          The
     STANDARD
         BEARER
           A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE





       Without contentment there can be no true
     thanksgiving. The person who is not content
     is of the opinion that what `he has really isn't
     all that much. His possessions, his social
     standing, his job, his family, his f.uture really
     don't amount to much. Neither, therefore,
     does he appreciate what he has; nor is he
     thankful to God for what God has given him.
     No one appreciates what isn't enough. Only
     those who are satisfied with life can be
     thankful.
                                (See Meditation - page 74)


.                                              Vol.  LXIII, No. 4, November 15,  1986-


7 4                                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER




                                                                                                                       THE STANDARD BEARER
                                    CONTENTS                                                                                    ISSN 0362-4692
                                                                                                     Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July, and August.
       Meditation  -                                                                                 Published by the Reformed Free Publishing Association, Inc.
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          Content With Food And Raiment . . . . . . . . . . . . .74                        Editor-imChief:  Prof. Homer C. Hoeksema
       Walking In The Light -                                                              Department Editors: Rev. Ronald Cammenga, Rev. Arie den Hartog, Prof. Robert
                                                                                           D. Decker, Rev. Barry Gritters, Rev. Cornelius Hanko, Prof. Herman C. Hanko,
                                                                                           Rev. Ronald Hanko, Rev. John A. Heys, Rev. . Kortering, Rev. George C. Lub-
          Moral Aspects of Medical Technology (10) . . . . .76                             bers, Rev. Thomas C. Miersma, Rev. James f
                                                                                                                                             S opsema, Rev. Gise J. Van  Baren,
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MEDITATION
James D. Slopsema




                        Content With Food And Raiment

                      But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it
                   is certain we can carry nothing out. Having food and raiment let us be therewith content.
                                                                                                                                            I Timothy 6:6-8


       Thanksgiving Day is almost upon those of us                                           Contentment describes the person who is of the
residing in the States. The saints in Canada have                                            opinion that all his needs are being met and,
already had their day of thanksgiving.                                                      therefore, is quite satisfied with life. He has enough
  The key to giving thanks is contentment.                                                  and has no real desire for more.
       Contentment is satisfaction with your lot in life.                                       How few in our day and age are really content.


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                              75



Most today are dissatisfied with life. They are             The meaning here is that we enter this life with-
dissatisfied with their financial situation, their        out any material wealth; and that's how we leave
social standing, their job, their family, their pros-     this life. When we're born, we're born stark naked.
pects for the future. Very few are truly content.         We don't own so much as a suit of clothes. And at
   Without contentment there can be no true               death we take nothing material with us. When we
thanksgiving. The person who is not content is of         die, our loved ones don't pack our possessions into
the opinion that what he has really isn't all that        a trailer to be pulled behind the hearse to the grave.
much. His possessions, his social standing, his job,      All our material wealth is divided among our heirs.
his family, his future really don't amount to much.       This is a simple fact of life.
Neither, therefore, does he appreciate what he has;         And this is called to our attention here to remind
nor is he thankful to God for what God has given          us of the limited value of material things.
him. No one appreciates what isn't enough. Only             First of all, material possessions, because they
those who are satisfied with life can be thankful.        pertain only to this life, are of significance only for
            * * * * *  * * * * *                          this life.
   Having food and raiment let us be therewith con-          Because we do not take our wealth with us
tent.                                                     through death, our material wealth will certainly
   Food and raiment represent the basic necessities       not afford us any joy and comfort in the endless
of life. Food and raiment are contrasted with             ages of eternity. The benefits we derive from
material wealth. In the preceding context we read         material possessions are limited to the few years of
of certain evil men who supposed that gain is godli-      our existence on this earth.
ness. In other words, they saw that an outward              Nor will our material possessions be of any
show of godliness could be a source of great finan-       benefit to us when at death we must meet our
cial gain. And so they put on a show of godliness         Maker and give account of ourselves. When we sit
and gained for themselves a great deal of material        one day in the seat of judgment, the Lord will care
wealth. In contrast to the great wealth of these evil     not at all whether we were rich or poor in this life.
men we read here of food and raiment - the basic          The Lord is no respecter of persons. He will judge
necessities of life.                                      each one of us according to our works. And so if we
   Food and raiment are usually the material lot of       can present to the Lord nothing more than our
the children of God. Very seldom are the saints           riches and wealth in this life, our wealth will be a
numbered among the rich of the world. Most often          noose around our neck to drag us to the depths of
they have just enough to get by. They work hard           hell.
and long; they scrimp and save. But even then               Material possessions are of significance only for
there is hardly enough to provide for food, clothing      this life. And how short isn't our earthly life when
and shelter as well as for the causes of God's            compared to the endless ages of eternity?
kingdom.                                                    But, in the second place, material possessions are
   Should God in His good providence provide us           of only limited importance in this life.
only with food and raiment, we are therewith to be
content. We must not envy the riches of others. We          The world is mistaken in its assumption that the
must not be all upset with the little we have and         key to happiness is to possess and enjoy great
wish for more. No, we must be content with what           riches. Nor has God given us material things to en-
we have. There must be a perfect equilibrium be-          joy as an end in themselves.
tween what God has given us and our desires. We             The only value that material possessions have is
are to be of the opinion that what we have, even          to enable us to serve God in this life. As long as we
though it be very little, is enough.                      are flesh and blood here on the earth, we need food
   And having enough, let us be thankful to God           and drink, clothing and shelter, effectively to serve
`Who has provided for all our wants and needs!            the Lord. As long as the kingdom of God is
          *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *                    represented in this world, there must also be
                                                          material means to support the kingdom. There
  Being content with mere food and raiment is             must be the material means to support the gospel
possible only if we first see the limited value of        ministry of the church and the training of covenant
material things.                                          children in the Christian school. For these purposes
  We brought nothing into this world, and it is cer-      alone God has given to each of us the material
tain we can carry nothing out.                            possessions we have. For these purposes alone they
                                                          are to be used. They have no more significance
James D. Slopsema is pastor of the Protestant Reformed    than this.
Church of Randolph, Wisconsin.                                          Y  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *


76                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER



      If we will be content with mere food and raiment                  In light of all this, we certainly can and ought to
we must, however, also see the great value of godli-                be content with mere food and raiment.
ness.                                                                   Were material wealth of tremendous importance
      Godliness is piety, devoutness. Godliness is to be            we certainly could not be content with just food
completely devoted to the service and glory of God.                 and raiment. If, for example, we could take our
True godliness arises from a heart that is filled with              material possessions with us into eternity and they
loving gratitude to God for the free gift of salvation              would be the only source of eternal joy, no one
in Jesus Christ. What a great treasure godliness is!                could be content with mere food and raiment. And
      Godliness, we are told, is great gain. The mean-              if material abundance were necessary to insure
ing is that true godliness is the source of great gain.             God's favorable judgment in the day of reckoning,
Godliness brings everyone who walks in it a great                   none could be content until he had wealth untold.
gain.                                                                   But material possessions are not as important as
      The great gain derived from godliness is sweet                that. Godliness is! Godliness is great gain.
fellowship and communion with God. And what                         Godliness alone affords us true joy both now and in
joy that is! Many today think true joy comes only                   eternity. Material possessions only serve the pur-
from an abundance of material things. The                           pose of making it possible for us to serve God in
pleasures we derive from material possessions,                      this life in true godliness.
however, are small and insignificant compared                           And God in His good providence gives to each of
with the pleasures of God's companionship. In                       us the material possessions necessary to serve Him
God's fellowship there is true joy.                                 in godliness. Whether you have much or little of
      And this wonderful joy of fellowship gained from              this world's goods, it is just what you need to serve
godliness is not something that is limited to this life.            God and find the great joy of His companionship.
It is ours for all eternity. We don't take our material                 Let us set our hearts then on the great riches of
possessions with us through death to enjoy eternal-                 godliness and the joys of God's fellowship.
ly, but we do take our godliness with us. The
godliness of this life is something we take with us                     And understanding the true value of things
into eternity. And in eternity we will enjoy the                    material in relation to things spiritual, let us be con-
fruits of that godliness as we never enjoyed them                   tent with such things as we have, even if it be mere
here.                                                               food and raiment.
      What a treasure is true godliness!                                And let us be thankful.

WALKING IN THE LIGHT
Herman C. Hanko





             Moral Aspects of Medical Technology
                                                                  WI

[Note. This is a continuation of the subject under discussion at         have developed a technique in animals that will soon
the conclusion of Installment  #9, in which Prof. Hanko was              allow lesbian couples to have children. Already les-
quoting from  Bibliotheca  Sacra.]                                       bians have used artificial insemination to provide
                                                                         children for their "marriages." A research scientist
      Even more revolting is another technique which                     at Vanderbilt University has developed a technique
results from IVF to which Bibliotheca Sacra refers in                    which, if perfected, would allow doctors to take an
the same article.                                                        unfertilized egg from one woman and fuse it with an
                                                                         egg from another woman and produce a baby girl
         Almost daily, new advances in artificial reproduc-              genetically related to both women. This would pro-
       tion further erode the biblical categories of marriage,           vide lesbians with an ability to produce girl children
       procreation, and family. For example researchers                  without any male involvement!


                                                       THE STANDARD BEARER                                                             7 7



  John Jefferson Davis, while not flatly opposing                             At the moment these techniques are less effective
IVF, nevertheless brings up a couple of other prac-                      than normal conception. Therefore the burden of
tical problems resulting from this technique. In                         proof must fall on the experimenters to guarantee the
fact, his main objection against IVF, a practical one                    safety of the unborn child. A wife may feel she is
only, is the problem of birth defects. While IVF is                      ready to take the risk in order to have a child, but
too recent a procedure to evaluate this problem                          another life is involved in the equation - the child to
                                                                         be conceived. Do Christians have any ethical respon-
statistically, he quotes with approval Paul Ramsey                       sibility toward children conceived by this method?
who writes: "A small risk of grave induced injury is                     Further study and research are necessary before
still a morally unacceptable risk." And this in turn                     Christians could, in good conscience, counsel others
brings up various legal questions:                                       to use these techniques (pp. 62, 63).
          Physicians and researchers who are working `in the                  In vitro fertilization and embryo transfer violate
    area of IVF could be subject to malpractice suits in the             this sanctity in three ways. First, there is the potential
    event of the birth of a child with birth defects (Davis,             loss of fetal life. Even with the newer and more suc-
    op. cit., p. 88).                                                    cessful techniques, there is still a considerable loss of
   Before we turn from this aspect of the problem,                       fertilized ova. Second, there is a general practice of
we note that some have also called attention to the                      destroying fertilized ova if they appear abnormal.
psychological problems which seem to be an in-                           Third, there has been the practice of  hyperfertiliza-
                                                                         tion. Many eggs are fertilized simultaneously, one is
evitable part of this technique. Trowel and Sword (p.                    selected for implantation, and the others are thrown
20) writes:                                                              away. Until protection of the unborn child can be
          Participation in an IVF program demands a great                guaranteed, Christians must question these practices
    deal  of' upheavel of normal life-style and hence                    (P. 661.
    dedication. This, coupled with a failure rate of 75-90%            Here we come to the crux of the issue. IVF can
    is known to cause many psychological stresses which              only take place successfully when many ova are
    may even be greater than those of infertility alone,             fertilized. The rest, if not frozen for future use or set
    hence many couples drop out early. Furthermore, the              aside for experimental purposes, are discarded.
    psychological effect on the children produced is yet             But, if it is correct that a child, a person, a baby, is
    unknown. Who knows what trauma the knowledge of
    being a "test-tube baby" will bring?                             formed at the moment of conception  - and we
                                                                     firmly believe that this is true, then any discarding
  But all these objections are more or less of a prac-               of such fertilized ova is murder on the very face of
tical nature. We are convinced that IVF can also be                  it. Even conservative ethicists have argued that this
condemned on principle grounds.  The  practical  ob-                 fact is not necessarily true  - i.e., that a fertilized
jections after all deal with misuses of IVF; and IVF,                ovum is a person. But this position cuts the ground
if used properly, would still be an acceptable                       away from abortion, for whether conceived in the
method of having children if no principle objec-                     womb or out of the womb, such a fetus is then only
tions could be raised against this practice. But if                  a glob of tissue, and can be discarded if conceived
IVF is wrong principally, the child of God may not,                  out of the womb, or aborted if conceived in the
before God, make use of this technique.                              womb. IVF involves those who practice it in
  We are convinced that IVF is wrong for especial-                   murder!
ly two reasons. The first deals with what was called
earlier in this article "spare embryos."                               The second line of argumentation has to do with
                                                      Bibliotheca    the destruction by IVF techniques of normal,  God-
Sacra  speaks of this in terms of a "waste of fetal                  created family life. Various ethicists have spoken,
life."                                                               sometimes eloquently, of this evil. John Jefferson
          A major scientific issue centers on one's concern for      Davies writes (op. cit., p. 89);
    human life. Procedures like IVF and embryo transfer                       Various observers have raised concerns about the
    are wasteful of fetal life and can sometimes result in              impact of such technology on the institutions of mar-
    miscarriages that may pose a medical threat to the                  riage and the family. According to Professor Donald
    mother. An Australian study published in October                    DeMarco, "By removing the origin of the child from
    1985 shows that 45% of all women who are  em-                       the personal context of conjugal love . . . a decisive
    pregnated through in vitro fertilization fail to give               step is taken which necessarily depreciates that love."
    birth. The study also shows that women undergoing                   In a similar vein, Professor Albert S. Moraczewski,
    this treatment were about three times more likely                   another Catholic ethicist, argues the IVF violates the
    than other mothers to give birth prematurely. The                   proper family environment for the generation of
    success rate of embryo transfer is even lower than the              human beings. IVF "displaces the human act which is
    success rate of in vitro fertilization.                             the essential bonding act of the family."
                                                                       In Bibliotheca Sacra we find this important state-
Herman C. Hanko is professor of Church History and New               ment:
Testament in the Protestant Reformed Seminary.                            A third theological issue is the biblical view of


7 8                                                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



        parenthood. Human parenthood involves two                                          course, a unity of nature in the children God is
        spheres: the unitive (Gen.  2:24) and the procreative                              pleased to give them. By this is formed the family,
        (1:28).  These are tied together by the union of sexuali-                          the basic institution of society and the essential unit
        ty, love, and procreation. "Making love" and "mak-                                 of God's gracious covenant. To separate any one
        ing babies" (to use vernacular terms) are tied to the                              aspect of this unity from the other aspects is to
        same physical act. The pleasure of sex, the communi-
        cation of love, and the desire for children are unified                            destroy the whole. To separate the sexual commun-
        in the same act. Artificial reproduction frequently                                ion from the unity of love and the unity of pro-
        separates these functions and thus poses a potential                               creation is to damage irreparably the whole institu-
        threat to the completeness God intended for marriage                               tion of marriage and its God-ordained purpose.
        (P.  67).                                                                          This is why it is not only true, as Bibliotheca Sacva
       While Gareth Jones does not consider this to be a                                   says, that IVF and its inevitable results leads to a
principle objection to IVF, he warns against the evil                                      redefinition of marriage and the family; it is also
(op. cit., p. 102):                                                                        true that it leads to a destruction of marriage and
           It is important to realize that IVF converts what is                            the family. The conception of covenant children is
        intimate and personal into an impersonal process.                                  shifted from the covenant union of love into the
                                                                                           laboratory. This will never do.
           Leon Kass has argued that the laboratory produc-
        tion of human beings is no longer human procreation,                                 God sometimes withholds children from cove-
        because making babies in laboratories is a degradation                             nant parents. We do not by any means intend to
        of parenthood. He writes: "Human procreation is                                    minimize the difficult spiritual struggles which
        begetting. It is a more complete human activity                                    such childless couples endure as they seek to recon-
        precisely because it engages us bodily and spiritually,                            cile their will with the will of the Lord. Nor do we
        as well as rationally." From this basis he has drawn                               mean to condemn any medical assistance which
        the following conclusions: "What is new is nothing                                 such couples seek when medical malfunctions are
        more radical than the divorce of the generation of new
        life from human sexuality and ultimately from the                                  the cause of childlessness. But God gives children
        confines of the human body, a separation which                                     and God withholds them. Couples to whom God
        began with artificial insemination and which will                                  does not give children ought seriously to ask
        finish with ectogenesis, the full laboratory growth of a                           themselves the question whether God does not
        baby from sperm to term."                                                          have some special work and calling for them in His
           To move away from the physical and sexual is to                                 kingdom and covenant to which they can devote
        deprive procreation of its human connotations,                                     their time and energies. It may be that God pur-
        because it no longer involves the diversity of factors                             posely refrains from giving them children in order
        constituting human love. This may have implications                                to use them in some other great and noble task in
        for the family as a biological unity, because the whole-                           the Church. But whatever may be the case, let
        sale transfer of procreation to the laboratory would                               them seek their comfort in their heavenly Father
        undoubtedly undermine the justification and support                                Who knows the ache of their heart, but Whose
        w h i c h   b i o l o g i c a l   p a r e n t h o o d   g i v e s   t o   t h e    ways are always higher than our ways in His
        monogamous marriage. It is in the family that we                                   goodness to His people.
        learn to become persons, experiencing the basic form
        of human love and caring, and learning to take posses-
        sion of our capacity to relate in love. To undermine
        the family, therefore, would be to compromise the or-
        dinary conditions of our growth as persons.
       God instituted marriage as a divine institution.                                        During  this  busy
He did this because in the marriage relationship
husband and wife love each other in the Lord Who                                                Holiday Season
binds them together. That love unites them in the
unique oneness of "one flesh". That love which
makes them one flesh comes to expression also in                                                take  the  time  to
sexual intercourse, which God has also given for
the propagation of the human race in general, and
for the perpetuation of His covenant in the lines of                                           read & study the
generations.  In this way the marriage of believers
becomes a unique picture of Christ and His
Church, and, therefore, a picture of God's everlast-                                          Standard Bearer!
ing covenant of grace which He established and
maintains through Jesus Christ. The unity of mar-
riage, that which makes husband and wife one
flesh, is a unity of love, a unity of flesh in inter-
                                                    --


                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER                                                         7 9



ALL AROUND US
Robert D.  Decher





              Drop-outs, Cults, and Fast Growing Churches
                                               Lutherans Unite
                                     Women In Church Office



Drop-outs, Cults, and Fast Growing Churches:                       ports and flowers," a researcher on cults told partici-
  Three different news reports in three different                  pants of the International Conference for Itinerant
Church magazines at first glance appear to have lit-               Evangelists.
tle in common. Upon a bit of reflection, however,                    Rather, cult members are usually above average in
they do have something in common. That some-                       intelligence, between 18 and 25 years old, and are
thing is crucial to the life and well being of the                 most likely to have a conservative religious
                                                                   background, said Jeff Amano, a research associate of
church. The first concerns a ministers' conference                 Probe Ministries in  suburban.Dallas, Texas.
recently held in the Netherlands.                                    Amano said many young people coming from con-
      The church must neither shut itself off from the             servative backgrounds become prime candidates for
   world nor accommodate herself and her message to                cult groups if the churches they attend do not teach ef-
   the spirit and thinking of the modern world. This was           fectively the hows and whys of their beliefs. Churches
   said by Dr. C. Klapwijk of The Hague at the ministers'          which don't teach reasons for their beliefs skim only
    conference sponsored by the Confessional Reformed              the surface and stress a "milky" rather than a
    Consultation (CGB). The first approach results in los-         "meaty" comprehension of the Scripture, he said.
   ing all contact with the youth; the consequence of the          This causes people to search for further answers, said
   second tack is that the church forfeits her right to ex-        Amano.
   ist.                                                              Amano told the evangelists there were more than
           The theme of the conference was "Church                 3,000 cults in the world. He noted that followers of
   Drop-Out Among Young People, Considered Against                 these groups often do not remain followers for a
   the Background of a Godless Culture." Dr. Klapwijk,             lengthy time. One study showed that only one-half of
   a retired pastor in the Reformed Churches in the                one percent of Unification Church members
   Netherlands (GKN), spoke of an explosion of church-             (Moonies) remained Moonies after two years.
   leaving. Two-thirds of the young people refuse to
   belong to any denomination. A major culprit in this               Amano said cults usually had these elements: an
   development has been modern affluence and the                   authoritarian leader; legalistic, highly structured and
   popularization of modern theology.                              disciplined guidelines; they deem themselves a sole
                                                                   possessors of truth; are concerned with the end of the
      The best approach, according to Klapwijk, is "to            world and believe they can use unethical practices to
   faithfully keep going as church of the Lord. . . . Don't        fulfill what they consider the calling or purpose of
   be rowing in a pool beside the stream, don't drift              their movement.
   along the stream, but row against the stream."  (RES
   News Exchange, Oct. 1, 1986)                                  T h e   C h u r c h   HeraZd  (Reformed Church in
                                                               America) reports on the fastest growing church in
  The second news item appears in the October                  1985 and the largest single congregation in the
issue of  Covenanter Witness,  a magazine published            U n i t e d   S t a t e s :
by the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North
America. The title of the article is, "Cult Groups                   The fastest growing church in North America is an
Fed By Churches That Don't Feed Intellect."                       Assemblies of God congregation in Arizona, and the
                                                                  largest is a Baptist congregation in Indiana, according
      Most members of religious cults are not "weirdos            to a survey published in the September/October issue
   who don't take baths and who have a penchant for  air-         of  Ministries Today  magazine.
Robert D. Decker is professor of Practical Theology and              The survey was conducted by Elmer L. Towns,
New Testament in the Protestant Reformed Seminary.                president of Church Leadership Institute in  Lvnch-


80                                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



       burg, Virginia. He has been compiling and publishing                     The American Lutheran Church also decided by
       annual statistics on large and fast-growing churches                   an overwhelming majority to merge with the
       for the past fifteen years. Towns is also dean of Liber-               Lutheran Church in America and the Association of
       ty Baptist Seminary in Lynchburg, founded by Jerry                     Evangelical Lutheran Churches. The latter two
       Falwell.                                                               denominations also agreed to the merger by big ma-
         The fastest-growing church in 1985, according to                     jorities. The new church will be called the
       the survey, was First Assembly of God in Phoenix,                      Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The
       Arizona, which gained 2,307 new worshippers for a                      membership will total some 5.3 million making it
       total of 7,688. "No church in America has had this                     the fourth largest Protestant Church in the United
       much growth in a single year since I have been con-
       ducting this survey," Towns said. He reported that                     States. The merger will be finalized in 1988. Will
       the Rev. Tommy Barnett attributes the growth to a                      the R.C.A. and the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
       new 7,000-seat sanctuary and "an aggressive ministry                   eventually merge with this large Lutheran church?
       of inviting people to ride buses for Sunday school."                   We think that is likely. Time will tell. Noteworthy
         First Baptist Church in Hammond, Indiana, was the                    is the fact that the more conservative Lutheran
       largest church in the country last year, with 19,320                   churches, the Missouri Synod and the Wisconsin
       worshippers, representing a gain of 620. About 8,000                   Synod, are not a part of this merger.
       people come to the church each week by bus.
         In a list citing the fastest-growing church in each of               Women In Church Office:
       the fifty states, thirty-two of those mentioned were                     This issue continues to plague Reformed Church-
       Assemblies of God congregations. "This is the first                    es the world over. The RES News Exchange reports:
 - time they have outnumbered Baptist churches in
       growth," Towns said. Pentecostal churches such as                           In 1982 the Church of Toraja  Mamasa  (GTM) in
       the Assemblies of God are growing, he said, "because                      Central Sulawesi, Indonesia, decided to open all of-
       they usually provide greater-involvement by  worship-                     fices in the church to women. At its synod held this
       pers in the service and they offer exciting services."                    year in July in Ujung Pandang, the GTM admitted a
       [Oct. 17, 1986)                                                           number of women students to training for the
                                                                                 ministry. This issue has caused tension `with the
      Why do the cults and  Pentecostals grow while                              Christian Reformed Churches in the Netherlands
Reformed churches such as the GKN lose their                                     (CGKN) which, in 1924, sent its first missionary to
youth? Pulpit failure! The Bible teaches that the                                Mamasa.  The CGKN is solidly opposed to ordaining
preaching of the Word is the chief means of grace,                               women to church office because it believes this is con-
by which it pleases God through Jesus Christ to                                  trary to the teaching of Scripture.
gather, defend and preserve His church. Where the                                  At the recent meeting of the synod of the CGKN the
W o r d   .is  f a i t h f u l l y   p r e a c h e d   a n d   t a u g h t       relation between the two churches was discussed and
(catechetical instruction in the history and doctrine                            much time was given to women in office. In the
of Holy Scripture) complemented by Christian                                     presence of two delegates of the GTM a proposal was
Schools that are really Christian and covenant                                   made to discuss the issue with the GTM, but after
homes where fathers and mothers teach their                                      some persons declared that this might mean a break
children God's fear by word and deed, the church                                 between the two churches, a decision on the proposal
grows. Let us be warned. Let us "hold fast the tradi-                            was postponed. [Oct. 1, 1986)
tions we have been taught . .  ." (II Thess.  2:15)                             The Christian Reformed Churches in the Nether-
                                                                              lands (CGKN) are the mother denomination of the
Lutherans Unite:                                                              Free Reformed Churches in North America. Some
      The American Lutheran Church (ALC) at its re-                           of the ministers of the Free Reformed were
cent 13th General convention in Minneapolis                                   educated at our Protestant Reformed Seminary. We
entered into a "new relationship" with the Presby-                            hope that the Dutch brothers do not follow the lead
terian Church (U.S.A.) and the Reformed Church in                             of the Indonesian churches. Our prayer is that they
America (R.C.A.) The relationship includes "occa-                             will continue to be "solidly opposed to ordaining
sional joint services of the Lord's Supper" and "the                          women to church office."
sharing of pastors between our traditions . . . The
action means that the ALC formally recognizes the                                The Standard Bearer
two church bodies from the Reformed tradition as
churches in which the gospel is properly preached                                  makes a' thoughtful
and which have authentic sacraments and
ministries. It reciprocates identical actions by the
3.2 million-member Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)                                               gift for the
and by the 353,000 member Reformed Church in
America at conventions in June." (Calvinist Contuct,                                 sick and shut-ins.
Oct. 10, 1986)


                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                                     81



                          "Good Morning, Alice" (14)
                                                      Gise J. Van Baren




       After about a week in the hospital, Alice came             day at a time, that all of the necessary care could be
home again. Now she could be fed through a tube                   given.
directly into her stomach. It seemed a strange way                Good Morning Alice:
of being fed, and Alice herself did not always ap-
preciate it. The insertion of a plastic tube into the               I've been "in" Timothy a couple of times in societies
small opening into her stomach did not hurt, but                  and these verses always strike me.
seemed to be a bit uncomfortable for her. Not a few                 The grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant!
times the tube would be inserted too far  - and                     I, too, say I am chief of sinners. At first I could never
Alice was sure to let us know; or it was not always               see how Paul could say that, but the more I see my own
inserted far enough. But she again received                       sin, the more I understand. There is no one that I know
necessary nourishment. Alice could still eat and                  that sins as much as I do. I can number them all day
drink by mouth if she wished  - and she did keep                  long. I was impatient, I neglected prayer,  again!  I
trying to drink a bit. But that fear of choking was               wasted time that I could or should have used better. I
lessened. The family was reassured in knowing that                was selfish (why don't my kids think of my needs once),
Alice was not starving to death.                                  and on and on and on.
Good Morning Alice:                                                 But verse 14 tells me of God's boundless grace; verse
   It's snowing again this morning and cold. We have              15 tells me how I receive that grace, and verse 16 tells
more bunnies and no cardinals. I don't know where                 me that my salvation is used as an example to others.
they go in the cold, but they don't come here!                    And THAT should make me desire all the more to
   I think these verses (John 15:26-27)  teach us a good          obey.
lesson. As with a lot of John's gospel, we may think                Oh, that my children, friends, and neighbors can see
Jesus is talkingjust to the disciples. He is talking to His       God's grace in me - to everlasting life.
disciples, but it is still God's, Word to us, just like Paul's      What exceeding abundant grace we receive, Alice -
letters to Corinthians are.                                       how thankful we must be because we know what we
       When the Holy Spirit comes into our hearts, sent by        are saved from!
Jesus, from God the Father, He testifies in our hearts,                                             With love, Your friend
(whether that comes before conception or late in life) of
the salvation Christ has merited for us.                          Please read Isaiah 63:7
  And although it's true, we were never with Jesus                  The daily notes from Alice's "friend" continued
bodily, when we confess we belong to Him, we are also             to arrive - to her great joy. She looked forward to
to bear witness of Him even by our actions.                       each one, and, in fact, eagerly awaited the mailman
  Let us strive to live, that others may see Him living in        each day. She seemed to know just when the mail-
                                                                  man would arrive at this rural mailbox. We never
US.                                                               did figure out just how she knew this. She could not
                                     With love,  Your friend      look directly out of any window to see his arrival.
Please read I Tim. 1:14-16                                        Somehow she must have noticed a reflection or
       The additional work of tube feeding, plus the in-          heard some sound which indicated that he had
creasing amount of care' required by Alice, was                   come. She was pleased always at the other cards
again placing undue stress on John's family. It was               she received too. And she would insist on sharing
becoming once more a question whether they could                  both the note and other cards with her nurse and
continue to bear the brunt of the work. The rest of               the rest of the family. And her "friend" especially
the family tried to take their regular turns;  ,and               gave new hope and encouragement for another
regular nursing care helped. But the greatest stress              day.
still fell on John's family. Surely it was only by the            Good Morning Alice:
wonderful grace of our God, and by taking each                      It looks like it's going to be another sunny day! It
Gise J. Van Bar-en is pastor of the Protestant Reformed           sure does get light earlier and earlier.
Church of Hudsonville, Michigan.                                    The verse I told you about for today really makes me


82                                               THE STANDARD BEARER



ashamed. Isaiah says he will make mention. I don't             Him, and no longer have to battle my "`old man" to ex-
think what Isaiah says here is that he will suggest in         perience that freedom.
passing as we use that word; I think what he says is                             In Him for Whom we wait, Your friend
that he will list often the lovingkindness of the Lord.        Please read Romans 8.23-28
      I'm sure of that, because he doesn't stop there; he
goes right on to describe the wonderful mercies of God.        (Why don't you read the whole beautiful chapter,
                                                               Alice?)
      How we fail! We thank God in our prayers for His
love and kindness, and when we discuss with friends,              Participation could take other forms as well.
we tell of God's mercies to us; but we fall far short of       Alice always enjoyed playing the old and new
Isaiah's free way  of  expressing gratitude.                   parlour games: Rook, Trionomoes,  Racko,  and
                                                               others. When she could still use her hands, that
      Maybe it would help to read this verse often, putting    `worked well. Now she could not do that anymore.
our own names in, and truly be thankful.                       But ways were devised that she could still play one
  And again, as always, I've seen how important it is          game: Uno. With a special rack, Alice would select
to continually read and search God's Word. When we             her playing card by nodding a "yes" or "no" as her
do, He gives us all we need - and so richly!                   neighbor pointed to each card in turn. And she real-
                                    With love, Your friend     ly would enjoy making another to "draw four".
                                                               Frequently Alice would win the game, too.
Please read John 8:36                                          Good Morning Alice:
      Alice enjoyed participating in family activities.
Though she could not move more than her head                     When you start reading Romans 8, you want to keep
and eyes, and could not speak anymore, she en-                 going and then read it over and over.
joyed  .watching  the children and listening to their            From verse 1, "There is therefore now no condemna-
conversations. And frequently, she would want to               tion to them which are in Christ Jesus . . . . " to the ve y
contribute something: some minor detail of a story             end of the chapter, "For I am persuaded that nothing
being told, or some report of recent news from                 can separate us from the love of God which is in Jesus
South Holland, Ill.; she insisted on correcting any-           Christ our Lord." But I better stick to the verses that I
thing which was not correctly told. And her  ever-             asked you to read: verses 23-28.
present spelling card would be required to spell                 It is explained here so clearly why we don't ex-
out, painstakingly, what she wanted others to                  perience total freedom from sin. It is our hope to be
know. Often, it was rather unimportant informa-                with God, without sin. If we experienced that now, we
tion or changes, but she had made her contribution             would no longer have that strong hope to be with God.
- something which pleased her immensely.                         But we do hope, and because that hope is so great
Good Morning Alice:                                            (life forever with Him, without sin  - can you
   If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be       imagine?) we patiently wait for that day.
free indeed.                                                     Just as the Spirit works that hope in us, so He helps
      The Jews taiking with Jesus were very upset with         us wait!
Him when He told them the truth would make them                  And He prays for us! Don't you find it so often that
free.                                                          you just don't know what to pray  for? You ask one
      They were Pharisees, Abraham's seed, free already        thing and then you think: is that what I need? Is that
- who said they weren't?                                       in God's will?
  Jesus firmly teaches them that whosoever committeth            And so often we just don't pray enough. But God
sin is the servant of sin. But then He gives a wonderful       knows all  and  detewnines all and in His  mercy, His
promise. If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye          Spirit, in unity with Him, makes intercession for us -
shall be free indeed. That is living in the circle of that     makes our prayer conform to God's will.
law of liberty we talked about. That is freedom.                 Knowing all this, we know too that whatever comes
      We know we are the children of God because of His        in our life, it is God's will. He desires - and more -
testimony in our hearts, but we have to be ever watch-         He causes our lives to be the way they are - for our
ful that we are not careless with our salvation. We can-       good.
not think just because we are elect we automatically             If we can just acknowledge this and trust in Him
live in that liberty.                                          whatever comes our way, we will face it as the con-
                                                               querors He makes us.
      Yes it is Christ who has made me free, but I must
now consciously strive to abide in that liberty by living        May you conquer your day in Him, Alice.
in obedience to Him that I can know that freedom.                                                In His love, Your friend
  And then I also long for the day that I will be with         Please read II Tim. 4:7-8


                                                                                                              --
                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                               83



THE STRENGTH OF YOUTH
Ronald L. Cammenga





                  Living Church Membership (1)



  There is much misunderstanding and many mis-             quite sufficient to call oneself a Christian and to
conceptions today regarding the church. By the             identify in a general sort of way with others around
vast majority the church is looked upon as a purely        the world who call themselves Christians, without
human institution. Others view the church as a             ever joining a local congregation.
Divine institution all right, but a Divine institution       This is mistaken thinking. This kind of thinking
on a par with other Divine institutions as, for exam-      involves separating what God has joined together.
ple, the Christian home, the Christian school, the         This kind of thinking fails to do justice to the close
Christian labor union, and the Christian political         relationship that God Himself has established be-
party. Others raise the question, in apparent              tween the "invisible" church and the church "visi-
seriousness, whether the church has really not out-        ble."
lived its usefulness, whether it is not out-dated and        The importance of membership in the visible
ought to make room for a more modern institution           church is easily proved. The fact of the matter is
of more practical benefit to mankind. There are            that the Holy Spirit gathers the church in such a
many people who consider themselves to be saved            way that the invisible church of Jesus Christ comes
Christians, although they want nothing to do with          to visible manifestation in the world. So closely are
the church and openly disparage membership in              the invisible body of Jesus Christ and the visible
the church. There are others who show their ig-            congregation related, so much are they one, that
norance-of what church membership is by the fact           one joins the Body of Christ in the local congrega-
that they slight the church. These people do not           tion when he affiliates with a faithful congregation.
take their church membership seriously. They do            And when one leaves a faithful congregation, he is
not fulfill the responsibilities of church member-         guilty of forsaking the Body of Christ. One's at-
ship. They are irregular and infrequent in church          titude toward the instituted church is his attitude
attendance.                                                toward Christ's body; one's actions with regard to it
  We ought to be clear on our responsibility as            are his actions over against Christ's body.
Christians to be members of the church of Jesus              Scripture itself indicates this close relationship
Christ. We ought to be clear on our calling to be liv-     between the invisible body of Jesus Christ and the
ing, in contrast to dead, church members.                  local congregation by calling both "the church."
  The first thing that we must be clear about is that      Not only does Scripture refer to the universal body
living church membership means membership in a             of Jesus Christ, the church invisible as the church.
local congregation. The importance and necessity           But again and again this is also Scripture's designa-
of church membership is the importance and                 tion of the local congregation. The Apostle Paul ad-
necessity of membership in the visible, instituted         dresses his epistles to "the church" in a certain
church.                                                    place. In I Cor.  12  he addresses himself to "the
 Here we reject the notion, widespread today,              church of God which is at Corinth." To that local
that for church membership it is sufficient that one       gathering of believers and their children Paul gives
be a member simply of the "invisible" church. It is        the name "church."
                                                             This close relationship between the invisible
Ronald L. Cammenga is pastor of the Protestant Reformed    church and the visible church is brought out by the
Church of Loveland, Colorado.                              apostle in I Cor.  12.  This is the great passage in


8 4                                             THE STANDARD BEARER



Scripture that deals with the unit and the diversity          are to be members of a local `congregation, the
of the church. On reading the chapter we might at             church institute.
first suppose that everything written here pertains              This is also true of the office of deacon. We are
only to the invisible church, the universal body of           called to support this office which Christ has in-
Jesus Christ. This would be a serious misunder-               stituted in the church. We are called to contribute
standing of the passage. The apostle himself makes            regularly so that the deacons may have good means
plain that this would be a serious misunderstand-             at their disposal to relieve the poor of the church.
ing. When he has finished expounding the unity of             This is why the apostle enjoins in I Cor.  16:2,
the church, he says in I Cor. 12:27, "Nowye are the           "Upon the first day of the week let every one of
body of Christ, and members in particular." In                you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered
clear language the apostle identifies the local con-          him, that there be no gatherings when I come."
gregation at Corinth with the body of Christ - "ye            Our calling to support the office of deacon carries
are the body of Christ."                                      with it the implied calling that we be members of
       When it comes down to it, the church is the            the instituted church in which this office resides.
handiwork of God. God has ordained and God has                  The  Belgic Confession  in Article 28 teaches the
gathered the church. And God is no fool! He hasn't            responsibility of church membership in the strong-
instituted the church for no good reason. He hasn't           est possible terms. It would be worth your while to
instituted the church and now leaves it up to you             read and study that article in its entirety. The arti-
and me whether or not we want to become                       cle addresses itself to the actual existing situation at
members of the church. The very fact that God has             the time that the Belgic Confession was written. Re-
instituted the church implies the calling that we             formed believers, especially in France and the
have to be members of the church.                             Lowlands, were prohibited by the government on
       Other considerations enforce this. Scripture           pain of death from leaving the apostate Roman
makes plain that the Christian is to hear the                 Catholic Church institute and joining the Reformed
preaching of the, Word. Christ preached, the                  C  urch. Some of these hard-pressed believers
apostles preached, and the faithful church today               $
                                                              a  lgued that they might under these circumstances
preaches. The believer is called to hear the preach-          remain members of Rome and not become
ing of the Word for his salvation and his preserva-           members of the Reformed Church. The Confession
tion in salvation. Romans  lo:14 says, "How then              takes a strong stand against this position. We must
shall they call on him in whom they have not                  be members of the faithful church of Jesus Christ in
believed? And how shall they believe in him of                the world. Concerning the instituted church the ar-
whom they have not heard? And how shall they                  ticle states:
hear without a preacher?" Since the preaching is to                   We believe, since this holy congregation is an
be heard in the church, since God has entrusted the                 assembly of those who are saved, and that out of it
preaching of His Word to the church, membership                     there is no salvation, that no person of whatsoever
in the church is clearly implied.                                   state or condition he may be, ought to withdraw him-
                                                                    self, to live in a separate state from it; but that all men
       The same may be said of the sacraments. The                  are in duty bound to join and unite themselves with it.
believer is to use the sacraments. But who has been
entrusted by God with the duty of dispensing the              The article goes on:
sacraments? Where are the sacraments to be found                    And that this may be the more effectually observed, it
and enjoyed? Again, the answer is, "In the                          is the duty of all believers, according to the word of
church." Our calling to partake of the sacraments                   God, to separate themselves from all those who do not
clearly implies our calling to be members of the                    belong to the Church, and to join themselves to this
church.                                                             congregation, wheresoever God hath established it,
                                                                    even though the magistrates and edicts of princes
       It is also the will of God that we submit ourselves          were against it, yea, though they should suffer death
to the authority of the office of elder. "Let the                   or any other corporal punishment. Therefore all
elders that rule well be counted worthy of double                   those, who separate themselves from the same, or do
honor, especially they who labor in the word and                    not join themselves to it, act contrary to the ordinance
doctrine," I Tim.  5:17. In Hebrews  13:17 we read,                 of God.
"Obey them that have the rule over you, and sub-                Calvin's position agrees with that of the  Belgic
mit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as             Confession.  In The Institutes,  IV, I, 4, Calvin defends
they that must give account, that they may do it              the proposition that the visible church is the
with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable        mother of believers. Calvin writes:
for you." Since we are called to submit to the rule                   But because it is now our intention to discuss the
of the elders, and since the office of elder resides in             visible church, let us learn even from the simple title
the local congregation, it is clearly implied that we               `mother' how useful, indeed how necessary, it is that


                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER                                            85



    we should know her. For there is no other way to            The Scriptures certainly bear out Calvin's teaching.
    enter into life unless this mother conceive us in her       Hebrews  1025-31 warns against the forsaking of
    womb, give us birth, nourish us at her breast, and last-    the visible congregation as an act so serious that it
    ly, unless she keep us under her care and guidance un-      constitutes a despising of the Son of God.
    til,. putting off mortal flesh, we become like the
    angels . .                                                    In this article we treated our calling as believers
Calvin concludes by saying:                                     to be members of the visible, instituted church, the
                                                                local congregation. Next time we'll consider what
    . . . God's fatherly favor and the especial witness of      this membership involves. It's not enough that we
    spiritual life are limited to His flock (the instituted     are members of the church, but we must be living
    church), hence the abandonment of the church is             church members.
    always fatal.

TAKING HEED TO THE DOCTRINE
Hermalz Veldman





                                The Apostles' Creed (9)



  We now continue with our exposition of the first              ly, our speech is never causative. It never brings
article of our Apostles' Creed as interpreted by our            forth. It concerns only matters that are, never cause
Heidelberg Catechism in Question and Answer 26                  to be what is not. How wonderful is the Word
of Lord's Day 9. In our preceding article we called             whereof we read here in John l! On the one hand, it
attention to the Fatherhood of God in relation to               is obvious in this passage that the Word here is
our Lord Jesus Christ. In this article we call atten-           Jesus, and that Jesus here is identified with God.
tion to this Fatherhood of God in connection with               We read in John  1:14, "And the Word was made
the eternal Son of God. This, too, is fundamental. If           flesh, and dwelt among us (and we beheld His
our Lord Jesus Christ be not the eternal Son of God             glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the
He cannot possibly be our Lord Jesus Christ and                 Father) full of grace and truth." So this Word is our
therefore our Saviour.                                          Lord Jesus Christ. And as is evident from verses
  Our Lord Jesus Christ is God's eternal Son. What              l-3, this Jesus is God. On the other hand, however,
is the meaning of this? That Jesus is God's eternal             notice that Jesus here is called the Word. He is the
Son is Scriptural. We quote, first of all, John l:l-3:          Word, the one Word, the one expression of the in-
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was                finite  fuhless of all that is in God. God knows His
with God, and the Word was God. The same was in                 own glorious, infinite fulness, and that divine
the beginning with God. All things were made by                 fulness is expressed in the one Word. This Word is
Him; and without Him was not anything made that                 God's speech concerning Himself  - indeed, of
was made."                                                      Whom shall the eternal, absolute, all-sufficient God
  This passage, especially the term "Word," is                  ever speak but of Himself? Even creation is God's
very significant. As far as we are concerned (our               manifold speech concerning Himself. But the Son
speech, our words) our speech is the expression of              of God is His eternal, infinite Word which God
what we conceive in our minds. However, as far as               speaks of Himself and unto Himself. This we read
our speech is concerned, our speech consists of                 in John  1:l. We read: "And the, Word was  with
many words. Then, we speak of many things.                      God." We read literally: "And the Word was
Thirdly, our speech is but for a moment. And, final-            toward God." Thirdly, this Word is the eternal
                                                                speech of God. This Word is eternal. Our words are
Herman Veldman is a minister emeritus in the Protestant         spoken, leave us, and are gone. But this one Word
Reformed Churches.                                              is eternal, spoken constantly. Here we have an act


86                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



within the divine being, an eternal act. And this is       mother; fatherhood requires motherhood. With us
what is meant by the eternal Fatherhood of the first       the act of generation is but for a moment, but in the
Person of the holy Trinity, eternally generating the       trinity the Father generates the Son eternally. With
Son.                                                       us our children bear our image, likeness, very im-
      Moreover, Scripture speaks of Christ as God's on-    perfectly; God's act of generation is complete and
Zy begotten  Son. This expression occurs, for exam-        absolutely perfect. With us generation means that
ple, in the well-known passages of John  1:14 and          we produce another person, but that person is also
3:16. We need not quote these passages. We will            a separate being; with God the act of generation
quote John  1:18: "No man hath seen God at any             takes place without the divine being, and the Person
time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom         of the Son is essentially one with the Father.
of the Father, He hath declared Him." We under-               And what is now the implication and signifi-
stand that a better translation is probably: "No man       cance of this? This has tremendous significance,
hath seen God at any time; the only begotten God,          first of all, as far as the Son is concerned. If Jesus be
which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath               not the Son of God in a wholly unique sense, He
declared Him." And in John 3: 18 we read: "He that         cannot be our Saviour. If He be not the eternal Son
believeth on Him, is not condemned: but he that            of God He cannot bear our guilt and Himself be
believeth not is condemned already, because he             guiltless. Fact is, guilt is imputed to a person. We
hath not believed in the name of the only begotten         are all guilty because we are all personally in
Son of God." This expression, "only begotten Son,"         Adam. So if Christ be merely a human person, then
is extremely significant: The devil does not speak of      He Himself would be guilty. Then He must atone
a general and creaturely  sonship  when he tempts          for His own guilt. It is only because He is the eter-
Christ in the wilderness, that Christ is a son of God      nal Son of God that our guilt is not imputed unto
as all men are sons of God, but he speaks of a son-        Him. The guilt for which He suffered and died was
ship that is divine, when he says to Him: "If Thou         not imputed unto Him because He was personally
be the Son of God," inasmuch as he assumes that            in Adam, but because He took this guilt upon Him-
because Christ is the Son of God he expects Him to         self. Hence, if He be a human person, He himself is
make bread of these stones. When Jesus declares of         guilty with the whole human race. If He be not the
Himself to be the Son of God, the wicked leaders of        Son of God He cannot be born holy and therefore
the Jews accuse Him of blasphemy because they              bear God's infinite wrath in perfect love and con-
understand very well that when He speaks of Him-           scious obedience. We may not be born holy
self as the Son of God He uses this term in that           because we ourselves are guilty and therefore
distinctive and absolute sense of the word. And this       deserve a corrupt human nature. And, if He be not
is exactly what the expression means. Jesus is in-         the Son of God He cannot bear God's infinite wrath
deed  the  onZy  begotten Son of God; there is none        and lead us into everlasting life and heavenly im-
other. He is this Son of God alone. Other passages         mortality. However, this does not receive the em-
can be quoted such as Heb.  1:3, Phil.  26-8 (Jesus        phasis here and now. The emphasis here does not
being  in the form of God, not  was  in the form of        fall upon the eternal Son of God. But it falls upon
God, and that He is in the form of God, essentially),      the Fatherhood of God. It is in that light that we
John 526 (where we read of Christ that the Son was         must see and grasp the implication and significance
given to have life in Himself  - no creature, we           of this Fatherhood of God in regard to the eternal
understand, has life in himself).                          Son.
  Jesus is God's only begotten Son. To beget is to           However, this truth also has tremendous signifi-
bring forth a being like unto oneself. Later in the        cance as far as the Fatherhood of God is concerned.
Heidelberg Catechism attention will be directed            First of all, the Fatherhood of God with respect to
again to this truth, in Lord's Day 13, in connection       the "holy child Jesus" has its root and basis in the
with the second article of the Apostles' Creed,            eternal Fatherhood of the First Person in relation to
where the question is asked: Why is Christ called          the Second. God does not become in His relation to
the only begotten Son of God? Animals, trees, etc.,        the creature what He is not eternally within Him-
do not beget'because to beget is a conscious act of        self. It is well that we always bear this fundamental
the will, and this does not apply to these creatures.      principle in mind. That, we understand, would
But Jesus being begotten is a unique act of the            make God dependent upon the creature. God is the
Father within the trinity. That this is the idea of        absolutely Self-sufficient One; He has no need of
"begetting" is plain from Gen.  5:3: "And Adam             any creature in any sense of the word. Whatever
lived an hundred and thirty years and begat a son          He is in relation to the creature He is first and eter-
in his own likeness, after his image; and called his       nally within Himself. God never becomes what He
name Seth." Among men fatherhood cannot func-              is not within Himself. Secondly, this also applies to
tion alone. Men are fathers only through the               His Fatherhood. He did not become Father through


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 8 7



His relation to Christ as the Mediator nor through       with a view to the heavenly, that He made Adam so
His relation to creation in general nor through His      that he could fall in order to prepare the way for the
relation to His people in Christ Jesus. He is Father,    second Adam, our Lord Jesus Christ.
eternally and perfectly within His own being, and          In the second place, we should also notice what
all other Fatherhood of God, as in relation to Christ    we read here of God's providence. Now it is true
or His people or creation is only a reflection of His    that the truth of God's providence is treated in the
own divine and eternal Fatherhood. This truth            following tenth Lord's Day. Yet, we would call at-
must be maintained. Besides, if Jesus' Sonship  and      tention to the following. The Lord upholds and
our  sonship  are essentially the same, then one of      governs the same by His eternal counsel and prov-
two things must follow: either God is essentially as     idence. And then we read of evils which He sends
we are, creaturely, or we are as God is, Divine. In      us at the conclusion of Answer 26. So God sends me
either case, God is denied and only the creature re-     all these evils. Our afflictions, therefore, are no ac-
mains.                                                   cident. God willed them. We believe that this must
           *  *  *  *  *  *  *  2%  *  *                 be explained in the supralapsarian sense. The fall of
      Our Almighty Father And Creation                   man and whatever is the result of it was willed by
                                                         God and fulfilled by Him to serve His purpose: the
  Let us notice, first of all, Who is the Creator of
heaven and earth. We read: "I believe in God the         glory and manifestation of His Name, antithetical-
Father, Maker of heaven and earth." And in               ly, in the way of sin and grace, realized, positively
Answer 26 of our Heidelberg Catechism we read:           in the salvation of His own, in heavenly immortali-
"That the eternal Father of our Lord Jesus Christ        ty, unto the glory of God Who alone does wondrous
(who of nothing made heaven and earth, with all          things, and, negatively, in the damnation of those
that is in them; who likewise upholds and governs        whom the Lord has sovereignly reprobated.
the same by His eternal counsel and providence) is         This we believe. We cannot see it and under-
for the sake of Christ His Son, my God and my            stand it now. But we will understand it one day.
Father.                                                  Now we know in part, but one day we shall know
  We must not fail to grasp the wonderful meaning        as we are known, completely and perfectly. And
of this. The Creator of heaven and earth is not          whereas God's counsel controls all things, also
simply God, the living God, but He is the Creator        man's fall and its subsequent misery and death
Who is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and our       (also for this reason the child of God can and will
Father. This means that He created the heavens           never believe in evolution) the church of God is
and the earth as my Father in Christ Jesus. And this     always safe in the midst of the world, and it is so
means that He made this world as adapted to that         true what we read in Rom.  8:28: "And we know
which is to come; this means that He made all            that all things work together for good to them that
things earthy as a symbol of the heavenly, and this      love God, to them who are the called according to
means that when He created the world, He made it         His purpose."                  ---
FROM HOLY WRIT
George C. Lubbers





                      Believing All the Scriptures


THE CHRISTIAN WIFE PREDICTED (Gen. 3: 16)                are the announcement of the death-knell to this
  At first hearing of these words from the lips of       helpmeet of Adam.
Jehovah to the woman who has so deeply fallen,             Listen to the text from the lips of Jehovah God.
having so grievously disobeyed God and her  hus-           The text reads: ". . . thy desire shall be to thy hus-
band, we might receive the impression that they          band, and he shall rule over thee" (Gen.  3:16b).


88                                              THE STANDARD BEARER



      Surely we cannot interpret these words as being,        proper interpretation of the God-ordained and in-
at face value, the placing of the sinner-woman                stituted headship  of Adam over his lawful wife. In
under her husband as a punishment for her trans-              so doing, we must not fantasize a  headship  of
gression of deceiving him, tempting him to disobey            "men over every women". For the text says to Eve
the "probationary" command of the Lord. Yes, it is            that she shall be subject to her husband. Besides,
a setting of thewife  of Adam in her place. However,          she shall, in so doing, "desire her husband". She
it is not a humbling her to perpetual bondage under a         shall not have this desire to any male of the human
man, her husband! Thus Dr. Scofield would have it             race. That would be adultery and fornication of the
in his Notes: "The entrance of sin, which is dis-             purest water and in the highest degree (Exodus
order, makes necessary a headship, and is vested in           20:14, 17; Lev. 1821). This would destroy the very
man". Now here we have two errors. The first is               fabric and holy relationship within the bond of
that the headship  of Adam over his God-given wife            marriage.
was not rooted in creation, but in sin. This is tanta-           We hold, briefly stated, that Jehovah God is here
mount to the error of teaching that government,               in mercy placing Eve as a believing wife in the state
too, was instituted by God for the sake of sin. Thus          and condition of being justified from her sins and
these advocates of this latter view interpret Genesis         guilt, sanctifying her unto her holy calling of being
9:5, 6. To be sure the  headship  of Adam over his            a Christian wife, a believing wife unto Adam, her
wife is rooted in the fact that he was created first,         believing husband, as they are now both under the
and that she was taken from his rib, and thus                 blood of sprinkling, and clothed with the clothing
became bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh.               of the sacrificial animal. The shame of their naked-
      It deserves only passing notice that the words          ness is removed (Rev. 3: 18). She and Adam need no
"bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh" is quite              longer to hide from God. In the very distant future
otherwise than the phrase in Genesis 29: 14; Judges           the real Lamb of God, the One Who is holy,
9:2; II Samuel  5:l. In Genesis  29:14  Laban is re-          harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners,
corded as having said to Jacob, "Surely thou art my           will remove their guilt and cleanse their conscience
bone and flesh". Jacob could by no stretch of even            from sin to serve the living God (Heb. 9:9, 14; 10:2,
the wildest imagination be in the same relationship           22; I Peter  3:21).
to Laban, as was Eve to her husband, Adam, being                In this state of being reconciled with God Eve is
created out of one of his ribs.  Laban was the                addressed here. She is addressed within the climate
brother of Rebekah, and therefore was Jacob's un-             of the Gospel of grace!
cle. He was near of kin! Nothing more! And this
same is true also of Abimelech, Gideon's son by a               Here she will be subject to her husband. She
concubine woman from Shechem. He was merely                   shall be very willing in the day of God's powerful
the kinsman of the Shechemites. In a rather exag-             grace upon her. She shall not be merely
gerated overstatement he pleads to be their ruler             "subjected" to her husband. Such is the lot of the
since he claims, "I am your bone and flesh". Like-            unbelieving women in the world. There the
wise also the sons of Israel, the former followers of         husbands are tyrants and they are rebels. Such do
King Saul, claim to have equal share in David's               not marry in the Lord (I Cor. 7:29b). Nor do these
house. They say, "Behold, we are thy bone and                 ungodly women bring borth children who are by
flesh". They were kinsmen of David, nothing                   elective grace in the Lord, in covenant mercies.
more. Neither they nor Abimelech were "bone of                  They are "subjected" under their husbands;
their bone, and flesh of their flesh" in the unique           slaves of sin they are; the freedom and glory of
since that a wife is such to her husband.                     Christian marriage they do not see, for they cannot
      It is good Reformed tradition and teaching to           see the kingdom of heaven!
relate this unique relationship only to the mystical            Not so with the liberated Eve. The truth of the
body of Jesus Christ, the church. The Heidelberg              Gospel has set her at liberty once more, free within
Catechism in Question and Answer 76 teaches this              the bonds of marriage in the Lord. Thou shalt be
altogether unique relationship in the well-known              subject to thy husband, Glorious,  wiling  bondage,
words: "so that we, though Christ is in heaven and            which set her free!
we on earth, are notwithstanding `Flesh of his                  Yes, here we see the hope of heaven realized in
flesh, and bone of his bone', and that we live and            her life. She is a picture of the pure bride of Christ,
governed forever by one spirit, as members of the             reverencing her husband. Yes, all her desire is to
same body are by one soul."                                   her husband principally, and she will sing in ever
      Hence, we must look in another direction for the        increasing joy, not the erotic,love songs of the wick-
                                                              ed women, but she will learn by grace to sing the
George C:Lubbers  is a minister emeritus in the Protestant    songs of those who call their husbands, "lord". Of
Reformed Churches.                                            this Eve, mother of the living, the reborn and  con-


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                               89



verted wife of Adam it may be said that she learned       "teshuqah" in the Hebrew text. In certain contexts
to bear children in faith, love, holiness, and sobrie-    the term may have such connotation. However in
ty. She learned to smile through her tears in hope of     Gen.  4:7 the thought of sexual attraction of Abel,
heaven. Thus she must have sung in the hope of the        the righteous man, toward his blood brother, Cain,
Protevangel, triumphing in the blood of the               is unthinkable, distastefully repulsive. It appears
sacrifice upon the altar. She is no longer a naked,       that the usage of the term "desire" in the Bible
fearful and guilty sinner, but she is clothed in the      must be interpreted as is done by our Reformed
raiment of the sacrificed Lamb who was slain from         fathers!
before the foundation of the World (I Peter                 Is also quite evident that the Reformed fathers
1:18-20).  She obeys her husband in love. Adam's          conceived of the message of Jehovah to Eve on a
rule and Eve's obedience are in perfect harmony in        higher and more holy level; it refers, even in the
the covenant of reconciliation with God.                  case of Eve, the wife of Adam, to her entire life:
TWO TEXTS WORTHY OF SPECIAL ANALYSIS                      body, mind, soul, spirit. Basically it was spiritual
(Gen.  3:16 and Gen.  4:7)                                desire to be obedient to God in obedience to her
                                                          husband. It was, as we wrote earlier, the longing of
  It is well to have these texts clearly before our       new obedience by the blood and Spirit of Christ.
mind's eye.                                               The sexual submission was the wife's by virtue of
  We will quote the pertinent similar words from          her being created Adam's help meet. She was to be
the mouth of Jehovah God. These words were                a help meet over against him. She was one flesh
spoken a number of years apart. The first text is         with him, bone of his-bones, flesh of his flesh.
spoken to Eve in Paradise, after the fall, and the          When the fathers, who annotated the Dutch text
second is addressed to Cain, standing by the altar in     refer to this, they refer to the conduct of Christian
the church, outside of the garden of Eden.                wives in the Church. They are to be silent, know
  The text to Eve reads as follows: "and thy desire       their place, not talk out of turn as did Eve in the
shall be to thy husband and he shall rule oveY thee"      transgression (I Tim. 2: 11, 12; I Cor.  14:34).  Paul
(Gen.  3:16).                                             gives a beautiful description of the Christian wife's
  The text addressed by the Lord to Cain reads:           "desire" to her husband in Titus 2:5: "to be  sober-
"And to thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule     minded, chaste, workers at home, being in subjec-
over him" (Gen. 4:7).                                     tion to their own husbands, that the word of God be
                                                          not blasphemed".
  What we are going to say about the idea here of
the words "desire" and "rule" is not new, a matter          Yes, there was ever in Eve, as in every believing
of my invention. It is ever good to learn that others,    wife, what the Bible calls "flesh", sinful Adamic
men of repute as interpreters of the Word, too,           nature. There is ever the flesh in which there
have read the Scriptures as I do.                         dwells no good thing. But in the sanctification of
                                                          the Spirit and the sprinkling with blood, Christian
  Turning to the Dutch  Statenvertuling,  we notice       wives, yes also Christian women are raised to the
that those worthies, living in the days of the Synod      higher level of being the King's daughters.
of Dort, make the following annotation on Gen. 4:7:
"It is thus to be understood of Abel, Cain's brother,       Such are the King's daughters, all glorious
as if God said to him (Cain): you have no reason to       within.
be wrathful toward Abel, because he is willing and          Yes, their clothing is of wrought gold.
satisfied that you as the firstborn remain exalted
above him".
  On Gen. 3: 16 the same Statenvertaling has a note
which reads, interpreting the phrase "desire to thy        Remember the sick and
husband" as follows: "that is, you shall be held to
be joined with desire to the will of your husband, to      shut-in during this busy
seek protection under him, to be ruled by his
(beleid)  protective discretional judgment. I Cor.           season. Your prayers
14:34;  I Tim.  2:11, 12; Titus  2:5".
  Let us pause here for just a moment to reflect.            and visits bring joy to
  It is quite obvious that "desire, longing" does not
mean merely sexual desire, sexual attraction. There        those who can't get out.
are those, reading only Gen.  3:16, who affirm that
this text refers to Adam's masculinity over his wife.
Now clearly such is not the denotation of the term


90                                              THE STANDARD BEARER



THE DAY OF SHADOWS
John A. Heys





              Called Again In Unchangeable Love



      A second attempt means that one failed in one's      succeeded in every respect. For God never attempts
first attempt. There is no need, no reason, or even        anything. He goes out and does it!
possibility of making a second attempt to do that
wherein one has already succeeded. It is true, hav-          This is also taught us in Isaiah 46:9, 10, where we
ing broken a world's record in running, jumping or         read, "Remember the former things of old: for I am
the like, one can try to repeat what one did before;       God, and there in none else; I am God, and there is
but this is a first attempt at duplicating what had        none like Me, declaring the end from the begin-
already been accomplished. It is not a second at-          ning, and from ancient times the things that are not
tempt to do a particular thing, but a first attempt to     yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will
repeat what had been accomplished.                         do all My pleasure." There just is no other way to
                                                           look at Jonah's flight, after God's first call to him,
      However, when God called Jonah a second time         than that it pleased God to have Jonah do that. That
to go to Nineveh, it was not because He failed in a        does not excuse Jonah. Nor does it mean that God
first "attempt." God never fails to get His way. He        finds pleasure in sin. He hates sin with all His in-
is the Almighty One. A superficial reading of Jonah        finite being. But He does  - and eternally did  -
3:l might lead one to conclude that God had to try         decree sin for the glory of His own name, and for
again, but in light of the rest of Scripture this cer-     the salvation of His church. Do we not read in Luke
tainly is not true.                                        22:22, "And truly the Son of man goeth, as it was
      In Isaiah 55:8-11 we read, "For My thoughts are      determined: but woe to that man by whom He was
not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,          betrayed!" God determined that betrayal in
saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than         thoughts far higher than ours, and for the salvation
the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways,           of His church. But His woe to Judas reveals His
and My thoughts than your thoughts. For as the             awful hatred of that deed. He finds pleasure, not in
rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and            the sinful act as such, but in the purpose which it
returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and         serves, and in the fulfillment of His eternal counsel.
maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed       For thereby His name is glorified. In the very first
to the sower, and bread to the eater: So shall My          sermon preached to fallen man, God Himself
word be that goeth forth out of My mouth: it shall         declared what would take place: the seed of the ser-
not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish that        pent would bruise the heel of the Seed of the
which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing          woman. The cross was a terrible sin. But it pleased
whereto I send it." Because His thoughts are higher        God to have it take place for our salvation. Yea, in
than ours, we so often misjudge what He is doing.          thoughts higher than our thoughts, He decreed that
And we can be sure, if we take hold of the passage         cross in order that sin might be completely ban-
quoted above, that He did not fail when He called          ished from this earth, and a people might dwell on
Jonah the first time, and did not have to try a            it that praise and glorify Him in every thought,
second time, in order to get His way. His word ac-         word, and deed.
complished the purpose whereto He sent it when
He called Jonah the first time. Instead of failing, He       So it is with Jonah and his sin. God called him the
                                                           first time, and He did so because eternally He had
John A. Heys is a minister emeritus in the Protestant      determined to have Jonah bring the truth to those
Reformed Churches.                                         sailors on the ship caught in that violent storm. He


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                                91



had to be a witness to them before he would              to do? Would you not have thundered from heaven
witness in Nineveh. He also did so to bring Jonah to     and sent extremely brilliant flashes of lightning all
that amazing confession in the belly of the fish,        around him, and said to him, "Get going?!"
namely, "Salvation is of the Lord." He did so in           After the word of the Lord came to Jonah saying,
order' that this whole event might take place, be        "Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach
recorded and preserved for us today, so that we          the preaching that I bid thee", we read this: "So
might know and appreciate His sovereign, un-             Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to
changeable love, according to which He chose His         the word of the Lord." It was God's good pleasure
people out of every nation, tongue, and tribe. No,       that this time he go; and so he went. What grace on
He did not fail in a first "attempt." All transpired,    the part of God that He made Jonah obey this time.
in the smallest detail, exactly as He wanted it to       That word of God has power; and although Jonah
take place. His word to Jonah did not return void. It    still had no interest in preaching in Nineveh, he
accomplished the purpose to which He sent  it:           went. He had been delivered from death himself.
  And now He comes again to call Jonah to go to          He had tasted wonderfully the salvation that God
Nineveh  - not to try once again. God never tries.       has for His people. He himself was delivered from
And He never fails. To try means that there are          the punishment that he deserved; but he had no in-
forces outside of you with which you have to com-        terest in serving the interests of these Gentiles in
pete. And with God it is a matter of using all the       Nineveh. As far as he is concerned, they can perish
creatures that He made and over which He, as the         in the punishment for which their sins call.
Almighty One, has such complete control that their         That he arose can be taken literally. He may have
very existence depends upon Him. We easily forget        been sitting down and taking it easy, or even lying
that, but He gives us every heart beat. For Him it is    on his couch enjoying the life on dry land that had
a simple matter to prevent us from doing anything        been given to him. But it certainly is true figurative-
contrary to His will. He need not fight us. All He       ly. He lifted himself - by the grace of God - from
need do is to cease giving us heart beats. He need       his stubborn position, at least to the degree that he
not pit His strength against ours. All He needs to do    would go and preach. Subsequent history reveals
is to cease giving us strength. He is the  Almighty      that he still wanted the whole city to perish. He
One. All might, all strength, all power in heaven        lifted himself above his rebellion and went to the
and on earth - but also in hell - comes from Him.        field where he must work.
He cannot fail, because there is no power that can
stand in His way. There is no power that does not          It was the elect Ninevites that God had in mind.
come from Him.                                           Jonah was the tool, the instrument that God intend-
                                                         ed to use to bring the gospel to these elect
  But there is something else we ought to ap-            Ninevites. In fact, in that very first sermon
preciate here. What patience and what love of God        preached in the hearing of fallen Adam and Eve,
it was to deal this way with this rebellious prophet!    God revealed that He had chosen a people, for the
Jonah deserved hell fire, not another opportunity to     whole world would be divided into seed of the
serve God in His church. This stubborn, rebellious       woman and seed of the serpent. Those who want
prophet, who not only fled from his calling by           nothing to do with sovereign, eternal, uncondition-
means of a ship, wherein he would be in the com-         al election may call Genesis 3:15 the Mother Prom-
pany of idol worshippers, but who, having been           ise  - and it is, for out of its womb come all the
saved in a most wonderful way in tender mercy            promises that follow in Scripture. But their denial
and powerful grace, and deposited safely on dry          of unconditional election from before the founda-
land, does not immediately go to Nineveh, but has        tion of the world demands a terrible perversion of
to be called a second time and told to do as he had      this Mother Promise. Instead of reading it as it is, so
been bidden by the God Who saved him.                    that God promises to put enmity between seed and
  What love God displays here! What patience is          seed, it is man who must create his own hatred
set before us in these verses! He killed Uzzah in-       against Satan and sin. Then it is not as God says, "I
stantly when he touched the ark David was trying         will put enmity . . . ." It would have to read, "And-
to bring to Jerusalem. He had the earth swallow up       there will be enmity between the seed of the
Korah, Dathan, and Abriam, who refused to                woman and the seed of the serpent." God must be
receive Moses and Aaron as God's representatives.        ruled out. If man fulfills the condition, then there
But Jonah's life is spared, and a second call comes      will be warfare between the church and the world.
to him. After Jonah was deposited safely on dry          That is not what God says. In fact when God said
land, and did not at once set out to go and do what      this, there was yet no enmity between Adam and
he had been called to do, would you have dealt           Eve and Satan. Did God not say that He would put
kindly with him? Would you have merely told him          it? And Adam and Eve had not yet confessed their
to go now and do what he had stubbornly refused          sin. Adam blamed God for giving him this kind of


92                                             THE STANDARD BEARER



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it.                                                         Reformed Dogmatics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18.95
                                                            Therefore Have I Spoken . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.95
       No, Jonah's rising up and going to Nineveh is not    The Triple Knowledge
a stubborn prophet fulfilling a condition, and so                 Volume I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12.95
performing an act of helping God. God needs no                    Volume II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12.95
help, and we can in no way help Him, since we de-                 Volume III. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12.95
pend upon Him for every breath of life and every                  Set of 3 Volumes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35.95
heart beat, both physically and spiritually. It is an       The Voice of Our Fathers . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19.95
eternal, unchangeable love of God that saves us and         We and Our Children . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.95
makes us obedient before Him. Because God loved             When I Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10.95
Jonah, and because He loved the elect in Nineveh,           "Whosoever Will" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.95
God sent His powerful word and Spirit to cause              The Wonder of Grace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.95
Jonah to rise up and go to Nineveh, that great and          RETAIL AMOUNT
wicked city.                                                                POSTAGE SCHEDULE
       God's call was not a request - which a condition     1. Use the schedule below for orders shipped
always is  - but a divine command. Did you ever             within the U.S.
find anywhere in Scripture that God asked anyone            2. Use the retail amount of your order to figure
to do something? Was it not always a command?               the postage rate.
And here is a command that flows forth from an              $9.99 or less . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$l.OO
unchangeable love. All the evil Jonah performed,            $10.00 to $19.99 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$1.75
and all the evil in that great city cannot change           $20.00 to $29.99 . . . . . . ; . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $2.50
God's love. Conditional theology teaches that you           $30.00 to $39.99 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$3.00
can change God's love by not fulfilling the condi-          $40.00 to $49.99 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $3.50
tion He places before you. He will then begin to            $50.00ormore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8%ofthetotal
hate you. No, the "I Am that I Am" never becomes            Foreign countries add 20% of total order.
I Was. A conditional promise can fail. God's prom-
ises never fail because His love is unchangeable.


                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 93



TRANSLATED TREASURES
Dr. A. Kuypev





                        A Pamphlet Concerning the
                         Reformation of the Church


(In the previous article Kuyper, in speaking of the present call-    the circles of the brethren. First of all, the impulse
ing of his church to engage in church reformation, has made a        for a better life must penetrate in that direction. It
distinction between three groups of churches which exist             must be a matter of hope against hope. It must be a
within the State Church. One group of churches has retained a        turning away from the world to the Lord of Hosts; a
somewhat Reformed character. Another group of churches has           turning away from the tent of  vanit?  to the taber-
become truly the false church. And a group of churches which
comprises the third group stands somewhere between these             nacle of our Lord; a hiding under His wings.
two extremes. Kuyper has insisted that this must be borne in           4) From this area of reformation, reformation
mind as his church considers the need for separation.)               must proceed toward an open conflict with-sin and
   What now concerns the question, in what way                       false teachings. It must be a demonstration of mer-
the reformation of the Reformed Churches must be                     cy and a making known of the gospel of salvation.
undertaken in this land in connection with these                     The office of believers which still slumbers must
lhree  groups  of churches, we answer by keeping in                  once again be shown to be glorious in its ministry.
mind the three groups of churches which we have                      And the most serious-minded, rather than leaving
described, on the one hand, and the persons or                       this work to others, must be begged to lead the
bodies which are called to act, on the other hand.                   way.
  We make our answer with the following observa-                       5) In those churches which according to our
tions.                                                               third category are entirely dead, we must admonish
   1) All the children of God in these churches shall                the believers either to re-establish. a church of
do well to bring this sad state of the church before                 Christ or join themselves to another church which
the gate of their own heart in a spiritual manner.                   may exist in their locality, and thus establish a
The judgment of God over His people in this sad                      separated church. This must be done provided only
state of the church must be much more recognized                     that as many as can be gained from that church
than it has been thus far. Not only in the churches                  hold open the possibility of a new church connec-
which are half destroyed, but also in the churches                   tion with other Reformed churches.
such as in Amsterdam, the miserable condition of                       `6) In those churches in which, according to our
the churches must drive us to prayer and supplica-                   second category, the pure administration of the
tion. It must be willed by God that He, because of                   means of grace is temporarily lacking, although
His holy name, once more shows `mercy to His                         there is still hope of renewal, we would entreat the
Zion.                                                                faithful to establish without delay an aggrieved
  2) This spiritual concern for the misery of the                    church; i.e., to bring into existence an administra-
churches of God must lead to a personal confession                   tion of the means of grace under the leadership of a
of guilt and to personal conversion on the part of                   believing consistory expressly chosen for that pur-
the godly. God's child knows his own guilt as the                    pose.
deepest. Each is in his own eyes the greatest of sin-                  7) And in those churches where, in keeping with
ners. Also the individual child of God must rise                     our first category, the pure administration of the
from that depth. There must be penance, conver-                      means of grace is still tolerable, the believers will
sion, a renewal of the covenant with the Most High.                  be led to use these means faithfully, to thank God
  3) From the personal life of the child of God this                 the Lord for His manifestation of grace in these
reformation must go over into our households and                     means, and to pray to Him that the administration


                                                                         `


94                                             THE STANDARD BEARER



will continue among them. Further, the believers               6) Preachers must use all zeal in the Classes of
are obligated, whether through instruction, family           their churches to move the churches to humility
visitation, baptism, or preaching, not to exercise           before the Lord and to arouse them to a return to
fellowship with such ministers or adversaries in             God's law and testimony.
their church as resist the counsel of God.                     7) The elders, in so far as this is the calling of
             *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *                    their office, must walk the same way as the
      In the second place, concerning the persons who        ministers of the Word. This is especially true in the
hold office we say:                                          churches where there is no minister of the Word.
      1) That preachers, in whose vicinity congrega-         They must feed the congregation with the Word,
tions of these second and third categories exist,            strengthen it with a substitute ministry and be
shall be bound to bring persons who live in these            helpful in the formation of aggrieved churches.
sub-circles to the knowledge of the gospel by mis-             8) The deacons, just as the elders, in keeping
sionary activities. They must also serve the ag-             with their office, must support the ministers of the
grieved churches as moderators in every way in               Word in the reformation of the church and must
which it is desired.                                         arouse others to the work of mercy by a reforma-
      2) That the preachers in churches where                tion of a love which has grown cold.
unbelieving co-ministers are found must break off                                               (to be continued)
all official fellowship with these men. This must be
done in all humiliation with concern for their per-
sonal life so that no self-exaltation gives occasion
for offense.
      3) That preachers have continually to call atten-       Remember your friends,
tion from the pulpit, in catechism, and on family
visitation, to the judgment of God which rests on                family and neighbors
the church. They have to awaken to true penitence
and conversion. They have to lead by their ex-                       with a special gift
amples in a holy walk and an improvement of life.
      4) Preachers have to insist upon church renewal         of the Standard Bearer!
according to the Word of God in the gathering of
the consistory. And if this does not work, they
ought to meet separately with the confessing                                  Give a gift of the
members of the consistory.                                          Standard Bearer today.
      5) Preachers must insist in their Classes that par-
ticular attention be given to churches who depart
from the confessions and who falsify the adminis-
tration of the means of grace.



                                Report of Classis East

  Classis  East met in regular session on Wednes-            ture and the confessions, in controversy, and in
day, September 10, 1986 and in continued session             practical matters. The delegates to  classis along
on Wednesday, October 15, 1986 at the Kalamazoo              with the delegates and examina from Classis  West
Protestant Reformed Church. Rev. M. Kamps was                gave unanimous consent to the examination and
the chairman for these sessions.                             authorized Southeast to proceed with Pastor-elect
  The main item of business at the September 10th            Key's ordination and installation. By now he is in
meeting was the examination of the pastor-elect of           full harness.
Southeast, Steven Key. After preaching a sermon                Classical appointments were requested by Hope
on Psalm  25:14, Pastor-elect Key was examined in            and the following schedule was adopted: October 5
the six loci of dogmatics, in the knowledge of scrip-        - Bekkering, October 19  - Gritters, October 26  -


                                                    .


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   95



Joostens; November 2 - Kamps, November 16 - Key,              At its October 15th meeting, Classis  read the pro-
November 30  - Kortering, December 7  - Miersma,            tests re the Wyckoff matter and heard the report of
December 21  - Van  Baren, December 28  -  Bekker-          its committee of pre-advice.  Classis  adopted the
ing, January 4 - Gritters, January 18 - Joostens. Rev.      analysis and evaluation of this committee and its
B. Woudenberg was appointed to fill the pulpit of           advice, viz., to sustain the decision of the May
Covenant for the Sundays of September 28 and Oc-            classis (for details of this decision see the "Report of
tober 5.                                                    Classis  East" in the June 1st issue of the  Standard
  Classis  also busied itself for a time on September       Bearer).
10th with the consideration of what to do with the            Expenses for both sessions amounted to
protests from six individuals and one consistory            $2094.91.
regarding  Classis' decision on marriage, divorce
and remarriage as raised in the Wyckoff case.                 Classis  will meet next on January 14, 1987 at
Classis  decided that the protests were legally before      First Church.
it and to appoint a committee of pre-advice to study        Respectfully submitted,
the protests and bring advice to a continued session        Jon Huisken
of  classis  on October 15th.                               Stated Clerk


                        News From Our Churches
                                                     Ben Wigger


                                               November  15,1986

  Rev. C. Hanko, a former pastor of the First Prot-         organ. This particular organ is smaller than the pipe
estant Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, perhaps             organ on Franklin St., the site of the old First.
said it best. "We build churches not for the past, or       Church. The organ has nine hundred total pipes
the present, but for the future." And judging from          along with chimes, but only ninety pipes are visible
the new facilities of First Church, the church              in the front of the auditorium.
building should serve their needs for some time to             The program continued with greetings from two
come.                                                       former pastors of First Church. Rev. Cornelius
  On Thursday, October 16, the flock of First               Hanko based his remarks on Psalm  126:3: "The
Church along with many friends and well wishers             Lord has done great things for us; whereof we are
from surrounding churches met to dedicate what              glad."
God has so graciously provided. It proved to be                Rev. Hanko pointed out that God has made this
both an enjoyable and inspirational evening.                building possible. But He has also done much more
  The program for the evening started with an               than that. He has kept us and our children, and in
organ prelude by Mrs. Mary Velthouse. This gave             some cases also their children, in the truth. God has
many the opportunity to hear for the first time the         indeed preserved us in our generations. Without
newly installed Wicks Pipe Organ.                           God's grace we have nothing. And even though this
  Mr. Edward Ophoff Sr., vice president of the              is a beautiful church, we have nothing to boast of.
consistory, then opened by reading Psalm 150 and            Rev. Hanko also mentioned that he had been pres-
leading in prayer. He also pointed out that the pro-        ent at the dedication of the first First Church some
gram was being both video and audio tape re-                sixty years before.
corded. It just might be the first time a dedication of        Rev. Gise Van  Baren also had greetings for the
one of our churches has ever been video recorded.           congregation. Rev. Van Baren spoke of the changes
  Those in attendance then got their first chance to        First Church has gone through over the years. It
sing along with the Wicks Pipe Organ, which this            used to be a neighborhood church. The vast majori-
time had Miss Bonnie Talsma as accompanist.                 ty of its members lived within walking distance.
                                                            Now it is a commuter church; no one walks,
  Mr. Kenneth Vink, chairman of the New Organ               everyone drives. He also pointed out the stability of
Committee along with Mrs. Mary Velthouse then               the church. Even though it has seen some difficult
presented the anatomy of the organ, which was a             doctrinal times, the truth has been maintained.
short discourse on the parts and sounds of the new          Rev. Van Baren also pointed us to the Word of God
Ben Wigger is a member of the Protestant Reformed           found in I Peter  1:8:  ". . . ye rejoice with joy
Church of Hudsonville, Michigan.                            unspeakable and full of glory". We have joy


                                                                                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER
                                                                                                                          P.O. Box 6064
                                                                                                                Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506





.- 96                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER


  unspeakable because of what God has given.                              Word. If we have that, we will continue to be
  However, the church is only a tool to be used to                        strong. He also challenged the congregation to let
  praise our God.                                                         those in the neighborhood know who they are.
         Rev. Meindert Joostens, the present pastor at                    After the program, opportunity was given to -tour
  First Church, also had some remarks to make. He                         the building and enjoy refreshments in the base-
  led us to Scripture, found particularly in Psalm                        ment.
  26:8,  .which speaks of the saints of the Old Testa-                       From Southwest we find a note from Rev. and
  ment and the love they had for God's house, the                         Mrs. Kamps thanking the congregation for their
  Holy Hill of Zion: the place where God's honor                          many expressions of love and support during Nan-
  dwelt. Here His glory `was revealed. And so it                          cy's time of recuperation from surgery. The meals
  should be for us. Our church is where we are open                       that were prepared, the cards, prayers, visits, and
  to the Word of God. Who is great like unto our                          hours of labor on their behalf were expressions of
  God?                                                                    the communion of the saints.
         The dedication program also consisted of several                    From Redlands.we also learn that Rev. and Mrs.
  numbers sung by First Church's choir under the                          Houck's son, Jeremy, has had a reoccurrence of his
  direction of Mr. Roland Peterson. A poem written                        kidney infection. Compounding the concern is that
  and presented by Mrs. Sue Looyenga entitled "Fitly                      be also has developed a hernia which needs
  Framed" and remarks by the chairman of the                              surgery, but which must be postponed until the
  building committee, Mr. Thomas Newhof Jr.,                              kidney infection clears up.
- followed.                                                                  The Adult Bible Class of Isabel, SD., has decided
         The program came to a close with Prof. Robert                    to do something this year that neither they nor their
  Decker, a son of First Church, who had a few brief                      pastor has ever done before. Rev. D.H. Kuiper in-
  remarks to make based on II Thessalonians  2:15.                        forms us that they have begun the study of the
  The one fundamental truth we have maintained                            Gospel of Mark instead of an epistle or an Old
  and must continue to maintain is the absolute                           Testament book. This study will allow the
  sovereignty of God: Without that we no longer exist                     members, in fact, require of the members that they
  as churches. We need the pure preaching of the                          exercise the first rule of Scripture study: compare
                                                                          Scripture with Scripture! What an abundance of
                RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                    truth is uncovered when a passage is studied in
                                                                          light of the other gospel narratives, as well as the
    The Consistory of the Pella Protestant Reformed Church of Pella,
 Iowa, on behalf of the congregation expresses its sympathy to Bertha     Old Testament prophets!
 Van Soelen and family in the death of her husband,  CORNELIS  C.
 V A N   S O E L E N .                                                                  RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
    "For this God is our God for ever and ever: He will be our guide
 even unto death." (Psalm  48:14)                                            The Ladies Society of The South Holland Protestant Reformed
                                                                          Church expresses its Christian sympathy to Mrs. Tenie Poortenga in
 Ben Vander Molen, Vice Pres.                                             the loss of her Mother.
 Carl Van Donselaar, Clerk
                                                                             "For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." (Philippians 1  :21  1
                RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                    Rev. George Lanting, Pres.
    The Ladies Aid Society of the First Protestant Reformed Church of     Elaine Van Der Noord, Sec'y.
 Grand Rapids, Michigan, mourns the loss of a faithful member, MISS
 GERTRUDE NIENHUIS, whom the Lord took to glory on October 27,                          RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                         .
  1986. We express our sincere Christian sympathy to her family and         The Consistory of the Loveland Protestant Reformed Church, on
 friends.                                                                 behalf of the congregation, expresses its sympathy to Mr. and Mrs.
    "I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence  corneth  my    Leon Griess and family in the death of her brother-in-law, MR. ED
 help. My help  cometh  from the Lord, which made heaven and earth."      MOORE. May the Lord give the bereaved the assurance that all things
 (Psalm  121:1,  2)                                                       work together for good to them that love Him. (Romans  8:28).

 Mrs. Peter Decker, Pres.                                                 Rev. Ron Cammenga, Pres.
 Mrs. Sidney De Young, Sec'y.                                             Mr. Frank Van  Baren,  Clerk


