Vol. 64,  Ncj. Y     ---La
February 7,: 7988


 Contents                                                                                                       THF
                                                                                                                 . . .-
                                                                             February I, 7 988             sEwD!m
Meditation -  lames  D. Slopsema                                                                               BELZRER
Walking In The Old Paths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .I94
Editorials  -                                                                                              ISSN 0362-4692
                                                                                                           Semi-monthly, except monthly during June,  july,
Whose Catechism?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .I97                 and August. Published by  the  Reformed Free Pub-
                                                                                                           lishing Association, Inc. Second  Clpss  Postage Paid
"Church"Or "Churches"?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .I98                       at Grand Rapids,  Mich.
                                                                                                           EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
From Holy Writ  - George C. Lubbers                                                                        Prof. Homer C. Hoeksema
Exegetical Sketches on Micah 6:1-8 (2). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .I99                           DEPARTMENT EDITORS
                                                                                                           Rev. Ronald Cammenga, Rev. Arie den Hartog,
Decency And Order  - Ronald L. Cammenga                                                                    Prof. Robert D. Decker, Rev. Barry Critters, Rev.
                                                                                                           Cornelius Hanko, Prof. Herman C. Hanko, Rev.
The Lawful Calling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .202              Ronald Hanko, Rev. John A. Heys, Rev.  J.  Korter-
                                                                                                           ing, Rev. George C. Lubbers, Rev. Thomas C.
All Around Us - Cise  /. Van  Baren                                                                        Miersma, Rev. James Slopsema, Rev. Cise  J. Van
                                                                                                           Baren,  Mr. Benjamin Wigger.
"`The R&erend's last stand" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .204                       EDITORIAL OFFICE
                                                                                                           Prof. H.C. Hoeksema
.The Conservatives' Alternatives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .205                      4975  lvanrest  Ave., S.W.
                                                                                                           Crandville,  Michigan 49418
The Day of Shadows  -  lohn A. Heys                                                                        CHURCH NEWS EDITOR
A Wife Taken And Salvatjon Given . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .206                            Mr. Ben Wigger
                                                                                                           6597  - 40th Ave.
Walking  In The Light  - Herman C. Hanko                                                                   Hudsonville,  Michigan 49426
                                                                                                           EDITORIAL POLICY
Euthanasia(3)........................................20  9                                                 Every editor is solely responsible for the contents
                                                                                                           of his own articles. Contributions of general in-
Taking Heed To The Doctrine  - Ronald H. Hanko                                                             terest from our readers and questions for the
                                                                                                           Question Box Department are welcome. Contribu-
The Humanity of Christ. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .211                   tions will be limited to approximately 300 words
                                                                                                           and must be neatly written or typewritten, and
Book Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .213             must be signed. Copy deadlines are the first and
Report of Classis East                                                                                     the fifteenth of the month. All communications
                                   . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .214    relative to the contents should be sent to the
News Froni Our Churches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .215                     editorial office.
                                                                                                           REPRINT POLICY
                                                                                                           Permission is hereby granted for the reprinting of
                                                                                                           articles in  our  magazine by other publications,
                                                                                                           provided: a) that such reprinted articles are
                                                                                                           reproduced in full;  b) that proper acknowledge-
                                                                                                           ment is made;  c) that a copy of the periodical in
                                                                                                           which such reprint appears is sent to our editorial
 Meditation                                              Jeremiah was a prophet of God                     office.
                                                                                                           BUSINESS OFFICE
                                                     to Judah in the last years of                         The Standard Bearer
James D. Slopsema                                    Judah's existence as a nation.                        Mr. H.  Vander  Wal, Bus. Mgr.
                                                                                                           P.O. Box 6064
                                                                                                           Grand Rapids, Michigan 49516
 Walking In Judah was walking in apostasy.. PH: (616) 243-2953
                                                     It was Jeremiah's calling to                          NEW ZEALAND BUSINESS OFFICE
                                                     rebuke Judah for her unfaithful-                      The Standard Bearer
                                                                                                           c/o  Protestant Reformed Church
                                                     ness and to warn her of impend-                       6. Van Herk, 66 Fraser St.
 The Old                                             ing judgment.                                         Wainuiomata, New Zealand
                                                                                                           SUBSCRIPTION POLICY
                                                         These warnings fell on deaf                       Subscription price, $10.50 per year. Unless a
                                                                                                           definite request for discontinuance is received, it
                                                     ears. Judah continued in her evil                     is assumed that the subscriber wishes the subscrip-
 Paths                                               ways, paying no attention what-                       tion to continue without the formality of a
                                                                                                           renewal order, and he will be billed for renewal. If
                                                     soever to God's word.                                 you have a change of address, please notify the
                                                         Of this terrible fact God now                     Business Office as early as possible in order to
                                                                                                           avoid the inconvenience of delayed delivery. In-
    Thus saith fhe Lord, Sand                        reminds Judah.                                        clude your Zip Code.
                                                                                                           ADVERTISING POLICY
 ye in the ways, and see, and                            The Lord had said, Stand ye in                    The Standard Bearer does not accept commercial
                                                                                                           advertising of any kind. Announcements of church
 ask for the old paths, where is                     the ways, and see, and ask for                        and school events, anniversaries, obituaries, and
 the good way, and walk there-                       the old paths, where is the good                      svmoathv  resolutions will be  olaced  for a $3.00
                                                                                                           fee.  `The&  should be sent to  ;he Business Office
 in, and ye shall find resf for                      way, and walk therein.                                and should be accompanied by the $3.00 fee.
                                                         The Lord had even promised                        Deadline for announcements is the 1st and the
 your souls. But they said, We                                                                             15th of the month, previous to publication on the
                                                     that by walking in the old paths                      15th or the 1 st respectively.
 will not walk therein.                              Judah would find rest for their                       BOUND VOLUMES
                              Jeremiah 6: 16                                                               The Business Office will accept standing orders
                                                     souls.                                                for bound copies of the current volume; such
                                                         But Judah had said, "We will                      orders are filled as soon as possible after comple-
                                                                                                           tion of a volume. A limited number of past
                                                     not walk therein!"                                    volumes may be obtained through the Business
 James D. Slopsema is pastor of Hope                                                                       Office.
 Protestant Reformed Church, Walker,                               * * * * *                               16mm microfilm, 35mm microfilm and 105mm
                                                                                                           microfiche, and article copies are available
 Michigan.                                                                                                 through University Microfilms International.


194  / The Standard Bearer


  There are paths which God has       God's ways. For every area of life      other relatively new. This
ordained for man.                     they have devised a new way.            traveller stops and closely ex-
  In fact, there is a path or-        They have a new way for mar-            amines the two ways. Not know-
dained by God for every area of       riage, a new way for the rearing        ing for sure which is the old path
man's life. There is the path God     of children, a `new way for enter-      and the good way, he asks those
has ordained for marriage. There      tainment, for the use of their          nearby who have knowledge of
is the path God has ordained for      time, for the use of their              these paths. Receiving the
rearing children, a path ordained     money . . . .                           necessary information, he then
for the use of one's time, another      Needless to say these new             proceeds to take the old and
path of the use of one's riches,      ways are not good, but evil. They       proven way.
still another for the way we          are contrary to the ordained              This has been the command of                  _
entertain ourselves . . . .           ways of God, and thus are               God to Judah.
  These paths, which are re-          displeasing to God.                       Judah as a nation often found
vealed to us in the Bible, are          The members of the church             herself at the crossroads. Before
paths which God has ordained for      often follow these new paths of         her lay the old paths of God, the
man from the very beginning of        sin. Judah, to whom Jeremiah            good way. But before her were
time. Hence, they are called the      prophesied, was walking in these        also the new paths of sin blazed
old paths.                            new paths. Jeremiah spoke again         by the world.
  Because these old paths are or-     and again of the idolatry, the im-        The instruction of the Lord had
dained of God, they are also          morality, and :the defrauding of        been that when she came to
called the good way. They are         the poor that characterized             these crtissroads she must not
good and pleasing in the sight of     Judah. And it`is no different to-       just blindly plunge down just any
God. They meet with God's ap-         day in the church. Many walk            path, but she must stand in the
proval.                               not in the old paths of God but in      ways and see. In other words,
  Down these paths God has led        the new paths of the world.             she must stop and investigate
his people through history. This,       There are two things that ex-         these paths.
too, explains why they are called     plain this sad Ireality in the            And because Judah had over
the old paths.                        church.                                 the years bkcome ignorant of the
  Of themselves, of course, God's       On the onei hand, not all who         ways of God, she must inquire of
people can not and do not walk        belong td theichurch visible are        those who knew. She must turn
in these paths. For of themselves     true meqberi  of Jesus Christ.          to the prophets God raised up,
God's people are no different         They are still ;dead in sin, capable    and the few faithful priests, and
from the rest of fallen humanity.     only of setting their feet upon the
                                                       .                      ask, "Which are the old paths?
They are corrupt and depraved,        new paths of sm.                        Where is the good way?"
dead in sin.                            However, even the true mem-             And being instructed by those
  But God wonderfully changes         bers of the c@rch are often             who knew the old paths, Judah
His people by His grace. Through      weak. The work of grace in them         must walk in them.
a new birth in Jesus Christ He        is far from coinplete. The power          The same instruction of God
transforms His people and leads       of sin. is very :much present in        also applies to the church today.
them in the good way He has or-       them. They have a sinful flesh            We often find ourselves at the
dained for them. He leads them        that often leads them to stray in-      crossroads. In our marriages, in
in the good way in their mar-         to these new paths which God            the rearing of our children, in
riages, in their homes, in their      hates.                                  our entertainments, in the use of
work, in their play . . . .                       *  *  *  *  *               our time, money, and oppor-
  These old paths are contrasted                                              tunities, in all of life, there is
to new paths which are not men-         Stand ye in the ways, and see,        often more than one path open
tioned by Jeremiah, but are           and ask for the old paths, where        to us.
nevertheless assumed.                 is the good way, and walk                 Then we must not simply
  The new paths are paths which       therein.                                plunge down one or the other,
the ungodly have devised in their       Jeremiah uses the figure of a         taking perhaps the course of least
own wickedness.                       traveller who comes to a cross-         resistance, or the course that will
  The ungodly can not and will        road (the ways). One of these           provide the most excitement or
not walk in the old ways of God.      ways is an ancient path; the            pleasure. No, we must stand in
Hence, they have devised new                                                  the ways and see. In every in-
ways in which to walk, ways                                                   stance we must stop and care-
which are directly contrary' to


                                                                                               The  Standard Bearer  /  1%


fully investigate. Which is the old       But God had also promised          to Canaan. Nor is the hope of lif`e
path and the good way? And             rest, should Judah repent and         eternal dependent on possessing
which is the new path of the           turn back to the old paths of         the earthly Canaan. God's rest is,
world?                                 God. He would preserve Judah          entirely spiritual. It consists of
   Should we not be able to            from her great enemy to the           God's most blessed friendship antd
discern the one from the other,        north who had already started to      fellowship, both in this life and in
we must take steps to learn. We        trouble her borders. He would         the life to come.
must turn to the Word of God           secure her place in Canaan. And         But God's rest is found by
where God has revealed the old         in a secured Canaan, Judah            the church only as she walks tht
paths and we must study. We            would not only enjoy the rich         old paths and the good way.
should also turn to the elderly        blessings of God but would also       Should she persist to follow the
saints of the church who have          have in the earthly Canaan a          new paths of the world, there
found from experience which are        token of greater blessing to come     will be judgment. God will not
the old paths and the good way.        in the heavenly Canaan.               allow the church to enjoy the
   Having discovered the old              But Judah had refused. Her         new paths of the world. Those
paths, we must walk in them.           response to the Lord had been,        who will walk the new paths wil.l
Certainly we may not set our feet      "We will not walk therein!" And       find only trouble and sorrow.
on the new paths of sin and evil.      so as we know from subsequent           As in times of old, God will use
In every part of life we must be       history, God's judgments came to      this judgment to prepare the car.
walking the old paths of God.          Judah in the form of a dreadful       nal element of the church for
   To do this consistently day         captivity.                            greater judgment. But He is also
after day requires more than              But what a wonderful purpose       bringing the true, spiritual seed
human strength. It requires the        God realized in this judgment. He     to repentance that they may
strength of Jesus Christ. This         cleansed Israel of the carnal ele-    learn to set their feet on the old
great power is found in diligent       ment that had come to dominate        paths.
prayer, in daily use of God's          her, at the same time preparing         Stand ye therefore in the ways,
Word, in the encouragement of          them for final judgment. But the      and see, and ask for the old
one another as saints of God.          true spiritual seed was chastened.    paths, where is the good way,
              * * * * *                They were brought to their knees      and walk therein, and ye shall
   Stand ye in the ways, and see,      in repentance so that they turned     find rest for your souls. 0
and ask for the old paths, where       from the new paths back to the
is the good way, and walk              old paths of God. And having
therein, and ye shall find rest for    been so corrected, God also led
your souls.                            them back to Canaan to enjoy
   God had spoken words of judg-       His blessing.
ment to Judah for taking the new         We, too, must learn from this.
paths. He had warned her that            As we by grace walk in the old
should she persist in these new        paths of God, we, too, will find
paths, He would send an army           rest.
from the north to take her away          Canaan has long ago lost its
from the land of promise into          significance to the church. God's
captivity.                             blessings are no longer attached
   What a terrible judgment that
would be! For Canaan in the Old
Testament was an earthly picture
of heaven. And, therefore, apart
from Canaan, Judah could not
enjoy God's blessings. In turn, be
ing deprived of Canaan would be        The Standard Bearer makes a
a picture of being eternally dis-
inherited with respect to the          thoughtful gift for members of your
greater, heavenly Canaan.
                                       family, friends, and neighbors. Give
                                       a gift of the Standard Bearer.

196  I The Standard Bearer


Editorials


Whose Catechism?                       To be sure, those responsible for       However, I must confess to be-
  In the Church Herald (maga-          its composition had been at work      ing somewhat offended, as well
zine of the Reformed Church in         throughout 1562 and are sup-          as shocked, by a statement at the
America) of January 1, 1988            posed to have finished their task     end of Dr. Hageman's article.
there appears an article from the      in December of that year and          The concluding paragraph reads
pen of Dr. Howard Hageman en-          received princely approval from       as follows:
titled "The Eternal Youth Of the       Frederick III at that time. But it      "I have no idea of the form the
Heidelberg" (p. 31). The purpose       was in January 1563 that it was       celebration should take, but I
of the article is to call attention    given to the press for publi-         hope there is one. Perhaps it is
to the fact that January 1988          cation."                              something we could share with
marks the 425th anniversary of           The writer then goes on to          our Christian Reformed friends,
the Heidelberg Catechism. He           praise what one Dutch theologian      since we are the only American
write as follows:                      has called "the eternal youth of      churches which share the
  "Since everyone is celebrating       the Heidelberg," and to account       catechism, although it is tucked
anniversaries of every con-            for this so-called eternal youth.     into the confessional collection of
ceivable kind these days, why            Now I certainly have no objec-      the Presbyterians. Here is a good
shouldn't we celebrate one of our      tion to remembering our Heidel-       way to begin to find out who we
own? It might help us with our         berg Catechism and to praising it     are. Happy birthday, dear Heidel-
identity crisis!                       for its "eternal youth." Nor do I     berg!"
  "I have thus far not seen so         object to celebrating an anniver-       I refer, of course, to the words
much as a syllable of reference to     sary, though I suggest that if we     "since we are the only American
it, but January 1988 marks the         begin to celebrate quarter-           churches which share the cate-
425th anniversary of the Heidel-       century anniversaries in connec-      chism."
berg Catechism - and I think           tion with every significant event       When I read this, I rubbed my
that's an event worthy of celebra-     in Reformed church history or         eyes in disbelief. For without dif-
tion. The first edition of the         the publication of every signifi-     ficulty I immediately thought of
Heidelberg Catechism gives the         cant bit of Reformed church           several other American denomin-
date of January 19, 1563, as the       literature, we might end with         ations which share the Heidel-
time of its official proclamation.     some kind of celebration almost       berg Catechism. First to come to
                                       every year. And then celebra-         mind, of course, was our own
                                       tions begin to lose their signifi-    Protestant Reformed Churches.
                                       cance. Nor do I see how a             Then I thought of the Reformed
                                       celebration of; this kind might       Church in the United States (Ger-
                                       help the RCA `with its alleged        man Reformed) who can trace
                                       "identity crisis" - whatever that     their history in this country back
                                       may mean. Perhaps the RCA's           to the colonial days when the
                                       identity might be better helped       RCA became established here.
                                       by faithful preaching and             Then there are the Free Re-
                                       teaching of the Heidelberg            formed Churches, the Nether-
                                       Catechism.                            lands Reformed, and the Cana-
                                                                             dian Reformed. In fact, I dare say

                                                                                             The Standard Bearer  / 197


that in at least some of these the      between independentism, which           ly of the common grace con-
Catechism is not only shared, but       indeed means that every con-            troversy; and this is correct and
more faithfully taught and               gregation is a law unto itself and     also fundamental. Often it is for-
preached than in either the RCA          that decisions of broader              gotten, however, that there was a
or the CRC.                             assemblies are merely declara-          fundamental issue of church
   I will not judge the reason for       tory, and not binding, and what        government involved also. In the
this error on Dr. Hageman's part         is usually referred to as the prin-    years between 1924 and 1926
- whether it is ignorance, or a         ciple of the autonomy of the            Classis Grand Rapids East and
momentary lapse of memory, or          local church. 2) It is difficult to      Classis Grand Rapids West took
the notion th,at the rest of us do      understand what Dr. De Ridder,          the stand that a classis has the
not count as churches, or that          in seemingly contradictory              right and the power to suspend
somehow we are not American.            fashion, means when he writes:          and depose officebearers; and
   But correct he is not. 0             "A congregation is a fully con-         this was confirmed by the Chris-
                                HCH     stituted church of Christ. But this     tian Reformed Synod of 1926.
                                        does not mean that it is the              3. The name of our denomina-
"Church" or "Churches"?                 church." Yet in the course of           tion is Protestant Reformed
   In "Voices" (The Banner,             history, it seems to me, the Chris-     Churches (emphasis added) in
December 28, 1987) there ap-            tian Reformed Church has in-            America. The plural of our name
pears an exchange between the           creasingly assumed the stance,          denotes precisely the fact that
Rev. Rein Leestma, a Christian          from a church political point of        our denomination is a federation
Reformed minister in Lynwood,           view, which Dr. De Ridder               of autonomous churches who
Illinois, and Dr. Richard R. De         assumes, the so-called hier-            operate under the so-called
Ridder, of Calvin Seminary. It          archical or collegialistic stance.      presbyterian-synodical form of
concerns the old questions in the       The tendency has been to view           government. We should not call
area of Reformed church govern-         the denomination as the church          our denomination "Protestant
ment, whether the Christian             and the individual congregations        Reformed Church" nor allow
Reformed denomination is a              as so many branches of that one         others to call it that. We are the
federation of churches (as              large church. And this is certain-      Protestant Reformed Churches.
Leestma maintains) or constitutes       ly wrong, both historically and         This is not a quibbling about
one church (as De Ridder main-          principally. I do not purpose to        words or letters.
tains, and as the singular name of      comment directly on the De                4. At stake is the principle of
the denomination, Christian Re-         Ridder-Leestma disagreement             the autonomy of the local
formed Church, would seem to            more than this.                         church. The authority and power
indicate).                                 I do, however, wish to make a        to preach the Word, to ad-
   It is not my intention to enter      few remarks with regard to our          minister the sacraments, and to
into the dispute between Leestma        own churches in this connection,        exercise discipline reside strictly
and De Ridder, except to make           without transgressing the domain        in the local congregation (con-
two remarks: 1) It seems to me          of the department editor of             sistory).
that Dr. De Ridder falsely accuses      Decency And Order.                         5.  Classis and synod have only
the Rev. Leestma of independent-           1. This exchange reminds me          derivative authority, that is, those
ism, when he writes: "The Chris-        of the "es" battle which went on        rights, powers, and duties which
tian Reformed Church is not a           in the era when the late Rev.           the federated churches have
federation of churches. What            Hoeksema was our editor and             agreed to give them and which
Rev. Leestma is pleading for is a       when the late Rev. H.J. Kuiper          are spelled out in our Church
form of congregationalism that          was editor of The Banner. Almost        Order. Further, every classis or
affirms that every local congrega-      as often as Kuiper would write          synod is strictly temporary; it
tion is a law to itself and has the     about the Christian Reformed            goes out of existence when it ad-
right to act independently." I can      Church (singular), Hoeksema, if         journs. This is not true of a con-
find no evidence of this in            he quoted Kuiper, would add in           sistory.
Leestma's letter. Further, among       parentheses the words: "should
Reformed people a careful              ' be Churches, HI-I."
distinction has always been made           2. This was historically con-
                                        nected, of course, with the origin
                                        of our Protestant Reformed
                                        Churches. Usually when we think
                                        of our origin we think immediate-


798  /  The  Standard Bearer


   6. The decisions of classis/             by classis/synod; it can only be        regard in the 1940s for example.
synod are indeed binding with-              set outside the church federation.      But the history of this question
in the church-federation, un-                 More, much more, could be             goes way back to the beginnings
less they be proved to conflict             written about'this. For over the        of the Reformed churches in
with the Word of God and the                centuries these matters have            Europe. Presbyterianism has also
Church Order. But a local con-              been the subject of much study          made history in this regard and
gregation/consistory which                  and much controversy in Re-             has followed another track.
refuses to abide by decisions of            formed churches. Both the so-             But let this suffice. 0
the broader (not higher)                    called Liberated and the                                                       HCH
assemblies cannot be disciplined            Synodicals made history in this





                                            Exegetical Sketches on
 From Holy Writ Micah 6:M (2)
George  C. Lubbers




   The LORD, the high and lofty               First, the manner of Gods ad-         tween Shittim and Gilgal, that we
God, continues to speak in His              dress to Israel. It is a serious ad-    may know the righteousnesses of
controversy with His people,                dress, a loving call carefully to       the Lord.
whom He addresses as "my peo-               read the sacred Scriptures and to         Lastly, we must not overlook
ple". Let us continue to listen at-         take to heart the manner of             that the remembrance of God's
tentively to the LORD'S earnest             Jehovah's mighty dealings. We           dealings with Israel is really the
plea as established in justice and          really have the truth expressed         fine point in God's controversy in
mercy.                                      here in verse `5 which John             court. The question at issue is
   The verse reads: "0 my peo-              writes when he says, "Behold            really: God's covenant dealings
ple, remember now what Balak                what mannerof love the Father           and faithfulness!
king of Moab consulted, and                 hath bestowed upon us, that we            God proves beyond all con-
what Balaam the son of Beor                 should be calied  the sons of God:      tradiction that He has never
answered him from Shittim to                therefore the world knoweth us          wearied Israel with arbitrary
Gilgal; that ye may know the                not, because it knew him not," I        dealings with them. He has kept
righteousness of the LORD,"                 John 3:l.                               His word!
Micah 6:5. When we study this                 Secondly, the particular matter         Let us look at these proposi-
text, we notice that the following          for Israel to remember is how the       tions seriatim.
elements call for our believing             enemies of God and of His people          Let us notice, first of all, the
consideranon.                               consulted together, "against the        seriousness of God's address here.
                                            LORD and his anointed." It is an        God has made His covenant with
                                            attempt to drive a wedge be-            Abraham of old, and this cove-
                                            tween God and His people.               nant is that He will save them
                                            Would that Gbd would curse              completely from all their sins in
                                            Israel, and not bless them, as He       the blood of the Lamb. And
                                            had promised to Abraham and to          Balaam, the soothsayer, must
                                            his seed!                               answer Balak that he cannot
                                              Thirdly, there is the lesson          curse Israel, because God main-
                                            which Israel must learn from this       tains His covenant promise.
George C. Lubbers is a minister emeritus    saving history, which elapsed be-
in the Protestant Reformed Churches.

                                                                                                       The Standard Bearer  / 199


 Balaam does this in the form of        sing amiss, "The LORD is the            two elements here which are set
 parables. He tells Balak in the        strength of my song, he is              forth in bold relief. These are the
 most lofty and poetic strains that     become my salvation . . . . The         verb "know" and the term
 God is not a man, that He should       Lord is a man of war: the LORD          "righteousnesses." The term
 lie; neither the son of man that       is his name!" The Lord was ever         "righteousnesses" is called in
 He should repent. He asks Balak        such that fear and dread fell           Hebrew  tsedagoth Jaweh.  The
 in rhetorical form: "Hath he said,     upon the mighty dukes of Edom           Dutch translation is correct here.
 and shall he not do it? Or hath        and the mighty men, and all the         It translates it in the plural
 he spoken, and shall he not make       inhabitants of Canaan melted            number. That is the way in
 it good?"                              away. Did not Rahab tell the            which the Hebrew has it too.
    Now Israel, and we with them        spies of Israel, "I know the LORD       This righteousness belongs
 as the Israel of God, must never       hath given you the land, and that       peculiarly to Jehovah in His
 forget these words of God              your terror is fallen upon us, and      covenant relationship to His peo-
 through Balaam's mouth!                that all the inhabitants of the         ple. That the term is used here in
    True, Balaam is not a believer;     land faint because of you,"             the plural seems significant to
 he did not at all have faith that      Joshua 2:9. The Lord Himself            me. When Scripture speaks of the
 works by love. He is really in the     remembers His own mighty                abundance of Gods mercy, we
 service of the arch-foe, the devil.    deeds. He would have His people         read of the mercies of the LORD.
 But God had put these words in         do the same.                            Thus we read in Psalm 89:l: "I
 Balaam's mouth without putting           Thirdly, we should notice that        will sing of the mercies of the
 them in his heart. That makes          the LORD singles out the great          LORD forever." Thus also in
 these words all the more               deeds of His saving grace from          Scripture we often read of Gods
 remarkable. It is the same as          Shittim to Gilgal. The distance         wonders in the plural, to indicate
 when God uses the dumb ass to          from Shittim to Gilgal is very          their great number and
speak God's word, and that, too,        short. The meaning of this cross-       magnitude. We read in Psalm
to convey a message of hope of          ing of Jordan, as a wonder of           89:5: "The heavens shall praise
 the greatness of Israel throughout     God, looms very large. It is a          thy wonders, 0 LORD; thy faith-
the entire history of the world.        brief history and a merciful            fulness to all the congregation of
    "From Shittim to Gilgal" is a       display of what we might call sin       the saints." Thus also here the
striking reference to God's faith-      and grace. It was a bringing of         Lord speaks of these righteous-
fulness to a very sinful people         Israel into the typical rest. It was    nesses, indicating the multiformi-
who are saved by sovereign              a giving them the land of prom-         ty of the graces of Jehovah to
grace!                                  ise, which God had sworn unto           His people. Upon each of these
   Secondly, we should observe          Abraham by oath. (Gen. 13:14-18;        manifestations of God's righteous-
that God calls Israel's attention to    15:12-18)                               ness we see stamped indelibly
an episode in Israel's history            When this history is studied,         what the LORD has wrought in
when Gods faithfulness was              we notice that Balaam answered          covenant faithfulness and love.
called in question. The issue real-     Balak that the great deliverance          Let us look at this history be-
ly was God or other gods. There         and glorious future of Israel           tween Shittim and Gilgal.
is a vain attempt made by               belonged solely to the LORD. It           In this history we can know
Balaam to marshal1 the powers of        also shows that there is no power       the ways of the LORD. The verb
darkness against the Lord of            to stay Gods hand. God tells            in the Hebrew means to know
hosts. Yes, Balak, in his fear and      Israel very solemnly that they          with spiritual-experiential knowl-
desperation, calls the assistance       must remember, and never forget         edge. The Hebrew tense used
of a soothsayer, a man who              this little important piece of          refers to a constantly knowing.
divined by his gods. However,           history, They must not merely           Yes, Israel, by studying this
the Lord had not given Balaam           remember a few details of this          history, while believing, will
the remotest inkling that He            history, but they must study what       know once and for all Jehovah's
would allow Israel to be cursed.        God performed there in His cove-        righteousness. Interestingly, the
Israel need have no fear. Had the       nant faithfulness to a people who       Septuagint translation has the
Lord not demonstrated at the            were in themselves worthy of be-        verb gnoosthee. Also this verb in
drowning of Pharaoh and all his         ing destroyed in the righteous
hosts in the Red Sea that He is a       judgments of God. Does not the
man of war? Moses surely did not        text say, "so that you may know
                                        the righteousnesses of Jehovah?"
                                        The Hebrew text here is very ex-
                                        plicit and significant.. There are

200  I The Standard Bearer


the Greek refers often to ex-          so that has its pedagogical effect      overlook that this is not because
periential knowledge. The aorist       in the church. Wherefore He sent        of our righteousness of works
tense used refers to a knowing of      a plague in the camp of Israel          before the LORD, but that it is
the Lords righteousnesses as an        which resulted in the death of          due to the gospel-truth: "The
accomplished fact. It is important     24,000 people. However, He              shout of the king is in their
for faith and life to see this. But    never allows the righteous to           midst." It is all of grace. By grace
it is equally important for us so      perish with the wicked. The truth       are ye saved through faith. Not
that we may grasp and under-           of Psalm 91:7-10 stands: "a thou-       of works, lest any man should
stand the fine point in the Lord's     sand shall fall at thy side, and ten    boast!
controversy with His people. It        thousand at thy right hand: but it        Notice that when Israel crossed
touches the very heart of Gods         shall not come nigh thee. Only          over Jordan, they followed the
covenant dealings, as He opens         with thine eyes shalt thou behold       ark of the covenant from a
His heart to us, His people.           and see the reward of the               distance. Upon this ark was the
  And we ought to notice well          wicked." It is of this righteous        mercy-seat on which the blood of
that in this all the bottom line is    dealing of God with Israel that         sprinkling was sprinkled. Yes,
that Jehovah is our righteous-         Moses speaks in Deuteronomy             Israel entered into the land as a
ness. This He demonstrated from        4:2: "but ye that cleaved to the        righteous people in Jehovah,
Shittim to Gilgal. That is why the     LORD our God are alive every            their righteousness. They did not
LORD refers in His controversy         one of you this day."                   really enter into the land as the
to what Balaam answered from             Furthermore, the LORD had a           final rest under Joshua the son of
Shittim to Gilgal. For here in         different righteousness with the        Nun. This must wait until Jesus
Israel's crossing of Jordan, He        heads of the houses of Israel.          comes, Who out of God became
fulfills majestically what Balaam      These had to be killed and hung         for us wisdom of God, righteous-
answered Balak from Shittim to         up before the iLORD against the         ness, sanctification, and complete
Gilgal (Numbers 23, 24).               sun. Thus the :fierce wrath of God      redemption.
  He did this in a twofold sense       was turned away from Israel. It           This Jesus is called in Jeremiah
in the midst of Israel.                was an act of `putting away sin         23:6,  33:16 "Jehovah our
  Not every one in Israel went         and folly out of Israel. This was       Righteousness." Here is a God
awhoring after the idols and the       particularly striking in the case of    Who never wearies us, but who
abominations of Moab-Midian as         Zimri, a prince in the tribe of         cries in Jesus: "Come unto me,
recorded in Numbers 25. Those          Simeon, who was slain by the            all ye that labor and are weary,
who committed the twofold              javelin of Phinehas, the high           and I will give you rest. Take my
whoredom, physical and spiritual       priest, son of Aaron.                   yoke upon you and learn from
adultery, were all destroyed at          Such was church-excommuni-            me; for I am meek and lowly in
Baal-Peor. The fierce anger of         cation under Moses.                     heart: and ye shall find rest unto
the LORD had to be appeased.             Yes, it is true, according to the     your souls. For my yoke is easy
Yet even here the judgment of          parable of Balsam, as he says,          and my burden is light."
the Lord was the expression of a       "The LORD hath not beheld in-             Such is the lesson which we
righteous and holy will. God is        iquity in Jacob, neither hath he        learn when we study Israel's
no sadist; he metes out justice so     seen perverseness in Israel,"           history from Shittim to Gilgal. 0
that each receives his due, and        Numbers 23:21. We must never


                                               NOTICE!
        The Southwest Protestant  Reform,ed  Church of Crandville, Michigan, is in
     need of  $lOO,OOO.OO  to finance the construction of their sanctuary building
     project.
        Those interested in loaning  $l,OOO.OO  or more for periods of five, ten or
    fifteen years at an interest rate of  7X % are requested to contact Mr. Phil
     Lotterman, 871 Rushmore St., Jenison, MI 49428 for particulars. (Phone (616)
    457-0005  .)



                                                                                               The Standard Bearer  / 201


 Decency And
 Order
 Ronald L. Cammenga                        The Lawful Calling

    "The lawful calling of those              Thirdly, in the APPROBATION         fice; love for the church of Christ
who have not been previously in            by the members of the calling          and the desire to serve the
office, consists:                          church, when, the name of the          church; the possession of the
    First, in the ELECTION by the          minister having been announced         necessary gifts for the ministry;
consistory and the deacons, after          for two successive Sundays, no         the available means to be able to
preceding prayers, with due                lawful objection arises; which ap-     pursue preparation for the
observance of the regulations              probation, however, is not re-         ministry.
established by the consistory for          quired in case the election takes        The external call refers to the
this purpose, and of the ec-               place with the co-operation of         objective call of a man by the
clesiastical ordinance, that only          the congregation by choosing out       church to serve that congrega-
those can for the first time be            of a nomination previously made.       tion in the office of the ministry
called to the ministry of the                 Finally, in the public ORDINA-      of the Word. It is with the exter-
Word who have been declared                TION in the presence of the con-       nal call that Article 4 is con-
eligible by the churches, accord-          gregation, which shall take place      cerned. In this article the Church
ing to the rule in this matter;            with appropriate stipulations and      Order declares that no one may
and furthermore with the advice            interrogations, admonitions and        enter upon the ministry apart
of classis or of the counselor ap-         prayers and imposition of hands        from the lawful call by the
pointed for this purpose by the            by the officiating minister (and       church.
classis;                                   by other ministers who are pres-         There is a very close relation-
   Secondly, in the EXAMINA-               ent) agreeably to the form for         ship between the external and
TION both of doctrine and life             that purpose." Church Order, Ar-       the internal call. They belong
which shall be conducted by the            ticle 4.                               together and are to be con-
classis, to which the call must be         INTERNAL-EXTERNAL CALL                 sidered as the two aspects of the
submitted for approval, and                  Article 4 deals with the lawful      one call of God. In order to be
which shall take place in the              call to the ministry of the gospel.    called of God, a man must be
presence of three delegates of             Strictly speaking, the article con-    called both internally and exter-
synod from the nearest classes;            cerns itself with the call to the      nally. A man called to office by
                                           ministry of the Word. Neverthe-        God never has only one aspect of
                                           less, there are important prin-        the call. One who has been gen-
                                           ciples set forth that apply to the     uinely called by God internally
                                           calling to any office in the           will also eventually receive the
                                           church.                                external call. A man who is
                                             The call to office is usually        never called externally by the
                                           distinguished as the external call     church never had the internai
                                           and the internal call.                 call, although he may have sup-
                                             The internal call refers to the      posed that he did.
                                           inward, personal conviction of a
                                           man that he has been called by
                                           God to the office of the ministry
Ronald L.  Cammenga  is pastor of the      of the gospel. The internal call
Protestant Reformed Church of Loveland,    would include such things as: a
Colorado.                                  desire to serve Christ in the of-

202  / The Standard Bearer


  Although the internal call and            e) Election by the consistory         voice in electing and approving
the external call are closely            with the approbation of the civil        of her own officebearers. In the
related, it is the external call that    magistrate.                              Reformed system of church
is decisive. This is the point of           f) A free election on the part        government, the congregation
Article 4. This is so, first of all,     of the congregation.                     participates in the appointment of
because this is the seal of God             Two methods of election are           officebearers. Here, too, the
upon the internal call. And this is      specifically sanctioned by Article       teaching of Scripture is clear. In
so, secondly, because only those         4: election by the consistory with       Acts 1:23 the 120 believers, as a
who have been called externally          the approbation by the congrega-         body, participated in appointing a
by the church may be permitted           tion of the one elected, or elec-        successor to Judas Iscariot. In
to take up the actual work that          tion by the congregation from a          Acts 6:1-7 the congregation at
belongs to the:ministry  of the          nomination made by the con-              Jerusalem chose the first seven
gospel.            :                     sistory. This last method is men-        deacons. In II Corinthians 8:19
  In connection with the exter-          tioned as a possibility in that part     Paul speaks of Titus as having
nal call, what must be empha-            of the article which deals with          been `&. . . chosen  of the churches
sized is that the external call con-     "approbation."                           to travel with us . . . ."
stitutes the call to office from           Article 4 does justice to two          THE PREFERRED METHOD
God. Only God calls and appoints         important principles that govern         OF ELECTION
to office in the church. But a           the calling of officebearers in a               As far as the preferable
fundamental principle of Re-             Reformed church. The first prin-         method of election, the method
formed church polity is that God         ciple is that the consistory, as the     of election by the congregation
does this through the call of the        overseers of the congregation, is        from a nomination presented by
church. The call from the church         to supervise the appointment of          the consistory is to be preferred.
is to be regarded, not only by the       officebearers. Van Dellen  and           This was the method advanced
one to whom that call comes, but         Monsma state': ". . . the Bible at-      by Calvin. This is the method
also by the church that extends          tributes a guiding control over          commonly followed in our own
the call, as the call of God             elections and power of appoint-          churches. Of the two methods
Himself. This truth is emphasized        ment to the officebearers." (The         permitted by Article 4, this
in the very first question that is       Church Ordei Commentary, p.              method does the most justice to
asked of those being ordained in-        24)                                      the right of participation by the
to the ministry: "First, I ask thee,       The Scriptures certainly sup-          members of the congregation.
whether thou feelest in thy heart        port this position. In Acts 6:3, in             In its prescriptions for the elec-
that thou art lawfully called of         connection with the appointment          tion of a minister, the Church
God's Church,!and therefore of           of the first deacons, the apostles       Order especially opposes "free
God Himself, to this holy                state ". . . whom we may appoint         elections." This practice is
ministry?" (Fohm Of Ordination           over this business." In Acts 14:23       becoming increasingly accepted
Of Ministers  Qf God's Word)             we read about Paul and Barnabas          in Reformed churches today. But
ELECTION TQ OFFICE                       that ". . . they  (had) appointed        this practice is expressly contrary
  Article 4 indicates that four          for them elders in every                 to the Church Order. This prac-
distinct elements make up the            church . . . ." Paul exhorts Titus       tice is to be condemned because
lawful call: election, examination,      in Titus 1:5 to ". . . appoint           it ignores the responsibility of the
approbation, and ordination.             elders in every city as I gave           consistory with regard to the
  Various methods of election            thee charge." Very clearly the           election of officebearers. Wm.
have been used in the past by            Scriptures teach that part of the        Heyns states:
Reformed churches:                       government of the church en-               It is especially in open defiance of the
  a) Election by the consistory          trusted to the, elders is their over-    Church Order and contrary to the Word
with approbation by the congre-          sight of the election of office-         of God, when in a Reformed Church
g a t i o n .                            bearers, particularly the ministers      office-bearers are elected by `free ballot'
                                                                                  of the people. Such may be considered
  b) Election by the consistory          of the gospel.;                          the right way in the Churches of the In-
without the approbation of the             At the same time, Article 4            dependents, or wherever the opinion
congregation.                            safeguards a second important            prevails that the government of the
  c) Election by the consistory          principle of Reformed church             Church belongs to the people, but there
from a nomination made by the            polity. That plrinciple  is the right    is  no room For it in a Reformed Church.
congregation.                                                                     (Handbook For Elders And Deacons,  p.
                                         of the congregation to have a            77)
  d) Election by the congrega-
tion from a nomination made by
the consistory.

                                                                                                       The Standard Bearer  / 203


    In this part of the fourth arti-      cess and to assure that all things             nominees than are needed for
 cle, mention is made of certain          are done decently and in good                  the office receive a majority of
 "regulations established by the          order. Such regulations might in-              votes cast, those with the highest
 consistory" for the actual elec-         clude the following: that a ma-                majorities shall be elected; that
tion. The reference of the article        jority consists of over half; that a           election of officebearers shall be
is to purely local regulations            majority consists of a majority of             done by secret ballot; that
which each consistory might               the total number of votes cast,                absentee or proxy votes shall be
adopt as it sees fit in order to          blank votes and votes for persons              received on the first ballot
facilitate a smooth election pro-         not on nomination being sub-                   only. Cl
                                          tracted from the total number of
                                          ballots; that in case more





                                          "`The Reverend's' last stand"
                                          The Conservatives'
 A/I Around Us
 Cise  /. Van  Baren                            Alternatives

 " `The Reverend's'                          There is among us of late a sort of         adjective, which in'my admittedly naive
 last stand"                              linguistically reformatory movement            understanding of language could be
    An interesting defence of the         which attempts to banish the title             allowed to stand by itself. . . .
                                          "reverend" from ecclesiastical vocabu-           I would, first of all, like to say that not
 title "Reverend" in addressing the       lary. Some grammatically enlightened           all language demands grammatical puri-
 minister of the Word is presented        persons in our midst have discovered that      ty. Poetry would probably die a sudden
 in the Calvinist Contact, Sept. 25,      "reverend" is an adjective that requires       death if it was compelled to adhere to
 1987, by Rev. Carl D. Tuyl (the          an accompanying noun. There are                strict rules of grammar. Shakespeare
 periodical explains: "Pastor Carl        always people who regard the purifica-         himself starts one of his sonnets with this
                                          tion of life as their calling. Unable to       line: `I never saw that you did painting
 is a reverend in the First Chris-        bring about much purification in other         need. .  ."
 tian Reformed Church of                  areas, they sublimate their efforts in the       . . The great linguist and orator
 Kingston, Ontario).                      field of language.                             Winston Churchill was once reminded by
                                            One could, of course, call the minister      a rather junior member of parliament
                                          "reverend Sir, " which, although gram-         that sentences ought not to end with a
                                          matically correct, would require a degree      preposition, upon which the Great One
                                          of civility which for many is too difficult    replied: "That is something up with
                                          to achieve.                                    which I am not going to put" . . . .
                                            So the linguistic purists have cast            The grey-haired veteran of the ministry
                                          about For suitable substitutional nomen-       of the gospel, who baptized generations
                                          clature, and have hit upon "pastor,"           of children, married their parents and
                                          which has a nice, non-threatening sound        huried their grandparents, and who was
                                          to it, especially when used in combina-        respectfully called "reverend" by the lat-
                                          tion with a given name, such as in             ter because of the God he served and
                                          "Pastor Gilbert,  " "Pastor Erwell, " or       represented, must not be called: "`Pastor
                                          `%stor Pete. "                                 Bill.  " There is something derogatory in
                                            Before the title "`reverend" joins other     that, like calling your grandmother Sis. It
                                          noble  appellations  as "your honour,"  and    is in my mind akin to the boorishness of
Gise J. Van Baren is pastor of the        "your worship" in obscurity, I would like      that American journalist who called out
Protestant Reformed Church of  Hudson-    to ease my conscience by attempting at         to Her Majesty the Queen: "Hey Liz!"
ville,  Michigan.                         least one apology to save the old Familiar     Even that canon of linguistic purity  The

204   I The Standard Bearer


Oxford English Dictionary  mentions in-           The Conservatives'                                For many believers the road to
stances as far baik as the early eigh-            Alternatives                                    ultimate schism portends a forbidding
teenth century where the adjective was                                                            journey.
used by craftsmen of the language with-              The "conservatives" in the                     Some lack the initiative or the energy
out being attached to a noun.                     Christian Reformed Church in-                   or  .sense  of the imperative even to con-
   The ambassador of a country is not             `creasingly face the question:                  template a denominational split. Their
called "your excellency" because he or            What can be done to stem the                    more ardent fellows are as Frustrated
she is such an excellent person, rather           tide of "liberalism" which is                   with them as with the Establishment.
because of respect for the country                                                                  Others have an instinctive distaste for
represented in that person. The judge is          sweeping their churches? Dr.                    rending the Body of Christ so long as it
called "your hondur"  because of respect          Lester De Koster, in The Outlook,               retains some evidence of life. Perhaps the
for the court,  not.for  his person. The title    Nov. 1987, presents not only the                on-going presence of boards and agencies
"reverend" in Presbyterian and Reformed           problem, but his own proposed                   is some assurance that not all is in
usage does not want to imply any quality          solutions. The proposals present a              jeopardy. The ecclesiastical machinery
in the bearer of that title, but rather it                                                        functions, and the steadily increasing
acknowledges wifh reverence and respect           tone of desperation. Some solu-                 demands for quota support suggest that
the Almighty in whose name this person            tion, no matter how radical, must               at least some things are afoot.
speaks from Sunday to Sunday.                     be sought. While I would not                       But what then? De Koster
   To be sure, to Call that person                want to discourage the "conser-                 presents the option of local
"reverend" is committing a grammatical            vatives" in their battle for the                churches insisting upon the pure
mistake. Reverend is an adjective that
does require a noun to which it can at-           faith once delivered to the saints,             preaching of the Word in their
tach itself. The community that does re-          a word of caution ought to be ut-               midst. Trouble is, the Seminary
ject the old title, however, lives quite con-     tered. Dr. L. De Koster himself,                (Calvin) of the "Establishment" is
tentedly with many other linguistic               when editor of the Banner, years                in control of the liberals. And
monstrosities. `Reverend" simply became                                                           one can attain the pulpit in the
the fall guy uponjwhom  all the fervor of         ago warned (though in a different
linguistic reformation was heaped.                connection) of the impossibility of             C.R.C. only through Calvin
   The title "pastor" is an illegal alien in      mixing oil and water. Still, his                Seminary (at least one year of
the Reformed verhacular.  It is remin-            solution below appears to be do-                training there). So, what hope is
i.scent  of pre-reformation times when            ing just that: having a mix of                  there for obtaining proper
members of the  ciergy  were so called. It                                                        preaching and proper preachers
is also borrowed from Lutheran usage              water and oil within the walls of
where the title was not so much                   one denomination.                               from that institution? Then the
parachuted in, as; it was preserved as a             Lester De Koster writes:                     churches ought to take graduates,
venerable relic ofiearlier  times. Or it is          There is anxiety in the Christian Re-        say, from MARS (Mid-America
copied from circles where worship is ex-          formed Church.                                  Reformed Seminary), examine
ercised with manifestations of hysteria.            Some attach theirs to women in office;        them, and install them in office
   The word has, moreover, a rather  one-         others to various speculations on the
sided connotation! shepherd. There might          Calvin campus; still others to boon-            (contrary to the rules of the
he a hidden theological motivation in the         doggling at synods and Establishment            Church Order). De Koster con-
new term. A shepherd is supposed to               manipulation of the denomination to             siders, also, some of the problems
lead his flock to green pastures without          serve its own hobbies. There is also a          of such action.
any effort on the part of the flock itself:       general concern that preaching is at low
When the Dutch speak of a minister as                                                               But, Establishment repercussions?
                                                  ebb, with commitment to the Forms of
`Shepherd" it is never separated from the                                                         Threats, even?
                                                  Unity steadily eroding.
title "teacher." Those two terms were in-            These anxieties surface in predictable         Probably.
separable: shepherd and teacher. The                                                                Especially some who might wink at the
                                                  ways. Some few congregations have
newfangled insistence on `pastor" may             opted out; others'talk of it. A rather large    Church Order and synodical  decisions as
just be a sub-conscious rejection of the                                                          suits their own convenience could present
                                                  number of members have identified with
teaching aspect of the ministry. Atten-                                                           themselves as aghast at your "violation"
                                                  the Committee of the Concerned, and a
dance at the second service, which tradi-                                                         of "God's" order. Classes and synods may
                                                  number of churches have been
tionally is the teaching service, could sup-                                                      be lined up against you. But faced with
                                                  represented at meetings in the Lansing, Il-
port that observation.                                                                            the loss of your quota payments, the
                                                  linois, Lynwood Church to share frustra-
   With these paragraphs, then, I con-                                                            Establishment will find ways to re-think
                                                  tions.
sider to have acquitted myself of the self-                                                       the matter, Dare them, and if they cut
                                                    But, as other denominational ex-
appointed duty to protect the title                                                               you off, use the money to hire another
                                                  periences suggest, there is little hope for
"reverend." It is p,robably  done in vain,                                                        pastor of your choosing.
                                                  the restoration of; a lost theological unity
like trying to  credte  appreciation for the                                                        But let a Few courageous congrega-
                                                  among us. Between the "Bible prohibits
second service conducted by "Pastor                                                               tions exercise their right  - and it indeed
                                                  women in church office" interpretation of
-Jack.  "                                         the Word, and the `Bible does not pro-          is  their right! - to fill their pulpits ac-
    Well, what do you think? Cl                   hibit women in church office" there is no       cording to conscience, and the
                                                                                                  denomination will settle into a more
                                                  middle ground. "Did God say?" offers but        amiable atmosphere than has prevailed
                                                  two exclusive alternatives: Yes or No.
                                                  While something like, "You take your in-        for a long time. Live and let live! We
                                                                                                  have found room for all sorts of  "congre-
                                                  terpretation and I'll take mine" opens the      gationalism"  under our tent so far; room
                                                  way to the loss of biblical authority           will appear For this variety too!
                                                  altogether.

                                                                                                                        The Standard Bearer  / 205


   But some congregations might follow           Much as I do admire Dr. De            grows up within that denomina-
this lead and at once call and ordain          Koster's way with words, even           tion? Who will instruct them in
women as their ministers?
   Probably so. But is it not entirely         when so sharp and cutting, the          its grade schools, high schools,
predictable that some synod will soon en-      article does convey a tone of           and college? It does not take a
dorse that anyway  - and synods there-         desperation. The proposal as            great deal of imagination to
after will be deaf to petitions for correc-    presented can ultimately only           know that within a brief time,
tion of the error? Don't be too surprised      end in anarchy within the               most will go along with the
if; after the pulpit is synodically opened
to women, the Establishment mind looks         denomination - when everyone            "Establishment". If things are as
to making a "team" ministry mandatory.         does what is right in his own           bad as De Koster presents them,
It's happened in other once-orthodox           eyes. Is this not a prescription for    then the solution to the problems
bodies . . . .                                 disaster? What will happen to a         these face should be very
                                               generation of children which            clear. 0





  The Day of                                   A Wife Taken And
 Shadows                                       Salvation Given
 John A. Heys



    Of Boaz we read in Ruth 4:13                 It certainly cannot be denied         Boaz as a sign of granting Boaz
 that he "took Ruth, and she was               that Boaz took Ruth away from           the right to have her as his wife.
 his wife." And it is interesting to           this nameless and shoeless              It was all above board, and was
 note the fact that the Hebrew                 kinsman who refused to marry            even witnessed by the dwellers
 word here translated as "take" is             her. This kinsman, as we saw last       in Bethlehem and in that region
 in our King James Version of the              time, lost his name and had to          to be a legal procedure.
 Bible translated as "take away"               give Boaz one of his shoes. And           There is, however, no denying
 no less than 793 times. That is               all this was true because he did        of the fact that Boaz took Ruth
 about four times as often as it is            not take Ruth to be his wife. As        away from this kinsman and unto
 translated simply as take,                    far as taking away is concerned,        himself. That word here
 receive, fetch, bring, or several             he might only take away Ruth's          translated as "take" is translated
 other words which are used once               widowhood. When he refused to           62 times as receive; and Boaz
 or twice in a slightly different              do so, he had to give Boaz the          certainly received Ruth. And
way.                                           right to take her away from him.        when Boaz received Ruth as his
                                               It had to be done in a legal,           wife, that nearest of kin had his
                                               righteous way; and he, Boaz, as         name taken away. In Ruth 4:21
                                               another kinsman, did have the           the name of Boaz appears as the
                                               right. The word "take away"             man in the line of Abraham to
                                               here in Ruth 4:13 in no way             David out of which Christ was
                                               means to steal, or to take away         born. He is listed as one of the
                                               in the way of breaking Gods law.        great, great grandfathers of Jesus.
                                                 Being more interested in his          This nearest of kin lost his name
                                               earthly possessions than in keep-       in that list. He did not simply
                                               ing God's ordinances, this nearest
John A. Heys is a minister emeritus in         of kin to Naomi and Elimelech
the Protestant Reformed Churches.              took off his shoe and gave it to

206  / The Standard Bearer


give a shoe away and the oppor-        raised from the dead, be made         that, nevertheless He is on the
tunity to marry Ruth. He lost an       glorious, even as His now is; and     foreground and should be praised
honourable name and position in        we will live with Him forever ,in     and thanked. All the strength to
the line of God's covenant.            the land God ,promises  His           produce and bring forth that
   Now all this happened in the        c h u r c h .                         child came from God, Neither
day of shadows; and the shadow           We now, on this side of His         Ruth nor Boaz can boast of what
we see here is that of a most          cross, resurrection, and ascension    they did. Neither can we claim to
blessed reality that we should         into heaven, and able to see          have done anything in our own
never, never overlook. Boaz took       what God wrought in that line         strength. We are here because it
Ruth to himself and they became        from Boaz, Obed, and David, and       pleased God to have us born and
one flesh. Wonderfully, this was       the virgin Mary, can say with ab-     to exist to this very moment, and
a shadow of the reality that           solute confidence that Christ         to have faith in Him.
Christ would come and take His         "took us, and: we are His bride".       Ruth does get her name men-
church to Himself as His bride, so     We should never look merely at        tioned much later in Matthew 1:5
that she can live with Him in His      the shadow. We should look up         where we read: ". . . and Boaz
house of many mansions. He             to Him Whose shadow falls upon        begat Obed of Ruth; and Obed
takes her away from Satan and          the earth in this book of Ruth. It    begat Jesse." And so much later
the firm grip that he has upon us.     is well that we look at Ruth and      in the history of this world, our
This He did in the very legal way      Boaz. It is necessary that we look    names will be called to inherit
of buying us by His precious           at Naomi and Elimelech and their      the Kingdom of Heaven. But
blood from the awful punishment        sinful departure from the prom-       boasting and pride must always
which we deserve, and from the         ised land, so that we ourselves       be set aside. The book of Ruth
spiritual death, into which we fell    are reminded of how unworthy          tells us what God did in His
with Adam. What is more, He            we are of being taken as Christ's     sovereign grace, not what man
came through His Spirit to give        bride. But never must we fail to      contributed to His kingdom.
Ruth, born in the heathendom of        see Gods grace and what He in         There is a beautiful story written
idolatrous Moab, faith in              that grace has wrought for us in      in this book of Ruth; but we must
Jehovah, the one and only true         His own Son, / and our own ab-        look at it in the light of the
God. He brought her to the             solute incapability even of desir-    whole of Scripture, and as that
promised land where she might          ing such a wonder of His grace.       which God wrought. We should
meet Boaz. In, fact He led her           In that light also we ought to      with David declare, "Great is the
steps exactly and directly to his      note that here in this book of        Lord, and greatly to be praised;
land in her first search for food.     Ruth, right after we read that        and His greatness is unsearch-
And now He brings her where            Boaz took Ruth and she became         able," Psalm 145:3. And early in
she may be used to bring forth         his wife, the viewpoint changes,      life our children ought also to be
the line of David's generations        and we read very little about her     taught to see God and His
that will bring! Himself forth in      after that moment. We read of         marvellous works of almighty
His virgin birth realized in Mary.     what God did; He "gave her con-       power and of grace in Christ.
He took upon ,Himself our flesh        ception", and. that is why it can       In this brief book we do read
and blood so that He could take        be added that "she bare a son." It    Gods name 21 times - both as
us to be His royal bride that will     is the last time that in this book    The Almighty One, Master, and
live with Him forever in the com-      we read of any of Ruth's words        Jehovah, as far as the Hebrew
ing Kingdom of Heaven that will        or actions. Yes, the women speak      words are concerned - to say
be establishedion the new earth        about her and call her Naomi's,       nothing of the pronouns which
when He returns in glory.              daughter-in-law, and state that       refer to Him and His works. His
  What is more, Christ takes           she loved Naomi and was better        works are on every page of Holy
from us the name sinner and            to her than seven sons. In fact,      Writ; and we ought to see, even
gives us the beautiful name Bride      we do read that a son was born        when sins are exposed, that all
of Christ. At the right time and in    to Naomi. And then in the             things come out of God's eternal,
the proper way He takes our            genealogies listed, Boaz is men-      unchangeable counsel. We should
souls out of this Moab in which        tioned and not Ruth. Of course,       also keep constantly before our
we now dwell, and brings them          there is no room for her to boast.    minds that this counsel of God,
to be with Him, waiting for the        But then there also was no room
day when our bodies shall be           for Naomi, Boaz, and David to
                                       boast. All comes from God; and
                                       although we do not always see


                                                                                              The Standard Bearer  I207


this eternal plan, causes every-      a widow. One cannot anywhere          the judgment day, even as
thing to happen that will realize     in Scripture read of the approval     Sodom and Gomorrah did? God is
the day when Christ shall take us     of birth control. We.do read of       not fooled. No one escapes His
to be His bride, and we will live     how in His holy wrath God killed      punishment. And man today is
with Him in the new Jerusalem.        Onan who "spilled it on the           simply trying to escape punish-
With both hands we ought to           ground," Genesis 38:9. And sure-      ment, while actually he is making
take hold of the truth which Paul     ly abortion is strongly con-          a sin more publicly and widely
writes in Romans 8:28. ALL            demned in Holy Writ. Do we not        practiced, with a greater torment
things DO work together for           read in Ruth 4:13 that God gave       for it in hell, than men in days
GOOD to those that love God.          Ruth conception? Does that not        gone by brought down upon
Nothing ever works against Gods       mean that He gave her the begin-      themselves. The flood came in
return and the wedding feast of       ning of a child, the beginning of     Noah's day. Sodom and Gomor-
the Lamb. In all things we are        an human being, and not mere-         rah were destroyed by fire and
more than conquerors, and have        ly of that human being's body         brimstone in Abraham's day. The
been served by the wicked             but also of the moment when           whole world will be destroyed
world, whether we see it or not       that which was conceived ob-          soon when Christ returns and
and whether they see it or not.       tained a soul? It was not merely      crushes the head of the serpent
Nothing, absolutely nothing, can      the beginning of a piece of Ruth's    and all his seed.
separate us and take us out of        flesh. It was the moment when a         But to return to what we are
the line of the elect who, in         body and soul, a human being          taught in the book of Ruth,
Gods eternal counsel, have their      came into being. When John the        although we are not told, and
names written in the Lamb's           Baptist had been conceived only       need not be told, Boaz and Ruth
book of life.                         six months before Mary came to        rejoiced in the gift of a son.
   The wife of Mahlon, Ruth,          greet Elizabeth, he, not merely a     Naomi revealed her joy, and it is
could not bring forth a son and       piece of flesh, leaped in his         recorded here when we read that
heir. If, humanly speaking, she       mother's womb. The moment of          she took the child and laid it in
was physically fit for this work,     the beginning of that person is       her bosom, and became nurse
then God took Mahlon away             the moment when conception            unto it. She, whose sons died
from her before such a gift from      begins. And all killing of that       before they could bring forth
God was looked for by Naomi.          which has been conceived is           grandchildren, and had lost all
Chilion likewise was either in-       murder, and fills the Holy God        hope of being blessed with a
capable of making Orpah fruitful,     with the indignation He showed        grandson who believed in God and
and she was not capable of bear-      when Onan refused to perform          could keep the name of her dead
ing a son, or he too was taken        his duty. When one tries to end       husband upon the land which he
away by God before she could          what is one's duty in that way,       inherited, receives one who will
conceive and produce an heir for      one sins as surely as when one        be in the line that brings forth
Elimelech. And now, God does          reaches out and ends a concep-        the Christ. How true it is in her
not perform some repair work by       tion.                                 life that all things work together
getting Boaz to take Ruth, and by       Then, too, that we are living in    for good to those that love God,
enabling her to bring forth Obed.     the end of time, and that the         as Boaz did, but also Naomi and
With God there are no mistakes        judgment day is not too far away      Ruth. Death, over which man has
and absolutely no repair work.        is also evident - although men        absolutely no power, took away
Eternally He had Christ and His       will deny it - and the fury of        Naomi's husband and sons. And
bride in mind as coming in            God's wrath upon Sodom and            yet God, Who not only has death
exactly the way He came, and in       Gomorrah for its homosexuality        completely in His hand, but also
the line of the patriarchs men-       is speaking loudly today. We          has spiritual life in His hand to
tioned here in the last few verses    have no objection for medical         give to whomsoever He will,
of the book of Ruth, and of those     research to heal and to cure          reached down into idolatrous
which we who read in Matthew          those who by a blood transfusion      Moab and brought Boaz a god-
l:l-16 and Luke 3:23-38.              are afflicted with AIDS. But who      fearing wife and Naomi a cove-
  And not only did Boaz take          is so foolish as to believe that      nant grandchild who would serve
Ruth as his wife, but at once he      when the world comes up with a        such an important work of bring-
served the purpose for which he       cure, so that the sin of homo-        ing forth descendants from whom
took this woman who was so            sexuality and of lesbianism can
much younger than he was, and         be practiced without what Scrip-
who came from wicked Moab as          ture calls the punishment upon a
                                      sin, that we are not rushing to

208  / The Standard Bearer


Gods Son would be born in our             she bares a son. But look beyond        as his wife, so that Christ could
flesh. What a gift of God unto us!        this and see the salvation which        and would be born in Bethlehem,
What an evidence as well that He          God gives usin Christ, Who was          and salvation with all its bless-
will father His `people out of            born in that line of Boaz, Obed,        ings might be given us. Think
other nations and hold before our         and David.                              highly of Boaz and Ruth. But
eyes the fact that one is a Jew             We take blessings to ourselves        think far more highly of God,
only when one is such inwardly,           because God gives us the                Who gave them the strength to
and becomes such inwardly by              strength to do so. But we take          do what He brought them into
His grace.                                blessing to ourselves also because      being to perform, and used them
  The book of Ruth begins with            God is so very faithful to His          so that our salvation was earned,
a sad picture of famine and sin,          promises. Having promised us            and will be a blessed reality for
of death and a door closed on             through Jacob that the sceptre          us when He sends His Son to
begetting cove,nant  seed. But            would not depart from Judah,            bring us into that of which Ca-
what a bright and beautiful pic-          nor a lawgiver from between his         naan was only a type and
ture it is wherewith the book of          feet until Shiloh come, God             shadow. Cl
Ruth comes to a close. Boaz               brought Ruth `to the promised
takes Ruth to be his wife, and            land and moved Boaz to take her





 Walking In The
 Light                                    Euthanasia (3)
Herman C. Hanko



  The problem of euthanasia is a          That is one ki,nd of euthanasia,        with various diseases for which
difficult and complex one, partly         usually called. passive euthanasia.     there are no cures, or with men-
because the term is used for so           But there is another kind which         tal and physical handicaps of
many different procedures and             can be called ,active euthanasia in     such seriousness that they will
under so many different circum-           which a person is given some            never be able to live a normal
stances. Generally speaking, the          substance which will terminate          life. Sometimes babies are born
term can refer: to withholding of         life. It `is actually putting people    whose lives can be saved only by
that which is necessary to sustain        out of their misery by terminat-        putting them on life-support
life. But one can withhold life           ing their life. A complication of       equipment; but it may be that on
support equipment such as                 this is the removal of life-support     such equipment they will be able
respirators or heart-lung                 equipment when a person can be          to live indefinitely, while the
machines; one. can even withhold          kept alive by it, but will in-          time will never come when they
food and water, whether given             evitably die without it. Is it right    can be taken off such equipment.
by mouth or given intravenously.          "to pull the plug," even when the       Ought older people be put on
                                          person on life-support equipment        life-support equipment when they
                                          is in a coma?                           have a terminal illness? Ought
                                            The circumstances are also            medical treatment be begun or
                                          complicating factors. Usually the       continued even when the best
                                          question of euthanasia arises in        hope is that death will be post-
                                          connection with the very young          poned a few years? And to com-
                                          and the very old, with those just       plicate such a situation, ought
Herman C. Hanko is professor of Church    born or with those whose bodies         death be postponed a few years
History and New Testament in the          are debilitated through disease         when the remaining years will be
Protestant Reformed Seminary.             and old age. Babies are born            years of great pain, years in

                                                                                                  The Standard Bearer  I209


which the body wastes away,              by. In our last article we men-                    on the subject but news accounts of
years of suffering for the sick and      tioned an interview with our pres-                 relatively insignificant occasions which
for the family of the ill?               ent Surgeon-General, himself a                     sound as though policy were being estab-
                                                                                            lished.
   These are only some of the            Christian and professed Calvinist,                    Last fall for just a two week period, I
complicating factors. Are doctors        in which he discusses many                         tore out of the ten major papers in the
always able to predict with cer-         aspects of euthanasia. I want to                   country all the articles on euthanasia. I
tainty what will be the end of           refer to some of the things Dr. C.                 was amazed first of all at the quantity,
one with disease? Or of one who          Everett Koop said in this inter-                   but I was also amazed at what people
                                                                                            reported that I thought was `more
has suffered brain damage? Every         view and quote from him. The                       editorializing than reporting.
one knows of cases in which doc-         interview is found in the                             If three doctors met in an obscure
tors predicted imminent death,           September 25, 1985 issue of                        town in France and said they felt that old
only to watch such a "terminally-        Presbyterian Journal.                              people should be eased out of this life,
ill" person live for years and die              In the first place, he warns                the headline was, `Doctors Think Pa-
                                                                                            tients Should Have Right To Die." So
of some other cause. Every one           against a `liberal movement in                     What? The whole hype of the media is
knows of severe cases of brain           this country which is actively                     that this is here;  its gaining momentum;
damage in which doctors                  promoting euthanasia. In answer                    it's snowballing; and if you want to be
predicted that the person would          to the question: "How would you                    with it, you've got to get on the band-
remain a vegetable, only to              define euthanasia?' Dr. Koop                       wagon . . . .
discover that the person has not         said,                                                  What Koop says here is true. It
only regained consciousness, but,                                                           was not so many months ago
                                                Euthanasia means happy death. If we
with much help and love, has             stick completely to the terminology, I             that Readers Digest carried an ar-
been able to regain a normal life        would be very pleased to practice "happy           ticle, very sentimental and mov-
in his or her family and among           death" for my patients who are dying,              ing, in which the glories of
                                         which means I would keep them comfort-
friends. Doctors are not always                                                             euthanasia were extolled by
                                         able, I would keep them pain free, I
right, as they themselves would                                                             means of an actual description of
                                         would love them and nurture them until
be the first to admit. Ought one's       they leave this world.                             a case.
                                                                                                Another question asked Dr.
decision to use or not to use life-             But euthanasia today does not mean
support equipment take into ac-          that.  Euthpnasia  is masked in terms such         Koop was: ". . . Are there other
                                         as death with dignity. It is implied in the
count the fallibility of doctors?                                                           strategies of the euthanasia
                                         Living Will. What it means is that you do
   Add to all these problems an                                                             movement?" To this Koop
                                         anything you can actively or passively to
additional problem which is in-          hasten the demise of someone who is                responded:
                                                                                               Yes, several things. In emphasizing the
creasingly being discussed in            considered to be either a nuisance or no           finiteness of resources, they have gotten
medical circles: the astronomical        longer productive . . . .                          across to a whole segment of the elderly
cost of such medical treatment                  In answer to the question: "In              population that somehow because they
which is necessary to support            1976 you published `Right to                       are living, they are depriving someone
life. Not only is the cost far           Live, Right to Die.' You warned                    else of a prior right to those resources.
beyond the ability of most people        then of euthanasia. After nearly                   And I think that is a most reprehensible
                                         ten years, is the warning still ap                 thing to have gotten across to elderly
to pay, but it is increasingly true      propriate?" Dr. Koop answered:                     people.
that the cost is far beyond the                                                                It's done so subtly, and  its done by the
                                                I think there is a statement in the book
ability of many medical insurance                                                           media in the way you and I have just
                                         you mentioned, and I certainly have used
companies to pay. The result is                                                             been talking. When I was doing research
                                         it many times in lectures, that the                for  Whatever Happened to the Human
that certain decisions have to be        euthanasia forces are abroad in our land           Race?, I went to nursing homes and
made strictly on the basis of cost       as they  neuer  have been before. That is          talked to people who felt the pressure.
factors. Some people are allowed         just as true today as it was then except           Old people were apologizing to me for
                                         that they are abroad in our land in much
to die while others are kept alive,                                                         using a bed, for being alive, for taking
                                         more subtle ways.
and costs determine the decision.                                                           medication, because they "knew" some-
                                                They have changed the wording of the        body else deserved it more, I think that's
   Such a list of difficult questions    Living Will so  it  opens the door  to             pitiful.
grows longer the more one                euthanasia a little wider. You have  peb-             One of the things that is so ironic to
thinks about the problem. And            ple talking about durable power of at-             me is that while we are talking about the
                                         torney. It sounds so magnificent until you
there are no easy answers.                                                                  fact we can't afford people to live in a
                                         realize what people are accomplishing by
   That is, there are no easy                                                               nursing home with this kind of care, we
                                         it.                                                have panels come out and say we should
answers for the Christian. Some-                You get into the not so subtle things       start a whole new project on the artificial
times the world seems to think           about societies like Hemlock and the
that the answers are easily come         publication in Scotland about how to go
                                         about preparing for your own suicide.
                                                There's  the  subtle approach of  the
                                         news media publishing not just editorials


21O! The Standard Bearer


heart. It just doesn't make sense. While        I think the problems are in two                 gressively and prolong life, they might be
one half of the scientific world is saying    categories. There is the very common-             sued for not following directions.
we can't afford to care for these non-        place changing of the mind of individuals           The counterbalance to that is the per-
productive elderly people, the other half     who thought the Living Will was great             son who doesn't have a Living Will and
is saying we are so excited about the ar-     before they were in a situation where it          who might under ordinary circumstances
tificial heart - let's try it.                would be used. And now they are not so            in the hands of a good physician be
   The so-called "Living Will" has            sure, but they might not know how to              allowed to slowly pass out of this life as
been suggested as a way of get-               reverse it.                                       he is dying. He may be overly
ting out of this dilemma. A Liv-                 The other thing is that if you have a          resuscitated and put on life support
                                              Living  Will, it sends a signal that you          equipment because again, fear of litiga-
ing Will is a statement drawn up              don't want anything done. What the pa-            tion is such that the doctors don't want
by a person, similar to a will, and           tient might have had in mind when he              him to go without the extra effort.
legally binding in many states, in            wrote it is extra-, extra-, extraordinary           You and I could be in the same acci-
which a person specifically re-               care  - pumping on his chest I5 times so          dent -you, a young man with a Living
quests not to be given any extra-             he'll be brought back to life only to die         Will and I, an old man without one. As a
                                              the next day, or a respirator to keep him         result of the above, you might die and I
ordinary treatment in the event               going for six hours in great discomfort           might live.
of serious illness or injury. Dr.             when he might have died by himself                   These are some of the prob-
Koop warns against this also and              earlier.                                          lems which have to be faced in
the dangers of it.                              But medical personnel may interpret
                                              the Living Will so as to assume the pa-           a discussion of the rightness or
                                              tient doesn't want his life prolonged by          wrongness of euthanasia. i
                                              any means. If they treat the patient  ag-
                                                                                           -





 Taking Heed To
 The Doctrine                                 ,The Humanity of Christ
Ronald H. Hanko



                                              2. The characteristics of Christ's                   (1) A real human nature. That
                                                  human nature.                                 Christ has a real human nature
                                                 Because of various errors that                 would seem to be beyond ques-
                                              have arisen in the history of the.                tion, and yet in the history of the
                                              church there are certain charac-                  church it was exactly this truth
                                              teristics of Christ's human nature                that was first and often denied,
                                              that have been emphasized in                      especially as a result of the in-
                                              church doctrine. These are worth                  fluence of pagan philosophy.
                                              our study, not just because of the                Many of the early heretics, some
                                              errors they contradict, but                       of whom are mentioned in Arti-
                                              because each :of them helps us                    cle IX of the Belgic Confession,
                                              understand the wonder and                         particularly men like Marcion and
                                              significance of Christ's humanity                 Manes, not only denied the deity
                                              for our salvation. There are                      of Christ, but also His real
                                              usually five of these                             humanity. They proceeded from
                                              characteristics or attributes that                the idea, borrowed from Greek
                                              are given, the reality, complete-                 philosophy, that evil is not a mat-
                                              ness, weakness, sinlessness, and                  ter of bad actions and wrong
                                              centrality of Christ's human                      choices but that material, created
Ronald H. Hanko is pastor of Trinity          nature.                                           things are themselves inherently
Protestant Reformed Church, Houston,                                                            evil. Salvation, therefore, consists
Texas.

                                                                                                                    The Standard Bearer  I21 7


 not in redemption from sin, but        passages such as Hebrews 2:14                Mary (Belgic Confession, Article
 in deliverance from this material      very emphatically declare that               XVIII). Perhaps today it is more
world, especially from our              He took our flesh and blood. In              commonly done by making His
material bodies. Thus these men         fact, these passages speak so                humanity little more than a mat-
felt that a union between the           clearly that many of the early               ter of sentiment and sympathy.
spiritual Son of God and our flesh      heretics were forced into the                   Roman Catholicism also de-
was not only unworthy of God,           same position of many false                  emphasizes the humanity of
but unthinkable in light of the         teachers today, that of denying              Christ, as for example in its of-
essential badness of this creation      that such passages are part of the           ficial explanation of a passage
and of the body.                        Word of God at all.                          like Mark 13:32, where it denies
   These men taught, then, that            Now there would seem at first             that Christ's knowledge was in
Christ's incarnation was only an        thought to be little need for such           any way limited, explaining the
appearance, and that He did not         a passionate defense of the reali-           passage simply as a reference to
actually become man. He simply          ty of Christ's humanity today,               Christ's withholding the
took upon Himself for a time the        since, if anything, it would seem            knowledge of the time of His
appearance of a human body.             that the tendency today is to em-            coming from His disciples.
For this reason these men and           phasize His humanity at the ex-              Perhaps this de-emphasis of
their followers were called             pense of His deity. But this is not          Christ's real humanity is con-
Docetists (from the Greek word          the case. The errors of Docetism             nected (as it was with the
which means "to seem" or "to            are to be found in the church to-            Docetists of old) with the Roman
appear"). They were not a               day and she must still fight for             Catholic teaching that evil is in
separate sect, however, but were        t h i s   t r u t h .                        things, and that flesh itself is in-
found in many different heretical          For one thing, as Berkhouwer              herently bad, a teaching which is
groups in the early church. The         points out, belief in Christ's               seen most clearly in the Romish
Manichaeans, for example, to            humanity involves much more                  practice of holy orders. The fact
whom Augustine belonged before          than a mere acknowledgement of               remains, however, that the
his conversion, taught that             the fact that there was a man                Roman Catholic Church has so
Christ's human nature was only a        Jesus:                                       entirely pushed the humanity of
phantom. And so Augustine  -              One must not think that the                Christ into the background that it
himself says in his Confessions: ``I    acknowledgement of the historic@  of         has been left without any human
was afraid, therefore, to believe       Jesus of Nazareth is identical with the      intermediary between God and
Him to be born in the flesh, lest 1     confession of the church touching the
                                        human nature of Christ. The                  man, and has had to invent its
should be compelled to believe          acknowledgement of his historicity is not    Mariolatory and Hagiolatory
Him contaminated by the flesh"          half  of the Christological dogma  (The      (worship of saints) to fill this
w,  x,  20).                            Person of Christ, p. 198).                   void.
   The church saw clearly that          And insofar as any detracting                  Of greater significance is the
this teaching destroyed the             from the significance of Christ's            fact that most Christians today
gospel, for if Christ's humanity is     humanity is really a form of                 deny the reality of Christ's
not real, then all He did as a          Docetism, much of modern Chris-              humanity by denying the per-
man, including his suffering and        tianity is docetic, having little            manence of the incarnation. Most
dying, is not real. Cyril of Jeru-      real understanding of the necessi-           pastors and teachers in the
salem gets to the heart of the          ty and value of Christ's humanity.           church would be surprised to find
matter when he says: "If the in-           There is, for example, an im-             how few of their people know or
carnation was a phantom, salva-         plicit devaluation of Christ's               understand the truth expressed in
tion is a phantom also" (Cate-          humanity in Anabaptism and                   Question and Answer 36 of the
chetical Lectures, V, i, 9).            Dispensationalism, for in order to           Westminster Larger Catechism,
   We know that this is the             maintain a distinction of                    that "He continueth true man
teaching of Scripture. Jesus            covenants in the Old and New                 forever." This is part of the reali-
Himself assured his disciples           Testament they are forced in one             ty of Christ's humanity. His com-
several times, both before and          way or another to cut off Christ             ing in the flesh was not some-
after his resurrection, that He         as the Saviour of the church from            thing temporary, i.e., a mere ap-
was not a ghost or phantom              His Old Testament roots and thus             pearance - as the old Docetists
(Matt. 14:26, 27, Lk. 24:39). Also      they deny His real connection                taught - but a permanent
                                        with humanity. Historically the              assumption of our flesh. Yet
                                        Anabaptists have done this by                many have the idea that the in-
                                        denying that Christ's nature was
                                        actually received from the virgin

212  / The Standard Bearer


r





     carnation ended with the resur-            creature either in heaven or on earth        on the humanity of Christ, even
     rection of Christ, so that He is no        who loveth us more than Jesus Christ;        while the church still appears to
     longer a man like us.                      Who, though He was in the form of God,       hold to that truth.
                                                yet made  Himselfiof  no reputation, and
        Scripture teaches that the glori-       took upon Him the form of man, and of          Certainly it is true that with all
     fication of Christ through His             a servant for us, and was made like unto     the emphasis of modern theology
     resurrection and exaltation is the         His brethren in all things (Article XXVJ.    on the humanity of Christ, one
     glorification of His humanity, not         The Heidelberg Catechism also                feels almost instinctively that a
     the loss of it. It is not just the Son     shows how the hope of eternal                real appreciation of this truth is
     of God who sits enthroned in               life for all Christians rests on the         nevertheless missing entirely. So
     glory and honor, but the Son of            humanity of Christ, for "we have             the church's battle for this truth
     man (Lk. 22:69), and it is also the        our flesh in heaven as a sure                is not finished. It is a battle to be
     Son of man who shall come                  pledge that He, as Head, will also           fought on every side. And we
     again at the end with power and            take up to Himself, us, His                  may not forget that in fighting
     great glory (Lk. 21:27). And it is         members" (XVIII, 49). Here, of               this battle we are fighting for the
     the Son of man who rose from               course it is the reality of our              gospel and for the reality and
     the dead the third day and                 hope that depends on the reality             assurance of our own salvation.
     ascended into heaven (Lk. 24:7).           of His humanity, but our hope is             That alone can give us courage
     This is, of course, the only ex-           also part of our salvation, as Paul          and conviction.
     planation of the resurrection, for         assures us in Romans 8:24.                     Nor may we forget that
     as God He can neither die nor                 Perhaps the present lack of               various other doctrines such as
     rise again.                                understanding at this point is to            the doctrine of the virgin birth,
        Again, the reality of our salva-        be traced to a lack of emphasis              the doctrine of the covenant (i.e.,
     tion depends upon the reality of           on the reality of sin. Just as the           Christ's birth as the seed of the
     His humanity also now that He is           early Docetists did not really               woman and of David), the doc-
     in heaven. It is because He in-            believe in sin, `but taught that evil        trine of His exaltation and inter-
     tercedes for us as the Son of man          was in material things, so the               cession are inseparably related to
     that we also have boldness to              church today has largely taken               this truth, and that in fighting for
     enter into the presence of God             the same position by its teaching            them we are also fighting for the
     (Heb. 4:15). The Belgic Confes-            that the only evils in the world             true gospel, the good news that
     sion reminds us of this most               are the evils of poverty, war, in-           Christ was made man, like us in
     beautifully when it says:                  equality, and such like things;              all things, that He might suffer
       But this Mediator, whom the Father       and thus she has no real need of             and be glorified on our behalf. Cl
     has appointed between Him and us,          One Who became man to pay for
     ought in no wise to frighten us by His     man's sins. It is at least worth
     majesty, or cause us to seek another       considering that this is the reason
     according to our fancy. For there is no    for the lack of any real emphasis





                                                Book: Review

     The NIV (The Making of a Con-                 This little book is,a memorial              The authors of the various
      temporary Translation),  Ken-             volume, written in memory of                 chapters of this book are four-
      neth L. Barker, Editor; Grand             the late Dr. Edwin H. Palmer,                teen of the original translators of
      Rapids, Michigan, Zondervan               who was executive secretary of               the NIV, including Kenneth
      Publishing Co. (Academic Books);          the NIV Committee on Bible                   Barker, the editor. The nature of
      177 pp. (paper). [Reviewed by             Translation. Dr. Palmer died on
      Prof. H.C. Hoeksema]                      September 16, 1980.

                                                                                                                The Standard  Bearer  / 213


the book is apologetic, i.e., it is     and its substitution of "one and      them the Word of God as fresh
an explanation of various aspects       only Son," left me wholly uncon-      and warm and clear as the Holy
of the NIV which is at the same         vinced - in fact, more firm in        Spirit gave it to the authors of
time a defense.                         my opposition. All in all, the        the Bible. . . . For any preacher
   It is not my intention to offer a    book did not remove,my objec-         or theologian who loves Gods
chapter by chapter summary and          tions to the principle of dynamic     Word to allow that Word to go
critique of this book. The value        equivalence.                          on being misunderstood because
of the book lies, of course, in the       One more item. The late Dr.         of the veneration of an archaic,
fact that it is "right from the         Palmer wrote the last chapter. He     non-understood version of four
horse's mouth," i.e., its explana-      begins the chapter by stating, "1     centuries ago is inexcusable, and
tions and defenses are by the           love the King James Version."         almost unconscionable." A bit ex-
translators themselves. Yet I was       But at the end of the chapter he      treme, to say the least!
singularly unimpressed by some          writes concerning the KJV: "Do          Nevertheless, I recommend this
of the defenses. For example,           not give them a loaf of bread,        book from this single point of
Chapter 11, which attempts to           covered with an inedible, im-         view: from it you can learn
explain the NIV's departure from        penetrable crust, fossilized by       where the NIV and its translators
the usage "only begotten Son"           three and a half centuries. Give      "are coming from." 0





                                        Report of Classis East

                 January 13, 1988       pulpit for the morning service.)        The committee appointed at
    Classis East met in regular ses-    The following schedule was            the special meeting of classis on
sion on Wednesday, January 13,          adopted for Faith: January 31         November 18, 1987 to assist
 1988 at the First Protestant Re-       (a.m. service) - Van Baren;           Faith Church gave its report. This
formed Church, Grand Rapids,            February 7 - Kamps; February          committee was continued at the
Michigan. All the churches were         14 - Key; February 21 -               request of Faith Church.
represented by two delegates.           Woudenberg; February 28 -               Covenant requested permission
Rev. B. Woudenberg was the              Gritters; March 6 - Slopsema;         to contact the churches of Classis
chairman for this session.              March 13 - Joostens; March 20         East for collections for their
    Classis received reports from       - Kortering; March 27 - Van           building program. A similar re-
its stated clerk, its classical com-    Baren; April 3 - Kamps; April 10      quest to contact the churches in
mittee which included the sub-          - Woudenberg; April 17 - Key;         Classis West, via a letter to
mission of a Ministerial Certificate    April 24 - Gritters; May 1 -          synod, was also approved.
of Dismissal and Testimonial for        Slopsema; May 8 - Joostens;             Subsidy requests for 1989 of
Rev. R. Miersma who is now in           May 15 - Kortering.                   $23,600 for Covenant and for
New Zealand, and from the                 Holland also requested classical    $7,000 for Kalamazoo were ap-
church visitors.                        appointments. The following           proved.
    Faith Church requested              schedule was adopted for                Voting always occupies a great
classical appointments for its          Holland: January 24 - Wouden-         deal of time at the January
evening service (Rev. Bekkering,        berg; February 7 - Joostens;          classis. Elected to three-year
it was reported will occupy the         February 14 - Kortering;              terms are delegates ad examina
                                        February 21 - Van Baren; March        were Rev. M. Kamps @rimus)
                                        6 - Woudenberg; March 13 -            and Rev. S. Key (secundus). Rev.
                                        Gritters; March 20 - Kamps;           G. Van Baren was elected to a
                                        April 3 - Key; April 10 -             three-year term on the Classical
                                        Slopsema; April 17 - Joostens.        Committee. Revs. C. Hanko and

214  / The Standard Bearer


J.A. Heys were appointed as                 B. Woudenberg; ELDERS: Primi:            Expenses amounted to .
church visitors with Rev. H.                D. Doezema, D. Engelsma, C.            $985.00. Classis will meet next
Veldman as alternate.-                      Prince, G. Wassink;  Secundi: G.       on Wednesday, May 11, 1988 at
   Elected as synodical`delegates           Bol, G. Hoekstra, D. Lotterman,        the Hope Protestant Reformed
were the following: MINISTERS:              J. Van Baren.                          Church, Walker, Michigan. cl
Primi: M. Kamps, J. Kortering, J.              Classis was in closed session              Respectfully submitted,
Slopsema, G. Van Baren; Secundi:            for a brief time to consider a                John J. Huisken
B. Gritters, M. Joostens, S. Key,           matter of discipline.                         Stated Clerk




                                            News From
                                            Our Churches
Ben  Wigger



              February 1, 1988              bringing the total number of             In 1976 Rev. B. Woudenberg
   First, another in our series of          families to thirty-five. A new         began his ministry in Kalamazoo,
church profiles.                            church building was completed in       and by Gods grace he remains
   The Protestant Reformed                  1948. In 1950 Rev. Veldman left,       there as pastor today.
Church of Kalamazoo, Michigan,              and was soon replaced by Rev.            The congregation numbers
was organized in 1927, following            E. Knott.                              about twenty-five families and
a break with the Rev. Danhof                   When Rev. Knott and most of         holds its meetings in their new
and his congregation. At first              the congregation left in the con-      church building on Greenacre
there were eleven families; and             troversy of 1953, the future of        Drive. This building was finished
they held their first services in           the Protestant Reformed Church         in 1982.
the Y.M.C.A., then in a store               of Kalamazoo was uncertain. For          The members of the congrega-
building, and later in a duplex,            a while two families traveled to       tion are variously employed.
which also served as a par-                 Grand Rapids as often as possible      There are several Upjohn
sonage. Kalamazoo's first pastor            and met with First Church. But in      workers, salesmen, and office
was Rev. Wm. Verhil, who came               October 1954 seven families were       workers, a dairyman, a police-
in 1932. He was followed by Rev.            reconstituted as the Kalamazoo         man, and several retirees.
J.C. Kooistra, and by Rev. H.               Protestant Reformed Church.            Several members are eighty
Veldman in 1941. During these               These families began meeting in        years old or older. There is an
years a better meeting place and            a building owned by a Seventh          Adult Bible Society; a Men's, a
parsonage were found.                       Day Adventist group. In 1958           Women's and a Parents' Society
   When Rev. Danhof and his                 Rev. A. Mulder accepted their          as well. There are also more than
congregation returned to the                call.                                  thirty children. 1986 was
Christian Reformed Church, some                But more troubles were ahead.       especially joyous, when two
families sought membership in               Rev. Mulder resigned his posi-         families were blessed with the
the Kalamazoo Prot. Ref. Church,            tion, influencing a few families to    birth of twin boys.
                                            leave along with him. In 1963            Kalamazoo can testify that God
                                            Rev. Harbach accepted the call         leads His church through many
                                            from Kalamazoo and became              adversities and difficult times. But
                                            their sixth pastor. He labored         they can also assure all of us that
                                            faithfully for ten years until he      God also preserves that Church
                                            became Home Missionary in              to the end. Thanks be to Him!
                                            1974. During these years the con-        Now for some other news you
Ben Wigger is an elder in the Protestant    gregation purchased a small            might like to know.
Reformed Church of Hudsonville,             church building on the north end         The Hope Protestant Reformed
Michigan.                                   of town.                               Church in Isabel, S.D. recently

                                                                                                   The Standard Bearer  /  215


        THE
     STANDARD                                                                                               SECOND CLASS
       BEARER                                                                                               Postage Paid at
                                                                                                            Grand Rapids, Michigan

      l?O. Box 6064
      Grand Rapids, MI 49506



      formed a trio consisting of the            Adams St. Christian School          my glory: the rock of my
      Revs. Steven Houck, Thomas               Mother's Club met January 7.          strength, and my refuge, is in
      Miersma and David Engelsma.              Their guest speaker for the eve-      Cod." (Psalm  62:7)
      From that trio the congregation          ning was Mr. Vern Huber. He          Pastor Steven Key, Pres.
      in Isabel called Rev. Engelsma to        spoke on "Parent-Teacher Com-        Mrs.  J. Kamminga, Sec'y.
      come over and be their pastor.           munication Through
          We also found that, the Lord         Conferences".                        NOTICE!
      willing, Rev. Heys and his wife            The Ladies' Circle of the Doon        Classis West of the Protestant
      will have left for New Zealand on        Protestant Reformed Christian        Reformed Church will meet in
      February 5 to install Rev. R.            School held a supper-bazaar in       Redlands, CA on Wednesday,
      Miersma as pastor in Wellington,         early December. Supper was           March 2, 1988, at  8:30 AM, the
      New Zealand.                             served first, followed by a          Lord willing. All delegates in
         Also, in the last week of             bazaar.                              need of lodging or of transpor-
      December, Missionary-Pastor                The congregation in Pella,         tation from the airport should
      Steven Houck of our Modesto,             Iowa, was unable to hold services    notify the Clerk of the  Redl.ands
      Calif. field suffered a heart attack.    December 27 due to some inclem-      Consistory.
      We understand that soon after            ent weather. They had an ice         Rev. David Engelsma, Stated Clerk
      this attack he underwent suc-            storm during the night Saturday
      cessful balloon surgery and has          and into Sunday morning,             RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
      returned home again. He was              followed by snow Sunday night.          The Consistory and the con-
.     also scheduled for a tread-mill          Needless to say, travel was quite    gregation of the Lynden Prot-
      test on the 13th of January. This        difficult, and since many of the     estant Reformed Church express
      test would show just how well            church members live outside of       their sincere sympathy to Mr.
      the balloon surgery had suc-             town, services were cancelled.       Swietse Vander Muelen in the
     ceeded. Results of that test will           At Southeast Church's recent       death of his wife, MRS. ALICE
     have to wait until our next news          congregational meeting a pro-        VANDER MUELEN, on Decem-
     column. Let us remember this              posal was passed to re-carpet the    ber 19, 1987.
     servant of the Lord in our                sanctuary.                              "Precious in the sight of the
     prayers. Perhaps you would like             And there was a Young Peo-         Lord is the death of His saints."
     to send him a card. His address           ple's Christmas Mass Meeting         (Psalm 116:15)
     is: Rev. Steven Houck, 1109 W.            December 20 at Southeast             Rev.  C. Haak, Pres.
     Rumble Rd., Modesto, CA 95350.            Church. 0                            Wilbur Stuit, Clerk
         Rev. C. Van Baren and his                                                  RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
     wife invited Hudsonville's                                                        The Adult Bible Study Class
     widows, widowers, "senior citi-                                                of the Lynden Protestant Re-
     zens" and any others who would            RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY               formed Church extend their
     desire to attend, to a showing of           The Adult Bible Study Society      sympathy to their brother and
     pictures of their recent trip to          of Southeast Protestant Re-          fellow-member, Mr. Swietse
     England on Tuesday, Dec. 29.              formed Church mourns the loss        Vander Muelen in the death of
         The Protestant Reformed Chris-        of a faithful member, MRS.           his wife ALICE VANDER
     tian School in Loveland, Col-             AGNES PIPE, whom the Lord            MUELEN.
     orado, held their annual all-             took home to glory on January           "For we know that if our
     school program on Tuesday                 3, 1988.                             earthly house of this tabernacle
     evening, Ded. 22. All parents,              The Society expresses its          were dissolved, we have a build-
     grandparents, and friends of the          Christian sympathy to her            ing of God, an house not made
     school were cordially invited to          children and grandchildren.          with hands, eternal in the
     attend.                                     "In God is my salvation and        heavens."  (I I Corinthians  5:l)

     216  f  The  Standard  Bearer


