A   R e f o r m e d
Semi-Monthly
Magazine





                           In every thing
                        - for this is the will of
                           God in Christ Jesus
                          concerning you
                          (I Thegalonians 5.98).     m





VOI.  63,  N O .   4
November 75, 7988


 Contents                                             November 75,1988               THE
Meditation  - Prof.  Robert D. Decker                                          sl!ANll!!
   GIVING THANKS IN EVERYTHING                                           75        BEQRER
EDITORIALLY SPEAKING  - Prof.  David/. Engelsma                          76
                                                                                ISSN 0362-4692
Editorial  - Prof.  David/. Engelsma
   WELL-GROUNDED THANKSGIVING                                            77    Semi-monthly, except monthly during  June, July,
                                                                               and August. Published by the Reformed Free Pub-
                                                                               lishing Association, Inc. Second Class Postage Paid
In His Fear  -  Rev. Arie  denHartog                                           at Grand Rapids,  Mich.
   THE DISTINCTIVE TRAITS OF TRUE GODLINESS:                                   EDITORIAL COMMITTEE
    LOVE FOR THE CHURCH                                                  79    Editor-in-chief: Prof. David  J. Engelsma
                                                                               Managing Editor: Prof. Robert D. Decker
                                                                               Editors' Assistant: Mr. Don  Doezema
Decency and Order  - Rev. Ronald L. Cammenga                                   DEPARTMENT EDITORS
   NOVICES                                                               81    Rev. Ronald Cammenga, Prof. Robert Decker, Rev.
                                                                               Arie  denHartog,  Rev. Russell Dykstra, Rev. Barry
Walking in the Light  - Prof.  Herman C. Hanko                                 Critters, Rev. Cornelius Hanko, Prof. Herman
   HOMOSEXUALITY (2)                                                     a3    Hanko, Rev. Ronald Hanko, Rev. John Heys, Rev.
                                                                               Jason Kortering, Rev. George Lubbers, Rev. James
                                                                               Slopsema,  Rev. Charles Terpstra, Rev.  Cise
Bible Study Guide  - Rev.  Iason  L. Kortering                                 VanBaren,  Mr. Benjamin Wigger.
   JUDGES  - JEHOVAH DELIVERS HIS UNWORTHY PEOPLE (2)                    85    EDITORIAL OFFICE
                                                                               The Standard Bearer
Guided Into All Truth  - Rev. Charles  /. Terpstra                             4949  lvanrest
                                                                               Crandville,  Michigan 49418
   TERTULLIAN  AND THE GNOSTIC HERESY (2)                                87    CHURCH NEWS EDITOR
                                                                               Mr. Ben Wigger
All Around Us  - Rev.  Cise  /.  VanBaren                                      6597  - 40th Ave.
   PARENTS: MUST YOU BE LICENSED?                                        90    Hudsonville,  Michigan 49426
                                                                               EDITORIAL POLICY
From Holy Writ  - Rev. George C. Lubbers                                       Every editor is solely responsible for the contents
   EXPOSITION OF JOHN  21:1-14                                           91    of his own articles. Contributions of general in-
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                                                                               Question Box Department are welcome. Contribu-
REPORT OF CLASSIS EAST - Ion /. Huisken                                  94    tions will be limited to approximately 300 words
                                                                               and must be neatly written or typewritten, and
NEWS FROM OUR CHURCHES  - Benjamin Wigger                                94    must be signed. Copy deadlines are the first and
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74  /  The  Standard  Bearer


                                          Giving Thanks in
Meditation
Prof. Robert Decker                       Everything

   In every thing give thanks: for          In everything . . . give              As churches we are to give
this is the"wil1  of God in Christ        thanks!                               thanks in everything. For the
Jesus concerning you.                       This does not mean we give          boundless blessings we enjoy as
                 I Thessalonians 5: 18    thanks for some things but not        we gather in the communion of
   There are three great truths           for others. We have a bad prac-       saints to hear the Good Shepherd
concerning thanksgiving taught            tice in this respect. We tend to      through the preaching of the
in this little verse.                     divide our possessions and our        Word . . . give thanks. What a
   Thanksgiving is not to be              circumstances into two groups:        blessing that is! Lords Day after
limited to special occasions or to        that which we call good, and that     Lord's Day we hear Jesus as He
a special day. We are to be giv-          which we call bad! The good           comforts, instructs, corrects, and
ing thanks in everything. Just as         things are health, wealth, a good     encourages us. For the wonderful
we are to rejoice evermore and            family, success. The bad things       task of preaching the gospel on
to pray without ceasing, so we            are sickness, grief, the dis-         the mission fields . . . give
are to be giving thanks always.           appointments of life. Then we         thanks. For the privilege of wit-
   Thanksgiving in everything             give thanks for some things and       nessing beyond the four walls of
also means thanksgiving for               some circumstances, but not for       our sanctuaries by means of
everything. Nothing lies outside          others. The text says we must         radio and printed page and by
the scope of our thanksgiving.            give thanks in everything.            our godly walk . . . give thanks.
   And precisely for this reason            In everything! This does not        For being used by God for the
thanksgiving is possible only for         mean that we give thanks for the      gathering of His church out of
believers. Giving thanks is a pro-        good and patiently bear the bad.      the nations and for the coming of
foundly spiritual activity in faith.      If this were the meaning, it          His Kingdom . . . give thanks.
And, faith is God's gift.                 would not be difficult to under-      For pastors, elders, and deacons
                                          stand and believe the text. But       through whom Christ, the Chief
                                          the text says, "In everything give    Shepherd, cares for us . . . give
                                          thanks!"                              thanks. For the freedom to wor-
                                            Of course, the Bible teaches        ship unmolested and to educate
                                          that we must be patient in adver-     our children in the fear of God
                                          sity and endure afflictions. But      . . . give thanks.
                                          even this must be done with             But this is not everything!
                                          thanksgiving. The Christian is no     When the text says "in every-
                                          Stoic who simply accepts what-        thing," it means that should God
                                          ever comes his way.                   take away our freedoms and
                                            In the sphere of everything we      send us persecution we must also
                                          are called to give thanks. We         then give thanks. There are
                                          may not qualify this Word of          thousands of saints in other lands
                                          God. We are not to put our limits     who must worship in secret and
                                          on what God says here. The Lord       who are put in prison merely for
Prof. Decker is professor of Practical    means in every circumstance, in       reading the Bible. To them the
Theology in the Protestant Reformed       every experience, in every life       Lord says, "give thanks." Also
Seminary.                                 situation, give thanks!               when the great tribulation comes

                                                                                                 The Standard Bearer  / 75


we shall be called to give thanks         Impossible, you say? Indeed it         Because that is Gods will con-
in everything. After all, to suffer    is! For the unbeliever! No matter      cerning us, He comes to us with
together with Christ is also to be     his life's circumstances -             this word, "In everything give
glorified together with Him!           whether God sends him health or        thanks." This is possible only by
   The same applies to our lives       sickness, poverty or plenty, he        the grace of God! It is possible
as individuals! In everything give     cannot give thanks. His life con-      only because everything is for
thanks! For our earthly life and       sists of the abundance of the          our good and salvation. Nothing
all its gifts, our powers and          things he possesses. And all these     can be against us! God withholds
talents, our health and employ-        are lost in death.                     no good thing from us. All things
ment, our abundance of food and           But can we who by grace             work together for our good. This
drink, our peace and plenty, our       believe on the Lord Jesus Christ       is the will of God for us in Christ
homes and families, the rain and       give thanks in everything? Can         Jesus.
sunshine, the crops and harvest        we give thanks for sickness?             Really it all comes down to
. . . in and for all these give        When God takes the love of our         this: we have one thing for which
thanks.                                life from our side can we give         to give thanks, our salvation by
   But our thanksgiving doesn't        thanks?                                grace in Christ Jesus.
end there! This is not everything.        Yes, we can! We can give              But, this one thing is every
Our earthly life is not all pros-      thanks in everything because this      thing!
perity, joy, peace, and plenty.        is the will of God in Christ Jesus       Regardless, then, of our cir-
It's also a weary night of sin and     concerning us. God willed us to        cumstances . . . no matter what
death. The creation itself bears       be in Christ. God sent His Son to      the Lord in His wisdom and
the curse of sin, and the creature     die on account of our sins and to      grace sends us, we say, "Thanks,
is subject to vanity. Death pur-       be raised from the dead on ac-         Lord! Thanks for everything.
sues us relentlessly and casts its     count of our justification. By His     Thou art good!" Joyfully, full of
shadow over even our brightest         Spirit we are born again with life     hope, in the confidence of faith,
moments! There is health, but          from above. We are united to           we live new, holy lives of thanks-
also sickness. There are fruitful      Christ by faith, Gods gift. This is    giving to God's praise. In every-
years, but also barren; peace, but     the gracious will of God in Christ     thing!
also war. There is rain and sun-       Jesus concerning us!                     One day soon we will be giv-
shine, but also wind and storm.          Why? Because God wants a             ing thanks in everything in glory!
There are joys, but also sorrows!      people, filled with His goodness,      That will be glory, indeed! Cl
   In all these circumstances          to acknowledge Him thankfully
too, give thanks!                      in everything!



                                       Editorially Speaking. . .

   n We like to have the young         copy). Students, send us your ad-      view of civil government, in-
people read our magazine; and          dress in care of the Business          cluding the relationship of church
we like to have college and            Manager, P.O. Box 6064, Grand          and Christian citizen and the
university students take into ac-      Rapids, MI 495 16. Or the parents      State. Regardless of the outcome
count in their education what          might see to it.                       of the election, whether a
The Standard Bearer has to say.          n By the time this issue ap-         Democratic or Republican "vic-
Besides, we know from experi-          pears, the political elections in      tory," these truths stand fast: Our
ence the proverbial poverty of         the United States will have been       God sovereignly raises up the
the college student. Therefore,        conducted; and most of the             rulers as part of His ordaining of
we are offering to send The SB,        readers of this magazine will          government; and the calling of
with our compliments, to those         have a new president-elect, as         the Reformed Christian is to sub-
college and university students        well as other office-holders. We       mit to the rulers for conscience
who are living away from home          have planned a special issue of        sake. 0
(we trust that those living at         The Standard Bearer for                                                  -DJE
home are reading their parents'        December 1 on the Reformed

76  / The Standard Bearer


                                         Well-Grounded
Editorial                                Thanksgiving

  A national Day of Thanks-              God, made and upheld by the               The error of a gloomy renun-
giving notwithstanding, giving           triune God, as the Belgic Confes-       ciation of earthly things and
thanks is not everybody's                sion says, "for the service of          "fleshly" pleasures, parading itself
business. Not even giving thanks         mankind." The Creator deserves          as superior holiness, has plagued
for food, freedom, and family is         thanks for our use and.enjoyment        the church down the ages. The
everybody's business. For this in-       of His bounties. Denying crea-          apostles had to contend with it,
tensely spiritual (and rare!) activi-    tion, the evolutionist has no           as is evident in I Timothy 4:lff.:
ty, sound doctrine is necessary.         reason to give thanks, and no           ". . . seducing spirits . . . for-
The ground from which thanks-            God to thank; for him, Thanks-          bidding to marry, and command-
giving grows is not a fertile field      giving Day is a day for self-           ing to abstain from meats, which
of wheat, but a heart plowed,            congratulation, or a day to keep        God hath created to be received
cultivated, and watered by the           his fingers crossed. No small part      with thanksgiving of them which
Holy Spirit with the Word of             of the iniquity of those in             believe and know the truth. For
God. Many a farmer in the                Reformed churches presently gut-        every creature of God is good,
United States whose acreage and          ting the (Biblical) truth of crea-      and nothing to be refused . . . ."
livestock produced abundantly            tion is their destruction of the        The early church fell into it,
this past season will miserably          Reformed life of thankfulness           regarding marriage with suspi-
fail to give thanks to God next          with regard to earthly things.          cion and disdain and extolling
week (as many a Canadian coun-             The truth of creation promotes        the virtue of the ascetic life of
terpart failed to do last month),        thanksgiving by enabling the            the monk. Always there is found
while some whose fig trees did           believer freely to use and whole-       in the church the mentality that
not blossom, whose vines were            heartedly to enjoy "the earth and       is fearful of the enjoyments of
fruitless, whose fields were bar-        its fulness." The various elements      earthly life; that nervously calls
ren, and whose flocks diminished         of earthly life in this world, as       the membership to abstain; and
rejoice in the Lord God.                 creatures of God - beef, wine,          that condemns those who eat and
  Thanksgiving - precious fruit          music - are good, not evil; the         drink as gluttons and wine-
to God of His own labor of salva-        getting and enjoying of them -          bibbers. Luther resisted this er-
tion! - depends squarely upon            work, business, money, eating,          ror; and he did so on the basis of
good, solid, Reformed doctrine.          attending the concert - are law-        the doctrine of creation:
  None gives thanks to the true          ful, not illicit; the ordinances of       If our Lord is permitted to
God except the man or woman              human life - marriage, family,          create nice, large pike and good
who believes creation. "The              labor, government, are to be            Rhine wine, presumably I may be
earth is the LORD's and the              received by the Christian, not          allowed to eat and drink. Similar-
fulness thereof" (Psalm 24: 1).          shunned. A thankful use and en-         ly, Calvin, foe of all in-
Rain and sunshine, food and              joyment of all things earthly is        temperance and champion of
drink, health and job, marriage          the rule for the Christian life, not    self-discipline that he was, re-
and government are creatures of          abstinence for them, in which           fused to honor austerity as the
                                         case, of course, there could be no      Reformed way of life:
                                         thanksgiving for them.


                                                                                                    The Standard Bearer  / 77


    Da man begins to doubt whether          the blood of Jesus Christ. Basic to       Can they unite their hearts
 he may use linen for sheets, shirts,       thanksgiving - thanksgiving for        with the church at the Thanks-
 handkerchiefs, and napkins, he will        earthly necessities and physical       giving Day service to pray,
 afterward be uncertain also about          comforts - is the doctrine of
hemp; finally, doubt will even arise                                               "Father, we thank Thee for
 over tow. For he will turn over in his     redemption. The atoning death of       harvests and wages and return
mind whether he can sup without             the Son of God gives me the            on our investments"? Can they
napkins, or go without a handker-           right, through faith, to a slice of    lift up their voices to sing, "Give
chief If any man should consider            bread (indeed, to the universe),       thanks to God for good is He/
daintier food unlawful, in the end he       as it gives me the right to the        His grace abideth ever/ Each
will not be at peace before God,            Bread of life eternal. The             creature's need He doth supply/
when he eats either black bread or          unbeliever has no right to any of      His grace abideth ever"? If
common victuals, while it occurs to         God's creatures. When he eats          thanksgiving has its wellspring in
him that he could sustain his body          and drinks, soaks up the sun-          an abundance of earthly things,
on even coarser foods. If he boggles        shine, avails himself of the pro-      they cannot. But because thanks-
at sweet wine, he will not with clear       tection of the State, or embraces
conscience drink even flat wine, and                                               giving wells from hearts that
finally he will not dare touch water        a wife, he is a thief, stealing the    believe that the Creator governs
if sweeter and cleaner than other           goods of the Owner of all - the        all that befalls them (for creation
water . . . ." (Institutes, III, XIX, 7,    Creator-God. Redemption brings         implies providence) and that He
Battles edition).                           the believer his daily bread with      rules their life in the love that
    No minor matter, this! The er-          God's blessing, so that he can eat     gave Jesus for them, so that
ror, Paul damns as a "doctrine of           and drink in good conscience           drought as well as rain, poverty
devils" (I Tim. 4:l). Teaching the          before God. Without this blessing,     as well as riches, adversity as
truth that "every creature of God           not even God's gifts can profit a      well as prosperity come to the
is good' is the mark of a good              man, as the Heidelberg Cat-            people of God by the Fatherly
minister of Jesus Christ (I Tim.            echism puts it in Question 125.        hand for their good - because
4:6). Reformed preachers do well              Creation, the fall, redemption       distressed saints believe this, they
to put the brothers and sisters in          - in these great truths embraced       can give thanks.
remembrance of this truth on                with a believing heart is gratitude      Thanksgiving takes form in
Thanksgiving Day. In so many                rooted. From these doctrines the       prayer and song.
respects, the doctrine of creation          afflicted saints take courage to         Genuine thanksgiving will be
is fundamental to the Christian's           join in the giving of thanks. Not      the living of a life: no gluttony,
faith and life.                             all Christians observe Thanksgiv-      no drunkenness, no immoderate
   But the fall of man into sin             ing Day in circumstances of pros-      use of the earth, certainly no
may not be ignored! Thanks-                 perity. The past summer brought        idolizing of the creatures,
giving is grounded also in the              drought to many parts of the           whether field, or factory, or fami-
doctrine of the fall. Believing the         United States and Canada. This         ly; but devotion of our things and
fall, a man lives in the conscious-         has meant disappointment and           selves to the glory of God, "Who
ness of his complete unworthi-              hardship to Christian farmers and      giveth us rightly all things to en-
ness to receive any good thing of           their families; not only rain and      joy" (I Tim. 6:17). One specially
the Lord, whether political free-           sunshine, but also floods and          important aspect of this devotion
dom, or health, or his next                 droughts come to believer and          to God will be the use of our
breath of air. Receiving these              unbeliever alike. Farmers who          goods to help the poor. The
things, though in the barest                began this spring by calling upon      deacons play a vital role in the
amount necessary to sustain life,           God at the Prayer Day service          thanksgiving of the church.
he is grateful. Nothing is more             have lost their investment in seed       "It is a beastly way of eating,"
destructive to thanksgiving than            and cattle; their labor has been       Calvin wrote in his commentary
the popular, but profane, notion            fruitless; their payments on land      on I Timothy 4:5, "when we sit
that men and women have a                   and machinery continue. Other          down at table without any
right to the earth and its fulness.         men have lost their job, through       prayer, and, when we have eaten
Lacking anything, they are                  no fault of their own, or have         to the full, depart in utter forget-
resentful; possessing everything            seen their business collapse. The      fulness of God."
in abundance, they are arrogant;            burden of debt and of supporting         Thanks be to God for the doc-
never are they thankful.                    the family weigh heavily on the        trine that delivers us from such
   The sinner's right to this earth         man; his wife struggles to make        "beastly" eating, and such "beast-
is precisely the same as his right          ends meet.                             ly" living! 0.                   -DJE
to heaven: the grace of God in

78  / The Standard Bearer


                                          The Distinctive Traits of
                                          True Godliness:
 In His Fear
 Rev. Arie denHartog                      Love for the Church

  Many professing Christians to-          social problems of our age and        establish institute churches in
day would not count love for the          busy herself with seeking to solve    every city. The New Testament
church as one of the distinctive          them. Many of these critics           simply assumes that every Chris-
marks of true godliness. Many             satisfy themselves by belbnging       tian is a member of the church as
such professing Christians are not        to what is vaguely called the         institute. Many of the letters of
even members of the church.               body of Christ. They say there is     the apostles were written to local
Others who have their names on            no need for a formal institution      institute churches. According to
the membership roles of some              called the church and for formal      the purpose of God, His church is
church seldom if ever have much           membership in her. All Christians     gathered and preserved through-
to do with the church. They have          are members of the body of            out the world in the institute
little concern with what the              Christ. That is sufficient. Maybe     church. The Heidelberg
church is doing. They attend the          we can gather together in small       Catechism has one of its most
worship services of the church            groups for Bible study and fellow-    beautiful articles expounding the
only irregularly, if at all. Yet they     ship. More than that we do not        doctrine of the church. It speaks
imagine themselves to be devout           need, All this reasoning however      of the meaning of one of the ar-
and serious Christians. Still             is defective. It does not square      ticles of Apostles' Creed, the con-
others, though they attend                with the clear teaching of the        fession of the church of all ages.
church quite regularly, really,           Word of God.                             What believest thou concerning the
,care very little for her. They :           The truth of the holy catholic      holy catholic church of Christ? That
reveal very little love for the           church is clearly taught in the       the Son of God from the beginning
church. Many of the above                 Scriptures. It is true that the       to the end of the world, gathers,
described people will seek to             church is more than merely a          defends and preserves  to  Himself by
justify their lack of love and con-       human and earthly institution.        His Spirit and Word, out of the
cern for the church. They severe-         She is greater than the local         whole human race, a church chosen
                                                                                to everlasting life, agreeing in true
ly criticize the church. The              church found in a city and on a       faith; and that I am and forever shall
church is full of hypocrites. The         street. She is in her spiritual       remain, a living member thereof.
church is a dead institution. She         essence the glorious and beautiful     Heidelberg Catechism, Lord's Day 21
does not minister to the needs of         body of Christ. Yet the truth .of       The Belgic Confession, in arti-
man. She is not relevant to our           the church as a living spiritual      cle 28, states concerning the
modern society. She does not ad-          organism may not be separated         church "that no person of what-
dress herself to the pressing             from the truth of the church as a     soever state or condition he be,
                                          divine institution. God Himself       ought to withdraw himself, to
                                          willed that the church be             live in separate state from it; but
                                          gathered and established in the       all men are duty bound to join
                                          world and be governed by              and unite themselves with it."
Rev. denHartog  is pastor of the Prot-    definite office-bearers in a local    This is clearly the teaching of
estant Reformed Church of Ran-            institution. Our Lord sent out His    God's Word. God's Word knows
dolph, Wisconsin.                         apostles and their helpers to         nothing of a Christian who lives

                                                                                                   The Standard Bearer  I79


independent from the church.          How often in the Psalms he            love the church must be spiritual
The godly men and women of            speaks of love for the church. It     followers of the Reformers. If
the Bible all loved the church of     is evident that fervent love for      they find that the church to
God.                                  the church was one of the pre-        which they belong has turned
   We are to love the church          dominant characteristics of the       from the Lord and is preaching
because the church is Gods. God       inspired Psalm writers. Think of      false doctrine or tolerating evil
has chosen her from before the        such Psalms at 48, 84, 87, 122,       practices in her midst clearly
foundations of the world. He          132, and many more. We could          contrary to the Word of God,
Himself has set His love upon         quote at length from these            they must separate themselves
her. He has determined her ever-      Psalms to show how they speak         from such churches and join the
lasting salvation and glory. His      of love for the church. Christians    true church where the threefold
purpose of salvation is greater       of the New Testament age may          marks are found. And if that
and more glorious than merely         and ought to sing those Psalms,       church cannot after diligent
that of saving a number of in-        with the understanding that the       searching be found, they must
dividuals who live here and there     Psalms speak of the church as         join together with brethren of
in the world and who are              she is also in the new dispensa-      like precious faith and form the
unrelated and independent one         tion.                                 church anew. Such action may
from another. His glorious pur-         Love for the church does not        involve large sacrifices and may
pose of salvation is to redeem a      of course mean love for any local     involve leaving the church of our
church unto Himself for His glory     manifestation of the church. It       ancestors. It may involve leaving
and to save His people as             does not mean love for any and        a large and prestigious church to
members of that church. We are        all institutions that in the world    join a small and despised one.
to love the church because she is     call themselves church. There are     This is love for the church.
the bride of Christ. He gave His      "churches" that are false and that      Love for the church means
life to redeem her. He gathers        are not worthy of the name            that we love her for the truth
and defends and preserves her.        church. Apostate churches are         that she stands for and preaches.
He counts her precious in His         not to be loved at all. God's         It means that we love her for the
sight. He delights to dwell in her    people in those churches are by       great task she is called to per-
midst. He has given His blessed       Gods Word called to come out of       form in the world, the glorious
Word of salvation to her and          them and be separate from them.       work of the Lord Jesus Christ,
made her to be the pillar and         The false church that preaches        the preaching of the gospel and
ground of the truth. Words would      false doctrine and tolerates all      the extension of His kingdom in
fail to describe the glory and        manner of ungodliness in her          the earth. We love the church
blessedness of the church of          midst is an abomination in Gods       when we join her and are active-
Jesus Christ. It is a sad day when    sight. We must not be deceived        ly involved in her life and work.
so few of Gods people know of         by her apparent glory, her stately    It means that we take great in-
the glory and blessedness of the      buildings and cathedrals, her         terest in her work, support her,
church and so many have little        large numbers, and her great          pray for her, and make financial
love and regard for her.              boastings. All of that means          sacrifices to help maintain her
   It is proper to say that the       nothing. We must love the true        and promote the task which the
church has existed from the           church of God known by the            Lord has given to her. Love for
beginning of the world. The           threefold marks of the pure           her means that we seek her unity
church was already present in         preaching of the Word, the            in the faith and doctrine of the
the old dispensation. Her form        proper administration of the          Lord and promote her peace and
then was different from what it is    sacraments of the Lord, and the       prosperity. In order to maintain
today. She was identified with        faithful exercise of Christian        that church in the midst of this
the nation of Israel. She was         discipline. Love for that true        wicked and sinful world the
limited by the types and shadows      church of God moved the great         saints of God must contend
of those days. Her glory was not      Reformers of the Protestant Ref-      together for the faith. They must
yet fully manifest at that time.      ormation to separate from the         strive for the truth of the gospel
She went by the names Jeru-           apostate church of Rome in order      in her midst. When men tolerate
salem, city of God, temple of         to form the church anew. That         all sorts of false doctrine and evil
God, Mt. Zion. David, the man         was possible exactly because the      practices in the church this must
after Gods own heart, loved the       church of Jesus Christ is not         not be taken to be evidence of
church as few men ever have.          bound up with one institution in      love for the church. Such tolera-
                                      the world. Christians today who       tion will only bring about the


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destruction of the church and            pleased by His Word and Spirit to             of His saints. Those gifts must be
bring the displeasure and wrath          dwell in the midst of His saints              used in the midst of the commu-
of God upon her. Love for the            gathered in the church., He is                nion of the saints and for the
church means that the saints of          praised and exalted by the wor-               benefit and edification of the
God stand steadfastly together to        ship of His saints. The true Chris-           whole church. Gods people must
maintain the truth even if that          tian is not and may not be satis-             be zealous to use their gifts to
means that the ungodly in the            fied with only private and family             the praise and glory of God in
church are offended and leave            worship, as important as these                the midst of the church. To do
the church. True love for the            are in themselves. He feels con-              this Gods people have to be will-
church requires this.                    strained to gather with fellow                ing to make large sacrifices. They
  Love for the church means              saints to sing the praises of God             must not make themselves so
that we have a high regard for           and hear the Word of God, to                  busy with their secular occupa-
the office-bearers that God Him-         confess His name, and to bring                tion that they can find no time to
self has ordained in the church to       offerings before Him. Those who               be involved in the life and work
preserve and keep her and to             find it sufficient to attend church           of the church during the week.
care for the souls of the members        only once on the Lord's Day are               This is a sin against love for the
of the church.                           lacking both in proper under-                 church and will inevitably make
  Love for the church certainly          standing of the purpose of the                Gods people carnal and worldly-
means that the Christian is              Lords Day and in love for the                 minded. We do well to examine
faithful in attendance of the wor-       church.                                       our own lives constantly to con-
ship services held by the church.          Love for the church implies be-             sider whether we are walking in
God calls His people to come             ing actively involved in the                  love for the church of Jesus
together on the Lords Day. He is         whole of her life and ministry.               Christ. 0
                                         God has given gifts to every one -



 Decency and
 Order
Rev. Ronald Cammenga                     Novices

  "Preachers without fixed                 Novices, priests, monks, and           .    ly required that "great careful-
charge, or others who have left          others who have left some sect, shall         ness and caution" be exercised.
some sect, shall not be admitted         not be admitted to the service                  The revision of 1914 has
to the ministry of the church un-        (ministry) of the church, except with         departed from the spirit of the
til they have been declared eligi-       great carefulness and caution, and            original article in at least two in-
ble, after careful examination, by       after a definite period of probation.         stances. First, the revision has
the classis with the approval of           Our present article, a result of            dropped any reference to
synod."                                  the revision of the 
            Church Order,  Article 9.                            Church Order          "novices." This really is the heart
                                         by the Synod of the Christian
BACKGROUND TO ARTICLE 9                                                                of the article. Article 9 is a warn-
  The original Article 9 is quite        Reformed Church of 19 14, has                 ing against ordaining novices. A
different from its present form in       dropped the reference to                      novice is a recent convert to the
our  Church Order.  The original         "novices, priests, and monks"                 Reformed faith. The main
article read:                            and in its place has inserted the             thought of the original article is:
                                         phrase "Preachers without fixed               "Novices . . . shall not be admit-
                                         charge." The revised article re-              ted to the service of the church,
                                         quires a classical examination
Rev. Cammenga is pastor of the                                                         except with great carefulness and
                                         and approval by the synod,
Protestant Reformed Church of                                                          caution, and after a definite
Loveland, Colorado.                      whereas the original article simp-            period of probation."

                                                                                                        The Standard Bearer  / 87


  Secondly, whereas the revision         Early on it became evident            Besides the passage in I
of 1914 makes the application of      that many who sought office in         Timothy  3:6, there are other
the article only to those who         the Reformed churches were in-         Scriptures that apply. In I
seek the office of the ministry,      sincere, poorly trained, seeking       Timothy 3:lO the apostle Paul in-
the original article was broader      only economic advancement, or          sists that before a man is ap-
and had application to all the of-    overly enthusiastic. Decisions         pointed to church office he must
fices in the church. The original     were soon taken to protect the         be proved. In I Timothy 5:22 the
article warned against the ad-        churches from these "novices."         Apostle warns Timothy, "Lay
mittance of novices "to the ser-      The Synod of Dordt, 1574,              hands suddenly on no man." This
vice of the church" generally,        already decided: "Those former         is just another way of saying,
that is, to all the offices of the    monks or Papists who desire to         "Don't quickly ordain a man to
church, elder and deacon as well      proceed to ministry in the             office."
as minister.                          churches, shall not be permitted       THREE TYPES OF NOVICES
  Article 9 is closely connected      except they be examined by the           The original article specifically
to Article 8 of the Church Order.     Classis." This became the basis        mentions three types of novices:
The purpose of Article 8 was to       for the incorporation of this arti-    "priests, monks, and those who
insure that only those who are        cle in the Church Order by the         have left some sect."
adequately qualified be admitted      Synod of Dordt, 1618-`19.                Priests were those who actual-
to the office of the ministry.        ARTICLE 9 CONCERNS                     ly did hold office in the Roman
Reformed churches have always         "NO VICES"                             Catholic Church. With great care
insisted that ministers be trained      By novices the original article      and only after a period of testing
and educated. They also insist        referred to those who were new-        were former priests to be permit-
that candidates give evidence of      ly converted to the Reformed           ted to hold office in the Re-
their qualifications by submitting    faith. The term is derived from I      formed churches. It is worth
to a thorough examination. Just       Timothy 3:6 where, in connec-          noting, by the way, that the
for this reason, Article 9 goes on    tion with the qualifications for       Reformed churches did recognize
to warn the churches against or-      elders, the Apostle says, "Not a       the office of the priests in the
daining novices. The article          novice, lest being lifted up with      Roman Catholic Church. Re-
fences the office of the ministry     pride he fall into the condemna-       ordination in the case of priests
in the Reformed churches, and         tion of the devil." Here "novice"      was not insisted upon, but only
by implication the other offices      refers to a convert from               installation to office if a former
as well. It fences the offices        heathenism to the Christian faith.     priest were granted a place in the
especially against enthusiasts        The meaning in the Church              ministry in the Reformed
who come to the Reformed faith        Order is slightly different - a re-    churches. The Reformers them-
from outside who desire, for one      cent convert to the Reformed           selves had, for the most part,
reason or another, a place in the     faith.                                 been ordained in the Roman
office of the ministry.                 The article forbids the ordina-      Catholic Church, and after their
THE HISTORY BEHIND                    tion to office in the Reformed         withdrawal from Rome continued
ARTICLE 9                             churches of those who are              as officebearers.
  The restriction of Article 9        novices. The novice knows but            The case of the monks was dif-
became necessary after the Re-        little of the life and doctrine of     ferent. In the Roman Catholic
formed churches became estab-         the Reformed church. He is inex-       Church the monks belong neither
lished and recognized by the          perienced and unproved. Rather         to the clergy nor to the laity, but
government. At this time many         than to be placed in a teaching        form really a third class of
flooded into the Reformed             position, he himself is in need of     members of the church. They
churches who did not any longer       further instruction.                   were a special class of men who
have to fear persecution or             There are not only dangers for       bound themselves by certain
reprisal. At the same time, many      the church in ordaining a novice,      ascetic vows and who often dedi-
former priests and monks who          but dangers for the man himself.       cated themselves to special types
had served in the Roman               Given man's sinful nature, such        of service in the church. Monks
Catholic Church sought a place in     an action could easily result in       were not ordained to office by
the ministry of the Reformed          the man's being lifted up in           Rome, and consequently were
churches.                             pride, and so fall into the con-       not recognized either by the
                                      demnation of the devil (I Timothy      Reformed churches.
                                      3:6). This regulation not only has
                                      the good of the church in view,
                                      but also the good of the novice.

8-7 /The Standard Bearer


  There were also those "who                PREACHERS WITHOUT FIXED                   the applicant's knowledge of the
have left some sect." By this               CHARGE                                    Reformed faith, qualifications for
phrase the original article had in             The present article has been           the ministry, and personal godli-
mind especially former Anabap-              revised so that it refers now to          ness. The guidelines for the "col-
tists. The word "sect" is used in           "preachers without fixed charge."         loquium doctum" would be the
the article less technically than           This phrase refers to ministers           examination of candidates out-
we use it today. By a sect we               not of our Protestant Reformed            lined in Article 4. The delegates
refer to a religious group that has         Churches, but some other                  ad  eXQminQ  mUSt  be  present  at
no connection to mainstream                 denomination, who for one                 this examination.
Christianity and that denies the            reason or another have severed                 Following the "colloquium doc-
fundamentals of the Christian               their relationship with their             turn" conducted by the classis,
faith, such as the trinity and the          former denomination and who               the applicant's request must also
deity of Christ. "Sect" is used in          seek the ministry in our denom-           be approved by the Synod. The
the article of any group that is            ination. In the past this article         applicant would then be declared
neither a part of the Roman                 was applied to ministers who              eligible for a call from one of our
Catholic Church nor of the Re-              came to America from the Re-              churches.
formed churches. This applied               formed churches of the Nether-                 The original article called for a
particularly to the various groups          lands.                                    period of proving which,
of Anabaptists. In many in-                   The procedure that this article         although not specifically men-
stances, Anabaptist preachers               calls for is the examination of           tioned in our present article,
were self-appointed and un-                 such applicants for the ministry          might still be decided advan-
ordained. These, the Reformed               by the Classis. The Classis must          tageous by the Synod. This
churches, for the most part, did            conduct a "colloquium doctum,"            period of proving might also in-
not recognize as lawful office-             that is, a theological discussion.        clude some work done at our
bearers.                                    This will be an examination of            Seminary. U
                                       -





 Walking in
the Light
Prof. Herman Hank0                     Homosexuality (2)

  Some who have come to the                 tendency towards homosexual               the attribution of responsibility to the
defense of current views on                 behavior which does not                   attribution of guilt. We may not
homosexuality have made use of              necessarily result in performing          blame people for what they are,
a distinction which we must con-            homosexual acts.                          though we may for what they do. In
sider in this article.                        The distinction is very com-            every discussion of homosexuality
  The distinction is between the            mon.                                      we must be rigorous in differen-
actual act of homosexuality and               John R.W. Stott calls attention         tiating between "being" and "doing"
                                                                                      -
the  tendency  towards homosex-             to this distinction in an article in           that is, between a person's identity
                                                                                      and activity, sexual preference and
ual behavior. The former is the             the November 22, 1985 issue of            sexual practice, constitution and con-
actual engaging in homosexual               Christianity Today. He writes:            duct.
behavior; the latter is an inborn             Second, we distinguish between               In Clarion Rev. J. Ceertsema
                                            homosexual orientation or "inver-         refers to a book by Dr. J. Douma
                                            sion" (for which people are not           entitled Homofilie in which the
                                            responsible) and homosexual prac-
Prof. Hanko is professor of Church          tices (for which they are). The impor-    same distinction is made. Rev.
History and New Testament in the            tance of this distinction goes beyond     Geertsema writes:
Protestant Reformed Seminary.

                                                                                                          The Standard Bearer  / 83


   Now it is also known among those         is the only Savior and Lord. She            homosexual is such because of
 who sincerely confess the name of         believes that all people are fallen          genetics or because of environ-
 Christ some have had to cope with a       and can be saved only through God's          mental factors; that is, whether
 homosexual inclination, even until        grace, She believes the Bible is God's       one is born with this tendency or
 the end of their lives . . . . Just as     Word and that Christians should
 one can find kleptomania (the urge                                                     whether it is "learned behavior."
                                           strive to understand and obey it. She
 to steal) among Christians, so one        studies Scripture and prays regularly.       John Jefferson Davis writes in his
 can have people who feel attracted           But unlike most other young               book EVQngdiCQl Ethics (pp. 110,
to a person of the same gender. We         Christian women, for as long as              111):
must not condemn those with a              Mary can remember, she has had a                The question of the causes of
physical and/or mental problem.            sexual interest only in other women.         homosexuality is hotly debated in
 They need helping support in their        Mary has hated herself for most of           research circles. It has been sug-
struggle against sin; in their struggle    her life. `I don't want to be gay," she      gested that some persons are pre-
to overcome in the way of faith. Let       says, "not because it's terrible, but        disposed toward homosexuality by
us not forget that many have to            because of the discrimination we             genetic and chromosomal factors for
carry a burden and struggle with it        have to endure. If I knew how to             which they can be assigned no per-
-just as the lack of a partner can         change, I would. I have prayed               sonal responsibility . . . .
be a burden for a heterosexual             about it. I've sought counseling;              Imbalances in the sex hormones
single,. for a widow or widower, or        people have tried to cast demons out         have also been suggested as a possi-
for someone who has to cope with a         of me.                                       ble cause for or contributing factor
broken marriage. The burden may               "God has helped me to see that            to homosexual behavior. . . .
be different, but each has to bear his/    I'm okay. I can't believe he wants me           After citing tests which tend to
her own and to struggle the struggle       to feel the pain and confusion that          disprove this, Davis writes:
of faith; and they need helping sup-       comes from thinking homosexuality               The clear implication of these
port.                                      is a horrible sin, " she says. "I realize    results is that sexual preference is
   Referring to the same book,             the Bible teaches that homosexuality         predominantly a socially learned
Rev. W. Pouwelse, in another               is wrong, and I don't take that light-       response, not an orientation fixed
issue of  Clarion  writes:                 ly. Nobody wants to live in sin. But         from the outset by genetic or hor-
   Prof: Dr. J. Douma, professor in        I'm prepared to accept judgment for          monal factors . . . .
ethics at the Theological College of       how I am living. I've gone to God so           Family psychopathology has often
the Reformed Churches in Kampen,           many times and pleaded with him to           been suggested as a possible cause of
The Netherlands, gives the following       take it away. I don't know what else         homosexuality. There is some
definition: Homophilia is the condi-       I can do. "                                  evidence to suggest that the com-
tion in which people do not have the          This distinction between a                bination of a domineering mother
natural sexual desire but are largely      homosexual "tendency" and an                 and a father who is detached or
or solely attracted to people of their     overt act of homosexuality brings            hostile can contribute to this condi-
own sex. Homosexuality is a sexual         up another interesting question:             tion. It should be noted, however,
activity in which sexual acts with         If a homosexual tendency is in-              that evidence does not appear to in-
people of the same sex take place.         deed something with which some               dicate that such a constellation of
   This definition shows that there is     people are troubled, what is the             factors is either a necessary or suffi-
not only a distinction, but even a                                                      cient condition for the genesis of
                                           origin of it? How does one ex-
principal difference between the two.                                                   homosexual behavior. Some homo-
                                           plain that some people have this
The difference can be as great as the                                                   sexuals do not have such family
difference between fighting against        tendency and others do not?                  backgrounds, and persons with such
sin or giving in to sin.                   Where does the tendency come                 family pathologies do not necessarily
   In an article which appeals             from?                                        develop homosexual tendencies . . . .
very strongly to the emotions,               To this question various                   One can say, from a biblical per-
Christianity Today  (August 9,             answers have been given.                     spective, that the genesis of homo-
                                                                                        sexuality is not a matter of "nature"
1985) speaks of a young girl who             At one time homosexual                     to the exclusion of "nurture, " or  vice-
faced the struggle with homo-              tendencies were considered an                versa, but rather a combination of
sexual tendencies.                         illness - although a "mental                 both. Man brings a fallen human
  From all outward appearance,             disease." But in 1973 The                    nature into a social environment that
Mary  (not her real name) is an            American Psychiatric Association             itself bears the marks of sin, and
evangelical Christian. She was reared      voted to remove homosexuality                homosexuality is one of the distor-
in a fundamentalist tradition, and         from the category of mental ill-             tions that can result from that inter-
holds a degree from a respected            nesses, and one does not hear                action. The Bible has no illusions
evangelical college. Mary believes in      very much of that idea any                   about the perfection of either human
the Trinity and acknowledges               longer.                                      nature or the social environment, but
without reservation that Jesus Christ        Now the great controversy is               it does hold man morally responsible
                                           over the question whether a                  for the way he interacts with his
                                                                                        world.

84  : The Standard Bearer


        It is quite obvious from all that       Regarding treatment  of homo-             But the question is: Is this the
     we quoted above that if genetic          sexuality, it is sometimes argued that    teaching of Scripture? Surely
     and/or environmental factors ex-         such sexual orientations are innate       such a view removes all personal
     plain the homosexual tendency            and not subject to change.                responsibility from an individual.
     in some people, then, on the one            This is understandable. If             He is born a homosexual. That is
     hand, those who have such                homosexual tendencies are in-             all there is about it. He cannot
     tendencies are not responsible for       nate, they are to be explained no         help it. He is just made that way.
     their conduct; and, on the other         differently than the blue eyes            Nothing anyone does is going to
~    hand, such homosexual tenden-            which one baby has and the                change it. But then too one can-
     cies can never be changed. Davis         brown eyes which another has. A           not blame him for being that
     speaks of current views on this          person cannot help having these           way.
     matter:                                  tendencies any more than he can             Scripture teaches something
                                              help having the facial features of        quite different. Cl
                                              his father.





      Bible Study
      Guide
     Rev. jason Kortering



        We concluded in the nrevious            This tells us something, name-          free Israel from the burden of op-
     article that God chastised His           ly, that material prosperity is           pression. This took place through
     people through the heathen               spiritually dangerous. It is during       the personal intervention of the
     whom Israel had failed to exter-         such times that we with Israel are        judge. After such deliverance, the
     minate as commanded by God.              most inclined to turn to idols and        land would be at peace once
     As soon as they were thus                forget God. When Israel did this,         more, and, since there was no
     disciplined, Israel repented and         God moved one of the heathen              king in Israel and everyone did
     returned unto Jehovah. We                nations to war upon Israel, to            what was right in his own eyes,
     should observe that this took            trouble them in some manner.              the people sooner or later
     place repeatedly, and that it is         This went on for years and usual-         reverted back to idolatry and the
     for this reason that we speak of         ly brought great hardship.                entire cycle would be repeated.
     the cycle of the judges. Prior to          This too is the working of God            Such a situation could only
     the appearance of each of the            throughout history. His hand of           come to an end when the
     judges there was a time of pros-         discipline is used to correct the         theocracy was established typical-
     perity in which Israel had peace         church. For, when they suffered,          ly in David and Solomon, types
     and all went well. This changed          they were forced to examine               of our Lord Jesus Christ. Associ-
     as Israel forgot God and turned          their lives and ask, "Why, what is        ated with such is the institution
     to idols, usually under the in-          wrong?" They learned then to              of the prophetic office and the
     fluence of the heathen around            see their sin and to repent from          speech of God to His people.
     them.                                    their sin and to cry to Jehovah           While we deal with this history,
                                              for deliverance. This, then,              we do well to search our hearts
                                              becomes typical of the cry of the         to learn the lesson of heartfelt
                                              church for Jehovah's mercy in             repentance and sincere desire to
     Rev. Kortering is pastor of the Prot-    Jesus Christ, the Deliverer. God          serve God, through our Lord
     estant Reformed Church of Grand-         would raise up a judge either to          Jesus Christ, who has overcome
     ville,  Michigan.                        drive away their enemy or to              sin and death for us. There is

                                                                                                         The Standard Bearer  I85


both warning and comfort for us          though they could not clear the          buried him in the mount of
in this history.                         valleys, since the inhabitants had       Ephraim (2:8, 9).
A BRIEF OUTLINE                          chariots of iron (1:18, 19).               We now have a summary of
   `The book of Judges can be            Hebron was given to Caleb as             what took place during the
divided into three main sections.        Moses promised (1:20).                   period of the judges. A new gen-
The first deals with introductory           The house of Joseph smote             eration arose that knew not the
material (1: l-3:6); the second          Bethel (formerly Luz). The spies         Lord, nor the works which He
gives details on each of the             offered mercy to a man coming            did. They turned to Baalim and
judges (3:7-16:31);  and the final       out of the city, if he would show        the other gods of the nations
section is an appendix which             them the entrance. He did and            round about them, including Baa1
cites two examples of the terrible       he and his family were let go,           and Ashtaroth (2:10-13). Jehovah
evil which existed during this           while the entire city was                responded with wrath and judg-
period (17:1-21:25).                     slaughtered. In turn he went and         ment. He delivered them into the
    1. The first section presents in-    started another city in the land of      hands of the spoilers as He had
troductory information (l:l-3:6).        the Hittites which he named Luz          said (2:14, 15). Even after they
After the death of Joshua, the           (1:22-26).                               cried for help and He had
children of Israel inquired of the          Besides the failure of Benjamin       delivered them by the hands of
Lord who should be the first to          to destroy all the Jebusites in          judges, they still went after other
fight the Canaanites that still          Jerusalem (1:21), Manasseh did           gods, even worse than before
resided in the portion of land           not kill all the inhabitants of          (2:16-19). Now Jehovah informs
that each had received by lot            Bethshean, Taanach, Dor, Ibleam,         the people that, since they
(1:l). The Lord instructed Judah         and Meggido, but made them pay           disobeyed Him in not driving out
to be first, which in turn asked         tribute (1:27, 28). Neither did          these enemies, from now on He
Simeon to help (1:2, 3). They            Ephraim completely succeed over          will not drive them out, but use
fought the Canaanites and Periz-         the inhabitants of Gezer, nor            them to prove Israel whether
zites especially at Bezek. The           Zebulun over the people of               they will obey the Lord or not.
king, Adonibezek, was captured.          Kitron  and Nahalol, nor Asher           Even in this God is sovereign in
After they cut off his thumbs and        over Accho, Zidon, Ahlah,                His purpose (2:20-23).
great toes, they took him to             Achzib, Helbah, and Rehob; nor             A list of the nations that re-
Jerusalem where he died (1:4-7).         did Naphtali drive out all the in-       mained in the land of Canaan is
Jerusalem was also smitten and           habitants of Bethshemesh and             now given: the five lords of the
burned, though the Jebusites re-         Bethanath, but made them pay             Philistines, all the Canaanites,
mained (1:8, 21).                        taxes. Also Dan was driven into          Sidonians, and Hivites that dwelt
   Next Judah turned to the              the mountains by the Amorites,           in mount Lebanon (3:1-4). The
mountains, the southlands, and           though they were able to make            children of Israel dwelt among
valleys and conquered the                them tributaries (1:29-36). From         the Canaanites, Hittites,
enemies there. This included             the appearance of an angel of the        Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and
Hebron (formerly Kirjatharba),.          Lord at Bochim, we learn that            Jebusites. They even inter-
Debir, and Kirjathsepher. In con-        the failure of Israel to kill all the    married with them (2:5, 6).
nection with the last-named city,        inhabitants, and their making              2. The accounting of each of
Caleb offered his daughter as            tributaries of them instead, was         the judges (3:7-16:31).
wife to the captain who would            wrong. God warned the people               The first one mentioned is
conquer it. Othniel, son of Kenaz,       that these people would be               Othniel. The children forgot the
Caleb's younger brother, took the        thorns in their sides and their          Lord and served Baalim and the
city and he received Achsah for          gods a snare unto them. The              groves. Chushanrishathaim, king
wife. She received from her              people wept and sacrificed in            of Mesopotamia, prevailed over
father land as well as springs of        response to this severe warning          Israel for eight years. The Lord
water (1:9-15). The Kenites,             12: l-5).                                raised Othniel, son of Kenaz,
children of Moses' father-in-law,           Joshua dismissed the people           Caleb's younger brother, to
decided to live in the wilderness        snd they went each to his inheri-        prevail over the king of
south of Arad (1: 16). Judah joined      tance. Mention is made of the            Mesopotamia, and the land had
Simeon and fought Zephath, also          fact that the people served the          rest for forty years (3:7-l 1).
called Hormah (1: 17). After this        Lord all the days of Joshua and            The next judge which the Lord
they went into Gaza, Askelon,            the elders that outlived him (2:6,       raised up was Ehud. Since the
and Ekron and conquered them,            7). Joshua died, being a hundred         people did evil in God's sight, He
                                         snd ten years old, and the people        raised up Eglon, king of Moab,


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who took with him the children            The third judge was Shamgar,         Heber the Kenite, Sisera learned
of Ammon and Amalek, and                son of Anath, who slew 600             that Barak had gone up to Mt.
came and possessed the city of          Philistines with an ox goad and        Tabor, the vicinity of the River
palm trees (Jericho) for eighteen       delivered Israel (3:31).               Kishon. He gathered his 900
years (3:12-14). The Lord raised          The fourth judge was Deborah,        chariots of iron and his army and
Ehud, son of Cera, a Benjamite, a       with the help of Barak. When the       prepared for battle (4:10-13).
man left-handed. He went to the         children of Israel did evil, the       Deborah assured Barak this was
king of Moab with a present. Dis-       Lord sold them into the hand of        the day of victory, so he took his
guised beneath his raiment, on          Jabin, king of Canaan, who lived       army of 10,000 from Mt. Tabor
his right side, was a double-edged      in Hazor. The captain of his army      and met Sisera. The Lord dis-
dagger. We are told that Eglon          was Sisera. He had at his disposal     comfited Sisera and his army
was a very fat man. After Ehud          900 chariots of iron, and he kept      with the edge of the sword of
had presented the gift to Eglon,        Israel in subjection for 20 years.     Barak and his men. Sisera fled
Ehud said he had a secret mis-          Deborah, a prophetess, wife of         from battle and his soldiers fell
sion and the people were dis-           Lapidoth, judged Israel at this        upon the edge of the sword, and
missed, whereupon Ehud thrust           time. She dwelt beneath the palm       there was not a man left. Sisera
the dagger into the body of             tree between Ramah and Bethel,         himself was killed by Jael, wife of
Eglon. Since Eglon was so fat,          and Israel came out to her (4:1-5).    Heber the Kenite, when she drove
Ehud could not draw the weapon          She went to Barak, son of              the tent nail through his temples
out; Secretly he locked the doors       Abinoam, and urged him on the          after he came to her tent for pro-
of the parlour and fled through         command of the Lord to take            tection. When Barak came, Jael
the porch. The servants became          10,000 men of Naphtali and             met him and showed him the
afraid and finally opened the           Zebulun and draw Sisera to the         corpse of Sisera. After that the
doors with a key and found their        River Kishon in battle. He said he     children of Israel prospered and
king dead. Meanwhile, Ehud fled         would go if Deborah would ac-          they even destroyed Jabin, king
to Ephraim and called for their         company him. She consented,            of Canaan (4:14-24). q
help. With an army he met the           though she warned him that
Moabites at the fords of Jordan         Sisera would fall into the hand of
and slew ten thousand men of            a woman (4:6-g). Having raised
Moab. The land had rest for             the army, they went together to
eighty years (3: 15-30).                face Sisera. With the help of





 Guided Into                            Tertullian and the
All Truth
Rev. Charles Terpstra                   Gnostic Heresy (2)

                                          In our first article we began to     certainly was not the only church
                                        treat the subject of the church        father to battle this heresy.
                                        father Tertullian (circa A.D.          Irenaeus and Hippolytus were
                                        160-220) and the heresy over           also on the forefront against the
                                        against which he was called to         Gnostics. But we single out Ter-
                                        defend the orthodox faith, name-       tullian because of the positive
                                        ly, Gnosticism (you may want to        developments he made in his
Rev. Terpstra is pastor of the Prot-    go back to that article and            work against this pernicious er-
estant Reformed Church of  Pella,
Iowa.                                   refresh your memory). Tertullian       ror. He is in fact referred to as

                                                                                                The Standard Bearer  / 87


the "founder of Latin theology"            How did Tertullian meet the            no further belief. For this is our
(i.e., the doctrine of the Western      attack of Gnosticism? First of all,       palmary faith, that there is
church, which is our tradition),        he rejected the Gnostic attempt           nothing which we ought to
and even the "forerunner of             to mingle the Christian faith and         believe besides" (p. 246).
Augustine" (Fisher History of           pagan philosophies and heathen               We can see from this how the
Christian Doctrine, p. 90).             mysticism. The Christian faith ac-        Spirit used Tertullian's previous
   Who was Tertullian? We know          cording to him is not the "best"          education in these very
very little about the personal life     religion because it is a combina-         philosophies to prepare him to do
of this church father. He was           tion of teachings from man-made           battle against them. We should
born around A.D. 160, the son of        religions. Instead he posited that        also learn that this argument of
an unbelieving centurion, in Car-       the Christian faith is the only true      Tertullian is a critical point, and
thage, North Africa where he            doctrine and religion precisely           one which we must bear in mind
also did the majority of his work.      because it is revealed truth. It is       in dealing with modern-day
In early life he was educated in        not based upon human wisdom               heresies and cults. Almost with-
the pagan culture of Carthage,          but upon the wisdom of God                out exception they are the result
becoming well acquainted with           Himself, who has given us the             of an attempted compromise be-
the humanistic philosophies of his      truth concerning Himself and all          tween and commingling of Chris-
time. He was trained in law and         things in His holy and infallible         tianity and humanistic
rhetoric and entered the career         Word. It is from this Scripture           philosophy. Over against this we
of a lawyer. He was converted in        that the church has arrived at the        hold that the faith of the church
mid-life, married a Christian wife,     true doctrine, following the "rule        is exclusively derived from and
and became active in the church         of faith," i.e., the right interpreta-    based upon the holy Scriptures.
at Carthage. It is unclear whether      tion of the Scriptures according          Such was the general way in
he labored as a presbyterian            to the tradition of the apostles          which Tertullian answered his
(elder) in the church or simply as      and their successors.                     foes.
a prominent teacher and                   Writing in his "Prescription               From this fundamental starting
catechist. Sadly, Tertullian left       Against Heretics," Tertullian ex-         point Tertullian rose up to the
the church later in life and joined     pressed himself strongly on this          defense of the biblical doctrine
the sect of the Montanists, known       matter. Said he, "These (i.e.,            concerning God and the Lord
for their strict ascetic life-style.    heresies, CJT) are `the doctrines'        Jesus Christ. Against the Gnostic
This may have been a reaction           of men and `of demons', pro-              teaching which denied that the
against the immorality that had         duced for itching ears of the             supreme God can be known and
once characterized his life as an       spirit of this world's wisdom . . . .     that He created the world, Ter-
unbeliever.                             For philosophy it is which is the         tullian set forth that God, while
   It must have been only shortly       material of the world's wisdom,           He is indeed supreme and
after his conversion that the           the rash interpreter of the nature        transcendent, is the God who has
Spirit of truth guided Tertullian       and the dispensation of God. In-          made Himself known by His
to take up his pen against the          deed heresies are instigated by           Word and works. He is the one
Gnostic heresy, for his writings        philosophy" (which he then goes           God revealed both in the Old
roughly cover the period from           on to prove in detail), The Ante-         Testament and New Testament
196-212. He directed several of         Nicene Fathers, p. 246.                   Scriptures, and He is the
his writings against the Gnostics:        And so he concludes: "What              sovereign Maker of the universe
a general work entitled "The            indeed has Athens to do with              and all it contains.
Prescription Against the                Jerusalem? What concord is there            In a section of "The Prescrip-
Heretics"; and, more specifically,      between the Academy and the               tion Against Heretics" in which
three works against the noted           church? What between heretics             he gives a brief summary of the
Gnostics of his day: Marcion, Her-      and Christians? Our instruction           faith of the church, Tertullian
mogenes, and Valentinus. From           comes from `the porch of                  states this, concerning God: "How
his writings he is known as an          Solomon' . . . . Away with all at-        with regard to this rule of
uncompromising, vigorous, and           tempts to produce a mottled               faith . . . it is . . . that which
fervent supporter of true Chris-        Christianity of Stoic, Platonic,          prescribes the belief that there is
tianity.                                and dialectic composition! We             one only God, and that He is
                                        want no curious disputation after         none other than the Creator of
                                        possessing Christ Jesus, no in-           the world, who produced all
                                        quisition after enjoying the              things out of nothing through His
                                        gospel! With our faith, we desire         own Word . . ." (Fathers,  p. 249).


88  I The Standard Bearer


  Tertullian in fact found it in-      without whom nothing was                 nature while retaining the full-
credible that these heretics           made . . . . Who sent also from          ness of the divine nature. He
denied the doctrine of creation.       heaven from the Father . . . the         directed a special work to this
In another section of his "Prescrip    Holy Ghost, the Paraclete, the           subject, entitled "On The Flesh of
tion" he writes that this was a        sanctifier of those who believe in       Christ." We do not have room to
doctrine which had always been         the Father, and in the Son, and          quote from it, but it is an ex-
accepted and never before at-          `in the Holy Ghost" ("Against            cellent treatise on "the Word
tacked as it was by the Gnostics.      Praxeas", Fathers, p. 598).              become flesh."
After referring to all kinds of          It is to this church father that         Finally, in connection with the
other heretical teachings, he          the Western church owes the              doctrine of salvation, Tertullian
says, "And yet we find amongst         beginnings of her concepts and           set forth the truth that it was in
so many various perversions of         terminology concerning the truth         this human nature that Christ ac-
truth, not one school which            of the Trinity. Tertullian was in        complished deliverance for His
raised any controversy concern-        fact the first to use the term           people by His suffering, death,
ing God as the Creator of all          "Trinity." And it was his concepts       and resurrection. Christ's death is
things. No man was bold enough         of "substance" and "person" that         the sacrifice for and payment of
to surmise a second god" (p.           were later incorporated into the         sins. By His perfect obedience as
259). That ought to sound a            Nicene Creed in A.D. 325.                the second Adam He atones for
warning to those within the              Furthermore, in his fight              the first Adam's disobedience.
church who currently deny the          against the Gnostics Tertullian            Even though the doctrine of
orthodox doctrine of creation.         also defended the true doctrine          the atonement of Christ was not
Such a denial has its origin in        of salvation in Jesus Christ. He         very well developed yet, Ter-
these second century heresies.         rejected first of all their explana-     tullian contributed to its develop-
  It was in dealing with the doc-      tion of the origin of evil and in-       ment by applying legal ter-
trine of God that Tertullian           stead maintained the biblical ac-        minology to the work of salva-
defended and developed the             count of the Fall on the part of         tion. His ideas of God `as Law-
truth of the Trinity. Attacking the    Adam and Eve in paradise. Sin            giver and Judge, and of sin as
Gnostic idea of a series of divine     came on account of Adam's                guilt which demands satisfaction
beings ("aeons") emanating from        disobedience, which also brought         through punishment, were later
the supreme God to the world,          death upon the whole human               applied to Christ's redemptive
one of whom was Christ, he set         race. Salvation, then, according         work. We can see from this too
forth the truth of the unity of        to Tertullian, is not that Gnostic       how the Spirit of truth used Ter-
God, namely, that God is only          idea of the release of the soul          tullian's background for the prog-
one divine Being or Essence.           from the evil body and ascension         ress of the faith, in this instance
Hence, there are no other divine       into the world of pure spirit, but       his previous labors as a lawyer.
beings beside Him. Yet at the          it is deliverance of both soul and         This brings us to the end of
same time he taught that there         body from the misery of sin and          our first subject on Tertullian and
are three distinct Persons in the      death.                                   the Gnostics. From our perspec-
Godhead, each of Whom shares             Secondly, Tertullian taught            tive now I believe that we can
equally in the fullness of the one     that it was for this purpose that        more fully appreciate the work of
divine Being, these being the          Jesus Christ came into the world         the Spirit of truth in leading the
Father, the Son, and the Holy          and became man. Because the              church into the truth through
Ghost. Christ therefore is not an      Gnostics denied that Christ as-          men such as Tertullian. Moreover
"aeon," a subordinate being to         sumed a real human flesh, Ter-           we can learn that this heresy of
God, but the divine Son of God,        tullian went out of his way to           Gnosticism is a heresy which is
of the same substance of the           stress the reality of Christ's Incar-    still applicable for us today. And
Father and equal to Him as a           nation and His full humanity. The        therefore the way in which Ter-
distinct Person.                       Son of God truly became man              tullian defended the Christian
  Thus Tertullian could write in       and took on the complete human           faith is an example for us too in
another of his works, "We . . .                                                 our dealings with such errors.
believe that there is one only                                                  May the Lord remind us of our
God, but under the following dis-                                               calling to be "valiant for the
pensation, . . . that this one only                                             faith" in this age of apostasy and
God has a Son, His Word, who                                                    doctrinal indifference.  0
proceeded from Himself, by
whom all things were made, and


                                                                                                  The Standard Bearer  I89


                                           Parents: Must You Be
 All Around Us
 Rev. Gise VanBaren                        Licensed?

    Mechanics need a license in               The article, `Licensing Parents:        reliable  licensing tests. She claims
 many states. Doctors and lawyers          How Feasible?" was authored by             such tests have already been devised,
 need a license to practice. Beauti-       Claudia Pap  Mangel,  an associate of      including demographic profiles (with
 cians and barbers are licensed.           a Washington, D.C., law firm, with         suspect factors such as "social  isola-
 So are teachers in most of the            the acknowledged guidance of Judith        tion'y  and Lifamily  stress checklists. "
 states. Would it not make sense           Areen,  associate dean and professor       The key test, developed in the past
 to require the same to be a               of law at Georgetown University Law        six years from a "comprehensive
                                                                                      review of the literature" on child
 parent? Is it not more important          Center. The article develops a thesis
                                           proposed in 1980, and defended a           abuse, is a 160-item  questionnaire
 that the state verify and affirm          year later, by Hugh LaFollette,            with a third-grade "readability level."
 that one will be a good parent            writing in the journal Philosophy          It takes a parent no more than 20
 than to declare that one is               and Public Affairs.                        minutes to complete and is called the
 capable of cutting hair properly?           LaFollette based his original            Child Abuse Potential Inventory. Like
 Some think so.                            treatise on the presupposition that        all of the devices and instruments
    Is the very thought of licensing       state regulation is the required           Ms. Mange1 cites, this test is based on
 parents a bit frightening? Is it ab-      response to any activity which is          the notion that certain descriptive
 surd? Would any one ever pro-             potentially harmful to others and          factors applicable to a given parent
 pose such foolishness? It appears         which requires a demonstrable              are capable of reliably predicting
 that in prestigious legal                 degree of competence for safe perfor-      abusive behavior. She says this test is
                                           mance. LaFollette argued that              so precise that it can pinpoint only
 magazines the idea of licensing is        "parenting" is an activity with poten-     those parents who are certain to be
seriously proposed. In the                 tial for harm so deep and wide that        or become, not just neglectful or
Chalcedon  Report, October, 1988,          it unquestionably qualifies for such       marginally inadequate in their
the following is presented:                regulation.                                parenting, but clearly abusive  - the
   An attorney writing in the                LaFollette insisted that his goal        "very bad" who are targets of
American Bar Association's  Family         was merely to protect children and         LaFollette `s scheme.
Law Quarterly has breathed new life        circumscribe only "very bad"                  Scary? I would say so. Even
into an eight-year-old proposal for        parents, not to "punish"  all  parents     those proposing this idea
government licensing of all parents.       with sanctions or red tape. He thus        recognize the potential for great
   The law review analysis and             proposed that unqualified and there-       harm. "Big Brother," the state,
action-call is the latest and most far-    fore  unlicensable parents simply be       would be able to dictate what is
reaching  ste,o  in a growing campaign     required to give up their children for     done within the home. The arti-
to use the specter of child abuse as       adoption. Alternatively, unlicensed
the excuse for total state control         parents might be subjected to con-         cle indicates that where this
over society's basic building block -      tinued surveillance by state  "protec-     licensing is used, the government
the family.                                tive services. " To encourage licens-      has dictated even the religious
                                           able behavior, he proposed tax             practices a family may follow.
                                           credits for parents who qualify for          In gross understatement, Ms.
                                           licenses.                                  Mange1 notes that parental licensing
                                             Ms. Mange1 says LaFollette's             schemes "may appear an outrageous
                                           scheme is theoretically desirable, but     intrusion by the state into family
Rev. VanBaren is pastor of the Prot-       to be feasible it hinges on the state's    privacy. " But she points out, with
estant Reformed Church of  Hudson-         ability to conduct  accurate and           chilling accuracy, that various forms
ville, Michigan.

90 /The Standard Bearer


of case-by-case licensing already are          Sweden's history of tight family          believe it to be necessary to re-
being widely practiced by social ser-          regulation, where children have been      quire your children to attend
vice agencies and the courts. She              summarily removed (without appeal         church with you?" Or: "Do you
argues that a comprehensive ad-                opportunities), when, for example,        insist that your children pray
ministrative plan of licensing cover-          Christian parents insist on their         with you?" The questions are not
ing all parents and potential parents          children  S church attendance. Fur-
would just be more efficient and less          thermore, it is not a great leap into     far-fetched. After all, children are
costly . . . .                                 incredibility to foresee even more        also supposed to have "rights,"
   Though insisting that licensing             sinister applications, such as forced     including the "right" to deter-
could be tuned to focus sanctions on-          abortion for prospective mothers          mine for themselves if and how
ly on the clearly abusive parents, Ms.         who fail to meet licensing tests based    they will serve God. To compel
Mange1 is unmistakably aware of the            on community standards. Incentives        them to do that which is contrary
broad implications of a comprehen-             already are on the horizon . . . .        to their wishes is to violate their
sive, bureaucratic licensing scheme.              The article also states, "Claudia      "human rights." Such would in-
She notes, for example, that many              Mange1 . . . argues that fears            dicate the inability to be a
parents "would fear that a licensing           could be allayed by what                  "good" parent according to the
scheme could be intentionally abused           amounts to semantic deception:            standards set up by the state.
by those who administered it and               `Perhaps choosing a different
used against parents whose ideas of                                                        Will we soon come to that
child-rearing and family life are not          term, such as parent certification        time when the state requires a
in line with community standards. "            instead of parent licensing would         license in order to take care of
  In today's prevailing and domi-              make the whole idea of state              the children God has entrusted to
nant secular-humanistic climate,               regulation of parenting more              our care? This might seem im-
most Christian families would likely           palatable.' Such suggestions pro-         possible - but in light of present-
fall into such a category. As Ms.              pose a deliberate use of disinfor-        day developments, perhaps it is
Mange1 acknowledges, "where the                mation to hide a totalitarian             not as impossible as it sounds.
values of a community are grounded             enterprise, and thus closely              And it is chilling to think that the
in an identifiable cultural or ethnic          parallel or exceed anything               whole concept is given serious
background [she avoids "religious"             Soviet authorities now practice."         consideration by those who seek
background], parents in the com-                 Would you believe that this is
munity who are not members of the                                                        to form proper legal positions in
dominant cultural group would fear             written in prestigious journals of        our land. Is this a clear sign also
that a parent licensing program                law in this land of "freedom"? It         of the approaching anti-Christian
would be used to pressure them into            would not at all be difficult to im-      world power, ruled by the anti-
conforming to community standards              agine some of the questions               christ himself? 0
of child-rearing." . . .                       which could be asked. "Do you
   Those who believe there would be            believe the requirement of the
no sanctions for "insubstantial                Bible that disobedient children
reasons" might well examine                    can be spanked?" Or: "Do you
                                          -





                                          Exposition of
 From Holy Writ
Rev. George Lubbers                       John 21:1-14

                                                 It is a very important and fruit-       tween His resurrection and His
                                               ful endeavor to make a little             ascension to glory.
                                               study in depth of the various               Most of us know that there
Rev. Lubbers is a minister emeritus            "manifestations" of Jesus to His          were ten such manifestations of
in the Protestant Reformed Churches.           disciples during the period be-           the risen Lord. These are called

                                                                                                          The Standard Bearer  /  91


in Acts 1:3 "many proofs." In         Son of God, who was called             They were, so to speak, hand-
each of these appearances as the      Jesus. It is He and no one else.       picked by the God of heaven and
living Lord He "showed himself        And each time also He is their         earth. These were indeed
alive" to them. He is indeed the      very own Lord, this Jesus. Later       separated to be witnesses of
one who says in Revelation 1:17,      we read "that no one can say           Christ's death and resurrection
18, "Fear not; I am the first and     that Jesus is Lord except by the       and ascension in a very special
the last: I am he that liveth, and    Holy Spirit." This too we must         sense. Some of these men were
was dead; and, behold, I am alive     never lose sight of, not even for      future "secondary authors" of
for evermore, Amen; and have          one moment. They who do not            New Testament books of the Bi-
the keys of hell and of death."       speak in the Holy Spirit can only      ble. Perhaps they were all mar-
   Yes, He is the one who stands      say, "Jesus Anathema" (I Cor.          tyrs for the faith of the gospel.
between the golden candlesticks,      12:3).                                   But in a sense they are "home"
seven in number: I am the Son of        Hence, we should shy away            once more - at least as "at
Man of the prophecies, who was        from seeking to find the central       home" as they could be. The
lifted up, even as Moses lifted up    thought in this manifestation in       reason was that God, who chose
the serpent in the wilderness, so     one or all of the disciples, and       (handpicked) them, was directing
that every one who believes in        focus our attention instead on the     their path. That they were here
him shall not perish but shall        One who is manifesting Himself         at all in Galilee was their obe-
have eternal life!                    here for the third time. And to be     dience to the repeated word of
   And what was the subject of        sure we do have here no mere           Jesus, "Behold, I go before you
which Jesus spoke each time He        carbon-copy of the former ap-          into Galilee; there shall ye see
manifested Himself to His             pearance at all!                       me." It is rewarding to look up
disciples, the "twelve"? The sub-     THE SCENE HERE AT THE SEA              and study such passages as Mat-
ject was this: the things concern-    OF TIBERIAS (2 1: l-3)                 thew 26:32; 28:7, 10, 16; Mark
ing the kingdom of God!                 Once more the disciples are at       16:7; Luke 24:6. Surely it was no
   There was advancement in this      the sea of Galilee. These Galilean     mere happenstance, nor just
teaching. Jesus was the heavenly      men (Acts 1: 11) are now "home"        some private decision to return
pedagogue!                            again. It is here that Jesus had       to Galilee, but in the two
   These manifestations to His        called them, commanding them           previous visits with the disciples
disciples were the following:         to "follow me," adding the prom-       they had become thoroughly con-
   1. The first Sunday evening        ise that He would make them            vinced that erelong they would
(Mark 16:14; Luke 24:36-43; John      "fishers of men" (Matt. 4:19;          come to the point where they
20: 19-25).                           Mark 1: 17). Jesus will make them      were full-fledged official
   2. The second Sunday evening       "become = genesthai" fishers of        witnesses of the gospel of the
(John 20:26-29).                      men. It was not a mere earthly         cross and resurrection of their
   3. At the sea of Tiberias (John    change of vocation in life, but a      Lord!
21:1-23).                             being taken radically out of the         Surely, in faith, they could
   4. On the mountain in Galilee      earthly calling, and earthly in-       know that the Lord Jesus Himself
(Matt. 28:16-20;  Mark 16:15-18; I    dustry, into a calling of being the    was preceding them to Galilee.
Cor. 15:6).                           official witnesses of the Christ.      And where, pray, would they
   5. The disciples in Jerusalem      Peter had finally come to see, as      think of going in Galilee but their
and Olivet (Luke 22:44-53; Mark       had all the others, that this          familiar home by the seashore,
16:19, 20; Acts l:l-11). See A.T.     meant that this was a singular of-     where they had been by trade
Robertson W.P. at Acts 1:6.           fice and calling, as he says in the    fishermen. Perhaps Jesus did not
  From the foregoing it is rather     house of Cornelius, "not to all the    appear on the third Sunday to
obvious that, when John says          people, but unto witnesses that        them. Although He hovered near
that Jesus "manifested himself        were chosen before of God, even        them, He waited till the proper
again" here at the sea of             to us, who ate and drank with          God-appointed moment for this
Tiberias, this was the third such     him after he rose from the dead'       third manifestation.
manifestation to the inner circle     (Acts 10:41).                            This time He must have the
of His disciples. As we have seen,      We have to place this Galilean       exact proper historical point of
there were five in all.               scene in proper focus, do we not?      contact; it must be befitting the
   It is also of the utmost impor-    We must see that this fits in the      message which He would this
tance that we notice that Jesus       plan and purpose of God. These         time convey to them concerning
manifested Himself to them. They      men were before chosen by God.         the kingdom of God. Besides, as
must notice that this is the very                                            we shall see later, there is the


92  / The Standard Bearer


unfinished business of reinstating      diet of bread and roasted fish.       in all the world would, this early
Peter into the office of being an          This early dawn evidently          in the morning, come to these
undershepherd of the Chief              meant to indicate that these          seven disappointed and frustrated
Shepherd of the sheep, the flock        disciples were to eat in prepara-     fishermen, except someone who
of God. Here there must be one          tion for their task of preaching      knew them so well that He right-
fold and one Shepherd!                  the gospel in the day of Christ!      ly calls them "children," except
EARLY IN THE MORNING (John              For this they will need the           Jesus?
21:4)                                   nourishment of heaven and               Yet, they did not recognize
  That Jesus' manifestation was         earth! It was an early morning        Him. Why not? Because He did
early in the morning is really          breakfast, planned and prepared       not manifest Himself "thus." On
quite significant. The former two       wholly by the Lord. In fact, it       the day of the resurrection Jesus
times Jesus appeared to the             was to be part and parcel of          disclosed His identity to Mary
disciples in the evening. The first     Jesus' self-manifestation of His      Magdalene by simply saying,
time He showed Himself unto the         being the one who was bringing        "Mary" (John 20: 16).
disciples while they were partak-       them into the last stage of their       This was here not the point of
ing of their evening meal. It was,      being made fishers of men. He is      contact which caused the scales
so to speak, supper-time. In fact,      making them "become fishers of        to fall from their eyes. It took
Jesus partook of that supper too,       men." Here they must say              place in a different way. And this
and ate a piece of broiled fish as      farewell forever to the past, and     manner of manifestation we
a "proof" that they had not             turn resolutely to the future.        ought not to fail to see; nor
beheld a spirit when they sud-            THE POINT OF CONTACT                should it be glossed over. Jesus
denly saw Him. But, and this is         (21:5, 6)                             asks here a very arresting ques-
our point, Jesus there appeared           There is some deep and pro-         tion: "Children, you do not have
at the end of a great and eventful      found psychology here in the          anything to add to the meal, do
day. Here in this manifestation it      manner in which Jesus arrests         you?" The term in the Greek
was not "thus." It was in a dif-        the attention of the seven            text is only used once in the Bi-
ferent setting altogether. It-was in    disciples!                            ble. The term is "prosphagion."
the morning, early in the morn-           In the first place, we ought to     The Dutch translation renders
ing, at the beginning of a new          notice the tender and loving ad-      this Greek term with one word,
day. And this early dawn was the        dress here on the part of the         namely toespijs. It is in the KJV
transition-point between their          speaker. He calls these seven         that this word is translated simp-
former calling to ply a trade, and      men "children." No, he does not       ly "meat." The American Version
future calling to be full-time          call them "my little children," as    renders it "ought to eat." None of
preachers of the kingdom of             does John in his first epistle to     these translations convey the
heaven (or, if you will, the            the churches (I John 2:1, 12, 18).    unique thought expressed in the
kingdom of God)!                        But the term Jesus employs sug-       Greek term. For the term which
  It does not seem that, when           gests very strongly a loving and      Jesus uses suggests very strongly
Jesus had earlier multiplied the        familiar relationship, a relation-    that He desired to add of the fish
fish, it was so emphatically part       ship which was one between the        to the meal, the early morning
of the symbolism that it was ear-       Teacher and His beloved               breakfast. And for this the
ly in the morning; it was at that       disciples. Furthermore, it must       disciples did not have one fish.
time not yet emphatically the           also suggest that the "learners"      Evidently they had intended to
start of a new day. Great               have still a bit more learning to     make their own breakfast from
multitudes had already gathered         do. They still have some matur-       their fish, which they did not
to hear Jesus preach, so that           ing to do before they will arrive     catch. Now, as it became evident,
Jesus went into the fishing ship        to spiritual adulthood. Now who       they will be adding from Jesus'
of Peter to preach the gospel of                                              supplied fish to the breakfast
the kingdom. But now there are                                                which Jesus was preparing. They
no multitudes present, and Jesus                                              eat as guests at Jesus' table.
does not enter the boat to              Give a gift sub                         And here is the beginning of
preach, but stands rather on the                                              the point of contact!
shore a lone "stranger," who had        scription to a                          The curtain rises of the self-
built a little fire and who was to                                            manifestation of the risen Lord
be the host of these seven              friend or t-e/a tive! enroute to His glorious ascension
disciples that morning. And the                                               at God's right hand. Cl
menu was to be the fisherman's                                                                  (to be continued)


                                                                                               The Standard Bearer  / 93


Report of                                 in Byron Center. The delegates         November 27 - Key, December 4
                                          enjoyed touring the beautiful new      - Kortering, December 11 - Slop-
                                          sanctuary and meeting rooms            sema, December 18 - Joostens,
Classis East which the congregation of Byron January 8 - Gritters, January 22
                                          Center just recently dedicated.        -Kamps, January 29 - Wouden-
                                             The business of classis was         berg; HOLLAND: October 2 - Van
                                          routine. There were reports from       Baren, October 16 - Slopsema,
                                          the Stated Clerk and the Classical     October 23 - Kortering,
                                          Committee and from the                 November 6 - Critters,, November
                                          synodical delegates  ad  examina       13 - Woudenberg, November 20
Ion Huisken                               of their visit to Classis West con-    -Joostens, December 4 - Kamps,
                                          cerning the organization of a          December 11 - Gritters,
                                          new congregation in Lynwood, Il-       December 18 - Van Baren,
             September 14, 1988           linois.                                January 8 - Flikkema, January 15
             Byron Center Protestant         Faith and Holland requested         - Kortering, January 29 - Key.
                Reformed Church           classical appointments. The              The expenses of classis
   Classis East met in regular ses-       following schedules were               amounted to $1004.00. Classis
sion on Wednesday, September              adopted: FAITH: September 25           will meet next on January 11,
14, 1988 at the Byron Center              -Key, October 9 - Woudenberg,          1989 in Holland.
Protestant Reformed Church. This          October 16 - Joostens, October                   Respectfully submitted,
marked the first time in years            30 - Kamps, November 13 - Van                    Jon J. Huisken
that a meeting of classis was held        Baren, November 20 - Slopsema,                   Stated Clerk





                                          News From
Benjamin Wigger                           Our Churches

                     November 15, 1988      The Adult Bible Society of our       gather with our families in the
CONGREGATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS                 church in Doon, Iowa has chosen        knowledge that "in everything
   On Sunday, September 18, the           for its after-recess program this      we are to give thanks, for this is
congregation of our Southwest             year to study the history of the       the will of God in Christ Jesus
Church in Grandville, Michigan            church from A.D. loo-590  using a      concerning us" (I Thess. 5:18).
met for the first time in their new       syllabus by Prof. H. Hanko.              Upon the suggestion of a
sanctuary. The congregation was             The congregation of our Im-          member of the congregation and
informed of one change that was           manuel Protestant Reformed             after much investigation by the
to take place. After Rev. Kamps           Church in Lacombe, Alberta,            council of our Southeast Church
had pronounced the closing                Canada was called to a divine          in Grand Rapids, Michigan, the
benediction, the congregation             worship service at 10:00 A.M. on       church has installed two new
was asked to remain standing for          October 10 to celebrate the an-        telephone lines for the use of
a moment of meditation or silent          nual Thanksgiving Day in               shut-ins. These phone lines will
prayer until Rev. Kamps and the           Canada. The offering on that day       enable one who is unable to
consistory had left the sanctuary.        was for the churches and saints        come to church to call the
                                          in Jamaica who suffered the loss       church immediately before the
                                          of much in the recent hurricane.       worship service begins, and listen
Mr. Wigger is an eider in the Protes-     I mention this because in about a      to the entire service by means of
tant Reformed Church of  Hudson-          week those of us in the U.S. can       a speaker attached to their
ville,  Michigan.                                                                phone.

94  / The Standard Bearer


   The Hope Heralds, an all-male           an inspirational address to begin        In conjunction with the Bible
singing group from Hope P.R.C.             the catechism and Bible Study          Studies in Fort Wayne, Indiana,
in Walker, Michigan, gave their            Society season. The speech was         there was a public lecture at the
annual concert at our church in            entitled, "Adding to Faith . . .       Carlton Motel in .commemoration
Kalamazoo, Michigan on Tues-               Knowledge."                            of Reformation Day on Thursday,
day, September 20. For a number              The Building Committee of our        Oct. 27. Missionary Ronald Van
of years now Kalamazoo has                 First P.R.C. in Edmonton, Alber-       Overloop spoke on "Justification
started their society season with          ta, Canada has come to an agree-       By Faith Only."
this concert.                              ment with St. Barnabas Anglican        SCHOOL ACTIVITIES
   On September 28, Rev. D.                Church to purchase the requested         Covenant Christian High
Kuiper, pastor of our Immanuel             furnishings for $5,000.00,  in-        School had their groundbreaking
P.R.C. in Lacombe, Alberta, gave           cluding pews, chairs, piano, and       for the Phase I construction on
                                           organ.                                 Saturday, October 8.
                                           CHURCH ACTIVITIES                        The Ladies' Circle of our
                                             On Monday, October 24, a             Loveland Protestant Reformed
              Harvest                      Reformation Day Lecture was            School in Colorado held a hot
                                           scheduled by our congregation in       dog roast September 17 at the
           by Suzanne Looyenga             Randolph, Wisconsin. Their             school. There was volleyball and
The blaze of noontime sun has              pastor, Rev. den Hartog, spoke         softball planned. People were en-
   passed                                  on "The Reformation and the            couraged to bring their lawn
And golden fields, sun-blest, lie          Authority of the Word."                chairs, blankets, Psalters, and
   waiting -                                 On October 27, the Protestant        flashlights for the sing-along
Waiting for the harvesting -               Reformed Lecture Committee,            afterward.
Their bronze and amber undulating          along with our church in Grand-          Hope Protestant Reformed
As the quickening autumn breezes           ville, Michigan, sponsored their       School in Walker, Michigan held
   blow.                                   annual Fall Lecture. Rev. Jason        a School Bazaar on November 2
Soon comes the snow.                       Kortering, Grandville's  pastor,       entitled "Treasures from Granny's
                                           spoke at the South Grandville          Trunk."
Already do the shadows tell                C.R.C. on the topic, "Reformed           The P.T.A. of Adams Street
`The hasty circuit of the sun              Church Government - a Re-              School in Grand Rapids, Michigan
And the time is ever creeping              formed Church Heritage."               met November 3. The members
   forward                                   Tapes of Prof. H. Hanko's Iec-       of the school board and their
To the day man's work is done:             ture entitled, "I believe in God       principal gave a joint presenta-
When winter blasts with cruel chill        the Creator" are now available at      tion on their duties and responsi-
And al1 lies cold, lies cold and still.    a cost of $3.00 from Southeast         bilities in running the school and
Where are the strong men now?              Protestant Reformed Church,            how they carry those duties out.
Where are the sinewed arms to cut          1535 Cambridge S.E., Grand               Final thought from Across the
   and bind                                Rapids, Michigan 49506.                Aisle from First Church in Grand
And gather in this bounteous                 The Reformed Witness Hour            Rapids:
   yield?                                  Radio Choir began meeting back             "There are two ways to
New labourers are hard to find             in October. Thirty-seven people          reach the top of an oak tree -
As faithful harvesters go to their         from seven churches in the               you can climb it, or sit on an
  rest.                                    Grand Rapids, Michigan area              acorn and wait." Cl
The sun sinks ever deeper in the           signed up this year, although
  west.                                    there is still a need for a few
                                           good men to sing tenor and bass.
A glorious harvest yet awaits this         MISSION ACTIVITIES                     "IN THE BEGINNING . .  ."
  day.                                       Pastors Key and Kortering left         A series of 6 sermons,
Pray to the Lord of Harvest. Pray.         on Thursday, October 6, for the        preached in 1988, on Genesis
                                           mission field in Norristown, Penn-     I-II, in the light of the New
  Suzanne Looyenga is the wife             sylvania. Their mandate on             Testament witness to the funda-
of Dr. David Looyenga, mother              behalf of the mission committee        mental "beginnings" recorded
of six children, and a poet. With          was, among other things, to            there. Occasioned by the bold
her family, she is a member of             evaluate the situation on the field    advocacy of theistic evolution
the Protestant Reformed Church             and to meet with the peopie            in evangelical and Reformed
of South Holland, Illinois. The            there.                                 circles, these sermons proclaim
poem is based on Luke 10:2.                                                       the historical reality, as well as

                                                                                                     The Standard Bearer  / 95


                                                                                             SECOND CLASS
                                                                                             Postage Paid at
                                                                                             Grand Rapids, Michigan

PO. Box 6064
Grand Rapids, MI 49506



the doctrinal and practical signi-    are thankful to our covenant          INSTRUCTION FOR ELDERS
ficance, of "Creation:' (Heb.         Father for the blessings be-            The Protestant Reformed
11:3); "Adam" (I Cor.  15:45-49);     stowed upon them and us these         Seminary will sponsor four
"The Fall" (Rom.  5:12-21); "The      many years. It is our prayer that     meetings in January 1989. Pur-
Flood" (II Pet. 3:5-7); "Babel"       God may continue to guide             pose of these meetings is to
(Acts  17:26); and "Christ" (Col.     them on their earthly pilgrimage      give instruction regarding the
1  :I 5-20). Although their main      so they may experience that           Office of Elders in the Church.
purpose is to instruct all Chris-     "the Lord is good; His mercy is       Invited to attend are: Elders
tians in the vital truths of          everlasting; and His truth  en-       -present and past, Deacons  -
Biblical creation, they make          dureth to all generations" (Ps.       present and past, plus other
clear to Reformed Christians the      100:5).                               men who are interested in this
issues at stake in the rejection      There grateful children &             instruction.
of the historical reality of the      grandchildren                           RESERVE THESE MONDAY
events recorded in Genesis l-11.        Homer and Kathy Teitsma             EVENINGS  - January  9th,  16th,
They will be particularly helpful       Gerard and Libby Teitsma            23rd and 30th.
to high school and college              Ken and Ellen Teitsma
students. 3 high-quality cassette       Rick Teitsma                        NEW BOOK!
                                        Jay and Jane Kuiper
tapes in an attractive album, for         10 grandchildren                    RFPA announces the publica-
$15.00. By Prof. David  1.  Engel-          2 great grandchildren           tion of  Show Me Thy Ways,
sma, former Pastor of the  Prot-                                            Grade 4, by Gertrude
estant Reformed Church, Soul:h        NOTICE!!!                             Hoeksema. The student text-
H o l l a n d ,   I L .                 The Theological School Com-         book is hardcover and consists
     EVANGELISM COMMITTEE             mittee rejoices with Professor        of 366 pages. The workbook is
     Protestant Reformed Church       David Engelsma and his family,        stapled and has 68 pages. The
        16511 South Park Ave.         remembering that he, in Oc-           series is organized so that
       South Holland, IL 60473        tober 1988, has completed 25          students study three text lessons
                                      years in the Ministry in the Prot-    and do one workbook lesson
NOTICE!                               estant Reformed Churches.             each school week. The book
   Grandville Protestant Re-          "Keep that which is committed         starts with Genesis and ends
formed Church of Crandville,          to thy trust" (I Tim.  6:20).         with David's anointing as king.
Michigan is requesting funds to                                             The lessons are written in
help finance the construction of      RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                sentence outline form. The cost
their new sanctuary.                    The Martha Society of the           of the textbook is $15.95 and
   Those interested in loaning        Doon Protestant Reformed              the workbook is $4.95.  Book-
money for periods of 3 years or       Church expresses its sympathy         club members may order this at
more at an interest rate of 8.0%      to one of its members, Mrs.           a 10% discount rather than the
are requested to contact:             James H. Blankespoor and her          usual 30%.
         John Cise Van Baren          family in the death of her              RFPA is planning to publish
         6487 Sunflower Drive         mother, MRS.  ALIDA                   books for fifth and sixth grades
   Byron Center, Michigan 49315       NIEUWENDORP.                          over the next two years.
         Phone (616) 530-9233           May she and her bereaved              For more information, or to
                                      family be comforted in the cer-       order, write:
WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                   tainty that in life or death we            RFPA
   On November 24, 1988, D.V.,        are not our own, but belong to             P.O. Box 2006
our parents, MR. AND MRS. R.          our faithful Saviour Jesus Christ.        Grand Rapids, Ml 49501
TEITSMA, will  celebate their         Rev. R. Dykstra, Pres.
50th wedding anniversary. We          Nancy Zeutenhorst, Sec'y.


96  I The Standard Bearer


