A Reformed





VUI.  u-t,  IYU.    I L
March 15, 1988


 Contw7ts                                                                                                   ~. .-
                                                                                                           THF
                       _                                                 March  15,1988               STANDARD
Editorial  -                                                                                             Bli4lER
About This Issue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ; . . . . . . . . . .266
Meditation  -                                                                                         ISSN 03624692
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Lamentation And Jubilation  :. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .267               and  August.  Published by the Reformed Free Pub
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DaLid  /. Engelsma                                                                                    at Grand Rapids,  Mich.
II                                                                                                    EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
      . ..Co,andSinNoMore". . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .270                Prof. Homer C. Hoeksema
lames D. Slopsema                                                                                     DEPARTMENT EDITORS
                                                                                                      Rev. Ronald Cammenga, Rev. Arie den Hartog,
A Realistic View Of The Sanctified Life. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .272                     Prof. Robert D. Decker, Rev. Barry Critters, Rev.
                                                                                                      Cornelius Hanko, Prof. Herman C. Hanko, Rev.
Carl  /. Haak                                                                                         Ronald Hanko, Rev. John A. Heys, Rev.  J.  Korter-
                                                                                                      ing, Rev. George C. Lubbers, Rev. Thomas C.
The Sore Fight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .274     Miersma, Rev. James Slopsema, Rev. Cise  J. Van
                                                                                                      Baren,  Mr. Benjamin Wigger.
Robert D. Decker                                                                                     EDITORIAL OFFICE
                                                                                                      Prof. H.C. Hoeksema
The Christian And The Law. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .277                4975  lvanrest  Ave., S.W.
Gise  /. Van  Baren                                                                                   Crandville,  Michigan  49418
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Daily Conversion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .279        Mr. Ben Wigger
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Herman C. Hank0                                                                                       Hudsonville,  Michigan  49426
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266 / The Standard Bearer


                                                                                    And
 Meditation *                              Jubilation

   0 wretched man that I am!                 Lamenting and rejoicing!                Thus understood, the contrast
who shall deliver me from the                Singing through our tears!            is also reconciled. For then we
body of this death? I thank God              Wrestling in fearful battle, and      can recast the meaning of these
through Jesus Christ our Lord.             in the heat of the fight shouting       mysterious words as follows: 0
                -Remans  7:24,25a          for joy about the sure victory!         wretched man that I am,
                                             Wondrous paradox!                     wretched in myself, without
                                             Strange, almost irreconcilable        strength for the battle and with-
                                           contrast!                               out hope of victory when I look
                                             Nevertheless a contrast which         at myself; I thank God, Who has
                                           is the characteristic which im-         in principle delivered me and
                                           mediately strikes one in these          Who shall make me partake of
                                           words of the apostle. 0 wretched        the full salvation and shall
                                           man that I am! Such is the lamen-       bestow the final and complete
                                           tation. Thus the apostle cries out.     victory through Jesus Christ, the
                                           Thus we hear his almost despair-        mighty Help, my Goel and my
                                           ing outcry above the noise of the       Lord!
                                           fearful struggle. Who shall deliver       Who would there be, except
                                           me? Thus sounds desperation cry         the delivered child of God, with
                                           of him who is in grave danger,          the grace of salvation in his
                                           who is surrounded by mighty             heart, who would take upon his
                                           enemies, and who, exhausted, is         lips this lamenting song of
                                           at the point of giving up the           jubilee, this weeping triumph-
                                           struggle; who looks round about         song?
                                           him for a way out but nowhere             Who is there in the world who
                                           sees any deliverance! I thank           cries: 0 wretched man that I am?
                                           God! That is the triumph-song of          Who is there among the
                                           the delivered soul, the joy of the      children of this world, who have
                                           enlarged heart, the outcry of           their portion in this world, whose
                                           hope of the soldier who, sur-           belly the Lord fills with His hid
                                           rounded by dense troops of              treasure, who complains: who
                                           enemies, grips anew his weapons,        shall deliver me from the body of
                                           full of courage, certain of victory!    this death?
                                           Through Jesus Christ out Lord! It         No one! This complaining
                                           is the triumph-shout of the weary       jubilation is never heard in the
                                           battler who, well-nigh exhausted,       world.
                                           takes-courage anew in the heat            Indeed, also the world knows
                                           of the battle at the sight of a         misery. There is much world-
*This is a translation of a Dutch-         mighty Helper' Who will carry           woe. Also in the world there is
language meditation From the pen of the    him to sure victory . . . .             weeping and crying and tears
late Rev. Herman Hoeksema. It is taken                                             because of the suffering of this
From Vol. 4, p. 49, Nov. I, 1927. HCH

                                                                                                  The Standard Bearer / 267


 present time. Inexpressibly great         And yet . . . ?                           Surely, such is the apparently
 and deep is the suffering which           Who says, who is there who             irreconcilable contrast in the life
 also causes the world to cringe in     laments in the world: I am a              of every child of God as long as
 pain; beyond description is the        miserable man? Who is there               he is in this world and still car-
 pain of soul, the excruciating         who seeks the cause of all his            ries about with him the body of
 heart-pain which is suffered also      wretchedness in "the body of this         this death.
 in the world. Also there you find      death"? Who cries out: who shall             No, it is not doubt, much less is
 grief and sadness, also there you      deliver me? And who is there in           it despair, which is expressed in
 find anxiety and gnawing fear.         the world who concludes his               that nevertheless painful ques-
 Just visit the hospitals and let       lamentation with the triumph-             tion: who shall deliver me? He
 your eye fall upon the sufferers,      song of thankfulness: I thank God         knows very well that he is
 the bedridden; enter the institu-      through Jesus Christ our Lord?            delivered in principle. The fearful
 tions for the mentally ill, for           No one!                                power of guilt and of sin no
 those whose, mental powers are           The world does not seek the             longer testifies against him. Con-
 disturbed, and observe here the        cause of all misery in itself; and it     demnation no longer leers with
 dull eyes of those deprived of the     does not understand that man's            grinning face against him. He has
 light of understanding and there       sin and guilt lies at the basis of        once learned to exult and he
 the twisted features of the other-     all questions. The misery is              may daily confess, as he stands
 wise beautiful human face, or          ascribed by the world to the              in the consciousness of faith: I
 there the senseless grin of the in-    situation of things, to wrong con-        am justified by faith, and I have
 sane which bedevils the                ditions, to lack of education, to a       peace with God through our Lord
 countenance of the sufferer. Or        bad environment, to bad ex-               Jesus Christ. And he rejoices with
I stand at the deathbed of the          amples, to external things. And           the apostle that there is no con-
 ungodly, the deathbed which            salvation the world seeks with            demnation for him, because he is
 puts an end to all his hope; or at     itself, in an arm of flesh, in more       in Christ Jesus. In free grace and
 the open grave of the world,           thorough education, in its own            out of His eternal good pleasure
 when the remains of its children       righteousness and in better ex-           God was merciful to him. Elect-
 are lowered into it. Or bring up       amples, in man's ability to con-          ing love predestinated him unto
 before your imagination the            quer suffering and death. And in          the highest conceivable glory.
 hellish scene of an earthly battle-    the midst of that fearful struggle        Unfathomably deep Father-love
 field with its blood-drenched soil,    of the world to suppress or to            gave the life of the Son for the
 its roar of a cannonade and its        ban world-woe through human               salvation of the children. On
 death-dealing projectiles, with its    ingenuity, it raises its clenched         Golgotha the blood was shed
 atmosphere of poison gas, its          fist in the face of the Righteous         which paid completely also for
 devilish rage and bloodthirstiness,    One!                                      his sins. And by the law of the
 its raging emotions, its cries and       0 miserable man that I am!              Spirit of life he was also set free
 its moans, its raging and cursing.       Who shall deliver me from the           from the law of sin and death.
 Or visit the prison-houses of the      body of this death?                       Almighty grace gripped his heart
 world and their cell-blocks,             I thank God!                            and made him alive. Divine
 where man, created to be image-          Who is there who so lament-             power dispelled the darkness and
 bearers of the Most High and to        ingly. exults?                            gave light, cut the root of enmity
 dwell with Him in everlasting            Who, that so supplicatingly             out of his heart and filled it with
 blessedness, must be guarded as        gives thanks?                             new life.
wild beasts behind strongly               Who, besides Gods saved                   No, this outcry, "Who shall
 sealed iron doors and bars . . . .     child?                                    deliver me?" is not born of anx-
   And then say for yourself              No one!                                 ious doubt concerning the reality
 whether there is not a fathomless                   * * * * *                    of salvation.
 depth of worldly woe!                    Lamenting in jubilation!                  Much rather is it thus, that in
                                                                             '
                                          Singing though crying!                  the measure that he lives more
                                          Entreating and giving thanks            out of that salvation, he also
                                        for that which was desired in the         more earnestly prays: Deliver
                                        entreaty.                                 me, Lord, from the body of this
                                          Rejoicing, in the salvation ob-         death. According as he stands
                                        tained, and yet crying for deli-          higher in the consciousness of
                                                                                  salvation, he also cries out more
                                        verance!                                  emphatically .and mournfully: 0
                                                                                  wretched man that I am!

268 / The Standard Bearer


  After all, it was when he was             Then it seemed that in him the        by nature, and he cries out: 0
first delivered that he felt the          entire wicked power of sin and          wretched man that I am! And
depth of his misery. Formerly he          death was unchained, in order to        when the urge of the new life
was darkness and did not even             oppose that new principle of life,      becomes powerful, and the long-
notice the fearfulness of the             to fight it and, if possible, to an-    ing for perfection begins to cry
darkness in which he walked.              nihilate it. And he began to feel       out in him, then he calls out:
Then he was of the flesh, and he          the power of the body of this           who shall deliver me from the
did the desires of the flesh. And         death. The entire old, sinful           body of this death?
his entire mind was enmity                nature, as it minds the things of         Thus it is that the contrast
against God. It was death. There-         the flesh, as it is ruled by the        comes about. No doubt, no
fore he did not even feel the ter-        power and principle of death,           despair, no fearful terror, but the
ror of the power of death that            and as it manifests itself through      love of God shed abroad in the
held him prisoner. His inmost             the body in the desires of the          heart, sorrowing over the old
mind was in harmony with the              flesh, in the vainglory of life, the    power of sin which is still in his
service of sin. There was no              lust of the eyes, was awakened in       members, is the deep root from
knowledge of misery, because he           him and turned against the new          which the lamentation is born,
loved his own misery. There was           life-principle. There seemed to be      "0 wretched man that I am! Who
no awareness of struggle because          in him a twofold law, the law of        shall deliver me from the body of
he was himself enmity against             sin in his members and the law          this death?"
God. There was no feeling of the          of the new life in his mind. Battle       Wondrous and yet understand-
awful burden of the body of his           came, and trouble. When he              able contrast!
death, because his entire inner           willed to do good by grace, then          Delivered and longing for deli-
e-xistence was in agreement with          evil was present with him. And          verance!
the power of unrighteousness.             so he frequently became a riddle          Lamenting triumph-song!
  But the love of God was shed            to himself. He willed the good,                     * * * * *
abroad in his heart . . . .               but did not do it. He hated the
  Life and light came . . . .             evil, but did it. And yet it was          Who shall deliver?
                                                                                    I thank God! The deliverance is
  And with that life and light            always thus, that he himself no
there came a new life's desire,           more did the evil. His inmost           in view!
and different life-drive . . . .          heart was no more in it, as form-         God Triune is the Author of
  It was the drive of the love of         erly. The depth of his desires          and the Surety for my final
God, to be well-pleasing to Him,          always went out toward God and          deliverance.
to be the friend of God and               His commandments. With his in-            Sure is that salvation, because
always to dwell in His tent. It           most being he had an aversion of        it rests in the unchangeable good
was the drive of the principle of         iniquity and an inner longing to        pleasure of the Father, Who
the liberated life. According to          make his members servants to            never forsakes the work of His
that drive of his heart he went           righteousness . . . .                   own hands. For He whom He did
out toward the things of God and            When through God's grace he           foreknow and in eternal love
he sang in principle:                     may do the good, then his soul          predestinate to be conformed to
     Thy Word is as a lamp unto           enjoys it. When the law of sin          the image of His Son, these He
        my feet,                          which is in his members takes           also glorified!
     A light upon my pathway              him captive and prevents him              Sure is that deliverance,
        unto heaven;                      from being well-pleasing to God,        because it is in Christ Jesus.
     I've sworn an oath, which            then a deep pain and sorrow grip          God Triune sent Him in the
        gladly I repeat,                  his soul. Then there is grief and       likeness of sinful flesh and for
     That I shall keep, as always         sorrow toward God.                      sin, to condemn sin in the flesh.
        I have striven,                     And now there comes out of            And He came. And He joined
     Thy righteous judgments,             that fearful contrast in his own        battle for me against the powers
        holy and complete,                life the irresistible urge toward       of sin and death and hell. And
     When unto me Thy helping             complete salvation. 0, as long as       He was victorious. And He
        grace is given.                   he still carries about with him         deprived sin of the might and the
                      (Psalter, 428:8)    that body of this death, and he         right to rule in my life. And He
  But then came also the                  views that body of this death           arose out of the depth of death
struggle!                                 with the enlightened eye of his         and was glorified. And He
                                          understanding, he feels the great-      ascended into heaven full of
                                          ness of the misery in which he is


                                                                                                     The Standard Bearer / 269


honor, with captivity as His cap-              He shall preserve and guard                He shall have dominion also
tive-and with gifts of comfort for             against the powers of darkness          over my body in the dust of
all His brethren. He merited not               which assault me from within            death, and shall one day clothe
only -the beginning but also the               and from without; presently He .        me, according to body .and soul,
end; not only the principle but                shall glorify me, and when the          with glory.
also the completion of the full                earthly house of this tabernacle is        Who shall deliver me? I thank
salvation . . . .                              broken down, shall provide me a         God, through Jesus Christ our
   Through Christ Jesus God shall              building of God, not made with          Lord!
also deliver me from the body of               hands, eternal in the heavens. . . .       To Him be the glory!
this death.                                         Then the body of this death           Now and forever! El
   He .shall sanctify and purify               shall remain behind forever!
through the Spirit of our Lord;





                                              II               Go, and Sin
David /. Engelsma                             Ii; `More"

    "And Jesus said unto her,                       In Jesus' Word to the woman        sanctification delivers from sin as
Neither do I condemn thee: go,                 taken in adultery are perfectly         power. Both are mighty acts of
and sin no more. " (John 8:l I,                set forth the salvation-realities of    Jesus by His Holy Spirit. Both are
King James Version)                            justification and sanctification;       accomplished through the
                                               their relationship; and their dif-      preaching of the gospel (Rom.
                                               ference. "Neither do I condemn          1:16, 17; John 17:17). Both are
                                               thee" - this is justification; "go,     bestowed upon the sinner, and
                                               and sin no more" 1 this is sancti-      enjoyed by him, through faith
                                               fication: The former is the Lords       alone (Rom. 3:28; Acts 15:9).
                                              Word that frees from the de-             Both are gifts of pure grace for
                                               served punishment of sin; the lat-.     which the sinner is indebted to
                                               ter is His Word that liberates          God (Rom. 3:24; Rom. 6:17). Both
                                              from the enslaving power of sin.         are grounded in the cross of
                                              The Word of pardon is first; the         Jesus Christ and come to the sin-
                                              Word of purifying follows. But           ner as the out-working of Christ's
                                              never has the Savior spoken the          atoning death (Rom. 3:24, 25;
                                              Word of forgiveness to a sinner          R o m .   6 : l f f . ) .
                                              without adding, immediately, the            Still, the distinction between
                                              Word of holiness. Declared to be         them is fundamental. Whereas
                                              uncondemned, the woman goes              justification cancels the sinner's
                                              from Jesus in peace; commanded           debt of punishment owed to God,
                                              no more to sin, she goes in the          sanctification dethrones sin's
                                              power of a holy life.                    power in his life. Whereas by
                                                    Together, justification and        justification, the sinner is
                                              sanctification make up the one,          reckoned to be righteous before
David J. Engelsma is pastor of the Protei-    great work of the salvation of the       God, i.e., his legal status before
tant Reformed Church of South Holland,        elect sinner from his'sin. Justifi-
Illinois.                                     cation rescues from sin as guilt;

270 / The Standard Bearer.


God the Judge is that of in-                 is fatally to flaw the gospel of          that "ye are sanctified, . . . ye are
nocence; by sanctification, he ac-           grace. In this case, the sinner's         justified' (I Cor. 6:ll).
tually becomes a good and holy               right to eternal life is, in part, his       The teaching that one can
man, loving God and his neigh-               own work, and not the work of             have pardon without purification,
bor. Whereas justification is a              Jesus alone. Depending for for-           or, as some put it, that one can
Word of Jesus that declares a                giveness and eternal life upon his        have Jesus as Savior without hav-
man to be righteous, with the                own work, the sinner cannot find          ing Him as Lord, is false doctrine.
righteousness of Another, even               peace with God. Only a Word of            It puts asunder what God has
Jesus Christ, sanctification is a            justification that excludes all the       joined together: divides Christ;
Word that makes the man                      sinner's own work from con-               cheapens salvation; and sends
righteous, with a righteousness,             sideration magnifies the grace of         sinners down the broad way that
that is so much his own that he              God, and sends the sinner away            leads to destruction, assuring
vigorously wages war with sin                in peace. Only such a Word can            them all the while that they are
and actively performs all manner             then be followed by a Word of             bound for heaven. Nevertheless,
of good works. Justification is a            sanctification that causes the            this teaching is one of the most
perfect work already in this life            forgiven sinner to walk, if not to        pervasive and pernicious errors
- as justified, the woman taken              run, in the way of holiness, will-        in Protestantism today. It appears
in adultery stood before her                 ingly and joyfully.                       wherever churches offer the
Judge as one who had never                     Just as these two great saving          grace of forgiveness, while deny-
committed the sin of adultery, or            works of Christ must be carefully         ing the necessity of the forgiven
any other sin; and of this she was           distinguished, so must their rela-        sinner's walking henceforth on
fully and perfectly conscious at             tionship be noted with exactness.         the narrow way of obedience to
the moment He said, "Neither do              Sanctification invariably accom-          God's Law. The heresy is boldly
1 condemn thee." Sanctification is           panies justification. The woman           and shamelessly defended when,
a progressive work throughout                taken in adultery is not an excep-        in response to the objection of
the life of the saint - as sancti-           tion, but the rule to which there         some who still have some con-
fied, the woman taken in                     is no exception. Whom the                 cern for holiness, that the church
adultery would struggle the rest             Savior forgives, He also makes            is tolerating public transgression
of her life against her depraved             holy. Whenever He says, "I do             of God's law among her member-
nature, including adulterous                 not condemn thee," He always              ship, the church exclaims, "But
thoughts and desires, in order to            adds, "go, and sin no more"; and          we proclaim the Word of grace
yield herself, more and more, to             He does so at once. The unholy            here." What is the church really
the Holy Spirit, until sin was               church member is only deceiving           saying? "It is possible, indeed by
abolished for her at her death.              himself, if he supposes that the          this time it is the rule, to enjoy
Although holiness is victorious in           Word of justification has come to         forgiveness without holiness; you
the saint already in this life ("sin         him. The sinner who goes out              can have Jesus as Savior without
shall not have dominion over            ~    from the preaching of the gospel          having Him as Lord." To many
you!' - Rom. 6:14), holiness is              of the forgiveness of sins by the         adulteresses and adulterers, the
not, and cannot be, perfected in             sheer mercy of the Great King             churches are saying, in our time,
him, for he retains his corrupt              only to seize his brother by the          "Neither do we condemn you:
nature until death (cf. the Belgic           throat on the church parking lot,         go." Nothing more. Indeed, by
Confession, Article XV).                     demanding, "Pay me that thou              virtue of the fact that they say
  To confuse justification and               owest," shows by that unholiness          nothing more, they are saying,
sanctification, as Rome does by its          that he never was forgiven (Mat-          ". . . go, and keep right on sin-
teaching that justification is               thew 18:21ff.). The man pro-              ning your sin of adultery."
Christ's work of infusing                    fessing to have faith who does               The Reformed faith abhors and
righteousness into the sinner, i.e.,         not clothe the naked, and feed            denounces this blasphemy of the
making him holy, so that he pro-             the hungry brother or sister, not         Savior, as The Scotch Confession
duces good works, in order then              only exposes himself as unholy,           of Faith (A.D. 1560) expresses:
to forgive him on the basis of the           but also as lacking justification,        For this wee maist boldelie affirme, that
good works that he himself per-              his faith being a dead faith              blasphemy it is to say, that Christ abydes
forms and in order then to pro-              (James 2:14ff.). Salvation from sin       in the heartes of sik, as in whome there
nounce him worthy of an eternal              for every sinner is one complete          is no spirite of sanctification, And there-
                                                                                       fore we feir not to affirme, that mur-
life which he himself has merited,           washing; concerning all living            therers, oppressers, cruel1 persecuters,
                                             members of the congregation,              adulterers, huremongers, filthy persons,
                                             therefore, the apostle is confident       Idolaters, drunkards, thieves, and al
                                                                                       workers of iniquity, have nether trew

                                                                                                           The Standard Bearer / 271


faith, nether ony portion of the Spirit of    to be torn asunder" (cf. H.                This practice of good works is
the Lord JESUS, so long as obstinatlie        Heppe, Reformed Dogmatics,              the goal of justification. Sanctifi-
they continew in their wickednes. For.        1950, p. 566);
how soone that ever the Spirit of the                                                 cation does not merely follow
Lord JESUS, quhilk (which) Gods elect            Sanctification follows justifica-    justification, as "b" follows "a"; .
children receive be trew faith, taks          tion (I refer to Christ's work as       but it is the end, or goal, at
possession in the heart of ony man, so        the believer experiences it). "Go,      which justification aims. Sanctifi-
soone dois he regenerate and renew the        and sin no more" is based               cation, therefore, may not be
same man. (Art. XII0                          squarely upon the preceding
Concerning "justifying faith," the                                                    disparaged in comparison with
                                              "neither do I condemn thee."
Belgic Confession states that "it is                                                  justification, whether in the
                                              There is no fear, therefore, in the
impossible that this holy faith can                                                   church's preaching or in the
                                              woman's heart, as she obeys the
be unfruitful in man," i.e., that it                                                  thinking of believers. Ultimately,
                                              command to resist sin, that her
should not "excite man to the                                                         this is because the purpose of the
                                              pardon is conditioned by her            Savior with His saving work is
practice of those works, which                obedience. Nor is her motive in
God has commanded in His                                                              not simply the peace of the elect
                                              not sinning a slave's dread of          sinner, but the glory of God in
Word" (Art. XXIV). Francis Tur-               punishment, which would spoil
retin is typical of all Reformed                                                      him. "Herein is my Father glori-
                                              all her apparent good works. But
theologians, regarding the rela-                                                      fied, that ye bear much fruit; so
                                              she goes from Jesus as one free-
tionship of justification and sanc-                                                   shall ye be my disciples" (John
                                              ly, graciously, and unconditional-
.tification, when he says,                                                            15:8).  0
                                              ly forgiven and, therefore, as one
"Although we may be of opinion                who out of thankfulness will
that these two benefits must be               obey His lordly command to sin
distinguished and never confused,             no more. She cannot but practice
yet they are connected by the or-             good works in the love that she
dinance of God and the nature of              has for the Judge Who has not
the thing, so that they are never             condemned her.





                                              A. Realistic View Of
lames D. Slopsema                             The Sanctified' life

                                                Sanctification is a work the Ho-      of them at the fall, and so trans-
                                              ly Spirit accomplishes in the           forms them so that they devote
                                              heart and life of every true child      their lives to the service of the
                                              of God. The apostle Peter in his        living God. As a result of this
                                              first epistle addressed the             work of grace, the elect of God
                                              members of the churches in Pon-         are also called saints, that is, holy
                                              tus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia,         ones.
                                              and Bithynia as "elect according          But we ask, what does this
                                              to the foreknowledge of God the         sanctifying work of the Holy
                                              Father,  through sanctification of      Spirit mean practically for the life
                                              the Ho/y Spirit". (Cf I Peter 1:2.)     of the child of God in the midst
                                                Sanctification means to make          of the world? Just what can and
                                              holy. In sanctification the Holy        should we expect of ourselves as
James D. Slopsema is pastor of Hope
Protestant Reformed Church, Walker,           Spirit delivers His people from
Michigan.                                     the power of sin which took hold

272 I The Standard Bearer


a result of the sanctifying work           Consider, too, the example of         Rather than striving for
of the Holy Spirit? What-really is       the apostle Paul in Romans 7,           godliness, we ought to sin that
the'sanctified life? These are very      who writes not as an unbeliever         grace may abound. Still others
important questions to which we          but as a Spirit-filled Christian,       tend to antinomianism because of
must have realistic (Biblical)           "For I know that in me (that is,        a misunderstanding of the truth
answers. For if we are unrealistic       in my flesh,) dwelleth no good          of total depravity. They conclude
in our expectations in this              thing: for to will is present with      that even in the state of grace
regard, we will inevitably run in-       me; but how to perform that             the saint is totally depraved, in-
to deep spiritual problems.              which is good I find not. For the       capable of doing any good. Still
   In this connection there are          good that I would I do not: but         others fall into the error of anti-
two extremes we must avoid.              the evil which I would not, that I      nomianism as a result of an un-
   The one extreme is to imagine         do." (Cf vss 18, 19.) In response       biblical view of election. They
that through the sanctifying work        to this, Paul cries out in verse 24,    divorce election from the cross.
of the Holy Spirit we can live a         "0 wretched man that I am. . . ."       A salvation rooted in such an
nearly perfect life.                       Certainly it is neither realistic     election is a salvation that leaves
   There are those who have this         nor Biblical to imagine that the        good works impossible as well as
extreme opinion. They are called         Christian as a result of the work       unimportant.
perfectionists. They can be found        of sanctification can live a perfect      The antinomian really denies
in almost every church. In some          or even a near-perfect life.            the sanctifying work of the Holy
cases their perfectionism takes on         And those who have that ex-           Spirit in the life of the child of
a very definite doctrinal form.          pectation inevitably run into prob-     God. He denies that the child of
This is true, for example, of the        lems. They may, for example,            God is the workmanship of God
Pentecostalists who teach that           begin to doubt their own salva-         created in Christ Jesus unto good
through the baptism of the Spirit        tion. They find it impossible to        works, which God hath before or-
some in the church are brought           live up to the high ideals they         dained that we should walk in
to a state of perfection in which        have for themselves. And the on-        them. (Eph. 2:lO) He denies that
they are able to live a life virtual-    ly thing they can conclude is that      if any man be in Christ, he is a
ly free of sin, always abounding         they have not been sanctified by        new creature: old things are
in the joy of the Lord. In most          the Spirit of God. Or it may be         passed away; behold, all things
cases, however, the perfectionist        that to attain their ideal of           are become new. (II Cor. 5:17)
has no clear cut doctrinal basis         perfection they take a very             The antinomian even denies the
for his perfectionism. He simply         superficial view of-sin and             possibility to be called a saint,
expects that as a result of the          godliness. Many a perfectionist of      one made holy.
sanctifying work of the Holy             necessity views sin and godliness         Needless to say, those who
Spirit, he ought to be living a life     to be merely matters of external        drift into this antinomian direc-
virtually free from sin.                 behavior, and not of the heart.         tion tend to be- careless in their
  The life which the perfectionist         By all means we must avoid            living. Why be zealous for good
envisions is neither realistic nor       the error of perfectionism.             works, if good works are unim-
Biblical.                                  There is also another extreme         portant? How can we expect
  Consider, for example, t-he Old        we must avoid, the error of anti-       godliness, if godliness is really
Testament saints who also were           nomianism.                              impossible? The spirit of an-
the recipients of the gift of sancti-      The word "antinomian" means           tinomianism is the death of all
fication. In Hebrews 11 we find a        "against the law," and describes        holy living.
list of the Old Testament heroes         a person who considers the keep-          Well may the antinomian take
of faith. What great feats they          ing of Gods law unimportant and         heed to the warning of Scripture.
were able to accomplish through          really impossible, even for the         "Know ye not that that the
faith and the Spirit! But also           child of God.                           unrighteous shall not inherit the
turn back to the Old Testament             Antinomianism is found in one         kingdom of God? Be not de
and see how sinful and spiritually       form or another in many                 ceived: neither fornicators, or
weak these same heroes of faith          churches. In some cases anti-           idolators, nor adulterers, nor ef-
could also be. How shocking              nomianism is rooted in a mis-           feminate, nor abusers of them-
some of their sins were! And             taken notion that to be zealous         selves with mankind, nor thieves,
what misery these sins brought           Ior good works is to fall into the      nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor
upon them.                               error of work righteousness and         revilers, nor extortioners, shall
                                         :o detract from the justification       inherit the kingdom of God." (I
                                         which we have in the cross.             Cor. 6:9, 10)


                                                                                                   The Standard Bearer / 273


    To come to a proper view of             the service of God. He yields            because of the fleshly lusts that
 the sanctified life of the Christian       himself unto God, as one alive           war against our soul we find that
we note first of all that the work          from the dead, and his members           we can not always do that which
 of sanctification effects a radical        as instruments of righteousness          we would. Again and again and
change in the lives of God's                unto God. (verse 13)                     again we stumble into sin. We
people.                                       And this is what we ought to           fall far short of the perfection of
    When the child of God is sanc-          expect of ourselves and of one           Gods law. In fact, all that we do
tified, his old sinful self, called in      another as fellow saints. As a           is somehow tainted with sin.
 the Bible the old man of sin, is           result of the sanctifying work of        (Isaiah 64:6)
 destroyed. The old man, with all           the Holy Spirit we must be new             But the fruit of the work of
 its lusts and sins, is crucified in        men and women whose lives are            sanctification is that the saints of
 the power of the %ross. (Cf                radically different from those of        God grieve over these sins. They
 Romans 6:6;) The result is that            the world. There should be a             are filled with true sorrow. after
 the child of God is dead to sin            marked difference between the            God. Moreover, with their griev-
 and can no longer live therein.            way we live and the way the              ing hearts they come to God in
(Cf. vs. 2.) In other words, sin has        world lives. It ought to be plain        prayer, confess their sins, and
 lost its power over him. He no             to all that the direction of our life    find forgiveness in the biood of
 longer is irresistibly attracted to        is towards God.                          Jesus Christ. Then in gratitude
 sin as before. In the depths of his          However, we must hasten to             for God's forgiveness and salva-
 own being he has broken with               add that the sanctifying work of         tion they continue to fight
 sin and despises sin. Neither,             God is not complete in this life.        against their sinful flesh and the
 therefore, can he live in sin as           Sanctification is one of the works       sins into which they so easily fall.
before.                                     of God only begun in this life, but        The sanctified life is therefore
    There is also a positive work           not finished.                            a life of continual struggle against
 of God in sanctification, the                 Consequently, in this life we         sin. It is filled with joys and sor-
quickening or bringing to life of a         still have a sinful flesh filled with    rows, with highs and lows. There
new man. In the power of Jesus'             all sorts of evil lusts and desires.     is falling into sin, but also over-
resurrection the child of God is            In Christ we may be dead to sin;         coming sin in the power of the
so radically transformed and                but sin is certainly not dead in         cross. But it is primarily a life
renewed, that in a very real                us. For these fleshly lusts war          consecrated to the service of
sense he becomes a new man.                 against the soul (I Peter 2: 11) so      God.
He is a new man in that he lives            that we can not do the things              May God give us grace to live
unto ,God. (Romans 6: 10) The               we would. (Galatians 5:17) As a          the sanctified life every day, that
basic direction of his life is              result of God's sanctifying              we may serve the glory of His
towards God. He delights in the             work in us, we would serve God name.  El
law of God. He is dedicated to              according to His law. But





                                            The Sore Fight
 Carl /. Haak



                                              The elect, justified, sanctified       sinless resurrection life of Christ.
                                            child of God must battle his in-         But this new life dwells now in a
                                            dwelling sin. The Christian is a         corrupt flesh which can do no
                                            new man in a corrupt nature. Im-         good. This is not the same as say-
                                            planted in him is the new life, of       ing that the Christian can do no
Carl J. Haak is pastor of the Protestant    Jesus Christ, a new obedience to         good. The old man of sin in us,
Reformed Church of Lynden, Washing-         the divine will, a principle of the      the flesh, the corrupt nature in-
ton.

274  / The Standard Bearer


herited from Adam and transmit-         in him. A sanctified man is one          find something in me which
ted to us in our birth, can do no       who is engaged in a daily strug-         cherishes and cleaves to these
good. It never gets any better,         gle against the sins of his flesh, in    evils, from'which I ought to flee
even after a life of sanctification.    an unceasing fight to resist temp        as I would flee from a snake put
The old man of sin in us never          tation, in a constant battle against     in my bed. And I would have all
becomes any less vicious, tamed,        every appearance of evil - both          such inward filth crushed,
subdued, or willing to declare a        old and new - in him.                    destroyed in me, rooted out. Yet
truce with the new man in Christ           This is equally applicable to         one battle against such thoughts
given to us. No, the only thing         the strongest and weakest Chris-         leaves me weary in the Lords
we are to do with it is to kill it,     tian. The weakest in faith need          battle, and the enemy soon
crucify it, give no occasion to it,     not say more, the strongest will         returns and after such a hard bat-
put if off, offer no excuses for it.    hardly venture to say less. The          tle engaged yesterday, I find
But the renewed child of God, by        Lord has given to us a desire and        myself meekly surrendering to-
virtue of the life of Christ in him     a will to obey Him and a joy in          day. ("Oh wretched man that I
can and does walk in a new life.        doing so; without this we would          am!")
Indeed, he both wills and acts          be unworthy of the name Chris-             Application is endless. It is our
according to Gods good pleasure:        tians; but our best desires are          entire life. I would not live out of
that is, lives with a sincere           weak and covered with sin due            the principle of pride, self, self-
resolve to obey Gods commands.          to indwelling sin, which must be         grandeur, self-exaltation, yet
The result of the new obedience         put away at every turn of our            often I do. I would not be
implanted in a corrupt nature is a      life. Hence, while we have great         rebellious to the providence of
sore fight against indwelling sin.      cause to be thankful for the new         Father when He makes crooked
  The presence of the struggle          obedience He has given to us,            what I want straight and sends
with sin is precisely due to the        and for the measure in which             things into my life which are
small beginning of the new obe-         that new obedience is answered           against my grain. Yet I am prone
dience of Christ given to us in         in a Godly life, yet we have             to do it, and that in a moment.
our regeneration. Without it            equal reason to be ashamed and           Do we not believe that He has
there would be no conflict with         -abased-under a sense of our             the sovereign right to do as He
sin in us, no occasion for any in-      defects and the evil which mixes         will with His own, and are we
ner strife, no feeling of Godly         with, taints, and debases our best       not assured by Him on the basis
remorse, guilt, or shame. The           endeavors.                               of Calvary, that He shall do the
principle of the new obedience of          Evil is present with the              right, that is, order everything
Christ does not exist in an un-         believer. This statement does not        for our advantage and salvation?
conscious form in our being-so          deny the reality of sanctification       Yet I feel (you, too) a presump-
that we would be unaware of it.         in our lives, but it tells us of the     tuous spirit in me that would
But it is brought to our conscious-     need for it. The Scripture states        dispute His wisdom and at least
ness through the work of the            the case soberly in Gal. 5: 17 "Ye       demand an accounting of His
Spirit as He brings us under the        cannot do the things that ye             ways. What an evil this is for
penetrating light of the Word. It       would. "I would not (I as a sancti-      dust to contend with its Maker! I
evidences itself in a sincere sor-      fied child of God given joy and          would not do it; I would say,
row of heart that we have of-           peace in believing Jesus Christ,         "Silence to all doubts and dis-
fended God in our sins, in a trust      assured of my salvation and              content. Commit thy way to the
in Christ as our Savior, and            henceforth desirous to live unto         Lord, trust also in Him and He
righteousness with God, and in a        Him) be prey to vain, foolish,           shall bring it to pass." But this is
desire to live obediently to Gods       lustful imaginations in my think-        a sore fight. Christian soldiers are
will, which desire stems from an        ing: but this evil is present with       to be seen engaged in hand-to-
immense gratitude to God for His        me. My thoughts seem to be as            hand combat- with the flesh and
gracious deliverance. What all          an open thorough-fare, so that           old man of sin on sick beds and
this means is this: exactly             false, horrid, down right base           in the straits of trial. Sanctified
because of what the child of God        thoughts obtain access, at any           Christians are engaged in a blood
has been made to be, namely a           time or in any place. I would not        battle with lust, temptations, and
new man in a corrupt nature,            allow this or indulge in it. Much        their own self-will. Every Chris-
there is, must be, and will be, a       rather, to me, thoughts of God           tian I have met or had the calling
sore fight against remaining sin        and his mercies are better. Yet          to pastor I have found to be
                                        this I find I do; in defiance (so it     engaged in a sore fight.
                                        seems to me) of that new life I


                                                                                                  The Standard Bearer / 275


   The good that we would does           wars in us, it does not reign; and      every day draw forth to your
not come without this struggle.          though it breaks our peace, it          consciousness some new corrup-
Prayer is something that we              cannot separate us from His love.       tion which before was little
recommend to others, and tell            The enemy shall not prevail. He         noticed, or not recognized as the
them of the wonderful con-               shall not and does not have             filth that it is. Thus we are
descension of God who stoops             dominion over you. The principle        weaned from leaning on any sup-
low to behold in mercy our               of the new obedience of Christ is       posed goodness, strength, or
needs-and to grant us a gracious         unquenchable, conquering, and           power of ourselves, and feel the
ear to hear our supplications and        victorious. This fact is so             full force of the Lords words;
apportion sufficient grace. But we       marvellous that you and I must          "Without me ye can do nothing."
find ourselves negligent, perform-       daily lay hold of it by a true and        The knowledge of this unre-
ing it as if it were a mere task         living faith. Our experience            lenting warfare with our many
and allowing the least little ex-        would seem to contradict this           back&dings  will make the child
cuse to cancel it. It is right in the    and our repeated falls would            of God ashamed and silence the
performance of spiritual                 cause us great searching ques-          stirrings of pride in his heart. We
privileges that this battle rages        tionings. Yet it is so, that the        shall open our mouths to praise
the fiercest. No child of God            resurrection life of Jesus Christ is    Him, "Who upholds us in the
walking in sanctification has dif-       victorious over sin, also now in        fight." But we will not open our
ficulty in understanding why God         principle as we are in the fight.       mouths to praise ourselves. In the
has represented prayer in His            We are supported by almighty            midst of the fight we will look to
Word as a wrestling with God             power; power which also holds           Him, a powerful Savior, Who is
and an agonizing after God. Yet,         this enemy in His hands; power          able to save to the uttermost
so' often we can find little heart       of sanctifying grace which mani-        them that trust in Him, and pre-
to engage in the strife, to toil         fests itself in repentance of sin       sent them without spot or
through the night and to plead, "I       and trust in Christ.                    blemish at His appearing. He
will not let Thee go till Thou             The sore fight against sin has a      knows our frame, He remembers
bless me." Bible reading is the          purpose. The longer our fight the       we are dust. He who has justified
mark of one in whom dwells the           more we are led to abandon our-         us in the blood-shedding of the
sanctifying Spirit. We have been         selves and cast ourselves upon          Cross, will also through the blood
given to see the Word of God as          Him for all our strength and            sanctify us wholly.
thirst-quenching water and               hope. We see His grace in for-            The battle will not remain
hunger satisfying food, and we           giveness, His faithfulness in           long. We shall not always be as
do say with David; it is                 preserving us in the fight, His un-     we are now. Freed from this vile
preferable to thousands of silver        changing love illustrated in multi-     flesh at the coming of Jesus, then
and gold. Yet the newspaper is           plied pardons granted to us. We         we shall see Him as He is, and
scanned with searching and in-           are humbled; This sore fight is         we shall be like Him and be with
terested eye, while the Bible re-        the Lord's school to teach us           Him forever. 0
mains closed. The reading of the         slow learners that we have no
Word of God dwindles into a              wisdom and strength of self to
task, (which I would not) and            stand. A life of sanctification will
thus we must plead with God to
create in us an appetite for the
food which alone satisfies.
   The battle against indwelling
sin is fought on many fields,
takes on myriad forms, and is an          The Standard Bear& makes a
unceasing reality of the sanctified
life.                                     thoughtful gift-for members of, your
   The sore fight is conducted by
the sanctified believer in the
knowledge of victory. The out-            family, friends, and neighbors. Give
come is not in doubt. Sanctifica-,
tion will proceed because it is the      a gift of the Standard Bearer.
work of God, who both begins a
good work in us and completes it
in the day of Christ. Though sin


276 / The Standard Bearer


                                            The Christian And
Robert D. Decker                            The law

   By "The Law" we mean the                 nature to hate God and the              Gods perfect will. That those two
 will of God for His redeemed in            neighbor. In no wise is the Chris-      tables are filled on both sides em-
 Christ. That will of God is ex-            tian able to keep the command-          phasizes once more that the law
 pressed in the inspired, infallible        ments of God. (cf. Heidelberg           is the complete, the full expres-
 Holy Scriptures and summed in              Catechism, L.D. II) The Christian's     sion of God's will for us. Finally
the law of the Ten Command-                 ,only hope of salvation lies in         as to its form, the law is nega-
ments. There are, according to              Jesus Christ Who is: ". . . the end     tive. Each commandment, with
Scripture, two uses of God's law            (fulfillment, R.D.D.) of the law for    the exception of the fourth in
 or we could say, the law serves            righteousness to everyone that          part and the fifth, comes with a:
two purposes. It is the teacher of          believeth." (Romans  10:4) Thus         "Thou shalt not . . ." This empha-
our misery (cf. Lord's Day II,              the law functions as the teacher        sizes the fact that we are by
Heidelberg Catechism) and the               of the Christian's misery.              nature always inclined to trans-
law is the rule for the Christian's           It is, however, to the second         gress God's Law. The law clearly
life of gratitude to God for the            use of the law that we wish to          points to our sinful natures ac-
salvation God has wrought in                call attention in this article, the     cording to which we are not able
Jesus Christ. Jesus taught us that          law as the rule for the Christian's     to keep God's law.
the .entire  law of God may be              life of gratitude. By way of intro-       But if `the form of the law is
summed in two words: We are to              duction we should notice that the       negative, its content is positive.
love the Lord our God with all              form of the law suggests the idea       Some people, many in fact, never
that we are, and we are to love             of completeness and perfection.         get beyond the form of the law.
the neighbor as ourselves. (cf.             There are `ten commandments             These consider the law to be a
Matthew  22:34-40)  Standing                and that number ten is `the             code of negatives which govern
before the law's demand, the                number of completeness, of              the outward actions of men. As
Christian !earns his misery. That           fulness of measure as determined        long as one does not commit the
misery is that he is prone by               by God. Those ten Words are             act of murder or the physical act.
                                            divided into two tables. Com-           of adultery he keeps the law.
                                            mandments one through four              Jesus (cf. Matthew 5) taught
                                            teach us how we are to behave           otherwise! Our Lord points us to
                                            towards God; and Command-               the fact that .murder is hatred of
                                            ments five through ten teach us         the neighbor and that adultery is
                                            how we are to behave towards            committed in the lustful heart of
                                            the neighbor. Thus our entire life      a man. The law requires the in-'
                                            in all its relationships is covered     ner obedience of love to God and
                                            by the law. The law was written         the neighbor.
                                            on both sides of two tables of            What is the content of Gods
                                            stone. That it was written on           law? What does the law say to
                                            tables of stone implies that it can     us? The law of God begins with
                                            never be erased. The law stands
Robert D. Decker is professor of New
Testament and Practical Theology `in the    eternally as the expression of
Protestant Reformed Seminary.

                                                                                                     The Standard Bearer / 277


these powerful, beautiful, and          Yes, the law is expressed in              to these, contrary to the very
majestic words: "And God spake          negative terms for reasons                nature of grace to confront the
all these words, saying, I am the       already cited, but positively the         Christian with the law. The law is
Lord thy God, which have                law says: thou shalt love the Lord        fulfilled in Christ. We are no
brought thee out of the land of         thy God! This is the essence of           longer under the law, but under
Egypt, out of the house of bond-        the entire law, the issue at stake        grace. Neither are we any longer
age." (Exodus 20:1, 2) What is          in every commandment. The                 little children who need a school-
this if it be not the very gospel of    love of God must be our motive            master to lead us to Christ.
God in Jesus Christ? The law            in serving Him alone, in worship-         "Christ has redeemed us from the
came four hundred and thirty            ping God as He has commanded              curse of the law so don't preach
years after the promise and was         in His Word, in reverencing His           the law to me," these will say.
added to the promise. But the           holy Name, in keeping the Sab-            Others place all of the emphasis
law could not annul or make the         bath holy, honoring father and            on justification. We are justified
promise of no effect. On the con-       mother and all in authority over          through faith in Jesus Christ. We
trary, the law served as the            us, in loving the neighbor in his         are saved by grace. Hence the
schoolmaster to lead God's Israel       person, in his marriage relation,         law cannot be the whole or even
to Christ, in whom was all of           property and possession, in his           a part of our salvation. Preaching
their redemption. (cf. Galatians 3)     name. The love of God must fill           the law, these objectors claim,
   But what a tremendous word:          our hearts with contentment so            will lead to the heresy of
"I am the Lord thy God." The            that we refrain from coveting. In         Phariseeism.
Lord reveals His unique relation-       every sphere and relationship of            What does the Bible say to
ship with His people, Israel. The       life God says just one thing: love        this? The Bible says we are free
Lord is saying: I am Jehovah            me! .                                     in Christ! Never ought we deny
THY God, i.e., in distinction from        And, we must love God not               or minimize this great truth. To
all other nations, I am THY God.        just by outward conformity to His         do so is to fall into either
You are my peculiar treasure. I         law, but with the heart, mind,            legalism or antinomianism. And
will bless you and your children.       soul, and strength. In the world          both are grievous errors which
Because I am thy God I have             outward conformity is sufficient.         have caused much grief and
redeemed thee from Egypt's bond-        A man may covet as long as he             harm in the history of Gods
age. God speaks that same word          does not steal. But God looks at          church. We are free in Christ!
to us. He says to us: I have re-        the heart, and if the love of God         Free we are from the curse of
deemed thee from bondage of sin         is not there, we stand con-               the law, for Christ was made a
and death. I have delivered you         demned. Here there is no com-             curse for us. The law is not the
from the oppression of the Egypt        promise. The law is absolute. It is       way of salvation for us. We do
of this world through Jesus             never: "both . . . and," but              not earn salvation by doing the
Christ. I bless you with all            always: "either . . . or." If we do
spiritual blessings in Christ Who       not love God, we hate Him. This
died for you and arose again.           is precisely what Jesus taught us
You shall be preserved by my            in Matthew 22:37-40: "Thou shalt
Spirit and taken into the glory of      love the Lord thy God with all            The Standard
the heavenly Canaan. Because I          thy heart, and with all thy soul,
am thy God, the God of thy sal-         and with all thy mind. This is the        Bearer makes a
vation, I come to you with my           first and great commandment.
law. This is the path of perfect        And the second is like unto it,
freedom for you as My children.         Thou shalt love thy neighbor as           thoughtful gift
This is the way you work out            thyself. On these two command-
your own salvation with fear and        ments hang all the law and the            for the sick &
trembling, in thankfulness, and to      prophets." Into this freedom God
my praise.                              brought us by the wonder of the           shut-in.
   God is saying to us: because I       cross of Jesus Christ.
am the Lord thy God, thou shalt           In the light of this it is very dif-    Give a-gift of
have no other gods before me.           ficult to understand why many
                                        deny the necessity of God's law.
                                        Some object to the law by saying          the Standard
                                        it conflicts with the Christian's
                                        liberty of Christ. It is, according       Bearer.

278 I The Standard Bearer


 works of the law. We are free in              in Christ to live in the sphere of        Word: "Stand fast in the liberty
 Christ. Jesus Christ is all of our            Gods law. We are free from the            wherewith Christ hath made us
 righteousness, and the law is                 guilt of sin, free from the power         free, and be not entangled again
 written in our very hearts.                   of death and the corruption of            with the yoke of bondage . . . on-
    But that freedom is not license.           sin. Free we are in Jesus Christ          ly use not liberty for an occasion
 We are not free to trample Gods               to love and serve the Lord our            to the flesh, but by love serve
 law under foot. We are not free               God and for His sake to love the          one another. For all the law is
 to sin, that grace may abound.                neighbor as ourselves.                    fulfilled in one word, even in
 And we may not use our liberty                   Now, it is a struggle. Daily we        this; Thou shalt love thy
 in Christ as an occasion for the              have to put off the old man and           neighbor as theyself." (Galatians
 flesh. (cf. Galatians 5) We are free          put on the new man in Christ.             5:1, 13, 14) 0
                                               We need the admonition of Gods





 Gise /. Van Baren                             Daily Conversion

    Thomas Guthrie said, "If you                  We treat the subject of sanctifi-      verted ones, there is understand-
 find yourself loving any pleasure             cation in this issue. With this           ably great joy. Only one de-
 better than your prayers, any                 truth, as with all Scriptural truth,      livered from the terrible bondage
 book better than the Bible, any               there is the real danger that we          of sin, who is brought into
 house better than the house of                twist good doctrine to condone            blessed communion fellowship
 God, any table better than the                or excuse sin. There is, for in-          with Jesus Christ, knows what a
 Lords table, any persons better               stance, the distortion of the             wonderful fact salvation is. But
 than Christ, any indulgence bet-              decree of eternal election and            after several years, the wonder of
 ter than the hope of Heaven -                 eternal security so that it               such deliverance seems to fade
 take alarm."                                  becomes one's own guarantee for           from their minds. These take
    Is there reason for alarm with             eternal salvation - regardless of         many things now for granted.
 us?                                           what one does or believes. So             That "first love", that great en-
                                               also there is the danger that one         thusiasm for the wonder of Gods
                                               regards sanctification to be a full       work, seems to wane. It is not
                                               and complete work of God which            that one falls from grace, but
                                               makes us holy no matter how we            rather the original zeal is no
                                               live.                                     longer seen.
                                                  There is reason for alarm                Or, as is true for most of us,
                                               when we speak of our,sanctifica-          we have been born and raised
                                               tion while holding still to the           within the church. From infancy
                                               world about us.                           on, we have been instructed in
                                                  Two facts face the church -            the truths of the Word of God.
                                               our churches. Both involve a loss         Our conversion was not a sudden
                                               of the "first love" (Rev. 2:4). First,    event in our lives. Rather,
                                               there are those who were sud-             gradually we have become aware
                                               denly converted from sin and              of the work of the Spirit within
 Gise J. Van Baren is pastor of the Protes-    brought to the glorious light of          us. There was, perhaps, not a
tant Reformed Church of Hudsonville,           the gospel. In such newly con-            time that we can recall being in
Michigan.

                                                                                                           The Standard Bearer  I279


the shackles of sin and in the             Satan would encourage the            lives, The automobile allows
darkness of death. But how often        abuse of the wonderful doctrine         members of the family to be
we again take for granted what          of grace too. Salvation is truly        everywhere but at home.
we have been given. We can              the gift of God, not of the works          There is also the general
easily regard the privilege of our      of man. Some have therefore             apostasy of our own age. The
birth within the sphere of God's        concluded, as Satan would have          strictness of the church, and its
covenant as a guarantee to              us to do, that works are not very       emphasis on the doctrines of
heaven. We find ourselves excus-        necessary. If salvation is of grace,    Scripture, are seldom evident
ing our sins on the grounds that        if works are not needed unto            anymore. The church appears to
Jesus has fully paid for them. The      salvation, why do good works?           allow virtually anything - pro-
beauty of grace, the. blessedness       Or is the conclusion correct, "Let      vided it is "redeemed' for Christ.
of dwelling in God's house, the         us sin that grace may abound'           One can go to the movies or the
comfort of the Word, seem not           (Rom. 6)?                               dance, he can break the Sabbath,
that important always to us. If           Where is the old enthusiasm,          provided these are somehow
this is true, we have lost our first    the zealousness, that was first         "redeemed' Christianly.
love.                                   seen? What is the problem? The             Nor is the church the center of
   Is there reason for alarm?           sanctified Christian still has a        the. activity of the family. Now so
Have we lost that first love? Con-      continuing struggle here on this        many other things seem so much
sider some examples. There are          earth. He faces the enemy, that         more important than church ac-
those who minimize the need for         old triumvirate: the devil, the         tivities.
attending the preaching of the          world, and his own sinful flesh.           How is it that those who claim
Word of God. Going to church on         There is, first, that old nature        to have been born again and
Sunday appears to be a drudgery         which we have while still here          converted, seem to show so little
rather than a joy. Or the affairs       on this earth. Though the new           evidence of this in daily living?
of the church appear not to be          life of Christ is worked in our            What every Christian must
important to some who do not at-        hearts, the old man remains with        remember is that conversion
tend the annual congregational          us as long as we live here. Scrip-      must be evident daily in our
meeting. Societies suffer because       ture speaks of our small begin-         lives, and sanctification must con-
of lack of attendance and lack of       ning of new obedience. So much          stantly be taking place. Conver-
preparation. Where is the old in-       seems to attract the old man of         sion can indeed be a sudden,
terest in careful study of the          sin.                                    one-time event (though that is
Word? Others find all kinds of ex-         The materialism of this world        not normally true for those born
cuses not to serve in the offices       affects us. The world in its adver-     within the church). Yet it is also
within the church. Some even            tising shows a11 the things we          true that there must be a con-
show scorn towards those who            need-here on the earth. We can          stant, daily turning from ways of
seem too spiritual. The sins of         so easily become concerned first        sin to the narrow way of life.
gossip and slander are all too          of all with our standard of living.     One must repent of grievous sins
common. The reading of Scrip-           Too often this distracts from our       not only, but he must also repent
ture and earnest prayer wane.           seeking the kingdom of heaven.          of those sins committed daily.
   Antinomianism is not utterly            In this world there is an em-        Repentance, confession of sins,
unknown in our midst. This is           phasis upon the pleasure of this        turning from ways of disobe-
that old but evil theory that since     life. Entertainment of every sort       dience are required daily of us.
Christ paid for our sins, therefore     provides pleasure for many - so            This means that we must get
we can do now as we please. We          that little time is left for those      out of our heads the notion that
rest assured that any sin which         things which are spiritual. Isn't a     being a Christian is easy. On the
remains by our own will in us,          basketball game, or a baseball          contrary, it requires great effort;
will surely be forgiven. Christ         game, more interesting and ex-          great striving. Jesus speaks of
was obedient for us - therefore         citing than Bible study in society?     those who follow Him as "taking
we are not obliged unto new                Then too, the modern inven-          up their crosses" (Matt. 16:24).
obedience.                              tions of this world, wonderful          That command of Christ implies
                                        though these may be in them-            both the great activity required
                                        selves,. have contributed to the        and the great difficulty involved.
                                        worldliness so evident even in          The "taking up" points to the ac-
                                        the churches. Television, radio,        tivity of the Christian. The
                                        and phonograph have brought
                                        the world into our homes and


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"cross" reminds of the suffering         He is earnest in his prayers           In this way, we also enjoy a
and trials entailed by following       and in his reading of Scripture at    restoration of that "first love". He
after Christ.                          home. His devotions, his "family      who sincerely repents of his sins,
   So the Christian is to be active    altar", are important to the          works faithfully by grace, also
- deliberately, purposefully ac-       whole of the family.                  will grow in the love of God and
tive. Daily there must be                And he flees from the corrup-       of His Son Jesus Christ. Such
evidence of repentance from sin        tion of this world.                   understand the truth of sanctifica-
and a turning to righteousness.          All of this requires that he be     tion not as an excuse to sin, but
But one is to be active and            on his knees in prayer to God         as the process whereby one con-
spiritual in all that he does.         every day. He prays earnestly for     tinues to develop in his.faith.
Though he must sometimes force         forgiveness of his many sins and        May necessary alarm have its
himself to do those things which       asks for the strength to walk in      proper fruit: true repentance and
Scripture requires of him, he          the way of life. And God, Who         greater holiness by the grace of
must continue to labor faithfully.     rejoices in the asking of His         our glorious God. 0
  Thus he carries out his duties       people, provides. He directs in
faithfully - even when he might        the way of truth.
not always "feel" like it. He is
faithful in church and in the ac-
tivities of the church.





                                       Progressive
Herman C. Hanko                        Sanctification

   The problem of progressive            Or, to put the question in          Or it may be considered from the
sanctification is always a trou-       another form: When God,               viewpoint of the personal ex-
bling one for the saints. Does the     through the Spirit of Christ, per-    perience of the child of God, i.e.,
regenerated and sanctified child       forms the work of sanctification      in the heat and struggle of the
of God become, throughout his          in the hearts of His people, does     battle against sin, may a Chris-
life, progressively more holy?         God so work that that sanctifica-     tian expect that, through Gods
May he, in the midst of the battle     tion is a process which signifi-      grace in His heart,. he will in-
of faith, expect growth in sancti-     cantly and noticeably makes the       creasingly subdue the sin in his
ty and piety? increasing victories     child of God a more holy person?      flesh and more and more live a
in the battle against sin? May he,     Does God continually cleanse          life of holiness? Put in this way,
on the basis of the Word of God,       from sin so that sin more and         the question becomes an intense-
expect that as he grows older he       more is defeated and holiness         ly personal one. The opposite is,
will become more and more vir-         more and more dominates in the        after all, bitter to contemplate. It
tuous and that he will live in         life of the one redeemed in the       may be that in the battle the-
greater and more frequent good         blood of the cross of Christ?         child of God knows only retreat,
works?                                   This question can be con-           that sin increases its strength and
                                       sidered from two different view-      force, that evil gains more and
                                       points. It may be considered from     more power over him. Some-
Herman C. Hanko is professor of New    the viewpoint of the doctrine
Testament and Church History in the    itself, i.e., does Scripture teach
Protestant Reformed Seminary.          such progress in sanctification?

                                                                                             The Standard Bearer I287


times it seems that way to Gods        to perfect our holiness in the fear        Our creeds echo these truths of
people. They speak rather sor-         of God; in Hebrews 12:14, we are        Scripture. Our Heidelberg
rowfully of the fact that the older    told to follow after sanctification     Catechism speaks of even the
they become, the more sinful           without which no man may see            holiest of men having but a small
their lives are. As they reach old     the Lord; and in II Thessalonians       beginning of the new obedience
age, they see more and more sin,       1:3 Paul tells the members of that      (Lords Day LXIV, 114) and of
more corruption in their evil          congregation that their faith           our best works as being im-
nature which they struggle             grows exceedingly and that the          perfect and defiled by sin (Lords
against all their life long and        love each one has for the other         Day XXIV, 62). And, in praying
greater evil present in them.          abounds. Repeatedly Scripture,          for the forgiveness of sins, the
   But even if the battle is a kind    presses upon us the calling to in-      Heidelberg Catechism speaks of
of spiritual "stalemate," the life     crease in holiness, for we are          our confession as being that we
of the believer takes on a rather      called to be holy even as our           are poor sinners and that our
dark hue. It is always true, of        Father in heaven is holy (I Peter       transgressions and depravity
course, that the believer looks        1:15, 16).                              always cleave to us (Lords Day
forward in hope and anticipation          On the other hand, another           LI, 126).
to the time when the battle will       picture is drawn in Scripture of          Over the years various solu-
be over and the victory will be        quite a different kind. It is a pic-    tions to this problem have been
won. But while he continues in         ture of people of God on their          proposed. Generally speaking,
this life the struggle remains,        knees with tears streaming down         they have divided themselves in-
from the viewpoint of his own          their faces, crying out in the          to two camps, the camp of the
experience, indecisive.                agony of their sin. David, after        perfectionists and the camp of
   When we turn to Scripture and       his sins of murder and adultery,        the antinomians. Both attempt to
the testimony of the Reformed          confesses that he was conceived         solve the problem by going in
Confessions on this question, it       and born in sin (Psalm 51:5); Job,      different directions.
appears at first glance as if the      when confronted with the great            .The perfectionists are proud to
teachings found there are contra-      majesty of God, complains,              speak of such great advances in
dictory.                               "Behold, I am vile; what shall I        sanctification that they attain to a
   On the one hand, there is no        answer thee?" (Job 40:4). And           state of perfection in this world.
question about it that the Scrip-      again, "I abhor myself, and re-         Dr. Abraham Kuyper, e.g., once
tures emphatically teach and em-       pent in dust and ashes" (Job            spoke of a minister whom he
phasize growth and progress in         42:6). The Psalmist complains           heard who announced one Sun-
sanctification. We have the space      that his sins rise up against him,      day to his congregation that he
to cite only a few evidences of        prevailing day by day, (Psalm           had succeeded in living for an
this strong emphasis in Gods           65:3) and this is only one of           entire year without sin. The
Word. The Bible speaks often of        many plaintive cries repeatedly         Pentecostalists are eager also to
spiritual growth. Ephesians 2:2 1      made in the Psalms concerning           speak of this kind of perfection
speaks of growing unto a. holy         the great burden of sin.                which comes with the second
temple, and the same figure is           The New Testament sounds the          blessing. But such a notion is not
used by Peter in I Peter 2:5           same note. Paul speaks of ,the          only contrary to the Scriptures, it
where the saints are compared to       good which he would., but does          inevitably falls into the trap of
living stones, i.e., stones which,     not, and the evil which he would        Arminianism. Such have a very
because they live, also become         not, but which he nevertheless          moralistic view of goodness: they
increasingly fit to occupy a place     does, because he is carnal and          have no conception of the bitter
in the holy temple of God.`In the      sold under sin; and he ends his         struggle against sin which goes
second verse of this same              deep confession of sin with the         on in our members, and they
chapter, Peter urges upon the          anguished cry: "0 wretched man          reduce piety to some outward
saints to desire as newborn babes      that I am" (Romans 7:14-24). Not        observance of the law of God.
the pure milk of the Word "that        the Pharisee in the temple, who         They separate the work of sancti-
ye may grow thereby." And in           boasted of all his holiness, went       fication from grace and, while
the very last verse of his second      home justified, but the publican        speaking rather piously of justifi-
epistle, Peter admonishes the          who could only smite on his             cation only through faith, never-
saints to "grow in grace, and in       breast, fearful to lift his eyes to     theless leave sanctification in our
the knowledge of our Lord and          heaven, and who pleaded, "God
Saviour Jesus Christ" (3:18). In II    be merciful to me, the sinner"
Corinthians 7:l we are exhorted        (Luke .1&g-15).


282 / The Standard Bearer


hands and make it our work.                Lords Day XLIV (a Lords Day                  more we will learn to seek remis-
They fall into the dreadful trap of     we have referred to earlier, but                sion for them in the cross and
relying upon works, an evil             now question 115) points the way                the more earnest we will be in
against which our Belgic Confes-        of Scripture's answer to this ques-             seeking our righteousness in the
sion warns so seriously when it         tion. It relates for us the need for            blood of our Savior. And that too
says, "Moreover, though we do           a strict preaching of the law of               is astonishing and remarkable
good works, we do not found our         God to sanctification. The whole                growth and progress. It is growth
salvation upon them; for we do          question and answer reads:                     ~ in humility. It is growth in for-
no work but what is polluted by           Why will God then have the ten com-           saking ourselves. It is growth in
our flesh, and also punishable;         mandments so strictly preached, since no        escape from all Phariseeism, from
and although we could perform           man in this life can keep them?                 all trust in our power. It is the
such works, still the remem-              First, that all our lifetime wemay
                                        learn more and more to know our sinful          great progress of fleeing more
brance of one sin is sufficient to      nature, and thus become the more                and more to Christ and clinging
make God reject them. Thus then         earnest in seeking the remission of sin,        by faith to His cross. And again,
we would always be in doubt,            and righteousness in Christ; likewise, that     this kind of progress the believer
tossed to and fro without any           we constantly endeavor and pray to God          finds in his life, for his only com-
certainty, and our poor con-            for the grace of the Holy Spirit, that we
                                        may become more and more conform-               fort in life and in death is that he
sciences continually vexed, if          able to the image of God, till we arrive at     belongs to his faithful Savior
they relied not on the merits of        the perfection proposed to us, in a life to     Jesus Christ.
the suffering and death of our          come.                                              The third answer which this
Savior" (Article XXIV).                    Several elements are empha-                  Lord's Day gives is that we trust
  The antinomians, on the other         sized here, each of which is im-                more and more in the grace of
hand, want to deny the work of          portant. The Heidelberg Cate-                   the Holy Spirit. What tremendous
sanctification altogether. They         chism is asking the question:                   progress one makes in the life of
speak of our righteousness in           Why, in the light of our inability              sanctification when more and
Christ, of the fact that our holi-      to keep Gods commandments,                      more he abandons himself and
ness is only in Christ (but not in      does God want the perfection of                 his own efforts, when more and
us), that good works are forever        His law constantly brought to our               more he forsakes his own works,
impossible because of the con-          attention? Why a call to perfec-                when more and more he no
tinuous corruption of our natures,      tion when perfection is, in. this               longer trusts in what his hands
that all good works are done for        life, out of reach?                             have done; but rather relies sole-
us by Christ (while denying that           The first answer given is that               ly upon and seeks only the grace
they are done in us by the Spirit       we may all our lifetime learn                   of the Holy Spirit. This is the end
and power of Christ.) Emphasiz-         more and more our sinful nature.                of all Arminianism in his own
ing our perpetual and unrelieved        That pointed and powerful                       soul. It is the full judgment of his
depravity, they have no room in         answer surely speaks directly to                own consciousness upon every
the life of the believer for being      the consciousness of the sin-                   work which he does. It is the
the branches of the vine, for liv-      burdened believer. As he grows                  death knell for self-righteousness.,
ing in Christ and out of Him, and       older, he learns more and more                  Grace and grace alone is the
for bearing good fruit in union         about the depths of the depravity               power by which he becomes in-
with Christ. So often a practical       of his sinful nature, about his                 creasingly conformed to'the im-
antinomianism raises its ugly           capacity for sin and for every                  age of Gods Son. And relying
head in the church by becoming          vile corruption, of his inability to            upon that grace alone, he lives as
an excuse for sin and a plea to         do anything right in Gods sight.                a branch out of the Vine, which
tolerate sin because the justified      But, and this needs so much to                  is Christ, and that life of Christ
sinner.is unable to do anything         be stressed, that very lesson                   pulses within .him.
else but sin. Hence, it becomes         which he learns is progress and                   And finally, the Catechism
nonsense to speak of progressive        growth in sanctification. It is the             points us to the perfection which
sanctification simply because no        "more and more" of growth and                   awaits the believer. Struggling
holiness is present in the justified    spiritual development. Only by                  with his flesh, fighting a weary-
sinner at all and nothing exists        the increasing power of the Holy                ing battle against his own corrupt
which can possibly grow into            Spirit does the child of God come               nature, he increasingly longs for
something stronger and better.          to know his sins in all their hor-
All awaits the day when the elect       ror.
sinner goes to heaven.                    The second answer that is
                                        given is that'the greater knowl-
                                        edge we have of our sin, the

                                                                                                         The Standard Bearer / 283


the day when he can lay aside               glory. He turns his back increas-      our fathers have explained it; if
once and for all the weapons of             ingly upon all that belongs to this    we know the quiet working of
his spiritual warfare and claim             sinful life. And he grows in the       the Spirit, the still small voice,
the palm branch of perfect vic-             hope of the day when he shall be       the unheralded humility of the
tory. Wounded, bloodied re-                 with His Savior.                       crushed sinner who cries to
peatedly in the battle, indescrib-            If we look for growth in the         heaven, the tears which God col-
ably weary from the conflict, he            outward good works which at-           lects in His bottle, above all, the
lives in the hope of the day when           tract the attention of men and         desperate clinging to Christ for
the enemy shall forever be van-             which are praised by men, we           everything, then we shall come
quished and he can receive from             shall fall into the trap of Armin-     to understand a bit of what
the Captain of. his salvation the           ianism and moralism, and fail to       remarkable and astonishing prog-
wreath of victory which is His              see what sanctification is all         ress the sanctified child of God
through the blood of the cross.             about. But if we understand that       makes on this difficult path of life
This, too, is growth in sanctifica-         sanctification is God's work, per-     and holiness which leads to
tion. He is torn away from this             formed by grace, wrought in us         heaven.  0
world and all its pleasures and             in the profound way in which
lusts. He is pulled powerfully in
the depths of his being towards





                                            Sanctif icqtion And
                                            Assurance

    In one way or another our Re-           netted with Christ's descension        The sacraments, according to the
 formed confessions speak of the            into hell: "That in my greatest        Catechism, serve the purpose of
 Christian's assurance rather fre-          temptations,  I may be assured,        assurance (Q. & A. 67, 69, 75). In
 quently.                                   and wholly comfort myself in           answering the question, "Why
    First of all, saving faith itself is    this, that my Lord Jesus Christ,       must we still do good works?"
 assurance. This is very clear from         by His inexpressible anguish,          the Catechism states in part:
 Lord's Day VII. True faith is not          pains, terrors, and hellish            ". . . also, that every one may be
 only a certain knowledge . . . but         agonies, in which he was plunged       assured in himself of his faith, by
 also an assured confidence . . .           during all his sufferings, but         the fruits thereof . . . ."
 that not only to others, but to me         especially on the cross, hath            Significantly, our Confession of
 also, remission of sin, everlasting        delivered me from the anguish          Faith in Article 24 addresses the
 righteousness and salvation, are           and,.torments of hell." In Ques-       subject of assurance in connec-
 freely given by God, merely of             tion and Answer 54, concerning         tion with sanctification, and it
 grace, only for the sake of                the holy catholic church, we find      does so at the conclusion of the
 Christ's merits." In Question and          the familiar language of assur-        article in a rather negative way,
 Answer 44 this assurance is con-           ance on the part of the Christian:     as follows: "Moreover, though we
                                            ". . . and that 1 am and for ever      do good works, we do not found
                                            shall remain, a living member
                                            thereof." Lords Day XXIII, con-
                                            cerning justification by faith,
                                            speaks the language of assurance.


284  I The Standard Bearer


our salvation upon them; for we                  they certainly believe that they are and    This assurance, accordingly is not out of
do no work but what is polluted                  always shall remain true and living mem-    any special revelation, outside of the
by our flesh, and also punishable;               bers of the church, that they have the      Word of God; but springs from faith. in
and although we could perform                    remission of sins and life eternal.         God's promises, which he has revealed in
                                                                                             his Word most abundantly unto our com-
such works, still the remem-                       Notice the following in this ar-          fort; from the testimony of the Holy
brance of one sin is sufficient to               ticle: 1) It speaks of the object of        Spirit, witnessing with our spirit, that we
make God reject them. Thus then                  assurance as being: the keeping             are children and heirs of God, Rom. 8:16;
we-would always be in doubt,                     of the elect, and the persever-             and lastly from an earnest and holy exer-
tossed to and fro without any                    ance of the true believers in               cise of a good conscience and of good
                                                                                             works. And if the elect of God in this
certainty, and our poor con-                     faith. It further spells out this ob-       world were deprived of this solid com-
sciences continually vexed, if                   ject as being "that they are and            fort, that they shall finally obtain the vic-
they relied not on the merits of                 always shall remain, true and liv-          tory, and of this infallible earnest of eter-
the suffering and death of our                   ing members of the church," (a              nal glory, they would be of all men the
Savior."                                         reference to Q. & A. 54 of the              most miserable.
                                                                                                This article makes it plain,
   The Canons of Dordrecht, so                   Heidelberg Catechism) and "that
                                                                                             therefore, that the 
often characterized as being hard                they have the remission of sins                                      one way of
                                                                                             assurance is 
and without a pastoral element,                  and life eternal." 2) It presents                            threefold. Is is: 1)
                                                                                             The way of God's Word, His
address the subject of assurance                 this assurance as being normal
                                                                                             promises. 2) The way of the
more than once. Already in the                   for believers. Assurance is not
                                                                                             testimony of the Holy Spirit that.
First Head, where the subject is                 something elusive, something
                                                                                             we are children and heirs of God.
divine predestination, they speak                which is attained only by a few
                                                                                             3) The way of a walk in sanctifi-
of the                                           specially pious souls. But
           assurance of election as                                                          cation: an earnest and holy exer-
follows:                                         "believers themselves are able to
                                                 be certain, and are certain." 3) At         cise of a good conscience and of
The elect in due time, though in various                                                     good works. These three
degrees and in different measures, attain        the same time, it is plain that the
the assurance of this their eternal and          article is speaking of the activity         elements belong to the one way
unchangeable election, not by inquisitive-       of faith, i.e., believing, not of the       of assurance. They belong
ly prying into the secret and deep things        power of faith as such. Or to use           together. Take any one of them
of God, but by observing in themselves           a distinction which has some-               away, and assurance becomes
with a spiritual joy and holy pleasure,                                                      impossible, changes to doubt and
the infallible fruits of election pointed out    times been used, the article is
in the Word of God - such as a true              speaking of the well-being of faith         despair.
faith in Christ, filial fear, a godly sorrow     in distinction from the being of               Now it is impossible within the
for sin, a hungering and thirsting after         faith. For the article recognizes           limitations of this article to ex-
righteousness, etc. (Article 12)                 that the degree of this assurance           pound the instruction of the
Notice that already here the                     can and does vary. Believers "are           Canons here completely. For a
Canons posit a connection be-                    certain according to the measure            more thorough exposition, I refer
tween assurance and  sanctifica-                 of faith. " (emphasis added) Not            the reader to my book, The Voice
tion: "filial fear, a godly sorrow               only does one believer differ               of our Fathers. But let me draw a
for sin, a hungering and thirsting               from another in degree of'assur-            few main lines.
after righteousness" are all con-                ante; but the degree of assurance            First of all, we must remember
crete manifestations of a walk in                in the same believer may'vary at            that any real assurance is the
sanctification.                                  different times. That variation is          work of God. The question is not:
   But it is in Canons V that the                according to the measure of faith.          how do I obtain assurance, as
matter of assurance is addressed                 If and when the activity of his             though the obtaining of assur-
directly' and in connection with                 faith is strong, his assurance is           ance were my own work; Funda-
preservation and perseverance.                   clear and bright; if and when the           mentally the question is: how
First of all, in Article 9'the truth             activity of his faith is weaker, the'       does God assure. His children?
of the possibility and the reality               degree of assurance is also,                For any assurance that has its
of assurance is set forth. The arti-             smaller.                                    origin in me is not worthy of the
cle reads as follows (in my own,                   But it is Article 10 of Canons V          name; it is like lifting one's self
corrected translation):                          which sets forth the way of                 up by his own bootstraps. If God,
Of this keeping of the elect unto salva-         assurance and which connects                Who is really GOD, assures me,
tion, and of the perseverance of the true                                                    then I may be sure. Hence, the
believers in faith, the believers themselves     assurance very clearly with sanc-
are able to be certain, and are certain ac-      tification. This article reads as           question is: what is God's way of
cording to the measure of faith, by which        follows (again, in my own, slight-
                                                 ly corrected translation):


                                                                                                                 The Standard Bearer I285


  assurance? Then, when I know                Here we must be reminded                  He does not assure children of
  this, and when I walk according           that our Confession warns against      the devil, who are and remain
  to this, I can grow in assurance          this in Article 24: `tMoreover,        children of the devil, that they
  day by day. For in order to enjoy         though we do good works, we do         are children of God. No, He
  assurance, I must be in Gods              not found our salvation upon           changes children of the devil into
  way. I must'walk by faith in the          them; for we do no work but            children of God; and to those
  way in which God always assures           what is polluted by our flesh and      children of God, and to them on-
  His children.                             also punishable . . . ." It also       ly, He gives the assurance that
       What is that way?                    warns that this is precisely not       they are God's children and heirs.
       There is, in the first place, the    the way. of assurance, but of          It is, therefore, because sanctifica-
  element of the speech of God              doubt: "Thus then we would             tion is the sure fruit of the opera-
  Himself, objectively, in His Word,        always be in doubt, tossed to and'     tion of the Spirit of adoption, that
  the Word of the Scriptures, the           fro without any certainty, and         assurance springs from an
  Scriptures which are inspired by          our poor consciences continually       earnest and holy exercise of a
  the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of            vexed, if they relied not on the       good conscience and of good
  adoption. This does not merely            merits of the suffering and death      works.
  mean that the way of assurance            of our Savior."                             This also explains the fact that
  is the way of faithfully reading            Nevertheless, the exclusive          the degree of assurance can and
  the Scriptures. No, it means that         way of assurance is the way of         does vary in the life of the child
  the way of assurance is the way           sanctification. Outside of the lat-    of God sometimes. If the life of
  of faithful use of the means of           ter there is no assurance possible.    sanctification is not strong and
 grace, primarily the preaching of          Without holiness no man shall          bright, then the degree of
  the Word. These are the means             see the Lord! And without holi-        assurance is also not strong and
  through which God is pleased to           ness, therefore, no man can be         bright. And if for a time a child
 assure us.                                 sure that he shall see the Lord!       of God departs completely from
       There is, in the second place,         Why?                                 the way of sanctification and
  the testimony of the Holy Spirit,           The root answer is that the          walks in sin, he may even lose
  the Spirit of adoption, with our          Spirit of adoption, the Spirit Who     his assurance for a time alto-
 spirit. The Spirit takes that objec-       assures us of our salvation            gether. But in the way of a sanc-
 tive revelation of God's promises          through the Word is the HOLY           tified walk God's people enjoy
 in the Worcl.and He applies it efi         Spirit, and He always operates as      the testimony of the Spirit with
 fectually  and irresistibly - for He       such. He operates to assure the        their spirit, through and in con-
 is God! - to our hearts.                   people of God, therefore, only in      nection with the Word, that they
       In the third place, there results    the sphere of holiness, in the         are children and heirs! Cl               HCH
 the faith-testimony of our own             light, not in the darkness of sin
 spirit (for the Spirit testifies with      and corruption. Further, He is the
 our spirit), "I am a child and heir        Author of holiness also in the
 of God. I am and forever shall re-         heart and life of the elect. He ap-    RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
 main a living member of the holy           plies the blessings of Christ to           The members of the Priscilla
 catholic church. I have the remis-         Gods elect. And when He does           Society of the First Protestant
 sion of sins and life eternal."            so, He not only gives assurance        Reformed Church of Grand
       That brings us to the place of       of adoption, but He realizes our       Rapids, Michigan extend heart-
 sanctification, or rather, a walk          adoption and changes us into ac-       felt Christian sympathy to their
 in sanctification in relation to           tual children of God, renewed          Secretary, Reka Sietstra in the
 assurance. What is that place?             after the image of Christ. His         passing to glory of her aged
 Why is assurance possible only in          work is such that its sure fruit is    mother, MRS. JOHN SIETSTRA.
 the way of sanctification?                 the production of a sanctified and         "As for me, I will behold Thy
       Is it thus, that here at last the    holy child of God, a saint.            face in righteousness: I shall be
 matter of assurance becomes                  Now the Spirit's work and the        satisfied, when  I awake, with
 after all dependent on man, on             Spirit's testimony can never be        Thy likeness." (Psalm 17:15)
 the Christian? Is the exercise of a        separated.                             E l e a n o r e   B o l ,   P r e s .
 good conscience and of good                                                       Lois Kregel, Vice-Pres.,
 works - briefly, sanctification -
 the condition of assurance, the
 ground of assuice?
I '

 286 / The Standard Bearer


Directory, Protestant Reformed, Churches
Covenant Prot. Ref. Church                   First Prot. Ref. Church                 Southeast Prot. Ref. Church
454 Pulis Ave.                               2800 Michigan St., NE                    1536 Cambridge, SE
Franklin Lakes, N.J.                         (l/2 Mi. SW of 196/M44 inter-           Grand Rapids, Ml
(Meeting in United Meth. Church)                change)                              Services: 9:30 & 5:00
Services: 11:30 & 7:60                       Grand Rapids, Ml                        Phone: (616) 452-7047
Phone: (201) 790-4732                        Services: 9:30 & 6:00
                                             Phone: (616) 247-0638, 245-4339         Grandville Prot. Ref. Church
Byron Center Prot. Ref. Church                                                       Wilson Ave., SW
8840 Byron Center Ave.                       Southwest Prot. Ref. Church             Grandville, MI
Byron Center, Ml                             4875 lvanrest Ave., SW                  (Meeting in Grandville High
(Meeting in Byron Center Chr. Jr.            Grandville, Ml                             School)
   High School)                              Services: 9:30 & 7:00                   Services: 9:30 & 7:00
Services: 9:30 & 5:00                        Phone: (616) 532-6876, 532-4846         Phone: (616) 538-2575  -
Phone; (616) 878-3255, 534-1927
                                             Faith Prot. Ref. Church                 Hudsonville Prot. Ref. Church
Hope Prot. Ref. Church                       7194 20th Ave.                          5101 Beechtree Ave.
1580 Ferndale, SW                            Jenison, Ml                             (1 Blk. East of Public High
(Corner of Riverbend & Ferndale)             Services: 9:30 & 7:00                      School, 32nd Ave.)                  .
Walker, Ml                                   Phone: (6 16) 457-5848                  Hudsonville, Ml
Services: 9:30 & 7:00                                                                Services: 9:30 & 7:00
Phone: (616) 453-3253, 453-2524                                                      Phone: (616) 669-0755
                        I)                   First Prot. Ref. Church
                                             290 E. 18th St.
Kalamazoo Prot. Ref. Church                  Holland, Ml                             South Holland Prot. Ref. Church
4515 Green Acre Dr.                          Services: 9:30 & 6:30                    165 11 South Park. Ave.
Kalamazoo, Ml                                Phone: (616) 396-8303                   South Holland, IL
Services:  9:30  & 6:00                                                              Services: 9:30 & 6:00
Phone: (616) 381-3385, 349-4420              Pella Prot. Ref. Church                 Phone: (312) 333-1314, 596-3113
                                             410 Franklin St.                        Trinity Prot. Ref. Church
Randolph Prot. Ref. Church                   Pella, IA                               214 Barker-Clodine Rd.
229 Hammond St.                              Services: 9:30 & 7:00                   H o u s t o n ,   T X
Randolph, WI                                 Phone: (5 15) 628,4747                  Services:  9:30  & 6:00
Servtces: 9:30 & 2:00                                                                Phone: (7 13) 492-0844
Phone: (414) 326-5642                        Doon  Prot. Ref. Church
                                             6th Ave., & N. 2nd St.                  Edgerton Prot., Ref. Church
Hull'Prot. Ref. Church           `.          Doon,  I      A                         3rd & Maple St.
1 2 0 4   T h i r d   S t .    _  -*         Services:  9:30  & 2:00                 E d g e r t o n ,   M N
Hull, IA                                     Phone: (712) 726-3382                   Services: 9:30 & 7:30 (March to
Services: 9:30 & 7:OO (May to                                                           Noy.) 9i30 & 2:00 (Dec. to Feb.)
  Sept.) 9:JO & 1:30 (Oct. to                Loveland Prof. Ref. Church              Phone: (507) 442-4441'
  April)                                     7 0 9   E .   57th.St.
Phone: (712) 439-1326, 439-1283              Loveland, CO                            First Prot. Ref. Church
                                             Services:  9:30  &  6:09,(Oct.  to       11533 135th St.
Hope Prot. Ref. Church                         May) 9:30 & 7,:00, (June to'Sept.)    (Mt. Zion Lutheran Church).
Isabel, SD                                   Phone: (303) 667-1347  (                Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Services: 9:30 & 2:00                                                                Services: 11:15 & 3:O0.'
Phone: (605) 466-2450                        Lynden Prot.` Ref. Church               Phone: (403) 455-9803
                                             108 Beernink Lane  _
Hope Prot. Ref. Church                  "    L y n d e n ,   W A                     lmmanuel Prot. Ref. Church
1307 E. Brockton Ave.                        Services: 10:00 & 8:00'(summer)         C & E Trail and 50th Ave.
Redlands, CA                                    10:00 & 2:00 (winter)                (St. Cyprian's Anglican Church)
Services: 10:00 & .7:00                      Phone: (206) 354-4337                   Lacombe, Alberta, Canada
Phone: (714) 792-0307, 792-4923                                                      Services: 12:00 & 4:00
                                                                                     Phone: (403) 782-4089


                                                                                                       . The Standard Bearer / 287


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sl!AlvDm                                                                                      SECOND  CLASS
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 l?O. Box 6064
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                                          Book Review

 Portraits of Bible Men (Second             "Like many young preachers         unusual man. And I believe his
 Series); Portraits of Bible Men          at that time, Matheson ex-           unusual character and cir-
1 (Third Series),  George                 perienced a personal `eclipse of     cumstances are reflected in his
j Matheson; Grand Rapids, Mich.,          faith and even considered aban-      writings and in his very in-
 Kregel Publications; 361 pp.,            doning the ministry. His church      teresting style.
 376~~. respectively; $8.95, paper.       officers were understanding and        Now about the books. The Sec-
 [Reviewed by Prof. H.C.                  compassionate and advised him        ond Series is sixteen chapters
 Hoeksema]                                to stay on and give God an op        about as many Old Testament
   Warren W. Wiersbe in a Fore-           portunity to deepen his faith. In    men, from lshmael to Daniel. The
 word writes the following about          due time, the young minister         Third Series, after an lntroduc-
 the author:                              came out of the furnace with         tion, contains fifteen chapters
   "George Matheson was blind,            stronger faith and a deeper          about as many New Testament
 but with the `eyes of his heart' he      understanding of Gods eternal        men, from John the Baptist to
 could see farther and deeper             message.                             Paul. I have not read these books
 than most of us. This was                  "It seems incredible that a        from cover to cover, but sampled
 especially true when it came to          blind minister in that day could     a few chapters from each. My
 penetrating the minds and hearts         accomplish all that George           general impressions are: 1) That
 of the great Bible characters'. . . .    Matheson accomplished. He            neither volume is exegetically
   "Matheson was born in                  became an outstanding scholar        strong and solid; in fact, there
 Glasgow, Scotland, March 27,             and theologian, as well as a         are many points at which I would
 1842. Early in his life, his eye-        gifted devotional writer and         place a question mark. 2) That,
 sight began to fail; but he man-         preacher. Others, of course, read    on the whole, the Portraits of
 aged to complete his basic               to him; but it was he who            New Testament men are more
 schooling with the aid of strong         assembled the materials and pre-     accurate than those of Old Testa-
 glasses. From that time on, he           pared each message. He               ment men. With regard to the
 had to have assistance with his          memorized  his sermon, the Scrip-    latter the author is at times far
 studies; and his two sisters nobly       ture lessons and the hymns; and      off base. His case for character-
 stood by him. He earned two              it was said that he never missed     izing Caleb as "the Explorer" and
 degrees at the University of             a word! He was diligent to visit     Isaiah as "the Philanthropist" is
 Glasgow, felt a call to the              his people and enter into their      very weak and not Scripturally
 ministry, and was licensed by the        joys and trials. In every way,       grounded. This stands related, of
 Glasgow Presbytery on June 13,           George Matheson was a devoted        course, to the lack of exegetical
 1866. He became assistant to J.R.        pastor and teacher."                 foundation.
 McDuff, the well-known devo-               We are also informed in the          Nevertheless, if you can
 tional writer, and then accepted         Foreword that Matheson was the       discern and overlook some of
 the pastorate of the church of ln-       author of the hymn, "0 Love          these flaws, there is some in-
 nellan.  He was ordained on April        That Wilt Not Let Me Go."            teresting devotional reading in
 8, 1868.                                   This Scottish Presbyterian         these Kregel reprints. 0
                                          author, it is plain, was a very

288 I The Standard Bearer


