. According to Rome, therefore,                  weak; the claim, namely, that they alone are
Scripture received its authority as the Word of God                masters of the Scriptures; although they
from the church. This in effect made the Scriptures                learn nothing from them during their entire
dependent upon the church and not the church                       life, they assume authority, and juggle be-
upon the Scriptures.                                               fore us impudent words, saying that the
  This position could not stand, for it was contrary               Pope cannot err in matters of faith, whether
to Scripture itself. Scripture plainly teaches that                he be evil or good . . . . They cannot quote a
Christ is the only head of the church. The apostles                single letter to confirm that it is for the Pope
were but instruments by which Christ gave His                      alone to interpret the Scriptures or to con-
Word, and it was upon the authority of that Word                   firm the interpretation of them; they have
of Christ, and by the guidance of His Spirit that the              assumed the authority of their own
foundation of the church was laid. The Word of                     selves . . . .
God set down in Scripture is not a different Word of       Likewise Zwingli, the German Swiss reformer, in
God from that given by Christ and preached by the          his Sixty-Seven Articles of 1523 writes in the first of
apostles, but the same Word. Nor does Scripture            them, "All who say that the Gospel is invalid
teach an apostolic succession of the authority and         without the confirmation of the Church err and
office of the apostles or of Peter. The church is not      slander God."
built upon their-authority, but upon their doctrine,
set down in the Word of God. Rome had based its                   Over against the error of Rome the reformers set
claim for the position of Peter upon the word of           two principles as the basis of the source of Scrip-
Christ, "Thou art Peter and upon this rock will I          ture's authority. First, that the Scriptures as given
build my church" (Matthew 16:18). But this theory          by God through the inspiration of the Spirit of
also the reformers demolished as an unscriptural           Christ as the Spirit of truth, themselves bear objec-
perversion of the passage. In the context of Mat-          tive testimony to the fact that they are the authori-
thew  16:18, it is not Peter, but Peter's confession,      tative Word of God and of divine and not human
"Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God,"          origin. This is Scripture's own claim (II Peter
which is the rock upon which Christ would build            1:19ff.). Scripture therefore has its authority objec-
His church (Matthew 16:16). Moreover, the reform-          tively of itself. Secondly, Scripture also presses this
ers saw that Scripture taught a priesthood of              claim upon the hearts of God's people by the inter-
believers and an anointing of all believers with the       nal working of the Spirit. Thus the Holy Spirit Him-
Spirit. Thus the work of the Spirit could not be           self testifies in our hearts subjectively that they are
limited to only a few but was to be found in the           of God. It is this same truth also which we as re-
whole church.                                              formed people confess in Articles III, V, and VII of
                                                           the Belgic Confession of Faith, and particularly in
  Concerning the church's authority to determine           Article V. While the truth that the church receives
which books belonged to the Word of God and                that Word as the Word of God is not to be ignored,
formed the New Testament, the reformers repudi-            it is the objective testimony of the Scriptures and
ated the idea that this was done upon the church's         the inner testimony of the Spirit which leads us to
authority, and ascribed it rather to the working of        confess their authority. That authority therefore
the Spirit in the church, whose testimony in the           finds its source in God alone, Who gives His Word
hearts of God's people led the church to recognize         to His church, and the church has no authority
His Word and also to preserve and keep it. Thus            apart from it, but is in subjection to that Word.



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


306                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



CONTRIBu'TI([IN



        Report on Reformed Education in Ulster


February 8, 1985
  Readers of The Stan&z& Bearer will be interested               Starting a Christian school in a place
in information about the work being done on behalf            where there is no tradition of Christian Edu-
of Reformed education in Northern Ireland.- They               cation, and where there simply is no other
will recall that the Covenant Christian School in             parent-controlled Reformed Christian
Northern Ireland made an urgent request, last sum-            School has not been an easy thing. Not only
mer, for help in the form of a Protestant Reformed            do we have to contend with attacks from an
teacher for the 1984-1985 school year. In answer to           aggressively secular and humanistic  non-
this request, Mr. Deane  Wassink and his family               Christian world around us, but we also have
went to Northern Ireland, so that Mr.  Wassink                to deal with the attacks of dear Christians
could teach.                                                  who do not understand- or who strongly
  Our people responded generously to our request              disagree with what we are trying to do . . . .
for money for the partial support of Mr. and Mrs.                Please, pass on our thanks to all those
Wassink. We believe that we now have enough to                who have become our fellow labourers
take care of the expenses involved in the Wassinks'           through their giving. We are indeed grateful
going to Ulster. We are thankful that the Lord                to them and trust that the Lord will rest His
moved so many to contribute liberally towards this            blessing upon their kindness.
work.                                                       In accordance with the original plan, Mr.
  With the dedicated help of his wife, Mr. Wassink         Wassink will finish his year's commitment to the
has been serving the cause of Reformed education           school this summer and then return home. We
faithfully and well, in Northern Ireland. He teaches       have learned that the Wassinks are scheduled to ar-
several grades, administers the day-to-day opera-          rive in the States on June 15, the Lord willing.
tion of the school, and promotes the cause of Re-
formed, Christian education as he has opportunity.         There is still time to write the Wassinks, who
                                                           will be encouraged by correspondence from us.
  The parents and other supporters of the school           The work is not easy. Their address is:
deeply appreciate Mr. Wassink's coming and labor              Mr. and Mrs. Deane  Wassink
on. their behalf, as well as the gracious help of those       28 Hillmount Gardens
in the U.S. who have made this possible  by. their            Larne, County  Antrim
prayers and gifts. We have just received a letter             Northern Ireland BT40  1TF
(dated 30 January, 1985) from the Covenant Chris-
tian School Society, through its Secretary, which            We intend to keep in contact with the school
reads, in part:                                            through the Rev. George Hutton; and if we think
                                                           that further help of the school is called for, we will
       . . . the extreme thankfulness we feel here
       for your kindness in all that you have done         bring this to the attention of our people.
       for us, by giving both your time and money            "As we have therefore opportunity, let us do
       to help send and support Deane over here.           good unto all men, especially unto them who are of
       Without Deane it would have been impos-             the household of faith" (Galatians 6: 10).
       sible to have had our second year as a                                      Committee for Reformed
       school. So thank you very much indeed on                                    Education in Ulster,
       behalf of all the Society members for keep-                                Jack Lenting, Chairman
       ing our school going for another year.


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                              307



IN HIS FEAR                          -



                                          God ,Is Love (1)
                                               Rev. Ronald Hanko





  In searching for the underlying truth of each of           We. must also know, therefore, what Scripture
the Ten Commandments, we find in the Sixth Com-            means when it tells us that God is Love; otherwise
mandment an application of the great truth. that           we will not be able to understand what the Sixth
God is Love. In a certain sense, of course, this truth     Commandment requires. It is very popular to speak
underlies all the Commandments, as Jesus teaches           of the love of God, but the failure to understand
in Matthew 2237-40, thereby reminding us that the          what that means is the reason why so few really
Commandments are not a hodge-podge of uncon-               know their calling toward their neighbor in respect
nected precepts, but one Law, teaching the one way         to the Sixth Commandment.
of obedience which glorifies the One True God.
Nevertheless, in the Sixth Commandment God                   The closest we have to a definition of love in
teaches us in a special way that He -is Love, and          Scripture is Colossians  3:14, where love is called
gives us a unique opportunity to confess Him as a          the "bond of perfectness." That is love in its deep-
God of love in our relation to others. We see this         est reality. That love is not the same as mere natural
when we remember that the other Commandments               affection, though we sometimes speak of natural af-
of the Second Table of the law tell us to love  .the       fection as "love." The natural affection of parents
neighbor as far as his position of authority, his mar-     for children, of children for parents, and of men for               -
riage, his possessions, and his reputation are con-        one another is part of all our earthly relationships
cerned. This Commandment goes beyond all the               because we are created of one blood (Acts  17:26).
others of the Second Table in teaching us to love          Scripture never confuses this with love in its high-
our neighbors as ourselves when it demands that            est sense, and even uses an entirely different word
we love the neighbor personally, in respect to his         when speaking of that natural affection (a Greek
life and well-being. If we love him there will be no       word from which we get such words as Philadel-
difficulty in respecting his marriage, position,           phia; philter, philanderer, philanthropy, etc.). Nor
possessions, and reputation. Therefore, just as we         does the Sixth Commandment demand that natural
show the highest possible love for the neighbor            affection; it does not have to, since that comes
through obedience to the Sixth Commandment, so             "naturally" for us, though it too is corrupted and        -
we show through that same obedience, and in the            spoiled by sin. The love which the Sixth Command-              -
highest possible way, that God Himself is Love-.           ment demands is the love of God, the bond of
                                                           perfectness.
  That God's love is the principle of the Sixth Com-
mandment is evident first of all from the fact that        That God is Love means first of all, then, that
the Word of God equates hatred and murder (I Jn.           God has love in Himself. In other words, He loves
3:15), while demanding of us the opposite of               Himself first of all and above all. That love of God
hatred, that is, love for the neighbor (I Jn. 3:11, 15,    for Himself is in Him a bond of perfectness. It is the
4:7). The demand that we love one another is, then,        bond which binds the three perfect Persons of the
the positive requirement of the Sixth Command-             Holy Trinity together in the perfection of the One
ment, and in I John this demand is rooted and              God. Just as imperfection separates and divides (Is.
grounded in the truth that God is Love (4~3, 16). It is    59:2), so perfection draws together and unites (Jn.
through our obedience to the Sixth Commandment             17:21-23). God's love is His own infinite perfection
that we show our faith in that God of Love and             seeking itself and making Him, as Father, Son, and
honor Him with deeds as well as words.                     Holy Spirit, One God. This is the reason why John


308                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



speaks of the Trinity in his First Epistle. The doc-       children or of children for parents, no love between
trine of the Trinity there is not an incidental matter,    husband and wife, no brotherhood of man. The
separated from the main point of the Epistle, but          failure of marriage and the family in today's socie-
the foundation of all that the Epistle says about          ty, and the failure of society in general to find peace
love, and the great explanation of the truth that          and unity is to be traced not to a lack of education,
God is Love.                                               to unstable social conditions, or to the failure of
  This means in turn that God has no need of us to         government, but to the enmity that is in the heart of
be a God of love. He finds the perfect object of His       man against God. Hating God, the source of all
love in Himself. That He does reveal His love to us,       love, man cannot but hate his brother also, no mat-
therefore, is only grace. This revelation of love,         ter how close the natural tie may be.
however, is always a revelation of the love of God,          Natural affection cannot produce harmony and
the love which is a bond of perfectness. The love          unity, for there is no bond in natural affection. On-
which God reveals to us is not some vague, indefin-        ly when natural affection is sanctified by the
able sentiment, but a power by which He binds us           presence of the love of God does it also become
to Himself in sweet fellowship (I Jn. 1:3, 4:12). Nor      something good and holy, otherwise it too is finally
is it only a bond, but a bond of perfectness, for it is    cast aside (Rom.  1:31). Without the love of God
also a power by which He makes us perfect (Jn.             men are lovers only of themselves, which is no
17:23, I Jn.  4:7,  lo-12), so that we may live in His     love, but a perversion that destroys and devours
fellowship. He cannot love us in our imperfection,         man's life and happiness in the world.
or He denies Himself as a God of love. To be sure,           That men are without the love of God in their
He revealed His love to us while we were yet sin-          natural  state  is the reason, then, why they are
ners (Rom.  5:8), but even then only for Christ's          "hatefulhnd hating one another" (Tit.  3:3), and the
sake Whom He had eternally decreed as the One in           reason that they are without exception condemned
Whom we should be perfect (Num.  23:21, Rom.               by the Sixth Commandment as murderers. Living
8:29, 30).                                                 in hatred, the sinner reveals that his whole nature
  It follows from this that all talk of some kind of       is the nature of a murderer, his heart the hate-filled
general love of God for all mankind is nonsense.           heart of a murderer, his tongue the weapon of a
His love, as a bond of perfectness, either makes us        vicious killer, and his mind the hate-twisted mind
perfect in saving us, or it is not shown to us at all,     of one who cares nothing for any other beside him-
thus leaving us strangers and aliens from Him.             self. Though he may refrain from shooting or stab-
  It is also in this connection that we must under-        bing his neighbor, he nevertheless murders him con-
stand what Scripture says about God's hatred for           stantly with his poisoned tongue and with a mouth
the wicked. When we see clearly that God's love is         full of cursing and bitterness (Rom.  3:14, 15). He
first of all a love for Himself, rooted in His own         murders the neighbor in his mind, when he is full
perfection, then we find that hatred and love in           of malice, envy, and inexcusable anger (Matt. 5:22,
God are not two mutually exclusive things, but             Tit. 3:3), and even in his outward life when he prac-
rather two sides of the same coin. In His love for         tices every form of variance, strife, and sedition
His own perfection He must of necessity hate all           (Gal. 6:20), all of which are the children of murder.
that is imperfect and sinful, and separate Himself           That wicked and murderous nature is ours also.
from it eternally. Also His hatred of the ungodly          The Commandment indicates this when it forbids
(Ps. 11:5, 7:11, Mal. 1:3) is but the expression of His    our murders, with the words, "Thou shalt not kill."
own love for Himself. This is what is so often miss-       Only by grace are we delivered from that murder-
ing in all the pious prating that one hears about          ous nature; and delivered we must be, for as John
God's love; but it is fundamental to a proper under-       reminds us, "Ye know that no murderer hath eter-
standing not only of God's love, but also of our call-     nal life abiding in him" (I Jn.  3:15).
ing to love our neighbor.                                    That grace which delivers us is first of all a grace
  That God is Love also means, finally, that there is      which covers all our murderous thoughts, intents,
nolove apart from God. John says this in so many           and deeds in the sight of God. That grace is ours
words in I John 4:7, 8; "Love is of God; and every-        through the perfect obedience of Christ, "Who,
one that loveth is born of God and knoweth God.            when he was reviled, reviled not again, when He
He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is             suffered He threatened not, but committed Himself
love." Separated from God through sin, man is              to Him that judgeth righteously" (I Pet.  2:23). It is
separated from the source of all love. In sin he lacks     ours also through His suffering and death, by
the perfection with which he was created, the              which He crucified and killed our old murderous
perfection that is the only foundation for love.           nature, and slew its enmity both against God and
Apart from God there is no love of parents for             the neighbor (Eph. 2: 16). By His Spirit He gives a


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                              309



new nature, renewed in love after the image and            also in deed and truth (I Jn. 3:18). That they do, not
likeness of God Himself, a nature born of God, in          only by refraining from all forms of murder, but by
which the love of God is shed abroad, and which            seeking the well-being and safety of the neighbor
abides in the light of God's own revelation of             with all their strength. Thus the God of all love is
Himself as a God of love.                                  honored and praised, and the power and glory of
  To such redeemed and renewed saints is the               His love revealed, and thus also do they know that
Commandment given as a means to keep them in               they are in God and are able to assure their hearts
the love of God and to teach them the confession of        before Him (I Jn. 2:5, 3:19, 4:13), and thus their joy
that love that they must make not only in word, but        is full.

GUEST ARTICLE




                                   2. Jesus Betrayed
                                             Rev. Robert C. Harbach





  "But Jesus said unto him, `Judas, betrayest thou         works of darkness (as Peter had), but rather re-
the Son of man with a kiss?"' Luke  22:48                  prove them" (as Jesus did).
  "And while He yet spake, behold, a multitude,               I. `WHAT. What brought this about? First, recall
and he that was called Judas, one of the twelve,           that the Lord and His disciples were in the home of
went before them, and drew near unto Jesus to kiss         Simon the leper, in Bethany, at a supper they made
Him" (v. 47). Literally, Luke writes "Look! a              for Him, when Mary of Bethany anointed both the
crowd! ' ' , and the devil was in them. Jesus had just     head and the feet of Jesus with very precious oint-
beaten the devil again in a most crucial battle in         ment, while He was eating. At this action of hers
Gethsemane, when that human devil (John  6:70),            Judas was very indignant. The disciples, too, were
Judas, showed up. Satan in flight, if at all possible,     affected by and infected with this wicked, carnal
gets in a parting shot. Here his deputy does this for      resentment. But Judas was so terribly provoked
him. Now Judas, like the demonized herd of swine,          and exasperated by what this woman had done and
begins his violent plunge to destruction.                  by the Lord's defense of her that, with his  Satan-
  There is no attempt on our Lord's part to win            filled heart burning with rage and revenge, he left
Judas over to righteousness and life. He was               Bethany, went to Jerusalem and right to the chief
already, as the son of  per,dition  (John 17:  12), or-    priests to betray Jesus into their hands. He could
dained to condemnation (Jude 4). Therefore with            not bear it that Jesus had put him to shame before
this his last contact with Jesus he was instantly seen     all the apostles and had shut that mouth of his
through, completely silenced, and condemned.               which had insulted the woman and, especially,
Here heaven and hell looked each other in the eye,         Jesus. In his intrigue with the priests, he referred to
the latter immediately giving way, vanquished.             the Lord as His enemies did, not by mention of His
Judas, the deadly serpent, fastens himself to Jesus,       name, but as "that one" or "him." However, when
but is flung off with one single gesture of revulsion      Jesus caught this Iscariot in the despicable act, He
and rejection. This, plus Jesus' direct and spontan-       called him by name (Luke  22:48) to continue to
eous advance on the band coming to arrest Him,             show His disciples that He had an exact knowledge
made Judas' signal of a kiss unnecessary and a bit         of Judas' every move (cp. Matt. 26:45)! But we are
ridiculous. Also notice that here we have an exam-         getting ahead of ourselves. Jesus had purposely ex-
ple of how we must combat the kingdom of                   posed the traitor at the last supper, to get rid of him
darkness. "Have no fellowship with the unfruitful          so that He might institute the Lord's Supper, which


310                                       THE STANDARD BEARER



is for true believers only. Then Jesus took His         thought, an earthly, political king, but a heavenly,
disciples aside into the Garden of Gethsemane           spiritual Savior-King.
where in prayer to His Father He experienced that         The people of the Jews rightly understood that
deathly agony of soul. There, too, He warned of the     the name the Son of Man was a proper designation of
near approach of the traitor. "And while He yet         their Messiah. For they knew the Scriptures proph-
spake" those very words of His imminent betrayal,       esying of Him, as the Psalms, the Book of Daniel,
"Lo!" Take a look through the olive trees of the        etc. But their problem was, they could see only one
garden, and through the entrance in the stone wall      side of Messianic truth, being blind to the other
surrounding the place, see! Judas, one of the           side. They knew and believed the Scriptures to
twelve, one of the chosen, called and ordained, and     teach that the Messiah abideth forever (John 12:34,
with him a huge mob, from the chief priests,            cp. Ps.  61:6;  89:29; Ps.  110:4). But they could not
scribes, and elders, with swords, clubs, lanterns,      see applying to Him those passages which proph-
torches, and weapons! What a Judas mob!                 esied of His vicarious sufferings and death. They
  Now, he had prearranged with the enemy the ac-        had heard out of the law that Messiah abideth
tual signal of betrayal, the kiss of greeting, which    forever, but it seems that they had never heard out
he made the kiss of death. So he immediately            of the law that the Messiah "shall be cut off" (Dan.
rushed over to Jesus with the  hypodritical  saluta-    9:26; Isa.  53:8). Hence, they asked, in reference to
tion, "0 joy! (cp. Matt.  26:49 with  28:9). Rabbi!     these mystifying prophecies, "Who is  this  Son of
Rabbi!" Saying this he went to kissing Him repeat-      man?" - one who had to die by being lifted up, as
edly. Never once did Judas call Jesus Lord. The man     they correctly understood Jesus to teach (John
was like an Arian, not holding the deity of Christ.     12:34). From this, to them, strange point of view,
No one can really say that Jesus is Lord but by the     they could not see how to identify the title "the Son
Holy Ghost (I Cor.  12:3).  Jesus immediately thrust    of Man" with the Messiah. But He in due time
the man away with .a word never used in address-        made that plain enough when later He said, "I am
ing a member of the kingdom of God, literally,          He that liveth, and was dead, and, behold, I am
"FeZlow  (not "friend"!), this is why you are here?"    alive for evermore. Amen" (Rev.  1:13, 18).
(Matt.  26:50, Gk.). Thus Judas knew what he was          III. HOW. "Judas, with a kiss . . . do you betray
about; knew his deed was treacherous; knew he           (Me)?" So Joab, greeting Amasa with the customary
had betrayed the innocent blood. "But Jesus said        Middle Eastern kiss, and under the guise of asking
unto him, `Judas, betrayest thou the Son of Man         about his health, and after picking up an "acciden-
with a kiss?"' Literally, the order of the words is,    tally" dropped dagger, with it violently emptied out
"Judas, with a kiss the Son of Man do you betray?"      his life (II Sam. 20%).  Judas kissed Jesus much. Len-
Judas was the thoroughly trusted treasurer of the       ski expressed it in German,  Er kuesste ihn ab,  he
apostolate. He had the bag which held the  colleci      kissed Him off, with the kiss of death. Isn't that the
tions donated by ladies' aid which followed the         way the apostates have always stood forth, with a
Lord and ministered to His needs. He was a careful,     kiss? In the late twenties and into the thirties there
conscientious economist, with just about all the        was continual controversy between Fundamental-
qualifications required in a good treasurer. He         ism and Liberalism. As reported in The Presbyterian,
distributed to the poor as directed, and, as always,    Nov. 6, 1924, p. 12, Rev. Albert C. Dieffenbach,
no audit was thought necessary. But one day he, a       D.D., editor of the Unitarian weekly, The Christian
partner in the company of the apostles, became a        Register,  said, "I have profound respect for a man
turncoat and traitor. It was as though a foot had       who is consistently a Fundamentalist, or a man
deserted the body to commit treason against the         who is consistently a Roman Catholic, but I have
head. For the word  betray  means treacherously to      no respect for the attitude of Dr. (Harry Emerson)
sell out a friend into the hands of the enemy for       Fosdick . . . . When he goes to Cambridge he speaks
judgment, punishment, scourging, torment, con-          in terms of Liberalism and when he comes to New
demnation, and death. It was then that the funds in     York he says, `I am an evangelical Christian!"' In
the bag in his hand weighed heavier than ever           one place the man showed aversion to the truth,
before with blood money.                                but in another he seemed to have such profound
  II. WHO. "Judas, with a kiss the Son  of Man do       respect for the truth. A kiss in the one place, a stab
you betray?" (Greek). What this means is that Judas     in another place! Current infidel books are still to
(and all the disciples) knew that Jesus was "the Son    be found written by modern bishops. These begin
of Man" and therefore the Messiah. Only he was          with a kiss, but within a few more pages there is
bitterly disappointed in learning, finally, that the    awful betrayal of the Son of Man. Billy Graham,
Messiah, according to the Old Testament Scrip-          during his Scottish Crusade of 1955, said in a B.B.C.
tures, and according to Jesus the Messiah's own         interview, according to a report in  Faith For the
personal teaching, was not, as everyone had long        Family,  "I don't call myself a fundamentalist . . . .


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  311



The old terms  fundamentaZism   and  IiberaIism  are       sorrow (repentance) not to salvation, but one that
now passe-. . . . I am not a fundamentalist, I am not      worked death (II Cor. 7:9-10). He also made a con-
a modernist. I am a conservative liberal . . . ." Isn't    fession, to the hierarchical priesthood which
this a sickly dose of self-buttered humility, dripping     denied him absolution, but not to God. This "con-
with syrup and honey to conceal the truth stabbed          fession" robbed Christ's enemies of another false
in the back? Isn't that exactly the way it was in          witness, for Judas in remorse testified to Christ's in-
1924, both in Presbyterian and Reformed circles?           nocence. He threw away the bloody bribe, but
Are these terms fundamentalism  and liberalism, or         never confessed the love of money. His suicide was
Cahinism  and  Arrninianism,   and the age-old battle      a throwing of himself on the tender mercies of the
they' represent, really passe? Are the theologies          Wicked One. The infinite loss to the betrayer was
represented by contemporaneous atheists,  Bar-             of his office and of his soul. The dubious gain to the
thians, Unitarians, and Romanists as viewed along-         betrayer was of a monument to his infamy - "the
side the Reformed, orthodox, Christian Faith,              field of blood"! Shall any of us say, "Well, I am no
nothing more than a sophisticated blur? Do not the         Judas!" Let us rather look for Judas in every corner
sharp lines of the antithesis ever remain in light         of the heart, and be sure we have very far more
versus darkness, Christ versus Belial, and the truth       than a mere profession we keep up because it keeps
versus the lie?                                            us up. "Let us hold fast the confession (Gk.) of our
  But Judas repented, didn't he? Yes, but only             faith without wavering" (Heb.  10:23).
when he saw that he was condemned. His was a



                            Report of Clads West
                                                 March 11, 1985





  Classis  West of the Protestant Reformed Chur-           jected the appeal, sustaining the decision of the
ches met in Randolph, Wisconsin on March 6,                Consistory, on the grounds that a Consistory has
1985. Nine ministers and fourteen elders repre-            the right to judge a cause worthy to be supported by
sented the churches of the West. Elder G. Tolsma           God.`s people and that the appeal confused the par-
(Edmonton) was present for the first time and              ticular cause in question with mission work, as the
signed the Formula of Subscription. Rev. G. Lub-           Consistory had clearly pointed out to the appellant.
bers and Rev. R. Van  Overloop  were present and
were given the right to speak. Rev. D. Engelsma led          The Board of Trustees informed  Classis that
Classis  in the opening devotions, explaining and ap-      Classis  West has now received the entire inheri-
plying Matthew  20:1-16. Rev. M. Kamps presided            tance willed to Classis by the late Mr. Cecil Vander
over this Classis.                                         Molen of our Pella, Iowa congregation. This gener-
                                                           ous gift amounted to  $181,570.74.  Classis  has ap-         _
  Classis  judged two appeals brought by members           pointed the Council of South Holland to advise
against their Consistories. In the one, a brother ap-      Classis  on the use of this money.
pealed the decision of his Consistory on his protest
against the Consistory's authorizing ministers               Five churches - Edgerton, Edmonton, Houston,
preaching in churches outside the denomination.            Isabel, and Pella  - asked for subsidy for 1986 in
Classis  judged this appeal not legally before it, on      the amount of $73,855. Lynden requested $5,500
the ground that the appeal was, in reality, a protest      for 1985, on account of their present, extraordinary
against decisions taken by the Synods of 1977 and          circumstances.  Classis  sent these subsidy requests
1978. Thus,  Classis  upheld its decision of March,        to Synod, 1985 with  Classis' approval.
1984 on virtually the same appeal.                           Classis  arranged the following classical appoint-
  In the other, a brother appealed the decision of         ment schedule, in response to the requests of the
his Consistory on his protest against the  Consis-         three vacant churches:
tory's distribution of a letter asking for financial               Hull:  April 14, 21  - J. Smith; April 28,
support of a non-ecclesiastical cause.  Classis  re-           May 5  - R. Moore; May 12, 19  - D.  Engels-


  THE STANDARD BEARER
          P . O .   B o x   6 0 6 4                                                                                         / G~xK~"~ 1
Grand Rapids, Michigan  49506





312                                                          T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R


       ma; Tune 2, 9 - G. Lantina.                                                           Primi Elder Delegates: R. Brands (Loveland);
         l$gert&: March 31,  April 7  - R.  Cam-                                               Wm. Buys (Edgerton); B. Meelker  (Red-
       menga; April 28, May 5 - D. Kuiper; May 12,                                             lands);  L+ Regnerus (South Holland).
       19  - J. Slopsema; Jrune 2, 9 - K. Koole.                                             Secundi Elder Delegates: E. Bruinsma, Sr.
         Lynden: April 21, 28 - T. Miersma.                                                     (Loveland) ;  W. Bruinsma (South Holland);
         Hull and Edger-ton are instructed to seek                                             T. Hugg (Houston); M. Smits (South Hol-
       pulpit supply from the seminary from June                                               land).
       to September.                                                                    Classis  meets next on September 4, 1985 in Love-
  Results of the elections were the following:                                      land, Colorado, the Lord willing.
  -Assistant Stated Clerk: Rev. J. Slopsema (1987).                                                                  Rev. David Engelsma,
  -Classical Committee: Elder H. Hoekstra.                                                                           Stated Clerk,  Classis  West
  -Delegates ad examina:                                                                       *       *'  *    *      *    *    *    0    *    *
        Primus:  Rev. D. Engelsma (1988).
        Secundi: Rev. R. Moore (1988); Rev. R.  Cam-                                    At an all-day officebearers' conference the day
           menga (1987); Rev. M. Kamps (1986).                                      befbre  Classis,  delegates and visitors discussed the
  -Church Visitors: Rev. M. Kamps, Rev. G.  Lant-                                   views of "Theonomy" (literally, the Law of God).
        ing.                                                                        Pastor Jon Smith gave a paper on "Definition of
   -Delegates to Synod:                                                             Theonomy" ; and Rev. Ron Cammenga gave a
        Primi Minister Delegates: D. Engelsma; M.                                   paper on "Theonomy and the Civil Magistrate."
           Kamps; G. Lanting; J. Slopsema.                                          Among the issues dealt with were the place of the
        Secundi Minister Delegates: R. Cammenga; K.                                 La& in the New Testament Church; the calling of
           Koole; T. Miersma; R. Moore.                                             the Slate in enforcing the Law; and the fulfillment
                                                                                    of the various Old Testament laws by Christ. As
                                                                                    usual, the conference proved profitable and was
                                                                                    the occasion for good fellowship.                                D.E.
                                       NOTICE!!!
   Classis East will meet in regular session on May 8, 1985 at the
Kalamazoo Protestant Reformed Church. Material to be treated in this                                   RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
session must be in the hands of the Stated Clerk at least three weeks                   The Priscilla Society of the First Protestant Reformed Church of
prior to the meeting.                                                                Grand Rapids, Michigan expresses its sincere sympathy to our  fellow-
John Huisken                                                                         members, Mrs. Louis Looyenga, Mrs. Ted Looyenga and Mrs. Stuart
Stated Clerk                                                                         Looyenga in the death of their husband and father-in-law, MR. LOUIS
                                                                                     LOOYENGA. Our prayer is that God will be their comfort in their sor-
                                       NOTICE!!!                                     row.
   The Scholarship Fund Committee is taking applications for future                     "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints."
teachers/ministers for the  198586  school year. If you are in-                      (Psalm 1 16: 15)
terested, please contact Gerald Van  Baren,  5101 Beechtree,  Hud-
sonville, MI 49426, for application forms. An essay of 300 words or                  Mrs. E. Bol, Pres.
more is also required on the topic "My part as minister/teacher in                   Mrs. E. Peters, Sec'y.
G o d 's covenant  (Deut.  6:4-71." Deadline for applications to be
received is June 1, 1985.                                                                                WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
                                                                                        On April 13, 1985, the Lord willing, our parerits, MR. AND MRS.
                      WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                                            GIL SCHIMMEL celebrate their 35th wedding anniversary. We their
   On March 31, 1985,  out parents, MR. AND MRS.  GERRIT  PIPE                       children are thankful for the years of love and Christian instruction
celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary.                                           they have given us. It is our prayer that they may continue to receive
                                                                                     God's blessings in the years which lie ahead of them.
   We, their children and grandchildren thank our Father Who gave
them to us. We pray that God will continue to be near them and bless                    "But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon
them in the days ahead.                                                              them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children's children."
                                                                                     (Psalm  103:17)
   "The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: thou
maintainest my lot.                                                                  their children
                                                                                        James and Carol Schimmel
   "The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a                      Dan and Judy Schimmel
goodly heritage." (Psalm  16:5,  6)                                                     Hank and Deb Vander Waal
Ted and Jane Pipe                                                                       Steven and Ruth Kerkstra
Tim and Lois Pipe                                                                       David and  Shelly  Schimmel
Bill and Karen Pipe                                                                     Tim Schimmel
   15 grandchildren                                                                     Tom Schimmel
                                                    Grand Rapids, Michigan                   and 16 grandchildren


