          The
     STANDARD
          BEARER
c          A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE




       Our Catechism is so right when it states
     that "even the holiest of men, while in this
     life, have only a small beginning of this obe-
     dience." That small beginning is not like
     starting out on a long road, and never getting
     any farther. But that small beginning that
                                                           `.
     Abraham had, that Isaac and Jacob had, that
- Paul had, and that we have, is the principle
     of the new life, the kernel of seed that bears
                                                                         _-
     fruit unto everlasting life.
                                 See Meditation, page 218


.                                         Vol.  LXIII, No.  IO, February 15, 1987  -


218                                                            THE STANDARD BEARER




                               CONTENTS                                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER
                                                                                                                     ISSN 0362-4692
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  Meditation  -                                                                                 Second Class Postage Paid at Grand Rapids, Mich.
       AFinalLookAtGod'sLaw  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .218               Editor-in-Chief:  Prof. Homer C. Hoeksema
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       Why Evolution? (2). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .221     bers, Rev. Thomas C. Miersma, Rev. James /
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MEDITATION
Cornelius Hanko


                                A Final Look At God's Law

                   Ques. 114. But can those who are converted to God perfectly keep these commandments?
                   Ans. No: but even the holiest of men, while in this life, have only a small beginning of this
               obedience; yet so, that with a sincere desire they begin to live, not only according to some, but
               all the commandments of God.
                   Ques. 115. Why will God then have the ten commandments so strictly preached, since no
               man in this life can keep them?
                   Ans. First, that all our lifetime we may learn more and more to know our sinful nature, and
               thus become the more earnest in seeking the remission of sin, and righteousness in Christ; like-
               wise, that we constantly endeavor and pray to God for the grace of the Holy Spirit, that we may
               become more and more conformable to the image of God, till we arrive at the perfection pro-
               posed to us, in a life to come.                                           -Heidelberg Catechism, Lord's Day 44


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                           219



  0 how love I Thy law! It is my meditation all the         the neighbor, with friends and companions, with
day!                                                        our house, our auto, and all our possessions. Our
  The law of the Lord is perfect! The testimony of          one desire must always stand foremost, that God be
the Lord is sure! The statutes of the Lord are right!       glorified with our thoughts, with every word we ut-
The commandments of the Lord are pure!                      ter, in every act or deed we perform. And others
                                                            must be benefited.
  The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever!            Is that my life? Shamefacedly I must admit that I
  The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous          am evil, born in sin, while God requires truth with-
altogether!                                                 in. I so readily seek myself, my own vain-glory, and
  More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than          I want nothing, not even God, to interfere with
much fine gold: sweeter th,an honey and the honey-          that!
comb! (Psalm 19)                                              Is, then, the law right in demanding of me that
  How could it be otherwise, since God is perfect,          which I cannot do? Is it proper to demand of a blind
sure, right, and pure; our only Good!                       man that he see, or a deaf man that he hear? That
  This perfect law of God is not only summed up in          brings us back to Lord's Day 4, where we brought
the ten commandments, but is the content of the             up the same objections. Then we were told that we
entire Scriptures.1 Law and Gospel are one! In-             have no right to raise that argument, because God
separably one!                                              created us good, but we, by our willful disobe-
                                                            dience in Adam, forfeited the good and brought this
  For God's law is the lamp before our feet, the            evil upon ourselves.
light upon our pathway!                                       Rather we should ask: Should God, because of
  To change the figure, that law is the one and only        our sinfulness, cease from demanding that we love
highway that leads to heaven, the narrow way that           Him? Must He cease from demanding what is right
the saints have trodden throughout the ages!                and good? Must He cease from being God, and let
  Even more than that, the law is God's power un-           us play god? Is He merciful to us when He gives in
to salvation in Jesus Christ!                               to our foolish and sinful whims? Should He treat us
   Should I not love that law with my whole being,          like spoiled children? Would He be doing us a favor
even as I love Him who says to me: "This is the             by allowing us to walk the pathway of death to hell?
way, walk therein and have covenant fellowship                God forbid! We may be grateful that God's law
with Me!?"                                                  exposes our pride and sinfulness. We are reminded
  On that narrow way we experience peace with               of the boy who sees the sign, "Keep off the grass",
God, joy unspeakable!                                       and deliberately runs over the grass. I think of the
  Yet by nature we can never say that we love               "wet paint" sign, and my sinful urge to find out
God's law.                                                  whether the paint is actually wet. The law says,
                                                            "Do this and live", and I do the opposite!
  The Catechism confronts us with the question:
"Can those who are converted to God perfectly                 I am inclined to all evil, incapable of any good!
keep God's commandments?"                                     Under the preaching of the Word my conscience
  This question is not directed to the unconverted,         convicts me of sinning, sometimes inadvertently,
but to those who have the love of God in their              and that to my shame, but often even deliberately,
hearts.                                                     and that is worse. I see my reflection in the mirror
                                                            of God's Word and am forced to cry out: 0
  Can you, can I keep the law? The question is not          wretched man that I am!
whether we do keep it. Nor is the question whether
we keep some of God's commandments, or keep it                By the law is the knowledge of sin!
partially. If we are honest with ourselves, we must           That same law is our deliverance by the work of
admit that we do not keep even one command-                 the Spirit in our hearts!
ment, for he who sins against one command has                 Apart from that I would be lost, lost in sin.
transgressed them all. No, the question is not: do          Though I bathe myself with the strongest soaps, I
we? But: can we? Can we, if we try? Can we keep             cannot remove a single guilty stain. Though I make
each commandment perfectly? For it is perfectly, or         the firmest resolutions to reform my ways, I return
not at all!                                                 like a pig to the mire! Though I would spend all my
  The Lord requires of us that we love the Lord our         money to find peace for my soul, even that could
God with our whole being, with our family, with             avail me nothing!
Cornelius Hanho is a minister emeritus in the Protestant      What can wash away my sins? As far as I am con-
Reformed Churches.                                          cerned, nothing! Absolutely nothing!


220                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



  We are redeemed from our vain conversation,             daughters of our God, the desire to walk in a new
not with silver or gold, but with the precious blood      and holy life, to the glory of the Father!
of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without         We say with Paul, "Not as though I had attained,
spot, [I Pet.  1:18, 19).                                 either were already perfect," (Phil.  3:12).
  Christ did not destroy the law, but He fulfilled it.      Our Catechism is so right when it states that
He willingly placed Himself under the law, took on        "even the holiest of men, while in this life, have on-
the form of a Servant, in order to bear the wrath of      ly a small beginning of this obedience." That small
God against the sins of His people, and to bear           beginning is not like starting out on a long road, and
them away. He laid down His life for His sheep, in        never getting any farther. But that small beginning
order to bring them into the eternal sheepfold of         that Abraham had, that Isaac and Jacob had, that
glory!                                                    Paul had, and that we have, is the principle of the
  He knows His sheep, and He calls them by                new life, the kernel of seed that bears fruit unto
name, and they come to Him. Through the                   everlasting life.
preaching of the Word and by the Spirit in our
hearts He draws us to Himself. All that the Father          "Forgetting those things which are behind, and
has given Him come to Him, and not one of them,           reaching forth unto those things which are before,
no matter how great their sins may be, is cast out!       we press toward the mark for the prize of the high
                                                          calling of God in Christ Jesus," (Phil.  3:13, 14).
  By faith we are brought face to face with the true
and living God, Who has every reason to condemn             Or, to put it slightly differently, "Now we see
us on account of our sins, yet He declares us             through a glass darkly, but then face to face; now
righteous in Christ, and worthy of eternal life!          we know in part, but then I shall know even as I am
                                                          known," (I Cor.  13:12).
       When I kept guilty silence my strength was
          spent with grief,                                 Every Sunday and every time the Word is
           Thy hand was heavy on me, my soul found        preached or read we stare into the mirror of the
            no relief;                                    Scriptures. We see ourselves, sinful, wretched,
       But when I owned my trespass, my sin hid not       guilty sinners, yet sanctified in Christ as members
          from Thee,                                      of His body! We hear the voice of Jesus drawing us
           When I confessed transgression,' then Thou     in ever closer communion with God!
            forgavest me!                                   We delight in the law of God according to the in-
  "The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the         ner man! For in the battle of faith against foes
soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise      round about us and within us, we soon grow
the simple," (Psalm  19:7).                               weary, falter and fail, but the Word of God, as our
                                                          spiritual armor, makes us strong to fight in the
  There is therefore now no condemnation, for             power of God's might. As we struggle along our
those who are in Christ Jesus!                            earthly pilgrimage, wending our way through dark
  God regards us in Christ, as if we never had had        valleys, and scaling steep precipices, Christ's rod
any sin, even as if we in our own bodies had ful-         and staff sustain us even to the end.
filled all the demands of God's holy law, and are             How blest is he whose trespass hath freely
worthy of eternal life!                                         been forgiven.
  We are saved by the very law that condemns us!                 Whose sin is wholly covered before the
  "We all, with open face beholding as in a glass                  sight of heaven.
the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same im-           Blest he to whom Jehovah imputeth not his
age from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the           sin,
Lord," (II Cor.  3:18).                                          Who hath a guileless spirit, whose heart is
  The central message of the Scriptures is Jesus                   true within.
Christ, crucified and risen from the dead! He was           0 how love I Thy law, according to the inner
delivered over to death, the accursed death of hell,      man in Christ!
because of our transgressions, and was raised again
because He has justified us. With a spiritual eye of
faith we now see Jesus, crowned with glory and                     Take the time to
honor, as our Mediator, and Advocate in the
heavens. From heaven He blesses us with every                           read and study
spiritual blessing, restoring us in His likeness in
true knowledge, righteousness, and holiness. We               the Standard Bearer.
experience the forgiveness of sins, the adoption to
sons, the grace that changes us into sons and


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                        221



EDITORIAL



                                   Why Evolution? (2)



   The first main section of Dr. Howard Van Till's          we reject with all our hearts, whatsoever doth not
The Fourth Day is entitled "The Biblical View." It is       agree with this infallible rule, which the apostles
against this section that this critique is directed. His    have taught us, saying, Try the spirits whether they
position stands or falls with this section. His "The        are of God. Likewise, if there come any  u~nto you,
Scientific View," the second main section, stands if        and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into
his "The Biblical View" meets the test of Scripture         your house."
and the creeds; it falls if this test is failed.              But Dr. Van Till does not follow Reformed
   What is this Biblical view, according to Dr. Van         methodology, which appeals to Scripture and the
Till?                                                       creeds. He simply starts out with his own ideas and
   Chapter 1 is entitled "Taking The Bible Serious-         later expands on them, without reference to the
ly." To take the Bible seriously, according to him,         faith of the church and without reference to what
"means to respect the Bible for what it is and to re-       Scripture says about itself.
spond to it appropriately," p. 4. And again, "it in-          Next he creates a distinction between the
volves the following four actions: (1) affirming its        "status" of the Bible and the "form" of the Bible.
true status, (2) respecting its multifaceted                Such a distinction might, perhaps, be all right in
character, (3) promoting its proper function, and (4)       itself; but the author uses it to serve his own ends.
engaging in a disciplined study of what it has to           He creates a disjunction between "status" and
say," p. 5.                                                 "form." According to him, "the Bible has the status
  All of this is outstanding for its vagueness and its      of `holy Scripture' - the `Word of God' expressed
lack of specifics. But even more, it represents an in-      in the form of human language and literature."
correct starting-point. A Reformed man teaching in          Again: "Though it has the  sfutus of the `Word of
what is supposed to be a Reformed college, where            God,' the. Bible comes to us in the  foml of
he is required to subscribe to our Reformed creeds,         thoroughly human language and literature."
might surely be expected, it seems to me, to turn to          And where does he go with this distinction?
our Reformed creeds and to Scripture itself. Our            Notice:
Belgic Confession certainly furnishes us with much               The Bible is the "Word" of God, not the "words" of
more specific language than the above. Article 3               God. The Bible did not drop from the sky by an act of
tells us very clearly and with plain reference to              divine magic. (As if anyone in the Reformed tradition
Scripture itself how the written Word of God came              ever taught this! This reminds me of the opening
into existence, what its source was, and why we                words of a lecture by Harry M. Kuitert some years ago
call Scripture holy and divine. Article 5 teaches us           at Calvin. HCH) God did not circumvent human
that Reformed believers are characterized by "be-              means of writing, editing, and assembling the body of
lieving without any doubt, all things contained in"            legal, historical, and literary documents that con-
the Scriptures and tells why we so believe. Article 7          stitute the Bible. Yet, while the words of the Bible
also speaks clear and pertinent language concern-              were produced by human writers, the Bible as an
ing the sufficiency of Scripture and its being the on-         organic whole functions (Note the term /i.mcfions.  He
ly rule of faith:                                              does not say: is. HCH) as God's Word, holy Scripture:
                     "We believe that those Holy Scrip-
tures fully contain the will of God, and that what-           How' does Dr. Van Till make use of this disjunc-
soever man ought to believe, unto salvation, is suf-        tion of status and form?
ficiently taught therein." And again: "Therefore,             He claims that we must be "alert to two ways in


222                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER



which the status of the Bible is often incorrectly                  ably, of course, with all his own presuppositions, to
identified." One of those ways is the "error of plac-               take it apart and analyze it and determine what it is.
ing the Bible entirely within the category of human                   But Dr. Van Till ends with what he calls "the
literature . . .  ." This statement leaves the impres-              vehicular model of the Bible." What is this? We
sion of a degree of orthodoxy. But listen:                          shall let the author speak for himself:
         There is on the other hand the error of placing the              Scripture is often referred to (by whom and where?
       Bible entirely outside the category of human literature         HCH) as a vehicle of God's communication to human-
       as if it were divinely dictated to mechanical printing          ity. This is an apt metaphor, pointing to the fact that
       machines. Such an approach, and others closely                  indeed if there is to be a message carried or conveyed
       related to it, lead to the all too common phenomenon            from God to mankind, then there must be some con-
       of breaking the Bible into many separate pieces,                 crete, or at least identifiable, means of conveyance:
       which, when isolated from one another, or isolated              there must be a vehicle that transports the message
       from their cultural, historical, literary, and canonical         from sender to recipient.
       contexts, can be forced to support all manner of
       bizarre speculations (as we will see later).                       But let us press the vehicle metaphor a bit further.
                                                                       Just as in the world of commerce many types of
  Here he sets up a straw man, and a very old one                      vehicles are used to convey goods from producer to
at that. Who in the Reformed tradition ever taught                      consumer, so too there are many types of literature,
such mechanical inspiration? When and where in                          many literary genres, that God uses in the Scriptures
the mainline of the church and of the faith was this                   to convey his message to his audience, his people. As
taught? And which are the unspecified, unnamed,                        the type of vehicle is chosen according to the nature of
and undocumented views of Scripture "closely                           the goods to be carried, so in the Bible the literary
related to it"? Van Till should not create or conjure                  genre is suited to the message it must convey. Simple
up bogey-men!                                                          matters of historical record may be conveyed by a
                                                                       matter-of-fact chronicle of events. Profound truths of
  Meanwhile, what is Dr. Van Till going to do with                     immense magnitude, however, cannot always be ade-
the clear teaching of Scripture that "holy men of                       quately expressed in the genre of straightforward ex-
God spake as they were moved (borne, carried) by                       pository discourse; they are often expressed better in a
the Holy Ghost?"                                                       more symbolic or poetic form. How often we say,
  Later (pp. 8, 9) he professes an aversion for such                    "Words just can't describe what I want to express."
terms as "organic inspiration," "verbal inspira-                       Our best alternative, then, is to shift from expository
                                                                       discourse, which does constitute an attempt to contain
tion," and "plenary inspiration." Here he begins to                    something in words fully, to poetry or some other
get rid of the ideas expressed by such terms and to                    highly symbolic form that makes no pretense of ex-
depart from the Biblical and confessional doctrine                     haustively describing some great thought or event or
of infallibility by drawing a further distinction be-                  emotion, but instead freely admits that it is simply
tween Word and words, p. 5:                                            pointing in a certain direction that readers must
                                                                        creatively and imaginatively follow if they are to get
         The true status of the Bible, then, is properly iden-         even the beginning of an understanding of that pro-
       tified by the phrase "Word of God." This clearly in-            found idea. [pp. 14, 15)
       dicates that it occupies an elevated position relative to
       other human literature. (Note: only an "elevated posi-         Pay careful attention to the last few sentences of
       tion," HCH) And if we understand that the term  Word         the paragraph just quoted.
       is being used in a metaphorical sense to acknowledge           Dr. Van Till then goes on to assert that the Scrip-
       divine revelation, rather than in the restricted literal     tures must be conceived of in terms of many such
       sense to indicate mere words, then we can also avoid
       the error of denying the form in which God has               vehicles.
       chosen to reveal himself to us.                                But there are not only vehicles but also pack-
  Exit verbal inspiration - the Scriptural and con-                 aging, p. 15:
fessional truth that "holy men of God spake as they                       To press the model still further, we might note that
were moved by the Holy Ghost!"                                          when goods are carried by a vehicle, it is wise to
                                                                        package the goods appropriately in order to protect
  Where does all this end?                                              the contents from damage and to provide convenient
  I will not weary the reader with a detailed sum-                      units for handling and delivery. Similarly in the Scrip-
mary and critique of all the meanderings (with an                       tures, each vehicle is loaded with its content (God's
appeal to such writers as Meredith Kline, Leland                        message) contained in appropriate packaging  - the
Ryken, Gerhard Lohfink, and even C. S. Lewis) con-                      specific story or account of an event; the particular
cerning the literary forms and qualities of Scrip-                      symbolism used in a poem; the specific cultural pat-
                                                                        terns that form the context of commentary or instruc-
ture. I must point out again, however, that Van                         tion or description.
Till's  method  is wrong. Instead of inquiring what
the Bible says  c&out  itself  he puts the Bible on the               And here is the rest of the picture, pp. 15, 16:
laboratory table, so to speak; and he tries, unavoid-                     To complete the introduction to this vehicle model


                                                        THE STANDARD BEARER                                          2 2 3



   of Scripture, let me note, finally, that the Bible can be        becomes: 1) that of distinguishing between vehicle,
   viewed as a complete unit, including the vehicle                 packaging, and goods. 2) that of extracting the con-
   [literary genre), packaging (specific story, symbols,            tents from the vehicle and the packaging.
   etc.), and contents (God's message to us). The message
   or teachings of the Bible come from only one source -              In conclusion, the following:
   God. Scripture ought never to be viewed as a mixture               1) This is a view of Scripture which has been im-
   of God's teachings and man's teachings. Since all of             ported from the Netherlands. It is the view of men
   the teachings of Scripture come from God they are                like Dr. Harry M. Kuitert and Dr. G. C. Berkouwer.
   trustworthy and authoritive. We can be confident that            It is a departure from the Reformed position.
   all of the content of God's message in the Bible is
   delivered to us undamaged and unspoiled. It ought                  2) Clearly, the whole task of explaining Scrip-
   never to be viewed as a mixture of teachings, some               ture, under this view, becomes totally subjective.
   true and others false.  However:  (and here comes the            Man determines what is vehicle, what is packaging,
   crucial "however," HCH), as our model suggests, just             what is contents. Under this view, you can make
   as a consumer must first unload the packaged goods               Scripture say almost anything you want it to say.
   from a delivery vehicle and then carefully unpackage
   those goods for use or consumption, so we as readers               3) Under this view, you take the Bible away
   of Scripture must be studiously and prayerfully wise             from the people of God, just as Rome did prior to
   in separating the contents [the trustworthy teachings           the Reformation. The people of God must have the
   of God) from the vehicle and the packaging. Neglect-             "experts" to interpret the Word of God and to tell
   ing that separation would be as foolish as attempting           them how to read it. The hierarchy of the experts is
   to eat a granola bar without first removing it from its          substituted for the hierarchy of the church.
   wrapper or, more absurd yet, without distinguishing
   it from the truck that delivered it to the store.                  4) Having adopted this view, Dr. Van Till has
                                                                   prepared the way for his denial of the Genesis
  And so, as Dr. Van Till makes plain in the conclu-                record, as we shall see.                         HCH
sion of this chapter, the task of the interpreter

PRE-CONVENTION PUBLICITY
Rev. Ron Cammenga





                         1987 P.RY.P.`s Convention



  The 47th annual Protestant Reformed Young                        are excellent: spacious lodges, meeting rooms, a
People's Convention is scheduled for August 10-14,                 large auditorium. There are almost unlimited op-
1987. The Convention will be hosted by the Love-                   portunities for leisure time activities: indoor swim-
land, CO Young People's Society. Plans and prepar-                 ming, roller skating, basketball, tennis, horseshoes,
ations are in full swing.                                          volleyball, miniature golf, softball, bowling, and
  Registration will take place early Monday after-                 more.
noon, August 10 at the Protestant Reformed                            The Convention theme is: "Lessons From The
Church of Loveland. The church is located at 705 E.                Life Of David." Our purpose is that  by the
57th Street in Loveland. After registration, all con-              speeches which develop this theme, the young peo-
ventioneers will be bussed into the mountains. The                 ple may be instructed and warned by the example
Convention itself will be held at the YMCA of the                  of the life of David, the one whom the Scriptures
Rockies just outside of Estes Park, Colorado. The                  refer to as "the man after God's own Heart." Our
YMCA camp stretches over 1,400 acres and is                        purpose is that the result of the Convention may be
bordered by Rocky Mountain National Park. This is                  that under the work of the Spirit, we be made more
an ideal spot for the Convention. Accommodations                   and more young men and young women after


2 2 4                                        THE STANDARD BEARER



God's own Heart.                                             Because of the fact that the Convention will be
   The three speeches planned are as follows. Rev.         held at a -camp in the mountains, the projected cost
Ron Hanko will present the first speech entitled           will be fairly high. For this reason we are encourag-
"David And Goliath." Rev. Ken Koole will follow            ing all societies to sponsor  at Zeast  two fund-raisers
with a speech entitled "David And Bathsheba."              for the Convention. We are also encouraging once
Rev. Wayne Bekkering will present the last speech,         again the idea of individual patrons for the Conven-
"David And Absalom." Besides the three speeches,           tion. We would like every society to contact all of
the young people will interact and exchange ideas          the members of its congregation individually.
in the various discussion groups that are being            soliciting a contribution towards the Convention.
planned. We think we have some fresh approaches              We will keep everyone informed on the progress
to the discussion groups that will be stimulating          of the Convention. Monthly newsletters will be
and make the discussion groups a valuable part of          sent to each Young People's Society. Periodic an-
the Convention experience.                                 nouncements will be placed in church bulletins, in
   Once again, we are issuing a special appeal to the      the Beacon Lights, and the Standard Bearer. We ask
older young people, those in their 20's who have           parents, pastors, and Christian school teachers to
probably dropped out of society. We would like             promote the Convention among our young people.
you to attend the Convention with us. We have                Our aim in the 1987 Convention will be the fun
again planned some special activities for you, and         and edification of the young people. We want you
believe that you have much to add to as well as            to have fun, good clean fun. We also want you to be
profit from the Convention.                                built up spiritually. But especially do we aim at the
   We would like to extend a special invitation to         glory of God in this Convention. In order to ac-
the families of young people who might be attend-          complish this aim, we will demand godly behavior
ing the Convention to take the opportunity of the          on the part of every young person at the Conven-
Convention to vacation in Colorado. We have put            tion. The few basic rules necessary for the running
together a special packet of information concerning        of the Convention will appear on the  pre-registra-
campgrounds, recreational facilities, and all the          tion form which will be sent out in due time. Those
vacation possibilities available in our beautiful          rules must be obeyed; infractions will not be
state. In order to receive this packet, simply write       tolerated. We ask that parents impress this upon
to us at the address of the church: Loveland Prot-         their young people before they come to the Con-
estant Reformed Church, 705 E. 57th Street, Love-r         vention.
land, CO 80537. Those parents who do take their              We in Loveland are pleased to be your hosts for
young people to the Convention, we would invite            the 1987  P.R.Y.P.`s Convention. We look forward
to attend the three speeches that will be given.           to seeing everyone of you the second week of
                                                           August.
IN HIS FEAR
Barrett L. Gritters




                       Catechism: Official Ministry
                                        of the Church


   Catechism instruction is part of the  oficiuZ           of the church. Sunday School and Young People's             I
ministry of the Church of Christ.                          Society are not official functions of the church.           1
   That means that catechism is different from the         That is, they are not aspects of the ministry of the
instruction of children in Sunday School or Young          church directly under the consistory. Parents
People's Societies, which are part of the orga_nic Zife    decide whether or not they want to have a Sunday


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                             225



 School for their children; the young people decide           2. Catechism needs careful preparation on the part
 to have a Young People's Society; just as men or           of the instructor.
 women with Men's Society or Ladies' Aid and                  If catechism is official ministry, and if it is the
 couples with a Mr. & Mrs. Society. This is not to say      preaching of the gospel, the means of grace for our
that Young People's Society or Men's Society are            children, we as teachers need to be reminded that
 not good for, or even necessary in, the church. It         the same diligent care needs to go into catechism
 says only that they are not part of the official           teaching as the preaching of the Word. Thinking
 ministry of the church.                                    that children might detect lack of preparation less
   Positively, this means that catechism is the of-         quickly than the adults, the minister might find it
 ficial ministry of the gospel, the work of the church      easy to be less prepared in the catechism room. We
 institute, the means of grace for our children. It is      ministers might ask ourselves the question, "Do we
preaching adapted to the age and needs of the               love `the praise of men more than the praise of
 children in each particular grade level. For many          God?' " (John 12:43)  But for the number of people,
years Reformed churches have considered                     why should the preacher think so much more of
 catechism for the children her official ministry.          Sunday worship than catechism?
 (For reasons and texts, see last article, December           3. Catechism teaching is under the supervision of
 15, 1986 "Why Catechism?")                                 the elders.
   That it is the official ministry of the Word of God        One way, generally, to insure proper preparation
says a lot about catechism.                                 on the part of the preacher is to have the elders
   1. Teaching catechism is the work of the minister or     supervise the teaching. If preaching falls under
elders in the local congregation.                           elder supervision, catechism teaching does also.
   First of all the pastor is called to teach the             Most members of the church, usually seeing no
catechism, since he is a teaching elder in the church       further than the minister's work in teaching the
(I Timothy  5:17, II Timothy  224).  If, for some           classes, probably are not aware of the consistory's
reason, the minister cannot teach, it is the duty of        involvement in supervision. Once per year careful
no one else but the elders to take over. As am-             questions are asked consistories by church visitors.
bassadors of Jesus Christ in the church of Christ,          Three of the questions to the full consistory are:
the ministers (or elders) have the calling to bring         "Does the consistory see to it that catechism classes
Christ's Word to Christ's children. Through the             are regularly conducted? Does the consistory deter-
election of the congregation, Christ has called them        mine the material for instruction? And does it (the
to that teaching office.                                    consistory) see to it that the classes are regularly at-
   There is the temptation to let just any "qualified'      tended?" And second only to a question about
person teach the catechism classes for the children.        elder's attendance in worship and consistory meet-
In more and more churches, this is being done. But          ings are these questions asked about elders (in their
the women of the church or men without office are           absence): "Do they (the elders) at set times attend
not called. It is the duty of the minister and elders.      the catechism classes to see how they are con-
                                                            ducted and attended; and do they (the elders) assist
   Qualification to teach is not the question here. It      the minister when the need requires it in catechiz-
may be that a school teacher has greater ability to         ing?" (Church Order of the Protestant Reformed
teach catechism than an elder. The question comes           Churches, pages 96ff)
down to whom Christ has called to be his am-
bassador in the official work of the church. As in            The minister who realizes the backing of the con-
the pulpit, we allow only ministers or elders of-           sistory, who hears the elders' concern about
ficially called by the church to bring the Word, so         catechism, who receives help from the elders at
in catechism.                                               times in teaching, is thankful for the involvement
   This does say something about the qualifications         of the elders in catechism instruction.
of elders and ministers. For that reason pastors and          In the minds of our fathers, high on the list of
elders must not only be sober, of good behavior,            priorities for elders was supervising the catechism
and patient, but "apt to teach" (I Timothy  3:2; II         instruction. Why? Only because it is part of the of-
Timothy  2:24). It would be a worthy effort some-           ficial ministry of the Word of God.
time to see a consistory sponsor instruction for
their elders in the principles of teaching.                   That catechism is the official ministry of  the.
                                                            church means that:
                                                              4. We have children's sermons.
Barrett L. Gritters is pastor of the Protestant Reformed      From churches that have always called the
Church of Byron Center, Michigan.                           children to worship with them (as soon as they


226                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



could keep quiet) and have never had separate serv-             Again, if it is true that catechism teaching is of-
ices for children, this statement might sound a bit           ficial ministry of God's Word,
strange. The truth is that in catechism instruction             5. Children need to come to catechism prepared,
we have "children's sermons" for all ages of the              mentally, physically, and spiritually.
youth.                                                          Just as no person can worship well on the Lord's
  A number of churches today have special wor-           Day without proper preparation, no child can learn
ship services for the children. Either the children      well in catechism without good preparation. Thus
are called out of the service at an interval during      children should come with good attitudes and dress
worship, or the children come to the front during        befitting the occasion.
the church for a mini-sermon (which, in some
cases, has been given by the minister's wife). The              No doubt that is not easy. Just having come from
idea behind these special services is that the           school for six hours makes children tired (and
children are not mature enough for the worship, so       possible filthy). Having supper after a busy after-
ought not be subjected to much they cannot under-        noon of piano lessons or ball practice makes com-
stand.                                                   ing to evening catechism properly prepared dif-
                                                         ficult for the best disciplined family, especially
  Why is this not our practice? First, we ought not      when the family is large. But if catechism is what
assume that young children are not mature enough         we believe it is - a vital part of the ministry of the
for the preaching. Children do understand ("re-          church, and the groundwork for the spiritual train-
ceive") a great deal from the worship services. We       ing of our children  - then we seek God's help to
parents ought to train our children to listen to the     bring our children to Gods house in a disposition
sermon by asking them questions to and from              both physically and spiritually fertile for worship.
church about the sermon. If this were done, it
might be a little easier for the children, after                6. Catechism is worship.
becoming adults, to have an intelligent conversa-               It naturally follows from our main proposition
tion at  "Grampa and  Gramma's house" about the          (that catechism is the official ministry of the
sermon, instead of gravitating to the mundane            church) that catechism, in a certain sense, is wor-
things with which it is easy to pass the time.           ship. We come to catechism not simply to give and
  Besides, pastors can address the children at dif-      receive a lecture on theology and Biblical history,
ferent points in the sermon (applying it to them, or     aiming only at the student's intellect. We aim at the
rephrasing a truth in simple language) to let the        heart. Our classes must be a time of worship, in
children know that the preaching on Sunday IS for        which the entire atmosphere is reverent and our
them. In this way the children learn that they can       children brought to the knowledge that they stand
receive the Word in church and gradually learn to        before a great God Who loves His people through
receive greater blessing in the worship.                 Jesus Christ.
  But most important, special children's sermons                Although parents can do much to prepare their
are not needed because we direct the Word of God         children for this worship by promoting proper
to the specific need and age of each child in            study, dress, and attitude, it is the minister's
catechism.  There the truth of the Scripture is          burden to create the proper atmosphere in the cate-
brought at a simple level, depending on the age,         chism room to make the children realize they are
and applied to that same age. On Sunday, preachers       worshiping God. In part this is done when the
are called to apply the Word "as well in general as      class is begun with prayer, singing, and offering -
in particular, to the edification of the hearers; in-    three basic elements in worship. The other (basic)
structing, comforting, and reproving, according to       element of proper worship is the presentation of
everyone's need; preaching repentance towards            the gospel of Christ as the heart of the catechism
God and reconciliation with him through faith in         class. Especially this the Lord will bless to bring
Christ" (Form for Ordination of Ministers). No less      covenant children to spiritual maturity, for His
must this be true in the catechism room. In fact, the    glory, and the good of His Church on earth.
Form for Ordination makes no distinction between                Next time, if God wills: "What is taught in cate-
bringing the Word in catechism and bringing it in        chism?"
formal worship on the Sabbath.                           I                                                             I
  Reformed churches have maintained catechism                              Share a gift of
teaching for children from first grade to confession
of faith, and beyond. When this practice is discon-               the Standard Bearer.
tinued, there is a void in children's instruction and
special services have come to fill the void. Let us
not fall into that practice.


                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER                                                           227



ALL AROUND US
Robert D. Decker





                                               Science or Religion
                                               To What Lengths!?
                                                 Worship Tasting



Science  OY Creation:                                                 Under close questioning from several high court
   In 1981 the state of Louisiana passed a law which                justices, Bird noted that lawmakers probably had a
                                                                    variety of reasons for enacting the law. He conceded
requires balanced treatment for creation science                    that "undoubtedly some legislators had a desire to
and evolution science in public school lectures,                    teach religious doctrine in the classroom." But he
textbooks, and library materials. The result has                    argued that the statute's predominant legislative pur-
been a long legal battle. The case now has reached                  pose is promoting fairness and academic freedom by
the United State Supreme Court.  Christianity Today                 including an alternative scientific view in public
(January 16, 1987) reports:                                         school curriculum.
      Louisiana has waged a dogged defense of the law                 Jay Topkis, a New  Fork  attorney associated with
    over the last five years as four federal court decisions        the American Civil Liberties Union, argued against
    ruled it unconstitutional without holding a trial. The          the creation science statute. He quoted a dictionary
    Supreme Court represents the state's last chance to             definition of the word "creation" as an "act of crea-
    save the statute.                                               tion or fact of being created . . . by divine power or its
                                                                    equivalent." Creation requires a creator, Topkis
      Wendell R. Bird, a creationist legal scholar who              argued, and creationist teaching involves religious
    served as special counsel for the state of Louisiana,           doctrines that are inappropriate for public-school
    denied that creation science is a religious doctrine. He        education . . . Topkis asserted that creation science
    stressed that the law sanctions only the teaching of            means "basically the fundamentalist point of view."
    scientific material.                                            And he criticized Bird for creating nonreligious mean-
      "Creation science means the scientific evidence for           ings for the term . . .
    creation and inferences from those scientific
    evidences," Bird told the justices.  ". . . The teaching       To deny that creation science involves religion or
    of the Bible as part of the implications of the statute      that it requires a creator is ludicrous. The Bible tells
    would be unconstitutional."                                  us: "In the beginning God created the heavens and
      Inquiring into the religious nature of the law,            the earth," (Genesis  1:l). The Bible also denies any
    Justice Antonin  Scalia asked if it "requires teaching of    possibility of evolution. (cf. Hebrews  11:3, II Peter
    a personal God." Citing the big-bang theory as an ex-        3:4-7) This great truth we understand only through
    ample, Bird told the court, "the term creation is often      faith, (Hebrews  11:3).
    used without any concept of a creator."                        It is also true that evolution is religion. It in-
      Bird said lower courts simply determined "out of           volves "belief" in its theory of the origins of the
    thin air" that creationism is exclusively a religious        universe. That "belief" is unbelief in God and His
    concept and, based on that assumption, voided the            Word. It is on this basis that Bird and the state of
    Louisiana statute for having the unconstitutional            Louisiana ought to be arguing the case. Both sides
    legislative purpose of promoting religion. He asked          are from this point of view less than honest.
    the Supreme Court to send the case back to be tried in
    a lower court, where experts could show creation
    science is scientific.                                       To What Lengths!?:
                                                                   The debate over the biblical roles of women and
Robert D. Decker is professor of New Testament and               men continues. Nearly every denomination is af-
Practical Theology in the Protestant Reformed Seminary.          fected by this issue.  Christianity Today (January 16,


228                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER



1987) informs us that:                                                referred to a ruler or person of superior rank.
                                                                      Grudem's sources included nonbiblical writings as
         The Thirty-eighth annual meeting of the Evangeli-            well as ancient Greek translations of the Old Testa-
       cal Theological Society (ETS), held in suburban Atlan-         ment. Bilezikian examined each of the 49 instances,
       ta, was officially titled "Male and Female in Biblical         arguing in each case that  kephalee  meant either source
       and Theological Perspective." But  Aida Besancon               or the physical head of a human being or animal . . .
       Spencer, of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary,
       dubbed it "the battle of the lexicons" in her response        Aside from anything else, the concept "head" in
       to discussion of a paper by University of Minnesota        I Corinthians 11 and Ephesians 5 clearly connotes
       classics scholar Catherine Kroeger. Kroeger's paper        authority. I Corinthians 11 must be understood in
       was titled "The Classical Concept of `Head as              the context of chapters 12, 13, and 14 which plainly
       `Source'."                                                 teach that women are to "keep silence in the
         Gilbert Bilezikian, of  Wheaton College [ILL.], and      churches," (I Cor. 14:34), Ephesians  5:23 is the
       Wayne Grudem, of Trinity Evangelical Divinity              ground for the command of verse 22: "Wives, sub-
       School, joined Kroeger in debating the meaning of          mit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto
       kephalee, the Greek word normally translated "head"        the Lord." Why should wives submit to their
       in such Pauline statements as I Corinthians 11:3  ("the    husbands if the latter have no authority over them? -
       head of every man is Christ; and the head of the
       woman is the man. . .`I ) and Ephesians 523  ("For the        To what lengths will the feminists go to make the
       husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the     Bible say what it does not say!?
       head of the church . .  .`I).
         Grudem and other traditional interpreters suggest        Worship Tasting:
       that in New Testament Greek,  kephalee  carried the           The same issue of Christianity Today carried an
       connotation of authority, as in ancient Latin and          interesting item in its column, "Reflections" under
       Hebrew where head can mean "boss" or "chief."              this title:
  , Since not all languages use head as a metaphor for                  Worship . . . fits right into the consumerism that so
       authority, Kroeger, Bilezikian, and other feminist in-         characterizes American religious life.  Church-
   terpreters suggest  kephalee  means "source," as in                shopping has become common. A believer will com-
       English usage where the source of a river may be               pare First Presbyterian, St. John's Lutheran, Epiphany
       called its "head."                                             Episcopal, Brookwood Methodist, and  Bethany Bap-
         Kroeger also documented the ancient view of the              tist for the "best buy." The church plant, programs,
   head of the human body as the source of bodily                     and personnel are carefully scrutinized, but the bot-
   moisture, including tears, mucous, and semen. In-                  tom line is, "How did it feel?" Worship must be sensa-
       deed, semen was thought to be produced in the brain            tional. "Start with an earthquake and work up from
       and to run down the spinal column to the genitals.             that," advised one professor of homiletics. "Be sure
   Thus the head was considered to be the source of life.             you have the four prerequisites of a successful
         Kroeger applied this notion of head as "source" to           church," urged another; "upbeat music, adequate
   Paul's assertion that man is the head of woman, com-               parking, a warm welcome, and a dynamic sermon."
   menting that the biblical phrase reinforces the                    The slogan is, "Try it, you'll like it." Duane W.H. Ar-
   Genesis story of the creation of woman from the                    nold and C. George Fry in "Weothscrip" (Eternity,
   substance of man. This contrasts with pagan notions                Sept. 1986)
  that the gods perpetrated a sneaky trick on man by                What a "far cry" this is from the biblical truth
  making woman from inferior material. Kroeger called             concerning the marks of the true church (the pure
  the teaching that man and woman were made of the                preaching of the Word, the proper administration
   same substance "a positive affirmation of hetero-              of the sacraments, and the exercise of Christian
   sexual marriage," since the low pagan view of women            discipline) so aptly summed in Article XXIX of the
  led some ancient `philosophers to consider the love of          Belgic Confession of Faith! From the church
  boys to be superior to the love of women.                       displaying these marks, "no man has a right to
         In his response to Kroeger's paper, Grudem noted         separate himself ," says the. Confession.
  the time lapse between the writing of Paul's epistles
  and the comments of Greek-speaking church fathers
  that Kroeger had quoted to support her understanding              Take time to read and
  of kephaZee. Grudem also cited a number of Greek dic-
  tionaries [lexicons] that do not support Kroeger's in-
  terpretations.                                                         study the Standard
         The debate over  kephalee  was further heated by
  Bilezikian's presentation, which attacked a previously                   Bearer with your
  published paper in which Grudem used a computer to
   search an exhaustive listing of ancient texts for occur-                      family today!
  rences  of'kephalee.  According to Grudem, his search
   of 2,336 sources showed 49 instances where kephalee


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                           229



 THE DAY OF SHADOWS
 John A. Heys





                  The Gospel Preached In Nineveh



   A question which we may not avoid in our con-           Jonah preach salvation? Did he not instead preach
 sideration of the book of Jonah is "Where do we           damnation?
 find Christ in the sermon that God gave Jonah to            Dare we say that God forgot to give the Ninevites
t preach in Nineveh?" After all is said and done, a        this important, indispensable element? Is Christ in
 Christless sermon is not the gospel. And it is only       those eight words which Jonah preached, namely,
 through the gospel that the Spirit brings us to faith     "Yet forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown"?
 and salvation. In the day of shadows, as well as to-
 day, Christ had to be preached. There was no salva-         To answer this question we must first of all con-
 tion in the Old Testament dispensation apart from         sider the fact that wherever God's grace is, there is
 Christ any more than there is today. And the              Christ; and wherever Christ is, there is Gods grace.
 preaching had to be preaching of Christ to be the         There just is no grace apart from Christ and His
 gospel then, as well as it does now in the new            cross. As Paul writes in Romans  6:23, "The wages
 dispensation. Christless sermons do not bring men         of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life
 to faith and salvation. And a sermon has to have          through Jesus Christ our Lord." God already said
 more in it than the name of Christ to be the gospel.      that to fallen Adam and Eve in the very first preach-
 Antichristian sermons will have His name in them;         ing of the gospel. He assured fallen man that The
 and sermons that strengthen in unbelief also do.          Seed of the Woman, namely, Christ, would crush
 Did not Satan, in his first attack upon mankind, use      the head of the serpent, and that He would have
 God's name, Genesis  3:1,  5? No, Paul spells it out      His own heel crushed, which later on the church
 clearly in I Corinthians  1:23, when he writes, "But      saw in His cross. And everlasting life - I prefer to
 we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stum-         call it that, and always speak of everlasting when
 bling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness."            referring to the creature which always has a begin-
 There you have it! Christ crucified is the gospel, the    ning, and then reserve the word eternal for God,
 good news of salvation.                                   with the meaning of without beginning or end  -
                                                           this everlasting life is a gift of God through Christ
   In the day of shadows, from the fall of Adam on-        and His cross. As a gift it is a work of grace. Man
 ward, the cross of Christ was heid  before the eyes       deserves the wages of sin, and the gospel promises
 of the church. There was the shedding of blood that       that which the sinner does not deserve, yea is the
 provided Adam and Eve with skins to cover their           opposite of what he deserves.
 nakedness and consciousness of guilt. There were
 lambs sacrificed and high priests who sacrificed            Jonah himself realized all this. In Jonah  4:2 we
 them. There were altars on which these lambs were         read, "I knew that Thou art a gracious God, and
 sacrificed. Indeed the shadow of the cross of Christ      merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness, and
 was there for the Old Testament saints as the way         repentest Thee of evil." THAT is exactly why he
 of salvation.                                             did not want to go and preach in,Nineveh, and as he
                                                           said, "Therefore I fled before unto Tar-shish." He
   But where do you read of any of this preached in        saw God's grace in his message, and thus in effect
 Nineveh, when a goodly number of people, from             saw Christ, in those eight words which he was to
the king downward, believed and repented? Did              preach.
John A. Heys is a minister emeritus in the Protestant        Wherein was that grace of God in that message?
 Reformed Churches.                                        In this that it was a warning, and not a mere predic-


230                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



tion; and it was a warning that contained a time          learned that Gods intent was to save them. The
period wherein repentance and escape from that            very question of the king revealed that God had
punishment could be realized. For a warning is            begun the work of salvation in him. He was born
quite different from a mere prediction, as was            again, and he who speaks here of God turning and
clearly the case with Sodom and Gomorrah. There           repenting was himself turned and caused to repent
only Lot and his family were warned. The                  of his sin.
Sodomites were not even informed of a destruction           Do not think ill of this king because he asked that
coming in a matter of hours. Here is a warning with       question. Did Jesus not ask on His cross, "My God,
a period of time for repentance.                          My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" All ques-
  Now the idea is not that God is going to give           tioning of God's ways is not sinful. Well might the
them a chance to be saved. God takes no chances           Gentiles in Nineveh wonder whether the God,
and gives no chances. He is not a gambler. He eter-       Who had done so much for the Israelites, would
nally decreed all things that will happen, and in         also do so much for Ninevites. They believed that
time executes what He sovereignly, unchangeably           He could, but would He?
and eternally decreed. Because He had eternally             The point is that the king was given to see, and to
decreed to bring some of these Ninevites to the           call the attention of the Ninevites to the fact, that
faith and repentance, He in His grace warned them,        the cross of Christ is the only hope of salvation. No,
and then applied that warning by His Spirit. He           he did not see that cross itself. He did not even see
specified forty days, not so that the Ninevites could     the Old Testament types and shadows of it. He had
help Him make His counsel stand, for He needs no          no picture of it in the bloody sacrifices to look at;
help. But the forty-day-period is given so that every     and the cross would not be there yet for hundreds
last elect Ninevite in that great city might be con-      of years. But he saw two basic truths, namely, that
tacted with this warning and gospel, and might by         what happened at the cross was indispensable for
His grace be brought not merely to fear of physical       our salvation, and that God would have to do some-
harm and woe, but to sorrow for sin and faith in          thing without our help. Man cannot turn the
God.                                                      Almighty One. Man cannot make Him repent and
  But the. cross of Christ is also here for the Nine-     turn away from His fierce anger. Man can, after
vites. Jonah did not preach it, or want to preach it.     God begins the work of salvation in him, cry
He did not urge the Ninevites to repent and ap-           mightily to God. But his cry will have to be that
proach God through the blood of a lamb. He did not        God fulfills all the conditions of our salvation. Our
offer to sacrifice for them. He did not hold up           turning and repenting will not save us. Our turning
before their eyes a picture of that cross by telling      and repenting are due to the fact that God has
them of the types and shadows that Israel had. But        already begun salvation in us.
God did so through the king of Nineveh, when He             That which we, on this side of Pentecost, now
moved him to command the people to cry mightily
to God and then said, "Who can tell if God will turn      see as the repenting and turning away of Gods
                                                          fierce anger is the cross. There God turns in the
and repent, and turn away from His fierce anger,
that we perish not?"                                      sense that He, having the vials of His holy wrath
                                                          against our sins in His hand, turns away from us.to
  Now our King James Version does not bring this          pour these vials out upon His Son, yea, pours them
out as clearly and powerfully as the Hebrew does -        out upon HIMSELF - His Son in our flesh. Surely
although the KJV by no means denies it or fails to        we could not make Him do that! God does not turn
suggest it  - for what the king said was, "But let        off His holy wrath. He cannot wink at sin or forget
man . . . cry mightily to Elohim . . . Who can tell if    it. But He can turn to pour it out on Him Whom He
Elohim will turn and repent . . . ?" And that name        had eternally decreed to be our Head and represen-
Elohim means The Almighty One. Doing so the               tative, and Whom He in His love and grace sent in-
king expresses his own conviction that God  can           to our flesh.
"turn and repent and turn from His fierce anger."
He does not question God's ability to save Nineveh;         Do we not read in John 3:16 that He gave His on-
but he is not sure yet of His intent. We have a           ly begotten Son that we might not perish but have
similar example in Matthew 8:2 where a leper, who         everlasting life? Did He not through Isaiah say that
had a much richer doctrinal background, said to           He laid on Him the iniquity of us all, and that He
Jesus, "Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou  canst make me           was wounded for our transgression, bruised for our
clean." He wanted healing, and was absolutely             iniquities, Isaiah  53:5,  6? Does Paul not write in II
sure that Jesus could. But he had no way of know-         Corinthians 5:21 that He was made to be sin for us,
ing whether Jesus intended to do so. This does not        that we might be made the righteousness of God in
mean that neither the king nor that leper had faith       Him?
in God. They both did, and later on they both               God does not turn in the sense that He changes


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                              231



His mind. All this was eternally planned. The cross          God the way we would about each other. We  ex-
was the execution of an eternal plan. The saving of          `perience a change in our lives, but God planned it
Nineveh likewise was decreed before the world                unchangeably from eternity.
began. The cross was no after-thought or repair                 How clear it ought to be to us then that the king
work. The saving of Nineveh was not due to a                 was correct. God had to fulfill all the conditions of
change of God's mind. It looks that way to us who            our salvation, and did so through the cross of His
are so limited in our vision and do not know what            only begotten Son. We could not bring forth in a
God has for us in the future outside of the broad            human nature one without sin, and one who could
lines of prophecy in His Word. But God never turns           bring an everlasting punishment to an end. We
around. He goes straight forward to execute in               could not realize a virgin birth so that a divine Per-
minutest detail His eternal counsel.                         son could come into human flesh. No, God must
  The word  nmham,  which'is here translated re-             turn, repent, and turn away from His fierce anger.
pent, has the root meaning of lament, be grieved,            We cannot turn Him, make Him repent and turn
find no pleasure. When it refers to one's attitude           away from His wrath. He designed and realized the
towards one's own works, it is translated as be              cross of His own Son.
comforted or repent. And although it is translated             And when, after forty days, Nineveh was not
more often as "be comforted," the context here cer-          overthrown, the believing Ninevites saw that God's
tainly reveals that God repents, that is, finds no           fierce anger was not only turned away from
pleasure. Here in Jonah 3:9 it means that God finds          Israelites but also from believing Ninevites. They
no pleasure in pouring out the vials of His holy             did not see the cross as we now can see it by God's
wrath upon those whose sins have already been ful-           grace. But they did see the same fruit of that cross
ly paid for by His Son. Rather He will turn away             that the whole church of God enjoys. And
from doing anything like that. And because eternal-          remember that even the disciples after Jesus' resur-
ly He saw His elect in Christ, He never found                rection did not see that cross as they did from the
delight in punishing them. To us as creatures of             day of Pentecost onward. They and we see that
time it looks as though there is a change or turning         Ninevites as well as Israelites are saved by that
in God, and that He repents, but note Revelation             cross, and that Gentiles as well as Jews are saved by
13:8 which speaks of ". . . the Lamb slain from the          Christ's blood. God's justice must be satisfied, and
foundation of the world." Because we are creatures           it was by the cross of Christ for the whole church of
of time, we must often speak to each other about             God.





                      "Good Morning, Alice" ( 18)
                                                  Gise J. Van Baren





  It was discouraging, even depressing, for the               each night to prepare her for sleep. She still needed
family to see Alice so completely helpless - yet so           her limbs adjusted exactly to her liking. But
fully conscious of everything. It was as though she           especially her head had to be in a proper angle:
was trapped, imprisoned, in her own body. She was            with the bed head turned up, and a pillow at the
there; we knew she was there - but only her eyes             precise, proper place under her neck. This pro-
seemed to show it. It took longer and longer also            vided the best way of keeping air passages open so
                                                              that she could breathe most easily through the
                                                              night. She must have thought often that there was
Gise J. Van Baren is pastor of the Protestant Reformed        the real possibility that she would not live through
Church of Hudsonvilb, Michigan.                               the night.


232                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



Good Morning Alice:                                           difficult their life is?) Yes, but really they should try to
   I think I can understand just a little more now, why       understand and make things easier and more pleasant
when you keep the first part of the law, you will keep        for me; they know what I want. (But do I ever stop and
the second; and if you keep the second, you have kept         try to understand their needs and desires? Have I
the first. Do you understand what I mean? Actively            thought lately of their emotional and spiritual needs?)
thinking often during the day that God is God, and              Let's both remember again today that God is God -
desiring to live my life in obedience to Him and not be       our God - a God Who demands that we love Him
selfish to do my own will, I do desire to love others,        above all, and our neighbor as ourselves; and then
and live for them. I am not saying I succeeded in think-      when we are about to grumble, we will understand that
ing God is my God  every hour yesterday; I failed             we are not loving one another. Then like later today,
miserably.                                                    when I'm in a hurry to get groceries {as I always am), if
  And yet, I did learn something; learn experientially        I'm tempted to grouch at my little one, I'll know that it
that is. I've learned I can not harp at my children with      is not right, but a selfish way of blaming him for my not
the thought "God is God" still ringing in my mind. It is      handling my time properly.
simply impossible to snap back at my husband's wishes           And later this evening when we visit with friends, if
while I am consciously remembering, "Is the blessing of       the conversation gets led in directions where it
the Lord upon this?"                                          shouldn't be (as it sometimes can}, I will forget my
   Yet, human as we are, we are going to fail. Just as        foolish pride and say that we are not glorifying God.
Peter started sinking when he took his eyes offJesus, so         Oh, Alice, Alice, we fall so far short! There is so
as soon as we are no longer conscious of God in our           much to examine and change!
lives, we are bound to sin.                                     It is with tears in my eyes that I write: if God takes
  Knowing all this, I must still examine my attitude to       you before me, rejoice! Rejoice in that perfect salvation
others to be aware of the many ways I tend not to love        that will be youvs, and that you will no longer have to
others. (It's hard to say "hate others", and yet, what is     struggle against the ever constant sin and self-pride that
it, if it isn't love?)                                        is in us.
   Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself                       Won't it be glorious to serve God perfectly?!?
  Here again I'm afraid my own sinful self-love comes                                          In His love, Your friend!
out. I have thought a lot about the right way to love         Please read Ps. 29:ll
myself as the text commands, and I am far from cleur
on it. I just don't know. It seems like any way I could          We knew that the time would shortly come
love myself would be pride. I do however know that            when decisions would have to be made about
wrong, sinful way of how I love myself                        Alice's hospitalization. With that was also the ques-
  All too often I get upset at the way another Christian      tion of the use of a respirator  - for ALS patients
lives. (How can she be a child of God!) But then I must       often are kept alive for months and years with that.
remember my own sins and say with Paul: "I am chief           We had a supply of oxygen at John's house in case
of sinners."                                                  that was needed, and an aspirator to clear out her
                                                              throat. But she refused to use all of this until the
  Do I love my children? Then I will strive to train          last few days of her life - when she conceded that
them according to Scripture in the fear of the Lord, and      the aspirator could give some relief. Thankfully,
not correct them sarcastically to make my own life            God made a final decision concerning hospitaliza-
easier.                                                       tion unnecessary.
  Do I love my husband? Then knowing what he                  Good Morning Alice:
desires of me, I will strive to do just that and not think
(or say) he could easily do that himself.                        What a comforting verse today's is - especially after
                                                              we know how far short we fall from obeying God's law
  I guess above all else, the proper way to love another      for our lives.
is to show them in my every word and action what God
has done for me.                                                   The Lord will give
                                                                   strength to His people;
   Why is it, Alice, that the more I think of the proper           The Lord will bless
way to love God and others, my own  selfishness                    His people with peace.
always gets in the way? Do you have that in your life?
Does that plague every child of God? Do you find                Another beautiful promise God graciously gives to
yourself thinking: "Huh, they don't love me or they           His people.
would be different to me - show me more love. (But do           Recognizing how far short we fall from obeying
I show a tender love to them?) Yes, but they just don't       God's law for our lives, we could become very de-
realize how difficult my life is. (But do I think of how      pressed.


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                    233



   But God is gracious! He doesn't save His people                What a beautiful morning! I guess it helps knowing
and then leave them to sorrow and distress. But time           that warmer weather is expected later in the week, but
and time again He gives us promises of strength and            the snow is beautiful.
peace.                                                           It's hard sometimes, when the apostles write of their
  Inner strength of soul and inner peace of heart and          experience as ministers of the gospel, to know just how
mind. What more can we ask for in this life?                   those verses fit into our lives.
  Read those promises often, Alice, and that inner                We don't preach Christ, and are placed in bonds as
strength of soul and peace of heart will rule over the         Paul was, and yet, living as true children of God, we
present turmoii your body is going through and will            will experience suffering and persecutions. And then,
carry you on in peace.                                         upheld by the prayers of fellow saints, and encouraged
                                     With love, Your friend    in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, we hope. And then in
                                                               that hope - that assured confidence, in life or in death,
Please read I John 4:15-l 7                                    we are faithful to Christ.
   While living in Illinois, Alice had gone every                It must be our desire that others may see in us that
week to Hazel to have her hair washed and set, and             we give Him all honor and glory.
when necessary, cut. On March 12, Hazel made the
trip to Grand Rapids to visit Alice - something so               Let us then, in this day and everyday - in living and
deeply appreciated. In fact, Hazel even gave Alice             dying, magnify Christ Jesus our Savior.
her last haircut. Alice enjoyed the visits from old                                                In His love, Your friend
friends, for this all helped to pass the weary hours           Please read Luke 12:22-34
of lying on that bed. These visits helped her also to
cling to a more happy and pleasant past. But when                Shortly before Alice passed away, a second nurse
each left, the sad reality of her present condition            was obtained to help Alice and stay with her
seemed to overwhelm her.                                       through the night: Jane. Since someone had to be
                                                               with her all of the time now, it seemed wise to us to
Good Morning, Alice:                                           have a registered nurse at night. It was another
  Did you read I John 4:15-l 7 yesterday? Can you at           reminder that her condition had worsened over the
all imagine that we may have boldness in the day of            past weeks.
judgment? John's epistles are as hard for me as some of        Good Morning Alice:
David's statements in the Psalms. Hard because the
more I know myself, the more I know my sin and the               Well, I did it again! I just wrote way too many verses
less I see how God can live in me.                             for you to read. When I chose them yesterday, it just
                                                               didn't seem like you could have one of them on your
  And yet, I believe I am a child of God, and He tells         mind without the rest of them explaining it. I'm just not
me through His Word that He does dwell in me. And I            ready to write anything to you yet when I don't know
may believe that my love will be made perfect - com-           how it applies to me.
pletely accomplished, when in the day of judgment I              I think the two most important thoughts are: "0 ye
may have boldness - only because as He is, so am I in          of little faith", and, "For where your treasure is, there
this world. Hard to understand? It certainly is - and is       will your heart be also."
only by grace; only by grace.                                    Read Luke 12:22-34 again, Alice, thinking of your-
  Can you imagine, Alice, how close John must have             self as you read them, as I will.
been to God to write this? Yes, I know he was inspired
to write it, but God didn't make him write words he                             "`See you" tomorrow, Love, Your friend
didn't believe. And hard as it seems - we may believe
it too, because it's all of Him!!                                  The Standard Bearer
                                     With love, Your friend
Please read Phil. 1:19-20                                         is a wonderfi.41  source
   The vaporizer had now become another impor-                          of study material
tant part of Alice's night. Each evening, there was
the ritual of cleaning and filling it with water. The
moisture made breathing easier and made her more
comfortable. She did not particularly pay attention            1  for the whole family.
to our activity, but we know that she appreciated                             Read and study
anything which would make her nights a bit more
bearable.                                                                the Standard Bearer.
Good Morning Alice:


234                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER



WALKING IN THE LIGHT
Herman C. Hanko





          Moral Aspects of Medical Technology
                                                               (141


  In our last article we were discussing what others              licit aura about it and it reinforces feelings of guilt.
have to say about artificial insemination by                      Even the AID mother may struggle with feelings of
husbands (AIH) and artificial insemination by                     guilt and fear because of efforts to conceal the fact
donors (AID). We consider it important to quote ex-               to friends, relatives and the child."
tensively from other writers to demonstrate: 1) that                   Each of these is elaborately dealt with in the arti-
the problem is so acute as to require elaborate treat-            cle. But of special interest is the matter of incest in
ment by many ethicists; 2) that, while there is some              ignorance. The article states:
disagreement of opinion on these issues, evangel-
ical scholars who condemn such practices are in                           The practice of keeping the sperm donors anony-
the majority.                                                           mous increases the possibility of accidental incest.
                                                                        English doctors at one time limited the semen dona-
  Some additional arguments have been raised                            tions of a man so that he would not father more than
which we can briefly mention. We have acquired                          100 children. The average sperm-bank donor in the
these from the Spring, 1986 issue of the  Calvary                       United States is used for up to six pregnancies and
Baptist Theological Journal.                                            some for as many as fifty pregnancies. The possibility
                                                                        for inbreeding between half brothers and half sisters
  Jay E. Adams is quoted in this article as opposing                    later in life is great, especially where the communities
artificial insemination whether AIH or AID on the                       are smaller.
grounds that it involves masturbation, the possibil-                   Legal problems are many. The article quotes J.
ity of adultery, the great temptation put to those in-            Kerby Anderson:
volved and the doubts regarding the rightness of                          There are three important reasons why a child con-
the process.                                                            ceived through AID must legally be declared the child
  The article also raises some practical problems.                      of the couple. First, there must be certainty of child
These problems are first of all social.                                 support in the event of desertion or divorce. Second,
                                                                        there must be clear lines of legal inheritance. Third,
       Among the social problems caused by AID are                      there must be legal precedents to establish that AID
   marital problems, children who are born into  single-                does not constitute adultery. In occasional cases,
   parent relationships, human eugenic programs, doc-                   courts have ruled that AID constituted sufficient
   tors who are not thoroughly trained in ethics, incest in             grounds for divorce due to adultery (Genetic En-
   ignorance, legal problems and the need for laws, and                 gineering, p. 31).
   surrogate mothering and test-tube babies.                           The Biblical arguments against AID are the same
  Marital problems which may arise include the                    as those against surrogate motherhood, for which
psychological effects upon a `husband who views                   see our last article in The Standard Bearer.
the need to resort to AID as a blow to his manhood.                    We come now to a discussion of our own opin-
"The man may feel that he is living a lie when he                 ions concerning these various methods which
accepts congratulations on his wife's pregnancy.                  have been invented by science to bring children in-
Because the procedure is kept secret, there is an il-             to childless homes.  r
Herman C. Hanko is professor of New Testament and                      It is important that our readers understand our
Church History in the Protestant Reformed Seminary.               great sympathy for those who have been deprived


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                               235



by the Lord of having children. We discussed this at       While recognizing that many practical problems
some length in an earlier article and need not repeat    arise from these techniques and while assuring our
here what we have already said. But, while under-        readers that these practical problems are by no
standing and sympathizing with the agony of              means insignificant, we are here more interested in,
childless couples, we nevertheless need to affirm        principle objections.
that God is sovereign also in giving and withhold-         The first of these deals with the intrusion into the
ing children, and in His dealings He is always wise;     marriage bond of a third (or even fourth) party. And
and to His people He is always good. He knows not        along with this, we need to say something about
only to whom to give children and from whom to           artificial means of conception and birth.
withhold them; He also knows how many children
to give to each family. This has been determined           God has created the family as part of His creation
eternally, and God's determinations are always in        ordinance. The family is a reflection of the cove-
the light of His whole counsel and plan. He knows        nant life which God lives within His own triune be-
the beginning from the end and does all things that      ing. God, if I may put it that way, is a family God.
His purpose may be accomplished. Sometimes               The human family is patterned after this as a reflec-
saints have to rest in this, knowing that the will of    tion of God's covenant life which He lives in
the Lord must become their will.                         Himself. While man has, through sin, terribly
                                                         perverted these relationships, they are restored in
  This does not preclude the use of medical help         Christ' for the elect, and once again, redeemed
when various organic difficulties make child-            families are covenant families, reflecting the rela-
bearing difficult. But when all medical help has         tion between God and His people in Christ. This, to
been exhausted, a child of God must submit to the        our mind, is fundamental. It is of some disappoint-
ways of Jehovah Who does all things well.                ment to us that all the articles and books we have
  It has also been sometimes argued that because         read on this subject make no mention of Gods
medical science is given also for the benefits of the    covenant. A covenantal approach seems to us to be
child of God, whatever medical science is capable of     of criticial importance.
doing is for the child of God. This is often coupled       A covenant family consists of a husband and
with the argument that God originally commanded          wife united by God in holy marriage. The two of
man to subdue the earth. These various techniques        them together constitute a unity, a whole so com-
which have been invented to bring children into          plete that they are together one flesh. In this
childless homes are part of subduing the earth, and      respect they reflect the relation between God and
therefore good. Thus, without further argument, if       His church through Christ. Marriage is a great
science has invented methods of giving children to       mystery, Paul says, but "I speak concerning Christ
childless couples, this is prima facie legitimate. We    and the church." In this relationship there is no
reject such argumentation. While in some instances       room for a third party. If a third party is brought in,
this is certainly true  - as, e.g., in the cure of       the relationship is violated and corrupted. If a third
various diseases  - science is basically anti-God.       party would be brought into the covenant relation
Man has chosen to rule the universe which is put         between God and His people, this would also be a
under him so that he can use it and all its powers to    violation and corruption of the covenant. God can-
engage in sin and rebellion. While the creation          not and will not love someone other than His elect
itself is good (though under the curse) and while its    bride, the church. So also the introduction of a third
powers are for the service of man, it does not take      party into the marriage relation is a violation and
much thought to see that man uses these powers           corruption of it. Surrogate motherhood and AID do
repeatedly in the service of sin. One need only          this. These techniques do this mechanically and ar-
think of how television is used in the propagation of    tificially, but they do this none the less. A third par-
the lie and of how the great gift of music is used to    ty is introduced into the marriage, and no line of
spread every sexual perversion. Because science          argumentation can possibly gainsay this. This is a
has succeeded in developing techniques which can         corruption of this most holy of all bonds and an im-
abort a fetus without physical harm to the mother        permissible violation of it.
(we cannot say, without great psychological harm),
this does not mean that the Christian may make use         Within that covenant family are normally born
of such techniques.                                      children who become a part of it. In fact, our Mar-
  With many of the arguments advanced against            riage Form proceeds from the assumption that mar-
surrogate motherhood and artificial insemination         riage has as one of its purposes the bringing forth of
we agree. We need not repeat them here; we want          children. Several times children are mentioned in
only to call attention to a couple of these arguments    the form, and the mention of them is always put in
which, in our judgment, are particularly per-            such a way that it is but normal that children result
suasive.                                                 from marriage. The point here is that, unless God


236                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



Himself withholds children from parents, children         this sacred relationship is a horrible desecration of
are a normal and natural part of the covenant farni-      it. Any form of surrogate motherhood as well as
ly. That is, they are a normal and natural part of        any form of AID can only disrupt this relationship,
that exclusive bond which exists between husband          demean it, corrupt it, break the unity of one flesh
and wife.                                                 that God has ordained. Even AIH  - artificial in-
  God has ordained that husband and wife,                 semination by husband - is a mechanical intrusion
through marriage, become one flesh. As Paul points        into this sacred relationship. The act of child-
out, this is a great mystery; and the wonder of           bearing is divorced from the act of love in inter-
becoming one flesh is past definition. As the rela-       course. In animal husbandry surrogate parenthood,
tion between Christ and His church is a mystical          artificial insemination and other techniques to im-
union, so is the union of husband and wife. Only a        prove the quality of a herd are readily used. We are
little can be said about this in the feebleness of our    not animals, but rational moral creatures, and to
understanding. Surely husband and wife become             reduce men to animals is to deny their place in the
one flesh in the deepest and highest sense of the         creation.
word when'they are together one in Christ, when             This emphasis on the covenant character of the
Christ is their Head before Whom they both bow.           home brings another point up which needs strongly
As one in Christ they become one in mind and will,        to be emphasized. God is pleased, according to the
for their minds and wills, both separate, neverthe-       provisions of His covenant, to save His people in
less become in the deepest spiritual sense of the         the lines of continued generations. Believing
word, the mind and will of Christ. But they become        fathers and believing mothers bring forth children
one flesh also in their life together, and especially     in the confident hope that these children, because
in their love for each other. Their life and love are     they are born from believers, are included into the
the life and love of Christ their Head, to Whom           everlasting covenant of grace. These children are
they both belong.                                         not saved simply by virtue of the fact that the
  God has wonderfully ordained that this unity of         parents are believers, of course; they are saved by
life and love is expressed in sexual intercourse. To-     virtue of God's determination to save His church in
gether they become one flesh in this act, an act also,    the line of generations and include children of
though degraded to unbelievable extremes by               believers in His covenant. Hence covenant parents
wicked men, which is a picture of the mystical rela-      see their children as a heritage of the Lord and as
tion between Christ and His elect bride. It is a unity    olive branches round about their tables.
of  love because it is an expression of their mutual        If one understands this, then surrogate mother-
love for each other in the Lord. It is a unity of life    hood and AID are a violation of covenant prin-
because they join themselves by this act in giving        ciples. Children born in this way are born, not from
life to children who become a part of the covenant        believing parents (in the case of at least one parent)
family. When one thinks about it, it is in children       but are born through artificial techniques which fly
especially that husband and wife become one flesh,        in the face of covenantal truths and mutilate God's
for children are the flesh of father and mother.          covenant beyond recognition. The curses which
How beautiful and wondrous are the ways of God.           Scripture says will come upon those who trample
  If this is only understood properly, one can also       under foot for His covenant will come upon those
understand that any intrusion of a third party into       who will not recognize this simple truth.


                                       Book Reviews

DYNAMICS IN PASTORING,  Jacob Firet; Wm.                  John Vriend. Jacob Firet has been Professor of Prac-
B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., Grand Rapids, Michi-          tical Theology at the Free University of Amsterdam
gan. 319 pp. (cloth) $24.95. (Reviewed by Prof. R.D.      since 1968.
Decker)                                                     Firet writ-es: "At the heart of pastoral  role-
  This book was originally published in 1968 as a         fulfillment is not the activity of a human being, but
doctoral dissertation. It has gone through five print-    the action of God who, by way of the official ministry as
ings since then and is required reading in a number       intermediary, comes to people in his word. It seems
of theological seminaries in Europe. The present          both necessary and possible to take this position as
English edition was translated from the Dutch by          our point of departure for the construction of .a


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                               237



model of pastoral role-fulfillment." (p. 15) This            ORTHODOXY AND ORTHOPRAXIS IN THE
statement sounds Reformed and, standing by itself,.          REFORMED COMMUNITY TODAY,  edited by
it is. But, what does Firet mean by "his", i.e., God's       John Bolt; Paideia Press, 1986; 160 pp., $7.95
Word? Firet answers this question: "In the                   (paper). (Reviewed by Prof. H. Hanko.)
preceding we have made continual reference to                  This book contains the papers which were de-
`the word of God.' It became plain that this phrase          livered at a conference held at Redeemer College,
did not serve simply as the equivalent of `Holy              Hamilton, Ontario on May 30 -June 1 last year. Ac-
Scripture.' We confess that Holy Scripture is `the           cording to the introduction of this book, "the con-
word of God,' but that thesis is not reversible. With        ference was called to explore  the. problem of
the phrase `the word of God' we meant `What God              polarization in the Christian Reformed community,
says to us human beings and we hear from him.' In            to come to greater clarity on- the reasons for
our situation, we may  add;- this cannot be some-            polarization and to promote healing by providing a
thing which has not been imparted through Holy               forum for dialogue and discussion." The rather
Scripture. Our interest, however, lies in another            strange word "orthopraxis," a word which has
point, namely, in the word of God `coming to pass'           come into general use only in the last four or five
or in what we meant by `the coming of God in his             years, means, again according to the introduction,
word.' Of that coming of God in his word we have             "true or right moral and social action." So the book
offered a few characterizations and seen something           deals with sound doctrine and sound practice as
significant." (p. 39) This sounds like a `Barthian'          that relates to the present polarization in the
concept of the Word of God. And it is, for Firet ad-         Reformed community.
mits: "In selecting these three fundamental con-
cepts we display a certain similarity to K. Barth.             We cannot give a lengthy review of the book,
Barth describes the ministry of the church  - and            mainly because this would involve an analysis of
this includes the calling of every Christian  - with         different papers by different speakers and this
the word `witness.' In that witness he distinguishes         review would then become a book in itself. The
three components: `declaration, exposition, and ad-          best we can do is give the titles of the papers and of-
dress, or the proclamation, explication, and applica-        fer a few comments. The titles are as follows: 1)
tion of the Gospel as the Word of God entrusted to           The Problem of Polarization in the Christian Re-
it."' (p. 43. cf. also pp. 52, 53.)                          formed Community, by John Bolt  - a defense of
                                                             the position that polarization in the CRC is due to
  Firet defines what he calls "pastoral role-fulfill-        controversy over orthodoxy and orthopraxis; 2) The
ment" as the intermediary of God's coming in his             Changing Face of Truth, by John Cooper  - a
Word. God comes in three modes: preaching                    defense of the traditional understanding of truth; 3)
(herygma),  catechetical instruction  (diduche),  and        Heresy and Toleration, by John Van Dyke - a con-
pastoral care  (parc&Zesis).  (cf. pp. 43-82.) He insists    demnation of modern ideas of heresy and a plea for
that all three of these modes through which God              the unity of the church; 4) Confessing the Reformed
comes to us are functions: "particularly of the              Faith Today, by Gordon Spykman  - a defense of
church as fellowship in Christ." (p. 89)                     the "Contemporary Testimony" as an aid in restor-
  When Firet speaks of "dynamics in pastoring,"              ing unity against our common enemy, seculariza-
he makes a distinction between "the hermeneutic              tion; 5) Why Apartheid is not a Heresy, by Henry
moment' ' - the impetus toward understanding  -              Vander Goot - an excellent analysis and critique of
and the "agogic moment"  - the impetus toward                the decision of the CRC which branded apartheid
change. In practice these two merge and presup-              a heresy; 6) The "Women-in Office" Issue: How
pose one another. For the purpose of theological             Crucial is It?, by Nelson Kloosterman - a condem-
analysis and research, however, they must be dis-            nation of Synod's decision approving women
tinguished. (cf. pp. 95-124.) The emphasis of the            deacons; 7) Liberating Secession or Lamentable
book is on the "agogic moment". When God comes               Schism: Can a Reformed Church Be Both
to people through the intermediary of pastoral role-         "Catholic" and "True," by John Bolt  - a plea for
fulfillment, he aims  at. a change in their  psycho-         the two wings of the church to stay together; 8) Re-
spiritual functioning. (pp. 231ff.)                          flections at the Conclusion of the "Orthodoxy and
                                                             Orthopraxis" Conference, by John Hulst.
  As is obvious from the excerpts quoted above
this book is full of difficult, technical terms. This          Further conferences are being planned and the
along with its style which inevitably suffers                papers of these conferences will also be published.
through a translation makes the book tough going.            Hence this volume has the general title: "Christian
One cannot just read through it. It is not intended          Reformed Perspectives, Volume I." The book is
for the layman, but is aimed at the Practical                rather important in order to understand what is
Theologians and students of Practical Theology.              happening in the CRC today.


238                                        THE STANDARD BEARER



VALIANT FOR TRUTH, THE STORY OF JOHN                           Probably because John Bunyan was a Puritan,
BUNYAN,  by- Anne Arnot; Wm. B. Eerdmans                  and concerned with his spiritual feelings, the
Publishing Co., 1985; 157 pp., $5.95 (paper).  (Re-       biography is at times excessively introspective. It
viewed by Gertrude Hoeksema)                              is, however, an enlightening and informative  ac-
  In this  accounr,  the author starts the story of       count not only of John Bunyan, but also of church
John Bunyan's life when he was in his teens, a reck-      life in his day. Recommended.
less, profane young man, who joined Cromwell's
army at the age of sixteen. Although the story traces
his life with his family in the context of the seven-            Love is sharing . . .
teenth century ecclesiastical and political structure
of England, the thrust of the biography is John Bun-                     Give a gift of
yan's spiritual struggle, from severe depression,
through his conversion, to his life as a preacher,
and later as a prisoner for the cause of God and His            the Standard Bearer.
Word.         -                                           I


                            Report of Classis East
                                               January 14, 1987




  Classis  East met in regular session on Wednes-         Classis  decided that the protest was not legally
day, January 14, 1987 at the First Protestant Re-         before it since it violated the stipulations of Article
formed Church of Grand Rapids. All the churches           31 of the Church Order.
were represented by two delegates. Rev. J.  Korter-            Subsidy requests for 1988 were received from
ing was the chair of this session.                        Covenant in the amount of $27,000 and from
  An overture to synod to amend its 1960 decision         Kalamazoo in the amount of $7,000. These requests
on the baptism of adopted children was forwarded          were approved and forwarded to synod. Covenant
with the disapproval of classis. The grounds (sum-        also requested adjustment of their 1987 subsidy
marized) were (1) that the brother had not shown          from $17,800 to $26,000. Grounds for the adjust-
that the 1960 decision needed amending and (2)            ment were that the size of the congregation has
that apart from the present practice of rarely            decreased from 11 families to 7 and that there has
removing children from adoptive parents, the legal        been an increase in expenses. Classis  approved this
aspect of baptism requires that all the legal aspects     adjustment.
of the adoption must be completed before baptism               The following delegates  ad examina  were chosen:
be administered since only legal parents or guard-        Rev. W. Bekkering to a three-year  primus  term,
ians may present a child for baptism.                     Rev. J. Slopsema to a three-year secundus term, and
  Appeals to synod re  classis' decisions on mar-         Rev. R. Miersma to a one-year secundus term. Rev.
riage, divorce and remarriage were heard and for-         S. Key was elected to serve a three-year term on the
warded to synod for adjudication.  Classis  con-          classical committee. Delegates to synod are as
sidered the matter finished at this level since the       follows: MINISTERS:  Primi:  M. Joostens, M.
essential arguments and principles had been con-          Kamps, J. Kortering, J. Slopsema; Secundi: W. Bek-
sidered and answered.                                     kering, B. Gritters, R. Miersma, B. Woudenberg;
  A protest of a synodical decision to suggest revi-      ELDERS:  Primi:  D. Doezema, D. Engelsma, C.
sion of the constitution of the Contact Committee         Prince, R. Teitsma; Secundi: P. Koole, C. Kuiper, G.
was forwarded to synod without comment on the             Kuiper, J. Van  Baren. Revs. Heys and C. Hanko
ground that this was a procedural matter and only         were chosen as church visitors.
synod could decide on matters of its own pro-                  Expenses amounted to $817.75. Classis  will meet
cedure.                                                   next on Wednesday, May 13, 1987 at Southeast
  Classis  also considered a protest from a brother       Prot. Ref. Church.
against advice given him by a consistory re visita-       Respectfully submitted,
tion of his children with his divorced spouse.           Jon Huisken, Stated Clerk


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                239



                          News From Our Churches
                                                     Ben Wigger


                                    February 15, 1987       researching various possibilities which include
  Rev. den Hartog and his family have now made              remodeling of the current building, purchasing
their way across the country and are settling in to         another existing church, or buying property and
the new routine of Randolph, Wisconsin.                     building a new church. This committee has been
  Rev. den Hartog was scheduled to be installed as          talking with the Word of Life Church, which
pastor of Randolph on Friday, January 23. How-              presently is for sale. The Word of Life Church has
ever, before the den Hartogs arrived in Randolph            offered the congregation in Lynden the use of their
they made a couple of stops::one in Lynden, Wash-           building for one of their services. The Consistory is
ington, and another in  Doon, Iowa.                         considering this offer.
  The consistory of Lynden asked Rev. den Hartog              And one more item from Lynden. The congrega-
to preach for them on Old Year's Evening and for            tion decided to broadcast their sermons on radio
the next Sunday afternoon service. While in                 station KNIR on Sunday mornings, although at the
Lynden, Rev. den Hartog also gave a talk on his             present time I have no information when this will
labors in Singapore, along with a question and              start, or at w.hat  time.
answer period on Sunday evening, January 11.                  Lynden congregation is not the only group trying
  The den Hartogs then left Lynden early the next           to deal with over-crowding. Covenant Christian
week and made their way to Doon, Iowa. Sunday,              High School in Walker, Michigan is also facing the
January 18, Rev. den Hartog conducted the morn-             same "problem". A special society meeting was
ing service. While in  Doon the congregation ar-            called to convene on January 29. The agenda in-
ranged an evening for the purpose of greeting Rev.          cluded a petition and a proposal to approve Phase I
den Hartog and family, and at the same time to              of the master building plan. Although the master
thank them for their seven years of labor in                plan covers three phases, Phase I as proposed
Singapore, as their missionary and family, and to           should serve the enrollment for approximately six
bid them farewell. Rev. den Hartog planned to               years. According to the information I have re-
show a few slides and to talk about the present             ceived, Phase I would add four new classrooms and
situation in Singapore and the future of our work of        two restrooms to the west end of Covenant, as well
missions in that area.                                      as enlarge the office and staff areas.
  Rev. and Mrs. den Hartog and their six children             The Evangelism Committee of South Holland has
then left Doon and arrived in Randolph some time            prepared their Pastors' recent series of sermons on
during the day Monday, January 19. An announce-             Prayer in two boxed sets of cassette tapes. The first
ment in Randolph's bulletin advised the congrega-           set of six sermons on three tapes consists of the in-
tion that the den Hartogs were still in need of some        troductory sermons on the necessity and require-
items to begin housekeeping; furniture for the liv-         ments of prayer. The second set of eleven sermons
ing room and bedrooms, and some winter clothing.            on six tapes consists of sermons explicating the
                                                            Lord's Prayer. The cost is $15 for the first set and
  I just can't help but wonder how the den Hartogs          $21 for the second set. This committee has also put
are adjusting to winter in the Northern United              together Rev. Engelsma's recent series on "The
States. The average year round temperature in               Biblical Doctrine of Election" in a set of cassette
Singapore is 80". Right now the temperature in              tapes. There are eight sermons on four tapes. the
Michigan is hovering around zero, and in Wiscon-            cost of this set is $15. All of these sets are available
sin it's even colder. Welcome to winter, Rev. and           by contacting Mr. Joe  Postma in care of South
Mrs. den Hartog, Sarah, Jonathon, Lisa, Amy,                Holland Protestant Reformed Church, 165 11 South
Timothy and Matthew!                                        Park Ave., South Holland, Illinois 60473.
  Our congregations in Lynden and  Doon are at-
tempting to begin church choral societies, for the            I was happy to learn that the Adams Street
purpose of coming together to sing praises to God.          Mothers Club Soup Supper is still an annual event.
                                                            It was scheduled for Thursday, ,February 12 in the
  The Consistory of Lynden has appointed a com-             basement of First Church. Over the years I wonder
mittee to look into possible solutions for their over-      how many bowls of soup have been eaten at that
crowding in church. This committee has been                 annual culinary event.
Ben Wigger is an elder.in the Protestant Reformed Church      The Ladies' Circle of Doon, Iowa also sponsored
of Hudsonville, Michigan.                                   their Soup Supper the night of January 23.


                                                                                                                         THE STANDARD BEARER
                                                                                                                               P.O. Box 6064
                                                                                                                      Grand Rapids, Michigan 49516





 240                                                         THE STANDARD BEARER

                     WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                                                        WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
    REVEREND AND MRS.  GISE VAN  BAREN celebrated their 30th                      On February 14, 1987, our parents and grandparents, MR. AND
 wedding anniversary on January 25, 1987. Their children and grand-            MRS. ALVIN DE YOUNG celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary.
 children are grateful to God for their love and covenant instruction in       We give thanks to our Heavenly Father for the love and covenant in-
 the years already past. It is our prayer that the Lord will preserve us in    struction they have given us. We pray that God will continue to bless
 our generations to be faithful unto Him.                                      and keep them in the years to come.
    "The Lord shall bless thee out of Zion: and thou shalt see the good           "The Lord shall bless thee out of Zion: and thou shalt see the good
 of Jerusalem all the days of thy life. Yea, thou shalt see thy children's     of Jerusalem all the days of thy life. Yea, thou shalt see thy children's
 children, and peace upon Israel." (Psalm 128:5, 6)                            children, and peace upon Israel." (Psalm 128:5, 6)
John and Valerie Van  Baren             Mike and Mary Van Overloop             Dan and Laura Schipper
    Jennifer, Jordan and Jill           Kevin and Denise Haan                     Bradley
 Bob and Carolyn Prins                  Gerald, Daniel, Philip,                Lisa De Young
    Kyle and Erik                          and Rachel Van Baren
                                                                                             RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
                RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                            The Priscilla Society of First Protestant Reformed Church mourns
                                                                               the loss of a dear, faithful member, MRS. BERTHA LOOYENGA, who
    The Council of Hope (Walker, Michigan) Protestant Reformed                 passed away suddenly on January 12, 1987.
 Church herewith extends its Christian sympathy to its fellow office
 bearer, Elder Alvin Rau in the death of his brother, GOTTLIEB RAU of             The Society also expresses its Christian sympathy to her two
 Aberdeen, South Dakota on January 7, 1987.                                    daughters-in-law and fellow members, Mrs. Stuart Looyenga and
                                                                               Mrs. Ted Looyenga. May God comfort them by His Word and Spirit,
    "And we know that all things work together for good to them that           "Thou shalt guide me with Thy counsel and afterward receive me to
 love God." (Remans 8:28)                                                      Glory." (Psalm 73:24)
 Rev. James Slopsema, Pres.                                                    Mrs.  Roselle Ezinga, President
 P. Koole, Clerk                                                               Miss Elaine Rietema, Secretary

                RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                                       RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
    The members of the Men's Society of the Hope Protestant Re-                   The Consistory of the Loveland Protestant Reformed Church, on
 formed Church of Walker, Michigan, wish to express their Christian            behalf of the congregation, expresses its heartfelt sympathy to Mr.
 sympathy to Alvin Rau in the death of his brother, GOTTLIEB RAU of            Clyde Campbell and family in the death of his beloved wife, VIOLA
 Aberdeen, South Dakota.                                                       CAMPBELL. May the Lord comfort the bereaved and sustain them in
                                                                               their sorrow by the power of His grace. "Precious in the sight of the
    "It is God that girdeth me with strength and maketh my way                 Lord is the death of His saints." (Psalm 116:15)
 perfect." (Psalm  18:32)                                                      Rev. Ron Cammenga, President
 Peter Koole, Pres.                                                            Mr. Larry Nelson, Clerk
 Milo Dewald, Sec'y.
                                                                                                            NOTICE!!!
                RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                            The South Holland Protestant Reformed Christian School seeks
                                                                               applications for an elementary school teacher for the 1987-1988
    The Men's Society of Southwest Protestant Reformed Church                  academic year. Please send resume' to Board Secretary, James Lant-
 hereby expresses sympathy to Mr. Basil Hafer and his family in the            ing, P.O. Box 156, South Holland, Illinois 60473.
 death of his father-in-law, MR. JAMES TIMMERMAN.
    "The Lord knoweth the days of the upright: and their inheritance                                        NOTICE!!!
 shall be forever." (Psalm 37:18)
                                                                                  Classis West of the Protestant Reformed Churches will meet in
 Phillip Lotterman, Pres.                                                      Hull, Iowa on Wednesday, March 4, 1987, at 8:30 AM, the Lord will-
 Bill DeKraker, Sec'y.                                                         ing.
                                                                               Rev. David Engelsma, Stated Clerk
                 LEAGUE MEETING NOTICE!!!                                                                   NOTICE!!!
    The Spring meeting of the League of Mr. and Mrs. Societies will be
 held, the Lord willing, on Tuesday, March 10, 1987, at 8 P.M.                    The Hope Protestant Reformed Christian School of Walker,
 Hosted by the Byron Center Protestant Reformed Church it will be              Michigan, is in need of a teacher/administrator for the forthcoming
 held at the Byron Center Christian Junior High School. Rev. J.                1987-l 988 school year.
 Slopsema will speak on "Family Devotions, Activities and Interac-                Any teachers inter&ted in applying for this position please write
 tions." All members and others interested in this topic are urged to          the school at 1545 Wilson Avenue, Grand Rapids, Ml 49504; or con-
 attend.                                                                       tact Clare Tinklenberg  (616) 457-3212, or Rich Van  Baren (616)
 John Streyle, Delegate of Society                                             531-8048.


