     STANDARD
                EARER
               REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE



.    .    .        Christian man                          especially
responsibility to be the spiritual head of his
home. He must make the spiritual welfare of
his wife and children his chief concern. He
must be an example of godliness and right-
eousness to his family unto whom wife and
children can look with respect.  H,ow many
even Christian homes are grievously lan-
guishing because father does not take up the
spiritual leadership in the home.
See "The Christian Family: The Role of
                   Husband and Father" - page- 473


                                                 Vol.  I-XI, No.  20,  September 1, 1985  2


458                                                               THE STANDARD BEARER




                                                                                                                THE STANDARD BEARER
                                   CONTENTS                                                                              ISSN 0362-4692
                                                                                               Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July, and August.
                                                                                                Published b the Reformed Free Publishing Association, Inc.
       Meditation  -                                                                                 SecondClass Postage Paid at Grand Rapids,  Mich.
                                                                                     E&for-in-Chief:  Prof. Homer C. Hoeksema
          Serving God Alone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .458       Deparrmenl  Editors: Rev. Ronald  Cammenga. Rev. Arie den  Hartog, Prof. Robert
       Editorial  -                                                                  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.
                                                                                     Lubbers, Rev. Thomas C.  Miersma. Rev.  Marina  Schipper, Rev. James  Slopse-
          Whence Have You Come? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .461               ma. Rev. Gise J. Van  Baren, Rev. Herman  Veldman.
       My Sheep Hear My Voice -                                                      Editorial   Olfce: Prof. H.C. Hoeksema
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MEDITATION


                                                    Serving God Alone
                                                                          Rev. C. Hanko


                      Ques. 94. What doth God enjoin in the first commandment?
                      Arts. That I, as sincerely as I desire the salvation of my own soul, avoid and flee from all
                   idolatry, sorcery, soothsaying, superstition, invocation of saints, or any other creatures; and
                   learn rightly to know the only true God, trust in him alone, with humility and patience submit
                   to him; expect all good things from him only; love, fear, and glorify him with my whole heart; so
                   that I renounce and forsake all creatures rather than commit even the least thing contrary to
                  his will.
                      Ques. 95. What is idolatry?
                      Ans. Idolatry is, instead of; or besides that one true God, who has manifested himself in his
                   word, to contrive, or have any other object, in which men place their trust.


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                             459



  Let us arise and go up to Bethel.                      the radio beam is for an airplane that is preparing to
  Bethel is the House of God. For us that means          land on a dark, fog-packed night, that is what God's
that we go to our weekly place of worship, or to our     law is for us.
inner chamber to commune with God in prayer,               It is even more than that, for it is the power of
adoring Him in His beauty, worshiping Him in His         God working mightily in our heart and conscience
holiness, pouring out our hearts in prayer and sup-      to lead us along the everlasting way, consciously to
plication before Him with thanksgiving.                  love and to serve our God with our whole being.
  At Bethel we are in the presence of God: a small         It is the law of liberty, the guide to true thank-
foretaste of heaven.                                     fulness.
  We are reminded of the prophet Isaiah, who saw           First and foremost among the ten commands that
the glory of the Lord filling the temple and cried       God gives us is this: "Thou shalt have no other gods
out, "Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a         before me."
man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a
people of unclean lips; for mine eyes have seen the        Other gods are vain gods, a mere sham, a wicked
Ring, the Lord of hosts."                                caricature of our God!
  We call to mind the angels who cover their eyes          It is hatred against God that causes sinful man to
in the-dazzling brightness of God's presence as they     seek an idol, to prostrate himself before it, upon the
sing, "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty,              ground, or to scream at the top of his voice, or to
heaven and earth are full of thy glory."                 mutilate himself, or destroy his children, only to be
                                                         heard by that which he calls god.
  We anticipate the time when we will join that
blessed throng and mingle our voices in ever               Isaiah points to the irony of it all by saying that a
blessed adoration: "Blessing, and glory, and             man takes a piece of wood, splits it in two, throws
wisdom, and honor, and power, and might, be unto         one half in the fire as worth no more than to warm
our God forever and ever. Amen."                         himself by it, and takes the other half to form some
                                                         monstrosity that represents his god. He will say
  At Bethel we hear more clearly than ever God's         that this image only represents his god. God say
assuring word: "I am Jehovah, your Almighty, who         that his god is nothing more than the lifeless image
brought you out of Satan's realm, out of the bond-       he has made.
age of sin and death!"                                     But it is still worse when those who profess to be
  I am your God! I claim you as my very own, my          God's people forsake Him, the Fountain of living
choice possession, above all that is in heaven and       waters, and hew out cisterns, broken cisterns that
earth, in Christ Jesus! I have formed you in             can hold no water (Jer.  2:13). This is nothing less
sovereign wisdom and almighty power to hold your         than spiritual adultery, following one's carnal lusts.
own unique place in my creation, to carry out my
purpose in Christ, to the coming of My kingdom             Before we go to Bethel let us search our homes
and the eternal effulgence of My glory. I am your        and examine our hearts, bring .out the false gods
almighty God and your merciful Father. I have            and bury them, as Jacob did under the oak at
made you and enabled you to serve Me alone. You          Mamre (Gen. 35: 1-4).
are Mine!                                                  "Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? And
  For I am God! The one, only, true and living           who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath
God! Besides Me there can be no other, for all           clean hands and a pure heart; which hath not lifted
holiness, righteousness, truth, love, and infinite       up his soul to vanity, nor sworn deceitfully."
goodness belong to Me alone. I am Light, the only          Do you, do I, lift up our souls to vanity, to idols?
Light of life. I am Life. In Me you live and move
and have your very being. To know Me is eternal            One idol that immediately comes to mind is our
life, for intimate communion of life with Me is your     big ego, that proud I. It appears to be so very hum-
only blessedness, your joy, your peace, now in this      ble. It was pride, the ambition to be like God, that
present time and into endless eternity!                  brought ruin upon our first parents and ourselves.
  Let us draw near to God. Let us go to Bethel.          Rulers of the world, like Pharaoh, Nebuchadnez-
                                                         zar, the Herods,  the Caesars, the Antichrist all exalt
  But before we go, let us take heed to His Word!        themselves as if they were God. But I? If only every
  He has given us His law as our sure Guide              one were like me this would not be such a bad
through life. He shows us the straight and narrow        world to live in. Yet, on second thought, every false
way that leads to His eternal dwelling place, our        doctrine, every sin is a defiance of the living God, a
true and heavenly Home. What the rails are for a         choosing of our own rebellious way. I hang my
train, what the  compas,s  is for a ship at sea, what    head in shame!


460                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



  Another idol is the god science. Science has made      with his parents, leaving it up to them where they
amazing discoveries and inventions during the past       will bring him. Or the child that sleeps peacefully
century. We marvel at the advancements in                in its mother's arms while the storm is raging round
medicine, in electronics, in delving into space. Man     about. Or the little boy who puts his little hand in
exalts himself as if he were God. How readily we         father's big hand, safe from the angry dog that
put our trust in the arm of the flesh, in doctors and    growls at him. God knows best, for He has eternal-
medicines, rather than in our God!                       ly planned every step of our way, even when we
  Mammon is still a very popular god. Scripture          are led through deep, dark valleys, through rushing
warns us that, not money, but the love of money is       streams of water or even through the flames of fire.
the root of all evil. Yet we crave it, strive for it,    We are always safe in the palm of His hand, under
always secretly wishing for more, possibly some          His watchful eye, with His ear attuned to our
sudden windfall through lottery or some mere             weakest sigh.
chance. Unless God guards our souls we readily             "With humility and patience submit to Him."
think of my family, lrzy house, my fields, my barns,     Then we dare not venture out anywhere, or do any-
my resources, my soul! Often reluctantly we give a       thing without our God, without a prayer on our
small bit of OUY possessions to the Lord!                lips, seeking His help, His approval and blessing.
  An increasingly popular god is sports. Radio and       We become very dependent, even helpless and
television have brought this god into our homes,         needy. We begin to understand what it means to
demanding much of our precious time, destroying          pray without ceasing.
our family life, crowding our church meetings into         "Expect all good things from Him alone." We
as little time as we can possibly spare.                 profess to believe in God's providence, that is, that
  But why mention more? There is the goddess of          all that befalls us in this vale of tears comes to us
fashion, styles that are streamlined to hug the          from the hand of our Almighty God, who is our
figure, styles that have their own strong sex appeal.    Merciful Father. Yet we are concerned about
And also many more, as we all well know!                 tomorrow, next week, next year. We pray, "Thy
                                                         will be done," and we go our own way that brings
  "Little children, keep yourselves from idols" (I       us into untold difficulties. We complain about so
John  5:21).                                             many things, even while we know very well that
  "Let us draw near with a true heart in full            our God withholds no good thing from those who
assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled          fear Him.
from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed             Unbelief says that God helps those who help
with pure water" (Heb.  10:27).                          themselves. Faith says, "Without Thee I can do
  That includes, as our Book of Instruction teaches      nothing." Yet on the other hand, "I can do all
us, that we "learn to know the only true God." Not       things through Christ who empowers me."
merely learn about God, but learn to know Him.             Only through faith can we learn to "love, fear,
Where better can we learn to know Him than from          and glorify Him!" Only then can we learn to pray
His self-revelation in the Scriptures. The Bible is      as our Lord teaches us: "Our Father, which art in
the divine Word of God. Prayerfully we must read         heaven. Hallowed be Thy Name. Thy kingdom
it, study it, meditate on it, always with the prayer,    come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven."
"Speak, Lord, for Thy servant heareth." We must            Only then do we walk with God in the confi-
have time for our personal devotions, our family         dence that, "Thou hast  holden me by my right
devotions and for communing with the saints.             hand. Thou wilt guide me by Thy counsel, and
  "Trust in Him alone!" Some trust in horses and         afterward receive me to glory."
chariots, but our trust is in Jehovah, our Almighty.       We meet our GOD at Bethel. Let us make that
We think of a child that unconcernedly goes along        our home.


                The Standard Bearer makes a
        thoughtful gift for the sick & shut-in.


                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER                                                            461



EDITORIAL



                           Whence Have You Come?
                                                      Prof H.C. Hoeksema





  In The Outlook (July/August, 1985, pp, 4-7) there               frey's answer in his article to the question, "What
appears a transcript of a recent address by Dr. W.                is `Reformed'?" Among other things, he writes:
Robert Godfrey, entitled, `"The Bible In The Chris-                    The Canons of Dordt are particularly precious to
tian Reformed Church: Where Are We Going?" Dr.                       me and I spent two years studying to write a doctor's
Godfrey attempts to analyze the current trends and                   dissertation on them. They are part of the great
problems in his denomination and to offer a solu-                    heritage of the church, as they unfold for it the doc-
tion and some hope of renewal. With regard to his                    trine of God's sovereign elective purpose. But we are
analysis, there is undoubtedly a large measure of                    told in  The Banner  that for most of the Christian
truth in what he writes. However, with regard to                     Reformed Church the Canons' teaching about the doc-
the solution he proposes I must disagree. And while                  trine of election and reprobation is a dead letter. Is the
it is not my intention to criticize in detail all that               Biblical message of the canons living in the teaching of
Mr. Godfrey writes, I do wish to touch on a few                      our churches and in the hearts of our people as it
crucial items.                                                       should?
  First of all, interestingly enough, Mr. Godfrey in-               When I read this, I was reminded of the fact that
troduces himself as somewhat of an outsider:                      Dr. Godfrey was chairman of Advisory Committee
     This is a question that I approach with a bit of             III at the Synod of 1980. This was the committee
   hesitancy, because I come to it as something of an out-        which advised Synod concerning the Gravamen of
   sider. I was not reared in a Christian Reformed                Dr. Harry Boer against the Canons and concerning
   Church. I am not of Dutch background, am not a mid-            the Report of the Study Committee on Dr. Boer's
   westerner and was not educated in any of the institu-          Gravamen. This committee was the one which ad-
   tions of the Church. But I  think that sometimes an            vised synod to reduce the doctrine of election and
   outsider's perspective can be helpful, because some-           reprobation to this: "The Scriptures do teach a doc-
   times an outsider can see a little more clearly . . . .        trine of election and reprobation in that they teach
  On this same basis, I may also qualify to com-                 that some but not all have been elected to eternal
ment: I am an outsider. For while I was born and                  life." A far cry from the teaching of the Canons!
baptized Christian Reformed, I was cast out in 1924              This committee advised synod to refer Report 30
and have been an "outsider" ever since. And while                 (the study report) to the churches for elucidation of
I have little hope that the men of the Reformed Fel-             the teaching of the Canons on election and reproba-
lowship will give heed, in the light of their past               tion. And what did this Study Report do? For one
refusals even to enter upon open discussion, I will              thing, it agreed with Dr. Boer almost totally in con-
nevertheless bear testimony.                                     tradicting the Canons' appeal to Scripture for proof
  At the same time, it must be remembered that                    of reprobation. For another, that Study Report
Dr. Godfrey has not remained an outsider, but                     deliberately distorted the translation of Canons I,
since the sixties has become very much a Christian               A, 15, the article on reprobation. And, as stated
Reformed insider. And to that extent he has himself              above, that Study Report emasculated the Canons'
become part of the  proiblem.  I refer not merely to             doctrine of election and reprobation. For all this Dr.
the fact that Dr. Godfrey is a minister in the Chris-            Godfrey is co-responsible, both as chairman of Ad-
tian Reformed Church, but more especially to the                 visory Committee III and as delegate to Synod. And
fact that he himself actively contributed to the doc-            that makes him part of the problem, despite his pro-
trinal decline and apostasy of his denomination. I               fessed appreciation of the Canons.
was reminded of this in connection with Dr. God-                    But it is when Dr. Godfrey considers the reasons


462                                                       THE STANDARD BEARER



for what he calls the "drift" of the Christian                          Now there may be some question, as there often
Reformed denomination that he, wittingly or un-                       is, whether a departure in doctrine or a departure
wittingly, comes close to the truth. Writes he:                       in life (worldliness) is first. But one thing is certain:
         I believe that the real cause of all such drifting is        the two go hand in hand.
       worldliness. In church a couple of weeks ago we sang             Not only so, but the Synod of 1924 itself was
       the familiar hymn, "Am I a Soldier of the Cross?" My           aware of the danger. For it also decided to send a
       attention was especially caught by the third stanza, "Is       Testimony to the churches (one which was never
       this vile world a friend to grace, to help me on to            sent!) about the danger of worldliness because of a
       God?" It struck me that many people are answering              "possible misuse of the doctrine of Common
       that question, "Yes," and "It's old-fashioned to call          Grace."
       this world `vile'." When you see all the positive char-
       acteristics of this world, you see how it is a friend to         In other words, it is as The Standard Bearer has
       grace to lead us on to God." But, brothers and sisters,        emphasized again and again over the years: the root
       I don't believe that this is true. The evil one is still "a    of all the problems troubling the Christian Re-
       roaring lion seeking to devour." The world is vile and         formed Church today is the departure of 1924. It
       an enemy to grace. We need to beware of worldliness            was then that the CRC officially decided that "this
       in our hearts, in our homes and in our churches.               vile world is a friend to grace!"
  Perhaps it would be too much to expect that Dr.                       Unless and until those who are troubled about
Godfrey would be aware of this,' since he is neither                  the current "drift" of the Christian Reformed
by birth and heritage nor by his education for the                    Church recognize this fact and face it honestly,
ministry Christian Reformed. But when I read                          there is no solution for all their problems.
these lines, I could not help thinking not only that
there is a large degree of truth in what Dr. Godfrey                    It is basically for this reason that I cannot agree
states here, but also that this whole process of drift-               with Dr. Godfrey's suggestion of a possible solution
ing due to worldliness is to be traced directly to                    for the ills of the CRC, namely, "renewal of our
1924 and the Christian Reformed adoption of the                       confessional orthodoxy, a restoration of our Re-
Three Points of Common Grace. I am not now                            formed heritage." To my knowledge, it has never
referring to the error of the general, well-meant of-                 happened in church history that a denomination
fer taught by the First Point, but to the doctrine of                 has succeeded in "turning back the clock," so to
common grace as such. According to this doctrine: 1)                  speak. And certainly it could not happen today in
God is gracious to the reprobate as well as the elect                 the CRC, given the present conditions in that
with a common, non-saving grace, in the things of                     denomination, without a wrenching split.
this present life. 2) God restrains sin in the wicked
by a general operatio'n  of His Spirit, without renew-                  But I especially want to call attention, in conclu-
ing the heart. 3) The unregenerate, by virtue of                      sion, to a very mistaken appeal to what has hap-
common grace, is able to do that which is truly                       pened in recent years in the Lutheran Church
good in the sight of God.                                             Missouri Synod, where there  was  a severe con-
                                                                      troversy about the doctrine of the infallibility of
  Dr. Godfrey poses. the question of the hymn, "Is                    Scripture. It is claimed rather often that here you
this vile world a friend to grace, to help me on to                   have an example of successful turning back of the
God?" And he claims that many are answering that                      clock and of renewal and reformation from within.
question, "Yes." And he spells out the answer of                      This is, however, utterly mistaken. In the first
many in detail:                                                       place, anyone who reads Rev. Herman  Otten's
  1) It's old-fashioned to call this world "vile."                    Christian  News will know that this renewal in the
Well, that has been old-fashioned ever since 1924.                    LCMS has been far from successful. Issue after
This "vile world" is relatively good, due to a com-                   issue contains reports of those who are in violation
mon grace of God. Sin is restrained in the hearts of                  of the church's stand on Scripture, but also of the
the unregenerate by a non-saving operation of the                     fact that the authorities fail to discipline and expel
Holy Spirit.                                                          these violators. In fact, there are those who are call-
  2) When you see all the positive characteristics                    ing upon the conservatives in the LCMS to leave
of this world, you see hoti it is a friend to grace to                and affiliate with more orthodox Lutherans. And,
lead us on to God. This "vile world" can do much                      in the second place, the return in the LCMS was a
that is genuinely good, due to common grace. This                     partial return with respect to but one doctrine, not
"vile world" is not an enemy to grace.                                a 100% return to the truth. And genuine reforma-
  3) This "vile world" is a friend to grace! It must                  tion is always principally an all-or-nothing matter.
be, because it is a recipient of God's common grace.                    Hence,  The Standard Bearer  says again, as so
And, according to some, common grace is even a                        often over the years: Repent and return, and stand
steppingstone to saving grace.                                        where we stand!


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                              463



MY SHEEP HEAR MY VOICE




                            Our Order of Worship
                                                 Prof H. Hanko





  As the appointed ambassador of Christ, the               the activities of the priest. There is an automatic
minister functions in the worship service in a two-        transfer of grace in the liturgical motions of the
fold capacity: at certain times in the worship serv-       priest so that blessing comes independent of the
ice, the minister speaks to the congregation in the        spiritual state of the hearer. For example, when the
name of God with the authority given to him by vir-        sacrament of the mass is administered, the bread
tue of his office. He does this when he reads the          and wine are changed into the body and blood of
law, administers the sacraments, and preaches the          Christ, and the result is that the partaker who eats
gospel. At other times he speaks to God on behalf of       the bread automatically receives the grace of Christ
the congregation. He does this when he leads the           - regardless of his spiritual state. But the Reforma-
congregation in prayer and in the recitation of the        tion repudiated all such "magic" works of grace.
Apostolic Confession (if the congregation does not         Grace is bestowed always through faith in the
recite the creed audibly).  In our last article we were    hearer. There is no grace in the sacrament (or in
discussing the benedidions as a part of the worship        any liturgical functions of the minister) in such a
service. We noticed that in these benedictions the         way that this grace is automatically conferred
minister is speaking also in the name of God as he         regardless of the spiritual frame of mind and heart
pronounces the blessing upon the congregation.             of the one who is in the audience. Faith alone lays
  This is worth stressing for a moment. Only an or-        hold on the blessing of God as faith is worked in the
dained minister can, therefore, pronounce the              hearts of God's people through the Spirit of our
benediction. This is the reason why students who           Lord Jesus Christ.
"preach" in the church may not do this. They are             So it is also with the benedictions. There is no
not yet called to the office and do not yet speak in       grace flowing from the fingertips of the minister
the name of Christ as an official ambassador who           which, apart from the faith of the hearer, myster-
comes with the words, "Thus saith the Lord."               iously and magically becomes his possession.
  But also the benedictions are not a pious wish on        Rather, the congregation, when it hears the bene-
the part of the minister in which he expresses what        diction pronounced, receives this by faith as the
he hopes will be given to the congregation. He does        blessing of her covenant God. And it is in this way,
not express a personal desire to see the congrega-         through faith, that the blessing of God actually
tion blessed. He speaks authoritatively in God's           comes upon the congregation.
name. God is speaking through him in such a way              It is well to remember this. We can sometimes
that God is blessing the congregation when the             become so accustomed to the "routine" of the wor-
benediction is pronounced. This is a fact which            ship service that we go through the motions
takes place at that moment when the minister               without any active participation of faith. We
raises his hands and speaks the words of the bene-         scarcely hear the benedictions pronounced because
diction.                                                   our minds are elsewhere, wandering into other
  All of this does not mean, however, that this            areas of thought while the familiar words of the
blessing is somehow automatic. The churches of             minister roll over our head. There is not blessing in
the Reformation have never maintained this essen-          this. But when the congregation, humbly bowing
tially Roman Catholic idea. Roman Catholicism has          before the Lord, receives this blessing by faith, that
always taken the position that grace is inherent in        blessing is actually hers.


464                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



  There is something very beautiful and comfort-         "through the operation of the Holy Spirit." The sec-
ing in this. The congregation comes together on the      ond is taken from the first chapter of the book of
Lord's Day weary with the burdens of life, the sins      Revelation and is the benediction which John uses
and guilt of another week pressing heavily upon          in his address to the seven churches of Asia Minor.
her, the cares and toils of her earthly pilgrimage         The benedictions most commonly used at the
weighing heavily upon her heart. Sometimes in-           end of the worship service are:
deed, the child of God, deeply conscious of his
great sins and guilt, scarcely dares to enter God's            The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and
presence, wondering whether God will receive him             the love of God, and the communion of the
once again. He hardlly dares to lift his eyes heaven-        Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen.
ward, and with hesitant steps makes his way into               The Lord bless thee, and keep thee: the
God's sanctuary. It is a great comfort therefore,            Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be
when, at the very beginning of the service, he hears         gracious unto thee: the Lord lift up his
the words of his God come through the minister:              countenance upon thee, and give thee
"Grace, mercy, and peace be granted to you from              peace. Amen.
God the Father, through Jesus Christ our Lord, by              Now the God of peace, that brought again
the operation of the Holy Spirit." God says this to          from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great
him; and his heart is lifted up once again in joy and        shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of
thankfulness. God blesses him!                              the everlasting covenant, make you perfect
  While the individual member of the congregation           in every good work to do his will, working
receives this blessing of God by faith, it also re-         in you that which is well-pleasing in his
mains a fact that this blessing comes upon the con-          sight through Jesus Christ; to whom be
gregation as a whole. This too must never be for-          glory for ever and ever. Amen.
gotten. The congregation is the church of Christ,          The first is the concluding benediction with
the gathering of believers and their seed, the earth-    which the apostle Paul ends his second letter to the
ly manifestation in institutional form of the body of    Corinthians; the second is the well-known
Christ. Upon that congregation (of which the in-         Aaronitic blessing found in Numbers  6:22-27; the
dividual member is a part) comes God's blessing. It      last is the concluding benediction in the epistle to
comes authoritatively upon him who receives it by        the Hebrews.
faith, upon his fellow saints who are one with him
in the body of Christ, and upon his children, the          It makes no essential difference which benedic-
seed of the covenant, with whom he has come to           tion is used, for the minister must be permitted
church. He as an individual is blessed in his fellow-    some freedom in the use of these benedictions. The
ship with those who are one with him in the house-       important principle is that the benedictions which
hold of faith. In fact, it cannot come upon him ex-      are used are found in Scripture and are the very
cept in his fellowship with the church. This is ex-      words of God Himself in His inspired Word.
actly why the benediction cannot be pronounced             What is important is that the truth be clearly
on the mission field where as yet there is no gather-    seen that God blesses His church when it comes
ing of the church.                                       together to worship. If God's blessing is not pres-
  There are different forms of the benediction used      ent, all the worship service is in vain. The con-
in our churches. The ones most commonly used at          gregation can just as well get up from the pews and
the beginning of the worship service are these.          go home. All depends upon the blessing of God.
         Grace be unto you, and peace, from God            And this blessing comes to the church out of the
       our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.       fountain of God's rich grace and love for His peo-
       Amen.                                             ple, through Jesus Christ Who has merited all these
         Grace be unto you, and peace, from him          blessings by His suffering and death on the cross,
       which is, and which was, and which is to          and by the Spirit Who dwells within the church as
       come; and from the Seven Spirits which are        the Spirit of Christ. The congregation must know
       before his throne; and from Jesus Christ,         and confess that these blessings are hers only out of
       who is the faithful witness, and the first        free grace through Christ; they are not given
       begotten of the dead, and the prince of the       because they are merited or because they are in
       kings of the earth. Amen.                         some way deserved. They are given out of free
                                                         grace to the church which God has chosen as His
  The first is the common benediction which is           own possession.
found in almost all  sf the letters of Paul, although
he adds the blessing of mercy in his letters to            This is why benedictions both at the beginning
Timothy. Sometimes is added to this benediction,         and at the end of the worship service are so appro-


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                465



priate. At the beginning the congregation is assured         as she resumes her calling in the midst of life. God's
that God blesses her in spite of her many sins and           blessing is upon her throughout her sojourn in the
her undeservedness. At the end of the worship, the           world, and will finally be her full inheritance when
congregation leaves with God's blessing upon her             she is taken into the everlasting joy of heaven.

TAKING HEED TO THE DOCTRINE




                             The Apostles' Creed (3)
                                                   Rev. H. Veldman





  In our preceding article we were calling attention         God's everlasting covenant. How profane is the sin-
to the necessity of believing all things promised us         ner! How carnal he is! How the holy and righteous
in the gospel, which the articles of our undoubted           God will indeed destroy him forever; it were better
Christian faith briefly teach us. And we were call-          for him had he never been born.
ing attention toward the close of this preceding arti-         All these truths we must believe, appropriate by
cle to the truth of God's almighty, irresistible grace.      a true and living faith. How wonderful it is to
  Finally, it is necessary to believe all these things       receive all these blessings of salvation in God's eter-
of the gospel, also this thing or truth: we are              nal love, mercy, and grace! How wonderful it is to
preserved and therefore persevere. If we take hold           receive the forgiveness of sin, to taste the love of
of the truth as set forth in the Apostles' Creed, that       God, so free and sovereign, to experience the
Christ is risen from the dead, has ascended into             blessedness of God's covenant, the fellowship of
heaven and is even no'w seated at the right hand of          God's own covenant of friendship and appropriate
God, how, now, can we believe and continue to                this to ourselves by this living faith, to be assured of
believe even until the end? Are we preserved                 and look forward to the day when we shall be
because we persevere? Is it after all of him that run-       saved, fully and perfectly, only because of God and
neth and of him that willeth, and that even until the        through God and unto God are all things, now and
end? Can we endure temptation, engage in this                forevermore. How blessed is the truth of God's
spiritual warfare (see Eph. 6: 12) in our own                sovereign love and grace!
strength? Will God ever share His glory with
another? Are we ever strong in ourselves? Are we                        Our Faith in God Triune (1)
not strong only in the Lord? This is, after all, the all-      We are trinitarians, not Unitarians. Unitarians
important question. Indeed, is also this truth of            believe in a one-person God. Unitarians are
Christ's exaltation necessary? 0, let us look unto           unbelievers because they do not believe that Jesus
and upon the Captain of our salvation and the                is God, co-essential and co-equal with the Father
Finisher of the faith, our one and only Saviour, and         and the Spirit. As trinitarians we believe that God is
that even unto the encl.                                     triune. This implies, on the one hand, that we
  One more observation: all these wonderful                  believe that the Lord our God is one Lord. And, on
truths must be believed, must be appropriated by a           the other hand, it implies that this one Lord is
true and living faith. How well we know this!                triune.
Merely know all about God, all about His Christ, all           The doctrine of the Trinity is surely significant.
about sin, all about His cross, His love and grace           This is apparent, first of all, from Scripture. That
and mercy, and not take hold of them personally              God is more than one (maintained by the Unitar-
and spiritually? Why, this would mean that all the           ians who deny the Trinity) is clearly set forth in
treasures and pleasures of Egypt, which are but for          Genesis  1:26: "And God said, Let us make man in
a season, are worth more to us than all the glory of         our  image, after  our  likeness." God said this to


466                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



whom? He said this, of course, to Himself. And             which begins the Catechism's explanation of the
notice the plural pronouns in this scripture. Scrip-       Apostles' Creed, a brief synopsis of the truth drawn
ture speaks of the three Persons in the baptism for-       up in the early Christian church and as based upon
mula, at Christ's baptism (Jesus standing in the           the teachings of the apostles, and especially upon
water, the Voice from heaven, and the Spirit de-           such texts as the Great Commission (Matt.  28:19),
scending upon the Christ in the symbol of the dove),       that we must teach and baptize all peoples in the
and in the apostolic benediction (2  Car. 13:14). Ac-      Name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy
cording to Scripture Jesus is God Who alone can            Ghost. In answer to Question 25: "Since there is
forgive sins (only God can forgive sin, and Jesus          but one only divine essence, why speakest thou of
forgives the sin of the man stricken with palsy), and      the Father, Son and Holy Ghost?" we read:
to the Holy Spirit are ascribed divine attributes and      "Because God hath so revealed Himself in His
honors and powers and works. Concerning this               word that these three distinct persons are the one
God we read in Deuteronomy  6:4: "Hear, 0 Israel:          only true and eternal God." Our Heidelberg Cate-
the Lord our God is one Lord," or we could read:           chism begins its treatment of the Apostles' Creed
"Hear, 0 Israel, the Lord our God is an only Lord."        by treating the doctrine of the Trinity.
And notice that Israel is commanded to hear this,            First, we believe that God is one. There is only
receive this truth into their heart and mind, con-         one God. This truth, thoroughly scriptural (Deut.
form their life in all its phases to the one over-         6:4), is denied by the heresy known as polytheism.
whelming fact that the Lord our God is one, an only        Each nation, then, has its own god  - Chemosh,
Lord. And inMark.  and 30 Jesus refers to this             Baal, Astaroth, Baalim, Bel, Moloch, etc. Also, each
expression in the book of Deuteronomy as the basis         nation has its own set or system of gods, such as the
of the first and the great commandment that we             American Indian. That there is only one God is a
love the Lord our God with all our heart and mind          wondrously blessed truth, this truth known as
and strength. This God, our God, the triune God is         Monotheism. Polytheism (many gods) is hopelessly
one, is an only God. He alone is God and He, the           dualistic. Whereas it presents each nation as having
only God, is triune. Indeed, we are trinitarians.          its own god, it, of course, sets peoples over against
  However, the significance of the Trinity is also         peoples. Besides, it also creates a hopeless dualism
apparent from our Confessions. On the one hand,            in the life of the individual. Sickness, drought, war,
this doctrine is the first article of our Confession of    etc., are regarded as sent to us from different gods,
Faith, our Belgic Confession. This article refers to       and the result is, of course, that the individual is
our faith in the one only God. We read: "We all            constantly' in conflict with himself. Monotheism
believe with the heart and confess with the mouth          (one God), however, unites the people of the Lord.
that there is one only simple and spiritual Being,         This is generally true. Wherever you meet a Chris-
which we call God, and that He is eternal, incom-          tian, even in the darkest recesses of Africa, what-
prehensible, invisible, immutable, infinite,               ever the color of his skin, whatever his origin or
almighty, perfectly wise, just, good, and the over-        background, he worships with you the same God,
flowing fount of all good." It is true that the Trinity    through Jesus Christ our Lord. Besides, the truth
itself is not treated here. Only one phase of it is        that there is only one God also unites the Christian
treated: the one only God. Remember, this is the           himself. All things come to him from the same God.
first article of our Confession of Faith. Hence, this      All things, therefore, work together for his good.
doctrine must be the object of our faith. To be sure,      Because the Lord is for him, nothing can possibly
the truth concerning the Trinity and that God is one       be against him.
is itself incomprehensible, unfathomable. But as a           This one and only God is also Himself one. This
dogma it can and must be embraced. And that it is          truth, of course, is scriptural. In this connection,
an article, yea the first article, implies that it must    we call attention merely to the relation between
not become for us merely a dead dogma, something           Deuteronomy 6:4 and the first and great command-
which hardly affects our spiritual life, but it must       ment. The Lord our God is an only Jehovah. He
be believed; in it we must trust and confide.              alone is Jehovah. There is no god besides Him. Now
However, the significance of this truth also appears       we must love the Lord our God with all our heart
from its place in our Heidelberg Catechism. Our            and mind and soul and strength. Because God is
Heidelberg Catechism, as we all know, is character-        one, unchangeable, perfect, a Rock, never divided,
istically a subjective and practical book. To say that     therefore our service of Him must also be un-
it is subjective means that, in its presentation of the    divided, and we must serve Him, alone and always.
truth, it presents the truth as it is experienced con-     And then there is the use of the personal pronoun
sciously by the child of God and through the opera-        "I" as in Isaiah 43, emphasizing, of course, the uni-
tion of the Holy Spirit. And it is a very practical        ty and  uniclueness  of the alone living and blessed
book. And, yet, we have in the eighth Lord's Day           God. How wonderful this is!


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                            467



  God Himself is-one. He is one within Himself, in        God.
His own life and being. He has one will, one mind,           What a glorious, comforting truth is also this
one heart, one desire, one divine nature. There is in     truth! Now all things are controlled by the Lord,
God no conflict, no division, no discord, for He is       even from the very beginning. Now sin and the fall
the Rock, the Perfect One, the unchangeable, the          of man, Satan and all his host are no accident but
eternally Self-Sufficient One. Fact is, He is Jehovah,    means in God's hand to realize His own will and
the "I AM.," eternally therefore the same, never          counsel. Now the will of God is never frustrated,
changing, varying, never accommodating Himself            and the position of the church in the midst of the
to varying circumstances  - He is the God of eter-        world is always safe and secure, and nothing can
nal and infinite goodness and perfection. God is          separate us from the love of Christ. Now all things
also one in His counsel and will. His counsel is one      work together for our good. Now the Lord reigneth,
because it is characterized by but one goal, one ob-      He alone, and God is the Rock of our strength, of
jective, and this goal is the greatest glory of His       our salvation, now and forever. Can you conceive
Name, in the way of sin and grace, positively in the      of anything more comforting and conducive to the
elect and also in the reprobates, and that in  .and       blessed assurance of peace and safety? Indeed, we
through Jesus Christ our Lord. His counsel is also        read in 1 Corinthians  3:22-23, all things are ours,
one because it is irresistible. No man hath ever          we are Christ's and Christ is God's. To God alone
withstood, frustrated the will of the Lord. There is      be all the praise and all the glory.
no need for the Lord to change His plans, to adapt
Himself to changing and varying circumstances, in-           The Lord willing, we will continue with this dis-
asmuch as He does as and what He pleases, and             cussion in our following article. God is one but He
nothing can resist Him. How can anything possibly         is also triune, three in divine persons. And we must
frustrate Him, when everything has been sov-              also call attention to the relation between this
ereignly determined and willed by Him? How can            divine essence and the three divine persons, and
anything ever take the Lord by surprise? All things       also the relation between these three divine per-
have been sovereignly willed by the alone living          sons;

THE LORD GAVE THE WORD




               The Missionary a Slave to All (4)
                                             Prof. Robert D. Decker





  With this article we conclude our brief series on I     all men, that I might by all means save some. And
Corinthians  9:19-23.  The passage reads: "For            this I do for the gospel's sake, that I might be par-
though I be free from all men, yet have I made my-        taker thereof with you."
self servant unto all, that I might gain the more.
And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might            This passage teaches a number of truths appli-
gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as         cable to the office of the minister of the Word,
under the law, that I might gain them that are            especially the missionary pastor. Though he was
under the law; To them  .that are without law, as         under obligation to no man the Apostle Paul has
without law, (being not without law to God, but           made himself a slave to all (vs. 19). The Apostle's
under the law to Christ), that I might gain them that     credentials were impeccable. God in Jesus Christ
are without law. To the weak became I as weak,            had called him to preach the gospel, and this he has
that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to       faithfully done. In all his preaching and work the


468                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



Apostle has provided for his own earthly needs            was adamant in all his preaching and teaching. In
even though he had every right to the support of          the sharpest of terms and without fear Paul pointed
the churches. He has given his entire life to the         to the sins and weaknesses of Gods people. He in-
cause of the gospel and of the church of Jesus            sisted on the sound doctrine of God's infallible
Christ. Freely he has made himself a slave to all         Word. He commanded those to whom he preached
classes of people. To the Jews the Apostle became         to repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ in
as a Jew. He conformed to Jewish civil and cere-          the way of forsaking their idols and ungodly ways.
monial law, living as a Jew. On the other hand,           His preaching always presented Christ crucified as
when the Apostle labored among the Gentiles               the only way, truth, and life. In all matters indif-
("them that are without law" - vs. 21) he became          ferent and with all classes of people Paul was made
as a Gentile. He refused to be encumbered by              all things.
Jewish tradition, custom, and law and he refused to         This Paul did "for the benefit of the gospel"
burden the Gentiles with Jewish law. To the weak          (verse 23). He lived and labored and literally spent
(i.e. those who could not in good conscience eat          his entire life for the sake of the gospel. The cause
meat sacrificed to idols, cf. chapter 8) the Apostle      of the gospel dominated the entire life of the Apos-
became as weak. In all of this the Apostle never          tle. No sacrifice was too great for the sake of the
compromised the truth of the Gospel. Both in doc-         gospel. To these same Corinthians Paul wrote: "Are
trine and in life Paul insisted on the truth of the       they Hebrews? so am I. Are they Israelites? so am I.
Gospel. He was not as many who corrupt the                Are they the seed of Abraham? so am I. Are they
Word. Rather he faithfully preached Christ cruci-         ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am more; in
fied to whomever God led him. Publicly and                labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in
privately, in synagogues and streets, in private          prisons more frequent, in deaths oft. Of the Jews
homes and by the river's side, to the common peo-         five times received I forty stripes save one. Thrice I
ple and to the learned on Mars' hill, from Jerusalem      was beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I
to Rome, the Apostle as a slave to all declared the       suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been
whole counsel of God. In matters indifferent, mat-        in the deep; In journeyings often, in perils of
ters not affecting the truth of Gods Word, the            waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own
Apostle lived as those to whom he was preaching.          countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in
His purpose was to give no offense. His heart's           the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the
desire was to save those to whom he preached.             sea, in perils among false brethren; In weariness
  In verses 22b and 23 the Apostle sums the whole         and painfulness, in  watchings  among false
matter. He writes:  ". . . to all I have been made all    brethren; In weariness and painfulness, in  watch-
things, in order that by all means I might save           ings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in
some. But I do all these things for the benefit of (or    cold and nakedness. Besides those things that are
for the sake of) the gospel, in order that I might        without, that which  cometh upon me daily, the
become co-partner of it with you" (translation            care of all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not
mine, R.D.D.). That the Apostle was made all              weak? who is offended, and I burn not? If I must
things to all men does not mean that he com-              needs glory, I will glory of the things which con-
promised the truth of the Gospel or excused or ig-        cern mine infirmities. The God and Father of our
nored ungodly living. Nor does this mean that Paul        Lord Jesus Christ, which is blessed for evermore,
ever "watered down" the message of the Gospel.            knoweth that I lie not" (II Corinthians  11:22-31).
Certainly the Apostle adapted his preaching to              Let every missionary and minister take to heart
those to whom he preached. When, for example, he          this confession of the Apostle. It came from the
preached in a Jewish synagogue he expounded the           Spirit-inspired lips of one who received not a penny
Old Testament Scriptures. To the Jews he preached         in salary from the churches though he had every
Christ from the law and the prophets showing them         right to "live by the gospel" which he faithfully
that Jesus of Nazareth was the fulfillment of the         preached! Sometimes, perhaps often, we who are
types and shadows, "the end of the law to everyone        called to preach the Word are inclined to complain.
that believeth." But when Paul stood on Mars' Hill        (The "we" is not editorial, I include myself.) Our
in Athens preaching to the learned philosophers he        workload is too great, or so we think. We do not ap-
pointed out the foolishness of their idolatry, pro-       preciate living in the "glass house." Our congrega-
ceeding from the tru-th that God is the Sovereign         tions expect too much from us. We have all kinds of
Creator and Sustainer of the universe in whom "all        meetings and classes to lead and teach during the
men live and move and have their being." He fed           week, yet the congregation expects two very good
those not able to bear the strong meat of the Word        sermons Sunday after Sunday. There are sick to be
the milk of the Gospel. But, let it be emphasized         visited, sorrowing saints to be comforted, weddings
once more, the Apostle never compromised. He              to perform and funerals, those in trouble or distress


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                           469



of one sort or another need pastoral care. There is       God forbid! Let us upon whom God has laid the
other work such as writing for the church papers,         sacred charge  preach the Word.  Be slaves of God
serving on denominational committees, attending           and His church. And let us become all things to all
classis and synod, etc. All this and more is expected     men for the gospel's sake.
of us. And our salaries barely cover our needs. In          The Apostle's purpose in becoming all things to
the light of the example of the Apostle and the           all men was twofold: "that by any means I might
teaching of Scripture itself, dare we complain? As        save some" and "that I become a co-partner of it
ministers, whether serving congregations or on the        (the gospel) with you." This simply means the
mission field or teaching in the Theological School,      Apostle would do nothing to offend those to whom
we are slaves (douZoi)  of God and of the Lord Jesus      he preached. His overriding concern was that God
Christ. As slaves of Christ who laid down His life        would use him to save some to whom he preached.
for His sheep we are slaves of those whom we              Along with that he was concerned that he himself
serve. This means that our lives as ministers are not     in the way of faithfully preaching the Word would
our own. We belong to Christ and to His church.           become partaker of the benefits of salvation with
Let us put away our complaining and make our-             the saints.
selves all things to all men for the benefit of the
gospel. Let us do so even if it means we must lay           This must be the attitude, the concern, the pur-
down our lives for the sake of the gospel. For many       pose of all of God's servants in the ministry. When
of Gods faithful servants in the past this is the         by the grace of God it is, God's servants confess
price they paid for the sake of the gospel. Think of      with the Apostle: "Yea doubtless, and I count all
the Apostles, the early church fathers, Martin            things loss for the excellency of the knowledge of
Luther, Calvin who did much of his work in                Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the
Geneva in bed because he was too sick to be up and        loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that
about, Guido de Bres, De Cock, Van Raalte,                I may win Christ. And be found in him, not having
Machen,  et  aZ. All these and more were by God's         mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but
grace slaves of God and His people for the gospel's       that which is through the faith of Christ, the
sake. They were willing to stand alone for the sake       righteousness which is of God by faith: That I may
of the truth of the gospel. Where would the church        know him, and the power of his resurrection, and
be today had not God raised them up? The same             the fellowship of his sufferings, being made con-
may be said for our own Protestant Reformed               formable unto his death; If by any means I might
fathers: Ophoff and Hoeksema, Vos, and the other          attain unto the resurrection of the dead" (Philip-
older ministers who fought valiantly for the truth at     pians 3:8-11).
great personal sacrifice. Shall we today complain?
GUEST ARTICLE



                                   Christian Liberty
                                              Rev. Kenneth Hanko





  God created Adam free. This does not mean that          as he chose, but to obey. In disobedience there is,
Adam was free to obey or not as he chose, for the         not freedom, but death and bondage to sin.
power to choose sin is not freedom. It means that
Adam had the right, the power, and the will to               When Adam sinned he lost his freedom. He (and,
obey. Man's freedom is always found within the            because of him, the human race) had no longer the
bounds of the law. The fish is not free to live on the    right, the power, or the will to serve God. He
land, and the tree is not free to live apart from the     became the servant of sin instead of the servant of
soil. Just so man was not created free to obey or not     God. He, having been found guilty, received from


470                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



the judge of all men the sentence of death, and           liberty is, as we have said, the right, the power, and
became the servant of him whom he obeyed. Death           the desire to serve God.
was his master, not only by power, but also by               Fallen man has no power to serve God; for he has
right, for God gave him (and therefore us) up to it.      been deprived, by God's righteous justice, of the
  Christ makes us free.                                   image of God in which he was created: righteous-
  He frees us from the right of sin over us. By His       ness, holiness, and knowledge. But, as a sinner he
precious blood He removes from us the sentence of         does not have either the right to serve God, for the
condemnation. By dying our death, by Himself              Thrice Holy One will not, cannot, permit sinners to
coming under the law and its curse on our behalf,         stand in His presence. Therefore, though God still
He pays the price necessary to free us from the           commands sinners to obey, He will not, except in
authority of our cruel taskmaster.                        Christ, give them that glorious privilege.
  He also frees us from sin's dominion. He                  The liberty which we have in Christ is so perfect
removes the sentence of death from our con-               a liberty that it is utterly impossible that we lose it
sciences, so that we have peace. He takes us out of       again. And it will become so. perfect in heaven that
our depravity, and mcakes us dead to sin. Sin is no       it will be impossible to sin. In heaven it will be our
longer our master; we are no longer his slaves.           joy, the perfection of our liberty, that we will serve,
Christ has redeemed us from, the curse of the law.        and glorify, and love (for love is the fulfilling of the
                                                          law, Rom.  13:lO) our God perfectly world without
  But there is more. `Christ also frees us from the       end. Perfect liberty is perfect service. We are
schoolmaster under which the church lived in the          bound and free by the perfect law of liberty.
O;T. In the O.T. the church was like a child who
has to be taught obedience by a consistent applica-         We must be careful to abide by these principles
tion of the rod. In order to drive the church to          when we talk about the area of Christian liberty.
Christ (that is, in order to give His people forgive-       This "area of Christian liberty" is frequently
ness and teach them to obey) God added to the law         misunderstood. Many Christians today understand
of the ten commandments what we know as the               this to be the freedom to do anything we please as
civil and ceremonial law. These were either               long as we do not offend the brother. They say we
minutely detailed applications of the law of the ten      are not bound any more by the ten command-
commandments to various aspects. of the church's          ments, but only by the law of love. That is not liber-
life or living pictures of the work of Christ which       ty but death. Others say that when we talk about
the people of God themselves were required to act         the area of Christian liberty we are talking about
out. Because the laws were numerous and strict the        things which are neutral, things neither right nor
people of God found it constantly impossible to           wrong in themselves. Some Christians then are able
obey, and fled for refuge to Christ. But now Christ       to do these things without sinning, but certain other
has come, and faith with Him, and we are no longer        Christians, who are weaker; cannot. Some Chris-
under the schoolmaster (Gal.  3:24, 25). This does        tians therefore are "free" to do things which others
not mean that we no longer have to obey the ten           are not, though not at all times lest they offend the
commandments (for we do), but we no longer need           weaker brethren. This is not a wrong explanation of
(or at least ought not to need) the application of the    Christian liberty, but it is hard to discern the con-
rod (the civil and ceremonial laws) to teach us obe-      nection between it and the idea of liberty in Christ
dience. We who have received the inheritance (Gal.        as outlined above. If we look at the whole question
4:l) are no. longer little children. We have the law      of "the area of Christian liberty" from another
written in our hearts (Heb. 8:lO) and are continual-      point of view the connection between it and liberty
ly looking into it (James  1:25). We are old enough       in Christ becomes much clearer.
now to know both the law and ourselves. We have
no more need of tutors and governors to teach us:           There are some actions which are in themselves
we are free from that grievous, though necessary,         wrong: lying, stealing, committing adultery, etc.
oppression.                                               Christians may not do these things. There are other
  And even that is not all. For Christ not only frees     actions which are not in themselves wrong. Chris-
us from condemnation, sin, and the schoolmaster,          tians may do these, and their liberty in Christ
but He also frees us unto the service of God.             means that they can do them in a manner which is
                                                          pleasing to God, that is, by faith (Rom. 14:23)  and to
  As we saw above, freedom is not license. It is not      His glory (I Cor.  10:31).   But there are some Chris-
the right and the power to do whatever we please!         tians who, because of previous sinful contact with
to ignore the law. The most glorious aspect of our        these things or because of a besetting sin, cannot do
freedom in Christ is a new and blessed slavery: we        these things in a manner which is pleasing to God.
are the servants of God and of righteousness. For         In addition there are some unbelievers who do not


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 471



     understand that "the earth is the Lord's" (I Cor.           of the perfect law of liberty), to the neighbor, and
     10:26), who see as sin certain things which Chris-          especially to our brethren. It is our joy, our perfect
     tians are indeed free to do. It is important that these     liberty in Christ, to serve others in whatever way
     not be offended. Therefore, and here is one of the          we can. "Give none  offence, neither to the Jews,
     important points, our liberty is restricted not only        nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God: even
     by the law of God, but also by the consciences of           as I please all men in all things, not seeking mine
     other men.                                                  own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be
       But, and here is the other important point, this          saved. " "For, brethren, we have been called unto
     restriction of our liberty is also liberty, in fact as      liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the
     perfect a liberty as the restriction of our liberty by      flesh, but by love serve one another. For all the law
     the law of God. Why? Because liberty is service not         is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt
     only to God, but also (according to the second table        love thy neighbor as thyself."

~    BIBLE STUDY GUIDE




                                           The Pentateuch
                                                      Rev. J. Kortering





       Before we take up the study of the individual             All five books have some bearing on the law which
     books of the Old Testament, we will say a few                God gave to Israel: Genesis forms the historical set-
     words about the first five books. Taken together            ting; Exodus tells us of the actual giving of the law
     they are called the Pentateuch. By doing this, we           and some of its contents; Leviticus, Numbers, and
     will not have to repeat ourselves concerning                Deuteronomy give us more details on the contents
     authorship, possible date, occasion for writing, etc.,      of the law. It is not clear from the information we
     but when we examine the books individually, we              have, whether Moses actually wrote the  Pen-
     can concentrate on the specific message and                 tateuch as one large book with five divisions or
     outline.                                                    whether he wrote it as five separate books. Actual-
                                                                 ly, it makes very little difference. Unger in his  In-
     THE LAW                                                     troduction to the Old Testament suggests that if he
       The word Pentateuch is derived from two Greek             wrote it as one large book, the transmission would
     words, one  penta  which means five and the other           have required five separate scrolls, "Ancient
     teuchos,  meaning volume or book, hence, taken              `books' were in the form of rolls. The Hebrews us-
     together, five volumes. These five volumes then are         ing the standard size roll, about thirty feet in length,
     the first five books of the Bible: Genesis, Exodus,         and not the huge rolls sometimes employed by the
     Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. These five             Egyptians, like the Papyrus Harris and the Book of
     books are grouped together for two reasons, first           the Dead, could conveniently accommodate the un-
     they bear a common subject, and second they have            vocalized Hebrew text of Genesis or Deuteronomy,
     one author.                                                 for instance, but no more. Hence, for practical
       You recall in our introduction to the Old Testa-          reasons the book would automatically have come to
     ment, we mentioned that the entire Old Testament            have a five-fold division, if indeed that form was
     canon is divided into three groups, the law, the            not original" (pages 183, 184).
     prophets, and the writings. Keeping this in mind, the          The Pentateuch is referred to throughout the
     Pentateuch makes up the first division called the law       Scripture and repeatedly called, the law, the Torah!
     or Torah. This word is derived from yaruh,  meaning         E.J. Young gives us a listing of these references in
     to throw, shoot, hence direction, law, instruction.         his Introduction to the Old Testament.


472                                                       THE STANDARD BEARER



          In the Old Testament, the Pentateuch is called:            inform the people of this; and repeatedly he wrote
         1. the law: Joshua 8:34; Ezra 10:3; Nehemiah 8:2, 7,        it down for them. Hence Deuteronomy begins,
            14;  10:34, 36;  12:44;  13:3; II Chronicles  14-:&      "These are the words which Moses spake unto all
            31:21;  33:8.                                            Israel" (Deut.  1:l).
         2. the book of the law: Joshua  1:8;   8:34; II Kings         Secondly, from the Old Testament: Joshua 11: 15,
            22:8; Nehemiah  8:3.                                     "As the Lord commanded Moses His servant, so
         3. the book of the law of Moses: Joshua  8:31;  23:6;       did Moses command Joshua, and so did Joshua; he
            II Kings  14~6;  Nehemiah 8:l.                           left nothing undone of all that the Lord commanded
         4. the book of Moses: Ezra  6:18; Nehemiah  13:l;
            II Chronicles 25:4; 35: 12.                              Moses." The Law of Moses was the guide for
         5. the law of the Lord: Ezra 7:lO; I Chronicles 16:40;      Joshua. Hence there are also references made to
            II Chronicles  31:3;  35:26.                             Joshua keeping what Moses wrote, e.g. Joshua
         6. the law of God: Nehemiah  1028,  29.                     8:31-34;   23:6; and Joshua  22:9, "the word of the
         7. the book of the law of God: Joshua  24:26; Nehe-         Lord by the hand of Moses." There are also
            miah  8:18.                                              references to the book of the law of Moses, II Kings
         8. the book of the law of the Lord: II Chronicles           14:6, and the book of Moses, as in Ezra  6:18,
            17:9; 34: 14.                                            Nehemiah 13: 1. Malachi also speaks of the law of
         9. the book of the law of the Lord their God: Nehe-         Moses my servant (Malachi  4:4).
            miah 9:3.
       10. the law of Moses, the servant of God: Daniel 9: 11;         Finally, in the New Testament: Christ repeatedly
            5:13; Malachi  44.                                       quoted from the law of Moses, "Shew thyself (the
                                                                     cleansed leper) to the priest and offer for thy cleans-
          It will be noted how aptly these phrases character-        ing those things which Moses commanded for a
       ize the Pentateuch. They stress its legislation, the  law;
       they indicate that it is in permanent form, the  book;        testimony unto thee" (Mark  1:44). To the travelers
       they call attention to its human author  Moses,  and          to  Emmaus, Christ "expounded unto them all the
       they point to the Divine Author, the Lord who is God.         scriptures beginning at Moses and all the prophets
                                                                     the things concerning himself" (Luke  24:27).
          In the New Testament, the Pentateuch is called:            Similarly, the apostles also considered Moses the
         1. the book of the law: Galatians  3:lO.                    author of the Pentateuch. Paul testified before
        2. the book of Moses: Mark  12:26.                           Agrippa, "Having therefore obtained help of God, I
        3. the law: Matthew  12:5;  Luke  16:16; John  7:19.         continue unto this day, witnessing both to small
        4. the law of Moses: Luke  2:22; John  7:23.
         5. the law of the Lord: Luke  223,  24.                     and great saying none other things than those
                                                                     which the prophets and Moses did say should
AUTHOR AND DATE                                                      come: that Christ should suffer and that he should
  We set aside the higher critical notion of the                     be the first that should rise from the dead" (Acts
Graf-Kuenen-Wellhausen school which developed                        26:22, 23). In glory, the saints sing the song of
during the 18th and 19th centuries. They claim at                    Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the
least four different authors, and the Pentateuch is                  Lamb (Rev.  15:3).
made up of at least four separate documents pieced                     Moses was particularly qualified to write the first
together by an unknown redactor quite a bit later in                 five books of the Bible. He was trained in all mat-
history (For details of this view, see the Interna-                  ters of writing in the schools of Egypt. He received
tional Standard Bible  EncycZopedia   article entitled,              revelation from God concerning the contents of the
Pentateuch). Faithfulness to the Scripture itself re-                book of Genesis, creation having taken place some
quires us to recognize Moses as the author.                          3,000 years before. This does not eliminate the
  Drawing from the books mentioned above, we                         possibility that Moses drew knowledge from oral
summarize the textual evidence for Mosaic author-                    tradition handed down or that he referred to writ-
ship.                                                                ten accounts. Fact is that the truth of inspiration
  First, from the Pentateuch itself: Exodus  17:14,                  covers all these things. The end result was that he
"And the Lord said unto Moses, write this for a                      wrote exactly what God wanted hi to write,
memorial in the book and rehearse it in the ears of                  historical facts and details of the law.
Joshua; for I will utterly put out the remembrance                     As usual, it is difficult to determine a date of
of Arnalek from under heaven." Exodus  24:4-8,                       writing. Did he begin in the quiet of  Midian, prior
"And Moses wrote all the words of  .the Lord," a                     to his return to Egypt? Much must have been writ-
reference to the book of the covenant. Similarly in                  ten during the wilderness sojourn, after having
Exodus  34:27, Numbers  33:1, 2, Deuteronomy                         received the details of the law of Sinai and prior to
31:9, and Deuteronomy  31:22. In these writings                      his death at Mt. Nebo. This would place the approx-
both historical as well as legislative portions were                 imate time around 1300 B.C. Evidently a copyist
recognized as written by Moses. The Lord revealed                    added the account of his death recorded at the end
to Moses by personal communication that he had to                    (Deut. 34).


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 473



THE SIGNIFICANCE                                          all and everyone without regard to their morality.
   As is generally true with any book, the opening        God is a God of righteous judgment to workers of
chapters are crucial for the entire book. The Bible is    iniquity. He has set forth the boundaries of His
not just another book. It is the revelation of God,       love. We are to love God, love ourselves, love our
the God of our salvation. Hence it begins, "In the        neighbor (Matt. 22:37-40).  As was true for Israel, so
beginning God." It sets forth the grandeur and holi-      is true for us as Paul expressed it, "I had not known
ness of God. Man cannot come into the presence of         sin, but by the law" (Romans  7:7). The law
such a God, alone. He is a sinner bound over to           prepared Israel for Christ, it was their schoolmaster
spiritual death. He is that, not because God made         (Gal.  3:24). Now that Christ is come, we are the
him that way. The creation account tells us that          free-born sons of Sarah, God's spiritual inheritance
God made heaven and earth beautiful, and man              (Gal. 4). The law is written in our hearts. It still con-
and woman were made in His image. Man chose               victs us of the knowledge of sin, and by the gospel
sin and listened to Satan. Death is God's curse upon      we are led to the mercy seat of God at the foot of
a disobedient creature. The need for a Savior is im-      the cross. Our righteousness is not in the keeping of
mediately established. The gospel was preached in         the law, as the Pharisees taught. Rather Jesus calls,
Paradise and amplified in God's dealing with the          "Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy
patriarchs and the nation of Israel. All through Old      laden (with the burden of guilt before the law) and I
Testament times, God unveils the details of His           will give thee rest (forgiveness and righteousness)"
work of salvation in the coming Messiah.                  - Matthew  11:28, 29. In Christ the keeping of the
  Into the sacred history of redemption, God sets         law is easy and the burden light, for it is a love
forth by His own revelation the importance of the         response to the God of our salvation.
law! The very first part of God's sacred Scripture is       Such a gospel of law is set forth already in the
called the LAW! This is important for us to under-        first five books of the Bible. May God give us eyes
stand. Yes, God is a moral God; He has a sense of         to see and hearts to believe as we study this to-
right and wrong. His friendship does not extend to        gether.

IN HIS FEAR




                           The Christian Family:
             The Role of Husband and Father
                                            Pastor Arie den Hartog





  The Christian family is a wonderful creation of         earthly life. The Christian home is a blessed
God. Its order was established according to the in-       spiritual haven in the midst of this wretched
finite wisdom of God at the beginning of the crea-        miserable world of sin. The blessedness of God's
tion of the world. This order is fundamental to the       covenant is experienced there in the most wonder-
order of both the state and the church. According to      ful way as husband and wife and children live in
His wonderful covenant of grace the Lord has given        communion with the Lord the blessed God of salva-
a very central place to the Christian family. The         tion and in close warm blessed communion with
Lord's particular blessing rests upon the Christian       each other. The Lord is pleased to continue His
home where He is feared and worshiped. Husband            church chiefly from Christian families. He did that
and wife who live faithfully in marriage according        with the Patriarchs of old and continues to do that
to the holy ordinance of the Lord experience the          today in the New Testament era, realizing His cove-
richest blessing which God gives to man in this           nant promise with believers and their children.


474                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



Ideally the Christian family is the place where each        panion and help meet. He has used and abused her
new generation of the people of God are brought             for the gratification of his own lust and the boosting
forth, taught the knowledge and fear of the Lord,           of his own ego. He has often neglected or cruelly
and nurtured in the totality of their being, physical-      mistreated his children. This does not mean how-
ly, psychologically, socially, and spiritually. Ac-         ever that we should abandon God's order of things
cording to the purpose of the Lord the Christian            for the family and give authority to the woman and
home trains the succeeding generation to become             maybe even to children in the home, imagining that
servants of the Lord in His church and kingdom. So          the more there is a sharing of authority the less evil
the Lord prepares each succeeding generation of             there will be in the family. The man of the house
His saints to live with Him in eternal glory. What          must see his great responsibility to take up the
tremendous things these are. Each generation is             authority which God gives him and exercise it. He
conceived and brought forth in sin. They are                may not let his wife or his children rule in his
brought forth into a wicked and evil world yet by           home.
the wonder of God's grace God raises up, saves,               Of utmost importance it is that the husband and
and preserves His people, and for this He uses              father exercise this authority in a right way accord-
especially the Christian home.                              ing to the Word of God. This means in the first
  The Lord has given us a tremendous calling and            place that he recognize and acknowledge that all his
responsibility to establish and maintain strong and         authority is from the Lord. He has no authority in
truly Christian homes. As Christians we must seek           his own right. As the head of the home he must first
out God-fearing partners to marry. As Christians            of all be the servant of the Lord. He may not rule
we must diligently search out the scriptures to             his home according to his own whim and fancy. He
learn God's principles for the Christian home.              has no other authority than that which God has
Since the Christian holme  is so extremely important        given to him. His authority must be exercised strict-
God has given many directives in His word for how           ly according to the word of the Lord. He may not
we are to live in our homes. We need no worldly             lead his wife and family in the way of his pleasure
psychologist or marriage counselors. We need to             and only for his own advantage. He must lead his
know and put into practice the word of God in our           family in the nurture and admonition and fear of
homes. Above all we need from the start to realize          the Lord.
that the responsibility that is before us in the home         The exercise of authority for the man in the
is so great that we cannot fulfill it by ourselves. We      home involves a grave responsibility. The man
are entirely dependent upon the grace and Spirit of         must always seek the welfare of his wife and
God.                                                        children in his exercise of authority. The husband
  God has created a certain order for the family, an        and father is responsible for the total welfare of his
order of authority and obedience. It is His purpose         wife and children. He must lead and guide them, he
that this order be maintained. This is for the              must protect them, he must provide for them. This
welfare of every member of the Christian family,            goes much further than merely providing for them
the blessing of the Lord, and the glory of His name.        physically, giving them the shelter of a home and
It is not only foolhardy when men seek to over-             protection from physical evils. The Christian man
throw that order but it is rebellion and great              has especially the responsibility to be the spiritual
wickedness against the Lord. Doing this will only           head of his home. He must make the spiritual
create confusion in the family, which will in turn          welfare of his wife and children his chief concern.
bring forth rebellion and misery and confusion in           He must be an example of godliness and righteous-
the world.                                                  ness to his family unto whom wife and children can
                                                            look with respect. How many even Christian
  In God's creation order He has made man to be             homes are grievously languishing because father
the head of the Christian home.  Headship  implies          does not take up the spiritual leadership in the
first of all authority. For there to be order and bless-    home. The husband and father must lead the fami-
ing in the Christian home there must be authority.          ly in the worship and service of the Lord. He must
God's authority must govern the home. The Lord              lay down the standard and law of God for all that
Himself has given this authority first of all to the        transpires in the home. He must insist on and main-
husband and father. This authority that the Lord            tain obedience to the Lord. The wife and children
has given to man does not give him the right to rule        are dependent for their spiritual welfare upon hus-
his house with tyranny and cruelty for his own ad-          band and father. If they are spiritually unwell,
vantage and glory. There is no doubt about it that          depressed, or discouraged, if they are unfaithful to
fallen man has through the history of the world             the Lord or wayward from His commandments, this
done this. He has sought to make a slave out of the         must be the great concern of the husband and
woman that God has given to be his loving com-              father. Any husband and father who neglects to pay


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                              475



attention to this is worse than an infidel. The Chris-    today spend time giving formal spiritual instruction
tian father must be able to direct the family accord-     and guidance to their children. Discipline cannot
ing to the Word of God when decisions have to be          be administered hastily and in frustration and
made. He must be able to comfort his family with          anger when children get in the way of our pursuing
the comfort of the Lord in times of fear and distress     our own ends or when they bring shame to our
and trouble. He must know how to bring his family         honor.
to the throne of grace in times of need, in times of        Fathers have the responsibility of maintaining
confession of sin, and in times of sickness and           the communion and fellowship of the Christian
death. How many men are grievously lacking in             home. Marriage is first of all intended to be a com-
this. When we as husbands and fathers think on            munion of life between husband and wife. Peter ad-
what authority in the home really means, it ought         monishes the husband to dwell with his wife as a
to make us amazed with great fear and drive us to         man of understanding. How easily communion
the throne of grace for help and strength.                breaks down in the busy and selfish world we live
  Everywhere the Bible calls the Christian hus-           in. Husband and wife in the Christian home must
band and father to love his wife and children. In         live in close companionship one with another.
fact this is the great admonition given to the men of     They must share their life together. They must
the Christian family. All of his exercise of authority    share their purposes and goals to serve the Lord.
will work for evil if it is not exercised in love. The    They must appreciate and have sympathetic under-
love that God requires of men is not mere romantic        standing for one another. How many husbands to-
love or natural affection, much less mere sexual          day are cold and unsympathetic to the real needs of
passion. The latter is possible even in animals. The      their wives. Their whole life is wrapped up with
love wherewith husband and father must love his           their own pursuits and they hardly have the time to
wife and family must be the love of God in Christ         have meaningful interaction with the one with
Jesus which can only be  w.orked  in his heart            whom they are to be living in closest covenant
through the operation of the Spirit of God. Chris-        fellowship. Meanwhile poor wife and mother
tian love always means that one seeks the good of         languishes, in the drudgery of the household chores
others, even when these are in themselves wholly          and with the great difficulties and problems of rais-
unworthy of that love. The Lord Jesus is the stan-        ing the children. Husbands must see their urgent
dard and pattern of that love. Paul in Ephesians 5        calling to dwell truly with their wives and fulfill
exhorts husbands to love their wives as Christ            their deep need of love and friendship and com-
loved the church and gave Himself for her. What a         panionship in life.
tremendous thing that is. So great must the hus-
band's love be that he is willing to sacrifice himself      Fathers must maintain the relationship of love
for the well-being of his wife. That is the greatest      and concern and fellowship with their children.
sacrifice that anyone can give. Few husbands              Strong bonds between father and children which
however know that this is required of them by the         are so absolutely essential for instructing and
Lord. Most of them refuse even to sacrifice small         disciplining children can only be fostered when
things such as their own pursuits and pleasures in        father spends time with his children, finding out
life. They give themselves wholly to their careers,       their concerns in life, sharing their experiences,
and their family soon becomes very secondary. The         their joys and sorrows. How little time fathers in
time and energy that he should be giving for his          many homes spend with their children. This is very
wife and family is instead given to other things. He      serious and will contribute to the decline of the
imagines that he is justified in that he is providing     Christian home. Being too busy at work is a very
well materially for his family. But in our age of         poor excuse. Soon the children will be grown up
materialism and advancement in one's profession           and all opportunity to give them guidance and to
many husbands neglect the real needs of their wife        enjoy the blessing of having them in the home will
and family and are in actuality seeking their own         be gone forever.
glory and wealth in the world. Very often husbands          The great calling of husbands is to be faithful. It
would do far better to spend a little more time with      is simply a fact that many more men than women
their families.                                           are unfaithful to their partners. How many evil
  Fathers have the great responsibility to train and      men of this world have sought after other sexual
discipline their children. Everywhere scripture           partners after their wives have become old and un-
makes this chiefly the responsibility of fathers. Yet     satisfactory. What a dreadful evil this is. How
in this world and even in many Christian homes the        man's pride is aroused if he can get a younger girl to
men imagine that the matter of raising and disci-         be interested in him. How many yield to the many
plining the children is solely the responsibility of      evil temptations of this world. How many continue
the mother. How many fathers in Christian homes           to live in loving devotion with the wife of their


476                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



youth all their lives? Even among so-called  Chris-        children to remain faithful to them all his life long.
tians unfaithfulness is becoming more and more             He will be an example of love and godliness to his
common. The Lord abhors it and we as Christian             children. That will make a lasting impact upon
husbands ought to abhor it. What dreadful  conse-          them and give them the strongest impetus
quences unfaithfulness has for children and for            themselves in turn to build by the grace of God tru-
Christian homes. The truly Christian husband will          ly Christian homes.
be constrained by the love of Christ for his wife and

GUEST ARTICLE




                      Likened To a Deceitful Bow
                                                 Rev. R.G. Moore





  In this article our attention is drawn to the            But it is exactly at this point, the prophet says,
prophet  Hosea's  word to an apostate Israel. The          Israel turns, but not to the Most High, and is
message in Hosea  seven verse sixteen is one which         become as a "deceitful bow." It behooves us, there-
Israel had to hear in the day of the prophet, but also     fore, to hear this word of warning and sharp con-
is a Word of God to us today. It is one to which we        demnation. And to do so not by saying, "shame on
do well to give ear. The prophet uses in his verse a       Israel," but rather, to see in how far this applies to
very demonstrative figure: "They return, but not to        the church today, and in how far it applies to us.
the most High: they are like a deceitful bow: their        May we by grace receive these words of rebuke
princes shall fall by the sword for the rage of their      that we may return unto the Most High God!
tongue: this shall be their derision in the land of          The figure of the bow which the prophet uses is
E&t."        -                                             one that was familiar to all of those who heard
  This figure of a "deceitful bow" is the climactic        these words, for the bow was a common and often
figure of a series of three figures the prophet uses to    used weapon by the armies of his day. For the ar-
characterize the apostasy in Israel, in the church of      cher in the armies of that day it was very important
his day. And the figure of this text is the most           to have a dependable and accurate bow to use as his
severe judgment of the three. The first figure was of      weapon. This bow must shoot true, and it must be
the unturned cake, and spoke of a spiritual mixture        able to send an arrow that would penetrate the
within the people. From the heart they were                enemy. But the deceitful bow is one that did not
spiritually inconsistent, confessing to be God's peo-      satisfy these requirements of the archer, yet it
ple they desired the heathen ways and goals. The           looked as though it would be a trustworthy instru-
second figure of the "silly dove" revealed to Israel       ment for his purposes. This could have been
that their spiritual admixture also led to an outward      because the bow lacked the power, or because of
turning to evil ways in the seeking of strength from       imbalance or uneven limbs that would cause the
outside of God and His word. This was pointed out          bow to send its arrow on a course that was errant
to be utter foolishness. Now in this third figure, we      no matter how skillful the archer.
find the accusation of deceit and hypocrisy leveled          Now the prophet makes comparison of Israel to
against Israel. This is especially true from the point     the deceitful bow. Mind you, the comparison is not
of view of the turning of Israel.                          made between Israel and the archer, but between
  The church and her members ought to find that            Israel and the bow. If the first would be the case,
repentance and conversion are essential to her life        then the responsibility of Israel for her deceit
and her manifestation in the midst of this world.          would be taken away. The result would be that God
Our calling is to be turning daily to the Most High.       would receive the blame for Israel's missing of the


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                             477



mark. How often we would like to do this, by say-          no authorities, except He make them to sit in
ing, "God gives us defective means," and blame             authority. He is the law, and all law and authority is
the preacher, the elders, the husband or wife, the         His to give and exercise. God is the only criterion
parents for our walk in sin. But, not so, says the         for right.
prophet, Israel is like the deceitful bow.                   This means that we are low compared to the liv-
   Spiritually, Israel had the appearance of being a       ing God. His is perfect righteousness, faithfulness,
good bow, but they were deceitful. Israel lacked the       love, mercy, knowledge and glory. If any of these
spiritual ability to reach the target. And this exactly    virtues be in us, it is only because He works them
because they sought the wrong mark. For, mind              in us by His Spirit and Word. Thus all of our glory
you, there is a difference between Israel and the          and all of our service is to be rendered only unto
deceitful bow. The bo,w is not responsible, for it is      Him. This is the constant theme of the Scriptures.
an inanimate thing. But Israel, the church, is             Take time to look up Psalm 2:1-4, Isaiah  40:25,
responsible. Her members are moral-rational                Isaiah  42:8-10,  I Timothy  6:15, as examples of this
creatures. And all moral-rational creatures (men           testimony of God's Word. Our calling indeed is to
and angels) have the calling with all their heart,         turn to the Most High, to render unto Him all glory
mind, soul, and strength to aim at the mark of the         and honor.
glory of the Most High. The calling is in love to            The prophet says that Israel did not. They
serve Him alone! And although the fall has come to         turned, but to devices of their own making. It
pass, it does not change this calling before God. He       sounds like our day, when we find the Scriptures
must receive all glory! In Christ does God reveal          overruled in favor of allowing homosexuals and
Himself as the Most High, and at no other mark             divorced and remarried people membership in the
may the church aim. All that does not serve this           church, to allow women in the offices of Christ in
end is sin. For to God alone belongs all praise and        the church, etc. But, again I say, we must be careful
glory. Therefore, we are called continually to turn        not to be puffed up in pride, thinking this warning
to Him Who is the Most High.                               is only for others. We must be a turning people, for
  Now, the prophet says, Israel turned, but not to         we yet struggle with a sinful flesh. That turning
the Most High. Thus our attention is drawn to the          must be from sin unto righteousness, from the
need for conversion in the church. In this connec-         ways of natural corruption unto a life of sanctifica-
tion, when we consider conversion our thoughts             tion and holiness, from following the lie to the seek-
often turn to the unchurched, or the outright pagan        ing of the truth, from death unto life, fleeing Satan
peoples of the earth. And we may say, "indeed they         to seek and serve the Most High God.
need conversion!" But it is easy to be filled with           This means that by our place in the body of
blindness of  mind in foolish pride, and forget to         Christ, in the strength of God's grace and in true
look inward to ourselves. We might assume we               faith we must put off the old man and put on the
have attained unto faith and salvation, and then           new man in Christ Jesus our Lord. This is also true
assume falsely that the need for conversion, for           of the church as institute. Trusting in the promises
turning, does not apply to us.                             of God, standing faithfully upon His Word, the
  Yet the prophet's words make it plain that the           church does not rely on the philosophy or reason of
church must be characterized by turning: Israel            man, but will turn ever anew to the old ways of the
turned, but not rightly. Of course Israel, as well as      word of Christ. The concern then of the church will
much of the church in our day, walked in great             not be on size, nor outward unity, but she shall be
apostasy, departing from the true service of               concerned with faithfulness to the will of God. Cer-
Jehovah. She had substituted her own idea of prop-         tainly this must be true of the preaching, of doc-
er worship, even serving heathen idols and gods.           trine, and of the exercise of Christian discipline
And our text surely speaks of turning from such            within the church.
abomination. But, further, this is possible only if          But to whom do we turn? This question we must
Israel be a turning people from the heart, in repen-       answer as the institute of the church, and as in-
tance serving God according to His precious Word.          dividual members of the body of Christ. Is it to be
  God is Most High! He is the infinitely exalted           said of us as it was said of Israel, "She is like a
Lord. He is the absolutely Sovereign God. He is            deceitful bow - she turned, but not unto the Most
dependent upon no one. On the other hand, all His          High?" Do we sincerely and truly turn? Do we turn
creation is dependent upon Him. This means that            to God as He has revealed Himself to His people in
God is not simply the greatest, that others are com-       the infallibly inspired Scripture, or do we turn to
parable to Him, but rather that He is the Great One,       another, to a god of our own imagination, or to a
to Whom none can be compared, Who cannot be                Word which we believe to be conditioned by time
judged. He alone is Lord, outside of whom there are        or culture? If we faithfully turn to the God of the


478                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



Scriptures, we truly turn; but if not, then we do not!     of man. We have no strength to turn in whole or in
And it makes no difference to what else we turn,           part of ourselves. If we were to think this, then our
whether as Israel to idols of wood and gold, to Baa1       turning would be false, empty. But he who turns to
or Molech; or whether we turn to the target of man,        the Most High acknowledges that his turning is
to the god of materialism, or to a Christ or a god that    from the Lord. We may not turn with the arm of
is foreign to the Scriptures. 0, indeed we would be        flesh.
turning, but not to the Most High, and we would              But over Israel God's judgment was that they are
then become as a deceitful bow.                            like a deceitful bow. Today too, how little does the
  Next we should ask the question, Why do we               church aim with singlemindedness to the high
turn? Do we turn because we desire to escape the           mark of the Most High. The gospel today is
consequences of sin? IDo we turn because we mere-          polluted, even poisoned by the vain imaginations of
ly want a nice place after death? Do we turn, go to        man. Anything seems to go in the church and is
church, because our girlfriend or boyfriend goes           justified by some reasoning of man. And how com-
there, or because there may be some social benefit         placent so many members of even the most or-
from such turning? Then we turn, but not to the            thodox churches are become, as their churches
Most High.                                                 depart from the pure doctrines of God's Word and
  Or on the other hand, is our turning motivated           from the true exercise of Christian discipline.
by a hatred of sin, by the deep spiritual knowledge          But God is not mocked! He shall have them in
that all that is of sin is displeasing to our covenant     derision who turn not unto the Most High. May we
Father - and this too because you realize that your        have grace to be watchful and to be sober. Holding
place in life is absolutely to serve and glorify God?      fast the Word of God, humbled by its testimony,
This latter is indeed a turning  - a turning to the        may we truly turn to the Most High. Thus, too, we
Most High.                                                 shall by the grace of God taste the richest blessing
  Further, he who truly turns does not presume             of God's fellowship.
with proud imagination that his turning is the work




                                        Book Reviews

POP GOES THE GOSPEL,  by John Blanchard;                   authority, its explicit sexual perversion, its close
Evangelical Press (distributed in this country by          connection with the occult, and its corruption of
Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing), 1984; 160           music. After having completed this section, the
pp., $1.95 (paper). (Reviewed by Prof. H. Hanko)           book goes on to examine the religious rock move-
  The rather strange title of this little book ought       ment and weigh it all in the light of Scripture. The
not to obscure its worthwhile contents. While it has       worthwhile part of the book is the fact that close at-
as its goal an examination and critique of the use of      tention is given to what constitutes the worship of
entertainment in general and religious rock in par-        God, what the Scriptures have to say about singing
ticular as a tool of evangelism, it is also a  well-       in worship, and why religious rock and entertain-
written and carefully documented examination of            ment in general cannot be used by the church.
the entire rock culture.                                      The book is written in England and looks at the
  Sad to say, the whole perverted and Satanic              problem from the viewpoint of the situation in that
world of rock music has had influence within the           country, but is nevertheless completely applicable
church, not only among young people, but also in           to what is happening in our own land.
covenant homes. Perhaps worse yet, some of these              While our readers will certainly not agree with
thoroughly ungodly productions of base men are             all the author says about worship, nevertheless, the
being introduced into the church with a religious          book is recommended as one of the better treat-
coloring to be used in worship and as a tool of            ments of this subject. We urge not only parents
evangelism.                                                with teenagers to read the book, but also teenagers
  The book examines closely the whole rock scene,          themselves if they are tempted to listen to this
exposes its wickedness, its rebellion against all          wholly hellish music of the world. The book is well-


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                            479



written, easy to read, and particularly aimed at the      way that the reader can catch the drama of the
young people of the church.                               situation in Hus's day. It pictures Hus fairly and
                                                          does not hesitate to point out in what respects Hus
ON FIRE FOR GOD, The Story of John Hus, by                was wrong in his conduct and his teachings. In two
Victor Budgen; Evangelical Press (distributed by          excellent appendices it connects Hus and his
Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing), 1983; 323          teachings with Martin Luther, who in his debates
pp., $11.95 (paper). (Reviewed by Prof. H. Hanko)         with John Eck shortly after the Reformation began,
  John Hus is sometimes called, along with John           was driven to admit that indeed he held to the same
Wycliffe, the morning star of the Reformation. This       views which Hus believed; and the book shows the
name suits him admirably, and because of this his         relevance of Hus's work to today's world by show-
work has a special place in the memory of God's           ing how current movements to unite with Rome are
people who look with gratitude .to God towards the        denials of all Hus stood and died for.
great Protestant Reformation of the 16th century.           The book is not a simple biography which can be
  John Hus lived in the latter part of the 14th cen-      read by young children; but it is sufficiently well
tury and the early part of the 15th. He was ordained      written that it can and should be read by high
a priest in Bohemia (a country which is now               school students as well as adults.
Czechoslovakia), but came early in his work into            We highly recommend this book for high school,
contact with the writings of the great English  pre-      college, and home libraries. It will  helps to under-
Reformer, John Wycliffe. A preacher of unusual            stand the Reformation itself and it will steel the
ability, he taught thousands those basic truths           soul of the child of God, by Hus's courageous ex-
which were later to be emphasized so strongly by          ample, to be faithful  - even unto death  - to the
Luther and Calvin and the other reformers: such           glorious truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
truths as the sole authority of Scripture, justifica-
tion by faith alone, the priesthood of believers, the     ONE STEP AT A TIME,  by Hester Monsma,
elect church as the body of Christ. It is understand-     Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, MI 49506, 1984;
able that his life was a constant struggle as he          88 pp. (Reviewed by Gertrude Hoeksema)
sought to maintain his principles against the op-           Written by a Christian school teacher primarily
position of the Roman Catholic authorities. That          for fellow teachers, but also for the benefit of Chris-
struggle was to end with a martyr's death: Hus was        tian parents and pupils, this small book contains
burned at the stake by order of the Council of Con-       forty short devotions on a wide range of subjects.
stance, at the relatively young age of 43.                Each two-page meditation is introduced with a text
  This book is an unusually fine biography of             from Scripture, and the subjects for the devotions
Hus's life, with fairly detailed accounts of his work     are taken from the observations and experiences in
and beliefs. It is well-researched (from many             the life of Miss Monsma. The devotions capture a
original sources), detailed and excellently written.      certain amount of interest, but do not reflect the
It contains a great deal of information about             idea of the Scriptural heading. Many are artificial
Bohemia politically and ecclesiastically. It              and superficial, especially those on the concept of
describes the life and doctrines of Hus in such a         prayer.

                       News From Our Churches.
                                                 August 15,1985


  What special occasion will take place, D.V., on         Bruinsma and his family will be home on furlough.
the twentieth of September? The consistory of             They plan on returning to Jamaica sometime in the
Grandville Church in Grandville, Michigan, has set        middle of September. Since the Jamaican culture is
aside this date to commemorate Rev. J. Kortering's        different from ours, there are many unique ways of
twenty-five years in the ministry. Rev. Kortering         Jamaican life. So, now is a good opportunity to
has been a pastor in Hull, Iowa, from 1960-66 and         learn not only about the missionary work in
1970-76; Hope, Michigan, 1966-70; Redlands, Cali-         Jamaica but also the Jamaican ways of life.
fornia, 1976-79; Loveland, Colorado, 1979-84; and
Grandville, Michigan,  1984-  . The place of com-           I am counting on this issue being in your hands
memoration will be Southwest Church, Michigan.            before September 4. Why? Because on that date, at
  In the months of August and September, Rev.             8:00 P.M., in Hope Church, Michigan, our

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



                                                         ~-___-.             ~_--.                  .-..

 4 8 0                                                  THE  STANDARD BEARER

  Seminary Convocation will take place. And, that                                     Southwest Church, Michigan, is planning on
  date is probably the beginning date for our schools                            connecting together the church and parsonage
  in the Grand Rapids, Michigan area. So let's show                              water systems at a cost of $700.  Doon Church,
  our children a good example by coming out to this                              Iowa, way back in July, adopted, and filed with the
  important occasion. Prof. H. Hoeksema will give                                Secretary of the State of Iowa, a new Articles of In-
  this year's address. There will be two pre-seminary                            corporation which will give the church a perma-
  students and four returning seminary students do-                              nent status as a corporation.
  ing course work this year. The seminary needs your                                  Prof. Decker's new address is: 1333 Chevelle
  support!                                                                       Dr., Jenison, MI 4,9428.                                                        DH

                           ANNOUNCEMENT                                                                        NOTICE!!!
     The Committee of Contact has, for the past few years, had some                                  CHANGE OF ADDRESS
  limited contact with the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North                      Prof. R. Decker and his family have moved. Their new address and
  Ireland. The Synod of our Churches meeting in June of 1985                     phone number are: Prof. Robert D. Decker, 1333 Chevelle  ,Dr.,
  authorized the committee to make the paper of the RPCNI more wide-             Jenison, Ml 49428. Phone  - (616) 457-6618.
  ly available to our people for purposes of getting to know their
  denomination somewhat better. Their paper,  The  Covenanter
  witness, is available to anyone who would like to read it on a loan                           RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
  basis from the Seminary Library. Or, if our readers wish to subscribe
  to it, they can do so by writing: Mr. T. Strahan McCune,  357 Doagh                 The Council of the South Holland Protestant Reformed Church
  Road, Newtonabbey, Co. Antrim BT38 6XD, North Ireland.                         wishes to extend its sympathy to their fellow office bearer, Mr.
                                                                                 Menno Smits, in the loss of his sister, MRS. BEN KAMSTRA, whom
                                                  Committee of Contact           the Lord took unto Himself on July 15, 1985. May he and all his fami-
                                                                                 ly rejoice in the awareness that, "Precious in the sight of the Lord is
                      IN LOViNG MEMORY                                           the death of his saints." Psalm 1 16: 15
    On Monday, June 24, 1985, it pleased our Heavenly Father to                  Rev. David J. Engelsma, Pres.
 take to eternal glory our very dear mother, grandmother and great-              Louis R. Regnerus, Clerk
 grandmother, MRS. ELLA BYKERK, at the age of 82 years.
    "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints." Psalm                            CASSETTE AVAILABLE
  116:15                                                                              The Evangelism Committee of First Prot. Ref. Church, Holland,
  Mrs. Winnie Saurman                    Miss Lubertha Bykerk                    Michigan announces that a tape recording of the lecture by the Rev.
  Mr. & Mrs. Arthur Bykerk                  14 grandchildren                     George Hutton on "The Benefits of Christian Companionship" is
 Mr. & Mrs. Arie Bykerk                     2 1 great-grandchildren              available for $3.00. Write to: Clare  Haveman,  1695 South Maple,
                                                                                 Zeeland. Ml 49464.
 Mr.  & Mrs. Cornelius Bykerk

                              NOTICE!!!                                                                           e at the
    ATTENTION ALL R.F.P.A. SOCIETY MEMBERS!!!                                                               arm& Booh Ourlec
    The Annual meeting of the STANDARD BEARER PUBLISHING
  SOCIETY will be held, the Lord willing, on September 26, 1985, at 8                                                     3505 Kelly
  P.M., at the Southwest Protestant Reformed Church. Our speaker                                                Hudsonville, Michigan b9426
  will be Rev. W. Bekkering. The topic  - OUR REFORMATIONAL                                                               6 6 9 - 6 7 3 0   )
  RESPONSIBILITY. We urge all those who are members and all who
 would like to become members to be there!                                            would like to help you with your new season's ible studies.
    The following men are up for election: Richard Bos, John Cleve-                                                Our
 land, Peter Faber, Gerritt Holstege, Henry Kamps and James Van                                             BOOK OF THE MONTH
  Overloop. From these men three are to be chosen.                                              For September is a KJV hard cover Bib e,
 James Koole                                                                                      a textbook edition, with maps, chart ,
  R.F.P.A. Board Sec'y.                                                                      and concordance. Reg. - $14.95, Sale - 7.95
                                                                                            We also carry dependable, Reformed study helps,
                  WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                                                            such as commentaries, concordance ,
                                                                                                 doctrinal expositions, and study guide .
     On September 5, 1985, our dear parents and grandparents, MR.                                                                          I
                                                                                         These are all 20% off during the month of Se,ptember.
  AND MRS. PETER LUBBERS, will celebrate their 45th wedding an-                                     COME AND SEE OUR SELECTION /
  niversary. We are thankful to them and to our faithful heavenly Father
  for the years of dedicated instruction and guidance which they have                          If you do not find what you are looking or,
                                                                                                                                                t
  given us, We pray that the Lord may richly bless them in the years                         we can have most special orders in three days.
  which be ahead.                                                                        `We also stock syllabi from the seminary, valuL .
                                                                                                                                                     ble aids
  Jason and Carolyn Redder              Rog and Kathy Berends                            in the areas of Old Testament History (creation through
  Richard and Gloria Smith                 1 1 grandchildren                          judges), some New Testament History, Ancient and Medieval
  Larry and Sandy Lubbers                    5 great-grandchildren                           Church History, Notes of the Canons and Belgic
  Klaire and Pat Berends                                                                  `confessions, and Biblical and Religious Psychology.


