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December 15, 1988


  Contents                                            December 75,7988                 THE
                                                                                  SIAIVD~
 Meditation  - Rev. Herman Hoeksema                        _
    CHRISTMAS  JciY                                                  1 2 3            BEARER
 EDITORIALLY SPEAKING  -  Prof.  David/.  Engelsma                      1 2 6     ISSN 0362-4692
 Editorial  -  Prof. David  /. Engelsma                                          Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July,
    PEACE IN CHURCH                                                       126    and August. Published by the Reformed Free Pub-
                                                                                  lishing Association, Inc. Second Class Postage  Paic
 Contribution  - Rev. Marvin Kamps                                                at Grand Rapids,  Mich.
    LARNE, NORTHERN IRELAND                                               129    EDITORIAL COMMITTEE
                                                                                 Editor-in-chief: Prof. David  J. Engelsma
 The Strength of Youth  - Rev. Russell  1. Dykstra                               Managing Editor: Prof. Robert D. Decker
                                                                                  Editors' Assistant: Mr. Don  Doezema
    OUR WORST ENEMY                                                       131    DEPARTMENT EDITORS
                                                                                 Rev. Ronald Cammenga, Prof. Robert Decker, Rev
 CHURCH AND STATE IN ARTICLE 36                                                  Arie  denHartog,  Rev. Russell Dykstra, Rev. Barry
    OF THE  BELGIC CONFESSION (2)  - Prof. Herman C. Hanko                133    Critters, Rev. Cornelius Hanko, Prof. Herman
                                                                                 Hanko, Rev. Ronald Hanko, Rev. John Heys, Rev.
 Taking Heed to the Doctrine  - Rev. Ronald H. Hanko                             Jason Kortering, Rev. George Lubbers, Rev. James
                                                                                 Slopsema,  Rev. Charles Terpstra, Rev.  Cise
    THE TWO NATURES OF CHRIST: THE UNION OF                                      VanBaren,  Mr. Benjamin Wigger.
    THE HUMAN AND DIVINE NATURES                                          137    EDITORIAL OFFICE
                                                                                 The Standard Bearer
 REFORMED CHURCH GOVERNMENT  - A                                                 4949  lvanrest
                                                                                 Crandville,  Michigan 49418
    REFORMATION HERITAGE  - Rev.  lason  L. Kortering                    139     CHURCH NEWS EDITOR
                                                                                 Mr. Ben Wigger
 All Around Us  - Rev.  Cise  /.  VanBaren                                       6597  - 40th Ave.
    "STRONG LANGUAGE IN DEFENSE OF FAITH"                                142     Hudsonville,  Michigan 49426
                                                                                 EDITORIAL POLICY
 NEWS FROM OUR CHURCHES  - Mr. Benjamin Wigger                           143     Every editor is solely responsible for the contents
                                                                                 of his own articles. Contributions of general in-
                                                                                 terest from our readers and questions for the
                                                                                 Question Box Department are welcome. Contribu-
                                                                                 tions will be limited to approximately 300 words
                                                                                 and must be neatly written or typewritten, and
 In This Issue . . .                                                             must be signed. Copy deadlines are the first and
                                                                                 the fifteenth of the month. All communications
                                                                                 relative to the contents should be sent to the
                                                                                 editorial office.
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what we consider to be a treat for our lead article, the Meditation.             Permission is hereby granted for the reprinting of
                                                                                 articles in our magazine by other publications,
Ordinarily our rubrics are filled by department editors, or guest                provided: a) that such reprinted articles are repro
writers, who write articles as the need for them arises. "Christmas              duced  in full;  b) that proper acknowledgement is
                                                                                 made;  cl that a copy of the periodical in which
Joy" is an exception. It's an old one. It first appeared in the Standard         such reprint appears is sent to our editorial office.
Bearer as Number 6 of Volume 6. That dates back to December 15,                  BUSINESS OFFICE          NEW ZEALAND OFFICE
                                                                                 The Standard Bearer The Standard Bearer
1929, or just one year short of 60 years ago. It was written by the              Mr. H.  Vander  Wal      do Protestant Reformed
late Herman Hoeksema, whose prolific pen filled, in those early                  P.O. Box 6064               Church
                                                                                 Grand Rapids, MI         8. Van Herk
volumes, a good number of "S.B." pages. Those of our readers who                   49516                  66  Fraser St.
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                                                                                 Business Office as early as possible in order to
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                                                                                 elude  your Zip Code.
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manpower, to what could otherwise be considered "open doors."                    16mm  microfilm, 35mm microfilm and 105mm
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Young men, are you listening?                                                    through University Microfilms International.


122  I  The Standard Bearer


Meditation
Rev. Herman Hoeksema



   And the angel said unto               They feared with a great fear.      their appearance. Even as the
them, Fear not: for, behold, I        Generally it was believed by the       face of Moses, the Mediator of
bring you good tidings of great       people that when one saw an            the old dispensation, shone with
joy, which shall be to all            angel it meant death for him, a        a similar reflection of the glory of
people. -Luke 2:lO                    belief that may be regarded as         the Lord when he came down
                                      scarcely more than a popular           from the Mount of God, so this
                                                                             angel suddenly radiated divine
   Fear not!                          superstition. But here was more
   Tidings of great joy, indeed, I    than the mere fear of death. It        glory into the darkness of the
bring!                                was the fear which sinful mortals      night. Where he stood there
   Was it Gabriel, the angel that     experience when they are               beamed forth the glory of the
standeth before God, who so sud-      brought face to face with the          Lord! It was a reflection of that
denly burst forth in the darkness     glory of the Most High.                glory which, beaming forth from
of the night from heaven's star-        Thus the text explains it.           Gods presence, is the radiation
studded canopy, and appeared            When the angels of the Lord          of the pure beauty of all His vir-
upon the peaceful scene of the        appeared and stood with them in        tues, of His holiness and
shepherds keeping watch over          dazzling splendor of heavenly          righteousness, of His perfect
their flock?                          light, the glory of the Lord shone     goodness, righteousness, and
   We know not.                       round about the shepherds. The         justice. Somehow the heavenly
   But the shepherds, we know,        halo of glory the heavenly             light that shone in the darkness
instead of expecting a message of     messenger brought with him             when the angel appeared unto
gladness and salvation, instead of    from on high, the brilliant light      the shepherds was vibrant with
rejoicing at the appearance of        that with him pierced the              the very presence of the Lord in
one of the heavenly spirits that      darkness of the night in the fields    glory.
are sent for the service of the       of Ephratah, was a reflection of         Do we wonder that the
elect, were filled with dismay. A     the inexpressible glory that           shepherds were sore afraid?
great fear filled their hearts.       radiates from the very face of the       What else was this fear but the
They were sore afraid. The sud-       Lord. For this angel (whether it       awful dread sinful men must ex-
den appearance of the heavenly        was Gabriel, as is not improbable,     perience when suddenly they are
messenger wrought within them         seeing it was he who carried the       brought face to face with the Ho-
a dreadful apprehension of some       tidings of the expected birth of       ly One, whose eyes are too pure
great evil impending.                 the Christ and His forerunner to       to behold sin? Is it not this fear
                                      Zacharias and Mary, or whether         that caused our first father, hav-
                                      it was another of the heavenly         ing become wantonly disobe-
                                      spirits) came from the very            dient, to make the vain attempt
                                      presence of the Lord. From             to hide from before the face of
                                      heaven he hailed, where the            Him whose presence he per-
                                      angels always see the face of our      ceived in the garden? Did not the
                                      Father which is in heaven. And         people tremble at the sight of the
                                      dwelling in Gods heavenly              faint reflection of this same glory
The late Herman Hoeksema was this     presence, they reflect the             of the Lord as it shone from the
magazine's first Editor-in-chief:     heavenly glory of the Lord in          face of Moses, so that the man of

                                                                                            The Standard Bearer  / 123


God must needs cover his face           the fear and instill joy instead in-     poverty and rejection -
before the eyes of the fear-            to the hearts of the shepherds,          representing a people that are
stricken people? Did not the king       into the hearts of all the people        dead in misery because of sin.
among the prophets, when it was         that realize the misery of their         The eternal God Himself wrapped
granted him to see the holiness         sin before the Lord. A mere ac-          in swaddling-clothes!
of the Lord as it fills His heaven-     count of what had happened in              And angels coming down from
ly temple, cry out in sore amaze-       that night, of what God had done         heaven, announcing to meditat-
ment, "Woe unto me, for I am            for the salvation of His people,         ing shepherds, no doubt, looking
undone!"?                               brief yet complete, lasting but a        for the Hope of Israel, that unto
   The glory of the Lord always         moment yet carrying with it eter-        them is born that day, a Savior, t
judges us!                              nal joy! Such was the first              which is Christ, the Lord!
   It lays us bare in His sight, and    Christmas gospel to the                    Oh, but such is the joy of
that in such wise that we become        shepherds abiding in the fields of       Christmas, indeed!
deeply conscious of our naked-          Bethlehem and keeping watch                The world may change the joy
ness. It exposes us. It reveals to      over their flock at night.               of the day, the heavenly joy, that
us in awful contrasts what we             And what a night it was!               unto us is born a Savior, that is
must be and are not; what we              All the world seems astir to           able to remove the fear of sin
are and must not be. It causes us       realize the Promise of Jehovah           and death and fill our hearts with
to feel that we are an open book        that the Savior is to be born in         the gladness of Gods covenant-
before Him. It opens up before          Bethlehem, the City of David,            friendship, into a rejoicing in the
our own experience the deep and         though they realize not at all that      things of the earth. Let them hide
dark recesses of our heart, where       such is God's purpose. The               the great Gift of God to His
there are hidden a thousand sins        mighty emperor of the Roman              people under veritable piles of
and corruptions that loudly cry         Empire had issued an order that          earthly presents. Or, again let
out for our condemnation!               the whole world should be taxed.         unbelief never so sweetly speak
   It causes a sudden, keen, pro-       To this dominion of the world-           of the darling little baby Jesus,
found consciousness of sin, con-        ruler also belonged Herod's              who was destined to develop into
vinces us of our condemnation,          kingdom. And although Roman              the best man that ever lived on
gives us an apprehension of final       law would allow everyone to              the face of the earth, who would
judgment.                               register in the city of his birth,       teach us how to be and to do
   Such was the fear of the             the families of the Jews certainly       good and fill the world with
shepherds in the presence of the        would turn to the cities of their        unselfishness and love. Its joy
glory of the Lord that beamed           ancestry. And thus it is that            cannot remove the fear in the
forth from the angel into the           Joseph and Mary leave Nazareth           presence of the angel that is
darkness of the night and into          and commence the difficult               radiating with the glory of the
the darkness of their sinful            journey, difficult especially for        Lord, because it does not cleanse
hearts.                                 Mary, to Bethlehem, the city of          the heart from sin and deliver
   And it is to remove that fear        David. There they arrive too late        the soul from death and liberate
that the angel speaks: Fear not!        to find lodging in the inn. And,         the conscience from the oppress-
   It is to replace that fear of the    the little city being overcrowded,       ing sense of guilt and condemna-
sinner, in the presence of the          they seek shelter in a stable, one       tion. Its joy is not the joy of the
Lord, that he brings them tidings       of the caves, perhaps, on the out-       gospel.
of joy!                                 skirts of the city. And then the           No, but the staccato notes of
   Great joy, instead of great fear!    Lord fulfils the Promise of all          the angels in the field of
   In Gods presence!                    promises and the Son of God, sent        Bethlehem express the ever-
* *  * *  * * * * * *                   into the likeness of sinful flesh, is    lasting gospel!
                                        born of a woman, born under the            Unto you is born a Savior!
   Good tidings of great joy!           law. Strange and most significant          There is the gospel of
   Joy for the fear that must                                                    Christmas joy!
strike sinful men in the presence       are the circumstances of His
of the Holy One!                        birth. The Lord of glory born in a         What is a Savior? It is one who
   For unto you is born this day        stable, because there was no             is able to deliver us from the
in the city of David, a Savior,         place for them in the inn - a            greatest evil; one who is not only
which is Christ, the Lord!              world that is not at all prepared        fully able, but who also surely
   Such was the brief but tremen-       to allow Him a place in their            shall deliver His people from all
dously significant gospel, the          midst. The Son of God Almighty           their misery. And what is that
good tidings that must remove           lying in a manger, a picture of          greatest evil? It is that which

124  / The Standard Bearer


causes our hearts to tremble with           The Lord, whom all must obey         He sent Him into the world. In
miserable fear of condemnation           and whom none can resist!               their behalf and in their stead He
and damnation in the presence of            Our mighty Redeemer!                 came under the law, though He
the glory of the Lord. It is our            He is born! Good tidings of          is Lord of all. Their sins He
guilt and our sin, our corruption        great joy!                              presently bears on the accursed
and our death, our hatred and               Hallelujah!                          tree and drowns them forever in
enmity against the Most High,            * * * * * * * * * *                     His precious blood. Them He
our darkness and foolishness, our                                                delivers-from the power of sin
being in the power of the devil             Joy to all the people!               and death.
and in the slavery of unrighteous-          Joy also for you? For me?              A Savior unto all the people!
ness. It is one who, while deliver-         Does the brief gospel-                 For you and for me?
ing us from that greatest of all         announcement of the angel in              Oh, yes, we may know!
evils, will make us partakers of         the fields of Ephratah kindle             And in that knowledge the joy
the highest good. And what is            within our hearts the response of       of Christmas may be ours!
that highest good? It is all that        grateful joy, because we know             For whom He did foreknow,
lies at the root of that great joy       that unto us was born that night        them He also did predestinate;
of which the angel speaks, of that       a Savior, Christ, the Lord?             and whom He did predestinate
joy which we may experience in              Oh, surely, He was born for all      them He also called, called by
the presence of the Lord. It is to       the people!                             the efficacious calling of His
be cleansed from sin and clothed            In distinction from the              gracious Spirit.
with righteousness, to be de-            shepherds only, who were                  Called according to His pur-
livered from the power of the            privileged to receive a personal        pose!
devil and to be subjects of Him          and direct message from heaven            And when He calls, the glory
that purchased us with the               about His coming into the world,        of the Lord appears to our heart
precious price of His blood. It is       He is a Savior for all Israel. But,     and shines round about us. And
righteousness and holiness, love,        it is for the Israel of God. And        in this halo of brilliant glory we
life, light, and eternal glory. It is    not all are Israel, that are of         fear as we consider ourselves,
to taste that the Lord is gracious       Israel. There are children of the       miserable, corrupt, defiled with
and to dwell in the fellowship of        promise. There are also children        sin as we are by nature. When
His covenant-communion, to               of the flesh. And this Savior, who      He calls we behold our guilt in
know Him as we are known, to             is born in the city of David,           the light of God's righteousness,
love Him because He loved us, to         which is Christ, the Lord, will         our corruption in the light of His
see Him face to face and behold          also be set to a falling, as well as    holiness, our lie in the light of
His beauty. It is to be heirs of the     to a rising again, of many in           His truth, our darkness in the
heavenly kingdom.                        Israel.                                 glory of His light, our death in
  Such is the joy of Christmas!            He is a Savior to all the             contrast to His life. And by His
  Unto you is born a Savior!             people.                                 calling we learn to cry out: woe
  Christ, the Lord!                        But He is also a Stone of             unto me, for I am undone!
  He, who is ordained from eter-         stumbling and a Rock of offense!        Unclean! God be merciful unto
nity, by God the Father; who               And many will be dashed to            me, a sinner!
does not come on the authority           pieces when they stumble over             Called by the power of His ir-
of men, neither in the strength of       Him, and because of His birth           resistible grace!
mere man, but who is anointed            rush into deeper destruction!             And when He thus calls, He
and sent by the Father. The Lord           A Savior to all the people is         does not leave us in our death
Himself! Son of God, very God            He.                                     and misery, in our fear and con-
Himself, lmmanuel, who is fully            But it is the elect people of         demnation.
able to bear on His mighty               God, the Israel of God of the old         For out of the halo of light,
shoulders the burden of our sin          dispensation and Gods chosen            reflecting the glory of the Lord in
and guilt and bear it away; who          ones from all the nations and           our hearts, prostrating us because
can fight the battle for us to the       tongues and tribes of the earth in      of our darkness and corruption,
end and conquer all the powers           the new dispensation, unto whom         also sounds the Christmas-gospel,
of darkness; who is able to give         in that night of nights a Savior is     the glad evangel of redemption
us life and give it to us more           born, which is Christ, the Lord.        and deliverance.
abundantly . . . .                       Them God loved. Them He pre-
                                         destinated to glory. Them He will         Unto you, lowly and contrite,
                                         save from their sins. Them He           that have become conscious by
                                         gave to Christ, His Son. For them       the power of His grace of the

                                                                                                     The Standard Bearer  I725


darkness of your nature and the         Fear not!                              Go, then, to Bethlehem, the
horror of your sin and the misery       Let not even the glory of the        city of David, and see this wonder
of being bound in chains of           Lord fill your hearts with horror      of God, that was first announced
death; unto you, who are filled       and fear of condemnation in            to a sin-stricken world by angel's
with holy fear in the presence of     judgment!                              mouth. And seeing let us believe.
the Lord and His glory; unto you,       For I bring you glad tidings of      And believing let us worship.
that are heavy laden and weary        great joy!                               And give praise to the God of
because of burdens of sin . . . .                                            our salvation! 0
  Unto you a Savior is born,
which is Christ, the Lord!





 Editorially Speaking


   n On behalf of the Staff of The    Holland congregation on                Herman Hanko of the Protestant
Standard Bearer, we express to        November 11, 1988. Intending           Reformed Theological School,
our readers our desire that you       eventually to locate in Lynwood,       God's Everlasting Covenant of
enjoy the peace of the first com-     Illinois, the Peace congregation is    Grace. The book is a thorough,
ing of the Prince of Peace and        meeting temporarily in the audi-       historical study of the truth of the
that, in the new year, you live in    torium of llliana Christian High       covenant. It will make a fine gift
the church's hope of peace at         School in Lansing, Illinois. A         for friends and acquaintances; it
Jesus' return.                        complete report of the organiza-       would serve well to introduce in-
   n Welcome to the newest            tion, with pictures, will appear in    terested folds to the rich and
member of the Protestant Re-          a forthcoming issue of The Stan-       vital teachings of Scripture on
formed family - the Peace Prot-       dard Bearer. May God richly bless      Gods covenant with His people.
estant Reformed Church in ll-         this new church and cause her          The cost of the 236-page paper-
linois! This daughter of the Prot-    also to be a powerful witness to       back is $9.95 -t $1.75 postage.
estant Reformed Church of South       the Reformed faith in the south        Order from the Reformed Free
Holland, Illinois was born at a       suburbs of Chicago.                    Publishing Association, Box 2006,
worship service of the South            H We recommend to our                Grand Rapids, Ml 49501. 0 -DJE
                                      readers a new book by Professor





Editorial                             Peace in Church

                                        How precious is peace!                 How a nation longs for peace
                                        To be spared strife and to en-       when it finds itself in the agonies
                                      joy harmony is a great good.           of war; or a married couple, in

726 I The Standard Bearer


 the throes of severe discord; or a     "                     and came and preached    fairs in the congregation, "the
                                             .     .     .
 congregation, wracked with             peace to you . . ." (Eph. 2:17).               God of love and peace shall be
 dissension. And how unutterably        Believers and their children en-               with you" (II Cor. 13:ll). Squab-
 sweet is peace when armistice is       joy peace with God in the for-                 bling church members are called
 declared, when husband and wife        giveness of sins and the                       to account by the Lords apostles,
 are reconciled, when members of        assurance of the grace of God                  sometimes by name: "I beseech
 the congregation can again ex-         towards them. They live in peace               Euodias, and beseech Syntyche,
 change the right hand of fellow-       by doing God's will. As regards                that they be of the same mind in
 ship, or when, for the individual,     all the disorder and upheaval of               the Lord' (Phil. 4:2). I have
 a long night of spiritual struggle     human life which they also en-                 thought that I would not like to
 with the doubts of a hostile or        dure, they possess their souls in              have my name in Scripture for
 absent God is over and the morn-       patience, hoping for the Day of                such a reason as these two
 ing of quiet rest in a gracious        their complete redemption,                     women have theirs in Scripture.
 God dawns.                             which will also be the Day of the              But what if the Lord, who sees
   For good reason the greeting         renewal of all things. For                     all in your congregation and in
 and farewell of the Hebrews to         although the mission of the                    mine, were to commission a let-
each other was, "Shalom" -              Prince of Peace is accomplished,               ter to be read aloud from the
 "Peace."                               it has not yet been perfected.                 pulpit about the condition of the
   Peace is precious to God. He is      The peaceful kingdom must be                   church we belong to? Would our
 God of peace in His own three-         established in all the creation of             names appear as disturbers of the
 personal being. There is no fric-      God. The nations must beat their               peace?
 tion among Father, Son, and Ho-        swords into plowshares. Nature                   Peace is expected in every
 ly Spirit, but only harmony and        itself, now "red in tooth and                  church. Every year, the visitors
 concord - the blessed life of the      claw," must be delivered from                  from the classis ask the office-
 covenant. He is God of peace to        the curse, to share in the liberty             bearers of each church, "What is
 His chosen people. This, He            of the children of God, so that                the spiritual condition of the con-
 made known in the birth of             "the wolf also shall dwell with                gregation? Is there unity, peace,
 Jesus. Long before that birth,         the lamb, and the leopard shall                and love?"
 God identified Jesus and His mis-      lie down with the kid; and the                   This is possible by a wonder of
sion by naming Him Shiloh and           calf and the young lion and the                grace, a wonder that comes to
 Prince of Peace (Gen. 49:lO; Is.       fatling together . . . (and) they              the church of God straight from
9:6, 7). Jesus is heaven's emissary     shall not hurt nor destroy in all              Bethlehem. The eternal Son of
to earth for peace. His mission is      my holy mountain" (Is. 11).                    God, who "thought it not robbery
a peace-making mission. "Glory                     This grand Day is coming! It is     to be equal with God," but emp-
to God in the highest," the angels      certain, as certain as the birth of            tied Himself, becoming a man
announced in explanation of             Jesus and heaven's announce-                   and dying the death of the cross,
Mary's newborn son, "and on             ment, `&. . . peace on earth . . . ."          crucifies the ferocious natures of
 earth peace, good will toward                     In the meantime, there is the       the members of His Body (a
 men" (Luke 2:14).                      enjoyment and manifestation of                 wonder far greater even than will
   Celebrating the birth of Jesus       peace within the present                       be His change of the natures of
Christ, we celebrate peace.             kingdom of Christ, the church.                 the wolves and lions at His com-
   Nor was Jesus' mission a             Living in concord with God in                  ing), so that they receive each
failure. By His satisfactory suffer-    the truth of the gospel, the                   other, forgive each other, and
 ing and redeeming death, He            members of the congregation                    live together and work together
made peace with God for His             (and, by virtue of the necessary               in the church without friction
own out of all nations and              implications of the denomina-                  and strife. The minister brings
peoples: "God was in Christ,            tional bonds, the members of the               the gospel of peace. The elders
reconciling the world unto              entire denomination) live in har-              rule well in the Name of Him
himself" (II Cor. 5:19). By the         mony with each other. This is the              who has the government upon
gospel of the cross made mighty         will of our Prince. His saving                 His shoulder. The deacons are a
in the souls of men and women           work includes the "unity of the                fountain of soothing mercy.
who are naturally estranged from        Spirit in the bond of peace" (Eph.             Humbled, disciplined, living night
God and at war with Him, the            4:3). His lordly command is,                   and day in the consciousness that
risen Peacemaker brings us into         "                . live in peace," the glad    their Head made peace for them,
harmony with God, and thus              promise being added that in this
declares armistice in the soul:         way, when this is the state of af-


                                                                                                      The Standard Bearer! 127


the congregation is not only a          thou hast followed Baalim" (I          possible" (Belgic Confession, Arti-
peaceful, but also a peace-             Kings 18:18). And the faithful         cle XxX1).
making, people.                         church must fight honorably; she          It is also imperative that every
   It is an ugly and astonishing        must strive lawfully. She is bound     member be on his guard that he
thing that fellow-saints hate and       to walk the way of Matthew 18          not permit minor matters of dif-
strive with each other. No              with the erring brother. She must      ference to divide the church.
marvel, said Augustine, that            submit herself to, and use, the        Calvin warned against this: "Do
wolves devour sheep; but how            government of Christ in the            not make a chasuble (a clerical
monstrous that sheep devour             assembly of elders and in the          vestment associated with priests
sheep. To those who split off into      authoritative, broader assemblies      - DJE) or a candle to be an
factions and fight, Paul gives one      - classis and synod. There may         obstacle or a difficulty."
of his sharpest rebukes, "For ye        be no private wars! All                   May we hear anew the
are yet carnal: for whereas there       clandestine campaigns are out-         message of the coming of the
is among you envying, and strife,       lawed! A strife of tongues is          Prince of Peace. If the obser-
and divisions, are ye not carnal,       devilish! Forbidden is a perpetual     vance of the birth of Christ at
and walk according to man?" (I          "cold war" between "conserva-          this time has any real value, it
Cor. 3:3).                              tives" and "liberals" - hateful        must be that we hear, and reflect
   What kind of witness is left to      labels.                                deeply upon, the astounding
the world concerning the                  The Protestant Reformed              gospel of the purposes of peace
kingdom of Jesus Christ?                Churches may never countenance         towards us of the God against
   What position is taken against       these divisive labels in their         whom we revolted. It calls us,
the Head, the Prince of Peace?          fellowship. They are not Biblical      with lordly summons, to be
   The church is a militant             or confessional. Thank God we          reconciled to this God, in repen-
church, to be sure. She fights. If a    know nothing of them. Theologi-        tance and faith; and it calls us to
church does not fight, her peace        cally and doctrinally, we have no      be reconciled to each other in
is the peace of the graveyard.          "liberals." A theological liberal      the church, by confession and
But she does not fight herself!         casts doubt on the inspiration of      forgiveness. That is to say, it calls
"Every kingdom divided against          Holy Scripture and denies car-         us to peace. How can we stand at
itself is brought to desolation:        dinal doctrines of the faith, in       the manger and say, "I will not
and every city or house divided         order that he may live a licen-        be reconciled with my wife," or,
against itself shall not stand'         tious life. But an ecclesiastical      "I will not make peace with my
(Matt. 12:25). Shefights the hosts      conservative is not necessarily        brother," or, "I will not lay down
of darkness; she fights the lie; she    any better. The Pharisees were         the weapons of war in the con-
fights sin in the lives of all her      the religious conservatives of         gregation"?
members; she fights Satan.              their day; and their legalism was        In the church, men and
   If the harmony of her life is        the fiercest foe of, and most          women already beat their swords
disrupted by false teaching or by       dangerous threat to, the gospel of     into plowshares, and their spears
public unholiness of life im-           peace. We have only Reformed           into pruninghooks.
penitently pursued (for her unity       members - men, women, and                But only imperfectly so; and,
is the truth and holiness of her        children who adhere to the doc-        therefore, celebration of the first
Lord), the church must fight a          trines of the Bible as set forth in    coming of the Prince of Peace
painful, internal battle. Her motto     the Three Forms of Unity and           arouses in us ardent desire for
may not be, "Peace at any               who walk in the liberty of thank-      His second coming:
price," for she has heard the           ful obedience to the law of God.       Come quickly, Thou Prince of Peace,
angels hymn a peace on earth            This is peace, precious peace;         our Shiloh. We groan because of the
that harmonizes with glory to           and we should esteem it highly         bristling weaponry of a world at
God in the highest. But the cause       and strive to keep it.                 war. We are weary of the petty, but
of the division is the one who            To this peace-keeping belongs        bloody strife in the church. We are
corrupts the faith or who pro-          that the members of the con-           burdened with the disharmony of
motes another way of life than          gregation "esteem the ministers        our own sinful natures. We can live,
that law of God. "I have not            of Gods Word, and the elders of        because of Thy peace-giving Word of
troubled Israel," responded Elijah      the Church, very highly for their      pardon and because of our hope of
to the accusation of Ahab, "but         work's sake, and be at peace           the coming kingdom of peace. But
                                                                               our heartfelt prayer is, "Come Lord
thou, and thy father's house, in        with them without murmuring,           Jesus, come quickly.  "  0          -DJE
that ye have forsaken the com-          strife or contention, as much as
mandments of the LORD, and


128  I The Standard Bearer


Contribution                          Larne, Northern Ireland
Rev. Marvin Kamps



  Late this past summer two of        Presbyterian Church of Larne oc-      should be a most cherished
our ministers, Rev. David             casioned our labors. With this        possession. But oh how the Devil
Engelsma and Rev. Marvin              congregation we had established       labors to set brothers against
Kamps, labored in the ministry of     sister-church relationships in        brother and to silence the
the Word in this village on the       1985. The pastor of this con-         witness of the church of Christ.
Irish Sea. Larne is located some      gregation had traveled to our           The five families that had left
twenty miles northeast of the         country and, in addition to           the Bible Presbyterian Church
troubled city of Belfast. The land    preaching for us, had also            turned to the Protestant Re-
of Ulster, another name for Nor-      presented the urgent request that     formed Churches in America for
thern Ireland; is torn by dissen-     we establish sister-church rela-      help. They grieved over the
sion between the Protestant and       tionships with his flock in Larne.    breaking of the sister-church ties,
the Roman Catholic citizenry.         The Protestant Reformed               for they had learned to ap-
The overwhelming majority are         Churches in America were faced        preciate our churches for our
Protestant in name. They wish to      with their calling to manifest the    commitment to the Reformed
remain governed by England.           love and concern of Christ Jesus      faith, which we believe to be the
The Roman Catholic minority are       our Lord to fellow saints in a        gospel of God. These five families
determined to bring Northern          distant land.                         had lost their church home and
Ireland under the sovereign rule        This request, upon the advice       sought the Lords guidance in
of the Republic of Ireland, which     of our representatives, was           prayer. They are not bitter but
constitutes the southern portion      granted; but the relationship did     are saddened by the turn of
of the island. When we were in        not last. Winds of change began       events that cost them their
Ireland we read daily of the          to blow in the church of Larne.       church home, and now look to
demonic activities of paramilitary    The pastor had determined that        God to lead them in the estab-
groups of terrorists attempting to    he should lead his congregation       lishment of a Reformed congrega-
foment fear throughout the land.      into the fellowship of the Free       tion.
Armored police vehicles and ar-       Presbyterian Church of Scotland.        A request was presented to our
my jeeps, occupied by four or         Several families opposed this new     Contact Committee, asking if we
five heavily armed men, rumbled       course of direction for various       would send men there im-
through the city of Belfast.          reasons. The fellowship of the        mediately to help them. We
  The political problems of Nor-      congregation was radically            declined! Again a request for
thern Ireland, however, did not       disrupted. Brethren were divided.     help was presented to our Synod
occasion our trip there. As many      Five families and a few in-           in June of this year. Synod, after
of you well know, ecclesiastical      dividuals left the Larne Bible        deliberation and debate, acceded
problems in the Bible                 Presbyterian Church and its           to this request. What else could
                                      pastor.                               we do? These saints offered to
                                        Let it be clearly stated that we    provide for all the expenses of
                                      take no delight in the disruption     travel and lodging. These saints
                                      of the fellowship of this congre-     had been members of our sister
                                      gation. Church troubles are heart-    church in Larne, and they wished
                                      rending. They are to be avoided       to continue in fellowship with
Rev. Kamps is pastor of Southwest     at all cost if it is possible. The    our churches. Would God ap-
Protestant Reformed Church of         blessed communion of the saints       prove, if we simply abandoned
Grand Rapids, Michigan.

                                                                                           The Standard Bearer I129


these parents and their children?    miles distant, Ballymena and               There are two families (in addi-
Should we not send men to            Newtownabbey. Flyers contain-            tion to the five) that, though not
preach for and comfort these         ing a schedule of our meetings           members of the fellowship,
fellow saints, attempting to en-     and the topics addressed were            nonetheless appear to be
courage them and to aid them in      distributed. The C.R.F. had ex-          dedicated to its cause. One
their determination to be orga-      erted itself in order to call men        widow lady and her adult son at-
nized as a Reformed church?          and women to hear their witness          tend every evening service. The
   The five families did not re-     -to the Reformed faith.                  other is a married man with two
main idle, while they awaited           During the week we gave five          young children from the city of
help from our churches. They         sermons on the doctrines of              Belfast. Besides, we saw in atten-
organized as the Covenant            grace, i.e., the so-called tulip doc-    dance two young single men who
Reformed Fellowship, rented a        trines. Rev. Engelsma gave three         showed great interest. May it
building in Larne in which to        of the five sermons and the              please the Lord to lead these
hold "worship services," and pro-    undersigned two. These were              saints also to join the Fellowship.
ceeded with the instruction of       one-hour-long sermons, which               The Covenant Reformed Fel-
themselves and their children        were thankfully received. The            lowship members expressed
and others by means of sermon        members of the C.R.F. expressed          themselves as desiring to
tapes provided by various of our     themselves as in full agreement          establish a Protestant Reformed
congregations.                       with these messages and found            Church in Northern Ireland upon
   Rev. Engelsma and the under-      them edifying. All the members           the basis of God's Word as inter-
signed traveled to Northern          of the group faithfully attended         preted in our three forms of uni-
Ireland separately. We met in        all the meetings.                        ty. They have asked that a mis-
Larne on September 3 and spent          To all our services the public        sionary be sent to labor among
some ten days there. Our stay        was also cordially invited. When         them and their people. Our
was brief, due to the fact that      all factors are taken into con-          churches are attempting to send
both of us had pressing schedules    sideration, we believe the               a man there for several months
to keep. Especially was this true    meetings proved very successful.         before the Synod of 1989 meets,
of Rev. Engelsma, who would be-      With the exception of the two            in order that the situation may
gin his labors as our newly-         Sunday morning services, all the         again be evaluated at that time.
elected professor in our             meetings were attended by                  Your emissaries have reported
seminary. Rev. Engelsma found it     visitors. The largest number of          to the Contact Committee of our
necessary to return to the States    visitors was twenty-two and the          churches and have brought
and his home on September 10,        smallest was seven. What was             specific requests and recom-
while the undersigned remained       especially encouraging was that          mendations to this Synodical
in Larne to preach for the Cove-     many of these men attended all           Committee for action.
nant Reformed Fellowship on          the weekday services. After each           During our brief stay with
September 11 and then to return      session they remained for some           these believers .we learned to
home on Monday the 12th.             time to visit and fellowship with        love them for their zeal in the
   Though our stay was brief, our    us and to pursue some of the             faith. We were warmly received
labors were many. Worship ser-       points raised in our sermons. We         into their communion and into
vices were held twice each Lords     found that the majority of the           their homes. When it was time to
Day in Larne, September 4 and        visitors were, indeed, ap-               leave them, a feeling of sadness
11. In addition, on Saturday         preciative of our witness.               came over us.
evening a speech was given to          What will be the fruit of our            I cannot conclude this report
introduce the Protestant Re-         labors we do not, of course,             without commenting about the
formed Churches in America to        know. Will others be led of `the         need for laborers in Gods vine-
the public that was invited to       Spirit of God to join this fellow-       yard. We are in urgent need of
hear our messages. Further,          ship? We certainly pray that this        ministers of the Word. More and
every evening Monday through         will be the case. But, as in all         more we receive requests for
Friday, a sermon was preached.       labor in Gods Kingdom, the fruit         help from saints throughout the
  All our meetings were well         must be left to Gods sovereign           world. Reformed preaching is in
advertised by the C.R.F. in the      determination. We planted and            scarce supply. The world is afloat
various local papers. We held        watered; to God be the increase!         with preachers of whom the
meetings not only in Larne but       The Covenant Reformed Fellow-            apostle wrote: "For we are not as
also in two villages some twenty     ship is of the same mind. To pray        many which corrupt the word of
                                     and work - that is our only task.        God . . . ." Where are the young


730  I The Standard Bearer


men who prayerfully consider               daily as it were cries for help.         It was the recommendation of
the ministry of the Word as their          Will the sons of the church and        Rev. Engelsma and me to the
calling before God? Where are              their fathers not give themselves      Contact Committee that our
those who are compelled for the            in prayer to God concerning this       churches exert themselves to help
truth's sake to give themselves to         great need? Do not be so quick         the C.R.F. in any way we can.
the preaching of salvation                 to say, the Lord will provide.         May it please the Lord Jesus, that
through Christ Jesus according to          Surely He will. But it is for us to    great Bishop of our souls, to send
Gods purpose of unconditional              ask if the Lord is pleased to pro-     one of His servants to Larne for
election. Many of our own                  vide for His church through us.        the ministry of His glorious
churches are vacant. We hear                                                      gospel of sovereign grace. Cl





 The Strength
of Youth
Rev. Russell Dykstra                       Our Worst Enemy

  (We welcome Rev. Dykstra to the             From a natural point of view          But the third and probably
pages of the Standard Bearer - not         we certainly can and probably all      most overlooked enemy is in
for the first time as a writer in them,    do have enemies, people who            many ways our worst. That worst
but for the first time as a department     hate us because of what we have        enemy is ourselves. We do not
editor. He will share this rubric with     done or said, or maybe just            mean that in the superficial sense
Rev. Gritters, providing a third of        because of who we are. From a          in which that is often used today,
the articles scheduled for the current
volume year.)                              spiritual point of view all Gods       as in, "I am my own worst
                                           people have enemies, powerful          enemy because I am a perfection-
   Have you ever come face to              enemies. Scripture never tires of      ist." No, we mean "ourselves"
face with the murderous hatred             reminding us of the adversary of       from the point of view of our old
of a bitter enemy? That is a hor-          God and His church, namely,            nature, our old man of sin. He is
rible experience, and a terrifying         Satan. We are warned that our          a horrible, hate-filled enemy. And
one when the enemy is powerful.            "adversary the devil, as a roaring     if you recall what an enemy is, it
Such an enemy is filled with a             hon, walketh about, seeking            might make you shudder - is
hatred that often controls him.            whom he may devour" (I Peter           that what my old nature is to
Every thought concerning you is            5:8). A second enemy of the            me? Scripture emphatically
a plot to destroy you. His every           Christian is the world of the          replies: Indeed it is! The s,ignifi-
word is calculated to belittle, to         ungodly. They are, according to        cance of that enemy, especially
cut, to maim. Every deed                   Gods promise, abiding enemies:         for covenant youth, we wish to
manifests his hatred and his               "And I will put enmity between         discuss here.-
desire to be rid of you. He will           thee [Satan] and the woman               First, the question we must
not be satisfied until that has            [Eve], and between thy seed and        face is this: what is our evil
been accomplished. Do you have             her seed . . ." (Gen. 3:15a). God      nature? The nature of man is
an enemy like that?                        put this hatred there by making        never defined in the Bible, but
                                           the seed of the woman His cove-        the nature certainly includes
                                           nant friends. Thus the world           man's body, his mind, his will,
                                           hates us. It is easy for us to         and even his emotions. Knowing
                                           forget, in our nearly persecution-     that, we should realize how im-
                                           free lives, that both Satan and        portant is man's nature, for the
Rev. Dykstra is pastor of the Protes-      the world are our sworn enemies.       nature is his contact with this
tant Reformed Church of  Doon,                                                    physical world. By it man sees,
Iowa.

                                                                                                    The Standard Bearer I 131


hears, and understands the world            The child of God has been           tries to lead us from life back in-
around him. Through that nature          delivered from that bondage by         to death.
he lives - he speaks, desires,           the power of Gods grace. That            That enemy has a tremendous
considers, and acts. Euery activity      alone is able to change the            effect on our lives. The old
can be performed only through            depraved sinner. This change           nature is a fountain of iniquity
that nature, even spiritual ac-          begins with the work of regener-       which floods the mind with evil
tivities like prayer, worship, and       ation, powerfully accomplished         thoughts, produces sinful lusts,
preaching.                               by the Holy Spirit in the elect        and perverts the emotions. It
   But what does it mean that we         sinner's heart. That work effec-       even pollutes our very bodies.
have an evil nature? The source          tively breaks the rule of Satan        That explains many things does it
of our evil natures is in the            and sin in the man's heart. From       not? That explains why the most
original sin of Adam. Adam was           that moment on, Christ rules in        vile and evil thoughts and desires
created good. In fact, God               the believer's heart, and the          can pollute us when we are pray-
created him in His own image             Spirit restores the image of God       ing or worshiping. It explains
and likeness, which means he             to him.                                how a good desire or a proper
was righteous and holy and he               However, that work of               motive can so quickly and easily
had the true knowledge of God.           regeneration is in man's heart,        be twisted into evil.
Consider what he had! He was             which is the spiritual center of         The fact is that in many ways
righteous, that is, right with           man. Scripture does not teach          our evil natures seem to
God's law, able to keep His every        that man's nature is regenerated,      dominate because the new man
command. He was holy, or pure,           even though it is influenced by        must work through the evil
which means he was separate              regeneration. That is why each of      nature. And the nature which we
from all that is defiled and con-        us confesses with the Heidelberg       have traces its root of evil back
secrated to God, the Holy One.           Catechism (q & a 5) "I am prone        to Adam. It is experienced; it is
And he had a true knowledge of           by nature to hate God and my           powerful. That is why the youth-
God, a deep, intimate knowledge          neighbor." What an admission! Z,       ful (and more and more the not-
of God because God established a         a believer,  am,  right now, by        so-youthful) ears of Christians
bond of covenant friendship with         nature, in body, mind, will, and       find the rock music of the world
him. Adam knew and loved God             emotion, prone to hate God and         so much more appealing than the
and served Him with his whole            my neighbor. That is my inclina-       Psalms. The flesh loves the beat
being.                                   tion, .my desire. The chief            and the sin promoted there. For
   Then men fell into sin and            characteristic of me by nature is      that same reason we can sit con-
completely lost that image of            that I hate God.                       tentedly for hours in front of the
God. And all the perfections of            Thus we have this seeming im-        television, but labor, often rest-
his nature were turned into their        possibility: with the heart I face     lessly, under the preaching or in
very opposite. Man's ability and         God, love Him, and delight to          catechism. The old man hates the
delight to obey God's commands           serve Him in all righteousness;        suggestion to read the Beacon
became a total inability to do so,       but my nature faces the opposite       Lights or Standard Bearer, but
and he loathed God's commands.           direction! It hates God and            loves the invitation to the
Forsaking his holiness, man was          refuses to love and serve Him.         movies. Because the flesh is
immersed in all the pollution-of         That is the condition of the           essentially one with the wicked
sin and would be devoted now to          believer, of you and me.               world, it craves all the evil that
seeking evil. And that beautiful           Do you see that this old nature      the world has to offer and it con-
knowledge of God was lost,          .    really is our enemy, a bitter foe      tinuously pulls us toward the
replaced by the lie and a hatred         who opposes everything that is         same. This is not a pleasant dis-
for true knowledge. This is what         good for us? According to the          covery, nor does it make for an
we call total depravity, of course.      new man in Christ the believer         easy life. We can sometimes cry
Scripture and our confessions            desires to obey God, to know           with the apostle Paul, "0 wret-
teach that fallen man is depraved        Him, and to consecrate himself to      ched man that I am! who shall
in all his being, wholly incapable       God. All this is life, eternal life    deliver me from the body of this
of doing any good and inclined           from above. But the nature hates       death?" (Rom. 7:24).
to all evil. His whole being             that and always pushes in the op-        What must be done to combat
delights in and ever seeks sin. He       posite direction toward disobe-        this fierce enemy, our own flesh?
is in complete spiritual bondage         dience, the lie, and the pursuit of    First of all, we must be more
to sin and he loves it.                  sin. All that is death. The nature     conscious of his existence.
                                         is our worst enemy! He always


732  / The Standard Bearer


Failure to do so will mean that         fight the inclination of the evil        But one more thing we must
we will be constantly off guard to      mind and the sin-prone body. If        know. Our worst enemy is a
this enemy's attacks. Remember,         we do not resist, they will lead us    defeated enemy. He has already
he is our enemy - vicious, evil,        into destruction.                      been crucified with Christ; his
hating the life of Christ and doing       The Scriptures constantly ad-        power has been principally
everything in his power to              monish  us to strengthen the new       destroyed by the Spirit of Christ
destroy that life, and therefore to     man in Christ. The catechism           in our hearts. He cannot win
destroy us. And this enemy is           tells us that we must daily mor-       over the life of Christ. The vic-
never farther away than our own         tify (kill) the old man and            tory is ours through Christ. But
skin. We must ever be conscious         quicken the new (L.D. 33). And         do not allow that blessed
of this.                                never forget that this is impossi-     knowledge to make you careless
  Secondly, we must fight this          ble in our own strength. The           and indifferent. The flesh is still a
dreadful enemy. We must not             grace of God is the only power         dangerous enemy. Rather let the
allow his evil thoughts and             that can overcome our evil             full assurance of victory en-
desires to continue in us, but          natures. Pray for that. Equip          courage you in the day-to-day
rather push them out, reject them       yourselves also with the armor of      battle. Fight, therefore, in hope
as soon as they enter. We must          faith (Eph. 6).                        and in the strength God has prom-
                                                                               ised to His covenant youth. Cl





                                        Church and State
                                        in Article 36 of the
Prof. Herman Hanko                      Belgic Confession (2)

  (This article is a continuation of    situation which existed in the         was written in part to show the
Prof.  Hank05 contribution to the       Lowlands at the time the Belgic        authorities that the Reformed
Special Issue, which dealt with the     Confession was written by Guido        churches were not Anabaptistic
Reformed Faith concerning civil         de Bres (1561).                        and were not guilty of the crime
government.)                              The Reformation had come in-         of treason.
  We ought now to take a closer         to the Lowlands (what is now             To understand this charge of
look at ArticIe 36 and attempt to       Netherlands, Belgium, and Lux-         treason, one must understand just
understand what it is saying and        embourg) and a Reformed church         a bit of what Anabaptism was all
why it is still important.              had been established there. But        about. (For more detailed infor-
   In order to understand why           the Reformed believers were be-        mation on the Anabaptists and
this article was included in the        ing sorely persecuted by the           on this question of the relation
Belgic Confession to begin with,        Spanish magistracy which was           between church and state, the in-
one has to know a bit about the         the arm of Roman Catholicism in        terested reader can consult such
                                        the Lowlands and which ruled in        books as: W.R. Estep, "The Ana-
                                        that part of Europe called the         baptist Story" and W. Balke,
                                        Lowlands. The Reformed churches        "Calvin and the Anabaptist
                                        were charged, among other              Radicals.") The Anabaptists, par-
                                        things, with being Anabaptistic, a     ticularly troublesome in their ear-
Prof Hanko is professor of Church       charge which was extraordinarily       ly history in Zurich and Berne of
History and New Testament in the        serious, for it implied the charge     Switzerland, were the "left-wing"
Protestant Reformed Seminary.           of treason. The Belgic Confession      of the Reformation. They went

                                                                                               The Standard Bearer  / 733


 along with the Reformation in its       The Reformers saw this posi-         also what the magistrate's obliga-
 earlier history, but were more        tion of the Anabaptists as an ex-      tion before God is. And in deal-
 radical than the Reformers and        tremely serious error (cf.             ing with the latter question, they
 eventually parted ways with the       especially Balke's book to learn       were convinced that the
Reformers over some important          how serious Calvin considered          magistrate was required by God
questions. We cannot go into all       this error to be). To the              to enforce obedience to the first
these questions here, but one of       Reformers such a position meant        table of the law as well as the sec-
the issues was the issue of the        a denial of the Biblical principles    ond table. And included in the
role of the secular magistrate and     of Romans 13:1-7, I Peter 2:13-17,     first table, especially the second
his relation to the church.            etc. It meant a denial that the        commandment, was the obliga-
    Generally speaking, the Ana-       civil magistrate is a servant of       tion to worship God as He com-
baptists (called such because they     Christ Himself. On the contrary,       mands in His Word. For the
rejected infant baptism and in-        the Reformers believed that the        magistrate to enforce the second
sisted on the "rebaptism" of a11       believer, though a citizen of the      commandment, therefore, re-
who joined their movement) be-         kingdom of heaven, exactly             quired of him that he "protect
lieved that the state existed only     reveals his heavenly citizenship       the sacred ministry; and thus
to curb the wickedness of              by submission to the magistrate;       remove and prevent all idolatry
unbelievers and had little or          that any refusal to submit to the      and false worship." Where,
nothing to do with believers.          magistrate on the seemingly            through the influence of the
Believers belonged to the              pious grounds of heavenly              Reformation, a Christian state
kingdom of heaven, after all.          citizenship was a grievous             was set up (Calvin's Geneva, The
They formed a holy community           perversion of the believer's call-     Netherlands, Scotland, and
in this world which could and          ing; that any position which           England), the Christian
should put into practice, even         could lead to refusal to submit, to    magistracy enforced the first
while in this world, the principles    resistance of the magistrate, to       table of the law of God as well as
of the kingdom of heaven.              the overthrow of the magistrate,       the second.
Believers, therefore, had really       was a position entirely out of           This all was according to Scrip-
nothing to do with the earthly         keeping with God's Word and            ture. It ought to be clear that
magistrate, and it was preferable      would bring God's fierce anger         when Scripture speaks of the ob-
that the community of believers        upon such who committed that           ligation and task of magistrates,
live entirely separate from the        sin; that any kind of scornful or      Scripture makes no distinction
surrounding people and from the        contemptuous attitude towards          between the first and second
secular state.                         the magistrate was to be con-          tables of the law - as if the
   It is true (as L. Verduin points    demned; that, in fact, the             magistrate had to enforce obser-
out in this books, "The Anatomy        magistrate was not appointed by        vance of the second table only
of a Hybrid" and "The Reformers        God simply to curb the excesses        and not of the first. In Romans
and Their Stepchildren") that the      of a world of unbelievers, but         13:1-7, where the office of the
Anabaptists did not all advocate       was in the worldby Gods ap-            magistrate is discussed in detail,
the overthrow of existing govern-      pointment for the church. These        the magistrate is described as
ments, and that not all Anabap-        positions were important to the        "the power of God." The
tists scorned the secular              Reformers and were crucial in a        magistrate is a "minister of God";
magistrate and refused obedience       time when the Reformation itself       he is a "revenger to execute
to them; but the fact is that the      was threatened by a "left-wing"        wrath upon him that doeth evil."
logic of their position freed them     which wanted to lead the whole         In I Peter 2:14 the duty of
from obedience to the secular          movement into unBiblica1  ex-          magistrates is said to be "the
magistrate and brought at least        cesses and into radical positions      punishment of evildoers" and
some of them to the excesses of        contrary to the Word of God.           "the praise of them that do well."
Munster - where an attempt was           But in rejecting the "left-wing"     The Holy Spirit does not say that
really made to set up an earthly       radicalism of the Anabaptists and      the magistrate is for the punish-
kingdom which lived in-                commiting themselves and the           ment of those evildoers who
dependently from the secular           cause of the Reformation to the        break the second table of the
authorities.                           principle of the great importance      law. All evildoers are to be
                                       of the civil magistrate, they also     punished and all well-doers are to
                                       were careful to define, not only       be praised by the magistrate.
                                       what the church's obligation             That no distinction is made
                                       towards the magistrate is, but         between the two tables of the


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law in the duty of magistrates is         We ought, at this point, to in-       note binds upon us, that "within
clear also from the fact that the       sist, however, that to take the         its own secular sphere, the
two tables of the law are really        position that the state is obligated    magistracy has a divine duty
bound together. The Jews asked          before God to enforce the first         towards the first table of the Law
Jesus what was the one great            table of the law as well as the         as well as towards the sec-
commandment of the law; to              second, does not imply an               ond . . . ." In other words, the
which Jesus responded: Love God         "established church." That brings       government ought to enforce the
and love your neighbor. To love         us back to Article 36 of The            first table of the law as well as
God and to love the neighbor is         Belgic Confession.  The footnote        the second; but both tablets must
one commandment because one             adopted in 1910 says that the ar-       be enforced by the government
cannot love his neighbor without        ticle "proceeds from the principle      only in the civil or secular
loving God. One cannot keep the         of the Established Church." This        sphere. Never may the state en-
second table of the law without         is wrong.                               croach upon the church - or, for
keeping the first table. One can-         An established church is a            that matter, the home or school.
not require obedience to the sec-       church such as the Anglican             It has no authority there at all.
ond table, therefore, without re-       Church in England, the Hervorm-           You may object once again
quiring obedience to the first          de Kerk in Netherlands, and The         and insist that it still remains true
table. This is true of a parent, a      Presbyterian Church in Scotland.        that this is of no significance
school teacher, an elder in the         The state officially recognizes         whatsoever. Even the limitation
church, a magistrate in the state.      and supports one denomination           that the government must en-
   It is objected that from a prac-     as the approved church. It gives        force Gods law only in the
tical point of view this will never     its approval to that one                secular or civil sphere implies a
work. The simple fact of the mat-       denomination not only, but it           Christian government. Again, I
ter is, so it is said, that through-    does much to make that                  agree. And again, I will even go
out most of the worlds history          denomination the official church        so far as to say that I am thank-
the civil power in any nation,          of the realm. In earlier centuries,     ful that we have freedom of
country, state, or kingdom is in        the state even required in some         religion in our land and that the
the hands of wicked men. Only           instances all to belong to that         government does not attempt to
rarely has it happened that a true      denomination.                           enforce the first table of the law
Christian state ruled in a land.          I do not believe that the             even in its own limited sphere.
The civil government is almost          obligation of the state to support        But this is not the point. Nor is
always anti-Christian.  The result      the true religion "proceeds from        the question abstract. It is ex-
is that if we would really insist       the principle of the Established        tremely important that we main-
on this practice, the state would       Church." In that respect the foot-      tain the principle even though it
enforce a false religion and the        note is wrong. Whatever may             may not have any immediate
church would find it impossible         have been the opinion of the            practical consequences and even
to survive. And this is, of course,     Reformers (and there is reason to       though we personally prefer to
exactly what is going to happen         doubt they wanted an established        see a religiously "neutral"
in the days of Antichrist.              church), Article 36 of The Belgic       government - if indeed there is
  We grant the objection. I             Confession does not say this and        such a thing.
would even go a step farther. I         such a conclusion cannot be               There are reasons for main-
am thankful to God that we live         drawn from the article. I cannot        taining the principle. There are
in a land where we have                 find anything in Scripture to sup-      good reasons for holding to Arti-
freedom of religion. I am               port the notion of an established       cle 36 of the Belgic Confession.
thankful that the government of         church.                                 What are they?
the United States does not at-            The footnote is right when it           The first good reason is to re-
tempt to enforce one religion           says that we ought to feel "con-        mind us that whether or not
which is, in its judgment, the true     strained to declare that (we) do        magistrates truly enforce the first
religion. That would be the end         not conceive of the office of the       table of the law, Christ, the King
of the church in this land.             magistracy in this sense, that it       of all, requires of them that they
  But the principle is not changed      be in duty bound to also exercise       do. Really, the office of
for all that. The principle remains     political authority in the sphere       magistrate arises out of the crea-
true.                                   of religion, by establishing and        tion ordinance. It belongs to the
                                        maintaining a State Church . . . ."     work of God in creation itself. It
                                        And we ought also to insist, as         is an institution of society which
                                        Article 36 does and as the foot-        has developed organically out of


                                                                                                  The Standard Bearer I 735


the family - as have all the insti-     Peter is quite clear on the matter:     stores are prevented from open-
tutions of society. God requires of     We express our loyalty to the           ing on the-Lord's Day - all-of
magistrates that within their own       kingdom of heaven and conduct           which is conducive to the welfare
God-given sphere they enforce           ourselves properly as pilgrims          of the church.
God's law and live in obedience         and strangers in the earth when            Paul, in the passage in I
to God. The fact that magistrates       we honor and show respect for           Timothy 2, speaks also of this.
as a general rule do not do this        the magistrates God is pleased to       When urging upon us the necessi-
does not alter the obligation           put over us. And we do so (and          ty and importance of praying for
which rests upon them. Just as          even pray for them) because God         our magistrates, Paul gives as a
God still requires of the totally       is pleased to save His people also      reason: "that we may live a quiet
depraved sinner that he serve           from their number.                      and peaceable life in all godliness
God, so God requires of the                The opposite is always a great       and honesty" (vs. 2).
magistrate that he represent God        danger. If we become Anabap-              In the second place, however,
in the sphere of the state. He          tistic in our attitude towards civil    the principle is always true -
shall have to give account for his      magistrates, the end will be that       and we ought to remember it:
failure to do this. "Be wise now        we no longer submit to them,            Christ always rules sovereignly
therefore, 0 ye kings: be in-           honor them, obey them when to           through the magistracy. If, there-
structed, ye judges of the earth.       obey is not in conflict with God's      fore, the magistracy becomes the
Serve the Lord with fear, and re-       Word; but that instead we scorn         enemy of the church, becomes
joice with trembling. Kiss the.         the magistracy, mock it in our          Anti-Christ, turns in the fury of
Son, lest he be angry, and ye           words and deeds, and eventually         persecution against the saints,
perish from the way, when his           end in refusing to submit to its        still it serves the good of the
wrath is kindled but a little"          rule.                                   church. Christ uses the blood of
(Psalm 2:10-12). This is important.       The third good reason to main-        the martyrs also as the seed of
God must be justified also when         tain this principle is the fact that    the church.
all the evil magistrates of all time    by it we are reminded that the            But even this does not negate
failed to represent the righteous-      magistrates serve the good of the       the principle that Christ is often
ness of God, but went about set-        church.                                 pleased to rule in such a way
ting up their own kingdom.                There is more than one truth          through the magistrate, even
  The second good reason for            implied in this.                        though he may be wicked, that
maintaining this principle is to re-      In the first place, if magistrates    peace and well-being is the lot of
mind us that God also saves             are truly Christian, they will seek     the church. Christ is pleased to
magistrates. And because God is         the welfare of the church. And          do this so that the church may be
pleased to save magistrates, we         we ought to remember that even          about her business of preaching
are duty-bound to pray for them.        if a given government is basically      the gospel, bringing the gospel to
"I exhort therefore, that, first of     un-Christian, Christian men in          the mission fields of the earth,
all, supplications, prayers, inter-     government can nevertheless so          working in the great tasks of the
cessions, and giving of thanks, be      exert their influence that the          kingdom - work which she
made for all men: for kings, and        cause of the church and of the          would be unable to do if she
for all that are in authority: that     gospel is advanced through              were being persecuted. To this
we may lead a quiet and                 government policy and legisla-          end, the church holds to Article
peaceable life in all godliness and     tion. One example is surely the         36, prays for the magistrates, and
honesty. For this is good and ac-       matter of labor unions. Although        is thankful when the Lord is
ceptable in the sight of God our        the government may be un-               pleased to rule through the
Saviour; who will have a11 men to       Christian, Christian men in             magistrates that we may live
be saved, and to come to the            government may so influence             quiet and peaceable lives.
knowledge of the truth" (I              legislation and government                Article 36 is important for the
Timothy 2:1-4). The point is that       policy that the power of labor          confession  of the church,
we must not become so wrongly           unions is curbed and various            especially in these days when
Anabaptistic that we simply turn        right-to-work laws are passed           many temptations press in upon
our backs on the magistrate,            which enable God's people to            1s to take an un-Biblical view of
plead our heavenly citizenship as       earn their daily bread. In given        rhe magistracy. We need this arti-
a reason to ignore the civil            instances, Christian lawmakers          :le and we ought consciously to
government, and consign the             can influence legislation so that       make it an important part of our
whole of the magistracy to the          pornographic houses are closed,         confession.  Cl
everlasting oblivion of hell. I         abortion clinics are shut down,


136  I The Standard Bearer


                                       The Two Natures of
                                       Christ: The Union
 Taking  H e e d of the Human and
 to the Doctrine
Rev. Ronald Hanko                      Divine Natures

4. The Definition of Chalcedon.        but both of the two natures of           name the Lutherans, is dealing
   (continued)                         Christ were substantially and            with this error in XVIII, 47 when
  The union of the two natures         really changed by their union,           it explains the ascension to mean
of Christ is defined by the Creed      being fused into a third new             that "with respect to His human
of Chalcedon with the four             substance that was neither truly         nature, He (Christ) is no more on
words, "inconfusedly," "un-            divine nor truly human.                  earth." The same is true of ques-
changeably," "indivisibly," and          The seriousness of this error,         tion 48, where the Heidelberg
"inseparably." We have already         of course, is that it takes away         Catechism asks, "But if His
examined the first of these words      Christ as Savior, since He must          human nature is not present
and turn now to the second.            be a real man to suffer for man's        wherever His Godhead is, are not
  b. Unchangeably.                     sin, and true God to be able to          then these two natures in Christ
  The second of these four             finish that suffering and to earn        separated from one another?"
words establishes the truth that       for us and bring to us the               The emphasis in both questions
the two natures of Christ are          righteousness of God and eternal         and answers is on the fact that
joined without change. This partic-    life. In order, therefore, to main-      Christ's human nature is not
ular term is actually very closely     tain as strongly as possible the         everywhere present.
connected with the previous term       distinction between the two                The Lutheran theology of the
and is included by way of reject-      natures, the term "unchange-             Lord's Supper demands this doc-
ing some of the heresies we have       ably," was included along side of        trine of the ubiquity of Christ's
already discussed in that connec-      and along with the term, "incon-         human nature. That doctrine, in
tion.                                  fusedly."                                other words, does not exist in a
  Eutychianism and Monophysit-           What is most striking, how-            vacuum. Insofar as Lutheranism
ism, two of the heresies against       ever, is that this term exactly fills    teaches a physical presence of
which the first term, "uncon-          the need for a statement over            Christ in the Lord's Supper, that
fusedly," was used, implied in         against a more modern heresy,            is, that Christ's body and blood
their teaching that not just one,      the Lutheran heresy of the ubiq-         (humanity) are physically present
                                       uity of Christ's human nature.           in the supper, it must also of
                                       From the very beginning, Luther-         necessity teach that the body and
                                       anism has taught that Christ's           blood or humanity of Christ are
                                       human nature after the resurrec-         not only in heaven, but also on
                                       tion was essentially changed in          earth, and present everywhere
                                       one regard, that is, that it             the Lord's Supper is ad-
                                       became everywhere-present, or            ministered.
                                       ubiquitous.                                It should be added to all this
Rev. Hanko is pastor of the Protes-      The Heidelberg Catechism, for          that Luther and the Lutherans ex-
tant Reformed Church of Houston,       example, though it does not              plicitly reject the heresy of
Texas.

                                                                                                The Standard Bearer  /  137


Eutychianism and deny that their          theology also speaks of such a             The point that needs making in
doctrine means that in some way           transfer of attributes, but not          this connection is that the confes-
the human has become divine, or           from one nature to the other. In         sion of the real humanity of
even that it is everywhere-               Reformed theology this transfer          Christ may not in any way be
present in the same way as the            is the transfer of all the attributes    compromised. The Lutheran
divine nature. Nevertheless, they         of both natures to the one Person        teaching does that. The glory
clearly violate this second state-        of the Son of God. In other              Christ receives through His exal-
ment of Chalcedon by teaching             words, He is personally, fully,          tation in no way involves any
that the human nature has been            and really all that belongs to the       change in His humanity, so that
changed; and not just in the              human nature and all that                He is in some respect different
sense that it was glorified.              belongs to the divine. As the            from us; for to the degree that
Rather, it was in the sense that it       Lutherans themselves state, this         He is unlike us, we have no place
actually took on something that           is not Eutychianism, strictly            in Him. And no more than we
belongs to the divine. And no             speaking, and yet it comes very          can conceive of ourselves as be-
matter how one may argue, the             close to that in that it violates the    ing omnipresent, either on earth
attribute of omnipresence is not a        second term of the Creed of              or in heaven, no more can we
human attribute, and a change             Chalcedon. Nor is it a small er-         conceive of Ch.rist as an omni-
from being limited locally to be-         ror, for it really does confound         present man, without losing our
ing omnipresent is an important           the human and divine, blurs the          confidence in Him.
and essential change.                     distinction between them, and              As we pointed out in the
   That this is the Lutheran teach-       denies, to the destruction of our        previous article, this blurring of
ing is clear from one of the              comfort in Christ, His continuing        the distinction between the
Lutheran Confessions, the For-            real humanity.                           human and divine by ascribing
mula of Concord. Here we see                These criticisms are, of course,       what are, in fact, divine at-
not only the teaching that                apart from all criticism of the          tributes to the human nature of
Christ's human nature is ubiq-            Lutheran doctrine of consub-             Christ, is characteristic of much
uitous, but its close connection          stantiation and the presence of          modern theology, if it can even
in Lutheran theology to the               Christ in the Lord's Supper. It          be called "theology." To the
Lutheran doctrine of the Lord's           should be added, however, and            degree that Lutheranism blurs
Supper:                                   this helps show the seriousness of       this distinction it goes along with
  Secondly: that the right hand of        the Lutheran error, that their           the modern trend of making no
Cod is everywhere, and that Christ,       doctrine of the ubiquity of              distinction between God and
in respect of His humanity, is seated     Christ's human nature really             man.
thereat, and therefore as present         makes both the ascension and               This "theology," which is not
governs, and has in His hand and          second coming of Christ mere             theology, is such a grave danger
under His feet, as the Scripture saith    forms. If Christ according to His        to the church that it cannot be
(Eph. 1:22),  all things that are in
heaven and on earth (VII, Affir-          human nature is-everywhere               ignored. The idea that I am the
mative, v).                               present, how can He in any real          only one who really matters, and
   The teaching is rejected:              sense ascend to heaven or come           that my feelings, my needs, my
  That Christ's Body is so confined       again from heaven? We,                   gifts, my rights, and my desires
in heaven that it can in no mode          therefore, believe that the human        are not only to be recognized
whatever be likewise at one and the       nature is not changed by the             and used but catered to has
same time in many places, or in all       resurrection or in any other con-        gained such a stranglehold on the
the places where the Lord's Supper is     nection, but that He continues           life of the church that it seems
celebrated  (VII, Negative, xi).          true man. Nor are we afraid to           sometime that the hold can no
   In this connection, they speak,        say that according to that same          longer be broken. Now this is not
too, of an actual transfer of prop-       human nature, He ascends to              to say that modern "theology" is
erties or attributes from the             heaven and comes again at the            explicitly Eutychian. Modern
divine to the human (a communi-           end of all ages.                         theology is explicitly nothing at
catio idiom&$. This does indeed,            The Lutherans, at this point,          all. It is only to say that the
then, involve a change in the             have always accused the Re-              failure to teach clearly the two
human nature. It is not the same          formed of another error, the er-         natures of Christ and the distinc-
human nature that it was before           ror of Nestorianism. But as we           tion between them is part of the
the exaltation. Reformed                  shall see in discussing the third of     trend that so completely
                                          Chalcedon's terms, this is an un-        eradicates the distinction be-
                                          fair charge.                             tween God and man, that man


138 / The Standard Bearer


himself becomes the only god              ticularly the sound doctrine of            Christ is and continueth true
that men know today.                      the incarnation. For the church            man, and let us know what that
  Along the same lines and over           to fail at this point, or for the          means as far as the incarnation
against such sanctified humanism,         members of the church to be ig-            and the union of Christ's two
the church must not only contra-          norant of these doctrines of               natures is concerned. That His
dict various false doctrines, by          Christ, is to open the door both           two natures, the human and the
pointing them out for what they           to the teaching of the sects and           divine, are joined without change
are, but must also fight against it       to that of modern liberalism.              means for us that He is un-
by teaching sound doctrine, par-            Let us maintain, then, the con-          changeably our Savior. 0
                                          fession of our own creed, that
                                                                                -




                                          Reformed Church
                                          Sovernment - A
Rev. jason Kortering                      teformation Heritage

  (The following is a condensed           each member of the church                  system which isolates the local
form of the Fall lecture given by         ought to behave, how office                congregation from any- mean-
Rev. Kortering in Grandville,             bearers are to conduct them-               ingful federation of churches.
Michigan on October 27, 1988. Inten-      selves, how the local congrega-            Abuse of church government can
tions are that it be published also in    tion must act in relation to other         be compared to a cancer which
pamphlet form in the future.)             congregations.                             attacks the body through the
   What the skeleton is to the            A GLORIOUS HERITAGE                        blood stream and soon all the
human body, so proper govern-               Admittedly, any system of                body is diseased. If a church falls
ment is to the church of Jesus            church government is subject to            under the corrupting influence of
Christ on earth. The bones form           abuse. We are the inheritors of            higher criticism of the Bible
a framework of strength which             the  Reformed-Presbyterial  system         (Liberalism), it doesn't take long
enables the organs to remain in           of government which recognizes             and the whole church suffers -
place and muscles to function.            the local congregation, with its           even to the corrupting of its
Without a skeleton, the body col-         office bearers, as well as a               system of church government.
lapses into globs of tissue and           federation of churches. There are          But the corruption can also come
pulsating organs. Nothing func-           other systems, such as the Hierar-         from the system of church
tions. The hands cannot reach             chy of the Roman Catholic                  government itself. In this sense it
and the legs cannot walk. There           Church (higher offices with                is like osteoporosis of the bones:
is complete uselessness.                  greater authority from the top,            the calcium is out of the bones
   So it is in the church, unless         the Pope, down to the door-                and they become spongy and
there is proper government. By            keeper) or the hierarchy of the            soon collapse. As in the body,
government, we mean rules,                Episcopal,  the Church of                  when the other organs may be
principles, laws that indicate how        England, which does not                    healthy but the bones suffer, so
                                          recognize the pope but has                 the church may be healthy in
                                          higher offices with specified              many respects but the system of
                                          authority; the  Congregational             government itself is wrong, and
                                          which has no office bearers, but           this contributes to the evil in the
Rev. Kortering is pastor of the Prot-     each member participates in all            church.
estant Reformed Church of  Grand-
ville,  Michigan.                         decision making; the  Independent

                                                                                                     The Standard  Bearer  / 139


   At the time of the Reformation      hierarchy. In the end he was ex-       ism took root; and there the
of the sixteenth century, both         communicated by the Papal bull.        ideas of the Reformation were
aspects applied to the church of       The bones of the church had col-       developed into what we call the
Rome. She suffered from the            lapsed; she could not function as      Presbyterial system, expressed in
cancer of evil that spread             a church. Hence God used him to        the Book of Church Government
throughout the entire church; she      Ye-form the church.                    1645 and the Westminster Con-
emphasized scholarship rather            During this time God also            fession 1647. The same was true
than Scripture; she preached           raised up John Calvin. He too ex-      in the Netherlands. Having
righteousness by works rather          perienced the full brunt of the        passed the test of Arminianism,
than justification by faith in the     blows that came from the hier-         the Dutch churches expressed
blood of Jesus; she taught             archy. It was not rhetoric, it was     their Reformed system of govern-
spiritual relief through the           willingness to lay one's life on       ment in the Church Order of
veneration of saints and relics        the line. He, with those who           Dordt 1618-1619. Along with the
rather than a sanctified walk of       joined the Protestant movement,        other Reformed Confessions,
faith. As a result, immorality         experienced persecution. Blood         these church orders served the
abounded both among the                flowed around them. The                churches confessionally.
members and the clergy. The            apostate church of Rome was            DISTINCTIVE FEATURES OF RE-
system of hierarchy was affected       determined to put an end to the        FORMED CHURCH GOVERN-
by this. It too came under the         Reformation. Such men had to be        MENT
evil influence. Martin Luther          men of principle. They searched           The Reformation restored the
wrote Pope Leo X, "I have truly        the Word of God to be sure that        office of believer to its proper
despised your see, the Roman           what they believed was right and       place. Hierarchy had destroyed
Curia, which however, neither          worthy of death. The regulative        any possibility of the members of
you nor anyone else can deny is        principle of the Reformation,          the church being involved in
more corrupt than any Babylon          Scriptura  solo, was written in        anything. All they could do was
or Sodom ever was, and which as        blood. This applied to their ideas     trust the church. The Holy Spirit
far as I can see is characterized      of church government as well. As       speaks of the members of the
by a completely depraved, hope-        a young man of 27 years of age,        church as living stones, a living
less, and notorious godless-           John Calvin expressed his views        priesthood, offering up spiritual
ness . . . . It was your duty and      of the church in his Institutes of     sacrifices unto God (I Peter
that of your cardinals to remedy       the Christian Religion, Book IV.       2:4, 5). Under the preaching of
these evils, but the gout of these     Later, upon his return to Geneva,      the gospel, the Holy Spirit anoints
evils makes a mockery of the           he was able by the grace of God        each believer to function as
healing hand and neither chariot       to put into practice those prin-       prophet, priest, and king. How
nor horse responds to their rein."     ciples and be part of a church         frequently Calvin spoke of the
Besides this, the system of the        that instituted Biblical ideas that    priesthood of the gospel. The
hierarchy itself was a con-            were so different in that age.         sword of the Spirit slays the heart
tributing factor to the evil within      It is hard for us to imagine the     of the believer and offers him as
the church. From the Pope on           contrast. There were only three        a sacrifice of thankfulness unto
down to the local priest, there        offices in the church. Each one        God. A system of church govern-
was power in the office. Those         was distinct, yet there was equali-    ment that gives credibility to the
who held the office'could strike       ty. The members of the church          believer also provides a way to
fear in the hearts of men; they        participated in the election of        express this. Hence, through the
secured themselves in their            pastors and were involved in           Reformation, the members of the
powerful offices. Imagine that the     church government. Little              church are given the right to
Pope could lay claim to succes-        wonder that this breath of fresh       elect their office bearers (pastors,
sion from Peter, and that he           air brought new life into the          elders, and deacons) under the
possessed the power to exercise        church, and that the Reformation       supervision of the consistory.
the keys of the kingdom. Within        movement spread effectively            They are called upon to evaluate
that corrupt system there was no       throughout Europe and into the         the preaching of the gospel (Acts
way to bring about change. As          British Isles. In England these        17: 11). They are to exercise self-
God worked within the heart of         principles were tested over            discipline and mutual discipline
Luther and brought him to the          against the hierarchy of the           among each other (see Matthew
Word of God at Erfurt, Luther          Anglican Church. The Puritans          7, where Christ deals with motes
soon learned there was no hope         emphasized an independent              and beams). They are able to
of reform within the system of         church. In Scotland, Presbyterian-     deal with issues which they


140  I The Standard Bearer


believe to be wrong in the              finished in the local church, and      the moral issue of supporting
church. They have the right of          things that pertain to all the         other churches who still are
protest and appeal (Matt. 18:17).       churches together (e.g., mission       maintaining the principles of
  Also, the Reformation em-             work, theological school). Such        Scripture and the Reformation.
phasized the autonomy of the            broader assemblies are a blessing      This takes much grace; but in our
local congregation. The Re-             which independant churches do          age we must reach out to each
formers did not encourage a             not have. By submitting to the         other to encourage in this impor-
license to believers to turn their      Word, and understanding that           tant work of Reformation. In the
backs upon the local church.            wisdom is broader than the local       spirit of humility let him who will
They viewed the church as a             church (Prov. 11: 14), these           be chief among you be your ser-
spiritual mother. They wrote into       broader assemblies make deci-          vant. May the Head of the
our Reformed Confessions that           sions that are settled and binding.    church grant a living church,
there is no salvation apart from        There are checks and balances          upheld by the support of strong
the church. The reason for this is      included which safeguard the of-       church government that enables
a proper understanding of               fice of believer from any hierar-      the church to function, to be
authority. God is all authority: He     chy.                                   gathered, defended, and pre-
has the absolute right and power        RELEVANCY TODAY                        served until He comes again. 0
to rule the church and to direct          All through history, tension ex-
its way. This Christ received           isted between independentism
(Matt. 2818). Christ exercises this     and hierarchy. The same is true
power to rule by Word and Spirit        today. Evidences of hierarchy are          NOT SEEN, BUT LOVED
through the office bearers of the       clearly seen when a church em-         My Saviour, whom absent I love,
church. Their authority is given        phasizes scholarship and leaders,      Whom, having seen, I adore,
them by Christ: the pastor speaks       or builds barriers between             Whose name is exalted above
as an ambassador of Christ, the         members by way of church               All glory, dominion, and power,
elders rule in the Name of Christ,      boards, in order to lead the           Dissolve thou these bands that
the deacons dispense mercy on           church in a different direction.         detain
behalf of Christ. Though this           Evidences of independentism are        My soul from her portion in thee;
authority is great, it is sanctified    seen in the polarizing of a local      Ah, strike off this adamant chain,
by the instruction of Jesus in          congregation, in forming associa-      And make me eternally free!
Matthew 20: 17-28: "And whoso-          tions, in withholding financial        When that happy era begins,
ever will be chief among you, let       support, and in appealing to the       When arrayed in thy glories I
him be your servant; even as the        public press.                            shine,
Son of Man came not to be                 How do we relate proper              Nor grieve any more, by my sins,
ministered unto, but to minister        church government to these cir-        The bosom on which I recline,
and to give his life a ransom for       cumstances? We must be sure            Oh, then shall the vail be removed,
many." That's the antidote to           that our cause is right. Un-           And round me thy brightness be
hierarchy. Within this system           necessary disruption of the              poured!
there is no higher office; there is     church for other than Biblical         I shall meet Him, whom absent I
equality of service.                    principles is schism. When the           loved,
  Finally, the Reformation recog-       need for correction within the         I shall see, whom unseen I adored!
nized the legitimacy of broader         church is established, one must
assemblies. Note: not  higher, but      use the proper channels of             And then, nevermore shall the
broader, such as classis (presby-       church government to work for            fears,
tery) and synod. Here too, the          reformation within the church.         The trials, temptations, and woes,
understanding of authority is im-       Anything less than this will pro-      Which darken this valley of tears,
portant. The local congregation         duce anarchy, and the end will         Intrude on my blissful repose:
has primary authority from Christ       be worse than the beginning. If        To Jesus, the crown of my hope,
to exercise the keys of the             change is impossible, one must         My soul is in haste to be gone;
kingdom. These local congrega-          sincerely determine why he             Oh, bear me, ye cherubim, up,
tions delegate some of their            should continue in the church.         And waft me away to his throne!
authority to the broader                He must consider the matter of
assemblies, so that for their           corporate responsibility for the
mutual good the churches in             evil committed, the influence of
common can attend to matters of         evil upon himself and his family
discipline that could not be            (especially the future generation),

                                                                                             `The Standard Bearer  I  141


                                             "Strong language in
AI/ Around Us
Rev. Cise VanBaren                           Defense of Faith"

    In the continuing unrest in the             .  .  . Can strong language, such as I           At one point during my speech
Christian Reformed Church, some              used about my own denomination in            I was' out of line. But it wasn't the
harsh words have been spoken.                South Holland, ever be justified,            "whore" section . . . .
One man, Rev. Steve Schlissel of             apart from "`regional" considera-               What I'm sorry I said was in
Messiah Christian Reformed                   tions . . . ?                                regard to the Protestant Reformed
Church in Brooklyn, New York,                   To help answer that question, let         Church's doctrine of "common
has been particularly outspoken.             me ask you a couple of others. How           grace.  " I referred to it as "dead
                                             would you react to the knowledge             wrong. " Upon reflection, I'd like to
His background is Jewish and he              that your milk was being watered             change that to plain "wrong. " I have
himself is a convert from                    down by your grocer, or that your            much respect for our PR brethren
Judaism. He and his small con-               money was dwindling while in the             and their argument. Nevertheless, I
gregation were received into the             `6care" of your local banker? I can          believe the charge of "rationalism"
Christian Reformed Church a few              hear some of your choice words in            that has been attached to their view
years ago. This man indicates his            my imagination.                              of this subject is valid.
strong love for the Reformed                   The theft we are facing in the CRC            I assume that Schlissel wrote a
faith and shows a desire to main-            goes beyond the question of milk             bit carelessly when he speaks of
tain that faith as historically con-         and money. At stake is the milk and          our  (P.R.) doctrine of "common
fessed. He strongly opposes the              honey of our confessional heritage,          grace." He knows, of course, that
inroads of liberalism which he               our doctrine of the Word of                  the doctrine of "common grace"
                                             Almighty God. Is strong language in-
sees in the C.R.C. In his paper,             appropriate when the truthfulness of         is that of the Christian Reformed
"Messiah's Mandate," Summer,                 Jehovah and His Christ is called into        Church. We have no such doc-
1988, he reports on the reaction             doubt? Is strong language in our             trine - for our opposition to that
to a speech he gave in South                 predicament "divisive"? Is it wrong          doctrine resulted in our being put
Holland, Illinois:                           to cry "Rape!"?                              out of the C.R.C. in 1924-5. There
   A recent article in The Banner              According to the Rible,  the use of        is reason for encouragement,
reported on a speech I had given at          strong langauge may not simply be            though, that Schlissel recognizes
a conference in South Holland,  II-          appropriate, but obligatory . . . .          that "dead wrong" is too strong a
linois. In the one hour and twenty             The writer continues by point-             language to describe our opposi-
minute speech I had, at one point,           ing out some of the strong                   tion to "common grace." He
during a parable, used the following         language the prophets of the Old             would merely call it "wrong."
.phrases:  "whores at the seminary,          Testament used when Israel and               Coming from Schlissel, that is
stinking heretics at the college,            Judah departed from the faith.               very mild language indeed.
doubletalkers at the boards and              He considers it no less imperative           Perhaps after further considera-
agencies. " It is most interesting to see    today that strong language be
what The Banner considered impor-                                                         tion he will come to recognize
tant to report, even more so when            used to gain attention to the                that our position is not so
one sees how the words, like victims         seriousness of the situation which           "wrong" even. As for the charge
of Assyrian domination, were violent-        exists within his denomination.              of "rationalism" with respect to
ly wrenched from their true context            Though Schlissel refused to                our opposition to "common
and resettled in another . . . .             apologize for the strong language            grace," possibly he could explain
                                             he had used in his speech at                 this further. Where is the "ra-
                                             South Holland, he did present                tionalism" in maintaining without
Rev.  VanBaren  is pastor of the Prot-       one word of apology to our own               compromise the sovereign grace
estant Reformed Church of  Hudson-           churches:                                    of our great God? Is it not his
ville,  Michigan.

142  I The Standard Bearer


own concern to maintain God's            strongly and rightly complain to-     work' within the world?
holy Name and His infallible             day, so strange in view of the          Incidently, those who would
Word which leads him to his pres-        fact that in 1925 the classes of      desire a free subscription to
ent struggle? And does he not            the C.R.C. suspended and de-          Messiah S Mandate, can write:
recognize that some of the               posed officebearers of the local      Messiah's Mandate [code SB],
present-day positions within the         churches? Is it so strange when       2662 East 24th St., Brooklyn, NY
C.R. churches are logical                the worldly "women's lib" move-       11235. This small church, of
developments from positions              ment finds great sympathy within      course, would appreciate dona-
taken in 1924-5? Is the hierar-          the church - given the conclu-        tions covering the cost of print-
chism, this "rule from top down,"        sion that God's (common) grace is     ing and mailing. Cl
against which the "conservatives"        the origin of this imagined "good





                                         News From
Mr. Benjamin Wigger                      Our Churches-

                    December 1, 1988     pastor in the First P.R.C. in         and 400 lbs. of clothing that had
MINISTERIAL CALLS                        Holland, Michigan. He informed        been collected in our Faith
   Rev. Kenneth Koole declined           the congregation in Holland,          Church, in Jenison, Michigan
the call he received to serve as         however, that he will not be able     some time ago.
our churches' missionary to the          to begin his labors there until         The Church Extension Commit-
island of Jamaica.                       June of 1989, the Lord willing.       tee of our Loveland P.R.C. in
   Rev. Jason Kortering also             There are many labors in              Loveland, Colorado, in conjunc-
declined the calls he had re-            Jamaica that have to be com-          tion with the denominational
ceived from our congregations of         pleted first.                         Domestic Mission Committee,
the Faith P.R.C. in Jenison,             MISSION ACTIVITIES                    sponsored two Reformation Day
Michigan, and the South Holland            While you have Jamaica on           lectures. Both speeches were
P.R.C. in South Holland, Illinois.       your mind, I could mention that       presented by Rev. Wayne Bek-
   The Hope P.R.C. in Isabel,            three men left for Jamaica on Oc-     kering. On October 26 he spoke
South Dakota has formed a new            tober 24 to help in the rebuilding    on "The Reformation: A Return
trio from which they will shortly        of the churches and homes of the      to Preaching," at the Westminster
call a pastor. This trio consists of     members of the churches there.        Reformed Presbyterian Church in
the Revs. Cammenga, Koole, and           They returned about ten days          Denver, Colorado, and on Oc-
T. Miersma.                              later with much work ac-              tober 28 he spoke at our
   And Rev. Wilbur Bruinsma has          complished.                           Loveland church on "Our Refor-
accepted the call to serve as              Initially more men were going       mational Responsibility."
                                         to be sent, but Missionary              While in Loveland, Rev. Bek-
                                         Bruinsma and the leaders of the       kering also preached twice on
                                         Jamaican churches requested that      the following Sunday. This
                                         more of the offerings collected be    worked out rather well for Love-
                                         used for building-materials, food,    land since their pastor, Rev. Cam-
                                         and other necessary items.            menga, had traveled to Norris-
                                           Also being shipped to the           town, Pennsylvania in order to
                                         island were five loo-lb.  bags of     deliver a Reformation message
Mr. Wigger is an elder in the Protes-    flour, 1500 lbs. of corrugated        there. While he was there, he
tant Reformed Church of  Hudson-         steel roofing materials and nails,    also conducted the Sunday wor-
vale,  Michigan.                                                               ship services.

                                                                                                 The Standard Bearer  I 143


  THE                                  .p--ejiTI_                                     -           SECOND CLASS
sr4NDm                            /
 f?MR                             :                                                         1     Postage Paid at
                                                                                                  Grand Rapids, Michigan

I?O. Box 6064
Grand Rapids, MI 49506                 _.-  -__--_^--~              -~



CONGREGATIONAL                             November 11 in Lansing, Illinois.      Elders and Deacons  - present
HIGHLIGHTS                                 The organization took place in         and past, plus other men who
   Many of our congregations               South Holland Church. Their            have an interest in a study of
held their annual Reformation              name will be the Peace Protes-         this nature.
Day Lectures at the end of Oc-             tant Reformed Church.
tober. Some were included last             SCHOOL ACTIVITIES                      RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
time, and I have some more now.              On October 27 & 28 about 70            The Ladies Society of the
   The congregation in Lacombe,            teachers from most of our Chris-       Protestant Reformed Church of
Alberta had their pastor, Rev.             tian schools met in the South          South Holland, Illinois, wish to
Dale Kuiper, speak on "The                 Holland P.R. Christian School for      express their Christian sympathy
Reformation: A Contending for              a teacher's convention. Rev. R.        to our members Thressa Haak,
the Faith."                                Van Overloop gave the keynote          Dona Haak, Henrietta Haak and
   Rev. Richard Moore was the              address entitled, "Teachers Seek-      Jtianette  Van  Baren in the pass-
speaker at a lecture in our                ing the Kingdom of Heaven."            ing of their brother and  brother-
church in Hull, Iowa, sponsored            Other activities included a trip to    in-law MR. HENRY HAAK on
by the Reformed Witness Com-               the Museum of Science and ln-          November  9,1988.
mittee. He spoke on "Creation              dustry. The highlight of the sec-        "I, even I, am he that  com-
-The Only Scriptural View."                ond day was a speech given by          forteth you." (Isaiah  51:12)
   Rev. Haak, pastor of the con-           Prof. R. Decker entitled, "Devel-           Rev. George Lanting, President
gregation of Lynden, Washing-              oping Proper Self-Esteem."                 Mrs. Arthur DeJong, Secretary
ton, spoke at the Lynden Chris-              On November 11, 101 band
tian High School Chapel on the             students from our four Christian
subject of "Church Unity and the           schools in the West Michigan           RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
Reformation."                              area attended the National High          The Junior Bible Society of
   The Consistory of our Lynden            School Marching Band Champion-         The Covenant Protestant Re-
Church has also approved the               ships at the Pontiac Silverdome        formed Church, (Wyckoff, NJ)
idea of having a pictorial church          in Pontiac, Michigan (near             expresses its sincere sympathy
directory for this coming year.            Detroit). They left Grand Rapids       to its members, Mr. and Mrs.
   We also want to extend our              about 1:00 P.M:and returned            August Hollema, in the death of
congratulations to Rev. and Mrs.           around 1:00 A.M. 0                     Margaret's father, MR. GILBERT
Thomas Miersma on the birth of                                                    J. DECKER, October  27! 1988.
their second son, Jonathan                                                          "I am the resurrection, and
Simon.                                                                            the life: he that believeth in me,
   On November 11, Mr. Jim                 NOTICE!!!                              though he were dead, yet shall
Swart, a member of our First                 COURSE OF STUDY FOR                  he live." (John  11:25)
Church in Grand Rapids,                    ELDERS  - Four consecutive                 Rev. R. Flikkema, President
Michigan, presented a beautiful            Monday evening sessions will
                                                                                  NOTICE!
travelogue on the Netherlands, at          take place beginning January
First Church. It was followed by           9th, 1989, at  7:30 P.M. Sessions        "For correspondence with The
an ice cream social in the base-           will be held at the Protestant         Peace Protestant Reformed
ment. Proceeds were for the                Reformed Seminary. Prof.               Church of Lynwood, Illinois, use
1989 Young People's Convention.            Robert Decker will be  the in-         the following address:"
CHURCH ACTIVITIES                          structor. The course includes:              PEACE PROTESTANT
   A new Protestant Reformed               The idea, the qualifications and                REFORMED CHURCH
congregation was organized on              the duties of the office. Also,            c/o Garret Flikkema, Clerk
                                           family visitation, visiting the            18304 Chicago Ave.
                                           sick and comforting the be-                 Lansing, IL 60438
                                           reaved:- Urged to attend are                Phone: 1 (312) 474-5772

144  / The Standard Bearer


