            The
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r            A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE                                           Y





       Therefore our chief and foremost desire is that Thy great
     and glorious name be exalted in all the earth. May all the
     angels serve and praise Thee. May all the forces of hell and
     of darkness, in spite of themselves, serve Thy purpose unto
     Thy eternal praise. Wilt Thou carry out the counsel of Thy
     will by Thy providential rule and control over all men and
     over all events of history, that the world-shaking happen-
     ings, but also the minutest detail may serve to the glory of
     Thy matchless Name. May the day be hastened when,every
     blasphemous mouth will be silenced, and every defiant
     transgressor of Thy law will be judged in righteousness, and
     Thy cause will be vindicated upon the earth.
                                                 See Meditation, page 458



                                                 Vol.  LXIII, No. 20, September 1, 1987  -


458                                                             THE STANDARD BEARER



                                                                                                                      THE STANDARD  BEARER
                                                                                                                               ISSN 0362-4692
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                                                                                                    Published by the Reformed Free Publishing Association, Inc.
   Meditation  -                                                                                         Second Class Postage Paid at Grand Rapids. Mich.
                                                                                     1 Editor-in-Chief:  Prof. Homer C. Hoeksema
       Our Foremost Desire . . . . . . . . .            . . . . . . . . . . . 458         Department Editors: Rev. Ronald Cammenga,  Rev. Arie den Hartog, Prof. Robert
                                                                                          D. Decker, Rev. Barry Gritters, Rev. Cornelius Hanko, Prof. Herman C. Hanko,
   Editor's Notes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .      . . . . . . . . . . . 461         Rev. Ronald Hanko, Rev. John A. Heys, Rev.              Kortering, Rev. George C. Lub-
                                                                                                                                             1
                                                                                          bers, Rev. Thomas C. Miersma, Rev. James S opsema, Rev. Gise J. Van  Baren,
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       Serious Call or Well-Meant Offer? (4) . . . . . . . . .464                                                 Hudsonville, Michigan 49426
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MEDITATION
Cornelius Hanko



                                            Our Foremost Desire

                   Ques. 122.         Which is the first petition?
                  Ans.       "Hallowed be thy Name"; that is, Grant us, first, rightly to know thee, and to sanc-
               tify, glorify and praise thee, in all thy works, in which thy power, wisdom, goodness, justice,
               mercy and truth are clearly displayed; and further also, that we may so order and direct our
               whole lives, our thoughts, words and actions, that thy name may never be blasphemed, but
               rather honored and praised on our account. Heidelberg Catechism, Lord's Day 47


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                            459



  We stand in the sanctuary, in the presence of our         to His marvelous light of covenant fellowship. He
God.                                                        blesses us with every spiritual blessing, guiding,
  We have addressed Him as our Father in                    protecting, leading us on the way of salvation to His
Heaven.                                                     everlasting mansions in the heavens. We hear Him
                                                            say: "I am thy God! Ye are My people, sons and
  In our thoughts we ask, "Let the words of my              daughters in My house!" To which we respond in
mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be accep-            humble adoration: "Father, hallowed by Thy
table in Thy sight, 0 Lord, my Strength, and my             Name! ' '
Redeemer." (Psalm 19: 14)                                     We become deeply aware that we stand on
  Therefore the more earnestly we lay aside for the         hallowed ground.
moment the many needs and desires that clamor                 We hide our faces in holy fear and adoration,
for expression, to ask ourselves, "What is my               even as the angels who worship God with their
greatest need, my deepest desire?"                          "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, heaven and
  What foremost desire must dominate and control            earth are full of Thy glory." For the Holy One of
all my petitions, my supplications, and my thanks-          Israel must receive all honor, worship and adora-
giving?                                                     tion, world without end. He is the Infinite One,
  That brings to mind the instruction of our Lord,          while we are but specks of dust. He is eternal,
"When thou prayest say, first of all, "Hallowed be          while we are children of time. He is our Creator
thy Name, Father."                                          and Sustainer, while we as dependent creatures
                                                            live out of His hand. He is pure and holy, while sin
  God's Name is God Himself as He reveals Him-              contaminates all that we say and do. In His mercy
self to us, that we may know Him, address Him,
and speak of Him.                                           He has taken us into His heart and life, that we may
                                                            know Him, the One only true and living God, that
  He has given us many names whereby we may                 we may glorify and praise Him in all the fulness of
have fellowship with Him, such as Lord, Almighty,           His glory.
Lord of hosts, Most High, Creator, Jehovah, Father,           In that consciousness we breathe the prayer:
and many more. All these names are summed up in
the one word: Name.                                         Father in heaven, Thine must be the glory forever
                                                            and ever!
  That Name, as our Catechism points out, in-
cludes all God's attributes, such as His "power,              Yes, Father, holy art Thou in Thy own perfect,
wisdom, goodness, justice, mercy and truth."                unique Being, far above and beyond all that is
                                                            creature, dwelling in the dazzling brightness of Thy
  Thus we see God's Name written across the                 glorious majesty, the ever blessed, adorable One!
heavens, in the sun by day, and in the moon and             To Thee belong incomparable power, majesty, and
stars by night. We hear His voice in the roaring            glory. Thou art necessarily consecrated unto Thy-
billows of the sea, in the raging of the storm and the      self as the only Good, the overflowing Fountain of
rattling of the thunder. We hear that Name                  all that is good. The angels hide their faces before
whispered in the rustling of the trees and the              Thee in humble worship and adoration. The devils
smoothly flowing streams. We say with the                   tremble in fear and terror. We mere creatures of the
Psalmist: "Unto Thee, 0 God, do we give thanks,             dust bow before Thee in deepest humility and self-
for that thy Name is near thy wondrous works                surrender, for it behooves us to cry out with the
declare." [Psalm  75:l) What a privilege we have,           prophet Isaiah, who saw Thy holiness that filled the
we who are so fearfully and wonderfully made, that          temple: "Woe is me! for I am undone: because I am
we may know Him, see Him, hear Him, recognize               a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a
Him in all the works of His hands!                          people of unclean lips." Thou art too pure of eyes to
  We have a far richer and more glorious revela-            have fellowship with sin; Thou dost justly turn Thy
tion of our heavenly Father in the holy Scriptures,         back to all workers of iniquity. It is only through
wherein He speaks to us as the God of our salvation         Thy Holy Child Jesus, our exalted Lord who inter-
in Jesus Christ. Through the means of His Word              cedes for us before Thy face, that we may claim
and by His Spirit in our hearts we experience the           Thee as our Father and worship Thee as sons in
inexhaustible riches of His grace, mercy, compas-           Thy house. For holy must Thy servants be, who in
sion, loving kindness, and faithfulness, as they are        Thy temple dwell!
renewed every morning. He has drawn us out of                 Therefore our chief and foremost desire is that
the darkness of sin and death and transferred us in-        Thy great and glorious name be exalted in all the
                                                            earth. May all the angels serve and praise Thee.
Cornelius Hanho is a minister emeritus in the Protestant    May all the forces of hell and of darkness, in spite
Reformed Churches.                                          of themselves, serve Thy purpose unto Thy eternal


460                                        THE STANDARD BEARER



praise. Wilt Thou carry out the counsel of Thy will      our joy and blessedness be solely in Thee, in Thy
by Thy providential rule and control over all men        glory.
and over all events of history, that the  world-               Our desire is that we may no more live unto
shaking happenings, but also the minutest detail         ourselves, but only unto Thee, our Father in
may serve to the glory of Thy matchless Name.            heaven, as obedient children and heirs of the
May the day be hastened when every blasphemous           kingdom. May we live daily as Thy workmanship,
mouth will be silenced, and every defiant trans-         created in Christ Jesus unto those good works
gressor of Thy law will be judged in righteousness,      -which Thou hast before ordained for each of us to
and Thy cause will be vindicated upon the earth.         walk therein. May we serve our own peculiar pur-
  Remember Thy church in compassion in these             pose according to our appointed place in Thy
perilous times. She is like a  defenceless flock of      church, using the gifts entrusted to us in Thy fear
sheep surrounded by ravening wolves, which seek          and to Thy glory.
to devour her. Lord, Thou knowest the wrestlings               We ask, "That we may so order and direct our
of Thy saints against principalities, against powers,    lives, our thoughts, words, and actions, that Thy
against the rulers of the darkness of this world,        Name may never be blasphemed, but rather
against spiritual wickedness in high places. Thou        honored and praised on our account." We do have
art deeply aware of the heresies of every sort loom-     a tremendous influence upon others, far more than
ing up everywhere, so that nothing remains that          we realize, often unintentionally and unawares, as
has not been corrupted by their deceptions. Foun-        parents in the home, as family members, as those
dations are shaken; Thy holy Word is undermined,         who sit next to each other in the church and rub
despised and denied. False teachers present a form       elbows during the week. We say things we should
of godliness, but make merchandise of Thy church.        never have said, often hurting and offending
Many of Thy saints in various parts of the earth         others, leading others astray or causing them to sin.
grieve because of the apostasy in the churches,          On the other hand, we have failed to speak when
which seems to have gained control. They gather in       we should have spoken, and that to the hurt of
small numbers to share their longing for the pure        fellow saints.
preaching of the Word. Hearken, Father, and hear
them; write their names in a book of remembrance               "Guard Thou my thoughts, I Thee implore
before Thee, as in former days, and spare them as a                And of my lips keep Thou the door;
man spareth his own son that serveth him. (Mal.                 Nor leave my sinful heart to stray
3:16, 17) Give Thy chosen people the necessary                     Where evil footsteps lead the way."
grace to hold firmly to the truth once delivered un-          Deeds speak louder than words. We so sorely
to the saints, in order that they may pass it on to      need Thy guidance and protection in all our daily
their children and children's children, that Thy         activities, in plying our business, in communicating
Name may be hallowed by them unto the day of the         with one another, as well as in worshipping with
Lord.                                                    Thy people. May our lives give strong evidence of
  In all this we are conscious of our own needs.         Christ living in us, that we may be a good influence
Therefore we ask, "Grant us rightly to know Thee,        upon our fellow saints. May they see in our daily
and to sanctify, glorify and praise Thee in all Thy      walk that Thou art with us and dost bless us, that
works." Give us an ever deeper insight into Thy          others may have occasion to glorify Thee.
Word and an increasing desire to delve ever deeper             Make us ever more conscious of Thy presence in
into the inexhaustible riches of Thy grace in Christ     our lives, for:
Jesus, to taste and see that Thou art good, the over-          "Whom have I, Lord, in heaven but Thee
flowing Fountain of every good and perfect gift for                To whom my thoughts aspire?
time and for eternity. May we know Thee, not only               And having Thee, on earth is nought
intellectually, as important as that is, but also                  That I can yet desire."
spiritually in an ever richer measure, as our God
and Father in our Lord Jesus Christ. May we put all           And now as I pray, let my first and foremost
our trust in Thee, rely on Thee, depend solely upon      desire govern and control all that I further seek or
Thee, wait upon Thee, never daring to venture            ask of Thee. Yea, Father, hallowed be Thy Name!
forth without the consciousness of Thy presence
and approval. May we know Jesus Christ ever more
perfectly as our Savior and Redeemer, our Ad-                 Take the time to read and study
vocate and Mediator in the heavens. May He
always be for us our Bread of Life, our Water of                     the Standard Bearer!!
Life, the Way, the Truth and the Life, and also the
Resurrection and the Life. May our trust and hope,       I                                                        I


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER.                                              461


                                      Editor's Notes

  My editorial on "Evolution At Dordt College"           is the final installment of the Rev. David J.
has elicited some response from Dr. Hodgson. His         Engelsma on "Serious Call Or Well-Meant Offer?"
response, along with further editorial comment,          The other is the second article by the Rev. Ronald J.
will appear in our next issue.                           Van  Overloop   .on "Effective Personal Witnessing."
         *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *                    A third article will follow in our next issue. We
  In this issue you will find two guest articles. One    thank both for their contributions.               HCH

EDITORIAL



                                   Why Evolution (8)



  Last time [cf. June issue) we paid attention to the    for the proper interpretation of the Bible that it be
way in which Dr. Van Till rids himself of the clear      recognized as a covenantal document - covenantal
testimony of Genesis 1 by resorting to the so-called     not only in function, but also in  fomz. The form of
"framework hypothesis"  - a theory which has             scriptural material. has remarkably close parallels
been thoroughly refuted and discredited by many          in ancient Near Eastern international treaties used
conservative students of Scripture, so thoroughly,       in the second millennium B.C." This in itself is a
in fact, that I am surprised that anyone would           totally arbitrary step, and one without any  Scrip-
resort to it at this late date. You see, anyone who      tural foundation. He then continues by explaining
wants to introduce evolution and its inconceivably       what Kline means by "covenantal canon." He
long periods of time, but at the same time leave the     writes, p. 78: "The suzerainty treaties to which
impression that he holds to Scripture must               Kline is referring were binding written agreements
somehow get rid of the plain testimony of Genesis        between a suzerain (a great king with vast authori-
1.  But he must do so in such a way that he leaves       ty) and his vassals. Covenant documents
the impression nevertheless of not discarding, but       discovered through archeological exploration or-
believing Genesis 1. How is he to do this? By "rein-     dinarily contain six characteristic elements: (1) a
terpreting." And it is this exegetical "hocus-pocus"     preamble that establishes the identity of the
which has given rise to all the debate concerning a      suzerain; (2) a historical prologue that reviews the
portion of Scripture which is so simple and so clear     relationship between the suzerain and his vassals,
that a child can understand it.                          paying particular attention to the benevolent acts of
  But there is a broader issue involved in Dr. Van       the suzerain for which the vassal should be
Till's view of Genesis 1. In connection with it, Van     grateful; (3) the stipulation of the vassal's obligation
Till simply relegates all of Genesis  l-11 to the        for exclusive loyalty to the suzerain; (4) a policy for
category of what he calls "primeval history."            the safe keeping and periodic public reading of the
                                                         covenant; (5) an appeal to witnesses (usually the
  How does he do this? And what does he mean by          natural or local deities); and (6) blessings and curses
"primeval history?"                                      - statements describing the consequences of obe-
  He begins by adopting Meredith Kline's theory of       dience and disobedience by the vassal." Now
Scripture as "covenantal canon" as follows, p. 78:       notice how, granting that there were such
"As Meredith Kline cogently argues, it is essential      "suzerainty treaties" among the heathenand that


4 6 2                                                     THE  STANDARD BEARER



archeologists have discovered them  - notice how                      animals, the creation of the woman.
this alleged discovery of a heathen practice is simp-                   3) The entire account of the temptation and fall
ly imposed arbitrarily on the Bible. Suddenly the                     of man, the announcement of the mother-promise,
Bible is made to be a suzerainty treaty.                              the various judgments pronounced after the fall,
   The next step is to force the book of Genesis into                 the expulsion from paradise, Genesis 3.
this scheme, as follows, pp. 78, 79:                                    4) The birth of Cain and Abel, the murder of
           Our first step toward a better understanding of            Abel, the expulsion of Cain, the generations of Cain
         Genesis 1 must be to ascertain its role, or function, in     {including Lamech and his family), the birth of
         the covenantal canon. Both its placement and its sub-        Seth, Genesis 4.
         ject matter make it eminently clear that it functions as
         a preamble identifying God as the Creator and as a             5) The "book of the generations of Adam," via
         segment of the historical prologue establishing the          Seth to Noah, including the brief account concern-
         nature of the relationship between God and humani-           ing Enoch's translation, Genesis 5.
         ty. "If the Pentateuch is viewed as a unified corpus,          6) The development of wickedness in the earth,
         with Gods covenant with the exodus generation as its         God's covenant with Noah, the instructions for the
         nucleus," says Kline, "the narratives of Genesis and         building of the ark, Genesis 6.
         the first part of Exodus assume the character of an
         historical prologue tracing the covenantal relationship        7) The entire account of the Flood and the
         to its historical roots in Yahwesh's past dealings with      emergence from the ark by Noah and his family,
         the chosen people and their patriarchal ancestors."          Genesis 7 and 8.
         Thus the book of Genesis forms part of the historical
         prologue to the covenant between Yahwesh and Israel            8) God's covenant with Noah, Noah's sin,
         at Sinai. As such, its function must be respected. We        Noah's prophecy concerning his sons, Genesis 9.
         should ask of Genesis neither more nor less than what          9) The generations of Noah's sons and the
         it was designed to provide.                                  delineation of their off-spring and their location,
   Notice how the place and significance of Genesis                   Genesis 10.
have been adroitly restricted  - all on the say-so,                    10) The narrative of the tower of Babel, the confu-
not of Genesis or any other Scripture, but on the                     sion of tongues, the generations of Shem, and the
say-so of Messrs. Van Till and Kline.                                 generations of Terah, Genesis 11.
   The next step is to chop up Genesis as follows, p.                   All of this highly significant and very detailed
79:                                                                   material is relegated to "primeval history."
           The book is further subdivided into two distinct             Yet  - and any ordinary child of God who can
         parts: patriarchal history (chapters  U-50) and              read the Scriptures can test this  - there is  not a
         primeval history (chapters l-11). Patriarchal history,
         drawn from the past as "remembered' in oral tradi-          singZe indication in the text which indicates any kind
         tion, traces the creation and election of the nation of      of change in the Genesis account between the end
         Israel back to the promise (covenant) made by               of Genesis 11 and the beginning of Chapter 12. On
       Yahweh to Abraham. The covenant at Sinai is thus               the contrary, there is a perfectly natural continuity,
         placed in the context of a long-standing relationship        so natural that if the words "Chapter 12" were
         between God and the seed of Abraham. Primeval                eliminated, one would never dream that here there
         history, drawn from the past as constructed from             is some kind of transition from one kind of
         literary and religious tradition, places the divine call     literature to another, from "primeval history" to
         to Abraham in the context of the timeless relationship       "patriarchal history."
         of God to all of humanity and to the whole cosmos -
         celestial, terrestrial, even subterranean. Genesis 1           But precisely what is meant by "primeval
         forms the magnificent preamble and opening nar-             history?"
         rative in this primeval history that introduces the God
         of the covenant, the God of Abraham and Moses.                 Nowhere does Dr. Van Till furnish his readers
   Now before we try to determine from his own                       with a straightforward definition. The reader is
words what Dr. Van Till understands by "primeval                     compelled, therefore, to cull from this chapter
history," let us refresh our memories on the con-                    various statements which indicate the meaning of
tents of Genesis l-11. What is contained in these                    this expression. All of these statements stand close-
chapters, all of which is relegated to the category of               ly related to the "vehicle-packaging-content"
"primeval history?' The following:                                   hermeneutic set forth by Dr. Van Till in Chapter 1
                                                                     of his book, it should be remembered. And when
   1) The creation account, Genesis  1:l to  2:3.                    they are all taken together, the conclusion is very
   2) The entire account concerning the original                     clear: "primeval history" is a cleverly conceived
state of things, Genesis 2:4-25, including the garden                device contrived to get rid of the historical
of Eden, the two special trees, the naming of the                    testimony of Genesis l-11.


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                              463



  Now let us cull some of these descriptive state-           by means of concrete story elements. The stories of
ments about "primeval history" from this chapter.            primeval history are to be taken very seriously
All of the following are quoted from pages 81-84:            because they convey to us the answers to some of
   -Primeval history is the vehicle that conveys the         the most profound questions ever asked by
answers to these profound questions. But how are             humanity.
the answers packaged? In what form does primeval               -Yes I know that there is a further question that
history present its answers? Failure to recognize or         Christians desire to have answered: Are the stories
to respect the manner in which Scripture's                   true? There is no question that they are true in the
message-content is packaged has provided (and, un-           sense that they illustrate and convey truths about
fortunately, will probably continue to provide)              the  .identity of God, humanity, nature, and their
numerous occasions for misunderstanding. For a               relationships to one another. It is the purpose of
large number of Christians, Genesis 1 appears to             primeval history to answer precisely these ques-
provide a particularly difficult challenge.                  tions, and by faith we believe that the scriptural
  -The difficulty lies, I believe, in the fact that the      answers are true.
form of primeval history's answers to mankind's                We shall have to interrupt this series of quota-
fundamental questions of identity is markedly dif-           tions at this point: for we have more than used up
ferent from the form we are most familiar with and           our editorial space.
that we consequently expect. As persons born and               But notice: the stories (are the genealogies in
educated in the context of twentieth-century                 Genesis  l-11 also stories?)  - the stories are not
Western culture, we have been trained to think and           true! True "in the sense that they illustrate and con-
communicate in patterns drawn largely from Greek             vey truths" and answer questions about the identi-
civilization.                                                ty of God, humanity, nature. And by faith we
  -Primeval history, however, was not written in             believe that the scriptural answers are true. But the
the Greek, Western manner . . . . Primeval history           stories are not true! No, Van Till does not say this in
is Hebrew literature written in the literary tradition       so many words. He dodges the question as follows:
of ancient Near East cultures . . . . The most com-            "However, most twentieth-century Westerners
mon literary genre in the Old Testament is the nar-          are more specifically interested in whether the
rative - the story in simple, straightforward prose          events actually happened just as they are reported
form. The qualities of God, humanity, and nature             in the narratives." Indeed! Is that not precisely the
. . . rather are illustrated by stories of events and ac-    question when you inquire whether a story is a true
tions carried out by God, humanity, and nature. As           story? Van Till continues: "But that is a Western
characters in a story, God, humanity, and nature             question, not an ancient Eastern or Hebrew ques-
perform specific actions that illustrate their identi-       tion. It shifts the emphasis away from the heart of
ty, their character, and their relationships. The            the matter and directs attention to peripheral mat-
stories serve as "packaging" that contains the               ters, to matters beyond the scope of the narrative. It
message-content conveyed by the vehicle of                   sidetracks our train of thought away from the main
primeval history.                                            line and sends us down a dead-end spur." I insist
  -But if the stories of primeval history are the            that, translated, this answer means: the stories are
packaging rather than the content itself, ought they         not true! They are either pure fiction or deliberate
still to be taken seriously? Of course! We must find         lies and deception.
.in them the answers to the questions addressed by             And remember: Dr. Van Till is writing about Ho-
primeval history. We must discover what qualities            ly Scripture!                                    HCH
of God, humanity, and nature they are illustrating


                       Take the time to read and study
                                    the Standard Bearer!
     It's an excellent magazine for personal devotions.


4      6    4                                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



GUEST ARTICLE
David J. Engelsma





            Serious Call or Well-Meant Offer? (4)


     Preceding articles in this series have sketched the                          God seriously offers salvation to all gospel called
Biblical teaching concerning the divine call of sin-                              sinners we not only predicate something concern-
ners to salvation. It was shown that Scripture dis-                               ing the will of God - God wills that the sinner re-
tinguishes between the call of the elect and the call                             pent and believe the good news - but we also say
that comes to the reprobate, and wherein the                                      something about the way God feels toward the sin-
distinction consists. The last article concluded:                                 ner whom he meets in the  soteric confrontation."
     Holding this Biblical doctrine of the call, the                              For De Jong, this feeling, or attitude, is one of
     Protestant Reformed Churches are constrained                                 grace.2  John Murray held that "the full and free of-
     to repudiate the "well-meant offer of the                                    fer of the gospel is a grace bestowed upon all. Such
     gospel."                                                                     grace is necessarily a manifestation of love or  lov-
            *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *               ingkindness in the heart of God. And this  loving-
                                                                                  kindness is revealed to be of a character or kind
     By the "well-meant offer of the gospel" is meant                             that is correspondent with the grace bestowed. The
the conception of the preaching of-the holy gospel,                               grace offered is nothing less than salvation in its
in Reformed, Presbyterian, and Calvinistic church-                                richness and fulness. The love or lovingkindness
es, as an offer of Christ to every person who hears                               that lies back of that offer is not anything less; it is
the gospel, made by God in love for every person                                  the will to that salvation.`13  Sam Waldron maintains
and with the desire to save every person. The offer                               that "God earnestly desires the salvation of every
in the preaching is "well-meant," because God                                     man who hears the gospel. He sends them the
Himself loves (or has an attitude of grace towards)                               gospel that - with the desire and will - they might
every individual who comes under the gospel, and                                  be saved by it"; also, "to speak of a serious call to'
sincerely desires that every individual will                                      salvation from one who does not love you or wish
"accept" the offer and be saved eternally. The                                    you to be saved is to mock the English language."4
preaching of the gospel is grace to all men.                                      Although K.W. Stebbins has misgivings about the
     All advocates of the "well-meant offer" agree in                             statement, "God  desires  the salvation of all who
this analysis of the preaching of the gospel. Louis                               hear the gospel," because "desires" has "volitional
Berkhof wrote: "God calls and invites sinners, and                                overtones," i.e., it expresses God's will, or wish,
gives us the solemn assurance of His Word, that He                                that all be saved, he, too, falls in with this funda-
sincerely desires that those who are called come to                               mental position of all defenders of the "well-meant
Him. His invitation is unfeigned, is well-meant";                                 offer," albeit awkwardly, when he says that "God
also, "the common and well-meant offer of salva-                                  pursues the salvation of the reprobate" and "God
tion is a token of God's favor to sinners, is for them                            may pursue a purpose  (Boulee)  of repentance . . .
a blessing on the part of the Lord . . . In the com-                              and salvation without any intention of ac-
mon call of the Gospel, therefore, God shows favor                                complishing it." Stebbins has no hesitation in em-
(grace) also to the  non-elect."1  A.C. De Jong                                   bracing the other basic element of every defense of
asserted that God's "revealed will in the gospel of-                              the "well-meant offer," namely, God's gracious at-
fer is that he wills these sinners (i.e., the reprobate                           titude towards all who hear the gospel:
- DJE) to be saved"; also, "When we affirm that                                       . . . God is completely sincere in His offers to all men.
                                                                                      He does not efficiently prevent any man accepting the
David J. Engelsma is pastor  of  the Protestant Reformed                              salvation offered. He clearly delights that he would
Church of South Holland, Illinois.                                                    accept it. He has manifested Himself to creation as a


                                                      THE STANDARD BEARER                                                           4 6 5



    benevolent Deity and His offer is one more evidence           preaching of the gospel and of a desire of God to
    of His kindness toward the creature throughout this           save all, the "well-meant offer" has deviated,
    dispensation . . . . The only significance of the offer so    radically, from the Reformed doctrine of the call of
    far as the reprobate are concerned is that they have          the gospel. Note well, we do not attack the  "well-
    had the kindness and benevolence of God bestowed              meant offer" in its implications, namely, universal
    upon them and have despised it. They despise the of-
    fer and other blessings of God's common grace which           atonement and the free will of the sinner (although
    are genuine manifestations of His benevolence.5               we are convinced that these are necessary implica-
   From this doctrine of the gospel-call, a distinct              tions of the "well-meant offer"); but we attack it in
practice of preaching follows, particularly, a                    its explicit affirmations: grace for all in the
distinct practice of preaching in evangelism and                  preaching and a will of God for the salvation of all.
missions. Announcing the love of God for every                    The "well-meant offer" is the Arminian conception
member of the audience, as well as His heartfelt                  of the preaching of the gospel; and  .the Reformed
desire that every one of them be saved, the bearer                Church has judged Arminianism to be heresy.
of the "well meant offer" pleads with all to believe                The Arminians did not expressly state their view
in, or accept, the offered Jesus as the condition                 of preaching in their famed "Remonstrance" of
upon which depends the realizing of God's loving                  1610.6  In these five articles, the Arminian concep-
desire for the salvation of all. It is no longer                  tion of preaching is only implied. Because the
unheard of, in Reformed circles, that the preacher                Synod of Dordt followed the structure of the  Ar-
pitches lengthy, emotional appeals at the recal-                  minians denial of five fundamental doctrines of
citrant will of the sinner, which appeals are made                salvation by grace alone, the creed of Dordt
more enticing by moving music, or even that the                   does not devote a separate chapter to the Re-
preacher employs the "altar-call" - asking the sin-               formed doctrine of preaching. Rather, the Re-
ner to express his acceptance of Jesus by coming                  formed conception of preaching is implied by the
forward. Not less serious an effect of the  "well-                "Five Points of Calvinism"; also, important
meant offer" upon the practice of preaching is the                statements about the preaching of the Gospel are
silencing, in the preaching, of the truth of salvation            made throughout the treatment of the doctrines of
by the sovereign grace of God alone. The preacher                 grace.
who has begun by proclaiming a universal love of                    The Arminians did, however, make their doc-
God and a desire of God that all be saved, and who                trine of preaching explicit in their  "Sententiae"
views his preaching as grace to all, is unlikely to               ("Opinions") to the Synod of Dordt, in December,
declare that "all that the Father giveth me shall                 1618.7 In "The Opinion of the Remonstrants re-
come to me"; or that "no man can come unto me,                    garding the third and fourth articles, concerning
except it were given unto him of my Father"; or                   the grace of God and the conversion of man," the
that "except a man be born again, he cannot see the               Arminians confessed the following concerning the
kingdom of God," (John  6:37; John  6:65; John  3:3).             call of God in the preaching:
   It is this that the Protestant Reformed Churches                  6. . . . the Holy Spirit confers, or is ready to confer, as
repudiate in their rejection of the "well-meant of-                  much grace to all men and to each man to whom the
fer."                                                                Word of God is preached as is sufficient for promoting
                                                                     the conversion of men in its steps. Therefore suffi-
  That which is objectionable is not that the gospel                 cient grace for faith and conversion falls to the lot not
is preached to all, without distinction; or that the                 only of those whom God is said to will to save accord-
preacher, be he pastor or missionary, calls all to                   ing to the decree of absolute election, but also of those
believe in Jesus Christ set forth in the gospel; or                  who are not actually converted.
that he urgently beseeches sinners to come to                        8. Whomever God calls to salvation, He calls serious-
Christ; or that he declares to all the promise that                  ly, that is, with a sincere and completely  unhypo-
everyone who believes shall be saved ("whosoever                     critical intention and will to save; nor do we assent to
believeth"). Against such a view and practice of                     the opinion of those who hold that God calls certain
preaching, no objection could be raised by a                         ones externally whom He does not will to call inter-
Reformed Christian. This is what Reformed                            nally, that is, as truly converted, even before the grace
theologians, from Calvin on, have understood by                      of calling has been rejected.
the "offer" (not  "well-meant  offer") of the gospel.                9. .There is not in God a secret will which so contra-
This is the conception of preaching embodied in the                  dicts the will of the same revealed in the Word that ac-
Reformed creeds, and referred to by them as the                      cording to it (that is, the secret will) He does not will
"offer," or "free offer" (cf. the Canons of Dordt,                   the conversion and salvation of the greatest part of
III, IV/9 and the Westminster Confession of Faith,                   those whom He seriously calls and invites by the
VII:3).                                                              Word of the Gospel and by His revealed will; and we
                                                                     do not here, as some say, acknowledge in God a holy
  By its assertion of a grace of God for all in the                  simulation, or a double person.


466                                                      THE STANDARD BEARER



       10. Nor do we believe that God calls the reprobate, as       of His good pleasure, decree to damn some.
       they are called, to these ends: that He should the more
       harden them, or take away excuse, or punish them the           The "well-meant offer" leaves its proponents
       more severely, or display their inability; nor, how-         and practitioners with a hard question: "Why are
       ever, that they should be converted, should believe,         some saved by the preaching, and others not?" The
       and should be saved.                                         answer cannot be the sovereign, discriminating
  There is no difference between an effectual, sav-                 grace of God, for, on the view of the "well-meant
ing call of the elect and the call by preaching alone               offer," the call is grace to all alike, from a God Who
of the reprobate; there is one call of sinners in the               does not discriminate in His saving purpose. There
preaching, which is the same for all. God sends this                are three possible answers for the defender of the
one call to all without exception with the "intention               "well-meant offer":
and will to save." The Arminians deny that God                         1. A mystery. This is an evasion. It is also a
calls reprobate men with the purpose of leaving                     refusal to speak when Scripture speaks, and a
them inexcusable, or of hardening them, and not                     refusal to speak creedally. Acts  13:48 answers the
with the purpose of converting and saving them.                     question:  ". . . and as many as were ordained to
God desires to save all. In keeping with this desire,               eternal life believed." The Canons answer the ques-
the call is grace to all, which grace, however, some                tion, in  I/6: "That some receive the gift of faith
reject.                                                             from God, and others do not receive it proceeds
                                                                    from God's eternal decree . . .  ."
  It is plain that the doctrine of the call of the  Ar-
minians in the 17th century and the "well-meant of-                   2. The free will of man. This was, and is, the Ar-
fer" of Reformed and Presbyterians in the 20th cen-                 minian answer to the question why some are saved,
tury are identical, in all respects:                                and others not. It is also the answer that gives the
                                                                    glory of salvation to man in sheer defiance of the
   1.  Both deny that there is any difference, as                   apostolic Word that salvation is "not of him that
regards divine grace and purpose, between the call                  willeth" (Rom.  9:16).
of the elect and the call of the reprobate.                           3. Universal salvation. This "answer". now ap-
  2. Both affirm that the one, undifferentiated call                pears in Reformed circles, promoted, in part at
of God comes to all as the expression of the grace of               least, by the theory of the "well-meant offer." It
God to all.                                                         has the merit of honoring, in its way, God's grace:
  3. Both affirm that the one, undifferentiated call                universal grace saves all in the end  - the grace of
of God comes to all with a purpose, or will, of God                 God in the gospel does not fail. It has the demerit of
to save all.                                                        being patently unbiblical and blatantly heretical. It
  4. Both teach (the Arminians, forthrightly, the                   is  .also the death-blow to preaching. If all shall be
Reformed, more grudgingly) that the grace of God                    saved in the end, in any case, why preach? If all
is resistible and that the purpose of God fails.                    shall be saved in the end, those who do not believe,
                                                                    as well as those who believe, what is the urgency,
  5. To these similarities may be  ,added that both                 the necessity, of believing?           (to be continued)
rail against a doctrine of preaching that is con-                                             NOTES
trolled by, and in harmony with, predestination.
The Arminians called it "Calvinism"; the Reformed                     ILouis  Berkhof,  De Drie  Punten in  Ale  Deelen
now call it "hyper-Calvinism."                                      Gerefovmeerd  ("The Three Points in All Respects
                                                                    Reformed") (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans,  1925),   pp.
  The Arminian doctrine of the call of God in the                   12-24. The quotations are my translation of the
preaching was destructive of the whole of Re-                       Dutch.
formed theology. The Arminians themselves (to
give the devil his due) recognized this, and called                   2A.C. De Jong, The WeZZ-Meant Gospel Offer: The
this to the attention of their Reformed opponents:                  Views of H. Hoeksema and K. Schildev  (Franeker: T.
                                                                    Wever,  1954),  pp. 127, 128, 147.
    There is not in God a secret will which so contradicts
       the will of the same revealed in the Word that accord-         3John Murray and Ned B. Stonehouse, "The Free
       ing to it [that is, the secret will) He does not will the    Offer of the Gospel." A report to the Fifteenth
       conversion and salvation of the greatest part of those       General Assembly of the Orthodox Presbyterian
    whom He seriously calls and invites by the Word of              Church (cf.  Minutes,  1948, Appendix, pp. 51-63).
    the Gospel and by His revealed will; and we do not
       here, as some say, acknowledge in God a holy simula-           4Sam  Waldron, "The Crux of the Free Offer:
    tion, or a double person.8                                      God's Indiscriminate Desire for the Salvation of
A doctrine of preaching as a gracious intention of                  Sinners" (unpublished paper, 1985).
God to save all men decisively rules out the                          SK. W. Stebbins, Christ FreeZy Offered (Strathpine
Reformed doctrine of predestination. If God, in                     North, Australia: Covenanter Press,  1978),   pp.  71,
grace, wishes to save all, He does not, in the justice              115, 116.


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                            467



  6The "Remonstrance" was the statement of the              on the basis of their view of preaching as universal
Arminians of their beliefs concerning predestina-           grace, the attack, recently, of Harry R. Boer upon
tion, the atonement, -man's fallen condition, con-.         predestination from the standpoint of the  "well-
version, and the perseverance of the regenerated. It        meant offer" bears a remarkable, indeed uncanny,
is sometimes known as "The Five Arminian Ar-                likeness:
ticles." It is found in P.Y. De Jong, Ed., Crisis in the       Obviously, the decree of reprobation and the un-
Reformed Churches  (Grand Rapids: Reformed Fel-                feigned call of the gospel do not so relate to each other
lowship, Inc.,  1968), pp. 207-209. A remonstrance             at all. The true relationship between them can only be
is a declaration of objection, or grievance.                   described as one of flat contradiction. There is much
  7The  "Sententiae" ("Opinions") were the care-               in the ways of God with us that transcends our under-
fully considered positions of the Arminian party on            standing or that is yet to be revealed, but we are
the five controverted doctrines ("the doctrines of             spared the absurdity of being deprived by decree of
                                                               what is granted by gospel.  [The Doctrine of Reprobation
grace"), presented by the Arminians to the Synod               in the Christian Reformed Church  [Grand Rapids:  Eerd-
of Dordt at the insistence of the Synod. These                 mans,  19831,  p. 70)
"Opinions, " often overlooked in favor of the earlier
"Five Arminian Articles," are extremely important,          It is, of course, the same attack! Given the  Armin-
both for understanding Arminianism and also for             ian viewpoint of preaching as universal grace and
understanding the Canons of the Dordt Synod. The            the standpoint of the Church of Harry R. Boer of
Arminians were much more full and frank in ex-              the "well-meant offer," the attack is irresistible.
pressing their errors in the  "Sententiae" than they        The Reformed defense against this attack, both in
were in the  "Remonstrcmce."  E.g., whereas in the          the 17th century and in the 20th century, is an of-
"Remonstrance" they merely stated, concerning               fensive that demolishes the standpoint from which
perseverance, that they were not yet able to teach          the attack is launched against predestination,
the doctrine "with the full persuasion of (their)           namely, the position that the preaching is grace to
heart," in the  "Sententiae" they were forthright in        all, or that God has a revealed will of the salvation
asserting that "true believers can fall from true           of all, or the "well-meant offer of the Gospel." Can
faith" and "therefore finally to fall and to perish."       we be blamed for wondering whether anyone is
For these "Opinions," confer P.Y. De Jong, Ed.,             manning the Reformed and Presbyterian ramparts
Crisis in the Reformed Churches, pp. 221 ff. The of-        in our day? We see no offensive against the strong-
ficial, Dutch version appears in Acta of Handelingen        hold  of the foe! On the contrary, the reputable, in-
Der Nationale Synode (Kampen: J.H. Bos, n.d.), pp.          fluential guardians on the walls of Reformed Zion
120  ff., 130 ff.                                           exert themselves to discover those who might have
                                                            the temerity to assault the Arminian stronghold,
  8"The  Opinions of the Remonstrants" in P.Y. De           and, with shrill cries of alarm, to warn the Re-
Jong, Ed., Crisis in the Reformed Churches, p. 227. To      formed world against them, hindering them in the
this attack by the Arminians upon predestination            fight - "hyper-Calvinists!"

iN HIS FEAR
Arie den Hartog




                                   Worldly Thinking



  Worldliness takes on a more subtle form than              imaginations of the world. The world will seek by
merely the outward life style. It is a matter of mind-      temptation to change our minds and bring them in-
set and certain pattern of thinking. The devil wants        to conformity with itself. There is a great spiritual
to bring our very minds again into captivity to lust        battle going on for the minds of men. The Christian
and sin. He wants to fill our minds with all the vain       must be aware of this. He must be aware of the


468                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



great danger of being conformed to the philosophy         what the greatest men of our age or of any previous
of the world. He must always be aware of the ab-          age had to say about any area of human life.
solute difference between the mind of Christ and            All of this has its influence and impact upon us as
the mind of the world. God is not in all the thoughts     Christians. The impact is often very subtle. Just
of ungodly men. The worldly man seeks to devise a         think of some concrete areas. The world's
world where God need not be served and where no           philosophy of what life in the home should be is a
attention needs to be paid to the holy law of God,        very important example. Everywhere we are bom-
where men can live according to their own vain            barded with the philosophy that a woman's most
and sinful pleasure and for their own glory. The          glorious role is in a worldly and secular career. She
devil wants the whole world to think alike. He can-       need not stay home for the sake of the children.
not tolerate difference of opinion. There is really no    Studies have "proven" that it is just as good and
freedom of thought, according to the devil.               maybe even better if both husband and wife have
Through the temptations of the world, the evil one        their own careers. Recently, blazing in the head-
will seek to destroy the truth of God and establish       lines of the daily paper where we live was the con-
the lie. Through worldliness the devil seeks to           clusion of a study that had "proven" that children
destroy all of the Christian's spiritual sensitivity      of working mothers do much better in school than
and compromise God's law in every area of his life.       those of non-working mothers. Meanwhile the role
  The devil and the wicked world have mighty in-          of mother in the home is again and again degraded.
struments to change our thinking and to make the          Even the most stupid and lowly among women
whole world think alike. .The chief of these is, of       could after all stay home and care for children. The
course, the whole of the mass media: radio, tele-         educated and glorious of modern day women is the
vision, newspapers, advertisements, and more.             career woman. As far as marriage is concerned,
Through this mass media we are told how we must           there are "acceptable alternate life styles." There is
think and how we must live. We are bombarded              nothing wrong with living-together arrangements.
with the world's philosophy about the way to suc-         There is nothing wrong with having intimate rela-
cess and happiness and glory. We are again and            tionships outside of marriage with many different
again told about the things that we must buy, the         partners as long as you are careful to avoid un-
places we must go, and the life styles we must live.      wanted pregnancy or spreading AIDS. Anyone who
The mass media tells us what everyone else is do-         condemns such "alternate lifestyles" is narrow
ing, what is acceptable, what is popular in the           minded and moralistic and is trying to impose one's
modern world. Without our even realizing it, our          own life style on others. Often one hears people in
thoughts and life styles are being shaped and             the world trying even to give "Christian" support
formed, and great pressure is being exerted upon us       to these life styles. Singles need not live without
to conform to the world. Through it all God is being      sex. "God did not intend that anyone be deprived
mocked and His law is being compromised, con-             of this natural right to pleasure and fulfillment."
tradicted and denied in every area of life. If we are       We are told again and again what we have a right
not extremely careful, we will be swept right along       to, and what we must have, in order to be decent
and we will be destroyed by worldliness.                  human beings. We have a right to the money we
  Besides the mass media, the world has all of the        earned through our own hard labors. We have a
great learning of its social scientists. Great studies    right to spend that money as we wish. We have a
have been made and are being made of all of               right to big expensive vacations after we have
human society. Patterns of human behavior and             worked for a while. We have a right to retirement
life style are being studied. Men of great learning       after 55. All we have to do after retirement is live in
arise to teach us how we ought to live and what is        luxury and pleasure, spending the money we
good and beneficial for man and society. Surveys,         worked so hard to make all our life long. Such is the
studies, conclusions are made of human opinion            world's thinking. Few challenge it. Even as Chris-
and thinking. All of these are published by the mass      tians, it is easy to go along with it. We are told again
media so that everyone will follow after what is          and again by the world about the material things
good in the eyes of men.                                  which will bring us happiness. Even though people
  We live today in the age of the computer. Our           have lived for centuries without even hearing about
age has also been called the age of information.          the many modern day inventions, let alone possess-
Vast amounts of human learning can now be stored          ing them, the world will make us think that we can-
in computers, analyzed, and made readily available        not possibly do without them. We must devote our
to all. At the push of a button we can now learn          whole life to working so that we can live on the
                                                          same standard as the world around us, and enjoy
Arie den Hartog is pastor of the Protestant Reformed      the same luxuries and pleasures as the world.
Church of Randolph, Wisconsin.                            Never mind about involvement in the church or


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                            469



sacrifice for the cause of the kingdom of the Lord.       masses go after them all in succession.
Corruption abounds in the worldvaround us. There            The bible calls us not to be conformed to this
are more and more sophisticated forms of corrup-          world but to be transformed by the renewing of our
tion. Everyone is doing it as long as you don't get       minds so that we may prove what is the good and
caught. Who cares how you make your money as              acceptable and perfect will of God (see Romans
long as you make a lot of it? Lie, cheat, steal, cover    12: 1 and 2). As Christians we need to pray for
up is all part of the game. Get yourself so involved      spiritual discernment and judgment. As Christians
in debt that you are forced into bankruptcy. The          we need to be concerned about right Christian liv-
law will protect you. Start your business over            ing in every area of our lives. We must not allow
without any moral scruples. So is the thinking of         the thinking of this world to mold and shape our
the world.                                                lives. We need to be serious about the law of God
  According to the thinking of the world, you can         and its application to our daily lives. We need to
be a good Christian without belonging to any              judge every new philosophy in the light of the truth
church. It does not matter if you never attend any        of the word of God. As Christians we must know
worship services except perhaps on special                how to be steadfast and unmoveable upon the ab-
holidays. Many others who call themselves Chris-          solute principles of the law of God. All our thinking
tians do the same. If you do go to church it does not     and acting must be in conformity to the Word of
matter what church you go to. All are the same any-       God. In order to be serious Christians we need
way. All are serving the same Lord. It is best to be a    again and again to study the word of God and be
member of the large modern day church where               serious about applying it to our lives. As Christians
there is little sound instruction from the word of        we must always realize that the wisdom and truth
God and little discipline and seriousness about           of God stand absolutely contrary to the foolishness
maintaining the law of God. That is where most            of the world. We must not allow ourselves to be in-
people who call themselves Christians attend. The         timidated by the great learning, scientific studies,
greatest principle of religion is the freedom to think    and theories of men. In God's sight all these things
and act as you please. Never mind what you                are foolishness. When our thoughts are conformed
believe. Just be sure to tolerate and appreciate the      to the absolute standard and perfect wisdom of the
religion of others.                                       Word of God we shall never be wrong and we shall
    We could, of course, go on to give many more ex-      not be put to shame before Him. Let the world
amples of the  thmking of the world in which we           laugh and mock our thinking and our perspectives
live. More than ever before we are confronted with        on life. When our life is rooted and grounded upon
that type of thinking. Few stop to consider and ex-       the truth of God, we shall stand in every area of our
amine and evaluate the thinking of man. Many              life. "Because the foolishness of God is wiser than
thousands are swept along with the popular men-           men; and the weakness of God is stronger than
tality of the day. Each age has a new fad and the         men," I Corinthians  125.

THE DAY OF SHADOWS
John A. Heys





                                The Choice of Faith



  In the wisdom God gave him Solomon wrote in             tor's actions must harmonize completely with the
Proverbs 2.26: "Train up a child in the way he            words spoken. Those instructed are going to learn
should go: and when he is old, he will not depart         more quickly by what is done than by what is said.
from it." Such training, however, is not merely           Because of the weakness of our flesh; and the
teaching with words spoken by the lips. The instruc-      power of the old man of sin, we often have to say to


470                                             THE STANDARD BEARER



our children: "Do as I say and not as I do."               had to part and never see each other again.
   This was clearly the case with Naomi and her               In verse 8 of Ruth 1 we find a very close and
two daughters-in-law. There can be no question             warm relation between Naomi and Orpah and
about it that Naomi taught them the truth concern-         Ruth. Naomi speaks of how kindly they had dealt
ing God, and that she opposed the worship and              with their husbands, her sons, and with her. There
false doctrines of Chemosh, the god of the                 was a strong bond of natural love between these
Moabites. God used her to instruct Orpah and Ruth          three women. And when we read in verse 9 that
and brought Ruth to faith in Himself as the one true       they wept sorely, these were sincere tears as far as
God.                                                       their flesh is concerned. It was not easy for them to
   But Naomi's actions were not always in harmony          leave Naomi.
with the.words which she spoke. For ten years she             It is also instructive to read in verse 15 that
continued  ,her life of running  .away from .Him           Naomi said to Ruth, after Orpah departed:
Whom she confessed to be God alone, the God                "Behold, thy sister-in-law is gone back to her peo-
Who had done such marvellous things for His peo-           ple, and unto her gods: return thou after thy sister-
ple and revealed that there is no God beside Him.          in-law." Orpah never received the .words  that pro-
                                                           ceeded from Naomi's mouth. She had no interest in
   The Moabites, as descendants of Lot, knew that          Naomi's God. As far as Naomi's outward walk is
the Israelites worshipped Jehovah and that they            concerned, Orpah would go along with Naomi. As
claimed - and rightly so - that He did wondrous            long as Naomi stayed in Moab, she would live with
things for the Israelites, bringing them up out of         her, not opposing her different religion, but also not
Egypt's bondage, through the Red Sea and the               accepting it as her own.
howling wilderness, to possess the land promised
to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The Moabites' god               Naomi now brings to the attention of both Orpah
was Chemosh; but they knew that Jehovah was                and Ruth what the cost would be for them to go
Israel's God. And Naomi taught Orpah and Ruth              with her. First of all she presented what these
about Him.                                                 women did not know, or had not thought of them-
                                                           selves. They must realize that the seed of Abraham
   But Naomi's conduct militated against the  dot-         w a s   f o r b i d d e n   t o   m a r r y   a   M o a b i t e .   I n
.trines which she taught..Why, if He is God, did she       Deuteronomy  23:3 we read, "An Ammonite or
flee and stay away from Him and His house where            Moabite shall not enter into the congregation of the
He must be worshipped? Why did she not trust               Lord; even to their tenth generation shall they not
Him Who fed Israel fully in that howling desert,           enter into the congregation of the Lord for ever."
brought them safely across the Red Sea and the             And the reason is given in the next verse: "Because
River Jordan, and then to take away and take over          they met you not with bread and water in the way,
the whole land of Canaan? Her walk of life did not         when ye came forth out of Egypt; and because they
harmonize with what she taught with her mouth.             hired against thee Balaam the son of Beor of Pethor
She was not by her actions teaching Orpah and              of Mesopotamia, to curse thee."
Ruth to go to God's house and to the place where
He was blessing the seed of Abraham. For ten years            In connection with this, of course, is also the fact
she had not celebrated the Passover. For ten years         that the men in Israel would prefer an unmarried
she had not brought one sacrifice to His temple.           woman, rather than one who had been married and
                                                           lost her husband through death. That is why Naomi
   It is not strange that Orpah and Ruth did not ask       raises the point of her inability to provide them
her why she did not go back to Bethlehem, and to           with husbands, even if she had .a child born to her
all the types and shadows of Christ. They were con-        that year. Having children also was therefore out of
tent to stay in their own land, have plenty of bread       the picture for these widows. If they go with her to
to eat and be where their mothers, and perhaps             Canaan, they will remain childless widows.
fathers and brother and sisters lived.                        But the strongest point Naomi makes is that both
   But when ten years later Naomi did teach them           Jewish men and Jewish women would shun them,
by deed as well as by word, Ruth took hold of that         would not receive them into their midst and
truth and insisted on going with her to the land God       welcome them in their land. And apparently
promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and where            neither Orpah nor Ruth had up to that day revealed
He manifested Himself in His mercy and grace in            any definite evidence of faith in God, nor that in
His tabernacle. Orpah was content to stay there in         Canaan they would worship Him with body and
Moab. She had deep affection of her flesh for              soul.
Naomi and was sincere in her weeping when they                Here, too, actions speak louder than words.
John A. Heys is a minister emeritus in the Protestant      Naomi had to have much more than words from
Reformed Churches.                                         their mouths to agree to take them along. So far


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  4 7 1



they had given up nothing that revealed an                     more than telling someone not to follow. In effect
undeniable faith in, God. Even as today there are              Ruth says, "Do not get in my way!" It means more
those who call themselves Christians, and want to              than: "Do not tell me that I may not."
be called Christians, but will not give up the things             All this is underscored and emphasized in what
of this world. Many of these will take the mark of             she adds by way of explanation. Naomi's God is her
the beast in order to get bread in the days that lie           God. She reveals her unshaken determination to go
ahead and the antichrist rules the whole world.                to God and His house in Canaan. She says, "I am
   Naomi must have undeniable proof that these                 going with you. I will go. I am not trying to imitate
daughters-in-law will live as believers and not                you, Mother Naomi. I am going in the same faith
simply say that they are. How strongly she ex-                 that you have."
pected the one or the other to manifest such faith is             What a striking statement we have in verse 17,
not revealed to us. It seems that at first she did not         when she states: "where thou diest, I will die, and
expect it from either Orpah or Ruth. After her                 there will I be buried: Jehovah do so to me and
speech of what it would cost them, both did weep               more also, if ought but death part thee and me."
once again. That in no way means faith. For                    That is unequivocal! Chemosh she dashed in pieces
unbelieving Orpah wept as bitterly as Ruth. And                and Jehovah she confesses as her God. That is what
Naomi's words to Ruth concerning Orpah are very                we read in the Hebrew: Jehovah, not merely the
revealing. She said: "Behold, thy' sister-in-law is            Lord. What  a..powerful confession for a novice!
gone back unto her people, and unto her gods." Or-             What a work of God's grace upon one who in child-
pah revealed no faith whatsoever and was not will-             hood was not trained up to go in this way! Taught
ing to suffer the reproach of Christ in Canaan. Nor            by Naomi late in life, and now taught by Naomi's
did she care for the blessings of Christ that could be         return to the promised land, she is given grace to
found and enjoyed only there.                                  make the choice of faith. And no one is going to
  Surely when Naomi said this to Ruth, she was                 stop her from confessing that faith by a walk of life
not trying to quench a spark of spiritual life in              in Canaan, where she can know Jehovah in His
Ruth. That may never be done, even though the                  Son, as typified and manifested by God in that land
elders in the church must be sure, and so must                 of Canaan.
Naomi, that faith is there and not merely claimed to             The use of the present tense is also full of mean-
be there. Naomi had helped bring her sons away                 ing. Ruth does not say that God will become her
from Christ as He was typified in Canaan and its               God after living in Canaan for a while. She does not
tabernacle. She had made it possible for her sons to           say that Naomi's people will in time become her
break God's law and marry Moabites. She had                    people. No, she states that Naomi's God IS her God,
made a move that had brought idol worshippers in-              Naomi's people ARE her people now, even before
to her family. She must be very, very careful not to           they enter the land of Canaan. And that Naomi's
bring idolatry with her back into Bethlehem. God's             God is her God makes Naomi's people her people.
grace had opened her eyes to her own sin. Now she              That is also why she will go, not simply with
must not bring it from Moab into Canaan. She went              Naomi, but where Naomi goes, to lodge there, die
to Moab for bread that perishes, leaving behind the            there and be buried there. They are one. They are
everlasting bread of life. Now she must not bring              members of the one and only body of Christ. Their
into Canaan anyone who comes for that bread that               nationalistic background may be different; but
perishes and despises the Bread of Life, Christ our            spiritually they are one in Christ.
Saviour.                                                  - And Naomi does not say one word with her
  That Ruth was a believing child of God and one               mouth. By her actions she does say: "Come with
tremendously strong in her faith is evident from the           me, for we belong together, not by a marriage bond
answer that she gives Naomi. She spoke and made                that once existed between you and my son, but
that beautiful confession: "Entreat me not to leave            because we are one in Christ, having the same God
thee, or to return from following thee, for whither            and chosen by Him from eternity.
thou goest, I will go; where thou lodgest, I will         -      Naomi's silence was not a manifestation of anger
lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God              but of love. She was speechless because of joy. She
my God: Where thou diest, will I die, and there will           will in no way try to discourage Ruth, nor doubt
I be buried: The Lord do so to me, and more also, if           her confession. Naomi leaves her husband and her
ought but death part thee and me."                             sons behind in their graves. But she has with her a
  "Entreat me not to leave thee or return from                 daughter-in-law who has a powerful faith and in
following thee" are very strong words. In effect               that faith chooses to go to God's house and to wor-
they mean: "Do not be my enemy!" The word en-                  ship Him with thankfulness for His grace that
treat is, a mild translation of a word that means to           caused her to come where she may worship Him as
fall upon, or, if you will, to oppose. It means much           He ought to be worshipped.


472                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER



ALL AROUND US
Gise J. Van Buren




                                                      The UCC Synod
                                                      The CRC Synod



The UCC Synod:                                                     recognize all other "religions" as serving God in
   Our local weekly newspaper,  The Advance,  July                 their own ways, leading its adherents to eternal life
21, 1987, reports on a very strange decision of the                along different paths than that which Scripture
General Synod of the United Church of Christ. This                 presents.
denomination, a result of the union of various chur-                 The report informs that this same General Synod
ches, including the old Reformed Church                            spent considerable time trying to decide where its
(German), has taken a "first-of-kind stand on                      national headquarters should be located, how to
Judaism", according to The Advance.                                "administer to the emerging and particular needs of
         "Among the actions of the synod was an un-                women", took a tough stand on divestment as "a
       precedented recognition of the role of Judaism by the       way to witness against apartheid in South Africa",
       Protestant church. The synod affirmed that "Judaism         and called the churches to develop a ministry to
       has not been superseded by Christianity" and that           those with AIDS. It appears that the cross and the
       "God has not rejected the Jewish people." The resolu-       "fooiishness" of the preaching of the cross are vir-
       tion is believed to be the first of its kind passed by a    tually forgotten.
       U.S. denomination."
   If this is an accurate report, it is not only "un-              The CRC Synod:
precedented", but unscriptural and ungodly. How                      Because our "roots" are traced back to the Chris-
far can a denomination depart - and still call itself              tian Reformed Church, we are understandably in-
Christian? If "Judaism has not been superseded by                  terested in, and so often concerned about, decisions
Christianity", there is then no need for doing mis-                taken by the synod of that denomination. The Ban-
sion work with Jews  - these, with Christians, are                 ner,  June 29, 1987, presents a summary of most of
equally saved. It must mean ultimately, that salva-                the decisions of that Synod. Some of the decisions
tion is possible both apart from the cross as well as              are:
through the cross. It must mean that Jews, who to-
day deny the Trinity, equally are children of God                            Synod 1987 approved the philosophy of a proposal
with Christians who profess the Trinity. It must                           that advocates reducing the number of church boards
mean that one can claim to believe in the O.T.                             and creating a central executive committee to oversee
Scriptures, while denying the New Testament  -                             the work of Christian Reformed agencies.
yet be a child of God still. At bottom, such a deci-                         Synod stopped short of actually restructuring the
sion is a denial of the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.                    boards, however, preferring to assign a new commit-
It contradicts I John  4:2, 3, "Hereby know ye the                         tee to study concerns about the plan, known as "Vi-
Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus                     sion 21" . . . .
Christ is come in the flesh is of God: and every                             Under Vision 21, so named because it suggests a
spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come                       structure for moving the church into the 21st century,
in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of                     membership on each agency board would be reduced,
                                                                           and each agency board would answer to one of four
antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should                           intermediate boards. Those boards in turn would
come; and even now already is it in the world."                            answer to a proposed 17-member Executive Board of
  The obvious, and next, step would be to                                  Synod. Currently 18 boards oversee the work of the
                                                                           church's agencies.
Gise J. Van Baren is pastor of the Protestant Reformed               The concerns expressed by many at Synod, and
Church of Hudsonville, Michigan.                                   presented in articles in C.R. magazines, were that


                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER                                                        4 7 3



this structure will surely lead to greater hierarchy                   "When you say no to women in office," Smit said,
in the C.R.C. Already, many have insisted that the                   "you say no to a person, and I want you to say it to
present set-up of "boards" allows for far too much                   me."
concentration of power with a small group of peo-                      One synodical  delegate was willing to do so - Rev.
ple. The proposed revision would result in a                         Rein Leestma of Classis  Illiana. "I look you square in
17-member Executive Board with ultimate authori-                     the eye, but, more importantly, I have to look the
ty (though presumably accountable to Synod) over                     Lord square in the eye, and I have to go by what his
all of the activities of the church. It is true, of                  Word says."
course, that with a few men in control, greater effi-                  The Bible forbids women to be ministers, Leestma
ciency might be achieved. Ultimately, a "pope"                       declared.
with absolute authority, could attain a higher                         Synod rejected Smit's request by a vote of 112 to 50.
degree of efficiency still. But then: what has                       But it was a decision made in admiration: as she
happened to the principle of Reformed Church                         walked off synods floor, the delegates rose, almost to
government and its strong rejection of hierarchy in                 a man, to give her a standing ovation.
all of its forms?                                                      (5) Should the Christian Reformed Church
   Other significant decisions were taken. I briefly                 "prayerfully aim" at increasing its membership to
quote just a few (and number them for easy iden-                    400,000 by the year  2000?
tification) :                                                          Yes, said synod, thereby giving Home Missions the
       [ 1) In a bold move taken late on a warm evening,            green light to develop detailed plans for helping chur-
    synod substantially altered the Christian Reformed               ches garner nearly 100,000 new members in the next
    Church's calling system.                                        twelve years. Such a harvest would require increasing
                                                                    the church's annual growth rate from 1 percent to 2
       Under the new regulations, a church has the option           percent.
    of calling a pastor to serve for a specified number of
    years rather than for an indefinite period. The call let-      There were also many other interesting deci-
    ter must designate the length of the term and specify        sions. Of greatest concern again are decisions taken
    the financial arrangements for the pastor if the ap-         concerning the "women in office" issue. The mat-
    pointment is not extended beyond the designated              ter of "headship" was once more committed to a
    term.                                                        study committee to report to a future synod. The
       (2) Congregations and ministers in the Christian          vote refusing Smit permission to seek candidacy
    Reformed Church now have more work-rule flexibili-           was not as surprising (since all the rules of the
    ty, under an innovative measure passed by synod.             church forbid this), as was the fact that there were
       A minister may, "by way of exception," now have           50 (despite clear rules) who nevertheless voted for
    "primary or supplemental" employment in addition             approval of Smit's application for candidacy. Now
    to his ministry, synod decided. Such exceptional             Smit has charged the Calvin College and Seminary
    employment, however, must be approved by his con-            Board of Trustees with disobeying the Church
    sistory and classis.                                         Order of the Christian Reformed Church by refus-
       [ 3) Bing Goei, director of the Synodical  Committee      ing to process her application for candidacy. She
    on Race Relations (SCORR), hardly had time to get            has appealed to the Judicial Code Committee for
    comfortably seated at the speakers' table before synod       judgment. In addition, the Synod decided that "Dr.
    approved his agency's detailed long-range plan.              Henry De Moor, Jr., may teach church polity at
      The 11-page plan cites  SCORR's specific goals for         Calvin Theological Seminary, regardless of his
    the next 25 years. Among other things, SCORR asks            views on women in church office . . .  ."
    members of the Christian Reformed Church to work
    and pray that by the year 2011 at least 18 percent of
    the total membership of the denomination and 18 per-             The Standard Bearer
    cent of its ordained pastors be "multicultural," that is,
    from an ethnic minority.                                           makes a thoughtful
       (4) In the 15 years that Christian Reformed synods
    have been examining the issue of women in ecclesi-
    astical office, no synod has spoken directly with a                             gift for the
    woman on the issue.
       But Synod 1987 did. Laura Smit, 25, of Grand                             sick & shut-in.
    Rapids, Michigan, faced synod on June 13 and asked
    delegates to allow her to apply to be a candidate for
    the ministry in the Christian Reformed Church.                                Give a gift of the
       Synod said no. But in so doing, it granted Smit a                          Standard Bearer!!
    lesser goal: to have synod refuse a personal request in-
    stead of making an abstract theological decision . . . .


474                                             THE STANDARD BEARER



GUEST ARTICLE
Ronald J. Van Overloop





                 Effective Personal Witnessing (2)


  The calling of the individual believer to witness              Improper motivation can be either the lack of
is as Biblical and Reformed as is the calling of the           motivation or improper motivation. Mere com-
Church to preach the Gospel.                                   pliance with the command to be witnesses is not
  There are dangers and pitfalls into which the un-            only folly, but also sin, if it is without the proper
wary can easily fall. The danger of heresy comes               motivation. We may claim God's blessing upon the
quickly through false zeal and unscriptural                    lawful means which accompanies the proper
methods.                                                       motive, but not otherwise. An example of an im-
                                                               proper motive for evangelism and witnessing is to
  But these dangers do not bring the calling to an             add to our church as if one were adding feathers to
end. They may make one cautious, but they may                  his cap. Of course, good motivation does not make
not be allowed to lessen the Divine mandate.                   bad and unscriptural methods good.
  Consider an example. Occasioned by the request                         * * * * * * * *  * *
of the children of Israel, God instituted the office of          The supreme motive for all forms of evangelism
king into the nation. As the first king of Israel, Saul        is the glorification of the God Who saves unto
was terrible; he was everything about which                    Himself a people through the gift of His Son, Jesus
Samuel had warned. But that fact was not sufficient            Christ. Not only of Him and through Him, but also
reason to remove altogether out of Israel the idea             unto Him are all things, to Whom be glory for ever
and position of kings. Nor did Saul's evil reign               (Romans  11:36). Even Jesus labored unto the end
make rebellion legitimate. The answer to an evil               that God may be all in all (I Corinthians  15:28).
king is not having no king, but a good king.                   Believers are admonished to let their light shine in
  So it is with evangelism, missions and witness-              such a manner that men will glorify the heavenly
ing. There are many unbiblical practices in the                Father of the believers (Matthew 5: 16). Those who
church world. This dirty water does not make                   know what it is to be saved by sovereign grace
legitimate the throwing away of the baby. The call-            delight to see their Savior's perfections manifested
ing to witness stands. An awareness of the dangers             and praised. The highest praise given to the Savior
makes all the more important a consideration of                is the grateful obedience rendered to His command-
proper zeal and scriptural methods.                            ments.
          * * * *  * * * * * *                                   Often the motivation given for evangelism is the
  The methods used in evangelism, missions, and                salvation of lost souls. That may be a motivation,
witnessing are of great importance. However, that              but it may not be allowed to be the principal desire.
which is of even greater import is the motivation.             If the salvation of souls tops the list of motivations,
Methods without the proper motivation are like                 then the danger of heresy is high. If the glorification
having a mouth without a tongue or like perform-               of the God of sovereignly free grace is not the driv-
ing sacrifices without heart. The proper motivation            ing force, then one is out of harmony with the plan
makes all the difference in God's sight, for He sees           of salvation (Romans  11:36; I Corinthians  15:28;
beyond the outward appearance, and looks at the                Revelation 4: 11).
heart.                                                           Another major motivation for all evangelism
                                                               must be gratitude. This is the gratitude of the in-
Ronald J. Van Overloop  is a missionary-pastor of the Prot.    dividual believer to God for so great a Savior and so
Ref. Churches in the Northwest Chicago area.                   gracious a salvation. It is gratitude to God on the


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                475



part of an instituted Church for the multitude of          the Holy Spirit to work in the hearts of men, then
blessing continually heaped upon such worthless            one is saved from feeling threatened if there is little
people as they. It is being convinced that being a         or no response to one'e efforts. One is saved from
Christian is the. greatest thing in the world. This        begging, which demeans the Gospel and the Christ
gratitude manifests itself in genuine enthusiasm           presented in the Gospel. This confidence and trust
about one's personal relationship with Jesus Christ.       in the work of the Holy Spirit delivers one from the
This gratitude is expressed in total commitment to         fear of speaking or the fear of not being eloquent
Christ. "For to me to live is Christ" is the logo of       enough. It was the experience of Paul that he did
the believer (Philippians  1:21).                          not have to concern himself about his lack of elo-
  Such gratitude motivates one to show forth the           quence when he was preaching in Corinth; all he
glory of such a Savior and salvation. He wants             had to do was just preach and trust in the Spirit (I
others to see what he has been given. This gratitude       Corinthians  2:2, 3.
motivates one to do whatever His Savior wants him            This confidence in the power of the Holy Spirit
to do, because he loves Him so. "All that I am I owe       assures `those witnessing that no one is beyond the
to Thee."                                                  possibility of salvation, for the power of the Spirit is
  A third motivation for delightful obedience to the       ,omnipotent.
call to be a witness is conviction of and zeal for that       This confidence and trust in the Spirit also makes
truth. One who knows the wonder of personal                it impossible for pride to enter into the heart of
salvation eagerly grasps the Biblical truths which         those evangelizing, for no credit for any fruit goes
relate to that salvation and the God Who saves. In         to man. It is all of the Spirit of the Lord.
fact, the believer loves doctrine. Of course, this           Another motivation is that of the second great
love is not a love of doctrine merely for doctrine's       commandment, namely, love of one's neighbor.
sake. This conviction of and zeal for the truth is         This neighbor is anyone we meet, i.e., anyone God
firstly, but not only, intellectual. The truth is ap-      puts in our path. This love of our neighbor is like to
prehended by the mind and that leads to the heart.         our love of God. It is commanded of us; we have no
The truth is appreciated as one would a most               choice as to whether we will love him or not. It is
precious diamond, so that gazing into it reveals a         an unconditional love because God loved us first
spectacle of great beauty. The truth grips and leads       while we were yet sinners, and ceases not to love us
as we humbly adore Him of Whom it speaks. We               though we are never free from sin. This love for our
love Him. The only way we can get close to Him             neighbor, at the very least, is a concern for his or
and get to know Him better is through the truth.           her eternal state. Gratitude for Gods grace and a
  This conviction of and zeal for the truth is an in-      love of Christ spontaneously overflows and
spiration to missions and witnessing. The in-              manifests itself to those whom we meet.
dividual believer gets excited about the truth. He           The objection has been raised by some that the
wants to share this joy and the cause of it. He does       Biblical and Reformed truth of reprobation and
not selfishly hide it under a bushel. He is moved to       limited or definite atonement make evangelism
use every opportunity that comes his way to tell           either unnecessary or impossible. Long and hard
others of this most precious possession he has been        has the truly Reformed church withstood this
given. Just as the woman who found the lost coin           charge. Equally long and hard has she resisted this
called her friends to celebrate with her at her find,      false conclusion as it has arisen from within her
so it is with the child of God and the truth.              own walls. That has been historically known as
  Another motivation which must be high in the             ' ' hyper-Calvinism' ' . Much could be said in answer
consciousness of one performing evangelism is con-         to this objection, but time and space are limited,
fidence and trust in the irresistible work of the Ho-      and others have more than adequately treated this
ly Spirit and in the power of the preaching. It is con-    error. *
fidence that the Holy Spirit can turn the heart of            One quick comment in answer is in order. The
stone into a heart of flesh, and can make humble           responsibilities of the believer, whether that be to
and willing a proud mind. It is the assurance that         perform evangelism work or to love our neighbor,
while one's words only ticklethe ear, the Spirit can       are determined, not by God's decrees or His prov-
carry them into the inner depths of a man's being.         idence, but by His commands. It is beyond doubt
It is the knowledge that all we can do is sow the          that God commands to evangelize, perform mission
seed, and then we can only wait. But we are not            work, and give witness. Complacency to this com-
without hope while we wait because the Spirit can          mand is a sign of one's indifference to his own
bring the seed to germination and fruition (Mark           salvation. One must be, like Christ, "moved with
4:26-29).                                                  compassion".
  If one is truly confident in the efficaciousness of                  * * *  * * * * * * *


476                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



  A consideration of methods is now in order.               with the Biblical/Reformed principles.
Realizing, as Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones made clear,              There are several Scriptural and Reformed
that there is constant danger of heresy arising from        methods which flow from these motivations. With
unscriptural methods, and having made it clear              that subject we will deal in a future issue.
what must be the lofty motivations of those spon-
soring and performing any form of mission work,             *Those interested can find more on this subject in  Hyper-
this subject must be approached carefully and  de-           Calvinism And The Call  Of  The Gospel  by the Rev. David
liberate effort must be put forth to be in harmony           Engelsma.

TAKING HEED TO THE DOCTRINE
Ronald H. Hanho





                                     God is Perfect (2)



  We have seen that the tenth commandment, in               as Israelites, offered swine's flesh on God's altar
distinction from all the others, addresses itself           (cf. Is.  66:2, 3).
specifically to our inward life by forbidding the sin         It is, therefore, in light of the tenth command-
of covetousness. The tenth commandment is, there-           ment and its requirement for heart-obedience that
fore, a fitting conclusion to the law because it            the so-called "good" which the unregenerate do
reminds us that the obedience which the law re-             must be examined. As long as a man's heart is far
quires of us must be inward as well as outward: in          from God (and it is far from God when he exercises
other words, that our obedience must be whole and           himself in covetous practices), he does no good, for
complete, or, in one word, perfect. This perfection         in breaking the law at one point, he breaks it all
is required of us, of course, because God Himself is        (James 2: lo), and can find no favor with God. God
perfect (Deut. 1813, Matt.  5:48). Always, also here        says of him what He said of Israel when they
in the tenth commandment, the obedience required            brought the lame and sick as offerings in the days
of us is not arbitrary, but the practical application       of Malachi: "I have no pleasure in you, saith the
of God's own glory to our lives. To obey is to glorify      Lord of Hosts" (1:6-14).
and praise Him.                                               It is the tenth commandment, more than any
  Our obedience is, then, the living sacrifice that         other, therefore, which shows us the depravity of
we are to bring to God in thankfulness for what He          man. As long as sin is thought of only in terms of
has done for us (Rom. 12: 1,2). The tenth command-          outward act, it is impossible to apply the truth of
ment is a very important reminder to us that that           total depravity to the lives of men, especially those
sacrifice and thank-offering of ourselves must be           who live an outwardly "decent" life. The tenth
whole and perfect. Just as with the thank-offerings         commandment shows us that the man of the world
Israel brought to the temple, our sacrifice must be         is one who "will not seek after God" in that "he
without blemish, not blind or broken, maimed or             boasteth of his heart's desire, and blesseth the
sick (Lev.  22:17-22).  Certainly it is not difficult to    covetous whom the Lord abhorreth" (Ps.  10:3, 4).
see that when we serve God hypocritically, that is,         The wicked do not even recognize covetousness as
only outwardly, then we bring a sacrifice that is           sin, though it is a species of idolatry (Col.  3:5).
blind to God's glory, lame and halting, a blemished         Rather, they encourage and praise it (bless it, as
offering; and our obedience is no better than if we,        Psalm 10 says). They do this today especially
                                                            through various forms of advertising, most of
Ronald H. Hanko is pastor of T&Sty Protestant Reformed      which are nothing but a most blatant appeal to
Church, Houston, Texas.                                     covetousness and greed. They do it also in their


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                             4 7 7



philosophy of human rights, teaching that every             The wicked cannot finally be anything but
man has a basic and unalienable right to the things         covetous, because there is no satisfaction and rest
he wants, at least with respect to the "necessities"        except in God. Nor can the Christian be anything
of life. The truth is, of course, that no man has a         finally but content, because, as he himself says,
right to anything apart from God, for every man is          "Having Thee, on earth is nought that I can yet
created by God to serve and glorify Him. And as we          desire" (Psalter #203,  3). Hebrews 13:5 teaches this
have seen, to want or claim anything apart from             beautifully. The exhortation there is: "Let your
God is simply to exercise one's self in covetousness.       conversation (i.e., the whole conduct of your life)
   We as Christians must not forget this, for exam-         be without covetousness; and be content with such
ple, in our use of the media. They are spiritually          things as ye have." The blessed ground of this  ex-
dangerous not only because of the filth they pour           horation is the promise: "For  He  hath said, I will
into our homes, but because they deaden our sen-            never leave thee, nor forsake thee."
sitivity to the sin of covetousness by dinning it into        This brings us back to the place from which we
our ears and glutting our eyes with it. Given the           started in our study of the tenth commandment. To
covetousness of our own hearts, it is difficult to          be satisfied with God and in God and in Gods serv-
believe that we can remain unaffected by it all.            ice is really no different than offering ourselves,
  The thing that needs emphasis, then, is the               heart and mind and soul and strength, a living
spiritual danger of the sin of covetousness. We may         sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving to Him. To be
have the idea that we can feast our eyes and hearts         free from covetousness is to be free to serve God,
on earthly pleasures and treasures without being            and to serve Him in contented godliness is to offer
harmed spiritually, and that we can let our children        to Him a perfect sacrifice, i.e., a sacrifice which is
do the same without fear for their spiritual well-          in harmony with His own perfection.
being, but God's word makes it clear that this is not         Certainly this commandment is a sharp sword,
the case. Covetousness is not only "foolish and             cutting to the dividing of soul and spirit, searching
hurtful" but it "drowns men in destruction and              not only our outward life but the inward life of our
perdition" and causes us to "err from the faith" (I         thoughts, desires, and motives. Certainly in light of
Tim. 6:9, 10). It is, to put the matter very simply, a      this commandment, we can say with Paul: "I had
sin that damns.                                             not known sin . . . except the law had said, Thou
  We might notice in this connection what James             shalt not covet" (Rom.  7:7). Though our outward
says about covetousness (lust). He draws a connec-          life may be without reproach, who would dare to
tion between covetousness and the wars and fight-           say that he is without covetousness? At this point,
ings that trouble the life of the church. Strife always     though in respect of all the other commandments
has its roots in lust (James 4:1-4). Only the man           we say, "All these things have I kept from my
whose heart is cleansed of covetousness, therefore,         youth up,", we too, with the rich young ruler who
can be at peace and be a peacemaker in the church.          came to Jesus, can have nothing to say, but go away
We do well to remember it.                                  sorrowing (Matt. 19: 18-22).
  Nor ought we to forget what covetousness is. It             Having set the seal upon our spiritual grave, the
has nothing whatever to do with how much or how             tenth commandment also points us to Him in
little of the things of this life a man has. The deceit-    whom alone there is hope of life from the dead.
fulness of riches is exactly this, that we think that if    How shall the sinner whose heart also is dead in
only we have this or that or gain just a little more of     trespasses and sins live toward God? Only in Him
the things of this life we shall be satisfied and no        Who obeyed not only the outward letter of the law,
longer covetous. But the Word of God warns us it is         but Who said in all His obedience: "I delight to do
not so: "He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied       thy will, 0 my God: yea, thy law is within my
with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with in-          heart" (Ps.  40:8). Only such an obedience could
crease: this also is vanity" (Eccl.  5:lO).                 ever substitute for our turning from the living and
  Rather than being a matter of how much or how             true God to seek our happiness and satisfaction in
little a man has, covetousness is a matter of a man's       vain things.
heart in relation to God. This is also true of content-       So the tenth commandment also, as all the
ment, the opposite of covetousness. Paul could              others, shows us two things: our inability to justify
write from a prison cell in Rome, "I have learned,          ourselves before God, thus serving as our school-
in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content"          master to bring us to Christ. And leading us to
(Phil.  4:ll). Contentment is, then, not merely the         Christ, it also shows us once  again how we may
fulfilment of desire, but fulfilment in God and satis-      show true thankfulness to God: that is, not just by
faction with God, just as covetousness is not mere          being holy, but by being holy as God Himself is ho-
unfulfilled desire, but all desire apart from God.          ly, and that is perfectly holy.


478                                                      THE STANDARD BEARER



  In summary, then, of our study of the ten  com-                   God's glory and desiring in thankfulness to God to
mandments, we see that the Christian, who under-                    praise and bless the Name of God, he returns to the
stands that the commandments are without excep-                     law to use it as guide for gratitude.
tion rooted and grounded in God's own glory, can                      As long as we see the law only as a body of
no more neglect or despise them than he can                         precepts, more or less arbitrary, there is no place
neglect or despise God Himself. He does not cast                    for the law in the life of the Christian, and he will
out the law from one door as a means of justifica-                  only hate it. But when he sees clearly that all the
tion only to bring it back in another door, but hav-                commandments are nothing more than the revela-
ing been condemned by the law's revelation of the                   tion of God, the great and holy God, he will be able
glory of God and having been left without any hope                  to confess, "The law of thy mouth is better unto me
of salvation through his own righteousness, he                      than thousands of gold and silver," and will pray
seeks his righteousness as a free gift of God's grace.              fervently, "Open thou mine eyes, that I may
And then, having experienced the riches of God's                    behold wondrous things out of thy law" (Ps.
grace in Christ Jesus, and having been justified                    119:72, 18).
freely, he remembers that the law is a revelation of



                                                     Book Review

THINKING ABOUT FAITH,, AN INTRODUC-                                   While the purpose of the author is an important
TORY GUIDE TO PHILOSOPHY AND RELI-                                  one and while the book is valuable to those who are
GION,  by David Cook; Zondervan Publishing                          interested in the question of the relation between
House, 1986. 220 pp., (paper). (Reviewed by Prof.                   philosophy and religion, the author treats religious
H. Hanko.)                                                          ideas from a purely philosophical viewpoint. That
  From many points of view this is an interesting                   is, religious themes are not treated from a Biblical
book. We quote a few excerpts from the Introduc-                    perspective, the perspective of faith, but from a ra-
tion to give our readers some idea of the purpose of                tionalistic viewpoint. The issues are argued on
the book.                                                           philosophical grounds. Thus, while the book is
                                                                    worthwhile for those who want a relatively simple
         . . . If you want to understand philosophy, its im-        introduction to philosophical questions as they
       pact on Christianity and some ways of responding to          touch on religious ideas, one must be on his guard
       that impact, then this book should help you. It is not,
       however, a or the Christian answer to all philosophical      that he is not tempted to consider these questions
       problems. It is not a philosophy book which seeks to         on the same ground as the author considers them.
       propound one main philosophical view and then                The truth of Scripture is the object of faith, and faith
       tries to fit all the questions and answers into that view    is a gift of God to His elect people in Christ.
       . . . . It is not an attempt to write the last word about      The author is head of Theology, Westminster
       the relationship of philosophy and religion. Rather, it      College, Oxford, and lecturer in Philosophy and
       is an attempt to write'a first word. It is a beginner's      ethics at Regent's Park College, Oxford.
       book. It is an attempt to introduce people who know
       little or nothing about philosophy to some of the ways
       and ideas that philosophers use when they approach
       the study of religion . . . .
  The titles of some of the chapters will give a                        The Standard Bearer
general idea of what subjects are treated. Can Faith
Be Proved? Is There Life After Death? The Problem                     makes an excellent gift
of Prayer. Do Miracles Happen? Has Science Made
Faith Obsolete? Do People Need God To Be Good?                        for a relative or friend.
The Heart Has Its Reasons: Religious Experience.
  The book includes introductions to important                           Give the Standard Bearer!
themes, a glossary at the end of each chapter of
main terms and ideas, a "who's who" of leading
thinkers, an index of names and topics.


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                              479



                        News From Our Churches
                                                     Ben Wigger

  It seems that not having had a news column for            evening service every third week. This work was
the last issue of  The  Stundaud   Bearer has left me       scheduled to begin Sunday, August 2.
with an abundance of news items to try to squeeze             Just a reminder: five months have passed since
into this issue.                                            Rev. R. Miersma announced his acceptance of the
  First, then, some old but important news. Rev.            call from our sister church in New Zealand. The
Van  Overloop  received the call from Lacombe. He           process of immigration is long and tedious, which
declined that call. Our congregation there then             taxes the patience of all involved. Rev. Miersma
formed a new trio consisting of the Reverends Bek-          and his family ask for your continued prayers as
kering, Koole, and Kuiper. From this trio Lacombe           they wait for the New Zealand government to give
has since called Rev. Kuiper, presently pastor of the       them clearance to enter their country as residents.
Hope Protestant Reformed Church of Isabel, S.D.               Not all of our congregations are presently in-
  The Rev. B. Gritters also received a call from our        volved in new building projects. Pella was faced
congregation in Holland. He also declined this call.        recently with a couple of improvements. First they
First Church in Holland has since formed a trio             had to replace some sidewalk in front of the par-
consisting of the Reverends Van Baren, Koole, and           sonage, and then they had to decide how to go
Prof. Decker. However, there is no `news yet as to          about repairing a leaky roof on the parsonage. Rev.
whom they will extend a call.                               Terpstra also included a nice note with his last
  First Church in Grand Rapids, in accordance               batch of bulletins, in which he informed me that
with this year's Synod, met recently to call a second       Pella has a Tulip Time in early May just as Holland,
missionary to Jamaica. The congregation voted               Mich. does. He promised to provide more informa-
from a trio consisting of the Reverends Bekkering,          tion later.
Kortering, and Van Overloop. From this group they             Randolph's young people have been meeting
have extended a call to Rev. Jason Kortering, who is        now and then this summer at their pastor's home to
presently pastor of the Grandville Protestant Re-           discuss, informally, topics they find interesting.
formed Church.                                              The last topic I came across was "Zeal and Enthus-
  We also want to extend our belated congratula-            iasm Among Our Young People; Is It Lacking?"
tions to Rev. and Mrs. R. Van Overloop  on the birth        Sounds interesting.
of a daughter, Michelle June.                                 Here in Michigan it has been an exceptionally
  In our last news column we mentioned that                 warm summer. The heat has some churches talking
Loveland was sponsoring a public lecture. Well,             about air conditioning, some more seriously than
Rev. Cammenga writes that at this lecture they had          others. Southeast called a special congregational
many visitors, especially from the Denver area. At          meeting on August  10  to discuss just that. First
present they are attempting to further these con-           Church in Grand Rapids also considered the idea
tacts. They have mailed about fifty introductory            once more this summer. They decided, however,
subscriptions of The Standard Bearer. They are also         to install three paddle fans on the sanctuary ceiling
close to securing a radio station for the Reformed          and wait to consider air conditioning at their annual
Witness Hour broadcast. By the way, tapes of this           congregational meeting this fall.
lecture on Reformed Worship are available for $2.00           There was an interesting note on a bulletin from
by writing to the address of the church.                    Trinity Church in Houston last month. It was a
                                                            special thank you to.all those who helped with the
  Somewhat along these same lines the Reformed              Vacation Bible School. There were pictures from
Witness Committee in Iowa has asked the  con-               Bible School posted on the bulletin board in the
sistories of  Doon, Edgerton, and Hull to begin the         back of the auditorium for the congregation to com-
work of preaching in Sioux Falls for a year to in-          ment on also.
vestigate the possibility of establishing a mission
field there. The three consistories have approved             In harmony with the decision of the congregation
this idea and Doon has become the supervising con-          of Lynden to look for property to purchase and
sistory for this work. This work will require each          build on sometime in the future, the consistory ap-
pastor and an elder and a deacon to conduct an              pointed a committee to carry out this mandate.
                                                            That committee must recommend suitable pieces
                                                            of property, recommend possible means of finan-
Ben Wigger is an elder in the Protestant Reformed Church    cing that purchase, and recommend when to sell
of Hudsonville, Michigan.                                   the current church property.


       SECOND CLASS                                                                                                                          THE STANDARD BEARER
    POSTAGE PAID AT                                                                                                                                P.O. Box 6064
 GRAND RAPIDS, MICH.                                                                                                                      Grand Rapids, Michigan 49516           7





480                                                                         THE STANDARD BEARER

                                                                                                                  RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
                                                                                                      The Senior Mr. and Mrs. Society of Hope Protestant Reformed
                                     NOTICE!!!                                                      Church of Walker,  Mich., expresses its Christian sympathy to  fellow-
                                                                                                    member, Mr. and Mrs. Jim Huizinga and family in the death of his
                                                                                                    father, MR. JOHN HUIZINGA.
   Attention members and prospective members of the
Reformed Free Publishing Association.                                                                  "Thou shalt guide me with Thy counsel and afterward receive me
                                                                                                    to Glory." (Psalm  73:24)
                 Notice of R.F.P.A. Annual Meeting                                                  Rev. H. Veldman, Pres.
                                                                                                    Phyllis King, Sec'y.
Date:                     September 17, 1987
Place:                    Southwest Protestant Reformed Church                                                    RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
T i m e :                 8:00  PM                                                                    The Ladies Society of South Holland Protestant Reformed Church
                                                                                                    would like to ekpress its heartfelt Christian sympathy to Mr. and Mrs.
Speaker:                 Rev. S. Key                                                                Adrian Lenting, Jr. in the death of their son, JEFFREY LENTING.

Nominees for three Board positions:                                                                    "Consider the Work of God, for who can make that straight,
          Tom Bodbyl                               Rod Brunsting                                    which he has made crooked." (Ecclesiates  7:13)
          Vern Casmier                             John J. Dykstra                                                RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
          Henry Kamps                              Gib Schimmel                                        The Mary Martha Society of the Hope Protestant Reformed
   All  are welcome to attend this meeting. See you                                                 Church of Redlands, CA, wish to express their sincere sympathy to
there.                                                                                              Mrs. Ed Gritters, Mrs. Ed Karsemeyer, Mrs. Mike  Grittbrs,  Mrs. Roger
                                                                                                    Gritters and their families in the passing of their grandson and
                                                                                                    nephew,  JARED VANDER KOLK.

                                                                                                       "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my
                                                                                                    life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever." (Psalm  23:6)

                                                                                                    Rev. Koole, Pres.
                     SEMINARY CONVOCATION                                                           Jeanne Jabaay, Sec'y.
       Convocation means "a calling together". It is the good
  custom of our seminary to call together all the students, pro-                                                  RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
  fessors, Theological School Committee Members, and friends of
  the seminary to a public meeting to begin the school year. This                                      The members of the  Doon Protestant Reformed Church Men's
  year Prof. Robert Decker will stir us to good work at the                                         Society wish to express their sympathy to Mr. and Mrs. Edwin Van
  seminary and speak on  "Committing The Truth To Faithful                                          Ginkel in the death of his father, MR. WILLIAM VAN GINKEL.
  Men. "                                                                                               "And we know that all things work together for good to them that
       When? Wednesday, September 9, 8 p.m.                                                         love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose."
                                                                                                    (Romans  8:28)
       Where? Southwest Protestant Reformed Church, 4875  Ivan-
  rest, Grandville.                                                                                 Rev. R. Dykstra, Pres.
                                                                                                    Perry Van Egdom, Sec'y.
       Refreshments. will be served after the meeting, and oppor-
  tunity will be had to meet the students and browse through the
  seminary building up the hill from the church. (Did you know that                                               RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
  we have perhaps as many as seven students preparing for the                                          The Consistory of the  Doon Protestant Reformed Church wishes
  gospel ministry this year, the Lord willing?)                                                     to express their sympathy to its fellow-member, Elder Edwin Van
       Please join us for a good evening to show our support of and                                 Ginkel and family in the loss of his father, WILLIAM VAN GINKEL.
  interest in the seminary!!                                                                           May our Heavenly Father comfort the bereaved with the
                                                                                                    assurance that He doeth all things well.

                                                                                                    Rev. R. Dykstra,  Pres.
                                        NOTICE!!!                                                   Peter Van Den Top, Clerk
   The Byron Center Protestant Reformed Church invites your indica-
tion of interest to participate in the sale of our sanctuary debenture                                                           NOTICE!!!
notes for the construction of our proposed new sanctuary. Please                                       Classis East will meet in regular session on Wednesday,
contact by phone or mail to either:                                                                 September 9, 1987 at the Hudsonville Protestant Reformed Church
          Sid Miedema, Sr.                               Terry Kamminga                             at 9 a.m. Material for this session  niust  be in the hands of the Stated
          8589 Homrich Ave.                        or    4251  - 92nd St.                           Clerk at least three weeks prior to the convening of this meeting.
          Byron Center, Ml 49315                         Byron Center, Ml 49315
          P h o n e :   6 1 6 - 8 7 8 - 9 6 3 5          P h o n e :   6 1 6 - 8 7 8 - I   4 4 4                                                John Huisken, Stated Clerk


