          The
     STANDARD
         BEARER
F          A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE





       The diversity of Scripture is not
     that of Divine gold and human dirt,
     mingled. But it is that of a pure dia-
     mond, whose full beauty and worth
     are seen only by the glittering of all
     its facets.
     See "The Unity and Diversity of Holy
                                       Scripture' ' - page 462



4                                         Vol.  LXII, No. 20, September 1, 1986  -


458                                                               THE STANDARD BEARER




                                CONTENTS                                                                       THE STANDARD REARER
                                                                                                                        ISSN 0362-4692
                                                                                            Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July, and August.
  Meditation  -                                                                             Published by the Reformed Free Publishing Association, Inc.
                                                                                                  Second Class Postage Paid at Grand Rapids, Mich.
       Marriage in the Lord . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .458           Editor-in-Chief:  Prof. Homer C. Hoeksema
                                                                                   Department Editors: Rev. Ronald Cammenga, Rev. Arie den Hartog, Prof. Robert
  Editor's Notes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .461       D. Decker, Rev. Barry Gritters, Rev. Cornelius Hanko, Prof. Herman C. Hanko,
                                                                                   Rev. Ronald Hanko, Mr. David Harbach, Rev. John A. Heys, Rev. J.  Kortering,
  Correspondence and Reply . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .461                  Rev. George C. Lubbers, Rev. Thomas C. Miersma, Rev. James Slopsema, Rev.
                                                                                   Gise J. Van  Baren, Rev. Herman Veldman.
  Guest Article  -                                                                 Editorial Office: Prof. H.C. Hoeksema
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       The Unity and Diversity of Holy Scripture . . .462                                              Grandville, Michigan 49418
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MEDITATION
Cornelius Hanko




                                              Marriage in the Lord

                    Ques. 108. What doth the seventh commandment teach us?
                    Ans. That all uncleanness is accursed of God; and that therefore we must with all our hearts
                detest the same, and live chastely and temperate!y, whether in holy wedlock, or in single life.
                    Ques. 109. Doth God forbid in this commandment, only adzrltery and such like gross sins?
                    Ans. Since both our body and soul are temple of the Holy Ghost, he commands us to
                preserve them pure and holy: therefore he forbids all zlnchaste  actions, gestures, words,
                thoughts, desires, and whatever can entice men ttzereto. Heid. Catechism, Lord's Day $1.


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                            459



    Holy is the Lord our God!                                 Times have changed. The pendulum has now
    He is eternally and perfectly devoted to Himself        swung too far in the opposite direction.
_ and His glorious perfections as God above all,              Sex is the most popular subject of the day. Adver-
 blessed forever!                                           tisers use sex to attract attention to their product.
    The three persons in the divine trinity are indi-       Television programs and novels are saturated with
 vidually filled with all the divine virtues, yet each      the smut of carnal lusts and corrupt sexual relation-
 lives His own life as distinct person within the           ships. There is nothing so private that it is withheld
 divine Being. In intimate communion of life and            from the public.
 love they are devoted to each other!                         That which is most holy is shamefully corrupted!
    Holy is the Name of our God, radiating from Him         It sounds like mockery still to speak of a holy mar-
 in the dazzling brightness of His glory, which             riage bond! That which was instituted by God as an
 bedims the light of the sun into a mere glowing            intimate expression of our union of love and fellow-
 matchstick.                                                ship with the God of our salvation has been de-
                                                            graded into an expression of carnal lust and
    Adam and Eve shared that holiness for a little          rebellion against God's commandments.
 while in paradise. They were created in the image
 of God in true knowledge, righteousness, and holi-           Boys and girls, men and women live promiscu-
 ness, to love their God and to be devoted to Him           ously, share beds without being married, live
 with their whole being. They were also intimately          together under the same roof, and all that without a
joined to each other in the holy bond of matrimony,         semblance of shame, even to the point reached in
 devoted to each other through their devotion to the        Romans  1:32, that they "not only do the same, but
 Most High. Even as God is holy, so they were holy          take delight in them that do them." The ethics of
 in their sexual relationship to each other. Even as        our day require, that if this is what they want, that
 God was faithful to His covenant life, so they knew        is their business, and no one should interfere. This
 only faithfulness to one another. Sin was foreign to       is encouraged by the advertisements for contracep-
 them. They were naked, and were not ashamed.               tives. And if a girl should become pregnant, she can
                                                            always have an abortion, with very little expense or
    But our first parents were fallible. They could be      shame. It is said that during the last few years
 tempted; they were tempted, and they fell into sin.        already a million and a half babies have been
 By God's grace they fell into the arms of Christ, so       murdered.
 that they along with their spiritual seed, according
 to the plan and purpose of God, became God's                 Many regard marriage as nothing more than a
 wife, the Bride of Christ, sworn to Him as faithful        contract drawn up between the two, with equal
 unto death!                                                rights. Both may determine to work, in order to ob-
                                                            tain the desired luxuries, and later to have children
    God is now betrothed with an infallible oath and        upon their discretion. At present more divorces are
 promise, that He will preserve and bless His               handed out than marriage licenses extended. All of
 church, adorning her as a wife for her husband in          which is another evidence that God is not in all
 preparation for the wedding feast of the Lamb!             their thoughts!
    We have the holy institution of marriage as               Almost unaware, but just as surely, these evils
 evidence of God's abiding and unchanging love for          are working their way into the church. We are
 His people, and as a reflection of His own blessed         children of our time, often more than we realize!
 communion of life in His own being, a reflection of
 Christ and His Bride living in the fellowship of the         Scripture speaks of being married in the Lord!
 Spirit!                                                      Marriage is the union of two persons of the op-
   Blessed are they who are married in the Lord!            posite sex, each with a distinct nature, different
   Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed un-         from the other, yet drawn together by a common
 spotted!                                                   bond that attracts them to each other. When we
   Not so long ago, even members of the church              consider how we bungle in choosing a life mate,
considered anything that pertained to sex to be sor-        often without making this a matter of serious
did. They spoke of sex and marital relationships in         prayer, we can only marvel how God in His mercy
a whisper. Teenagers were kept ignorant of the              brings together a proper husband for a proper wife,
facts of life, lest their minds be contaminated.            who live together in blessed union in Christ! Here
Women tried to hide their pregnancy from the                again we see how completely our lives are con-
public eye.                                                 trolled and governed by the determining counsel
                                                            and hand of God, Who with His own hand brings to
Cornelius Hanho is a minister emeritus in the Protestant    each man his own wife, divinely chosen, divinely
Reformed Church.                                            prepared for each individual, hand made as it were!


460                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



  Marriage is also a union of love: two hearts            your love for each other is to maintain your self
joined together to beat as one. By this I do not refer    esteem as well as your respect for each other. Lur-
to the sexual appetite that robs a woman of her           ing one or the other into sin can only create a sense
sense of right and wrong and leads a man like a           of guilt and an area of distrust. The pathway of sin '
dumb ox to the slaughter. But I refer to the natural      knows of no return, no stopping, but is a steep
sexual attraction that draws one man to a particular      decline that leads to untold misery. This is a bad
woman as sanctified by the grace of Christ! An ex-        beginning for an anticipated happy marriage. A
clusive love is awakened that grows into an in-           wholesome marriage is built on trust, deep respect
timacy known only to husband and wife, a personal         for one another, and a mutual faithfulness! The
sphere, which no third party, not even the children       man who takes upon himself the responsibility of a
can share.                                                wife must be worthy of that position. The bride
  Scripture also speaks of a love that can best be        adorned in her white wedding gown must be a wor-
described as "friendship." Two persons meet,              thy expression of the virgin love of Christ for His
sometimes under peculiar circumstances, and are           Bride!
brought together by the Lord. Those two are meant           Scripture requires of husbands: Love your wives!
for each other, for even as they would not be here if     There are no ifs and buts appended to this demand.
it were not for their parents, so their children can      You are the responsible head of your wife, even as
be born only from them! Their affection for each          Christ is the Head of His church. Assume that
other grows, as well as their interest in each other's    responsibility wholeheartedly and prayerfully. You
welfare; there is a growing desire to be together,        must be willing to lay down your life for your wife,
and an emptiness when not together. As their lives        loving her as your own flesh, even as Christ loves
are woven together, they are always in each other's       His church and gave Himself as a ransom for us.
thoughts. They need each other. It only naturally         Your deepest concern must be the spiritual welfare
follows, that they are joined in the bond of mar-         of your wife and family, even as Christ sanctifies us
riage, and that henceforth they walk life's pathway       through His Word and by His Spirit. You must love
together, until death breaks the marriage bond.           that hand-picked, very special wife that God gave
Even after death has taken one or the other, the          you!
memories stay, so that it seems as if even then the         Wives, Scripture says that you must submit your-
bond is not entirely broken!                              selves to your own husbands, as unto Christ! The
  A truly happy and divinely acceptable marriage          dutiful wife gives up her name and her personal
is at the same time a spiritual union, a marriage in      ambitions to devote herself to the life of her hus-
the Lord.  Basically, they love each other because the    band. Even as the husband must be willing to die
love of God permeates their hearts and minds.             for his wife, so the wife must be willing to sur-
They agree on sound doctrine, on a godly walk, on         render her life in serving her husband. It is difficult
their devotion to God and that which is spiritual         to say which is the hardest, to die for someone or to
and eternal. Nothing brings more disharmony and           live for someone. In any case, abundant grace is
misery in the home than when husband and wife             necessary, along with much prayer and devotion to
are not of one spiritual mind and will! Similarly,        God! There is no higher calling or position in this
nothing solves daily problems like the spiritual uni-     world for any woman than to bear children and to
ty between husband and wife, as they meet to-             instruct them in the fear of the Lord by daily word
gether before the throne of grace. Our fathers often      and example! Many children shall call her blessed
prayed, "Cut us not off in our generations." They         long after she has gone into glory!
had in mind the fact that they were covenant                The husband is a tower of strength in the fear of
parents, called to rear children that God gave them       the Lord! The wife's adornment is in her daily
in the fear of His name, and thus they would be in-       devotion to God and to her family! Faithfulness to
strumental in their own small way toward the              the marriage vow is faithfulness to God! And holy
gathering of the church and the coming of God's           must that servant be, who dwells in God's House!
kingdom!                                                    God commands His blessing there!
  Saints in Christ Jesus reflect the mystery of
Christ and His Bride!
  Young people must be aware of this awesome                           Take the time to
responsibility long before the marriage vows are                      read and study the
spoken! Young men and young women must
prayerfully ask that the Lord direct them to the life-                Standard Bearer!
mate of His choice. Dating and courtship must be
kept pure and wholesome. The best expression of


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                             461



                                       Editor's Notes

   We are pleased to present in this issue an article     enabled your Editor to take a vacation from this
by the Rev. David J. Engelsma which was originally        issue.
planned for our August special issue. A  combina-                   * * * * * * * *  * *
tion of slow postal service from me to him and then
from him to me resulted in his article being too late       Maybe this is jumping the gun a bit, since the
for the August issue.                                     beginning of our new volume-year is still a month
         * * * * * *  * * * *                             away. But we will have a new News Editor begin-
                                                          ning with the new volume in October. From now
   Several of our regular departments are omitted in      on send all news of events and activities in our
this issue in order to make room for some items           Protestant Reformed Churches to: Mr. Ben Wigger,
which were waiting to be published. This also             6597 - 40th Ave., Hudsonville, MI 49426.        HCH



                         Correspondence and Reply


  From one of our readers, Mr. Harv  Nyhof, of              It is interesting and important to remember that
Holland, Michigan, we received the following ques-        Scripture makes a distinction between submitting
tion:                                                     to our magistrates and obeying them. All other
   "Prof. Hanko writes in his article in the June 1,      things being equal, submitting usually includes
`86 Standard Bearer that `to kill a fetus is to commit    obeying. But there are times, as Scripture also tells
murder.' Further down he states that picketing            us, when we must obey God rather than men. This
abortion clinics is contrary to Christian principles.     may happen also in this country in this whole abor-
If a Christian observes a murder being committed          tion matter; i.e., the time may come when the
on a street, Prof. Hanko would agree, I believe, that     government will permit parents to have only two
force would be in order to save a life. Should not        children and will order that any additional children
picketing of abortion clinics to save lives also be an    be aborted. In that case, we shall have to obey God
acceptable response?"                                     rather than men and refuse obedience to the
REPLY (by Prof. Hanko)                                    magistrate. But such refusal to obey does not ab-
   The answer to this question lies in the fallacy of     solve us of the responsibility to submit to our
the analogy. If I would use force to prevent a            magistrates. The command to do this in Scripture is
murder on the street, I would do this only if no          absolute and `without qualification. We must sub-
representative of the law could be summoned to            mit to them even when we cannot and will not
stop the murder from being committed. And I               obey. We have the example of Christ Himself in
would take up the matter myself only as a citizen         this respect when He stood before the Sanhedrin
who, for that moment, is representing the law of          and Pontius Pilate.
the land and taking it upon myself to enforce it,           To refuse to submit to government is a heinous
because no law enforcement officer is present.            sin. It is deplorable that even conservative chur-
  Abortion has been legalized in this country. Such       ches are advocating open rebellion against the
legalization of abortion does not make abortion           government when the government persists in mak-
right  - it remains a monstrous crime which God           ing laws which are contrary to God's Word. Francis
will not suffer to go unpunished. But such legaliza-      Schaeffer's A Christian Manifesto is a case in point.
tion of abortion does mean that our efforts to stop       When the church advocates the opposition of force
abortion must be limited to efforts to get the laws       against government and promotes rebellion in any
changed, all the while testifying in whatever way         form or fashion, the church has abandoned her call-
we can that the breaking of God's holy laws leads         ing in this world and will suffer the judgment of the
to moral and spiritual disaster. To do anything else      Lord Himself: "They that take the sword shall
will involve us in rebellion against government.          perish with the sword."                           -----


462                                             THE STANDARD BEARER



GUEST ARTICLE
David J. Engelsma





       The Unity and Diversity of Holy Scripture



  Like its Author, Holy Scripture'is one. "All Scrip-         The result is confusion in the teaching, confusion
ture is given by inspiration of God," Scripture says        that is alleged to stem from the now-divided Scrip-
of itself in II Timothy 3: 16. With reference to the 39     tures themselves: one passage contradicts another
books of the Old Testament, and their countless             passage; the theology of one gospel-writer differs
words, the Bible says of itself that it is a unified        from that of another gospel-writer; and the teaching
whole, a book characterized by oneness. When the            of an apostle in one place overthrows the teaching
Bible views itself, it does not see itself as many, dif-    of the same apostle in another place.
ferent writings, but as "all Scripture."                      Not surprisingly, the man in the pew is confused.
  Scripture's oneness is, fundamentally, its full in-       Did God create a man, Adam, out of the dust of the
spiration of God, inspiration that extends to Scrip-        ground by His own hand, or did man evolve over
ture's words. Scripture is inspired, i.e., as the apos-     aeons from the animals? Did sin and death originate
tle writes literally in II Timothy  3:16,  "God-            from the transgression of the law, that Adam not
breathed"; and this is true of  "all Scripture." Not        eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, or are
one word of Scripture is uninspired, breathed out           "sin" and death merely part of the essential human
from a man. Therefore, all Scripture is the Word of         condition? Did the sun and the moon stand still at
God, and only the Word of God. Accordingly, all             the behest of Joshua, or was this description of
Scripture is holy (II Timothy 3:15), so that it is to be    events only the naive notion of the Israelites, who,
reverenced; and all Scripture is unbreakable (John          of course, were ignorant of the scientific im-
10:35),  so that it is not to be criticized.                possibilities of such a thing? Was there an earth-
  Faith honors the unity of Scripture by confessing         quake at the moment of Jesus' resurrection, or not?
that all Scripture is Divine.                               Is the wife called to be in subjection to her hus-
  Unbelief denies the unity of Scripture, tearing           band, her head, or is she the equal of her husband
the sacred unity to shreds, by asserting that Scrip-        in marriage? Is the Bible understandable by the
ture is not only the Word of God, but also the word         believer (layman) who has "only" the anointing of
of man. Inspired in part, it is also, in part, human.       the Holy Spirit? If it is understandable, is it to be
This unbelief takes many forms and calls itself by          believed in everything it teaches and obeyed in
many names; but, whatever the form and regard-              everything it commands?
less of the name, the effect is the same, namely, the         God is not the author of this confusion, but the
introduction of division into Scripture - the radical       devil. The fatal doctrine is the teaching that Scrip-
division between God's Word and man's word.                 ture is human. This teaching now begins to prevail
God's Word (which some Scriptures are, or which             in evangelical and Reformed churches, under the
the Scriptures are in a certain aspect) is holy,            influence of the German Reformed theologian, Karl
authoritative, reliable, powerful, and infallible;          Barth, and the Dutch Reformed theologian,  %.C.
man's word (which other Scriptures are, or which            Berkouwer. Scripture is Divine  and human!  It is
the Scriptures are in another aspect) is ordinary,          both the Word of God and the - word of man! Those
subject to criticism, undependable, weak, and er-           who have ears to hear will recognize this error,
roneous.                                                    when Genesis 1 is explained (away) as a poetic at-
                                                            tempt by prescientific Israelites to account for the
David J. Engelsma is pastor of the Protestant Reformed      origin of the world; when the passage regarding the
Church of South Holland, Illinois.                          fall of the walls of Jericho is ascribed to the faith of


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                             463



Israel; when sayings and deeds of Jesus in the            forgiveness of sins; by acknowledging the one cove-
gospels are said to have been put in His mouth or         nant of grace, in both Testaments; by regarding
attributed to His power by the early church; and          Israel as the Old Testament church and the church
when bolder spirits dismiss some doctrine or              as the New Testament Israel; and by heeding the 10
precept of Scripture with the words, "Paul was mis-       Commandments as the will of God for His people
taken."                                                   in all ages.
   Scripture is indivisible. This belongs to its un-        Unbelief, blind to the full inspiration of Scrip-
breakable character (cf. John  10:35).  It is not         ture, sees many, contradictory messages in the Bi-
human. It is not Divine and human. It is Divine, on-      ble. There is the God of harsh justice, and even
ly Divine. It is the Word of God, only the Word of        hatred, of the Old Testament; and there is the God
God. The wonder of Scripture is that God moved            of love, and the rejection of justice, of the New
humans to write the 66 books of the Bible in the          Testament. There is the salvation of earthly land
human languages of Hebrew and Greek, so that the          and material prosperity in the Old Testament; and
product, the writing itself, is wholly and exclusive-     there is the spiritual salvation of the New Testa-
ly the Word of God: ". . . holy men of God spoke as       ment. There is a "gospel" of salvation by the keep-
they were moved by the Holy Ghost" (II Peter 1:20,        ing of the law and the free will of the sinner; and
21); and this Divine Word is now written down as          there is the gospel of salvation by grace. There is
Scripture, which is not of "any private interpreta-       Ihe message of predestination; and there is the
tion."                                                    message of free will. There is the demand to obey
  The assertion of the Bible's humanity flatly con-       the commandments; and there is the "freedom" to
tradicts the testimony of the church's creeds. The        disregard the commandments. There is the
creeds confess that Scripture is Divine. The Belgic       teaching of the subjection of women to men in mar-
Confession (1561) is typical:  ". . . He (God) makes      riage and in church; and there is the teaching of the
Himself more clearly and fully known to us by His         equality of women with men in marriage and in
holy and divine Word" (Art. II); "We confess that         church. Scripture is a bewildering hodge-podge of
this Word of God was not sent, nor delivered by the       conflicting ideas, viewpoints, gospels, theologies,
will of man . . . therefore we call such writings holy    laws, and gods. Bible-study and knowledge of the
and divine Scripture" (Art. III);  ". . . those divine    teaching of the Bible  be&me impossible. At best,
Scriptures" (Art. VII). It is immediately plain to all    the man in the pew, or the prea&er..{or that matter,
that for anyone to insert into this confession of the     can learn what Israel thought  .about creation, or
doctrine of Scripture the words, "and human," i.e.,       what Job thought about the suffering of the just, or
for anyone to make the creed state that Scripture is      what John thought about the Christ, or what James'
a "holy, divine, and human Word," is to change the        theology was. There is no single Truth revealed in
fundamental confession of the Reformed Faith con-         the entire Scripture, to which every passage makes
cerning Scripture, and to change it, fundamentally.       its contribution and which is internally consistent.
                                                          Comparing Scripture with Scripture does not serve
  Because Scripture is a unity by inspiration, it is      to fill out our knowledge of the Truth as set forth in
also one as regards its message. The unity of Scrip-      a particular passage, nor to correct a misunder-
ture is material, as well as formal. Scripture speaks     standing we have of a certain passage, for one
one, consistent, harmonious Word; and this Word           passage contradicts the other, teaching something
is Jesus Christ. "Search the Scriptures," our Lord        altogether different from the other.
commanded, "for in them ye think ye have eternal
life: and they are they which testify of me" (John          Am I trying to grasp Paul's teaching in Galatians
5:39; cf. also Luke  24:4-4).  Scripture proclaims one    3:28 that there is in Christ Jesus neither male nor
gospel; one theology; one salvation; one covenant;        female? It is no good to compare Ephesians 5 and I
one church; one way of salvation; and one rule of         Timothy 2, for the passages are not in harmony, do
life (law).                                               not complement each other, do not shed light on
  Faith honors the unity of the Bible by knowing          each other, but rather conflict with each other. The
one God  - the Father of Jesus Christ, Who is             best one can do, in relating the passages, is to con-
Creator and Redeemer; by trusting in one Savior,          clude that in Galatians  3:28 the apostle overcame
Who is the eternal Son of God in human flesh, prom-       the defective views he espoused, as a child of his
ised in `the Old Testament and come in the New            limes, in Ephesians and I Timothy.
Testament; by confessing and obeying one gospel,            Am I trying to understand the cross of the Savior?
that began to be revealed in Genesis 3:15 and that        It is senseless to turn to the laws and practices of
was fulfilled in the revelation given to the apostles     animal sacrifice in the Old Testament, for those
of Jesus  - the gospel of free, sovereign grace; by       laws and practices reflect a grossly deficient con-
receiving one,  sDiritua1  salvation consisting of the    ception of God on the part of Israel, namely, the


464                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



conception of Him as a hard-hearted, if not cruel           There is the teaching that the Final Judgment of the
and bloodthirsty, Judge, needing to be placated by          elect believer will be based on Christ's work in his
blood. At best, the Old Testament laws and prac-            stead; and there is the teaching that in this Judg-
tices of sacrifice indicate a stage in Israel's develop-    ment the elect sinner will be judged according to
ment towards the mature conception of God as the            his works. There is the extolling of marriage; and
God of mercy, dispensing with justice.                      [here is the counsel that single life is better, if one
  Such a book ought to be thrown away  - it is              has the gift and will devote his life to the Lord.
useless, profitable for nothing, except to occupy the           The diversity of Scripture is not that of Divine
time of the theologians as they play their wicked           gold and human dirt, mingled. But it is that of a
games with it.                                              pure diamond, whose full beauty and worth are
  But Holy Scripture is profitable. For it has a            seen only by the glittering of  all its facets.
unified message: one Word from God about                        Those with a name for orthodoxy can sin against
Himself as He is revealed in Jesus.                         the diversity of Holy Scripture. They preach and
  Scripture's "diversity," i.e., its variety and dif-       confess the holiness of God, and never His love; the
ferences, does not threaten its unity. Diversity does       sovereignty of God, and seldom, if ever, the respon-
not consist of human parts alongside the Divine             sibility of man; Divine predestination, with a
parts, or of conflicting theologies, or of contradic-       hesitancy urgently to call sinners to repentance and
tions between any of its teachings. Diversity,              faith; justification, without sanctification; the need
therefore, does not destroy the clarity of Scripture.       lo contend earnestly for the faith, while remaining
Rather, the diversity of Scripture refers to the            silent about the blessedness of peacemakers in the
riches of the Bible, to the many aspects of Truth, to       church, even when the church is threatened by the
the manifoldness of the written Word of God.                biting and devouring of her members; the authority
                                                            of husbands, but not the duty of husbands to exer-
  God's Word in creation is rich. There are many            cise their authority in a selfless, sacrificial love of
different creatures  - stars; mountains; streams;           lhe wives; the demand of children to obey, but not
trees; birds; flowers; and people. Among the                the danger that fathers provoke their children to
creatures themselves, there is breathtaking variety.        wrath by their undue severity; the New Testament,
Nature is not monotonous and boring. It is not              but not the Old Testament.
characterized by dull sameness. No one tires of                 The study of Scripture is not only necessary, but
viewing and investigating creation. By this                 also fascinating. No believer tires of daily reading
marvelously rich diversity, creation tells the one,         and study of the Bible, or of weekly preaching of
grand Truth of the glory of the Creator-God.                the Bible, though he lives to be 80 years. No believ-
  So it is with the Word of God written, Holy Scrip-        i II"
                                                               b preacher wearies of preaching and teaching
ture. There is history (Genesis l-11); and there is         "lhe manifold wisdom of God" in Scripture (Ephe-
poetry (the Psalms). There is the compelling logic of       sians  3:10), though God gives him 40 years in the
Paul; and there is the intuitive knowledge of John.         tninistry. For "Thy commandment is exceeding
There is the just judgment of a holy God; and there         broad" (Psalm  119:96).
is the mercy of this God Who is love. There is the             This too is due to Scripture's Author. A narrow
sovereignty of God; and there is the full respon-           writer harps always on one string. The best of
sibility of man. There is the gospel that salvation is      human writers is limited. But in the sacred Scrip-
entirely the work of God, excluding all work of the         tures, we stand in awe before the "depth of  the
sinner; and there is the law that requires the saved        riches both of the wisdom and knowled!ze  of God!"
sinner to do the will of God in  all good works.            i  Remans  11:33).



            The Standard Bearer makes a thoughtful
                            gift for a friend or relative.
                   Give a ift of the Standard Bearer.


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                              465



ALL AROUND US
Robert D. Decker





                 General Synods and Assemblies



  Summer is the time when most of the General              makes this judgment privately; in his teaching and
Synods and Assemblies of various Reformed and              preaching, he accepts the Christian Reformed
l'resbyterian  denominations meet. In this issue and       Church's stand. `My commitment is to the church
the next we shall report on some of the more signifi-      - you simply don't run with your own notions."'
cant decisions of these gatherings.                        (The Banner, June 30, 1986)
The Christian Reformed Church in North America: In           In the light of the synod's rejection of the
response to conflict and tension between its Board         Zeeland overture and its appointment of Van Dyk
of Foreign Missions and World Relief Committee             there seems little doubt as to the final outcome of
over the past several years the CRC instituted a           the "women in office" issue in the CRC.
new agency to coordinate the work of these two.              The same issue of The Banner also reports that,
Both Foreign Missions and World Relief are now             "A joint committee of six persons from the Re-
under the control of the board of World Ministries.        formed Church in America (RCA) and five persons
Appointed director of this Board was Dr. Roger S.          from the Christian Reformed Church is discussing
Greenway, professor of  missiology  at Westminster         the relationship between the two denominations.
Theological Seminary in Philadelphia.                      In 1989 the synods of both churches intend to meet
  The CRC synod again was faced with the                   concurrently on the campus of Calvin College and
"women in office" issue. The synod rejected the            Seminary.
overture of  Classis  Zeeland to reverse the 1984            "One consistory wanted the CRC-RCA commit-
synodical  decision which opened the office of             tee to pay special attention to the RCA's attitude
deacon to women. By an overwhelming majority               toward Christian schooling and membership in
(130-24) the synod voted to appoint a Grand                ecumenical organizations. But our (CRC's, R.D.)
Rapids pastor, the Rev. Wilbert M. Van Dyk                 Interchurch Relations Committee had already iden-
(Plymouth Heights CRC), to the post of academic            tified 18 areas of potential difficulty in our relation-
dean of Calvin Theological Seminary. Van Dyk will          ship to the RCA. Synod did not wish to interfere by
also teach Homiletics (the art of preaching)  part-        giving special instruction on these two topics. It
time. When interviewed by the Synod Van Dyk                also withdrew a mandate given by Synod 1985 to
said he finds two different biblical messages about        discuss `the specific theological and Christian prac-
the role of women in the church. "Scripture `clear-        tice issues which pose a barrier to us' because it
ly says that women ought to keep silent.' But Scrip-       was unclear and redundant. Synod 1985 had
ture just as clearly directs all God's people to use       ordered the discussion in the context of cooperation
the gifts they are given, he maintained. Because the       between the Christian Reformed World Relief
whole of Scripture shows a movement toward `in-            Committee and RCA World Missions."
clusiveness, toward openness - beyond the Jews to
the Gentiles, beyond the master to the slave,                The General Synod of the RCA took "specific
beyond men to the women,' said Van Dyk, he per-            steps toward the CRC, steps which the Rev. David
sonally has decided that it is not a sin `for a woman      Cooper of Wynantskill, New York, described as
lo preach or exhort.' But Van Dyk said he only             `progress toward possible merger.' Cooper chaired
                                                           the synod's advisory committee on Christian Unity.
Robert D. Decker is professor of Practical Theology and      "At the advisory committee's recommendation,
New Testament in the Protestant Reformed Seminal-y.        the synod voted the permanent Commission on


  466                                                THE STANDARD BEARER



   Christian Unity to continue study of the relation-               continue its present levels of participation in the Con-
   ship between the Christian Reformed Church                       sultation on Church Union (COCU) and in the World
   (CRC) and the RCA, and to make a progress report                 and National Councils of Churches (WCC, NCC) and
   to the 1987 General Synod on the following issues                to facilitate memberships in the National Association
   that may need to be resolved:                                    of Evangelicals  [ NAE).
           1. Christian Schools                                       Lutheran and Reformed theologians have discussed
          2. Lodge membership                                       their churches' contrasting doctrines for a number of
                                                                    years. Together, the theologians have concluded that
          3. Requirement for Sunday evening worship                 fundamentally these two streams of Protestantism  af-
          4. Ecumenical relationships                               firm the same faith. They have recommended that
          5. Women in the office of minister, elder, and            Lutheran and Reformed churches specifically
              deacon                                                recognize that both of them are Christian com-
          6. Clarification on intercommunion                        munions with legitimately-ordained clergy and faith-
          7. Barriers to increased cooperative work                 fully-served sacraments.
     "As study on these items proceeds by the Com-                    As a specific step in Lutheran-Reformed relations,
  mission on Christian Unity, other cooperative ef-                 the synod voted to affirm that the chief Lutheran
  forts between the two denominations will                          statement of faith, the Augsburg Confession, contains
  continue." (The Church Herald, July 5, 1986)                      no unacceptable doctrinal position for Reformed peo-
                                                                    ple. Dr. M. Eugene Osterhaven, analyzing the
     "Issues" 1 through 5 above are the significant                 Augsburg Confession for synod's Advisory Committee
  ones. RCA people in general do not support the                    on Theology said, "I just can't imagine that a Calvinist
  Christian schools. The RCA tolerates lodge                        would find any difficulty with this." Five denomina-
  members; many RCA. congregations do not have                      tions, including the RCA, are in the process of enact-
  Sunday evening worship; the RCA is a member of                    ing their mutual recognition of, and commitment to,
  both the World and National Councils of Churches;                 each other. The American Lutheran Church, the
  and the RCA has opened the offices of minister,                   Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches, the
                                                                    Lutheran Church in America, and the Presbyterian
  elder, and deacon to women. It seems highly un-                   Church (USA), together with the RCA are considering
  likely that the RCA will change on these issues. The              a ten-item list of mutual commitments. Included are
  question is, will the CRC change its stand on these               such items as studying each other's histories, praying
  issues and thus, in effect, repudiate the stand it                for each other's ministries, holding occasional joint
  took when it seceded from the RCA in  1857?                       communion services, sharing pastors between
  Another question: should the CRC merge with the                   Lutheran and Reformed traditions, and the linking of
  RCA, what effect will this have on the conservative               one church in each RCA classis  to a Lutheran congre-
  clergy and membership of the CRC?                                 gation for joint study, mission planning, and common
                                                                    worship. The general synod approved the RCA's par-
     In other actions the CRC adopted a revision of                 ticipation in the plan. (The  Chul-ch   Herald,  July 25,
  the Psalter Hymnal, approved a new translation of                 1986)
' the Canons, updated some of the language of the
  liturgical forms, appointed a study committee to in-            It is striking that the more conservative churches
  vestigate the possibility of a completely new trans-          of the Lutheran, Reformed, and Presbyterian tradi-
  lation of the Heidelberg Catechism, and adopted a             tions are not participating in this plan. Churches
  "testimony of faith for our times, subordinate to             such as the Missouri Synod and Wisconsin Synod
  our creeds and confessions," called, Our World Be-            Lutherans, The Orthodox Presbyterian Church and
  lolzgs To  God.  The synod also "referred the report          the Presbyterian Church in America are not parti-
  (on children at the Lord's table, R.D.) to the                cipants.
  churches for careful consideration, augmented the               What is more striking is the almost incredible
  committee with two additional members, and gave               statement of Dr. M. Eugene Osterhaven concerning
  them two more years to study thoroughly this im-              the Augsburg Confession: "I just can't imagine that
  portant matter." (The Banner,  June 30, 1986)                 a Calvinist would find any difficulty with this." It is
  The Reformed Church In America: Ecumenical mat-               true that the Augsburg Confession is brief and
  ters occupied a good deal of attention from the dele-         perhaps even ambiguous in its statements concern-
  gates to the 180th General Synod of the RCA which             ing the Lord's Supper and the Lutheran error of
  met at the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, Cali-           consubstantiation. (Cf. Augsburg Confession 1530,
  fornia.                                                       Part I, Arts. X, XIII and Part II, Art. I.) Does
           This year's General Synod broadened the front of     Osterhaven not know that the Formula of Concord
         specific ecumenical actions for the denomination.      of 1576 (the apologia and further explanation of the
         Concrete moves were made toward a group of             points of doctrine set forth in the Augsburg Confes-
         Lutheran churches and toward the Christian Re-         sion and part of the confessional basis of all major
         formed Church. Simultaneously, the synod voted to      Lutheran denominations) is especially harsh in its


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                             467



condemnation of the Calvinist and confessionally            be spiritual, such as takes place by faith. And yet
Reformed view of the Lord's Supper? (Cf. The                these latter sacramentarians, under these  high-
Belgic Confession, Art. XXXV.) After condemning             sounding phrases, hide and hold fast the same gross
the Zwinglian view of the Holy Supper the Formula           opinion which the former (Zwinglians, R.D.D.)
of Concord has this to say concerning the                   have, to wit: that, besides the bread and wine, there
Calvinists: "But others are astute and crafty, and          is nothing more present or taken with the mouth in
thereby the most harmful of all the  sacramen-              the Lord's Supper . .  ." (Art. VII). Either
tarians; these, when talking of the Lord's Supper,          Osterhaven does not know what a Calvinist
make in part an exceedingly high-sounding use of            believes or he does not know the Lutheran error of
our mode of speaking, declaring that they too               consubstantiation, or he knows neither.
believe in a  true  presence of the  true,  substantial,      Finally, we wonder what effect the RCA's parti-
and living body and blood of Christ in the Holy             cipation in this venture will have on its talks with
Supper, which presence and  manducation  (act of            the Christian Reformed Church?
eating or chewing, R.D.), nevertheless, they say to

TAKING HEED TO THE DOCTRINE
Ronald J. Hanko





                                   God Is Faithful (2)



   Because the Seventh Commandment is a revela-             as named among the people of God. There are,
tion of God's covenant faithfulness to us, our obe-         howe,ver,  certain things which we as people of God
dience to this Commandment becomes our living               must speak of and be warned against.
confession of that great faithfulness of God, our
Saviour. And if we love the faithfulness of God and           Both with regard to those things that cannot be
are comforted by it, then surely we will want to            mentioned, and to those things that ought to be, we
know all that the Seventh Commandment implies               must not forget that the lusts and vile wickedness
in its prohibition against adultery.                        of men are the inevitable fruit of their turning from
                                                            God. Paul makes it very clear in Romans 1 that God
  We must understand, of course, that obedience             gives them over to these lusts, to be deceived and
to the Seventh Commandment involves much more               dishonoured by them, because they know God and
than just avoiding the sin of adultery, more even           do not glorify or thank Him, but have gone out of
than avoiding adulterous thoughts and desires.              the way (Rom.  1:21-32,  3111, 12). God forbid that
Adultery, because it is such a clear picture of             we should turn away from Him to do these things
spiritual adultery, and because it is itself a form of      or to enjoy them.
spiritual adultery, is the great sin against the
Seventh Commandment. But in forbidding this                   That is perhaps the chief sin against which we
great evil, God forbids every kind of sexual impuri-        must be warned as far as the Commandment is con-
ty and uncleanness. Adultery violates the  God-             cerned, that though we do not openly practice these
ordained bond of marriage, but so does every other          signs we nevertheless delight in them and enjoy
form of sexual activity outside of and apart from           them in other ways. It is possible to take the same
the marriage relationship. Many of the perversions          perverse delight in these sins that the most vile of
that violate the Seventh Commandment are a                  prostitutes, homosexuals, and fornicators do
shame even to speak of and ought not be so much             through books, television programs, dancing, and
                                                            music. These are the means that Satan uses to teach
Ronald J. Hanko is pastor of the Protestant Reformed        his children to enjoy these sinful lusts in their most
Church of Houston, Texas.                                   unspeakable forms, and we must be careful.


468                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



   We must remember, for example, that not only             bidden all recreation, but that we must be very
what is commonly called "pornography" excites               careful, and for God's sake.
and titillates these lusts, but also most modern              Scripture also warns about dress in this connec-
novels and even much of what is called "modern              tion and enjoins modesty and sobriety upon the
literature." It is popular exactly to the degree that it    people of God. Isaiah's description of the daughters
excites sin in us, and especially these sins. Even the      of Zion, of their haughtiness, stretched out necks,
so-called Romances that so many read are read for           and wanton and mincing walk is not only a com-
no other purpose than the vicarious enjoyment of            mentary on his times but on ours. As much as it
that which God forbids. The same is true of rock            revealed the faithlessness of Israel in Isaiah's day,
music in all its different forms, but not only of rock.     so much does it also reveal today.
We are often appalled at the music to which our
children listen, while we ourselves enjoy the same            The company of wicked men can also be an occa-
things that rock music sings of in so-called mood           sion to these sins. Peter says that their eyes are full
music or country-western music.                             of adultery (II Pet. 2: 14). They care to speak of little
                                                            else and boast and glory in their lusts. Thus they
   The truth is that it is all but impossible for the       can be a stumbling block to us and our obedience to
Christian to avoid face-to-face contacts with these         the Seventh Commandment.
things. Even the newspapers, news magazines, and
advertising are full of them. The world cannot even           Proverbs tells us that excess of wine or liquor
sell a pair of shoes, so it seems, without exciting         destroys sound judgment and overcomes the
these lusts by displaying the half-naked bodies of          scruples of a godly heart and thus becomes a temp-
men and women. In these last times the world has            tation to sexual sin (Prov. 23:31-33). So we could go
so multiplied its perversions and uncovered its             on. But the point is always that these things are not
lusts that they are displayed on every street corner.       small matters, but a matter of faithfulness to our
We must learn to turn our eyes and our hearts               faithful covenant God. Just as we in marriage must
resolutely away when faced with these things. We            cleave to one wife to the exclusion of all others, so
must learn to heed the admonition of Solomon,               in faithfulness to God, we must cleave to Him and
"Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids        give up many things which please our flesh and
look straight before three. Ponder the path of thy          lusts. Jesus says that "he that is faithful in that
feet, and let all thy ways be established. Turn not to      which is least, is faithful also in much" (Luke
the right hand nor to the left: remove thy foot from        16:lO).
evil" (Prov.  4:25-27). Certainly we must not care-           Nevertheless, our obedience is much more than
lessly enjoy these lusts or deliberately seek them          just forsaking all forms of sexual uncleanness and
out. Solomon, who had much sad experience in                impurity. We have also a positive calling to fulfill in
these things, warns that those who follow these             the Seventh Commandment. It is the calling to
sins go like oxen to the slaughter or like fools to the     honor marriage. Notice, it is not the calling to be
correction of the stocks (Prov.  5:22), and that they       married, though that is the way in which God leads
shall mourn at the last when flesh and body are             most of His children, but the calling to honor mar-
consumed and say, "How have I hated instruction,            riage. That is the calling not only of those who are
and my heart despised reproof" (Prov. 5: 11 ff.).           married, but also of the unmarried. For them it
  In forsaking and avoiding these sins we must also         simply means that they live as eunuchs for the
avoid that which gives occasion to fall into sin.           kingdom of heaven's sake (Matt.  19:12),  and that
Idleness is one of these things - a great cause of sin      they do not despise those who are married or think
against this Commandment. Not without reason                of them as lesser brethren, as the Roman Catholic
does God command us to labor six days and spend             Church teaches.
the seventh in His presence. The example of David             For those who seek a wife or a husband this same
is clear. His sin with  Bathsheba came about                calling holds. They must honor marriage by follow-
because he was lolling about on the roof of his             ing without wavering the command of Christ to
palace rather than doing his work as Israel's King in       "marry in the Lord" (I Cor. 7:39). Only in this way
fighting the battles of the Lord with the armies of         can they be  .faithful to God and truly obey the
Israel.                                                     Seventh Commandment from the heart.
  Perhaps it is not amiss, in remembering the story           For the married, honoring marriage means not
of David, to point out that the picture of David idl-       only that they are faithful to husband and wife, re-
ing in his palace and ogling his neighbor while she         jecting even adulterous thoughts and desires, but
bathed, is not so much different from that offered          means also that they give themselves to one
by many of us as we laze around our swimming                another freely and faithfully. Paul warns that they
pools or on the beaches eyeing the naked charms of          must not defraud or "cheat" one another in mar-
others. And again, the point is not that we are for-        riage (I Cor. 7:3-5). That is as much "cheating" in


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                            469



marriage as outright adultery. But more than               pictures His relation to us be anything but a perma-
anything else it means for them that they too must         nent and unbreakable bond of man and woman. All
be married "in the Lord." Marriage is not obe-             the drivel one hears about an innocent party, about
dience to the Seventh Commandment until it is              the many problems of marriage, and about forgive-
transformed by the power of God's grace through            ness for those who continue in an adulterous rela-
prayer into a relationship that is truly spiritual as      tionship as remarried persons, only obscures the
well as physical. All marital unfaithfulness and the       one thing that really matters, that a faithful God
various problems that plague our marriages have            (Mal.  3:6) hates putting away and counts it
their beginning and root in the spiritual unfaithful-      treachery (Mal.  2.14-16).
ness of husband and wife to God, that is, in their           It is in the fellowship of our covenant God, there-
failure to live diligently and blessedly in the fellow-    fore, that we find the grace of obedience to the
ship of God. The solution to all marital "problems"        Seventh Commandment. Nowhere else. In exorcis-
is that of Peter, "Let not your prayers be hindered"       ing the demons of sexual impurity by the grace of
[I Pet. 3:7).                                              the Spirit we must be careful that we diligently seek
   To all of this it must be added, that true obe-         Him to be filled with His Spirit, lest seven other
dience to the Seventh Commandment, that is, faith-         demons worse than the first enter in and trouble us.
fulness to God in marriage and in the honoring of          Also in His fellowship we find forgiveness for the
marriage implies the strong Biblical prohibition           swelling of our fleshly lusts, for our uncleanness
against divorce and remarriage. That in the sight of       (how we must look in the sight of God!), and for our
God is not and cannot be faithfulness, but wicked-         failure to find in marriage and in faithfulness to
ness. God's faithfulness to us means exactly that          marriage the great response of the believing heart
He does not divorce His bride or remarry even              that knows God's eternal, unchangeable faithful-
though His bride is a faithless, whorish woman.            ness to us. Faithful in His fellowship in these
The same grace by which God saves His marriage,            things we learn that it is the faithful whom the Lord
must be the grace that saves ours. Only if God             preserves (Ps.  31:23).
Himself is not a faithful God can marriage which

GUEST ARTICLE
Richard G. Moore





       Filled with the Fruits of Righteousness



   In this day in which we are called to live as the       ness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and
 children of God, it is very important that we walk        praise of God."
 with a spiritual sensitivity towards all things. The
 apostle Paul expresses this in the verses nine              When the Scripture speaks of righteousness, it
 through eleven in the first chapter of Philippians.       calls our attention to that which is right before God.
 "And this I pray, that your love may abound yet           And the apostle in the above text would have God's
 more and more in knowledge and in all judgment;           children have their lives characterized by a being
That ye may approve things that are excellent; that        filled with that which is right before God. And this
 ye may be sincere and without offense till the day        simply is that we stand before God in righteous-
 of Christ; Being filled with the fruits of  righteous-    ness, and bring forth the works of righteousness,
                                                           through which God is glorified. And this for us as
 Richard G. Moore is pastor of the Protestant Reformed     God's true children is our joy, that is, that God
 Church of Hull, Iowa.                                     receives all glory.


470                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



  Of course, the only criterion for righteousness is       believers must grow.
God Himself and is expressed in His law and word.            And this knowledge may not be just a head
He is the only standard to measure against,                knowledge, whereby we are only intellectually
whether something is right or not.                         founded in the things of God's Word, and yet have
  To be filled with the fruits of righteousness is to      our hearts far from the Lord. But the apostle would
have our conversation, our whole life, with its            have us grow in the knowledge of the reborn heart,
source, in righteousness. This means that our lives        into which the love of God in Jesus Christ has been
then are grounded in the righteousness of Christ,          poured forth and shed abroad. It is the knowledge
for all righteousness on our part is possible only         of the heart that knows no greater delight than to
through the grace of God in Christ Jesus.                  keep the commandments of God as it responds by
  There is no sense in which we can be filled with         the grace of God to the marvelous love that God has
the fruits of righteousness of ourselves. This is true,    for us. What a wonderful blessing it is for the Chris-
in the first place, because there is no righteousness      tian pilgrim to possess this gracious knowledge and
in us which could bring forth fruit. We are in our-        to grow therein.
selves wholly without righteousness, for the wages           Along with this knowledge there goes hand in
of sin is death. Thus we are debtors before the judg-      hand spiritual judgment; as we grow in true
ment of God as we stand by nature. In the second           knowledge so shall we grow in judgment. This
place, we are so dead in trespasses that we cannot         judgment is not the discernment of reason, but a
even will the fruits of righteousness, as by nature        true spiritual discernment or judgment of true love
we live as slaves of darkness, and unrighteousness.        rooted in God. It is a spiritual power to recognize
  So then it is only as we are ingrafted into Christ       and to know at all times what is pleasing to the God
that there shall ever be fruits of righteousness in        of our salvation.
our lives. Christ must rule our lives by His Spirit
and Word, if we shall ever bring forth these fruits.                          SPECIAL TRIBUTE
The Scripture says, except we be born again, we                The Board of the Reformed Free Publishing Associa-
cannot see the things of the kingdom of heaven.             tion takes this opportunity publicly to call attention to an
And again, in John 15:5, "I am the vine, ye are the          event that occurred at our May 22, 1986 meeting. A let-
branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the          ter came from our and your Business Manager, Mr. Henry
same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye           Vander Wal, in which he submitted his resignation. Mr.
can do nothing."                                            Vander Wal began as business manager in September of
                                                             1968. Article 11 of the September 23, 1968, minutes
  But in His church, eternally given Him of the             reads partially as follows: "Mr. H. Vander Wal states that
Father, Christ works righteousness in our hearts            he deemed it a privilege, and that he would accept this
and gives us the desire to walk in the fruits of that       position on a three month probation period to determine
righteousness, by the operation of His Spirit               whether he was able and could do this work satisfactori-
through the preaching of the word of righteous-             ly."
ness. The God of our salvation does not treat us as            Well, Mr. Vander Wal was certainly able and also did
stocks and blocks, but powerfully, efficaciously            the work very satisfactorily. The R.F.P.A. Board, on
calls us by His Word to a walk of righteousness.            behalf of all, would like to thank Mr. Vander Wal for his
And in the text we quoted at the outset of this arti-       untold hours, his innumerable letters to subscribers, his
cle, the apostle exhorts us unto a spiritual sensitivi-     many trips to the Post Office and to the printer, his tire-
ty unto this end, that we might manifest the life of        less labor for the  Standard Bearer  in the 18 years. It
Christ in all that we do, and so be blessed, and so be      should be noted that he also mailed books for the Perma-
to the praise of God.                                       nent Book Committee.
  The apostle therefore desires for the church an              No one but his wife knows how often and how long he
increase in knowledge and in all judgment. When             has labored in a labor of love. In his letter of resignation he
                                                            states: "It has been a distinctive privilege for me to serve
the apostle speaks of knowledge, the reference is           in this capacity. I have enjoyed it! . . . May God continue
not to natural knowledge of natural things, but to          to bless the publishing of the  Standard Bearer  in the years
the spiritual knowledge of all things in Christ Jesus.      to come."
The Lord instructs us that we be increased in the              It is our prayer that God will continue to bless him and
knowledge of the grace of God and of salvation, of          his wife. God has blessed us with his many labors for 18
the manifold riches of God's mercy, of His will and         years. We thank God that He was pleased to give us the
purpose with all things, of His laws and His ways,          labors of Mr. Vander Wal.
and of the purpose for which we have been called               Thank-you once again.
out of darkness into the marvelous light of His fel-                                               Board of the R.F.P.A.
lowship. In the knowledge of these spiritual things                                              Jim Van Overloop, Sec.
of the kingdom of God and of His covenant,


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                               4 7 1




   The apostle in the instruction from the text in         eousness and holiness become the objects of our
Philippians would have us to be acutely sensitive to       desire and activity. Unto this spiritual sensitivity
the horror of sin, and to the temptations of the           Paul encourages us and instructs us through the
world and of Satan. And on the other hand he               Word of God.
would have us to know and experience the joys of             The apostle in Philippians 1:9-11 urges us to
walking in those ways that are pleasing to God, that       grow in love, in knowledge, and in judgment, in
we might walk in the constant light of His Word as         order that we may be sincere and without offence
our guide and joy.                                         until the day of Christ. Understand that our being
   It is so very important that we be inspired by this     spiritually sensitive with true knowledge will
word of Christ to seek grace to grow in this               become manifest in a walk of sanctification. If we
knowledge and judgment. l+pecially  is this true in        are so spiritually discerning, we will walk as
the days in which we live. For with increasing in-         children of the light in the midst of the world. And
tensity is there a growing disdain for the true            this is the fruit of God's grace in His children, and
spiritual things of God's kingdom and its                  is for His children their greatest desire. For if we
righteousness. The Scriptures and the preaching of         are spiritually dull and undiscerning, then we shall
them is being cast to the winds, and the doctrines of      not be sincere and without offence. But we shall be
God's Word are being swept under the carpet of the         the cause for the stumbling of unbelief. May God
modernism of the new hermeneutics. If the Bible is         forbid! Besides, it will lead us to enter folly's tem-
time and culture conditioned, as so often is stated,       ple, to run with the priesthood of darkness. Again,
then all true knowledge and spiritual discernment          may God forbid! But the keener we grow in
is doomed. But the Bible is still the infallible Word      spiritual sensitivity the better armed we shall be to
of the sovereign God and always shall be. Oh, how          battle the enemies of the living God.
necessary it is for us to hear the word of the apostle       That we might so grow in spiritual knowledge
in this text.                                              and judgment is the apostle's desire for us, that God
   According to Paul, this growth in knowledge and         shall be glorified by all that we undertake. And this
spiritual judgment is the only way that we will be         motivates his prayer for the church that love may
able to "approve the things that are excellent," and       abound in us. For all of this is impossible without
to disapprove of the things that are corrupt. Then         the principle of the love of God in our hearts. That
only will we recognize as genuine the things that          love is the deepest spiritual source, from which all
differ from all else, because of their true goodness.      the above may spring as from a fountain. The apos-
These things are recognized as distinct because of         tle's prayer and mine is that that love manifest in
their truth, of their righteousness, their holiness,       Christ may become the abiding principle in our
their purity, and mercy. And we shall see the              lives. May God's richest grace and love be granted
blessedness of the meekness, lowliness, and kind-          us that we may so know Him, and that we may so
ness of true faith.                                        serve Him with all spiritual knowledge and judg-
   As by the grace of God we grow in the                   ment, abhoring all that dishonors God's precious
knowledge of God, and hence grow in our trust of           name. God hears this our prayer, of this His
His way, and are given true spiritual judgment of          children may be assured.
those things round about us, we shall also be given
the ability to distinguish and approve the things
that are excellent from the things that are of dark-
ness. We shall recognize sin, those things that are of
Satan, of this ungodly world, of deceit, of pride, of
hatred, malice, or envy, etc.                                  The Standard Bearer
  The things that are excellent are excellent
because they are of the Spirit of God in Christ. And             makes a thoughtful
that Spirit is the Spirit of light, in whom is no dark-
ness at all. These things we must approve. That is,                        gift for the
we must desire them, relish them, and long for
them alone; and on the other hand we must grow in
our abhoring all vile things of darkness and corrup-               sick and shut-in.
tion.
  By nature we would not, for we love darkness.
But by grace we receive a new principle of life, so
that according to that new principle of life sin
becomes repulsive to us, and the things of right-


472                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



                             Loveland's Dedication



  The following is the text of an address given by          Not only has it been the case in the past that
Rev. Ron Cammenga at the special dedication serv-         God's people have not had facilities like ours for
ice of the new church building of our congregation        the worship of God, but this is the case at present
in Loveland, Colorado. The building has been in           with many of God's people. We are mindful of
construction for about a year, most of the labor be-      God's people in lands stricken by poverty where
ing done on a volunteer basis by the members of           there are simply not the means to erect the kind of
the congregation. The new church is 54 x  100 feet,       facility that we have. We are mindful of our
with a full basement, and seats approximately 350         brothers and sisters in our sister church in
people. The dedication service was held on Friday,        Singapore who at present are having great difficulty
July 11, 1986.                                            securing an adequate church building. We are
  Tonight we give thanks to God for the spacious          mindful of fellow believers in communist countries
and beautiful new church building that is ours for        tonight who are prevented by the government from
the public worship of His Name. It has not always         even gathering in public assembly, not to speak of
been the case that God's people have had these            erecting a building for this purpose.
kinds of facilities for worship. Until the second cen-      And we are not unmindful either tonight of the
tury, Christians were forbidden even to erect chur-       future. We know that there comes a day, perhaps
ches, and were compelled to worship in private            even for us or our children, when we will be again
homes, in the open fields, or, to escape persecution,     denied the public worship of God. There comes a
in caves or even in the Catacombs, the under-             day when we will be evicted from our church
ground burial places beneath Rome and other an-           buildings, the doors boarded up or perhaps even
cient cities.                                             the building broken down. That will be the day of
  When the Roman persecution was temporarily              the Antichrist and the awful persecution of God's
suspended, we find from the year A.D. 202 and for-        church that he will inaugurate.
ward, that the early Christians began for the first         So tonight we are thankful, very thankful for
time really to construct church buildings for the         what we have, what God in His goodness has given
public worship of God. However, in the year A.D.          us.
305 the emperor Diocletian, proving himself to be           I want to call your attention this evening briefly
the anti-Christian beast that he was, issued an edict     to the opening words of Psalm 127: "Except the
ordering all Christian churches to be razed. Under        Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build
Constantine some 20 years later these churches            it" (Ps.  127:la).
were rebuilt, and many new ones erected over the
whole Roman empire.                                         The Lord has built this house. From several
                                                          points of view it is the Lord who has built this new


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                              473



house of worship. He has built this house. because           This same carnal, competitive spirit is alive to-
He has so prospered us numerically that it has             day. Men build their crystal cathedrals and their
become necessary for us to build a new church.             luxurious church buildings, each seeking to outdo
Over the last several years, we've experienced in-         the other. Then man and not God is glorified in the
ternal growth. The Lord has blessed us as families,        church. And then it were better that the church
(Tiving  us children. Many of these children have          worshiped in the fields or in the caves.
&own up, married, and are now raising families of            In the second place, if the Lord has built this
their  own.  The Lord has also added to our number         house and if it is the Lord's house, it follows that
from without, for which we are very grateful.              the Lord dwells here. A house is to be lived in. You
  The Lord has built this house also because it is         live in your house. Since this is the Lord's house,
He Who has given us the means to build it. The             He lives here. As much as the Lord inhabited the
resources that were needed to erect our new                temple of the Old Testament in the Shekinah of
church building were resources that He graciously          glory, He inhabits our new church building.
provided for us. The materials themselves out of             That means that we must have reverence and
which the building is constructed are from Him.            respect for this house  - God lives here. This
                                                           reverence must characterize our worship in this
  And the Lord has built this house because He has         building. But this ought also to characterize all our
provided men, women, and young people alike                use of the building. Even the children ought to be
with the strength and the desire to do the work            aware of this, and parents ought to impress this
necessary in the building of His house. Liberal con-       upon their children: Reverence for the house of
tributions of money, time, and talents have been           God.
made by the members of the congregation. It is the           The Lord dwells here in the gospel of His grace
Lord Who has made this possible. In truth, it is the
Lord Who has built the house.                              and salvation in His Son, Jesus Christ. The presence
                                                           of the Lord here isn't a personal, visible sort of
  Several things follow from the fact that it is the       presence, but is His presence through the gospel
Lord Who has built this house.                             and the preaching of the gospel. Through the gospel
                                                           He reveals Himself to us in the greatness of His
  First of all, if the Lord has built this house, it is    glory and works. Through the gospel He reveals
the Lord's house. It belongs to Him; it is His posses-     Himself to us as our Creator, Redeemer, and Sanc-
sion and property. And that implies that it must be        tifier. Through the gospel He has fellowship with
used to His glory. This isn't our house, to do with as     us and brings us into the fellowship of His covenant
we please. But it is His house, and must therefore         house. Through the gospel He bestows all the bless-
be used for His glory. The Apostle Paul writes in          ings of His house and family upon us.
Ephesians   3:21, "Unto Him be glory in the church
by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without           The very structure of our church building ex-
end. Amen."                                                presses our fundamental conviction concerning the
                                                           centrality of the preaching of the gospel in the wor-
  This has to be our motivation in building our            ship of God. The inside of our building is plain,
new church and this must govern the use we make            beautiful but plain. You don't find all kinds of
of our new church: The glory of God. It has hap-           religious clutter to detract from the preaching of the
pened that churches have been built for the glory of       gospel. You don't see pictures hanging from the
man, so that in the building of them man, man's ar-        walls, banners streaming from the ceiling, relics
chitectural achievements, m a n 's   s k i l l e d         and statues erected in appropriate places. We have
accomplishments, man's sense of beauty and art             a very plain building. And up front and center, as
were glorified. During the Middle Ages, for exam-          the focus of our attention and worship, we have a
ple, the zeal for church-building became perverted         pulpit for the preaching of the gospel. This is as it
by a spirit of pride, ambition, and competition.           should be.
This, in fact, became a leading cause in bringing
about the great Reformation. You will remember               This, now, is what must bring us to this building
that it was especially the selling of indulgences that     week after week, Sunday after Sunday. Not the
provoked the reformatory work of Martin Luther.            beautiful new building itself. Not the nice-sounding
The specific indulgence that aroused Luther's ire          new organ. Not the people. But God and God's fel-
was the indulgence introduced by Pope Leo X to             lowship which through the gospel is to be enjoyed
raise money to defray the cost of building the             in this house.
gorgeous St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, Italy. Leo was        What this really comes down to is that tonight we
determined to go down in history as the builder of         do not so much dedicate this building, as we
the largest, most beautiful, most costly cathedral         dedicate ourselves to the true worship of God in
ever erected.                                              this building.


474                                             THE STANDARD BEARER



   If the Lord has built this house, it follows that He      If we have not built in dependence upon the
is the One Who deserves thanks tonight. Our                Lord God and to His glory, our labor will have been
dedication service is necessarily a service of thanks-     in vain. Oh, the building probably is completed.
giving. This is not to say that we are not grateful to     And it's a beautiful and useful facility. But it's all in
those who have had a special hand in the building          vain. There's no blessing of God in it. And the wor-
of our new church. We're grateful to the members           ship of God in the building is empty and of no sav-
of the Building Committee. We're grateful to those         ing benefit.
who have given many hours and donated much                   But we have built in dependence upon the Lord,
labor and given up many evenings and Saturdays             and in our building we aim at His glory. Our con-
for the building of the church. But our thanks is          fidence, therefore, is that our labor is not in vain
especially directed to our covenant God, the One           but will prove fruitful. Our confidence is that in
Who has built the house and Whose house it is.             this place, by us and by our children after us, He
   Having built this house in conscious dependence         will continue to be worshiped in the great truth of
upon Him and to His glory, we trust that our efforts       the gospel: Our confidence is that just in this way,
will not have been in vain. That's the text: "Except       we and our children will be saved. Then all the
the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that          hard work, the sacrificing, the time expended, cer-
build it."                                                 tainly will not have been in vain.

DAY OF SHADOWS
John A. Heys





                                    Salvation Revealed



   It would be good for us to see ourselves in             Jonah could not. When we sin today, we often
Jonah's plight, and to realize that in him we have a       make Jonah's sin look tame.
picture of ourselves. Indeed, that is why God in-
cludes books such as this book of Jonah in Holy               You never fled from God's presence? You never
Writ. We too are sinners, and we disobey God and           failed to do what He called you to do? In Jonah's
trample under foot His commands in so many dif-            day God's presence was in the promised land of Ca-
ferent ways. We err greatly if we with pride look          naan. There He revealed Himself and dwelt sym-
down on Jonah, as though we would never do a               bolically in the tabernacle, and later in the temple.
thing like that, or never did anything as bad as what      .Today  His presence is in His house on the Sabbath.
he did. In fact we do ourselves a great deal of good       There He speaks to us through the preaching of the
when we take into consideration the fact that many         Word. And you never fled from that preaching?
of our sinful deeds are worse than his, because we         Even when physically sitting in the audience, you
have so much richer a manifestation of the truth,          never went to sleep, or fled in your thoughts from
one that far exceeds what Jonah had. We have the           the preaching? You never arranged a vacation, a
whole Bible for our guide. We have the mystery             trip, a pleasure for your flesh that took you away
revealed to us that was hid through the whole Old          from His presence? And during the week, how
Testament dispensation (Ephesians  1:9- 12).  We do        close do you live to God's Word? You open the
not live in the day of shadows, but we live in the         Scripture every day, and consider listening to what
day when the Spirit has been poured out; and we            God has to say as  more  important than eating that
understand God's covenant promises in a way that           meal, making that dollar, keeping an engagement
                                                           that will please your flesh? You come before His
John A. Heys is a minister emeritus in the Protestant      presence in prayer, when you are about to eat in a
Reformed Churches.                                         public place where the eyes of unbelievers will see


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                             475



you? You do not necessarily need to take a ship to          But we must not stop there. We are so prone to
flee from God's presence. We ought to hang our            think of salvation only in terms of from what our
heads in shame, rather than proudly look down on          flesh will escape, and in terms of what our bodies
Jonah as such an exceptional sinner.                      are going to enjoy. And, sad to say, much of what
  Do we really have as much zeal for God's cause,         today is called gospel preaching and evangelism
for His covenant people, and the kingdom of               tries to get men to accept Christ for such joys and
Christ, as Jonah did? Do not minimize his sin. But        wonders. They preach a "gospel" that even the
appreciate the fact that he was concerned about           devil, and the fallen angels, together with the worst
God's covenant promises as given to Abraham, and          sinners, can want and eagerly accept.
fulfilled almost exclusively among Abraham's seed,          But wait a minute. All this is surely part of our
and in the promised land. We are privileged to see a      salvation. Our sins are blotted out. Our guilt is
broader, richer picture of God's covenant, and that       gone. And then the punishment we deserve is
we also are His covenant people. But does it bother       something that we will never have to suffer. But
us as much as it did Jonah, when it looks as though       God does far more, as He did to Jonah. He saves us
the church is in danger of being swept away by the        from the power and the love of sin. Our souls need
world, and taken over by the false church?                salvation as well as our bodies. And was not the
  Consider yourself once, sinking down to death           first promise God gave us, the first preaching of the
and the grave in the awareness that you have not          gospel in paradise, that God would make us hate
been faithful in many ways, as one of God's cove-         sirz, and that the head of Satan would be crushed, so
nant people. Let your whole life flash before you,        that we escape completely from his power?
and you see that you have but a minute or two               That is oh so necessary; and the escape from the
before you come to stand before the God from              curse and suffering pain and torment in hell can
Whose presence you have fled so often. Yes, it will       never be ours without that salvation from the love
do you good to stand in Jonah's shoes. The jaws of        and power of sin. The author in Hebrews 12: 14 tells
death were about to open, so that he would be             us that without holiness no man shall see the Lord.
swallowed up by his watery grave.                         Jonah was walking in unholiness. He was clearly
  God saved him from that grave the last fraction         under the power of Satan. And he must not simply
of the minute, before those jaws of death would           be delivered from that watery grave, and from
have opened and swallowed him. In His mercy, as           God's wrath in hell. No, he must be brought to
that God of great kindness, God kept Jonah from           remember the Lord, as he himself states it in his
physical death, and worked in him repentance. His         prayer to God. Jonah, as well as we, must be saved
soul had fainted. He saw no hope of escaping death        not simply from the guilt of sin, together with its
in whose presence he now stood, rather than in            punishment. We must be saved from the power
God's presence, from which he fled. He did not            and love of sin. We are not saved, in the first place,
know that God would send a fish and spare his life.       for our own good. We are saved for the glory of
But in the last fearful moment before death would         God, are saved so that we may serve, praise, and
swallow him up, God caused him to remember                glorify God, as is our calling. So much preaching to-
Jehovah; and from out the depths he cried to God.         day wants to tell us to smile because God loves us.
That prayer came in to God in His holy temple; and        It does not teach that we must love God. It tries to
a great fish swallowed him up, instead of death,          get man to accept Christ for fleshly advantages, for
and Jonah had continued life. He was saved, and           his own good. Salvation from the punishment of sin
out of the belly of that fish he now utters his prayer    is the whole story. Salvation from the power and
of thanksgiving and praise to God.                        love of sin, to be freed completely from Satan's
  This was possible because of that of which Jonah        power, to be able to serve God with heart, soul,
                                                          mind, and strength is but a fringe benefit. Escape
was only a type. Because God's Son, with our sins
upon Him, by God's sovereign grace, was buffeted          the fire of hell, and you have it made!
by the billows and waves of God's wrath against             All this is putting the cart before the horse. Had
our sins, was not saved from death and the grave,         Jonah died in his sin, he would have cried everlast-
and through His obedience and suffering all of our        ingly in hell, the place of torment and of God's holy
everlasting punishment, Jonah and we have salva-          wrath. But in His grace God made him remember
tion. He was in His grave three days and three            Him, and to cry for mercy. That was not a work for
nights, but went through these to everlasting glory,      which Jonah could pat himself on the  back. God
paving the way for us. Now we need have no fear           made him remember. Does Jonah not clearly say,
ai we face death, for through it we will be ushered       "Salvation is of the Lord"? Did it not flash before
into God's presence in a way more wonderful than          his mind that his only hope was that this God of
any such experience in this life.                         great kindness could and does save?


476                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



  Yes, this God is the Lord, as the KJV has it. But         must ask. You are not alive yet spiritually, but you
the Hebrew is much more powerful. For it states,            can do what no child ever did or could do: you can
"Salvation is of Jehovah." He is the I am, the              ask for a birth. Salvation is of the Lord, if you will
Sovereign One, the Unchangeable One, the                    let Him. He is Jehovah, the I Am. But you are too,
Almighty One, the Self-sufficient One, the Independ-        and it depends upon you as to whether He is going
ent One. Who could save you more assuredly than             to save you or not.
He? Where is there salvation outside of Him?                  No! No! A thousand times NO! Salvation is of the
Jehovah is His covenant name. It is the name which          Lord. All of it. The fact that you desire it also came
He gave Moses, when he asked Whom he should                 from him. Paul told the Philippian jailer that if he
tell the covenant people had sent him to come and           believed, he would be saved. That was not a condi-
deliver them from Pharaoh (Exodus  3:13, 14). In            tion that the jailor had to fulfill. From his desire for
that name God reveals Himself as our Savior in              salvation it was evident that he already had the
Christ. Do not forget that the name Jesus is a con-         beginning of salvation worked in him; and there-
traction of Jehovah is Salvation. He was not yet            fore he could be sure that his sins were blotted out,
come in our flesh. When He came, He received that           and that he would be saved from the lake of fire
name, "For He shall save His people from their              when he died.
sins" (Matthew 1:21). But He was foreshadowed in               You see, salvation reveals `itself in the act of
the Old Testament in that name of God, namely               believing. In fact, it reveals itself in the desire for
Jehovah. That was His name in the day of shadows.           salvation. Salvation is one hundred percent, com-
Jonah who saw himself ready to enter into the belly         pletely, entirely from the Lord. That includes the
of the grave, to face the Almighty God of heaven            desire for it, and the faith that His Son took away
and earth, remembered that He is Jehovah, the               our guilt by His cross, and by His Spirit makes us
covenant God of His people. When his soul fainted,          want to be saved from the power and love of sin.
God Who saves made him remember that He is the
God of grace with wonderful covenant promises.                We must not put our work before God's. We
And He made Jonah cry from the belly of hell to his         must see that our faith, our desire for salvation, our
covenant God.                                               sorrow over sin reveals that salvation has already
                                                            been begun in us by God. The desire for salvation
  Sad to say, the tendency in most preaching today          and the prayer to God for salvation are the fruit of a
is to deny Jonah's words. In most of the preaching,         salvation already begun in us. We must see that
salvation is not of the Lord, that is, all of our salva-    also as God's work. Scripture in Ephesians  2:P
tion is not from Him. In most of the sp-called              teaches us that we are dead in trespasses and sins.
evangelism there is a condition that man must               Paul tells us in Romans  8:8 that we cannot please
fulfill. Man must save himself to a "small" degree.         God. Now surely dead men do not ask for salva-
And if he does, then God will do the rest. Man must         tion, nor do they know what it is. And believing in
first save himself from his unbelief, fulfill the con-      God's Son pleases Him. But if, or better,  since
dition of believing. He must take the first step of         before being born again we cannot please Him, we
sanctification, and then God will do the rest of that       cannot believe or ask Him for salvation until He
sanctification and grant the justification that Christ      has already begun it in us. Salvation reveals itself as
realized on the cross. Even worse, you heard it, you        already being ours in our desire and request for it.
can be a born again Christian, if you will only ask         Let us say it with Jonah: "Salvation is of the Lord."
for it. The rebirth is yours for the asking. But you        All of it is.



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


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                             477



QUESTION BOX
Cornelius Hanho





                                        Christ in Adam



  The following question has been submitted to              the knowledge of good and evil, with the demand
the question box:                                           that Adam should not eat thereof, "for in the day
   "Was Adam in the state of rectitude in need of           that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die" (Gen.
Christ?' '                                                  2:17).
   Our first reaction might well be that we answer,            Rev. H. Hoeksema writes in his  Reformed Dog-
"No." We know that Adam was created good and                matics, page 213, "His (Adam's) freedom did not
after the image of God, in true knowledge, right-           consist of this, that he could either sin or not sin,
eousness, and holiness, to know and to serve his            but exactly in the fact that he stood in perfect
God in love with his whole being. He was God's              righteousness, in harmony with the will of God, so
friend-servant, serving God in the capacity of proph-       that he loved the Lord his God with his whole
et, priest, and king over the earthly creation. He          heart. But he was created lapsible. He had not at-
was  filly capable of-fulfilling God's mandate, "Be         tained to the highest freedom. He indeed was
fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and        capable of performing the will of God; but he could
subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the           nevertheless by an act of his own will turn about
sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every liv-      and subject himself to the slavery of sin. The
ing thing that moveth upon the earth," at least as          highest freedom is the state in which it will be
far as his mandate applied to the earthly paradise.         forever impossible for man to choose contrary to
(See Gen.  1:28.)                                           the will of God. But this is attainable only in the
   Adam possessed a certain freedom, that is, a             Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God united with our
freedom not to sin. He loved God, knew that God             nature. Adam, therefore, could lose the image of
loved him, and was devoted to God in love. He               God. . . . And it is only through the grace of Christ
walked and talked with God and dwelled in God's             that this image is restored and raised to a higher, to
house in the first paradise. He stood at the pinnacle       a heavenly level and glory that can be lost never-
of the entire earthly creation as God's  friend-            more."
servant, uniting the entire creation in covenant              Second, Adam was of the earth earthy. "He lives
fellowship with God. In Adam's heart the whole              an earthly life. He cannot reach to heaven. He is
creation was united to the heart of God. (See               dependent upon the earth for his very subsistence.
Reformed Dogmatics,  Rev. H. Hoeksema, page 222.)           From the earth his life must be constantly sustained
  Yet it was exactly because of Adam's unique re-           and replenished. He has earthly sensations and
lationship to his God and his peculiar position over        perceptions; an earthly eye, with which he
against the entire creation that also Adam's life           perceives earthly things; an earthly ear, that can
would never be complete without the Christ.                 hear earthly sounds; an earthly sense of taste and
  First, Adam was created fallible. Although he             touch and smell, that can bring him into contact
                                                            with earthly objects. He is bound by ties of earthly
was created free in the sense that he was able not to       love and friendship. Even his thinking and willing
sin, he still was capable of sinning. He was perfect,
yet not in the sense that he could not lose that            assume earthly forms. There are things that eye
perfection. God had placed in paradise the tree of          cannot see, and ear cannot hear, and which cannot
                                                            arise in the heart of man, which only the Spirit of
Cornelius Hanko is a minister emeritus in the Protestant    God can reveal to him" (Reformed Dogmatics,  page
Reformed Churches.                                          200).


478                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



  Third, Adam was mortal. Although death had no           of sins: Who is the image of the invisible God, the
dominion over him, he was dependent upon the              firstborn of every creature: for by him were all
tree of life to perpetuate his earthly existence (Gen.    things created, that are in heaven, and that are in
3:22). After the fall Adam learned to seek his life in    earth, visible and invisible, whether they be
Him Who is the Resurrection and the Life, to live         thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers:
from Him forever in the new creation.                     all things were created by him, and for him: and he
  Fourth, the first Adam was a type of the last           was before all things, and by him all things consist.
Adam. "And so it is written, the first Adam was           And he is the head of the body, the church: who is
made a living soul; the last Adam was made a              the beginning, the firstborn from the dead: that in
quickening spirit. Howbeit that was not first which       all things he might have the preeminence. For it
is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward    pleased the father that in him should all fulness
that which is spiritual. The first man was of the         dwell."
earth earthy: the second man is the Lord of heaven.         From this follows that when Adam fell, he fell in-
As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy:     to the arms of Christ. It was never God's intention
and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are       to attain heavenly perfection and glory through
heavenly. As we have borne the image of the               Adam, as is evident from the Scripture passages
earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heaven-       referred to above. The riches of God's glorious
ly" (I Cor.  1545-48). Christ was in Adam's loins,        perfections and the blessedness of His intimate
for Adam was our first father, and organically root       covenant life could never be fully revealed and
of the entire human race. To serve his purpose as         shared through Adam. The first paradise must fade
our first father he had to bring forth the Christ,        away to make room for the second, the eternal
through Whom alone he could have eternal life.            heavenly Paradise (Rev. 22: 1, 2). The first Adam
  This is most beautifully expressed in Colossians        must step aside to open the way for the last Adam.
1:13-19: "Who (God) hath delivered us from the            "For since by man came death, by man came also
power of darkness, and hath translated us into the        the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die,
kingdom of his dear Son: In whom we have                  even so in Christ shall all be made alive" (I Cor.
redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness        15:21, 22). See also Romans  5:12-19.




                                       Book Reviews


AQUINAS, CALVIN,  & CONTEMPORARY                          sure whether Calvin was referring to Aquinas
PROTESTANT THOUGHT; A CRITIQUE OF                         when Calvin attacked this idea, but concluded that
PROTESTANT VIEWS ON THE THOUGHT OF                        if Calvin indeed did refer to Aquinas, Calvin was all
THOMAS AQUINAS,  by  Arvin Vos; Christian                 wrong.
University Press and Eerdmans Publishing, 1985;
178 pp., $13.95 (paper). (Reviewed by Prof. H.               This is not the only subject with which Vos deals,
Hanko)                                                    but his intent is to prove that Aquinas has been un-
  Vos is convinced that Aquinas has been misun-           justly maligned and misunderstood by Protestants,
derstood and often unjustly condemned by Prot-            and it is his hope that through a re-evaluation of
estants, especially on the meaning of faith. He           Aquinas' theology a greater appreciation of
disagrees with Calvin's analysis of the schoolmen's       Aquinas will emerge.
(particularly Aquinas) view of faith, and claims this        One sometimes wonders whether Vos does not
was due to some ambiguity in what constitutes the         in fact have in mind an attempt to bridge the chasm
idea of the knowledge of faith. Particularly, he says     between classical Roman Catholic thought and Prot-
that Aquinas never taught, as Protestantism has           estant truth. It is more than passing strange,
long maintained, that faith is implicit trust in the      however, that Vos understands Aquinas better than
church. He insists Aquinas never taught this, is not      the Reformers, and better than Calvin himself.


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 479



LET THE BIBLE SPEAK.. . ABOUT TONGUES,                        chapter 12 and chapter 14! It does not stand alone.
by Richard C. Schwab; Kregel Publications, 1985;              It is the very heart of Paul's teaching about the
130 pp., (paper) $5.95. (Reviewed by Prof. R.D.               spiritual life and is absolutely essential to the truth
Decker)                                                       of chapters 12 and 14."
  Here is an excellent refutation of Pentecostalism.             Particularly helpful for anyone who needs to
The heart of the book is chapters four through                know something about Pentecostalism will be the
eleven. In these chapters one finds an extensive              historical sketch of this movement in chapter one.
and clearly written exposition of I Corinthians 12,           Also helpful are the summaries at the end of each
13, and 14. In chapter eight, the first of two                chapter as well as the summary of the entire book
chapters dealing with I Corinthians 13, Schwab                given in the last chapter.
points to an oft ignored truth when he writes: "One              The author's dispensational views are apparent
of the greatest chapters in the Bible is I Corinthians        at various points. This is the major weakness of the
13, often called the Love Chapter. Thousands of               book from a Reformed perspective. However, if the
messages have been based on this outstanding, lof-            reader is inclined towards Pentecostalism, let him
ty passage. It is right that this is so. What is often        or her read this book prayerfully and with open Bi-
forgotten, however, is this chapter's immediate               ble in hand.
context. Never forget that chapter 13 is between




                        News From Our Churches
                                                      David Harbach




                                      August 14, 1986          and praying that through these kinds of meetings
   Pastor den Hartog writes that "Pastor Lau is                the bond of sisterly relationships between our chur-
teaching from the Heidelberg Catechism a group of              ches will be strengthened.
about 14 young Christians who are preparing them-                 I, . . . In the past months our mail box has been
selves for baptism and membership in our church.               pretty empty. We do thank those who have written
This class will be completed by the end of                     to us. It is always a source of encouragement to us
September . . . . The class meets in the large                 to receive letters from home so keep them com-
meeting room at Blair Road.                                    ing . . .  ."
   "We continue to have many couples aspiring to                  The Evangelism Society of Southeast Church,
marriage and to establishing a Christian home.                 Grand Rapids, Michigan, will sponsor a lecture to
Presently I am giving premarriage  counselling to              be given by Rev. R. Van Overloop, missionary in
ten young couples. There will be at least four or              our Protestant Reformed Churches, on "The Rap-
five marriages yet this year. . . . Usually the majori-        ture in Light of Scripture." This speech will be held
ty of our members attend the weddings . . . .                  Thursday, September 25, 8 P.M., at Calvin
   "During the month of June I had the privilege of            Seminary Chapel. A question and answer period
teaching two Bible study groups at the Presbyterian            will follow the speech.
High School . . . . A number of the members of                   For those of you who have ordered the Standurd
these Bible studies attend our youth fellowship at             Bearer Index, covering volumes l-58, your bill will
the church . . . .                                             be sent with the index and prompt payment will be
   "I continue to hold a class of instruction in New           greatly appreciated. The cost of the index will be
Testament Greek. Three students are now attend-                between $25-30 or even lower depending on how
ing this class.                                                many people have sent in their orders. This index
   I, . . . Pastor Lau and one of our elders attended          consists of Title, Subject, Text, Book Reviews, and
the Synod of our churches in Grand Rapids. . . . We            is 584 pages. For those of you who did not order an
were much encouraged by this. We are all hoping                index and would like yet to do so, wait no longer -
                                                               order now by calling (616) 878-3417, or by mailing a
David Harbach is a teacher at Adams St. Prot. Ref.             post card to: Henry Kamps, 8288 Harlow, Byron
Christian School, Grand Rapids, Michigan.                      Center, MI 49315.


         SECOND CLASS                                                                                                THE STANDARD BEARER
       POSTAGE PAID Al                                                                                                    P . O .   B o x   6 0 6 4
 GRAND RAPIDS, MICH.                                                                                               Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506





480                                                         THE STANDARD BEARER


   Kalamazoo Church, Michigan, planned to hold a                             The next week the same newspaper printed a letter
"Deficit Reduction Drive" at the end of September.                           to the editor in which the writer commented, ". . . I
They actually plan to hold a "Mortgage Reduction                             have known many people who have visited India or
Drive" since they are well ahead of their payments;                          who were born there, and they have said that idol
and the drive is simply so that they may liquidate                           worship is in no way connected with their religion
their mortgage sooner.                                                       today, except by the very ignorant." Now aside
   Loveland Church, Colorado, is making seating                              from the fact that Jaiki never mentioned that he
changes in their new sanctuary for the office                                came from India, do those people who are not ig-
bearers. From now on the reserved bench for the                              norant in India worship idols? And are these idols
elders will be the second from the front on the East                         they worship the same ones worshiped in Singa-
side, and the three benches behind them will be                              pore? Only our close friend Jaiki can answer these,
reserved for the deacons and their families.                                 so look for an answer to these questions in the near
                                                                             future.
   In Hudsonville Church, Michigan, they have an
interesting way of congratulating those who make                                The latest Young People's Convention had
confession of faith. After the service, those who                            almost  300  conventioneers. Part of the reason for
have made confession of faith follow the deacons                             an increase in the number attending can be at-
out of the auditorium and receive congratulations                            tributed to the fact that the older young people had
from the congregation in the narthex.                                        their own meetings and some special activities to-
                                                                             gether. We can thank the Convention Planning
   The Grand Valley Advance newspaper of                                     Committee of South Holland Church, Illinois, for
Jenison, Michigan printed an article by Jaikishin                            setting this precedent.
Mahtani in which he gave a unique personal
perspective on his early life and his stay in the U.S.
as the guest of our Protestant Reformed Churches.                                                           NOTICE!!!
                                                                               I am interested in obtaining a complete set of the Bound Volumes
                  WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                                        of THE STANDARD BEARER. Anyone wishing to sell a set or partial
                                                                             sets please contact me. PAUL VAN KOVERING, 8341 TYLER ST.,
   On September 12, 1986, our beloved parents, MR. AND MRS.                  ZEELAND, Ml. My phone number is (616) 8757476.
RICHARD BLOEM hope to celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary.

   We, their children give thanks to our Heavenly Father for the love
and Christian guidance they have given us. Our prayer is that our                              RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
Covenant God will continue to bless and keep them in their remaining           The Consistory of the Loveland Protestant Reformed Church, on
years.                                                                       behalf of the congregation, expresses its sympathy to the family of
   "For the Lord is good, His mercy is everlasting and His truth  en-        Mr. and Mrs. Arthur  Schwarz  in the death of her brother, MR. DEAN
dureth to all generations." (Psalm  100)                                     HEINZ. "The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be
                                                                             the name of the Lord." (Job  I:211
James David
Janice Kay                                                                   Rev. Ron Cammenga, Pres.
                                                                             Mr. Frank Van  Baren, Clerk

                  WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                                                               WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
   On September 8, 1986, our parents, MR. AND MRS. GORDON
ONDERSMA, will celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary. We are                 On September 14, our`parents, JOHN AND JEANETTE DE  VRIES
grateful to God for their loving care and covenant instruction and           will celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary. We thank God for
guidance. We pray that the Lord will continue to bless them in the           blessing them with these years together and also for the covenant in-
years to come.                                                               struction which they have given us. We pray for God's continued
                                                                             blessing on them in the years to come.
   "The Lord shall bless thee out of Zion: and thou shalt see the good
of Jerusalem all the days of thy life. Yea, thou shalt see thy children's       Psalm  102:12 "But thou, 0 Lord, shalt endure for ever; and thy
children, and peace upon Israel." (Psalm  128:5,  6)                         remembrance unto all generations."
Curt and Lori Veldman                                                        Herm and Lorraine De Vries                Bryant and Ruth Cox
  Jeffrey and Emily                                                             John, Sarah, Amy, and Laura              Eric
Tim                    Diane                 Jodie                           Don and  Shelly  De Vries                 Tom and Brenda De Vries
Craig                  Mark                  Amanda                             K    a    r    i                       Mike De Vries


