           The
    STANDARD
          BEARER                                                     .
F- A REFORMED  SEMI-MONTHLY  MAGAZINE





                  SPECIAL ISSUE
                              ON
                REGENERATION
      Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily,
  verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born
  again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
                                                       -John  3:3





                                    Vol.  LXIII, No.  4; December 1, 1986  -
                                                 a"


98                                                            THE STANDARD BEARER




                                                                                                                         THE STANDARD BEARER
                                CONTENTS                                       I                                                    ISSN 0362-4692
                                                                                             Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July, and August.
                                                                                              Published by the Reformed Free Publishing Association, Inc.
      Meditation  -                                                                                Second Class Postage Paid at Grand Rapids, Mich.
                                                                                    Editor-in-Chief:  Prof. Homer C. Hoeksema
         Begotten Again Unto A Lively Hope . . . . . . . . . . .98                  Depnrtment Editors: Rev. Ronald Cammenga, Rev. Arie den Hartog, Prof. Robert
                                                                                    D. Decker, Rev. Barry Gritters, Rev. Cornelius Hanko, Prof. Herman C. Hanko.
      Editor's Notes. .............................101                              Rev. Ronald Hanko, Rev. John A. Heys, Rev. . Kortering, Rev. George C. Lub-
                                                                                                                                               1
                                                                                    bers, Rev. Thomas C. Miersma, Rev. James S opsema, Rev. Gise J. Van  Baren,
                                                                                    Rev. Herman Veldman, Mr. Benjamin Wigger.
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MEDITATION
Herman Veldman





                  Begotten Again Unto A Lively Hope

                     "Blessed be the God and Father of  our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant
                 mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the
                 dead. "            -I Peter  1:3



      This word  of God is  a song  of  praise: Blessed  be                           would lay upon the hearts of the church of God
the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. This                                     throughout,the ages, the church of elect strangers,
glorious, joyful song of jubilee the inspired apostle                                 strangers because of their election and persecuted


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   99



in the midst of the world.                                  from the dead and exalted Him into the highest
   In this text this song of praise is based specifical-    heavens with all power, glory, and honour. It is this
ly upon the wonderful fact that we have been                God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ Who
regenerated, begotten again unto a lively hope by           regenerates us again and from above. To Him alone
the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. The         must we ascribe all praise and honour. He alone is
church of God sings because of its regeneration. 0,         the God of our salvation.
there may be those who say that one's regeneration            Besides, we have been born again and from
belongs to the mysteries with which we must not             above unto a lively hope. This lively or living hope
concern ourselves, but the inspired writer here lays        is therefore the fruit of this regenerating work of
this song of jubilee upon the church of God, the en-        the living God. Although the word hope in Scripture
tire church of God throughout the ages. He would            has also an objective meaning, referring to the glory
have the people of God, all the people of God,              of heaven as it will be realized in the new heavens
know that they have been begotten again unto a              and the new earth, here in I Peter  1:3 the word
lively hope, would have them sing of the assurance          must be understood subjectively, as living in our
of their everlasting salvation.                             hearts, the fruit of regeneration. This hope is cer-
          * * * * * * * * * *                               tain, never doubts, is the operation of a firm, clear
  We have been begotten again unto a lively hope.           faith, even as it, with sure confidence, takes hold of
The apostle here is speaking of our regeneration.           the future. Of this hope the apostle declares rather
That we are born or begotten again  is implied in the       peculiarly, that it is a living hope. The hope of the
word regeneration, although the word as it appears          children of God is a living hope, a hope that is
in the original emphasizes the idea of being born           characterized by life, comes forth out of life, and is
from above. Of course, our regeneration is a being          itself a power of eternal life, the principle of the life
born again and also a being born again from above.          of the heavenly perfection of God's covenant. The
We are born again. Hence, this is our second birth.         hope of the world is a dead hope (the world, of
Our first birth was from below. The organism into           course, also hopes) - this hope is vain, always puts
which we were born the first time, whereof Adam             to shame. Fact is, the hope of the world comes up
is the head, is a dead body or organism. Because of         out of death, is the fruit of darkness, is actually
Adam, our representative or judicial head and also          death and darkness itself. Hence, the hope of the
our organic head, we are born, by nature, dead in           world always therefore cleaves to death, seeks sin
sin and in trespasses, guilty before God, and               and death. But the hope of the elect strangers, the
spiritually full of sin and darkness. This truth            people of God, is a living hope. It comes out of life;
belongs to the heritage which the Lord has en-              the fruit of regeneration; this hope itself lives, is the
trusted to our churches. May we never lose it! By           principle of the love of God in our hearts. And it is
nature we are not subject to the law of God, neither        also a living hope because it cleaves unto eternal
indeed can we be. We are dead in sins and in tres-          life, reaches out unto the eternal renewal of all
passes. Hence, to enter into the kingdom of God we          things, is the expectation of the crown of righteous-
must be born again. And we must be born again               ness and of victory, gives the child  of- God peace,
from above. There is no power upon the earth                courage, and strength in the midst of all struggle
which can possibly regenerate us. There is no               and battle, to look forward, in the midst of suffer-
power of human persuasion, no invitation through            ing, to the blessed day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
a general, well-meaning offer of the gospel (as is                    * * * * * * * * * *
generally and erroneously proclaimed today) which             We are begotten again, we read, by the resurrec-
can translate a dead sinner out of the kingdom of           tion of Jesus Christ from the dead. This is the
darkness into the kingdom of God and of His dear            means of our regeneration.
Son. May we ever maintain this!                               We must understand this resurrection of our
  This regeneration is the work of the God and              Lord Jesus Christ. We understand that Jesus, aris-
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. The author of this         ing from the dead, did not simply return to this
regeneration is the Triune God as the God and               earthly life. He did not arise, for example, as did
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. As the God and             Lazarus, who later died a second time. Jesus,
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ He caused Christ to         however, arose into heavenly life, went through the
be born of the virgin Mary, enabled Him to suffer           grave, did not return from it to this life. He said
and die as our atoning Head upon the cross of               farewell forever to this earthly life, is now exalted
Calvary, suffering in perfect consciousness the             above all that is earthly.
eternal wrath and indignation of God, raised Him              This, however, is not all. Jesus did not merely
Herman Veldman is a minister emeritus in the Protestant     arise as a man from the dead. It was no individual
Reformed Churches.                                          that arose from that grave. But Jesus Christ is risen


100                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



from the dead. His Name is Christ, the Anointed,            manuel. That resurrection of Christ was heavenly.
anointed of God Triune to be the Head of Zion,              And the life in us is now heavenly. And, therefore,
standing at the head of all the brethren. And He is         we have been begotten again through this resurrec-
Christ Jesus, the anointed Saviour, Jehovah as the          tion of Christ Jesus unto a living hope, the hope of
God of our salvation.                                       life heavenly and immortal.
  This headship  of the Saviour must be understood                    *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *
in a two-fold sense. He is, first of all, our Head in a        We have been begotten again, we read, accord-
juridical, legal sense. As such He represents us,           ing to His abundant mercy. The mercy is the source
assumes our place, our state is reckoned unto Him,          of this wonderful work of God.
but also His merits are ours, according to divine im-
putation, merited for us. He is also our Head in the           The mercy of God is an operation of His love.
organic sense. We, therefore, stand with Him in a           When the object of that love of God finds itself in
living relation. He lives and also we live, as Head         misery, then this love reveals itself as mercy, that
and as the members out of and through Him.                  is, as an inner urge of hearty sympathy and pity to
                                                            deliver the object of that love out of that misery.
  Now we can readily understand how we have                 This is surely true of the love of God. The Lord
been begotten or born again by the resurrection of          loves His children eternally. For a while these
Jesus Christ from the dead, or, literally, through          children are in great misery. So the love of God
this resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now we          reaches out to them as an urge of great mercy. The
can understand why this resurrection of Jesus               Lord must deliver His children.
Christ stands in the center of the preaching of the
apostle. On the one hand, this is true as far as the          And this mercy is abundant. What the apostle
Saviour's resurrection from the dead itself is con-         means is that this mercy has a great content, God
cerned  - Jesus' resurrection is centrally the resur-       reveals this great, rich, abundant mercy when He
rection of the church. Christ's resurrection is the         quickens and delivers them through regeneration.
manifestation of the fact that Zion has the right to        We are begotten again according to, in harmony
eternal life - what Christ receives belongs also. to        with, the wonderful love of God. What an abun-
His people. But, what is more, the resurrection of          dant mercy! Fact is, we are dead by nature. This
Christ is also the life's principle of our resurrection.    mercy of God does not merely quicken us, but it
Christ arose, not merely to possess that life for           works in us a living hope, the principle of eternal,
Himself. But He arose, too, that He might pour out          heavenly life. It gives us the forgiveness of all our
His life into us. Christ's resurrection is, therefore,      sins, leads us not merely out of death, but into
in principle our resurrection, our life. Raising            heaven. It is an abundant mercy; hence, we have
Christ from the dead the Triune God centrally               such a rich regeneration. Soon this rich mercy will
realized in Christ eternal life for us, and He raised       wash all tears from our eyes, we shall receive dou-
Him to be the glorified Head of Zion to pour out            ble for all our suffering, and it will give us a glory
that life into us.                                          everlasting and incomparable.
  So the congregation of God is begotten again.               And the purpose of all this? This: Blessed be the
God has begotten us and that through the resurrec-          God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. We must
tion of Jesus Christ from the dead.' This means             praise God, speak well of Him, declare His
nothing less than that the resurrection of Christ is        greatness. And the text clearly teaches us that we
the means effecting this regeneration in us. This           must bless God the Father exactly in the virtue of
can be understood only if we bear in mind that the          His abundant mercy. This includes everything.
resurrection of Christ, as realized in our hearts, ef-      This means that our misery, our death, had a place
fects our regeneration. When this resurrection of           in God's eternal wisdom. This explains our
Christ, out of the death of deaths, the deaths of all       alienage, our suffering, our persecution in the
the people of God, out of the curse of our sin into         midst of the world. Why all this misery? That all
the glorious communion of God's covenant, is                things may culminate in the praise of God's mercy,
realized in us, becomes a fact in us; when that             in His redeeming love. God alone could save us,
resurrected Saviour works in our heart, dwells              nothing else. To Him be all the praise and the glory,
there, then you have the regeneration, the quicken-         now and forevermore.
ing of the people of God. And, therefore, this
regeneration has for its fruit the living hope. In-                      Take time  fo
deed, this work of God's grace is not merely the
reviving of the dead sinner, merely restoring to us                    read and study
our former state of obedience and life which we
had in Adam. But the elect strangers are begotten              The Standard Bearer!
again through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, Im-


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                101



                                      Editor's Notes


  New Feature. Elsewhere in this issue you will          ches. Later we hope to publish a directory of our
find a new feature: a directory of all of the Protes-    Protestant Reformed "Outreach" in which will be
tant Reformed Churches, together with their loca-        included the addresses of our Home Missions.
tions, their time of services, and a telephone con-               *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *
tact number. This directory will not appear in             Special Issue.  This is the first of our three
every issue, but will appear a few times per year. It
is placed for the convenience of our readers who         scheduled special issues for the current  volume-
may be traveling in various parts of the U.S. or         year. In it we begin a projected series on "The
                                                         Order of Salvation." We welcome as guest writers
Canada, as well as for any non-Protestant Reformed
readers who might wish to visit one of our chur-         in this issue the Rev. Robert C. Harbach and the
                                                         Rev. Carl J. Haak.                                                  HCH

EDIT'ORIALS



                    A Little Lesson In Dogmatics



  As was stated in my Editor's Notes, this issue is      ogy). 5) The doctrine concerning the church  (Ec-
the first in a planned series on "The Order of Salva-    clesiology). 6) The doctrine concerning the last
tion, I' sometimes referred to in dogmatics by its       things (Eschatology).
Latin name, the  Ordo Sahtis.  And in Reformed
dogmatics this "Order of Salvation" forms the chief        In the second place, however, we must not think
contents of the entire fourth main division of           that in this neat scheme we have six equal divi-
dogmatics, namely, Soteriology.                          sions. For the last five divisions are really to be
                                                         viewed as  subordinate  to the first division, Theol-
  "Now, prof," I hear someone say, "don't throw          ogy. In other words, in all of these divisions we are
around those big terms; you'll go way over my            really dealing with the doctrine concerning God,
head. Remember, you're writing for the  Stunclard        with the knowledge of the God of our salvation.
Bearer; you're not teaching dogmatics at                 Thus, Anthropology is indeed the doctrine of man,
seminary."                                               but it is concerned with man as a work of God and
  Well, let me give you a little lesson in dogmatics,    in relation to God. Christology is indeed concerning
or Reformed doctrine. Or rather, let me refresh          Christ as the Son of God in the flesh, but as the
your memory about a few things which at least            revelation of the God of our salvation. So, too,  Ec-
many of you must have learned in catechism at one        clesiology is about the church, but that church as
time or another.                                         the realization of God's eternal purpose of election
  First of all, then, there is Soteriology, the doc-     and as the perfecting of God's tabernacle, where
trine concerning salvation. This is the fourth of the    He dwells with His people in covenant fellowship.
six main divisions of dogmatics. Let us fit it in the    And Eschatology deals with the final and full
scheme: 1) The doctrine concerning God (Theol-           revelation of Jesus Christ and with the perfection of
ogy). 2) The doctrine concerning man (Anthropol-         all things, but only as the finishing and perfecting
ogy). 3) The doctrine concerning Christ  (Christol-      of the works of God.
ogy). 4) The doctrine concerning salvation (Soteriol-      Now the same is true of Soteriology. It is  con-


102                                        THE STANDARD BEARER



cerned with the doctrine of man's salvation, but         truth of the gospel is greater and richer than any
with that salvation as the work of God. It "treats of    system of dogmatics and any system of arrange-
the work of God through Christ whereby He                ment that we may devise. Thus, for example, from
realizes in the hearts of `the elect His covenant, by    a certain point of view, all of what we include
making them partakers of all the benefits of that        under the doctrine of salvation (Soteriology) may
covenant as they have been merited by Jesus Christ       also be classified as the doctrine of Christ (Christol-
our Lord," (H. Hoeksema, Reformed Dogmatics, p.          ogy). For rather commonly a distinction is made -
437).                                                    perhaps you recall this from your own catechetical
  It is precisely at this point that the Reformed        instruction  - between the work of Christ for us
faith is distinctive. Scripture and our Reformed         (His incarnation, His suffering all His lifetime, His
confessions emphasize that this work of salvation is     atoning death, His resurrection, His exaltation at
from beginning to end the work of God, and of God        God's right hand) and the work of Christ in us (His
alone. Pelagianism, among other things, taught that      imparting to us all the blessings of salvation). But,
man is still capable by nature of obeying the law        you see, the work of Christ in us is that which is in-
and entering into eternal life through his own           cluded in the doctrine of salvation (Soteriology) and
work. Grace is only assisting grace.  Semi-pelagian-     includes all the blessings of salvation which are in-
ism holds the same position principally, though in a     cluded in the so-called Order of Salvation. Or from
more subtle way. While it spoke of quickening and        still another point of view, this doctrine of salvation
assisting grace whereby man might convert himself        may be construed as the doctrine of the church (Ec-
to his own justification, it also taught that man        clesiology): for it is through the imparting of the
must assent to and cooperate with that grace, and        blessings of salvation, and that, too, in connection
he is able to reject it. Synergism, taught by Philip     with the means of grace, that the Son of God by His
Melanchthon in the early history of Lutheranism,         Spirit and Word gathers His church. Or from still
believes in the possibility of salvation for all men     another point of view, it may be viewed as the doc-
and teaches that the will of man cooperates with         trine of the last things (Eschatology): for that doc-
the Holy Spirit in the work of, salvation. This          trine of our salvation after all includes our final
became the historic position of Lutheranism.  Ar-        glorification and the life everlasting, but the latter
minianism is principally Semi-pelagian, as our           are always treated, of course, under the doctrine of
Canons of Dordt also insist, and teaches that grace      the last things.
is resistible, so that it depends upon man, not God,       So you see that the truth of the gospel is always
whether he will receive that grace or not. It also       greater and richer than any system which we may
denied the perseverance of the saints, and taught        devise. The system is only for the purpose of help-
that saving grace may be lost.                           ing us to understand something of the riches of the
  Over against all these the Reformed faith insists      blessed truth of the gospel of our salvation. And
that salvation is from beginning to end the work of      thus it is with our proposed series of special issues
the God of our salvation in Christ, and not in any       also: they purpose to help us to understand and to
sense the work of man. God through Christ by the         appreciate what great things God has wrought in
Holy Spirit as the Spirit of Christ sovereignly and      our salvation!                                   HCH
efficaciously applies unto His elect people all the
benefits which Christ merited for them. And this is
the plain teaching of Scripture. Romans  8:29, 30:
"For whom he did foreknow, he also did                      During this busy
predestinate to be conformed to the image of his
Son, that he might be the firstborn among many
brethren. Morever whom he did predestinate, them              Holiday Season
he also called: and whom he called, them he also
justified: and whom he justified, them he also
glorified." Or again, Ephesians  1:3, 4: "Blessed be          take the time to
the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in              read & study the
heavenly places in Christ: According as he hath
chosen us in him before the foundation of the
world . . .  ." From God through Christ all the             Standard Bearer!
spiritual benefits of salvation are imparted unto
and flow into the elect through the operation of the
Holy Spirit as the Spirit of Christ.
  Meanwhile, we should not forget that the blessed


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 103



                           The Order of Salvation


  As we stated earlier, the subject of the Order of        tion." And this is the order which we will follow in
Salvation is going to be the subject of our next           our special issues, with the exception, of course,
several special issues. We must, therefore, say a          that glorification (which belongs, after all, to the
few words about this Order of Salvation.                   doctrine of the last things) will not be included.
  First of all, what is meant by it?                         This raises a third question which we must brief-
  The order of salvation is the arrangement or             ly consider, namely: how is this order to be under-
order in which the various blessings of salvation          stood, as an order of time or an order of logic?
are applied to the elect, but in himself lost and            In answer to this question, we may note, in the
dead, sinner.                                              first place, that it is easy to see that there is a time-
  In the second place, what is that order?                 aspect to this order. From a certain point of view
                                                           one blessing follows another in time. Without get-
  Through the centuries there have been various            ting into a complicated discussion of this matter, let
suggestions made in this respect. Some have sug-           me point out that this time aspect becomes very
gested that saving faith is first. Others have insisted    evident both in connection with our preservation
that the calling is first. Still others have held that     and perseverance and our glorification. Our
justification is first. We shall not enter into a          preservation and perseverance continue to the end
lengthy discussion of the rights and wrongs  of'the        of our life on earth; and our glorification certainly
various orders which have been suggested.  ~This           takes place following upon our preservation and
would take us too far afield. Permit me to answer          following upon all the other blessings of salvation.
this question very briefly by quoting the conclusion       It is the last great blessing of grace! And yet, in the
which Herman Hoeksema reached in his Reformed              second place, it should be evident that the order is
Dogmatics, pp. 450, 451: "We must therefore keep           one of ideas and logic rather than one of time. For
to the subjective line of the application of the salva-    in the deepest sense of the word, all the other bless-
tion in Christ. It is also necessary to distinguish be-    ings of salvation are implied already in our regener-
tween what is wrought in our subconsciousness              ation. For in our regeneration we receive the gift of
and what is wrought in the consciousness of  .the          etemaZ  Zife! That implies and includes all the bless-
sinner. In this regard we can certainly speak of and       ings of grace even unto our final glorification.
distinguish between regeneration in the narrowest
sense and in the broader sense of the word. In the           Finally, we may raise the question: why should
latter sense regeneration includes calling and even        we study and contemplate this order of salvation?
conversion. In the first sense no one can ever see           It really should not be necessary to ask this ques-
the kingdom of God without being born again: `Ex-          tion. The answer is, in the first place, that the child
cept a man be born again, he cannot see the king-          of God may learn to understand something of the
dom of God' (John 3:3). On the other hand, we can          wonderful riches of his own salvation, of the work
also speak of a regeneration through the Word of           which God works in him. In the second place, that
God: `Of his own will begat he us with the word of         he may learn to understand  himseZf  as a child `of
truth' (James  1:18).  Through the calling in the          God saved by grace, may learn to understand his
fullest sense of the word the regenerated sinner is        utter dependence upon sovereign grace. And, in the
translated before his consciousness from darkness          third place, that he may learn to show forth the
into the marvellous light of God. Through the same         praises of Him Who hath called us out of darkness
calling he attains to a conscious faith, to the con-       into His marvelous light. For it is for this very pur-
sciousness of his justification, to the adoption of        pose that God called us! (I Peter 2:9, 10)         HCH
children and peace with God. And, once more,
through the same calling by the Word he is also                The Standard Bearer
sanctified and enabled to bear fruit unto good
works. Bearing all this in mind, we reach the               makes a thoughtful gift
following conclusion in regard to the  ordo  salutis
(order of salvation): 1) regeneration; 2) calling; 3)
faith; 4) conversion; 5) justification; 6) sanctifica-      for the sick and shut-in.
tion; 7) preservation and perseverance; 8) glorifica-


104                                             THE STANDARD BEARER



                      Passed From Death Unto Life
                                                         John A. Heys





   Every detail of our salvation was eternally                     Now the Dutch word for regeneration, namely
planned and decreed in God's counsel, and thus                   wedergeboorte,  presents to those who know the
every aspect and detail of that salvation was de-                Dutch language a clearer picture of what regenera-
cided by God before a single creature was brought                tion is. The term begins with the word "again," and
into being. That which is required for us to obtain              is followed by the word "birth." This is in harmony
the right to that salvation, namely, the blotting out            with the truth in John 3:3 that except a man be born
of our sins, and the presentation to God of a com-               again he cannot even see the kingdom of God.
plete fulfillment of His holy law on our behalf, took            Regeneration is a rebirth. It is implanting in us of a
place at the cross of Christ, and thus long before we            new life. Therefore it is the beginning of a new life
were born.                                                       in us, if you will, the beginning of salvation  in us.
   Nevertheless at an eternally decreed moment of                And there are many, many passages in Holy Writ
time in our lives the work of salvation is begun in              where regeneration is called a rebirth. However,
us. Sovereign, eternal, and unchangeable election                Scripture presents the truth of regeneration in
unto salvation, and that cross of Christ, took place             several other ways.
outside  of us. These belong to our salvation, and                 In Deuteronomy  30:6 we read: "And the Lord
without them there is absolutely no hope of salva-               thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart
tion for us. But because of the very nature of salva-            of thy seed, to love the Lord thy God with all thine
tion, there must be a work in us. Do we not read in              heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live."
John  3:3 that we cannot even see the kingdom of                 Here regeneration is not only presented as a work
God until and unless we have been born again?                    in the heart, but one that brings forth an entirely
And being born again is not something that takes                 new activity, namely loving God'with all the heart.
place outside of us but in us. All the wonders and               In Ezekiel 36:26 we read, "A new heart also will I
blessings of salvation we are going to enjoy cannot              give you, and a new spirit will I put in you: and I
be received and experienced until and unless we                  will take away the stony heart out of your flesh,
are born again. And that work of God whereby                     and I will give you an heart of flesh." Here again
salvation is begun in and brought into us is called              the idea is that something new, something we did
regeneration. Regeneration, then, is that work of                not have before, is put in our hearts.
God's grace whereby we begin to taste our salva-                   The New Testament presents regeneration very
tion for the first time: that is, whereby for the first          richly with many words that speak of regeneration
time we have the work of salvation begun in us.                  bringing us a new life. Besides all the passages
   That rich and comforting truth is presented to us             which speak of one being born again, we find Paul
in Scripture in several ways and by means of dif-                in Romans  6:13 speaking of "those that are alive
ferent words other than the word regeneration. In                from the dead." In II Corintians 5:17 we are called
fact, the word regeneration appears in Holy Writ                 "new creatures"; and in Ephesians 2: 10 we are call-
only twice. And the first time it appears, it does not           ed "God's workmanship created unto good
refer to our salvation from sin and its punishment.              works. ' ' Surely being created means that we get
In Matthew  19:28 it refers to the recreation of                 something we never had before, something that did
heaven and earth wherein we will enjoy fully the                 not exist in us.
salvation of our bodies and souls. The only time the
word appears in Scripture as referring to salvation                Now to appreciate all this we must bear in mind
from sin and its punishment is in Titus  3:5, where              that salvation is more than deliverance from the
we read, "Not by works which we have done, but                   punishment of sin which we deserve. In fact if that
according to His mercy He saved us by the washing                is all that belongs to salvation, and we are to get
of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit."                enraptured only about the wonderful life our
                                                                 bodies will have, then we are only interested in
                                                                 what every unbeliever, the devil and all the fallen
John A. Heys is a minister emeritus in the Protestant            angels, would like to have. No, regeneration is a
Reformed Churches.                                               work that God performs inside of us so that we can


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                              105



begin to flee from sin and to love Him with all our        Adam and Eve received a new spiritual life. They
hearts.                                                    were regenerated, and this became evident in the
  Sad to say all this has been denied; and universal-      instruction which they gave to Abel. The difference
ly regeneration has been presented as nothing more         between Cain and Abel is due to the fact that Abel
than reformation. That is the Pelagian and  Armin-         received a new life and Cain did not.
ian view which is so widely taught today. That we            The preaching of the gospel can never have a
are spiritually dead by nature is denied. God does         spiritually good effect on a man until and unless he
not give us something we do not have, but by the           is born again. That some believe and that others do
preaching moves us to live differently with the life       not is due to the fact that it pleases God to give
we had from birth. We do what we did not do                some a new spiritual life and not others. Some see
before, but not because we were given a new life.          the things of the kingdom of God, and others do
We are instructed, encouraged and urged by the             not, because God regenerates some and not others.
preaching to make use of what always resided in              A very beautiful statement in the Reformed
our souls but we failed to use. Regeneration is no         creeds about regeneration is found in the Canons of
realization of a basic change in us but a change of        Dordrecht, Chapter III-IV. Article 12, where we
conduct with what we always had but did not use.           read: "And this is the regeneration so highly
It is working in man a change of mind and will but         celebrated in Scripture, and denominated a new
not a giving to him the power and desire to do so.         creation: a resurrection from the dead, a making
The power is there, so Pelagianism maintains.              alive, which God works in us without our aid."
What is needed is that man is moved to use what he
already has.                                                 Here, plainly, we have what is called regenera-
                                                           tion in the narrower sense. (Sometimes regenera-
  All this is in plain violation of what Scripture         tion is spoken of also in a wider sense.) But here
teaches us. As already pointed out, Paul in II Corin-      take note of the fact that the Canons speak of some-
thians 517  speaks of the child of God being a new         thing new, of being taken out of death and being
creature, not merely one with a new spiritual life-        given life; and that it all comes from God. We do
style. He also in Philippians  2:13 states, "For it is     not assist God. He works it in us. He does not bring
God which worketh in you to will and to do of His          it to us. We do not reach out and accept what He in-
good pleasure." Clearly this verse teaches us that         vites us to get. He works a new life in us; and work-
God works something new in us, and does not                ing in us does not simply imply that it was not there
merely move something that is in us to get going.          at our first birth. It means that God places in us that
What is more, it speaks of God working this new            which goes against the grain as we are by nature.
life, and with it that will to do of His good pleasure.    God does not place it in front of us. He works it in
And since He works it in us, the plain meaning is          us. It is His work that explains that we can and do
that we do not have it of ourselves and by our first       believe. We are not hungering and thirsting to will
birth. To underscore this truth is the word of I Cor-      and do that which pleases God, and then He sets it
inthians  4:7, where Paul writes, "For who maketh          before us to take and to satisfy a desire that began
thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that       in us. Rather, very plainly, Paul teaches us here
thou didst not receive?" Notice first of all that this     that we do not have the will, and therefore the do-
passage teaches us that there is definitely a dif-         ing, of what pleases God and must be given it by
ference between those born the first time and those        God. By the work of regeneration God implants in
born again. A spiritual difference is what Paul has        us a new life. Regeneration is for us a passing from
in mind. And we had better also consider the fact          spiritual death unto spiritual life. Jesus Himself
that he speaks of us having received something             said that in John 5:24.
others do not have, something all men have not
from their first birth. The difference between a             But as stated in passing a moment ago, we can
believer and an unbeliever is that the believer            speak also of regeneration in a wider sense; In that
received the gift of a new life, while the unbeliever      sense regeneration includes the calling, conversion,
has only the life he received as a descendant from         and faith, which stand in very close connection
fallen Adam. And the word of God stands: that              with regeneration as a rebirth. And there is no
Adam died the day that he ate of the forbidden             denying of the fact that as important as that rebirth,
fruit. He died spiritually. Yes, physical death began      or implanting of a new life in us is, it is essential
in his body that day, but that day spiritual death         that we be called, converted, and engrafted into
was complete. That is why God stated that He               Christ by a true and living faith.
would put enmity in Adam's heart and in all the              We can understand this by bringing before our
hearts of the seed of the woman. Adam did not              minds the figure of a seed being implanted in the
have it. He had nothing good to give to his descen-        ground. That seed has life in it. But to grow and
dants. And this becomes plain in his first son Cain.       bring forth a plant and fruit, it requires moisture in


106                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



the soil and warmth of the sun, as well as the im-          of the Holy Spirit, doth regenerate and make him a
planting of that seed. Without these that seed will        new man, causing him to live a new life, and free-
remain dormant. And if this continues for a long           ing him from the bondage of sin."
time, that seed will die. If there is moisture but not        Plainly this Reformed confession presents
heat, it will rot.                                          regeneration as including the calling, that is, "the
  This can never, no never happen with regenera-            hearing of the Word of God," and the fruit of
tion. God Who regenerates sends the moisture and            regeneration, namely, living "a new life and freeing
rain in the right proportions and causes what He           him from the bondage of sin," which plainly is con-
has implanted to become active and bring forth             version and sanctification. And though the article
fruits of righteousness. The moisture and warmth           does not literally speak of the engrafting into Christ
of His Word causes the child of God in whom that           by a true faith, that too can be included in regenera-
seed has been planted to take hold of Christ as his        tion in the wider sense.
Saviour. And it does make sense to say that                   But the basic truth of regeneration is that we who
regeneration includes all that which God does to           are born dead in trespasses and sins are quickened,
the child of His, which activates this new life. And       that is, made alive spiritually by a work that in
we may then correctly speak of regeneration in that        every sense of the word, and from its very begin-
wider sense.                                               ning, is God's work of grace in us and upon us.
  We find this truth beautifully stated in the Belgic      Regeneration is a truth of Scripture that teaches us
Confession, Article XXIV. in these words, "We              that we owe God thanks for causing us to pass from
believe that this true faith being wrought in man by       spiritual death unto spiritual life.
the hearing of the Word of God, and the operation





                Regeneration and Total Depravity
                                                 Thomas C. Miersma





  The truth of God's regenerating grace, that               and are fleshly or carnal. It is thus that we confess
spiritual renewal and new birth which God works             with David in Psalm 51:5, "Behold, I was shapen in
in our hearts by His Spirit, affords us as believers a      iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me."
rich measure of comfort and consolation. As justifi-        By that first and natural birth we are born spiritual-
cation is the answer of God's grace to our guilt            ly dead, our nature is utterly polluted with sin. We
before the judgment seat of God, so also regenera-          are prone by our sinful fleshly nature to hate God
tion, as the first work of God's grace in our hearts,       and our neighbor, and are wholly incapable of do-
is the answer of God to our spiritual and moral             ing any good and inclined unto all evil (Heidelberg
pollution, to that total depravity of nature which is       Catechism, Q/A's 5 and 8). Man who was created in
ours according to our first birth after the flesh.          the image of God, in righteousness and true holi-
                                                            ness, became through the fall a dead sinner, devoid
  Man is born spiritually dead in trespasses and            of God's image and spiritually of his father, the
sins (Ephesians  2:l). This spiritual depravity is          devil. He is and continues to be a man after the fall,
rooted in our nature which we received from our             a man with a mind and heart and will. But he has
parents, and ultimately from our first parents,             become carnal man. Spiritually he is wholly ruined.
Adam and Eve, through the fall. The result is that          His mind is darkened and blinded spiritually, so
we are born after the flesh, according to Scripture,        much so that he can neither see nor enter the
                                                            kingdom (John 3:3-5). His will and all the desires of
Thomas C. Miersma is pastor of the First Protestant         his heart are corrupt, so that he wills to sin, delights
Reformed Church of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.               in iniquity and is in bondage to sin and the devil. In


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 107



the depths of his heart, the very spiritual center of          That work of God which is begun in us im-
his nature and out of which are the issues of life,          mediately as a creative work of God in our hearts,
enmity and hatred against God are found and reign            without the use of means, is objective in character.
in him and over him. That spiritual and moral                It is a change first of all in our nature, not in our ex-
pollution pervades the whole of our nature as car-           perience. Under God's grace, the call of God by the
nal man, as born after the flesh, so that it fills every     preaching of the gospel, it bears the fruit, however,
part of our nature completely. We are depraved by            of a new life in Christ in our experience.
nature and the extent of that depravity is total and           The does not mean that that work of God is
complete in every respect. Nor is it the case that           perfect in us. We are yet in the flesh though we are
carnal man merely does that which is sinful, but he          not after the flesh. The work of regeneration in our
is incapable and unable to do any good in himself.           hearts is a spiritual `renewal of our nature. That
He is dead, spiritually and morally.                         renewal must yet be perfected and will be when
  It is exactly in the face of the reality of our            also our bodies are raised from the dead in the
spiritual and total depravity by nature that the             resurrection. Then the earthly and fleshly taber-
Word of God sets before us the wonder of God's               nacle in which we now dwell will become the glori-
grace in regeneration. By that work of God which is          fied spiritual body of the resurrection. It is exactly
wrought in the depths of our hearts we are born              this reality which leads to the struggle between the
again. This birth is a spiritual resurrection from           old man of sin and the new man in Christ, between
spiritual death involving a spiritual renewal of our         the flesh and the spirit in the life of a child of God.
nature at its center. God by His grace takes away            From the viewpoint of eternal glory, that principle
the hardened stony heart of our depraved nature              of regeneration and its activity is a small beginning,
and gives us a heart of flesh, a heart soft and              manifested in the small beginning of new obe-
pliable, to love Him and do His will (Ezekiel 11:19,         dience which is ours (Heidelberg Catechism, Q/A
20). By regeneration God circumcises and cuts                114), but from the viewpoint of what we were by
away  the, pollution of our sinful heart (Deuter-            nature it is life from the dead.
onomy  30:6). By it He washes and cleanses us by               It is in the light of that objective and unchange-
His Spirit (Titus 3:5), baptizing us with His Spirit in-     able gracious reality of regeneration and the
to Christ's death and raising us up by the power of          presence also of our sinful flesh that we must also
His resurrection that we might live a new and holy           understand our own experience of this grace of
life (Romans  6:3, 4; I Peter  1:3). This is a spiritual,    God in its power within us. The dead do not know
heavenly rebirth so that we are no more by nature,           they are dead. It is the living, regenerated child of
but are by grace, no more after the flesh, but after         God who has the mind of Christ, the light of His
the Spirit, having been born of the Spirit (John             grace and spirit, who says from the heart,  ". . . I
3:3-5).                                                      delight in the law of God after the inward man: But
  This change which God works in the depths of               I see another law in my members, warring against
our hearts does a number of things. If takes away            the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity
the root of depravity in our hearts, writing there the       to the law of sin which is in my members" (Romans
love of God. It gives us eyes to see and enter the           7:22, 23). He it is who beholds that he is dead in
kingdom, ears to hear and believe the gospel, and            himself, though he be no more in himself. It is the
spiritual feet to begin to walk before God in all good       living who know that they were once dead, and
works. It gives unto us the power of faith as a seed         would be dead in themselves. The spiritual knowl-
planted in the heart which under the preaching of            edge of our sin and misery belongs to the fruit of
the gospel grows into the conscious activity of faith        regeneration, wrought by the preaching of the
through the Spirit. In its essential character it in-        Word, and God's grace working by the law upon
volves a fundamental spiritual renewal of our                the regenerated heart. The result is that while the
nature at its center. As such the regenerated child          regenerated child of God is no more dead, nor is he
of God is become spiritual man. He is no more                totally depraved, yet we may well feel as if we were
totally depraved: the depravity of his nature has            so, for sin is present with us and depravity, though
been cut off at its root, in the heart. He is made a         not total, cleaves to us, for in our old man of the
new creature in Christ and has put on Christ that            flesh dwelleth no good thing (Romans  7:18). It is
He might dwell in him by His Spirit. The elect               important therefore in this matter of regeneration
regenerated child of God is. no more dead by living;         carefully to distinguish the reality of it and our ex:
he has been quickened. Moreover out of the foun-             perience of its fruit. Failure to do so can lead to and
tain of God's grace and by the continual operation           has lead to the error of antinomianism, to the idea
of the Spirit within him he is continually sustained         that the blessings of salvation are only imputed un-
in that life, renewed and strengthened. He shall             to us legally but leave our nature unchanged so that
never die (John  11:25, 26).                                 we remain totally depraved and dead in sin. It can


108                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



lead also to spiritual discouragement in the Chris-          purified in heart, who beholding his sins prays with
tian life because we behold continually the great-           David in Psalm 51:10, "Create in me a clean heart,
ness of our sin and seem to see so little of the life of     0 God; and renew a right spirit within me." It is he
Christ within us. We are not to confuse, therefore,          who is born from above who exclaims with Paul in
total depravity with the knowledge of our depravity          Romans  7:14, ". . . I am carnal, sold under sin . . ."
by nature in our regenerated experience.                     and longs to be delivered from the flesh. For though
  It is not the unregenerated dead sinner, the               depravity  .always  cleaves unto us, and our con-
unclean in heart, but rather the regenerated child of        science testifies that we are still inclined to all evil;
God who sees and beholds his misery and sin, the             yet in Christ we are righteous before God and justi-
pollution also of his flesh, who hungers and thirsts         fied, and by the grace of regeneration we are made
after righteousness and life. It is he who has been          new creatures in Christ, to live out of Him.





                          Regeneration and Assurance
                                                     Carl J. Haak





   We can know our regeneration. We can be                   Sorrows and depression can cover us as a dark,
assured of our being born from above and thus be             stifling blanket, cutting off all light; and God seems
assured that "now are we the children of God" (I             far away. We repeat with the Psalmist, "The
John  3:2). Assured that we are born again by the            thought of God gave me no peace, But rather made
will of God, we will also be convinced of the love of        my fears increase:". Questions such as: "How is
God towards us (I John 4:  16), and possess the              my heart towards God?" "Am I interested in
perfect hope that one day we shall see Him as He is          Christ?" leave us unsettled. There is inward empti-
(I John  3:3). Assured of our regeneration, we will          ness. Things are not right. We wonder whether
also live in holiness and as dear children be im-            God dwells in us and we in Him (I John 4: 15). Can
itators of God and walk in love (Eph. 5:l).                  we have assurance? Does assurance belong to every
   One can know his regeneration. Regeneration is            child of God?
an act of God which is known in our consciousness,              Yes. Assurance is part of regeneration.
in our experience. Assurance of salvation is part            Assurance is the conviction of faith that we are of
and parcel of the experience of all who are born             the truth (I John  3:19): that Christ has died for me
again, The regenerated in this life "are enabled to          and I belong to Him as His possession (Rom. 14:8).
believe with the heart, and love their Savior"               It is to be persuaded that He will keep me unto that
(Canons  3+4, Art. 13).                                      day (II Tim. 1: 12). It is to possess our souls in peace.
  This truth, namely, that assurance is always               Christian assurance leads both to comfort and a dai-
given to the regenerated, is an important one to             ly, sincere, godly walk of life, in which the hands
grasp. Often the question surfaces in the Christian          do not hang down in despair (Heb. 12: 12), but are
life: how can I be sure? It is a question which              strengthened unto every good work (II Thess. 2: 17).
assumes many different forms. At times it can be               Now all that assurance, as by faith we lay hold of
asked in .bitterness  and doubt - doubt concerning           Christ, is included in God's work of regeneration.
our own salvation. At other times lethargy and in-           When He regenerates, God imparts the grace of
difference grips the soul, and we ask whether                assurance, that is: every one regenerated is brought
Christ is real to me, whether I am truly a Christian.        to the assurance of his salvation. Those regenerated
                                                             by the Spirit of God are brought by the Spirit to the
Carl J. Haak is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church     personal confidence of belonging to Christ (I Cor.
of Lynden, Washington.                                       6:20). No, it does not mean that their lives are


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                109



devoid of repeated struggles, weaknesses, falls into        of our salvation (Rom. 8:29-30). We cannot discuss
temptation, sins, etc. (Canons 5, Art. 5). The              this in detail, but regeneration may be called in a
regenerated Child of God experiences trials                 certain sense the first work of God in the saved sin-
a-plenty and lamentable falls into folly. But God           ner, but a work necessarily followed by conversion,
does preserve the regenerated in the assurance of           faith, sanctification, and glorification. God does not
the forgiveness of sins and membership in Christ            start a work and leave it uncompleted. When He
(Canons 5, Art. 9). By the way, there is much com-          starts by implanting the new man in Christ in us
fort worked by an understanding of the creeds,              (Eph.  4:24), He continues to lead us to conscious
especially the Canons of Dordt, which are written           faith, repentance and ASSURANCE of salvation.
in a pastoral manner. Have you read them? Can               Philippians 1:6 says this so beautifully: "Being con-
you use them both as sword to defend the truth of           fident of this one thing, that He who hath begun a
sovereign grace and as spiritual balm to soothe your        good work in you will perform it until the day of
troubled heart from fears and doubts?                       Jesus Christ." Or we find the same in Psalm 138:8:
       We state as a spiritual fact that the regenerated    "The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me:
are given the assurance of salvation in this life, not      Thy mercy, 0 Lord, endureth forever: forsake not
so much from our experience that this is so; but on         the works of thine own hands."
the basis of the Word of God that tells us it is so.          Regeneration is the beginning of God's work in
Christian experience is important, but it is not the        us which must include assurance. Therefore we
infallible rule. Our experience of the Christian life       believe and confess that the regenerated are
is interpreted by the Scripture and must conform to         brought to assurance, i.e., God will and does make
it.                                                         known to us that we are His begotten children in
       Jesus meant nothing less than this by His words;     Christ, and thus heirs of salvation (Rom.  8:16).
"The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou                  But how do I know that I am regenerate? Perhaps
hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence        you struggle with the question of assurance? It may
it cometh,  and wither it goeth; so is everyone that is     be that you are plagued with crippling doubts at
born of the Spirit" (John 3:8). This certainly means        times, or experience such trials which would shake
that regeneration is sovereignly worked, for no             you from the full assurance of hope? (Heb. 6:ll)
man regulates the wind nor directs it, but God
causes it to blow; so regeneration is not regulated or        We may have the assurance of our regeneration
controlled by man but by God's own power. But               by knowing the spiritual fruit of the new birth in
the Savior's words also teach us that God's work of         our lives. They are:
regeneration performed in us becomes known to us              1. The regenerated heart is made soft to the
in this life; we are brought to the spiritual realiza-      Word of God (Ez.  36:26, 27). The mark of the
tion that we have been regenerated. Though the              unregenerate is a heart which is as a stone to God's
wind cannot be regulated by man, though it is               Word and as a sponge to sin. The Word of God does
mysterious in its nature, man knowing nothing of            not penetrate the old hard heart. The Word
what controls it, yet the presence of the wind is un-       bounces off and does not strike to the heart to move
mistakable. The effects of the wind are plainly             one to cry out: "God be merciful! I thank God!"
evidenced in the earth. The presence of the wind            But it remains hard, indifferent, careless and finally
blowing upon your face is felt and known. So is             hostile to the Word of God. The regenerated heart
every one that is born of the Spirit. God's secret but      is made soft to the Word; made as a sponge to the
powerful work of quickening us who are dead lies            Word to soak it up. It can be penetrated by the
beyond the reach of our understanding (Canons               Word and brought under conviction (II Tim. 1: 12).
3 + 4, Art. 13). But the transforming results of God's        2. The regenerated heart is moved to godly sor-
work are plain. Regeneration, though profound, is           row over sin (II Cor. 7: 10). Again,' the unregenerate
not a work of God which lies hidden in the heart,           knows nothing of true sorrow over sin before God,
unknown to us. The grace of regeneration will               only a self-pity over consequences. But the
always become evident to the believer. We will not          regenerated heart is a burdened heart, a heart
be born again and remain unconscious of it in this          which knows the guilt of sin, a heart which is ap-
life, but always it is something which the Spirit           palled when it sees how vile flesh is.
makes known to us. As a mother feels the life con-            3. The regenerated heart delights in heavenly
ceived in her by its stirrings and evidences, so the        things (Col. 3:1-4). The affections of the born again
child of God is brought to know his new birth by            heart are directed toward God and His kingdom
evidences: namely, sorrow for sin, love for Christ,         and the beauties of salvation in Christ. "Whom
submission to God, etc.                                     have I in heaven but thee? And there is none upon
       Still more, we must remember that regeneration       earth that I desire beside thee" is now their joyous
is part of the Golden Chain (or Unbreakable Chain)          confession. The love of God is their governing prin-


     110                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



     ciple. Now their language is "How precious are thy            assured that we are sons and daughters of God and
     thoughts unto me, 0 God! how great is the sum of              eagerly await the day when He shall appear and we
     them!" (Ps. 139:17). And again, "Yea, in the way of           shall be made like Him.
     thy judgments, 0 Lord, have we waited for thee;                 Do you possess the assurance of regeneration?
     the desire of our soul is to thy name, and to the             Remember concerning doubts and fears that we
     remembrance of thee" (Is.  26:8).                             can be so soft with ourselves. Our flesh loves to
       4. The regenerated heart is submissive to God's             wallow in doubt and sit in self-pity, rather than
     will. In our depraved state our will is rebellious and        take up the Word of God and read, read, read until
     says: "Who is the Lord, that I should obey Him?"              our hearts are comforted. The regenerated are
     But He worketh in us both to will and to do (Phil.            assured of the new birth not by a mysterious voice
     2:13). The regenerated one's desire is to be subject          from heaven, not by some emotional happening in-
     to Christ and obey Him. "Have thine own way                   terpreted to be a sign from God, but from "faith in
     Lord!" Oh yes, there is always the struggle against           God's promises, which He hath most abundantly
     our own wills. So often when we pray, "Thy will be            revealed in the Word for our comfort . . ." (Canons
     done," we really mean, "Thy will be done as long              5, Art. 10).
     as it is my will, my way." By grace the regenerated             Thanks be to God for the new life in Christ,
     pray with their Lord: "Father, not as I will, but as          graciously given and certainly made known to us.
     thou wilt."
*                                                                  Praise be to God that we who are regenerated by
       These four will be found in all those regenerated           the Spirit of God are "enabled to believe with the
     by the Spirit of Christ. Experiencing them we are             heart, and love their Savior" (Canons 3 +4, Art. 13).





                               The Arminian Conception
                                             of Regeneration
                                                       Robed C. Haybach




        The theme, in the title above, we, in our Protes-             His conception is documented in what has been
     tant Reformed Churches, understand to be in sharp             called "a textbook of Wesleyan Arminian
     contrast to the Calvinistic (or the Reformed) con-            theology," had in Dr. Thomas N. Ralston's EZements
     ception of regeneration.-It is the latter point of view       of Divinity,  chapter 34, entitled, "Regeneration."
     we must and always do presuppose in our theolog-              This book, of boasted "classic" Arminianism, states
     ical stance and thinking. So, at the outset, we quote         that there are conditions, and there is cooperation,
     from Buck's Theological Dictionary, out of the arti-          in this work of God on the part of the sinner within
     cle, Regeneration, p. 395: Regeneration "is an  ir-           the process of the new birth (p. 424). Some of these
     resistibze,  or rather invincible  work of God's grace,       conditions, for example, are that we must "seek,
     Eph. 3:8 . . . It is an instantaneous  (immediate, RCH)       ask, knock, come to Christ, look unto God, repent,
     act, for there can be no medium between life and              believe, open the door of the heart, receive Christ,
     death . . . . It is a  compdete  act, and perfect in its      etc. . . . All of these are spoken of, and urged upon
     kind; a change of the whole man, 2 Cor. 5:17. . . . It        us, as conditions of blessings of salvation, of
     is a (divine, RCH) act, the blessings of which we             regeneration . . . without which (conditions) we
     can never finally lose, Jn. 13: 1." The Arminian will         cannot expect these blessings." Notice that there is
     not tolerate this conception.                                 first of all quite a list of conditions required of us,
                                                                   the performance of which will then be followed by
     Robert C. Harbach is a minister emeritus in the Protestant    the blessings and benefits of Christ's salvation. But
     Reformed Churches.                                            is it not obvious from Scripture that among the


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 111



blessings of salvation it is also blessed to be able to         Then on page 150 of this book, Graham's Armin-
and actually ask, seek, knock, and come to Christ?            ianism stands out more glaringly. "The context of
These, too, are blessings of and in salvation; so also        John 3 teaches that the new birth is something that
to repent, believe, receive Christ and look unto the          God does for man when man is willing to yield to
Lord. These are not conditions which indicate the             God." Almost in the same breath he adds, as
"how to" obtain salvation. They are some of the               though with afterthought, or, by the way, I have to
blessings within our so great salvation.                      tell you, "that man is dead in trespasses and sins."
   Then Ralston asks, "are there any passages that            That former statement of his, just quoted, is not
say we cannot come, cannot believe, seek, etc.?"              true at all. No Scripture, including John 3, puts the
The question amazes us, for of course there are               will of  man  first before something (anything)  God
such Scripture passages. See Jn.  5:40;  6:44, 65;            does! See John  1:12-13;  Jas.  1:18; 1 Pet.  1:23; Acts
12:39-40; Ezek. 36:26, 27. Can a heart of stone ask,          15:18; Eph.  1:ll. Then as for his following true
seek, pray, believe, come to Jesus, or subject itself         statement, how is it possible for the spiritually dead
to the law of God in its incurable state of enmity            to "yield to God"? Can the dead fulfil all kinds of
against God? In its total moral inability to be so sub-       conditions? Can the dead "accept" Jesus as Savior?
ject? Rom.  8:7; Jer.  17:9, marg. Furthermore, none          Did Lazarus as a dead man come forth to Jesus? All
of these so called "conditions" (really  bZessings   in       other Arminian evangelists and preachers say
God's covenant) are "of him that willeth, nor of              much the same thing when speaking anent the new
him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy,"             birth. A Pentecostal evangelist is frequently heard,
(Rom.  9:16). "But," says Ralston of this verse in            these days, using such language as: God will work
Romans 9, "Whoever interprets this of personal                in you the new birth, "if you let Him." Graham put
and individual regeneration can hardly have ex-               it this way, "Any person who is willing to trust
amined the passage carefully and candidly." A                 Jesus Christ as his personal Savior and Lord can
careful, candid look at it will bring to notice that in       receive the new birth now," (152). This is saying, in
"it is not . . . ," the "it" refers not to regeneration as    only slightly different words, "You can be born of
such, but to the truth and mercy of unconditional             God, if you let Him."
election, which is the ground and guarantee of                  Involved here is actually a wicked conception of
regeneration. Yet one of the main points of Armin-            faith. It implies' that faith originates with man.
ianism is, "No unconditional election!" Then that             Some say, or imply, that every man naturally has
would mean "no regeneration!" For regeneration,               faith; he need only be persuaded to place it in the
faith, repentance, etc., are  fruits  of election!            right object. Also implied is that faith is a "condi-
  Another instance of conditions to regeneration              tion" which God has put within the power of man
Ralston finds in Ps. 51:10-12.  But this would mean           to fulfil. This means that man's so called "free will"
that getting a clean heart is a condition for having a        (which is really a  sZave  to sin) in spiritual things
clean heart (424-426). What the psalmist is stating           (saving things) is always first. So then faith and con-
here, though, is that out of a regenerated heart he           version are prior to regeneration. This error flows
confesses his double sin of adultery and murder,              out of the wicked doctrine that all God's saving
together with the defilement of these sins, praying           mercies are preceded by the acquiescence and ap-
for cleansing, for continuance of the consciousness           proval of the free will of man.
of the enduring presence of the Holy Spirit of                  Graham suggests other pre-requisites unto salva-
regeneration. He prays, too, for restoration, not of a        tion. Example: Jesus offers Himself as the power
lost salvation, but of the lost joy of his salvation.         available to live a great life! Also: Christ stands at
  To consider yet another Arminian source on this             the door of your heart, but you must open it. Then
subject assigned us, we turn to Billy Graham's                the Lord will work in you the new birth (155). In
book, How To Be Born Again. Billy Graham himself              fact, with respect to all these conditions, "repen-
does not admit so openly to being an Arminian as              tance is first, and absolutely necessary, if we are to
Ralston had done. But he certainly is at the top of           be born again" (160). Or, BG puts it this way, "You
the list of contemporary "evangelical" Arminians.             must make a choice - you must choose to believe"
He conceives of personal and individual regenera-             before you may experience the new birth (162). We
tion as contributing and "helping to make this                reject this false doctrine as it is expressed in our
world a better place . . ." (145). But this world is not      Canons of Dort: that it is "in man's power to be
necessarily a better place because of the presence            regenerated or not," (III-IV, Rejection of Errors,
in it of regenerated souls. The true church. is better        VIII). See also Graham's book, pp. 163, 169.
for this, and those souls are the better for it. But as         How different the truth is in the plain, clear, ex-
for "this world"  - it is so incurably bad that               act wording of Scripture! First, take John, chapter
nothing less than eternal judgment and renewal by             3, which is divided into two parts. The first part,
fire is destined for it, 2 Pet. 3.                            verses l-l 1, contains not a word about believing, but


112                                             THE STANDARD BEARER



deals entirely with regeneration, God's initial work             Consider John  5:24: "Verily, verily I say unto
of grace in the heart of the elect sinner. In His             you, he that heareth My word, and believeth  on Him
regenerating work, as this section of John 3 teaches,         that sent Me,  hath  (keeps having: the  underscored
God alone is active; man is completely passive. The           words,  are all present tenses) everlasting life, and
second part of the chapter, verses 12-36, is full of          shall not come (comes not) into condemnation
the activity of faith as seen in the regenerated sin-         (judgment), but is passed from death unto life" (has
ner's act of believing. The relationship between              passed out of death into life!). Why anyone hears,
these two parts of John 3 is that of the root to the          believes, and so has and keeps having (present tenses)
fruit. Regeneration is the divinely implanted root;           everlasting life is because he  has  already  passed
faith, the inevitably produced fruit. Therefore, faith        (past tense) out of death into life! Regeneration is a
cannot be a condition necessary to the realization of         spiritual resurrection, which, as these tenses show,
regeneration. Whatever Christian graces are in                has already occurred in the case of those who do
view, regeneration is always the cause of them;               now hear, believe, and have now, and keep on hav-
they follow regeneration as the effect.                       ing, everlasting life. Again, regeneration is the root;
  As for John  1:12-13,  notice that "as many as              and faith and the activity of faith are the fruit.
received Him," whenever that was, and do now, at              These are deadly shots out of the "canon" of Scrip-
this moment,  "b&eve  (present tense: continue to             ture, which devastate the error of Arminianism.
believe) on His name," were already, prior to this            There is  very much more ammunition in the
experience of theirs, born of God! This puts                  magazine of Holy Writ. But it is hardly necessary
regeneration first, as the root is always first before        for any more shooting at this point. After all, there
the fruit; and then faith (belief) appears as the fruit,      is such a thing as "over-kill."
and not otherwise.





                      Regeneration and Sinlessness
                                                   George C. Lubbers





  It is well to grasp at the outset the central point of      himself (Deut.  6:5; Lev.  19:X3; Matt.  22:34-40).
our subject. There are the terms "regeneration"               Such is the great commandment in the law!
and "sinlessness." The term regeneration refers to              The point in this essay is whether the regener-
the initial implanting of the elect sinner, dead in           ated and spiritually renewed child of God can live a
trespasses and sins, making him alive with Christ.            sinless life after his regeneration and before his dy-
This term is also called being born again, or to be           ing in the Lord, when he shall have perfectly died
born from above, or born anew (John 3:3). It is to be         unto sin and have entered into the perfection of the
born of water and of the Spirit; thus only can a man          glory of the saints in the coming age.
or woman enter the kingdom of heaven! The term
"sinlessness" refers in this context not to the                 To this we will answer with an unequivocal: by
natural man, but to the sinlessness of the born               no means! Even after we have been ingrafted into
again Christian. In the language of the Bible sinless-        Christ we still are taken captive by sin. We daily
ness is that a man nevermore misses the mark;                 stumble in many things. "If any man offend not in
when sinless, he perfectly loves the Lord his God,            word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bri-
with alZ his heart, with aZZ his mind, with all his soul      dle the whole body" (James 3:2). This no Christian
and with all his strength and loves his neighbor as           has ever been able to accomplish. The mouth ever
                                                              overflows from the fulness of the heart! Daily we
George C. Lubbers is a minister emeritus in the Protestant    are taught to pray: "Forgive us our debts as we for-
Reformed Churches.                                            give our debtors" (Matt. 6: 12). Jesus adds the very


                                                         THE STANDARD BEARER                                              113



arresting and sobering warning, "For if ye forgive                    in heaven's number, in the presence of the myriads
men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will                       of festal angels before the great white throne of
also forgive you. But if ye forgive not men their                     God. Then we will have been perfected! We will
trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your                     have arrived at the complete resurrection out of the
trespasses" (Matt.  6:14, 15).                                        dead (Phil. 3:ll).
   Concerning the position of the Reformed Chur-                        We cannot treat very exhaustively in our refuta-
ches concerning the sinfulness of the regenerated                     tion of the error of those who all called Perfection-
saints we do well to remember and also underscore                     ists in the vocabulary of the theologians. We will
the carefully worded distinction which our fathers                    need to limit ourselves to two texts to which these
of Dordrecht make in article 1 of the Fifth Head of                   teachers of error appeal.
Doctrine, which reads:                                                  The first text which we will need to study care-
      Whom God calls, according to his purpose, to the                fully is I John  3:9: "Everyone (whosoever) is born
    communion of his Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, and                  (hath been begotten) of God doth not commit sin: for
    regenerates by the Holy Spirit, he delivers also from             his seed remaineth in him: and  he cannot sin,
    the  dominion  and  slavery  of sin in  this  life; though not    because he is born of God." This looks like a prima
    altogether from the body of sin, and from the infirmi-            facie  statement which any perfectionist can rightly
    ties of the flesh, so long as they continue in this world.        quote to sustain his teaching that the reborn
  Such is our position concerning the sinfulness of                   children of God no longer can sin. Now we can very
the perfect imperfect saints in this world! This is                   well rest our case by quoting another verse or two
also the position of the Confessions in Heidelberg                    from this very letter of John to prove the very op-
Catechism Questions 113, 114 (which you may                           posite. We might simply quote I John  1:8: "If we
look up in your own Psalter). Meanwhile it must                       say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and
not be forgotten nor overlooked that there are no                     the truth is not in us."
good works of sanctification possible except in
those who are justified by faith in sovereign grace                     There you have it, someone may exclaim: the Bi-
and love. Thus we read in the Belgic Confession,                      ble contradicts itself. It says yes and no to the same
Article 24:                                                           thing. But does the Bible here teach two very op-
                                                                      posite positions in this matter? We think not. Let us
      We believe that this true faith being wrought in                attend to the following.
   man by the hearing of the Word of God, and the
   operation of the Holy Ghost, doth regenerate and                     We must hold that both are true and that they
   make him a new man, causing him to live a new life,                form a grand and complete statement of the truth.
   and freeing him from the bondage ofsin . . . . it is im-           He who teaches both of these in their unity has the
   possible that this holy faith can be unfruitful in man:            truth in him; he is led by the Spirit of truth, the
   for we do not speak of a vain faith, but of such a faith,          truth of the gospel. He that denies either of these
   which is called in Scripture, a faith that worketh by              denies them both. Notice that in I John  3:9 John is
   love, which excites man to the practice of those
   works, which God has commanded in his Word.                        speaking in a definite textual context. In verse 3
   Which works, as they proceed from the good root of                 John teaches us that there is a definite class of peo-
   faith, are good and acceptable in the sight of God, for-           ple, the believers in Christ, who have the hope in
   asmuch  as they are sanctified by his grace . . . . it is by       their hearts to see God as He is in all His purity, to
   faith in Christ that we are justified, even before we do           see God, who is light, in the face of Jesus Christ.
   good works; otherwise they could not be good works,                Yes, we are now the children of God. Behold the
   any more than the fruit of a tree can be good, before              manner of the love of God in which we became
   the tree itself is good.                                           such children! It was a love which reached us in the
  However, the gates of hell would ever assail this                   cross, where our sins were blotted out forever in
comforting truth of the Gospel of Christ. Christ                      one sacrifice in the end of the ages, and in which
already warned his disciples against the leaven of                    we are called the children of God. But it is  not yet
the Pharisees, didn't he? And a little leaven                         manifested what we shall be. There is a not yet. We
leaveneth the whole lump. There have ever been                        do  not yet see Jesus glorified and all things subjected
those in the church who would try to have the                         unto him (Heb. 2:8). That must wait till the revela-
saints believe that in this life they can already live                tion of Jesus Christ in the last day (I Peter  1:13).
as sinlessly as do the "spirits of just men made                      Hence, we are saved in hope, a living hope through
perfect" (Heb.  12:23). It is important to notice that                the resurrection of Jesus Christ, unto an inheri-
the Greek perfect passive participle teteleioomenoon                  tance incorruptible, undefilable, and which fadeth
indicates that these spirits of the just have been                    not away. Such is the teaching of I John 3:1-6.
made "perfect," in the sense that they are now in a                   Christ came to take way our sins as the sinless One.
completed state of perfection after their entrance                    As reborn children of God we have the mind and
into the presence of the firstborn church registered                  will of Christ.


114                                                                                                            -1
                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



  When you suggest to the children of God that            is begotten of God does not sin. He fulfils the law of
they continue in sin that grace may abound, they          God, the perfect law of liberty perfectly. However,
answer with an unqualified: God forbid! This is ex-       notice the following:
pressed positively: "Every one who has this hope in          1. That the apostle speaks of two kinds of sins.
him  purifies  himself as God is pure." Notice that       There is a sin unto death (pros thanatos), but there is
John does not write: "Let him purify himself," still      also a sin which is not unto death (I John 5: 16). For
less "He  has  purified himself as God pure," but         a sin which is unto death, John does not say the
John writes in the present tense, indicative mood. It     church must pray for a sinning member. He is
is a fact that the hoping Christian purifies himself;     beyond reach as are those who deny that Jesus is
this is not true merely of  some  believers, but of       the Son of God, who are antichrists, (I John  5:5; I
every one who has this hope upon God. Such a one          John 4:2-4).
has not yet attained to perfection; daily he has
reason for cleansing himself in the blood of Jesus.         2. He that confesses the Son of God has life. He
He does not say: I have no sin. He knows and con-         does not sin in regard to a sin unto death. For him
fesses that he does have sin cleaving to his best         prayers can be made; he is one who has the faith
works. He does not deceive himself, as do the             which overcomes the world (I John  5:4). He loves
teachers of perfectionism, but he has a true and          God and loves the brother. He loves those who
proper self-knowledge of his sinful nature, his sin-      were begotten of God as one who himself is begot-
ful flesh, and so instead of merely saying something      ten of God. He is one of the fellowship of the saints.
about himself, he rather  confesses  his sins (plural)    Hence, he does never sin unto death. He never can
with the  publican in the temple, and scarcely dar-       sin willingly, denying the Godhead of the Christ; he
ing to raise his eyes he says daily, "0 God, be mer-      can  never turn to idols, but he clings to God in
ciful to me the sinner" (Luke  18:9-14).                  Christ. Yes, then he daily sins sins not unto death,
                                                          and these he confesses, but he cannot sin the sin
  Yes, John writes that those born out of God can-        unto death by trampling under foot the Son of God
not sin. How can one sin, truly will to sin, who has      counting the blood of the covenant an unholy
a delight in the law of God after the inward man?         thing, wherewith he was sanctified, thus doing
(Rom. 7:22). In what law does the Christian delight?      despite unto the Spirit of grace.
In the law of God which is merely a law which ac-
commodates itself to meet us in our relative and im-        Everyone who is begotten of God does not sin
perfect capacity to keep the perfect law of liberty?      such a sin unto death, where there remains no
Such is the position of the Romish Church,                sacrifice for his sins. He constantly confesses: "We
Methodism, Arminians and all Pelagianism. None            know that the Son of God is come and has given us
really stand with the  publican in the temple. This       an understanding that we might know the truth,
publican had a delight in the law of God. He saw          and we are in the truth, even in His Son Jesus
that God is light and that there is no darkness in        Christ" (I John  5:19).
Him at all. He measured himself by the absolute             Such is the sinlessness of those who are
and only standard: the law of God as given to Adam        regenerated.
in paradise and as promulgated from the holy
mount by God Himself and as written with his own
finger. That is the law which God has now written         The answer of Scripture is unequivocally: this union
upon the tables of our fleshly hearts (I Cor. 3:1-4).     is unconditionally and absolutely the work of God's
  Hence, according to the inward, reborn man, he          grace in Christ Jesus. By grace are ye saved! That im-
cannot sin. He has the seed of the love and grace of      plies, too, that by grace, and by grace only, you are in-
God in him. As David, he has not any rest in his          corporated into Christ, so that you become one plant
bones when he has sinned, until he makes confes-          with Him.
sion and exclaims, "0, the blessedness of the man           When we say this, we proclaim nothing new. But we
whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is par-        do wipe the dust of oblivion from a very old, very fun-
doned."                                                   dame&al, and very precious truth. And we do claim
  We must briefly also take a look at what the.           that this truth is in dire need of a new emphasis over
Apostle writes in I John 5:18: "We know that who-         against many false representations, not by modernists,
soever is born of God  sinneth not,  but he that is       but by those who claim that they preach the doctrine  of
begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked          salvation by grace. For very many directly teach, or in-
one toucheth him not." If we take this passage out        directly leave the impression by the way they preach,
of its context, then we can make it into a statement      that this first touch of the soul of the sinner with Christ
which says: the reborn saint is positively sinless in     is accomplished upon the will and choice of the sinner.
this life. No, not merely: he  can become positively      Yes, they admit, Christ is  our  salvation;  and the soul
sinless, but it is then a statement that everyone that    must be united with Christ in order to receive salvation.


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                    115



But if this union is to be accomplished, the sinner must       loves darkness rather than light. He cannot see the
come to Christ. The Savior is willing to receive him, to       kingdom of God. Such is the natural man. Such is every
come into his heart, to join that sinner unto Himself;         man before that union with Christ is established of
but the sinner must first come. He must accept Christ.         which we made mention. Do you expect that man to
Or he must be willing to receive Him. Or he must long          open his heart to Christ? Do you insist that this dead
and pray for this coming of Christ into his heart. And it      sinner must come to Christ before Christ will come to
seems that very sensational preaching, accompanied             Him? Do you still maintain that this darkened sinner
preferably by a heart-touching hymn and by begging             must at least long for Christ, hunger and thirst for Him,
and praying on the part of the preacher, is especially         seek Him, ask for Him, before his soul can be united
considered to be conducive to persuade the sinner to           with the living Lord? I reply that if such were the truth,
come to Jesus, to open the door of his heart, and to let       then could no man be saved. For before the sinner is
Jesus come in, In last analysis, the union of the soul         united with Christ he can neither come to Him, nor
with the living Lord depends not on efficacious grace,         long for Him, nor seek Him, nor utter the weakest
but on the will of the sinner!                                 prayer beseeching Him to come into his heart. But
  But, first of all, how absurd and utterly impossible is      thanks be to God, this is not the truth! Salvation is not
this presentation of salvation! If it were true, no man        of man, nor of the will of man; nor does our union with
would be saved! For according to Scripture, the natural        Christ depend on man's consent. "No man can come
man is in the flesh; and the mind of the flesh is death. It    unto me, except the Father which hath sent me draw
is enmity against God; it is not subject to the law of         him.." (John 6:44) Again: "Therefore said I unto you,
God, neither indeed can be. Man is dead in sin and             that no man can come unto me, except it were given un-
misery. He can neither perform nor will that which is          to him of my Father." (iohn 6:65)
good. He loves iniquity, and he is a slave of sin. He             H. Hoeksema, The Wonder of Grace,1 pages 37,38





                          Regeneration In The Line
                                      Of The Covenant
                                                    Cornelius Hanko





  The Scriptures speak of baptism as "the washing              Him in baptism, whereby we are separated from
of regeneration, and the renewal of the Holy                   the world and dead unto sin, in order to be raised
Ghost," as in Titus  3:5. In Romans  6:3, 4, we are            with Christ in newness of life as children of the
told, "Know ye not, that so many of us as were bap-            covenant and heirs of salvation. We are born again
tized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?          as new creatures in Christ!
Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into                  Thus the apostle Peter speaks of being born
death: that like as Christ was raised up from the              again, not of corruptible, but of incorruptible seed,
dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also               by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth
should walk in newness of life." The figure is ob-             forever. Christ, `who administers the sacrament
vious. By our first birth we are members of the                through the church and His ambassador in the
human race, enemies of God and strangers to the                church, gives us the sign and seal that we are new
covenant and promises, without God in the world.               creatures in Christ. We live, yet no more we, for
But by the riches of God's grace, who gave Christ              Christ lives in us, which we experience through
unto the accursed death of the cross for us, we are            faith in Him, I Peter  1:23-25.
plunged with Christ into His death, buried with                  This applies to infants and little children as well
Cornelius Hanko is a minister emeritus in the Protestant       as to adults. Those who deny infant baptism are
Reformed Churches.                                             blind to that fundamental truth of God's covenant,


116                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



that God never deals with us as mere individuals,           me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom
but that He gathers His church organically, that is,        of God," Mark 10: 14. Parents are duty bound to in-
in the line of the generations of believers and their       struct and admonish their children in the promises
spiritual seed. According to this basic doctrine,           and precepts of the Lord, in the assurance that God
children are also regenerated in the line of the cove-      continues His covenant in the line of continued
nant. It is in that conviction that we present our          generations among those who believe in Him and
children for baptism, since children are also in-           walk in His fear.
cluded in the covenant of God!                                The fact, nevertheless, remains that not all bap-
  This truth is plainly expressed in our Baptism            tized children are saved. Scripture and experience
Form as the basis for infant baptism. There we read         teach us that God's predestination of election and
that, even "as they without their knowledge are             reprobation runs through the line of the covenant.
partakers of the condemnation in Adam, so are they          That was evident already in the instance of Jacob
again received unto grace in Christ." As proof for          and Esau. That is also expressed in Romans 9:6-8:
this, the fathers refer to the promise given to             "Not as though the word of God had taken none ef-
Abraham, Gen.  17:7, "I will establish my covenant          fect. For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel:
between me and thee and thy seed after thee in              Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are
their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be        they all children: but, in Isaac shall thy seed be
a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee." Then          called. That is, They which are the children of the
the fathers point out that this promise did not apply       flesh, these are not the children of God: but the
to the natural seed of Abraham in the old dispensa-         children of the promise are counted for the seed."
tion, but to the spiritual seed of him who is the             Th.us we face the question: If this is true, why
father "of all believers," born to him in the line of       does God require that all our children be baptized?
continued generations. Therefore they quote Acts            How is it possible to present all of our children for
2:39, where Peter on the day of Pentecost says,             baptism, and to have the ambassador of Christ pro-
"For the promise is unto you (who have just con-            nounce over each one: "John", or "Mary", (as the
fessed their faith in Christ Jesus), and to your            case may be) "I baptize thee in the name of the
children, and to all that are afar off (the elect to the    Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit."
ends of the earth), even as many as the Lord our            How can it be said that each child is baptized into
God shall call." Circumcision was the sign of the           the covenant relationship of God and His church?
covenant in the old dispensation, which was
changed by Christ into baptism in the new                     To this question various answers have been
dispensation, so that even as children were circum-         given.
cised in the dispensation of the shadows, children            Dr. Abraham Kuyper maintained that we baptize
are now baptized in the dispensation of the  fulfil-        our children on the assumption that they are all
ment. Reference is made to Mark 10: "Therefore              regenerated before birth. Since baptism is a sign of
Christ also embraced them, laid his hands upon              regeneration, we take for granted this particular
them, and blessed them."                                    child who is presented for baptism is already
  It is exactly for that reason that the apostles bap-      regenerated and therefore has the right to be bap-
tized whole households. God never deals with us as          tized. The objection to this view is that by this
mere individuals. He does not establish His cove-           theory of presumptive regeneration we are assum-
nant with us in the abstract, but as we are concrete-       ing something which we know is not always true.
ly involved in our families in the midst of this            That may be true of many, even of most of the
world. We are included in God's covenant as                 children that, are baptized, but certainly not of all. It
fathers and mothers, sisters and brothers, sons and         is not all Israel that is of Israel. Besides, it is not said
daughters in the household of faith, with the use of        that every elect child is already regenerated before
all our gifts and talents in the service of our God,        birth, and that this never takes place later in life.
and to live as true members of God's church. Thus             Closely related to this former view is the conten-
Paul assures the Philippian jailer, "Believe on the         tion that we baptize all the children of believing
Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy         parents by a judgment of love. Since the possibility
house. " God caused His Word to be preached to the          that they are regenerated is greater than that they
jailer and his household, and he "was baptized, he          are not, we think the best of each baptism child and
and all his, straightway," Acts  16:31-33. When             regard it as an elect. The church is built out of those
Lydia confessed her faith in Christ, she also was           within its fold. Therefore we regard and treat all the
baptized with her household, Acts  16:15. Psalm             children born in the church as covenant seed as
127:3 tells us, "Lo, children are an heritage of the        long as they do not prove the contrary. It is granted
Lord: and the fruit of the womb is his reward."             that this is no infallible guideline, since both Scrip-
Jesus says: "Suffer the little children to come'unto        ture and experience teach us that all baptized


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                              117



children do not walk in the way of the Lord. It is ad-     of death unto death, so also the sacraments have
mitted that the true and full power of the sacrament       this two-fold effect. This is evident from the Form
is experienced only by the believers. This view says       for the Lord's Supper, in which we are admonished
nothing about the negative effect of the sacrament         to examine ourselves: "For he that eateth and
upon those who perish in their sins.                       drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damna-
  There is also the view of Dr. Schilder and his           tion to himself, not discerning the Lord's body."
followers, who make a distinction between the ob-          What is true of the one sacrament is also true of the
jective promise and the subjective embracing of the        other. The child baptized and reared in the sphere
promise. In the objective sense, God promises eter-        of the covenant has the greater responsibility to
nal life to each baptized child, assuring him, "I will     walk in God's fear. "He that believeth on the Son
be your God." Should that child die in infancy or in       hath eternal life; and he that believeth not the Son
early childhood, when he was not in a position to          shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on
reject that promise, he is saved on the basis of it.       him," John  3:36, Hebrews  6:7, 8.
But if he does not embrace that promise when he              Thus it is our privilege, but also our obligation to
comes to years of discretion, he becomes a cove-           present our children for baptism. It is our obliga-
nant breaker, and is lost. Among other objections,         tion, because at baptism we vow to instruct and
this is obviously the Arminian theory of free will         bring up our children in the doctrines of the holy
applied to the sphere of the covenant.                                                    continued on page 119
  It is obvious that those who hold the afore-
mentioned views are confronted with the fact that,                  Repormeb Booh Ouclec
since election and reprobation run through the
covenant line, all baptized children are not saved.        BlLlbiE 3505 Kelly
An attempt is often made to assure parents, par-                            Hudsonville, Michigan 49426
ticularly parents whose child dies in infancy, that                                 l-616-669-6730
this child is in heaven. Sometimes an appeal is                 a not-for-profit outreach emanating from
made to the "judgment of love", sometimes to the                Hudsonville Protestant Reformed Church
fact that the child was not in a position to reject the
promise. But it still remains a fact that no one can                 F R O M   N O W
say with absolute certainty that a particular child is
taken to glory. Objectively, God seals the promise                               until
of His Word that those who are born again are                       C H R I S T M A S
righteous in Christ and heirs of eternal life. Subjec-
tively the Holy Spirit seals this promise to the heart,                        25% OFF
not of the parent, but of the regenerated child,
already in infancy. Since God gathers His church in                 ON ALL R.F.P.A. BOOKS
the line of the covenant, the fathers have contented             including the newly published
themselves with the negative statement, "Godly
parents have no reason to doubt of the election and                THE MYSTERY OF
salvation of their children, whom it pleaseth God to                     BETHLEHEM
call out of this life in their infancy," Netherlands
Confession, Article                                                      by Herman Hoeksema
                        17.
  The question still must be answered, why must              Let us help you build your religious library
all children born in the sphere of the covenant                          - at discount prices.
receive the sign and seal of baptism?
  The answer is that baptism, accompanying the
preaching of the Word, and along with the Lord's
Supper, is appointed of God to be a means of grace.
  Means of grace, as we know, are the means used
by the Holy Spirit in the church to apply the gifts of
grace which are in Christ Jesus to the hearts of
God's regenerated saints. The chief means of grace
is the preaching of the Word, which is signified and
sealed by both the Sacraments of Baptism and the
Lord's Supper.
  Thus, even as the preaching of the Word has a
two-fold effect, as a savor of life unto life and savor


118                                        THE STANDARD BEARER



       Directory, Protestant Reformed Churches
       (For our readers who may be traveling or may wish to visit one of our churches in their area.)

 Covenant Prot. Ref. Church            First Prot. Ref. Church             Southeast Prot. Ref. Church
 454  Pulis Ave.                       2800 Michigan St., NE               1536 Cambridge, SE
 Franklin Lakes, N.J.                  (l/2 Mi. SW of  196/M44             Grand Rapids, MI
 (Meeting in United Methodist          interchange)                        Services:  9:30  & 5:00
 Church)                               Grand Rapids, MI                    Phone: (616) 452-7047
 Services:  11:30  & 7:00              Services:  9:30  & 6:00
 Phone: (20 1) 790-4732                Phone: (616) 247-0638, 245-4339     Grandville Prot. Ref. Church
                                                                           Wilson Ave., SW
 Byron Center Prot. Ref. Church        Southwest Prot. -Ref. Church        Grandville, MI
 8840 Byron Center Ave.                4875  Ivanrest Ave., SW             (Meeting in Grandville High
 Byron Center, MI                      Grandville, MI                      School)
 (Meeting in Byron Center Chr.         Services:  9:30  & 7:00             Services:  9:30  & 7:00
 Jr. High School)                      Phone: (616) 532-6876, 532-4846     Phone: (616) 538-2575
 Services:  9:30  & 5:00
 Phone: (616) 878-3255, 534-1927       Faith Prot. Ref. Church             Hudsonville Prot. Ref. Church
                                       7194 20th Ave.                      5101 Beechtree Ave.
 Hope Prot. Ref. Church                Jenison, MI                         (1 Blk. East of Public High
 1580 Ferndale, SW                     Services:  9:30  & 7:00             School, 32nd Ave.)
 (Corner of Riverbend &                Phone: (616) 457-5848               Hudsonville, MI
 Ferndale)                                                                 Services:  9:30  & 7:00
 Walker, MI                            First Prot. Ref. Church             Phone: (616) 669-0755
 Services:  9:30  & 7:00               290 E. 18th St.
 Phone: (616) 453-3253, 453-2524       Holland, MI                         South Holland Prot. Ref. Church
                                       Services:  9:30  &  6:30            16511 South Park Ave.
 Kalamazoo Prot. Ref. Church           Phone: (616) 396-8303               South Holland, IL
 4515 Green Acre Dr.                                                       Services:  9:30  & 6:00
 Kalamazoo, MI                         Pella Prot. Ref. Church             Phone: (312) 333-1314, 596-3113
 Services:  9:30  & 6:00               410 Franklin St.
 Phone: (616) 381-3385, 349-4420       Pella, IA                           Trinity Prot. Ref. Church
                                       Services:  9:30  & 7:00             2 14 Barker-Clodine Rd.
 Randolph Prot. Ref. Church            Phone: (515) 628-4747               Houston, TX
 229 Hammond St.                                                           Services:  9:30  & 6:00
 Randolph, WI                          Doon Prot. Ref. Church              Phone: (713) 492-0844
 Services:  9:30  & 2:00               6th Ave. & N. 2nd St.
 Phone: (414) 326-5642                 Doon, IA                            Edgerton  Prot. Ref. Church
                                       Services:  9:30  & 2:00             3rd & Maple St.
 Hull Prot. Ref. Church                Phone: (712) 726-3382               Edger-ton, MN
 1204 Third St.                                                            Services:  9:30  &  7:30 (March to
 Hull, IA                              Loveland Prot. Ref. Church          Nov.) 9:30 & 2:00 (Dec. to Feb.)
 Services:  9:30  & 7:00 (May to       709 E. 57th St.                     Phone: (507) 442-4441
 Sept.) 9:30 & 1:30 (Oct. to April)    Loveland, CO
 Phone: (712) 439-1326, 439-1283       Services:  9:30  & 6:00 (Oct. to    First Prot. Ref. Church
                                       May) 9:30 & 7:00 (June to Sept.)    11533 135th St. (Mt. Zion
 Hope Prot. Ref. Church                Phone: (303) 667-1347               Lutheran Church)
 Isabel, SD                                                                Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
 Services:  9:30  & 2:00               Lynden Prot. Ref. Church            Services:  11:15  & 3:00
 Phone: (605) 466-2450                 108 Beernink Lane                   Phone: (403) 455-9803
                                       Lynden, WA                          (.also a service in Trinity
 Hope Prot. Ref. Church                Services: 10:00 & 8:00 (summer)     Lutheran Church, 5259 49th St.
 1307 E. Brockton Ave.                 1O:OO & 2:00 (winter)               Lacombe, Alberta, 7:30 P.M. on
 Redlands, CA                          Phone: (206) 354-4337               2nd & 4th Sundays of month)
 Services:  lo:00  & 7:00
 Phone: (714) 792-0307, 792-4923


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                119



REGENERATION  (continued from page 117)
Scriptures to the utmost of our power. It is our
privilege, because baptism reveals to us the wonder          Remember your friends,
of God's grace, whereby He assures us: "I will be
thy God and the God of thy seed after thee." It is                 family and neighbors
only sovereign mercy that God gives us a place in
His church and covenant, and privileges us to bring
up our children in His fear. If God chooses even                    with a special gift
one of our children as His own, we can only marvel
at His mercy multiplied! That we may be instru-              of the Standard Bearer!
mental unto the gathering of His church and the
coming of His kingdom is a privilege far too great
for us to comprehend! That we may stand before
the great white throne in that great day of days and                    Give a gift of the
confess: "See us, Lord, and the children Thou hast
given us, for we are Thine!" is a wonder that far ex-               Standard Bearer today.
ceeds our fondest imagination. To God be the glory
forever!




                        News From Our Churches
                                                     Ben Wigger




                 December  1,1986                           preached twice to the congregation at Lynden.
  Candidate Charles Terpstra has accepted the call          While he was there he spoke to a gathering of
extended to him from our congregation in Pella,             young adults, comprised of the Monday evening
Iowa. We are thankful that God has provided a               catechism classes, on the important subject: "The
place for him in our churches. This call also means         Seminary in the Life of the Churches", a speech
that there was to have been a special meeting of            which I am sure dealt with the need for students in
Classis  West in South Holland for his examination          the Seminary. This is the first time that I have
on November 19.                                             heard of this being done in our churches. It seems
                                                            as if it would be worthwhile for all of our churches
  Rev. Slopsema has also accepted the call he               to consider. What better way to acquaint our young
received from Hope Church in Walker, Michigan.              people with the urgent need we all have for
  Since Rev. Slopsema will soon be leaving our              laborers in God's kingdom than to hear it straight
church in Randolph, Wisconsin, the consistory               from a seminary professor.
there has made a trio of the Reverends Arie                    And somewhat connected with the information
denHartog,  Steve  Houck, and Tom Miersma. A                above, we learned from First Church in Grand
special congregational meeting was held November            Rapids, that in harmony with the decision of our
10, with Rev. Arie denHartog  being called to come           1986 Synod, as found on page fifty-two of the Acts,
over and help them.                                         the Council has requested nine of our denomina-
  At the end of October, Professor Decker spent             tional consistories to release a pastor for six to nine
some time in Lynden, Washington, but he wasn't              months to assist Rev. Bruinsma as a co-laborer on
there for a vacation. He was there for several              the Jamaican mission field. To date they have
reasons. He delivered a Reformation Day Lecture             received seven negative replies. These consistories
on the topic "The Foolishness of Preaching". The            feel that they cannot be without the services of
morning after the lecture he spoke at Covenant              their pastors for this length of time. "The harvest
School's chapel exercises. And on Sunday he                 truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few. Pray
                                                            ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will
Ben Wigger is a member of the Protestant Reformed           send forth labourers into his harvest," Matt.
Church of Hudsonville, Michigan.                            9:37-38.


                                                                                                                        THE STANDARD BEARER
                                                                                                                              P . O .   B o x   6 0 6 4
                                                                                                                      Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506





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


   The Reformed Witness Hour Committee is hap-                                   church was only able to obtain a one year lease. But
py to report that they have finished the addition of                             for now their needs are met.
two new stations for broadcasts. One station is                                      From Loveland, Colorado we ran across an item
KARI AM out of Blaine, Washington. This broad-                                   of interest. The Program Committee of their School
cast will reach the Lynden area. Saturday,                                       Board has begun to gather material for the celebra-
November 8 at 6:00 P.M., the first program was                                   tion of their Twenty-fifth School Anniversary. The
scheduled to be aired. The other station added is                                committee asks that anyone who is willing to share
out of Edmonton, Canada. The committee is also                                   any ideas, pictures, or other items of interest con-
continuing to work toward adding other stations in                               cerning their school, past and present, please con-
the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and the  Ripon,                                  tact either Steve Ezinga or Leon Griess.
California areas.                                                                    And from Holland, Michigan we found that Rev.
   Rev. Van  Overloop  will continue his series on                               Miersma underwent surgery for a broken arm he
the book of Joshua through December 14. After this                               received in a fall. He remained a patient in Zeeland
Rev. Kamps will give a series for Christmas.                                     Hospital for one week, so this was no ordinary
   Rev. G. Van  Baren gave his congregation a few                                broken arm. In his absence Holland's pulpit was
details of his recent visit to the Evangelical Re-                               supplied by Professors Hoeksema and Hanko, and
formed Church of Singapore. The highlight of that                                by Candidate C. Terpstra. It is assumed that Rev.
trip was in taking part, along with Prof. Hanko, in                              Miersma has now once again resumed his duties.
the ordination of Jaiki Mahtani into the ministry.                               One just wonders how a minister gestures while
   Rev. Van  Baren also stated that on Sunday,                                   preaching with a broken arm.
November 9,`the saints in Singapore split into two
congregations for the first time, with Rev. Lau Chin                                                    WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
Kwee serving as pastor of the original group and                                     On November 22, 1986, our parents and grandparents, MR. AND
Rev. J. Mahtani serving as pastor of the new group                               MRS.  MENNO POORTENGA, celebrated 40 years of marriage. We
of between forty and sixty souls. They have been                                 give thanks to our Heavenly Father for the love, guidance and instruc-
able to find a meeting place at the American School,                             tion they have given us. May God continue to bless and keep them in
                                                                                 the coming years.
a school which teaches American children who are
in Singapore. This school has an auditorium which,                                   "Yea, thou shalt see thy children's children, and peace upon
                                                                                 Israel." (Psalm  128:B).
according to Rev. Van Baren, can seat two hundred                                Don and Sally Poortenga                 Don and Jann Bruinsma
people. The only drawback seems to be that the                                   T e r r y   P o o r t e n g a   I       Wes and Cindy Poortenga
                                                                                 Tim and Bonnie Poortenga                Ron and Bev Bultema
                                                                                 John end Marcia Boeisma                    and 18 grandchildren

                RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                    9                              WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
                                                                                     On December 3, 1986, the Lord willing, our beloved parents, MR.
   The Men's Society of the Hudsonville Protestant Reformed Church               AND MRS. ART BLEYENBERG, JR., will celebrate their 50th wedding
expresses sympathy to Gerrit Holstege and Arnold  Haveman in the                 anniversary. We, their children and grandchildren, rejoice with them
death of their sister and sister-in-law MRS. JOHANNES BOSCH.                     and would like to thank them for the years of love and covenant in-
   "For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." (Philippians  1:21)           struction they have given us. It is our constant prayer  that.God  will
                                                                                 continue to bless and keep them in His care.
Henry Boer, Pres.
Dave Pohler, Sec'y.                                                                  "Blessed is everyone that feareth the Lord; that walketh in His
                                                                                 ways. Yea thou shalt see thy children's children, and peace upon
                            NOTICE!!!                                            Israel." (Psalm 128: 1, 6)
                                                                                 Ethel Mains                             Bob and Barb Bleyenberg
  Classis East will meet in regular session on Wednesday, January                Arvin and Rose Bleyenberg               Art and Mary Bleyenberg
14, 1987 et the First Prot. Ref. Church, Grand Rapids. Material for              Arnie and Charlotte Bleyenberg          Gene and Elaine Bleyenberg
this session must be in the hands of the stated clerk at least three             Bill and Jeanette Bleyenberg            Gary and Jackie Bleyenberg
weeks prior to the convening of this meeting.                                    Alvin and Betty Bleyenberg                 58 grandchildren
John Huisken                                                                     Larry and Carla Kane                       2 great-grandchildren
Stated Clerk                                                                     Jim and Gloria Bleyenberg


