~  ~STANDARD
               EARER
            A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE





       It is all too wonderful! The Living Gods,
     Who is the Resurrection and the Life, is born
     out of the old root of David, the dead stump
     of the house of Jesse! The Holy One makes
     His .entrance into our world, conceived and
     born from sinners as we are!
       He  W:ho possesses the eternal riches of
     glory became poor, extremely poor, to
     enrich us . . . .
     See "Let Us Go to Bethlehem" - page 122



c                                               Vol.  LXII, No. 6, December 15, 1985  1


122                                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER




                                CONTENTS                                                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER
                                                                                                                                  ISSN 0362-4692
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       Let Us Go to Bethlehem. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .122                 Editor-in-Chief: Prof. Homer C. Hoeksema
                                                                                        Department Editors: Rev. Ronald Cammenga, Rev. Arie den Hartog, Prof. Robert
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                                                                                        Rev. Ronald Hanko, Mr. David Harbach, Rev. John A. Heys, Rev. J. Kortering,
       Meet James Arminius (2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .125                 Rev. George C. Lubbers, Rev. Thomas C. Miersma, Rev. James Slopsema, Rev.
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MEDITATION
Cornelius Hanko




                                       Let Us Go to Bethlehem

                     "And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds
                 said one to another, let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to
                 pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us." Luke 215



   "There were shepherds  abiding in the field by                                         Yet they were believers in God and in His Christ!
night! ' '                                                                                They were saints who represented the church of
   Ordinary men dressed in their shepherd's garb!                                         the old dispensation!


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                            123



  While the stars moved in their courses through              That we may see the thing that is come to pass!
the heavens, these lowly shepherds sat and                    "Which the Lord hath made known to us."
pondered! Nothing broke the stillness of the night
except the occasional munching of the sheep. Often             The thing! The thing spoken by the angel!
they sang to themselves, "My soul in silence waits             Often words fail us when we try to express mat-
for God! Only for God! In Him is all my salvation!"         ters that are deeply spiritual and heavenly.
Often they added with a sigh, "For long has been              We generalize. We speak of "the thing," which
our sorrow's night. Afflicted through the weary             can mean almost anything. Yet to us it may refer to
years, we wait until Thy help appears."                     something most wonderful.
  And suddenly on this particular night an angel of           The thing that the shepherds referred to was the
the Lord stood among them! And the glory of the             wonder  that had been revealed to them, still too
Lord shone round about them! Before such dazzling           wonderful for them to understand!
brightness they hid their faces. Never before had
the glory of God's face shone so brightly upon mor-           A wonder is God's hand of mercy reaching down
tal man! Shepherds who had not been given time to           into our earthly existence! It is the power of God
change their shabby garb, a few flocks of sheep,            working mightily for the salvation of His elect,
and the  Judean hillside were all flooded with the          drawing them unto Himself out of the bondage of
glory of the Lord! Never before had heaven and              sin and death into the glorious liberty of the sons of
earth been so closely united in one!                        God! Zion is redeemed through judgment, and
                                                            delivered out of this present world, translated into
  And the angel said unto them, "Fear not, for              the glorious perfection of the new creation!
behold, I bring you glad tidings!" The Gospel! The
good news was proclaimed that night, flooding the             Therefore Scripture makes known to us these
hearts of these men with a joy unspeakable and full         special acts of power as a part of the wonder of our
of glory! For already in the early hours of this new        salvation!
day the Savior is born! It has just happened! The              "The thing that is come to pass."
promised Messiah is come, who is Christ and Lord!             The thing that was spoken, "which the Lord hath
Born for your sake!                                         made known to us."
  When you go to look for Him, do not look in the             There was no doubt in the minds of the
royal palace of Jerusalem. 0 no! Do not look for a          shepherds but that the Lord God had spoken to
Babe in pomp and slendor! You will find the Babe            them through His heavenly messenger, confirmed
wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a                 by the angel host which gave honor to the Babe and
manger as an outcast, the poorest of the poor!              proclaimed the joy in heaven among the angels and
  Hardly had the message been uttered or heaven             the saints that the Savior is born! There was no
opened, the angel hosts descended among them to             doubt in their minds but that the long awaited,
worship the Child! Glory to God! Glory to God in            promised Savior had come into the world that very
the highest! Peace on earth! Peace in-the people of         night!
Gods good pleasure! The angels, the glory, the har-           The Messiah, Gods Anointed! Our great Proph-
monious choir singing with a beauty that mortal             et, our eternal High Priest, our glorious King has
ears had never heard, yes, especially the glad              come as a mere Babe lying in a manger and wrap-
tidings must have filled the hearts of the shepherds        ped in swaddling clothes!
with a feeling as if for the moment they had been             No, the incongruity of it all did not trouble them!
translated into the heavenly glory of the new and           The Lord had spoken! The importance of this great
eternal day!                                                event overshadowed all other considerations!
  The song faded, the angel hosts passed out of               God's Son, who rests eternally in the bosom of
sight, the darkness of the night once more sur-             the Father, has come into the flesh to dwell among
rounded the shepherds! It took a little while for           us, even while He is in heaven!
their eyes to adjust to the darkness, for their souls         God's Son, Mary's Child, enters into our world of
to grasp all that they had seen and heard, and to           sin and misery in deepest humility to suffer and to
realize that all things remained as they had been.          die, to arise as Victor over death, in order to lead
  But they were of one mind! They had but one               many sons into glory!
desire! Let us go and search out all the way to               It is all too wonderful! The Living God, Who is
Bethlehem!                                                  the Resurrection and the Life, is born out of the old
                                                            root of David, the dead stump of the house of Jesse!
Cornelius Hanko is a minister emeritus in the Protestant    The Holy One makes His entrance into our world,
Reformed Churches.                                          conceived and born from such sinners as we are!


124                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



  He Who possesses the eternal riches of glory               Soon they were on their way. The search was not
became poor, extremely poor, to enrich us with the        a difficult one. Not many babies were born in
exceeding abundance of riches of salvation, even as       Bethlehem that night. Surely none other was born
these had been promised to Him of the Father!             in a cave or a cattle stall. The explicit directions of
  The wonder of it all! His amazing love, His mercy       the angel soon brought them to the mother, and
and compassion impelled Him from all eternity to          soon they were bending in worship over the Babe!
empty Himself of His glory, to humble Himself in             We can only wonder what thoughts passed
the form of a servant even unto the accursed death        through their minds. Abraham had longed for it,
of the cross to bring many sons along with Him into       but had never lived to see it. Here lay the hope of
covenant fellowship with His God in the heavenly          the ages, the answer to thousands upon thousands
mansions!                                                 of prayers! A short time later, when the day had
  Unto you is born the Savior!                            dawned, they hastened through the city to tell
                                                          friends and acquaintances all that they had seen
  For four thousand years the angel that came to          and heard!
the shepherds (was he Gabriel?), had waited in
eager anticipation for this moment when he might            Let us also arise and go to Bethlehem!
be sent with the glad tidings of the Savior's birth!        Let us go with the Scriptures in our hands to
The whole angel host had been watching the un-            behold Him Who is the fulfillment of Gods prom-
folding of God's counsel here on earth, eagerly an-       ise of our salvation!
ticipating the moment when they would be sent               Let us bow down and worship Him, our God
forth to proclaim the glad tidings of our salvation,      Who came into our flesh, Immanuel, God with us!
in which they themselves were so fully involved!
The time had come! The virgin mother brought                In our thoughts we watch Him grow up as the
forth her Firstborn Son! At the given signal they         Man of Sorrows, the suffering Servant of God, who
went forth to sing their song of praise that echoed       all His life long was burdened with the weight of
through the heavens and re-echoed through the             God's wrath against our sins. Let us pause a mo-
fields of Bethlehem! They sang of a joy in which          ment at the foot of the cross, where Gods blood
they also shared and will share eternally!                was shed, and where God was in Christ reconciling
                                                          the world unto Himself, never more counting our
  This message of salvation has been repeated over        sins against us. And there let us confess that He was
and over again through the Scriptures and from            wounded for  OUY transgressions, was bruised for
many pulpits, also from many lips of the saints.          OUY iniquities, that the chastisement of  our peace
Many hear it, but only the meek and the lowly             was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed!
receive it and rejoice!                                     For He is now the risen Lord! With an eye of
  Unto you, the broken of heart and the contrite of       faith we see Jesus crowned with glory and honor,
spirit, comes the glad tidings, your Savior is born!      exalted as Lord above all! Soon coming to judge the
  Let us now go even to Bethlehem!                        nations in righteousness! Even then He will be our
  Great eagerness spurred the shepherds on to look        Jesus, our Judge, to judge our miserable lives on the
for the Babe. Their chief concern at the moment           basis of His atoning work of the cross, to declare us
was not their sheep. Nor did any one of them sug-         righteous in Him, free from sin and guilt and wor-
gest that they should wait until daylight to carry out    thy of eternal life in covenant fellowship with our
their search! Not one of them, upon second                God!
thought, questioned the word of the angel, even             We hear Him say: Behold, I come quickly, and
though this coming of the Messiah was so contrary         My reward is with Me!
to their expectations. No pomp, no fanfare, no              0 come, let us adore Him, Christ, our Lord!
worldwide proclamation, a lowly Babe born from a
commoner in deepest shame and humility! Not one
of them raised the objection that it is scientifically
impossible for a virgin to conceive and bear a son,                Take the time to
or for God to be born of a woman, even though the
prophet had spoken of it!                                         read and study the
  There was no time for such idle speculation,
since within them was the powerful drive of faith,
wrought by the Spirit in their hearts, spurring them              Standard Bearer!
on to seek Him whom their soul desired!
  A new day was dawning, also within their hearts!


                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER                                                        125



EDITORIAL




                               Meet James Arminius (2)



  Was James Arminius a heretic?                                    was a  second phase  of the reform" in the Netherlands;
  To many of us this may seem to be an utterly                     "there was a native theology from very early times . . .
foolish and unnecessary question. Perhaps it seems                 not so one-sidedly pardon-oriented as was the later
to be a question like, "Is ice cold?" or, "Is fire hot?"           theology imported from the South . . . [and] not as
                                                                   obsessed with the concept of predestination either."
In other words, for a Reformed man this is not even                Verduin seems to say that the theology that finally
a question which needs asking. For a Reformed                      prevailed at the Synod of Dort, ten years after the
man it is a fundamental presupposition.                            death of Arminius, signified a narrowing of Holland's
  However, the Editor of The Banner (Oct. 6, 1985,                 theological stream. In that sense Arminius's claims
pp. 6, 7) tries to present Arminius in a favorable                 that he stayed within the Reformed tradition may be
light and to persuade his readers that Arminius was                correct, though I am not so sure he had Calvin and
not a heretic or, at least, not nearly such an evil                Augustine on his side.
man and such a bad heretic as he is sometimes                        A few more paragraphs of Verduin's 1973 review
presented as being. We have already examined the                   are worth repeating:
matter of the character and conduct of James  Ar-                     "If there are still people around who live with the
minius in our November 15 editorial. It remains                    caricature that Arminius was an arch-heretic, a
now to examine this second matter: was Arminius a                  Pelagian, a man who shied away from the idea that
heretic?                                                           salvation is by grace and by grace alone, these must
                                                                   read this book. A man who prays on his deathbed, as
  Editor Kuyvenhoven has the following to say on                   did this man: `0 thou great Shepherd who . . . brought
this subject:                                                      again from the dead, Jesus, my Lord and Savior, be
      . . . In many areas the independent Bible student            present with me, a sheep of thine that is weak and af-
   Arminius was at odds with his speculative teacher,              flicted. 0 thou God of my salvation, render my soul fit
   Beza. In many instances I am inclined to side with Ar-          for the heavenly kingdom and prepare my body for
   rninius  and not with Beza. Today most Reformed                 the resurrection!' - such a man cannot be the bad
   thinkers agree with Arminius that election and repro-           man a certain tradition has made him out to be.
   bation do not originate in God in the same manner;                "If there are still people to be found who think Ar-
   and we would warmly support Arminius's emphasis                 minius  got a square deal at the hands of the "or-
   that we may not think of our election apart from                thodoxy" of his times, these too  must  read this
   Christ. Arminius is probably right in saying that the           book . . . .
   "I" of Romans 7 who cannot escape the tyranny of
   evil is not the believer who is in Christ, free from the          "If there are still people on the scene who think of
   law of sin and death and empowered by the Spirit to             the Synod of Dort as an altogether holy moment in the
   do what is right. Arminius also says many things                annals of Christ's church, . . . let such persons by all
   about Romans 9 with which we would now agree. But               means also read this study . . . .I`
   his views of God's grace and human freedom are                 Now, first of all, let me clear away some rubbish
   ultimately unacceptable.                                     about a supposed difference between Calvin and
  Later in the same editorial Editor Kuyvenhoven                Beza (Calvin's successor in the Academy in
quotes with approval from a review of Carl Bangs's              Geneva) and about a so-called second phase of the
book on Arminius by the Rev. Leonard Verduin, a                 reformation in the Netherlands. These myths are
review which appeared in The Banner in 1973:                    abroad in Reformed circles. They are used especial-
      . . .  In a  Banner  review of the book . . . Verduin    ly to attack the Reformed view of predestination.
   agrees with Bangs that "what we now call Calvinism          And they are used to deceive the simple, as though


126                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



Calvin had a different view of predestination - and           Plainly, in this sense James Arminius was not a
especially of reprobation  - than did Beza. And             heretic. He was never deposed and expelled from
these myths gradually gain credence through                 the ministry in the Reformed Church of the Nether-
repetition. They are then used to uphold Arminius           lands. Why not? He did not live long enough. He
and to condemn the doctrine of the Canons as a              died in 1609, ten years before the Synod of Dordt
"narrowing of Holland's theological stream." Over           completed its work and deposed and expelled
against this, it should be stressed:                        multitudes of his disciples as heretics. And when he
  1) That there was no fundamental difference               died, he was technically in good standing in the
between Calvin and Beza. Theodore Beza was                  Reformed Churches, for the simple reason that up
Calvin's own handpicked successor at Geneva's               to that time no ecclesiastical assembly had put him
Academy. He was also the author of a sympathetic            and his views on trial.
biography of John Calvin. And before Calvin's                 Nevertheless, James Arminius was a heretic in
death, the two were genial co-workers. Certainly,           the sense that he was the father of the heretical doc-
there were differences between the two, just as             trines which were exposed and condemned at the
they were two different personalities. But fun-             Synod of Dordt and the teacher and spiritual father
damental differences of doctrine, particularly with         of many of the men who were condemned and
respect to predestination and more especially with          deposed at Dordt. Concerning this, just a few
respect to reprobation, there were not.,                    words.
  2) The same is true with respect to the notion of           In the first place, it would not be difficult at all to
a second phase of the reformation and an alleged            prove this from the writings of James Arminius,
narrowing of Holland's theological stream. This is a        and to do so at length. We have made reference to
myth! Was there deveZopment? By all means! But, in          this in another connection with respect to  Ar-
the first place, the development was exactly in the         minius's view of Romans 7 and his denial that
Zinc  of the Reformation; it was not divergence, but        Romans 7 is speaking of the sanctified Christian. It
development. In the second place, such develop-             is interesting to note in this connection, that im-
ment of the truth took place as it so frequently has        plicit in his view of Romans 7 was also a denial of
taken place in church history, namely, in the way           the Reformed doctrine of justification by faith. At
of controversy  - in this instance, the Arminian            one of the conferences referred to in our first
controversy. In the third place, this development           editorial on this subject, Gomarus placed
was by no means limited to the Netherlands,                 Arminius's heretical view of justification as No. 1
though its focus was there. Do not forget that every        on the docket of those items which were to be
Reformed denomination of that day was represented           discussed and debated. Interesting this is, because,
at Dordt. And all the foreign delegations as well as        while the doctrine of justification as such did not
the Dutch delegates were signatories of the Canons.         become the subject of debate and a confessional
                                                            declaration at the Synod of Dordt, it was neverthe-
  3) It is intellectually dishonest of supposedly           less surely involved, just as it was involved in the
Reformed scholars to belittle Dordt and the Canons          Semi-Pelagian doctrine from which the church was
of Dordt and Beza's theology and forevermore to be          liberated in the Reformation.
praising Arminius and his theology and to be view-
ing him sympathetically. I can understand that an             In the second place, the clearest proof of heresy
avowed Arminian might do this, but I cannot                 is in the Five Points of the Remonstrance, adopted
understand that a man who claims to be Reformed             schismatically by the Arminian party in the year
does it. And it is detrimental to any Reformed              1610, the year following the death of James  Ar-
church. If there is anything that a Reformed church         minius. Where did those points come from? Did
does not need nowadays - and this is true especial-         they drop out of the blue? Of course not! They were
ly of the Christian Reformed Church - it is thepro-         formulated by the Arminian party under the leader-
motion of Arminius and Arminianism.                         ship of the bosom friend of Arminius, Johannes
  But was Arminius a heretic?                               Uitenboogaert. In the Remonstrance you behold
                                                            the fruit of the underhanded work of James  Ar-
  Taking the term  heretic  in the strictly technical       minius. No one can deny this. And what was the
sense: No!                                                  fruit? This, without quoting the Five Points in full:
  In the strict sense of the word, of course, a             1) Conditional election and reprobation. 2) General
heretic is one who has been found guilty of heresy          atonement. 3) The denial of total depravity. 4) The
by an ecclesiastical assembly, first of all. In the sec-    doctrine of resistible grace. 5) The questioning
ond place, a heretic is one who refuses to recant           (without forthright denial) of the perseverance of
his heresy when he has been found guilty. And, in           the saints. These doctrines have officially been
the third place, a heretic is deposed and expelled          declared to be the embodiment of the Pelagian
from the church because of  persistance in heresy.          heresy in our Canons. It is unbecoming for any


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                127



Reformed man to deny, as do the Revs. Verduin              discern heresy, because heretics come with  cun-
and Kuyvenhoven, that Arminius was an  arch-               ning craftiness and lie in wait to deceive (as Ephe-
heretic, a Pelagian. Our fathers accused the Armin-        sians 4 puts it). I can quote you words from the Five
ians of bringing up the error of Pelagius again out of     Points of the Arminians to which any Reformed
hell!                                                      man can and does subscribe. Here are two  ex-
   In the third place, just a few words about the          amples: 1.  ". . . this grace of God is the beginning,
Rev. Verduin's reference to the dying prayer of Ar-        continuance, and accomplishment of all good." 2.
                                                           ,,
minius. My first word is that I will not judge Ar-               -  * . all good deeds or movements that can be con-
minius's prayer; but neither can Verduin. Only             ceived must be ascribed to the grace of God in
God can do that. In the second place, the question         Christ." But read these statements in their context
is not what Arminius may have prayed  - many a             of Point 4 of the Remonstrance, and they are
heretic can have pious words. The question is:             heretical.
what did Arminius  teach?  In other words,                        Was Arminius a heretic? Unequivocally, YES;
demonstrate that his teachings were not heretical.         and a dangerous one!                               HCH
In the third place, one must be very careful to

ALL AROUNL) US
Robert D. Decker





                                                Alive `85


  Something "big" happened in the Grand Rapids                   Yes, it was big! Some 60,000 people in atten-
area late last summer, something "big" and some-           dance, hundreds had to be turned away, "the
thing "sad." It was an evangelistic crusade called,        largest event of its kind in western Michigan." It
"Alive, `85." Christianity Today in its November 8,        was widely advertised in the media and by means
1985 issue reports: "Grand Rapids, Michigan, is no         of billboards and tracts and leaflets.  The Grand
modern day Sodom or Gomorrah. The city of                  Rapids Press  reported on it, as did local TV and
185,000 is the home of such highly respected               radio stations. Nearly 150 of the 600 churches in-
evangelical institutions as Calvin College, Calvin         vited to participate accepted the invitation. It was a
Theological Seminary, and Zondervan Publishing             big event.
Company, a major evangelical publisher.                           "The crowds came to hear a little-known,
  "A haven for Reformed Christianity, Grand                British-born Episcopal evangelist named John
Rapids seems an unlikely target for a major                Guest. The 49-year-old clergyman committed his
evangelistic crusade, especially one conducted by          life to Christ in 1954 at a Billy Graham Crusade in
an Episcopal clergyman. Yet that is what happened          London. He joined the Church of England and went
with Alive `85, a three-city (Grand Rapids, Holland,       on to become an itinerant evangelist as a singer in a
Grand Haven, R.D.D.),  15-day crusade, the largest         Christian rock band.
event of its kind in Western Michigan.                           "Evangelism is a driving force in Guest's
  "Some 60,000 people attended the meetings . . . .        ministry. Fifteen years ago he ran the youth divi-
Hundreds had to be turned away in Grand Rapids.            sion of Billy Graham's New York City crusade. In
In all, nearly 1,700 people dedicated or rededicated       1968, he founded an evangelistic campus ministry
their lives to Christ. Of these, some 500 were not         Coalition for Christian Outreach. A year later he
church members."                                           led a major evangelistic outreach on the beaches of
                                                           Grand Haven, thus introducing himself to western
Robert D. Decker is professor of Practical Theology and    Michigan. In recent years he has worked with
New Testament in the Protestant Reformed Seminavy.         evangelists Leighton Ford and Luis Palau.


128                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



   "For the last 14 years, Guest has served as rector       Such language is a far cry from what the Bible
at Saint Stephen's Episcopal Church in the Pitts-         and our Reformed Confessions teach. When Jesus
burgh, Pennsylvania suburb of Sewickley. During           preached sovereign election  and reprobation  (cf.
his pastorate, church attendance there has grown          John  6:37, 44, 65; read the entire chapter) many of
from 250 to about 1,200." (Chris&~&y  Today, Nov.         his disciples said, "This is an hard saying; who can
8, 1985)                                                  hear it?" (verse 60) and they "walked no more with
  Why the crusade? Lee Huizenga, vice-chairman            him" (verse 66). The Apostle Paul preached to the
of Alive `85 said, `"We saw a lot of apathy [in the       Romans, "So then it is not of him that willeth, nor
churches]. There was virtually no evangelistic out-       of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mer-
reach going on in the area." Clare  DeGraff,              cy" (Romans  9:16). To all those who object to this
organizer of Alive `85, said, "Churches in this area      precious truth, declaring that there is unrighteous-
are very conservative theologically, but they've          ness with God, and babbling about free will, gospel
also been very lukewarm, and we felt it was time to       offers, and making decisions to surrender one's life
bring renewal." (C1zristianity  Today)                    to Jesus, the Apostle has this  to. say: "Nay but, 0
                                                          man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall
  Why do we term this "big" event "sad"? For a            the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why
number of reasons. Apathy and lukewarmness are            hast thou made me thus?" (Romans  9:20 ff.). The
serious, dangerous, destructive sins. (Cf. Revela-        Scriptures teach that sinners dead in trespasses and
tion  3:16.) There is constant need for renewal in        sins are made alive in Christ and saved by grace
God's church. Churches who stand in the Re-               through faith, God's gift (Ephesians 2: l-10). The
formed tradition understand that reformation is on-       Apostle came with no offers, no pleas for decisions
going. The church must always be reformed and re-         to the Corinthians. Paul, in the confidence that "all
forming according to Scripture and the Confes-            things are of God," came with the imperative of the
sions. Aside from the question as to whether God          gospel: "be ye reconciled to God" (cf. II Corin-
does this reforming by means of "evangelistic             thians 5: 18-21). That venerable part of the Three
crusades, ' ' it's sad that over 100 of the nearly 150    Forms of Unity, the Canons of Dordt, accurately
participating churches were churches bearing the          reflects the Biblical truth when it states, "More-
name Reformed. (For these statistics cf. Christianity     over, the promise of the gospel is, that whosoever
Today and the Oct. 28, 1985 issue of  The Banner.)        believeth in Christ crucified, shall not perish, but
The theology and, therefore, the preaching of John        have everlasting life. This promise, together with
Guest are shot through with Arminianism.  Chris-
tianity Today                                             the command to repent and believe, ought to be
                  reports: "When it comes to preaching    declared and published to all nations, and to all per-
the gospel, Guest exhibits his singlemindedness.          sons promiscuously and without distinction, to
During the Michigan crusade, the urbane Epis-             whom God out of his good pleasure sends the
copalian at times sounded like a fundamentalist           gospel" (Canons, II, Article 5). That over 100
firebrand, `If you die before you give your life to       churches in the Reformed tradition felt the need to
Christ,' he proclaimed, `after you've been in hell        get help from an Episcopal, Arminian clergyman to
three seconds, you'd give anything for three              spark renewal is very sad indeed!
seconds back on earth to give your life to Christ."'
This is not Reformed language. The Banner quotes            That the churches, also the Protestant Reformed
Guest: "Some of you are going to make a decision          Churches, need to be reformed and always reform-
tonight that could change your life, help you             ing is true. Of this there can be no doubt whatso-
change your church, and help your church change           ever. What does the church need to be and remain
the world. That's the order [in which] it has to hap-     Reformed? The church does not need higher critics
pen,' he said. Guest said that God's sovereignty          in its seminaries, women in ecclesiastical office, re-
goes hand-in-hand with a person's choice for              vised creeds or new creeds. The church does not
Christ. `The same Paul,' he said, `who taught that        need Arminianism or evangelistic crusades. The
God, by his own sovereign election and love,              church needs "faithful men who are able to teach
chooses us, also pleaded with his audience to re-         others" in its seminaries. The church must pray for
spond to Jesus. That God is sovereign does not            grace to be faithful to the rich and wonderful heri-
diminish that we are held accountable and respon-         tage of the Scriptures as set forth in the Reformed
sible for our decisions. Are you the one that God is      Confessions. The church needs to pray for daily
calling to himself tonight? It's to you I appeal and      repentance and faith in the hearts of God's people.
beseech in the name of Jesus. Come and give your          The church, if it is to be and remain true to the
life to him. Do not leave this place without sur-         Scriptures, needs preachers who really preach. It
rendering your life to him."' This is Arminian            needs preachers who are convinced that the Bible is
language. Each of the services of the crusade was         God's inspired and infallible Word. Preachers, the
concluded with an altar call. That's sad!                 church needs, who faithfully expound the Word of


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                             129



God from Lord's Day  .to Lord's Day. Preaching is          Christ. Elders who rule in Christ's name must see
the great need! Preaching that without shame  pro-         to it that the Word is faithfully preached, the
claims the truth of Scripture over against every lie,      sacraments administered, and that Gods people
false doctrine, and ungodly practice in the lives of       know, love, and live the truth of Scripture.
God's people. And, preachers too are needed to be            Without this there will never be reformation.
sent to proclaim the gospel to the nations.                Our prayer for the blood-bought church of Jesus
  The church also needs elders to rule her in the          Christ is that God will give her preachers who real-
name of Jesus Christ. The church needs discipline          ly preach and elders who will rule in the name of
in order that she may be obedient to Gods will             Christ keeping the church pure in doctrine and obe-
both in doctrine and in life. The sacraments must          dient in life.
be administered according to the institution of

TAKING HEED TO THE DOCTRINE
Herman Veldman





                             The Apostles' Creed (5)



  In our preceding article we were calling attention       Holy Spirit? Are not also the Son and the Holy Spirit
to the fact that Answer 24 of our Heidelberg Cate-         creator of heaven and earth? Does not therefore
chism cannot be understood to refer to the three           this first article of the Apostles' Creed speak of
divisions of the Apostolic Confession, and that each       things which are applicable to all the Divine Per-
of the Divine Persons is distinguished and de-             sons? And what do we read concerning Jesus
scribed here. Question and Answer 24 reads as              Christ? Is it not striking that we read immediately
follows: "How are these articles divided (the              of Jesus Christ? We read this: "I believe in God the
twelve articles of the Apostles' Creed)? Into three        Father, Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth: And
parts: the first is of God, the Father, and our crea-      in Jesus Christ. " It is true that we read of the Lord
tion; the second of God the Son, and our redemp-           Jesus Christ as God's only begotten Son, but this we
tion; the third of God the Holy Ghost, and our sanc-       read only because only God's only begotten Son
tification." We noted that this interpretation would       could be this Lord Jesus Christ. And do not the rest
teach the heresy of Tritheism. This is our first ob-       of the articles all speak of Christ as He was and is
jection to this interpretation of Answer 24 of our         active in the state of humiliation and exaltation? Do
Heidelberg Catechism and of the Apostles' Creed.           they. not therefore speak of Christ as to His human
We now continue.                                           nature and as He is the Head of God's people? And,
  Secondly, this interpretation is neither the mean-       although the last five articles call our attention to
ing of the Apostolic Confession nor of the authors         the Holy Spirit, they speak of Him, do they not, as
of our Heidelberg Catechism. It is true that the           the Spirit of Christ and as He operates within the
Confession speaks of God, the Father of our Lord           church, calling the church into existence through-
Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son, our Lord, and         out the ages, and bestowing upon the church the
of the Holy Ghost. But we must notice the follow-          communion of the saints, forgiveness of sins, the
ing. Of God, the Father, we read that He is                resurrection of the body and everlasting life. More-
almighty, the Creator of heaven and earth.                 over, neither is this the interpretation of the
However, is not also th.e Son almighty, and also the       authors of the Heidelberg Catechism. This is also
                                                           the line that is followed by the Heidelberg
Herman Veldman is a minister emeritus in the Protestant    Catechism. Besides, the author of this catechism, in
Reformed Churches.                                         his own explanation, declares emphatically that


130                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



this twenty-fourth answer does not at all purpose to       Confession calls attention to the Son, the only
separate the three Persons of the Trinity, and to          begotten to be sure, but preeminently as the Lord
ascribe anything to  .the One with the exclusion of        Jesus Christ, Who was born of the virgin Mary, suf-
the others.                                                fered and died under Pontius Pilate, was crucified,
   Thirdly, we should also note the wording of the         died, and was buried. And the third part of the Con-
Apostolic Confession. We read: "I believe in God,          fession speaks of the Holy Ghost, primarily the Ho-
the Father, Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth,           ly Spirit as the Spirit of Christ and of His church.
and in Jesus Christ . .  .; I believe in the Holy             We conclude, therefore, that in the Apostolic
Ghost." Why is it that the name God appears only           Confession the Triune God stands before us, and
in this first article? Why do we not read: "I believe      that He is the Object of our faith, even as He is
in God, the Father, in God the Son, and in God the         revealed as our Father in creation, as our Redeemer
Holy Spirit"? The name God appears only in the             in Jesus Christ our Lord, and as our Sanctifier in the
first article of the Apostles' Creed.                      Holy Spirit, as the Spirit of Jesus Christ.
  We may, therefore, conclude the following. In all           Now this is extremely important. Indeed, ex-
the works of God, all the three Divine Persons are         tremely important. This is due to the fact that it
equally active. The Triune God creates - out of the        constitutes the possibility of our faith in the Triune
Father, through the Son, and in the Holy Ghost.            God. What does it mean to believe in God, and to
The Triune God redeems  - out of the Father and            believe in God as the Triune God? The natural man
through the Son and in the Holy Spirit, although it        will not believe in God. To be sure, God has re-
is true, of course, that the Second Person assumes         vealed Himself, unmistakably, undeniably. Ac-
our flesh and blood. And the Triune God sanctifies         cording to Romans 1:20 the invisible things of God,
out of the Father, through the Son, and in the Holy        such as His Godhead, power, and wisdom are clear-
Spirit, although it is true that the Holy Spirit dwells    ly seen, being understood by the things that are
within our hearts. This is scriptural. Indeed, the         made. Besides, the Lord has not left Himself
Father creates. But Scripture teaches that all things      without witness, testifying also within man that He
were created by the Son (Colossians l), and that the       is the living God. Nevertheless, many refuse to
Spirit moved upon the face of the waters (Genesis          believe in the living God. He will constantly change
1). And we read in John 17 that the Father sanc-           and corrupt the glory of the incorruptible God. He
tifies. Redemption, too, is the work also of the           will constantly change God to suit himself, will
Father and of the Holy Ghost.                              make of God a graven image, will humanize God,
  Hence, we would say that this Apostolic Confes-          place Him within the framework of his own
sion speaks of the Triune God as the God of our            creaturely and corrupt mind and thinking. Man
salvation and in relation to the believing Church.         will refuse to serve God as God, the alone living
Fact is, we read, "I believe in God, the Father, etc."     God. All we need do is think of all the present-day
In other words, this confession is the confession,         conceptions of the living God. There is the evil and
the believing expression, of the Church. We read in        corruption of Modernism. Modernism is human-
the first article, "I believe in God, the Father,          ism. Modernism denies the supernatural, denies
Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth." It is true, of       the virgin birth, the physical resurrection of our
course, that reference is made here to the Father-         Lord Jesus Christ. Modernism transforms the living
hood of the first Person in His personal relation to       God into the figure of a corruptible man. And then
the second Person. But we should notice what the           there is also the heinous conception of  Arminian-
Heidelberg Catechism says of this first article. He is     ism. Arminianism revolves about the free will of
also the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is that       the sinner. Arminianism believes in a predestina-
as the Triune God. He is also the Father of creation,      tion that is based upon man's belief or unbelief. Ar-
and He is that as the Triune God. The Catechism            minianism refuses to allow God to be God, changes
also mentions God's counsel, and that surely               Him into a corruptible man, refuses to give unto the
belongs to the Triune God. In addition to this, He is      Lord the glory and honor which are due to Him
also the Father of His people, and He is that as the       alone.
Triune God. The first article, therefore, speaks of          What does it imply to believe in God, the Triune
the eternal Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the           God? That God is God Triune implies that He is
Creator omnipotent, the God of our salvation in            God, the living God, the only God, and that He is
Jesus Christ our Lord. The first article, therefore,       really God, Who alone does all things for His own
calls our attention to God, the Triune God, our            Name's sake, Who rules, alone rules, and is worthy
almighty Father, creator of the world, the first           of all adoration. That He is the Triune God implies
world and also the second world, and also as our           that, as the living God, He is God, Who is absolute,
Triune Savior. The second part of the Apostolic            is what He is alone, the Incomparable One. He is in


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                               131



Himself perfectly and eternally the Self-Sufficient       possible for the Unitarian who denies the Trinity
covenant God. He needs no man to contribute or            and believes in a one-person god. To the Unitarian,
add to His glory. He is in Himself eternally and          God, of course, is not a covenant God. And there is
completely Self-satisfied. He lives eternally in the      no salvation possible for him, because he denies
enjoyment of Himself. That God is Triune implies          that Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God, co-equal
that He is eternally glorious, infinitely and             and co-eternal with the Father and the Spirit.
supremely blessed, wholly sovereign, and worthy             We must believe in God, the Father, Almighty,
of all praise and adoration. He alone must be             through Jesus Christ, our Lord, and in the Holy
glorified - our only calling is to call Him great and     Ghost. Our heavenly Father is almighty, revealed
that even forevermore. We must bear in mind that          when He, by the word of His power, created the
God is God alone, that He is Absolute Reality, that       heavens and the earth. How tremendously impor-
He alone is the one and only absolute being. And          tant this is! How could we be saved if this were not
that He is Triune means that, as God Who is one in        true? As that almighty Creator of heaven and earth
essence and three in persons, He knows Himself,           He must also reveal Himself within my own heart
has fellowship in and with Himself, rejoices in           and life. Life must be called out of death, light out
Himself as the alone and all-sufficient One, rejoic-      of darkness. God must speak in me even as He
ing in His own infinite being and fulness. And to         spoke at history's dawn. God must speak and it is,
believe in Him means that we acknowledge Him,             command and it stands. Indeed, the word of recrea-
love Him, set all our trust and confidence in Him,        tion is surely more wonderful than the work of
worship and adore Him, do all unto the praise and         creation. Immediately prior to God's creation of the
the glory of His Name.                                    world there was nothing. But, immediately prior to
  Now we can understand that the possibility of           God's word of recreation there is a dead sinner who
our faith is outlined and set forth before us in this     is full of sin and enmity and darkness. This sinner
twenty-fourth answer of our Heidelberg Cate-              must be called out of death into life, out of darkness
chism. Of ourselves we will not believe in Him,           into the light. This cannot be accomplished through
cannot believe in Him, cannot will to believe in          a general well-meaning offer of the gospel, so wide-
Him, refuse to believe in Him. We love ourselves,         ly preached and taught today. No sinner can or will
seek ourselves and the things of this present evil        or can will to accept such an offer. God must speak
world. We will not bend the knee before Him; we           as He alone can speak and as He spoke when He
will not allow Him to be God; we will not                 created the heavens and the earth. Indeed, I
acknowledge Him to be worthy of all praise and            believe, must believe in God, the Father, Almighty,
adoration. And, incidentally, there is no salvation       Maker of heaven and of earth.

BIBLE STUDY GUIDE
Jason L. Kortering





       Genesis j The Beginnings (concluded)



  In our outline of the book of Genesis, we have          dwell in the land alongside Jacob  (36:1-8).  His
yet to complete the last two "generations."               generations are then listed by sons and dukes
  10.  The generations of Esau (36:  l-37:1).   Esau's    (36:9-30, 40-44). The kings that reigned in Edom are
name is given as "Edom." He took his three wives          listed  (36:31-39). Jacob dwelt as a stranger in the
and five sons which are mentioned by name and             land of Canaan (37:l).
his daughters with all his substance and moved to           11. The generations of Jacob  (37:2-50:26). Joseph
Mount Seir because there was not enough room to           is mentioned first because the subsequent history


132                                             THE STANDARD BEARER



focuses upon his involvement in the family of              Joseph immediately recognized them, but did not
Jacob. At seventeen years of age, he brought the           disclose his identity. To test them he accused them
evil report of his brothers to Jacob. Jacob loved          of being spies and put them in prison. Joseph
Joseph more than the others and gave him the coat          challenged them to prove their sincerity by having
of many colors. Enmity developed between Joseph            one of them stay in prison and the rest return home
and his brothers (37:2-4).  The dreams of Joseph are       and bring their youngest brother on the next trip.
recorded, of the sheaves and sun, moon, and stars,         Simeon stayed in prison. They discovered their
both indicating Joseph's exalted position (37:5-l 1).      money in the bags of corn and reported these
While he was bringing food to his brothers at              events to their father. Fear was upon all of them.
Shechem, they plotted to kill him. Reuben in-              Jacob resolved that Benjamin would not return
tervened and they threw Joseph into a pit. In              with them: "Joseph is not, Simeon is not, will ye
Reuben's absence, they sold Joseph to the                  take Benjamin away?"  (42:1-38). The famine per-
Ishmaelites for 20 pieces of silver. The brothers dip-     sisted, so at long last Jacob consented and Benjamin
ped Joseph's coat in the blood of a kid and                accompanied his brothers to Egypt. Judah accepted
presented it to their father. He grieved in his ap-        responsibility for his safety. They took double
parent death (37: 12-35). Joseph was sold to               money in event they were accused of stealing it the
Potiphar, officer of Pharaoh of Egypt (37:36).  An in-     first time. Joseph recognized them when they ar-
dication is given of the sad spiritual state in the        rived and he received all his brothers, including
family of Jacob by the adultery of Judah with his          Simeon who was released from prison, in his own
own daughter-in-law, Tamar. Two of Judah's sons,           house. Joseph was overcome with joy when he saw'
Er and Onan, were slain by the Lord for their sins.        Benjamin, though he did not reveal his true identity
Judah promised that his youngest son Shelah would          to them as yet. At the evening meal, they sat
be given to the widowed Tamar. He failed to do             separate from the Egyptians, arranged according to
this; and after his own wife died he visited a harlot      their age, and Benjamin received five times more
in Tin-math. This "harlot" was Tamar, and she con-         food than the rest  (43:1-34). Once again the sacks
ceived twins, Pharez and Zarah. Judah's sin was ex-        were filled with corn and their money placed in the
posed (38: l-30). Joseph became the overseer in            neck of the sack. Only this time Joseph ordered his
Potiphar's house and prospered greatly. Potiphar's         servants to put his silver cup in the sack of Ben-
wife attempted to get Joseph to commit adultery            jamin. As they departed for Canaan, Joseph
with her. He resisted her advances and one time            ordered his servants to pursue after them. When
fled from her, leaving his garment behind. When            they caught up with them they accused them of
Potiphar returned home, she unjustly accused               stealing Joseph's silver cup. The brothers denied it
Joseph of trying to rape her. In anger Potiphar put        and suggested that whoever had the cup should be
Joseph in prison  (39:1-23). While in prison Joseph        taken as a slave into Egypt. Search indicated that it
was joined by the chief butler and baker of Egypt.         was in Benjamin's sack. With grief they returned to
One night they both had a dream. The butler                Egypt, afraid of the future. Judah made an inter-
dreamed of three grape vines, and he had a wine            cessory plea, offering himself in Benjamin's place
glass in his hand. Joseph was led by God to inter-         (44:1-34). Joseph finally revealed himself to them
pret this to mean that in three days he would be           and explained that God had a purpose for all of this.
restored as butler before Pharaoh. The baker had a         He had to be sold into Egypt to preserve life. Joseph
dream of three baskets on his head, which Joseph           instructed his brothers to return to Canaan and get
interpreted to be three days and he would be killed        Jacob and all the family and that they should come
and his body fed to the birds. These events took           to live in  Goshen, for there were yet five years of
place as Joseph had said (40:1-23). After two years,       famine ahead. Pharaoh agreed and wagons were
Pharaoh had a dream and was directed by the                sent, laden with presents for Jacob. Upon hearing
butler to turn to Joseph for an interpretation. The        that Joseph was yet alive, Jacob resolved to go to
seven cows in his dream represented seven years of         Egypt (45: l-28). As Jacob departed from Canaan for
plenty followed by seven years of famine. Pharaoh          Egypt, the Lord met him in Beersheba. He told him
appointed Joseph to oversee the gathering of corn          not to fear to go to Egypt, that He would be with
during the seven years of plenty so that they would        him there, and that, though he would die in Egypt,
have food during the famine  (41:1-57). During the         his family would return to Canaan. A total of seven-
years of famine, Jacob and his family were also af-        ty souls went to Egypt. When they arrived near
fected. Jacob decided to send his i0 sons to Egypt to      Goshen, Joseph met them, and he and his father
buy corn. Benjamin, the youngest, remained home.           embraced. Jacob was at peace and he consented to
                                                           meet Pharaoh  (46:1-34). Pharaoh agreed to have
Jason L. Kortering is pastor of the Protestant Reformed    Jacob and his family stay in  Goshen, since they
Church of Grandville,  Michigan.                           were herdsmen and the land was fitted for this pur-


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                              133



pose. When Pharaoh asked Jacob his age, he                tire Bible? Prove that, from beginning to end,
replied, "130 years, few and evil have the days of        Genesis is historical.
the years of my life been."                                 2. Show from the whole of Scripture that the
  While Joseph administered the distribution of           first five books of the Bible (Pentateuch) are called
food, the people came to him and brought money,           the law. Why is this so?
cattle, deeds of land in exchange for food. The              3. What is the relationship between creation and
government of Egypt claimed one fifth of the in-          redemption? Is it true that a denial of creation leads
crease. Seed was provided and the harvest shared.         to a denial of redemption? Explain.
Jacob was now 147 years old and strength failed.
He made Joseph promise that when he died, Joseph            4. Should the fact that we have no original
would bury his body in Machpelah by his forefathers       manuscripts of Old Testament writings shake our
(47: 1-31). Joseph was informed that his father was       faith concerning the fact that they are the Word of
near death. He went to see him and took his two           God?
sons Ephraim and Manasseh along. Jacob rejoiced             5. Why is the Hebrew language so adapted to
in their presence. He blessed Joseph by pronounc-         Old Testament writing of types and shadows?
ing a blessing upon his two sons. Deliberately he           6. We consider Genesis to be a book of begin-
crossed his hands and placed his right hand on            nings. How does this relate to the central message
Ephraim, the youngest. Joseph pointed out this er-        of Christ? Consider in what way Christ is revealed
ror, but Jacob insisted that Ephraim would be the         in the book of Genesis.
greater. In this way he gave the double portion to
his beloved Joseph  (48:1-22). All the sons now             7. Having reflected on the outline of the book of
gathered before Jacob for his final blessing:             Genesis, we notice that most of it deals with the
Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Zebulun, Issachar,           lives of a few patriarchs: Adam, Noah, Abraham,
Dan, Gad,  Asher, Naphtali, Joseph, Benjamin.             Isaac, Jacob, Joseph. Make a list of the spiritual
These are pointed out to be the twelve tribes of          lessons God teaches us through the lives of each of
Israel. Once again he charged them to bury his            these men.
body in the cave of Machpelah. He then died ma-             8. The flood event has a prominent place in
jestically (49: l-33). Joseph instructed the Egyptians    Genesis. Demonstrate from the evidence in
to embalm the body of his father. After forty days        Genesis that God, from creation on, prepared the
of mourning, they obtained permission from                world for the flood (judgment). Why is this impor-
Pharaoh to make the journey to Canaan for burial.         tant for us to see when we face the judgment of fire
A great procession went and the Canaanites were           at the end of the world (II Peter  3)? How was the
moved with this show of loyalty. They returned            gospel of Christ revealed through the flood?
again to Egypt. Joseph's brothers, realizing that           9. Even though the main covenant line is
their father was dead, made overtures of peace            through Noah, Shem, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, the
with Joseph, asking forgiveness for their past sins.      "generations" also include Ishmael's and Esau's
He answered peacefully: ye thought evil against           generations. Why is this and what does this tell of
me, but God meant it for good. Having lived for 110       the relationship between the true Israel of God and
years, Joseph prepared to die. He took an oath of         the apostate Israel?
the children of Israel that they would carry his
bones with them when they would leave for the               10. In Galatians 4 Paul speaks of the Old Testa-
promised land. After his death, his body was em-          ment "Israel" as being children and that we are
balmed and put in a coffin (50: l-26).                    now adopted in Christ as mature. How does this
                                                          distinction help explain our relationship to the
QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION                                  patriarchs and what they mean to us from a
  1. Why is the method of interpreting Genesis            spiritual point of view, especially the sins in their
important for a person's understanding of the  en-        lives?

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


134                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER



FAITH OF OUR FATHERS
James D. Slopsema





                                         The Baptism Form


   According to the baptism form there are three                      washing away of our sins through Jesus Christ.
principal parts of the doctrine of holy baptism. The                  This truth concerning baptism is quite evident from
second principal part is that:                                        the sacrament itself. Baptism involves washing
         Holy baptism witnesseth and sealeth unto us the              with water. In baptism one is either sprinkled with
       washing away of our sins through Jesus Christ. There-          water or immersed in water. Now, water has the
       fore we are baptized in the name of the Father, and of         power to wash away the dirt of the body. Hence,
       the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. For when we are bap-           baptism is a sign and seal of God of the washing
       tized in the name of the Father, God the Father wit-           away of sins in the blood of Jesus Christ.
       nesseth and sealeth unto us, that he doth make an
       eternal covenant of grace with us, and adopts us for             Having established this fact, the baptism form
    his children and heirs, and therefore will provide us             proceeds to connect baptism to God's covenant of
    with every good thing, and avert all evil or turn it to           grace.
       our profit. And when we are baptized in the name of       .      In this the form is certainly correct. For baptism
    the Son, the Son sealeth unto us, that he doth wash us            along with the Lord's Supper is a sign and seal of
    in his blood from all our sin, incorporating us into the          the covenant of grace. Baptism is a sign of incorpor-
    fellowship of his death and resurrection, so that we              ation into this covenant; the Lord's Supper is a sign
    are freed from all our sins, and accounted righteous              of being continually nourished and fed in God's
    before God. In like manner, when we are baptized in               covenant. Both can serve as signs of the covenant,
    the name of the Holy Ghost, the Holy Ghost assures
    us, by this holy sacrament, that he will dwell in us,             of course, because they both are signs of the cross
   and sanctify us to be members of Christ, applying un-              of Jesus Christ, which stands at the heart of the
   to us, that which we have in Christ, namely, the                   covenant.
   washing away of our sins, and the daily renewing of                  The baptism form connects baptism to the cove-
   our lives, till we shall finally be presented without              nant by showing that we are baptized in the name
   spot or wrinkle among the assembly of the elect in life            of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
   eternal.                                                           This was the command of Christ Himself shortly
  According to the opening sentence of this para-                     before His ascension into heaven. In Matthew
graph of the baptism form, baptism "witnesseth                        28:19 He charged His disciples, "Go ye therefore,
and sealeth unto us the washing away of our sins                      and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of
through Jesus Christ."                                                the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost."
   The first principal part of baptism signifies the                  Now, according to the baptism form, when we are
impurity of our souls. Consequently, baptism                          baptized in the name of the Father, God the Father
teaches us that we with our children are all con-                     witnesses and seals to us that He makes an eternal
ceived and born in sin, are all children of wrath and                 covenant of grace with us.
cannot enter into the kingdom of God unless we are                      It ought to be quite obvious that when the form
born again.                                                           speaks here of God the Father it refers not to the
                                                                      first person of the holy Trinity alone but to the
  Following from this is the second principal part                    Triune God. For it is not the first person alone who
of baptism, that baptism signifies and seals to us the                establishes the covenant of grace with us apart
                                                                      from the second and third persons of the Godhead.
James D. Slopsema is pastor  of the Protestant Reformed               The establishment of the covenant is the work of
Church of Randolph, Wisconsin.                                        the triune God. That triune God is time and again


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                               135



called Father in the Scriptures. The triune God is        God completely and forever.
the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and for Christ's        Such, briefly, is the covenant of grace.
sake is also our God and Father. And it is in this
same sense that the baptism form speaks here of             It ought to be evident from this brief description
God the Father.                                           that the covenant of grace is all of God. Its concep-
                                                          tion, its establishment, its continuation, its preser-
  Jumping ahead just a bit we ought to bear in            vation are all of God and not of us. Furthermore,
mind that when the baptism form speaks of the             this beautiful covenant is with the elect of God
Son, it speaks not just of the eternal Son of God, the    alone, whom God has eternally destined to eternal
second person of the Trinity, but of the eternal Son      life. In that connection, the covenant itself is also
as He came into our flesh in the fulness of time to       the essence of that life eternal to which God has
be our Mediator  - Jesus Christ. And when there-          destined His people.
fore the form speaks of the Holy Spirit, again the
reference is not simply to the third person of the          Now, in baptism, whether it be our own baptism
Godhead but to the Spirit of God as given to Christ       or the baptism of another we witness, God
at His ascension into heaven to be the Spirit of          witnesses and seals to us that He makes such a
Christ, through Whom Christ dwells in the church          covenant of grace with us. And He assures us
and blesses her.                                          through baptism that in that covenant He "adopts
                                                          us for his children and heirs, and therefore will pro-
  At this point it is very important in our consider-     vide us with every good thing, and avert all evil or
ation of the baptism form to understand the nature        turn it to our profit." This "us" of course is the
of God's covenant.                                        believer, whose faith is the fruit and thus the proof
  Many ideas concerning the covenant have arisen          of his election by God.
throughout the history of the Reformed churches.            Now the baptism form goes on to teach that
The covenant of God has been conceived of as an           when we are baptized in the name of the Son, God
alliance between two parties over against a third.        the Son seals to us that He washes us in His blood
Again, it has been described as a contract or agree-      from all our sins.
ment between two parties with promises, condi-              The Son referred to here, we have seen, is the
tions, and threats. It has also been viewed as essen-     Son of God come in the flesh as our Mediator, the
tially a conditional promise. These views, however,       Lord Jesus Christ.
inevitably lead us into Arminian waters and are to
be rejected.                                                It is of utmost importance that we have also this
                                                          assurance of the Son of God in baptism concerning
  Rather is the covenant of grace to be viewed as a       the washing away of our sins. For the covenant of
living relation of friendship and fellowship be-          God can be established and maintained with us on-
tween God and His elect people in Jesus Christ.           ly in the way of the washing away of sins.
  Key to this concept of the covenant is the idea of        We must understand that by nature we are cor-
friendship and love. In the covenant of grace God         rupt and depraved. So total and complete is this
draws near to His people with His eternal love. In        depravity of ours that we can only hate God with
that love He richly blesses them. He adopts them as       all our heart. This hatred comes to manifestation in
His own children, making them heirs of His eternal        a life of terrible rebellion against God. We will not
inheritance. He cares for them and provides for all       nor can we in the least bit serve Him according to
their needs, whether physical or spiritual, whether       His commandments. All our works are evil. We are
for time or for eternity. The fruit of this wonderful     guilty of transgressing in one form or another all
love of God for His people is that they in turn love      the commandments of God. This, in turn, offends
Him with deep gratitude and devotion. They                God greatly. What an abomination we are before
cherish Him as their God and Father. In this love         God in our sin! It ought to be quite obvious that no
they serve Him with all their hearts, seeking in all      covenant relation of love and fellowship can exist
things to honor and glorify Him. The covenant is a        between God and us so long as we remain in this
most beautiful relation of love between God and           state. We do not want God; nor can God have us.
His people.                                                 For God's covenant with us to exist it is
  In the context of this loving relationship there is     necessary that our sins be washed away. First, the
also a most beautiful fellowship. In His covenant         guilt of our horrible sins must be removed through
love God draws near to His people in fellowship.          perfect payment so that they are no longer offen-
He walks with them and talks with them. He lives          sive to God. Then we must be delivered from the
and dwells with them in His tabernacle. He shares         horrible depravity that has taken hold of us. We
all things with them. He and His people live one life     must be changed spiritually so that we no longer
together so that the elect of God are able to enjoy       rebel against God in hatred but serve Him in love


136                                        THE STANDARD BEARER



and adoration. To use the expression of the baptism       washing away of our sins.
form, we must be "freed from all our sins, and ac-          We have already seen that the Holy Spirit re-
counted righteous before God." This constitutes           ferred to here is the Holy Spirit as given to Christ at
the washing away of our sins. And it is only then         His ascension to be the Spirit of Christ.
that there can exist between God and us the
beautiful relation of friendship and fellowship             We must understand that if our sins will actually
which is the covenant of grace.                           be washed away it is necessary that we be brought
                                                          into living connection with the cross and resurrec-
  This washing away of our sins is accomplished           tion of Jesus Christ. To use the language of the
only through the death and resurrection of Jesus          form, we must be incorporated into the fellowship
Christ. Through His death Christ paid the full brice      of Christ's death and resurrection. This is ac-
for our sins so that we are no more guilty before         complished by faith. By faith we are made one with
God. In Christ we are righteous. The cross has            Christ, one in His death and one in His resurrec-
removed the offense of all our sins. And  iit is          tion. It is by faith and by faith alone that the power
through the power of Christ's resurrection thCT!t we      of the cross and the resurrection actually reaches us
are delivered from sin's control, changed and             to wash away our sins.
renewed to serve God in love.                               This all important work of bringing us into living
  The washing away of our sins in Christ's blood is       connection with the cross and resurrection of
the key to God's covenant with us. That washing           Christ and applying to us that which we have in
away of sin is graphically depicted for us in the         Christ is the work of the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of
sacrament of baptism. That we may be assured of           Christ.
God's covenant with us, Jesus Christ, God's Son,
assures us through baptism that He does "wash us            And this same Spirit assures us in baptism that
in his blood from all our sins, incorporating us into     He will accomplish this great work in us. Through
the fellowship of his death and resurrection so that      baptism He assures us that He will dwell in us, that
we are freed from all our sins, and accounted             He will sanctify us to be members of Christ by faith
righteous before God."                                    and that He will apply to us that which we have in
                                                          Christ, namely, the washing away of our sins. Fur-
  Finally, the baptism form teaches us that when          thermore, He assures us through baptism that He
we are baptized in the name of the Holy Spirit, the       will continue this work until we shall finally be
Holy Spirit assures us that He will dwell in us and       presented without spot or wrinkle among the
apply to us all that we have in Christ, namely, the       assembly of the elect in life eternal.

GUIDED INTO ALL TRUTH
Thomas C. Miersma





                   Scripture Interprets Scripture:
                                      Grammatically



  "We confess that this word of God was not sent, nor     commanded his servants, the prophets and apostles, to
delivered by the will of man, but that holy men of God    commit his revealed word to writing; and he himself
spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost, as the        wrote with his own finger, the two tables of the law.
apostle Peter saith. And that afterwards God from a       Therefore we call such writings holy and divine scrip-
special care, which he has for us and our salvation,      tures. " Confession of Faith, Article III.


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                               137



  With these words sf our Confession of Faith we              Two things should be noted however in this con-
give expression to the Reformed truth that the              nection. First of all there are tools available which
Scriptures are the written Word of God. They are            can be used to assist us in some measure to get
the written record of God's revelation of Himself to        around this barrier, and a few will be mentioned
us, "holy and divine scriptures" or writings. They          below. Secondly, part of the value of studying
are verbally inspired. The understanding of God's           Scripture in the original languages is that it is being
Word and its interpretation therefore necessarily           studied in  another  language, which necessarily
involves us in a study of the written text of Scrip-        forces the reader to pay more attention to what he
ture. This is what Bible study and exegesis are all         is reading. If you know a language other than
about. The principle, "Scripture interprets Scrip-          English, or learned one in school, such as Dutch,
ture," requires careful study of the text of Scrip-         Spanish, French, or German, use it! Try reading the
ture. This also characterized the reformers' doc-           text you are studying in that language and
trine of Scriptural interpretation.                         translating it into English. It is surprising how
  As Scripture is the written Word of God it re-            much can be learned in this way. Note the dif-
quires, if we are to be faithful to it, a careful study     ferences between it and our King James translation
of what it says. Each word must be studied as to its        and ask yourself the question, Why? It is exactly
meaning in the whole of Scripture. Each expression          this process of questioning, meditation, and
and word must also be studied in its grammatical            spiritual reflection which is at the heart of good Bi-
relationship to the rest of the verse and sentence.         ble study.
Each sentence must be studied in its relationship to          What then do you do if you have access only to
the whole of the passage. This study of the meaning         the English Bible, and how is this principle, "Scrip-
and relationships of words, grammar, and language           ture interprets Scripture," to be applied to the text?
belongs to sound and careful Bible study and inter-         It is to this question that we turn our attention. This
pretation. It is well to consider this principle which      is as the reformers themselves intended. It was in
the reformers taught us as we also begin another            harmony with the recognition that Scripture is the
season of Bible study in our churches. The purpose          holy and divine Word of God that they sought to
of such study is exactly to let the text speak, and to      put in the hands of God's people faithful transla-
hear exactly what God is saying to us. It keeps us          tions of the Scriptures. It is one of the particular
from intruding our own thoughts and opinions into           blessings of our King James translation as opposed
the text and twisting its meaning. It will guard our        to many so-called modern translations, that it lends
societies from becoming a mere exchange of our              itself to careful Bible study.
own opinions and feelings about the text, all of
which are worthless and meaningless if they are               The place to begin our answer to this question is
not rooted in the text of Holy Scripture. I want to         first of all to look at our Bibles for a moment and
take the time therefore in this article and a few           say something about the many Bible translations
which follow to treat these doctrinal principles also       available. Many of these modern translations slide
from the practical point of view of our own Bible           over difficulties in the text or attempt to simplify
study, that we might not simply learn about the             them. They are so often not so much translations as
reformers but also follow in their footsteps.               paraphrases, in which the translator, so-called, at-
                                                            tempts to put into his own words what he thinks or
  Where do you begin with such study? Ideally               feels the text means rather than translating what it
you begin with the original languages of Scripture.         actually says. There is no good reason for this, and
God gave His Word in the Greek (New Testament)              it makes Bible study in English more difficult, not
and Hebrew (Old Testament) languages and it is to           easier.
them we turn first of all. That is why we require of
our ministers that they both know these languages             To use but one example drawn from the current
and use them. The reformers themselves were                 and popular New International Version. The opening
students of the original languages for the same             words of Colossians  214 in that version read:
reason. Indeed, so desirable did they consider the          "Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly
study of Scripture in the original languages that           loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, . . . " while
Luther even advocated that they be taught, both             our King James translation reads,  "Put on therefore,
Greek and Hebrew, in the Christian day school.              as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mer-
Having said this however, we recognize that this is         cies, . . . " Notice two differences here. First, our
an ideal which is beyond the reach of most, save            King James Version  uses such historic Reformed
the minister.                                               doctrinal terminology as "elect." The KJVhas itself
                                                            helped to shape our theological vocabulary in
Thomas C. Miersma is pastor of First Protestant Reformed    English and this is one of the advantages of using it
Church of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.                        in Bible study. But secondly, notice the difference


138                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



between "bowels of mercies" and "compassion. " The           ters being reduced in size, while the name meaning
text says "bowels of mercies" in the original. If the        Lord is printed normally with only the first letter
text of Scripture is verbally inspired, as we main-          capitalized. Thus Psalm 23 begins, "The LORD
tain it is, then in our study we want to know as             (Jehovah) is my shepherd," emphasizing by that
much as is possible what the Holy Spirit actually            name the covenant character of Him Who is our
said and how He said it. Bowels draws a vivid pic-           shepherd, as He Who takes us into His covenant
ture before our minds which the mere word com-               fellowship in Christ, and not simply the sovereign
passion does not, though that may be the meaning             lordship of our shepherd.
of the figure here. Fundamentally such para-                   Similarly,  our KJV carefully distinguishes as far
phrasing is a departure from the Reformed doctrine           as is possible between the words of the original text
of verbal inspiration.                                       and those which were inserted by the translator to
  What else can we notice about the Bibles we use?           make a smooth English sentence and meaning.
There are certain things about our  KJV  which we            These inserted words are necessary and we or-
tend to overlook, although we know them, which               dinarily ignore the fact that they are insertions
can serve us in Bible study. The use of the pro-             when we read. But in Bible study it is worthwhile
nouns "thee" and "thou" for instance, regardless             to take note of them. They are the words usually
now of whether they are more reverent or not, are            printed in italics in the text. Sometimes reading the
an aid to understanding the text. It can make a              text without them brings out the meaning more
significant difference in the meaning of a passage if        sharply and vividly and with even greater power.
"thy" (second person  singular)  rather than "you"           Try reading Psalm 36 this way, particularly verses
(second person  plural)  is used. For example, in a          4, 5, and 6, noticing the parallels and equations
passage of the Word of God in which the church is            which are drawn in each verse and the way they
addressed as "thou," we are pointed to the fact that         are brought home.
the church as an organic whole, one body, and                  These tools are given us to use in understanding
therefore singular is being addressed. But where             God's Word as we read it and to aid our study of
God addresses the church as "you," the living                that Word. This does not mean that these things are
members of that body are addressed individually.             always going to be helpful to us in our Bible study,
See for example I Thessalonians  1:4.                        but they are intended to bring us as close to the
  Another familiar matter is the distinction be-             original language of the text in its inspired form in
tween the names Jehovah and Lord in the KJV. The             the original languages as is possible. We are to use
name Jehovah, the exact spelling of which is not ex-         them. Good Bible study begins with a good and
actly clear in the original, is translated by the word       faithful text and translation, and this we have in
"Lord" but is printed differently in our Bibles than         our Authorized Version. This is but a beginning
the English translation of the Hebrew word  Adonai,          however, and we will pursue this subject further,
meaning Lord. Jehovah is usually spelled LORD                the Lord willing, in a coming article. (to be con-
but with all the letters in capitals, the last three let-    tinued)

THE STRENGTH OF YOUTH
Ronald L. Cammenga





                                       The Moonies (2)


  Last time we discussed the history and basic                 Perhaps one of the most fundamental deviations
beliefs of the Moonies. In this article we want to           of the Moonies is their teaching concerning God
evaluate this popular cult, as well as consider our          and concerning Jesus Christ. The Moonies deny the
calling with respect to an organization like the             deity of Jesus Christ. Denying the deity of Christ,
Moonies.                                                     the Moonies also deny the truth of the Trinity.


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  139



These two closely connected errors are sufficient          not of a man. And immediately the angel of the
reasons in themselves to classify the Moonies as a         Lord smote him, because he gave not God the
cult. This is always one outstanding characteristic        glory: and he was eaten of worms, and gave up the
of a cult - the denial of the Godhead of Jesus.            ghost" (Acts  12:22, 23).
   The Bible teaches, and the Christian religion has         It is also heresy on the part of the Moonies that
always confessed, that Jesus Christ is not only a          they regard of equal and higher authority than the
man, but also very God, the Son of God in human            Word of God a human book. This book is  The
flesh. This was the confession of Thomas when he           Divine Principle. The Divine Principle is the 536-page
beheld the risen Christ: "My Lord and my God"              book containing the visions that Moon is supposed
(John  20:28). This was Jesus' own testimony con-          to have received on Easter Day in 1936. The Divine
cerning Himself during His earthly ministry. To the        Principle  claims to be the  I'new, ultimate, final
Jews He said, "I and my Father are one" (John              truth." Here, too, the Moonies show themselves to
10:30). Clearly Jesus was proclaiming His own dei-         be a cult. Still another characteristic of a cult is its
ty to the Jews who were standing around Him. And           denial of the authority of the Bible, and its raising
this was exactly how they understood Jesus' state-         up some authority above or alongside of the Bible,
ment, because the very next verse records that they        usually the writings of the founder of the cult. In
took up stones to stone Him (John 10:31). Through-         many, many ways the teachings of The Divine Prin-
out the New Testament Jesus' deity is affirmed, as         ciple flatly contradict the teachings of the Bible. The
for example in Acts  20:28 and I Timothy 3:16.             Christian knows only one book that is "able to
  The Moonie teaching concerning Christ is not             make (men) wise unto salvation through faith
new. Denying the deity of Christ is one of the oldest      which is in Christ Jesus"; only one book that has
heresies in the church. This was the error of the          been "given by inspiration of God, and is profitable
scribes and Pharisees of Jesus' own day. This was          for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruc-
the error at the heart of the Christological con-          tion in righteousness" (II Timothy  3:15, 16). That
troversies in the first centuries of the New Testa-        book is not  The Divine Principle,  but the Bible.
ment church. Nor are the Moonies unique in this              There are many other errors embraced by the
today. Other cults such as the Jehovah's Witnesses,        Moonies which we could mention, serious errors,
The Way International, and the Hare Krishna at-            errors which support the charge that they are a
tack the deity of Jesus Christ. No group can claim to      cult, antichristian, and devilish. There is the fact
be Christian, in any sense of the word, and deny           that Moon himself, the great leader of the Unifica-
the fundamental doctrine upon which Christianity           tion Church and the one of whom every Moonie is
depends, the deity of Jesus.                               a devout disciple, is an adulterer and a thief. There
  In close connection with their denial of Jesus'          is the Moonie denial of salvation by faith alone with
deity, the Moonies are guilty of ascribing deity to        its teaching of salvation by works. There is the
their leader, the Rev. Sun Myung Moon. This is             Moonie denial of the Fall and the spiritual conse-
often what happens. Often it is the case that a cult       quences of the Fall for every man, the Rev. Sun
denies the deity of Jesus in the interests of pro-         Myung Moon included. There is the Moonie cor-
claiming the deity of the head and founder of the          ruption of the Biblical teaching concerning mar-
cult. This is indisputably true of the Moonies. This       riage and the place of marriage in the life of the
is apparent just from the names by which the               church. And many other errors.
Moonies refer to their leader: Lord of the Second
Advent, Lord of Creation, True Father. This is also          It is significant that even the most liberal of
apparent from the acts of worship which the                Christian organizations, The National Council of
Moonies render to Sun Myung Moon. Moonies are              Churches, refuses to recognize the Unification
taught to pray to Sun Myung Moon and his wife in           Church as a legitimate church. After studying the
the same way that Christians pray to Jesus Christ.         request of the Unification Church for admittance
Moon's writings carry ultimate authority with the          into the NCC, the NCC concluded: "The Unifica-
Moonies, authority above and beyond any authori-           tion Church is not a Christian church because its
ty that they might be willing to grant to the Holy         doctrine of the nature of the triune God is er-
Scriptures. Moon and his followers ought to take to        roneous; its Christology is incompatible with Chris-
heart the story of  Herod  in Acts 12. There we are        tian teaching and belief; and its teaching on salva-
told that after  Herod rendered a very stirring ora-       tion and the means of grace is inadequate and faul-
tion the people cried out, "It is a voice of a god, and    ty." The NCC concluded its study by asserting that
                                                           "the claims of the Unification Church to Christian
                                                           identity cannot be recognized because the role and
Ronald L. Cammenga is pastor of the Protestant Reformed    authority of Scripture are compromised in the
Church  of Loveland, Colorado.                             teachings of the Unification Church; revelations in-


140                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



voked as divine and normative in Divine Principle         that because young people feel unloved by their
contradict basic elements of Christian faith; and a       parents, who in many instances are wrapped up in
`new, ultimate, final truth' is presented to complete     the materialism of the 20th century, and unloved
and supplant all previously recognized religious          by the church and the members of the church, that
teachings, including those of Christianity." Chris        they turn to the Moonies. In the closely knit
Elkins writes in his book,  What Do You Say  To A         organization of the Moonies they feel loved and
Moonie?, "For conservative Christians this pro-           cared for.
nouncement of the NCC commission is significant,            I think that it's not difficult to see that this matter
for if they, the most accepting of Christian groups       of love and the need to feel loved enters into the
cannot view Moon's theology as valid Christian            picture. The quickest way to drive our young peo-
teaching, how much more should conservative               ple out of our homes and away from our churches
Christians, fundamentalists and  evangelicals,  resist    is not to show them the love and concern that they
the distortions of Christianity that the Unification      need.
Church works throughout the United States and
the world?" (p. 44).                                        Yet, it seems to me that the matter goes deeper
                                                          than this. What is the best protection for ourselves
What must be our calling with respect to the              and our young people against the seductions of a
Moonies? Certainly we ought not to buy their can-         group like the Moonies? Knowledge, solid, doc-
dy, or their flowers, or whatever else they happen        trinal knowledge of the Scriptures and the Re-
to be selling. Since the Moonies are reluctant to         formed Faith. How is it possible that so many
identify themselves forthrightly, you're probably         young people are swept away by the Moonies? It is
going to have to ask a few pointed questions before       possible because they do not any longer know the
they finally divulge their real identity. The apostle     Scriptures, even the fundamental doctrines of the
John in II John 9, 10 really lays down our calling        Scriptures. Not knowing the Scriptures, they err.
with respect to the Moonies, and others who hold          They are not spiritually mature men and women,
to the same heresies as the Moonies. "Whosoever           but fickle "children, tossed to and fro, and carried
transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of         about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of
Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doc-         men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in
trine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.     wait to deceive" (Ephesians  4:14). Our young peo-
If there come any unto you, and bring not this doc-       ple, and we with them, must be grounded and set-
trine, receive him not into your house, neither bid       tled in the truth. This is our protection against the
him God speed." The Word of God is plain enough           appeal of the cults. We must know the truth, be con-
here. We are not even to receive into our homes           vinced of the truth, and be determined to stand on
those who like the Moonies (the Jehovah's  Wit-           the truth. This will arm us against the fiery darts of
-nesses would also fall into this category) deny the      the Wicked One hurled at us through an organiza-
doctrine of Christ, deny that Jesus Christ is the Son     tion like the Moonies. This is why you young peo-
of God. But are we not to witness to them? This is        ple must go to catechism, and learn your catechism,
the witness that we give to them, and it is a power-      and receive the instruction at catechism. This is
ful and unmistakable witness at that. We do not           why you must go to the preaching services of the
allow them into our living-rooms and give them the        church, and this is what the preaching must do for
opportunity to proselytize us. Sometimes we think         you. This is why you ought to go to Young People's
that if we only set them down and argue with them,        Society, read the Beacon Lights and Standard Bearer,
since we have such a good grasp of the Scriptures,        as well as other good Christian books and maga-
we will undoubtedly be able to out-argue them and         zines. In this way you are fitted with the whole ar-
prove to them the error of their ways. This is the        mor of God and equipped to stand in the evil day.
wrong attitude to assume, and not the one the
Scriptures in this case enjoin upon us. When they
come knocking at your door, don't invite them into
your home, but confront them with their error,                The Standard Bearer
warn them against the consequences of holding to
their error, and shut the door in their faces.             makes a thoughtful gift
  Undoubtedly the question arises in the minds of
parents and office-bearers: "What is the best pro-          for the sick & shut-in.
tection for ourselves and our young people against
an organization like the Moonies?"
  Many who write against the Moonies say love;                 Give the Standard Bearer.
love is the way to keep our young people from join-
ing a group like the Moonies. It is often the case


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                              141



QUESTION BQX
Cornelius Hanko





                   The Genealogies of Jesus Christ


  A reader asks:                                            difference of spelling in the Hebrew and the
  Concerning the ancestry of Christ in Matthew's            Greek), and Amon, and others. It is surprising that
Gospel and also in the Gospel of Luke: Is this also         God-fearing Hezekiah is a son of wicked Ahaz, even
the covenantal line of the true people of God, or           as the godly Josiah is a son of wicked  Amon. One
are there unbelievers in this lineage? Among these          wonders whether they may have had God-fearing
people are some prominent names; but also some              mothers. It does become evident that Christ is born
folk which are not familiar names; how is it that the       from such wicked sinners as we are, and that God
two lists are not the same?                                 gathers and preserves His church purely by grace
                                                            and in eternal covenant faithfulness.
  The first question is whether the genealogies as
recorded in the Gospel according to Matthew and               The second question reads: "How is it that the
in Luke trace the covenant line throughout the Old          two lists are not the same?"
Testament, and if so, why are there unbelievers               Bible students are by no means agreed on the dif-
mentioned in that covenant line?                            ference between the genealogies of Christ as
  Both Matthew in chapter  1:2ff., and Luke in              recorded in Matthew  1:2ff. and in Luke  3:23ff.
chapter  3:23ff. trace the covenant line, even                Some think that both Matthew and Luke trace
though Matthew begins with Abraham and Luke                 the lineage of Joseph as the legal father of Jesus.
begins (in reverse) with Adam. God's covenant line          Others are of the opinion that both give us the
runs in continued generations. God said to                  lineage of Mary. Still others maintain that Matthew
Abraham, "I will establish my covenant between              traces the generations of Joseph, while Luke traces
me and thee, and thy seed after thee in their genera-       the line of Mary. And there are still others who con-
tions. If The seed and the generations are not the          sider Matthew's account to be the lineage of Mary,
same, since the covenant seed is born in the scope          while Luke presents the lineage of Joseph.
of the generations. Not the natural children of               It seems to me, that in the light of all of Scripture,
Abraham are the seed, but the elect in Christ are           particularly of the Old Testament, we are com-
counted for the seed. Galatians teaches us that             pelled to agree with the last mentioned, namely,
Christ is centrally the Seed, therefore all those who       that Matthew traces the lineage of Mary, while
are in Christ are counted for the seed (Gal.  3:16,         Luke gives us the ancestors of Joseph.
29). Abraham is the father of all believers; therefore
the true believers both in the old and new dispensa-          The main argument for this position is that Mary
tion are the seed of Abraham. That accounts for it          must have been of the royal line of David, which
that in the line of generations there are also wicked       Matthew traces through Solomon and the kings of
reprobate. Esau was born in the line of generations         Judah to the captivity, and which continues after
of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, yet Esau was a                the captivity in Zerubbabel and his descendants.
reprobate. Also many of the kings of Judah were             Thus the line ends in Jacob and Joseph, Joseph be-
wicked, such as Rehoboam (Roboam in Matthew),               ing mentioned as the husband of Mary, even as we
Ahaz (referred to as Achaz  - the difference is the         read in Matthew  1:16, "And Jacob begat Joseph,
                                                            the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus,
Cornelius Hanko is a minister emeritus in the Protestant    who is called the Christ." Thus the father of Mary
Reformed Churches.                                          was Jacob, while Luke gives Heli as the father of


142                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



Joseph.                                                     unto me that is to be ruler in Israel, whose goings
   The prophets spoke of the fact that Jesus would          forth have been from of old, from everlasting."
be from the royal seed of David, just as He was                Since Jesus was the royal Son of David the people
from the covenant seed of Abraham. When Jacob               of His day expected Him to establish an earthly
blessed his sons he said concerning Judah, "The             kingdom. See John  6:15; John  18:33, 37;  19:14, 15,
sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver         19 and other passages.
from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto             From all these passages we must conclude that
h'im shall the gathering of the people be." In II           Matthew gives us the royal line of Jesus ending in
Samuel  7:12, 13 we read that God assures David,            Mary.
"And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt
sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after           The genealogy of Luke must refer to Joseph.
thee, which shallproceed out of thy bowels, and I           Since the line of generations in Matthew ends in
will establish his kingdom. He shall build an house         Jacob and the genealogy of Luke ends in Heli, Scrip-
for my name, and I will establish the throne of his         ture gives us no reason to believe that these are
kingdom forever." This refers to Solomon as a type          both the line of Mary, but does give us reason to
of Christ, and therefore also to Christ who is the          believe that in Luke we have the lineage of Christ
fulfillment of God's promise to David. Therefore            through Joseph, Jesus' legal father.
we read in verse  14,, "I will be his father, and he           In Luke 1:27 Joseph is referred to as being of the
shall be my son." And again in verses 15 and 16,            house of David. In Luke  2:48 he is referred to as
"But my mercy shall not depart away from him, as            Jesus' father. In Matthew  2:19-23 Joseph assumes
I took it from Saul, whom I put away before me.             the responsibility for both Mary and Jesus. In Mat-
And thy house and thy kingdom shall be estab-               thew 1:20 God Himself addresses Joseph as the son
lished forever before thee, thy throne shall be             of David and entrusts the virgin Mary and her
established forever." This is confirmed in Psalm            promised son to his care. This repeated emphasis on
89, particularly the verses 24, 19, and 36, and also        Joseph as the legal father of Jesus and of the lineage
Isaiah  9:6.                                                of David must have its significance in Scripture.
  In harmony with the promise spoken by the                 Therefore, since the genealogy of Luke continues
prophets, true, spiritual Israel looked for the prom-       the line from David through David's son Nathan,
ised King, who as a natural son would restore the           rather than through Solomon, there is good reason
throne of David. Long before this, Abraham longed           to believe that this record traces the ancestry of
to see His day. Judah spoke of the coming of Shiloh,        Joseph.
the bringer of peace, or Prince of Peace. Later the           The account of Luke begins with the words
prophet Isaiah declared, "For unto us a child is born,      (Luke  3:23), "And Jesus himself began to be about
unto us a son is given: and the government shall be         thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son
upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called             of Joseph, which was the son of Heli."
Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The ever-              The question naturally arises, why did Luke in-
lasting Father, The Prince of Peace"  (9:6). The            sert the words in parentheses "as was supposed"?
prophet Zechariah aroused the people saying (9:9),          The meaning certainly cannot be that Joseph was
"Rejoice greatly, 0 daughter of Zion! Shout, 0              not the father of Jesus, since this would contradict
daughter of Jerusalem; Behold, thy king cometh un-          the emphasis that Joseph was indeed the legal
to thee: he is just and having salvation; lowly, and        father of our Savior. This can only be taken to stress
riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an          the fact that Joseph was not the natural father, but
ass" (Luke  19:38).                                         indeed the legal father of Christ, a responsibility
  The angel announced to the shepherds, "Fear               that he assumed when he married Mary (Matthew
not, for behold, I bring unto you good tidings of           1: 18-25). Therefore when he and Mary went to
great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you       Bethlehem to register according to the decree of
is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is    Caesar Augustus, Joseph did not go merely for his
Christ the Lord." See also the annunciation to Mary         own sake, but also for Mary's sake, and to assume
in Luke  1:26-33.                                           the responsibility of being the legal father of Jesus.
  What is even more significant is the fact that the        In the providence of God Jesus was born in Bethle-
wisemen came to Jerusalem inquiring about the               hem, according to the Scriptures (Luke  2:4, 5).
promised King. "Where is he that is born king of              It seems to me that this is the obvious and
the Jews?" Whereupon the scribes turned to the              necessary explanation for the differences between
prophecy of Micah  (5:2): "But thou, Bethlehem              the genealogies of Matthew and of Luke.
Ephratah, though thou be little among the
thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall come forth           Give the gift of the Standard Bearer!


                                                        THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                143



                                                    Book Review


GOOD FRIDAY,  by Jeremias De Decker; trans-                                    Oh, here the Comforter of all stands comfort-
lated from the Dutch by Henrietta Ten Harmsel;                                       less,
Paideia Press, Jordan Station, Ontario, Canada,                                The Healer wounded here, the Liberator bound.
1984; 147 pp. $7.95 ($9.95 Canada) (paper).                                  In "Christ Crucified", just after Christ had cried,
(Reviewed by Gertrude Hoeksema)                                            "My God, my God, oh, why hast thou forsake
  From September, 1982, to February, 1983, Miss                            me?" he tells what it means for us:
Ten Harmsel took a leave of absence from teaching                              God's loved one hangs today (Oh, pain too deep
at Calvin College to translate Jeremias De Decker's                                  for words)
rather lengthy and detailed poem, Good Friday. De                                 Forsaken by Gods love,
Decker, born in 1609, a close friend of Rembrandt                                 That he once more might send
and a member of the Reformed Church of the Neth-                               God's friendly love on us, who hated God, our
erlands, has been characterized as a biblical pietist                                Friend!
and a man with a broad knowledge and under-
standing of Scripture. As a poet, he was personally                          And in "Christ Buried":
deeply involved in his religious writings, which                               His flesh and bones, however, will not rot  -
reflect a sensitive earnestness and a strong moral                                Oh, surely, surely not!
and ethical emphasis. In a prologue and nine                                   For God will wake him shortly from his tomb
headings describing scenes from the Last Supper                                   Not rotting, but in bloom!
through the Resurrection, he tells the story of our                          The translation is careful and accurate and cap-
Savior's suffering during Passion week.                                    tures the rhythms of the original (which is printed
  Good Friday is beautiful poetry and easy to read;                        in the back of the book). Occasionally in both the
and the reproductions of etchings by Rembrandt fit                         original and translation, and in a few instances in
the tone of De Decker's poetry and enhance the                             the translation only, Arminianism creeps in, as in
book. A man of his times, De Decker wrote in the                           the lines:
Baroque style of his day, with vivid imagery and                               He was the Paschal lamb who promised long
paradoxical word-play. For example, in the section,
"Christ Accused" (before Pilate) he writes:                                          ago
                                                                                  To suffer for the woe
    0 Jesu, all of us, whose sins are very great,                                 Of all humanity;
       Will need an advocate.                                                  Therefore he had to bleed, be butchered on this
    When at God's throne I stand in all my misery,                                   tree.
       Let your tongue speak for me.                                         The book is a fresh, inspiring approach to the suf-
    For you, to don the clothes of Advocate above,                         ferings and death of our Savior, with surprising in-
       First had to show your love                                         sights taken from the whole of Scripture, and I
    By letting human courts condemn your guiltless                         recommend it for devotional and edifying reading.
          state
       Without an advocate.
  In "Christ Beaten, Spit Upon, and Mocked":                                      Take the time to read and
    Here he who speaks .to God to heal our wicked-                               study the Standard Bearer.
          ness
       Stands dumb, without a sound;



                                                                                              ATTENTION TEACHERS!!!
                            NO'TICE!!!                                        Covenant Christian School of Lynden, Washington, has an  open-
  Classis East will meet in regular session on January 8, 1986, at         ing for a teaching-administrator in the Liberal Arts subjects for the
the Hudsonville Protestant Reformed Church. Material to be treated          1986-87 school year.
at this session must be in the hands of the Stated Clerk at least three       Please send enquiries to: Covenant Christian School, 9088  North-
weeks prior to the convening of this meeting.                              lawn Road, Lynden, Washington 98264, or phone: Peter Adams,
                                            Jon Huisken, Stated Clerk       (206) 398-2774, or Albert De Boer,  (206) 354-5825.


  THE STANDARD BEARER
          P.O. Box 6064
Grand  Rapid&  Michigan 49506



                                                                                      .
                                                                           : . . .             -2  - -r     _--
                                                              by  *  :.


j- 144                                       THE STANDARD BEARER




                           News From Our Churches
                                                  November 14,1985



     The response to the conference on "Marriage:           Church in Jenison, Michigan. The purpose of the
  For Better, For Worse" was more than expected; so         newsletter is not only to be informative and pro-
  a larger meeting room had to be obtained. I would         vide opportunity for church members to display
  imagine that materials `used during this conference       their literary talents, but its primary goal is to en-
  will be made available to those who were not able         courage and strengthen the mutual bond of Chris-
  to attend. When I find out more information about         tian love in the church. An expression of that Chris-
  this, I'll write about it.                                tian love is seen in a note from the Society section
     As many of us know, Synod 1985 decided to raise        of the newsletter where the Senior Young People's
  $20,000 for a special emergency medical fund for          of Faith Church has taken a special interest in
  Missionary  Houck s son Jeremy. Of this amount            remembering the sick, shut-ins, and bereaved of
  $10,000 is to be collected this year by the churches      the church with gifts, cards, and visits.
  through various means such as collections, and the          A little over a month ago, Rev. K. Hanko wrote a
  other $10,000 is to be included in the Synodical          letter about the progress of the church in Pennsyl-
  assessments for 1986. The fund is growing rapidly         vania.  ". . . Others, who have the same hunger for
  and the goal of $20,000 will certainly be reached         the preaching, also rejoice that God has brought
  during 1986. This kind of giving is commendable           them at last to a church which takes seriously the
  and shows the willingness of our churches to give         calling to watch for the souls of God's people . . . ."
  faithfully of that which God has faithfully given to      The group has finished its second year in good
  us.                                                       financial condition, an evidence that God has not
     The Men's Society of South Holland Church, Il-         only blessed them in a spiritual way but also in the
  linois, will be studying The Church Order during its      things of this earthly life. By His grace they hope to
  after recess program. Each article will be intro-         be self-supporting in the year to come.
  duced by Rev. Engelsma. Our churches are grow-              The Reformed Witness Hour is planning a
  ing in age, and another generation of young men           Christmas series of broadcasts starting December 8.
  has grown up. Another study of the Church Order           Rev. G. Van  Baren will speak on the following
  will be helpful, therefore, so that there might con-      topics, "Taxation Without Representation," "No
  tinue to be an appreciation for the necessity of          Vacancy in the Inn," "Worshippers from the
  maintaining good order in our churches. The latest        Fields" (all from Luke 2), and "The Foreign Visitors
  reprinting of  The Church Order  includes the con-        at Bethlehem" (from Matthew 2). Listen for these
  stitutions of the Theological School and the follow-      broadcasts on the radio station that broadcasts the
  ing committees: Theological School, Emeritus, Stu-        Reformed Witness Hour in your area. Profs. H.
  dent Aid, Contact with Other Churches, Foreign            Hoeksema and H. Hanko have finished their series
  Mission, and Catechism Book Distribution; the             of sermons that will soon be available in sermon
  Rules of Order for Synod; By-Laws of our churches;        booklet form.
  rules for Synodical Delegates  Ad Examina;  Ques-           The Reformed Witness Hour is produced under
  tions for Church Visitation; several Formulas; the        the auspices of First Church, Grand Rapids,
  Declaration of Principles; and an Index.                  Michigan. First Church has also maintained the
     What is "Faith and Fellowship"? You guessed it         Radio Choir for over forty-three years. However,
  right  - it is the new church newsletter of Faith         the choir cannot continue without more tenor
                                                            voices. So, tenors in the G.R. area, now is the time
  David Harbach is a teacher at Adams Street Protestant     to consider using your voice for some radio broad-
  Reformed Christian School, Grand Rapids, Michigan.        casts.


