A  Reformed
  -             BBR
Semi-Monthly
Magazine





                        Foreign Delegates
                International Reformed Conference
                 Grand Rapids, .Ml - June 1244,199O


Contents                                                                                              THE
                                                                        July I, 1990            STANDARD
Meditation - Rev. James D. Slopsema                                                                 B E A R E R
   FRIENDSHIP WITH THE WORLD: ENMITY WITH GOD
                                                                                                 ISSN 0362-4692
Editorials - Prof. David J. Engelsma                                                            Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July,
   THE COVENANT OF GOD AND                                                              413     and  Atigust.  Published by the Reformed Free Pub-
       THE CHILDREN OF BELIEVERS (5)                                                            lishing Association, Inc. Second Class Postage Paid
                                                                                                at Grand Rapids,  Mich.
   SLAUGHTERING BAPTISTS?                                                               414     POSTMASTER:  Send address changes to The
                                                                                                Standard Bearer, P.O. Box 6064, Grand Rapids, MI
LETTERS                                                                                 415     49516.
                                                                                                EDITORIAL COMMITTEE
                                                                                                Editor: Prof. David  I. Engelsma
THE HOLY SPIRIT - HIS WORK IN THE                                                               Secretary: Prof. Robert D. Decker
   ECONOMY OF SALVATION - Rev. Char/es J. Terpsffa                                      416     Managing Editor: Mr. Don Doezema
                                                                                                DEPARTMENT EDITORS
                                                                                                Rev. Ronald Cammenga, Prof. Robert Decker, Rev
THE HOLY SPIRIT AND MISSIONS                                                                    Arie   denHartog,  Rev. Russell Dykstra, Rev. Barry
                                                                                                Critters, Rev. Cornelius Hanko, Prof. Herman
   Prof. Robert D. Decker                                                               420     Hanko, Rev. Ronald Hanko, Rev. John  Heys,  Rev.
                                                                                                Kenneth  Koole,  Rev. Jason Kortering, Mr. James
THE WORK OF THE EVANGELICAL PRESBYTERIAN                                                        Lanting, Rev. George Lubbers, Mrs.  Marybeth  Lub-
                                                                                                bers, Rev. James Slopsema, Rev. Charles Terpstra,
   CHURCH OF AUSTRALIA - Rev. Philip Sudey                                              422     Rev.  Cise  VanBaren,  Rev. Ronald  VanOverloop,
                                                                                                Mr. Benjamin Wigger, Rev. Bernard  Woodenberg.
                                                                                                EDITORIAL OFFICE                  CHURCH NEWS EDITOR
THE PROMOTION OF MORE MEANINGFUL SISTER-CHURCH                                                  The Standard Bearer               Mr. Ben Wigger
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410 / The Standard Bearer/July 1,199O


                                         Friendship With
                                         The World:
Medifation
Rev. James Slopsema                      Enmity With God

   Ye adulterers and adulter-            friend of the world is the enemy of          In like manner must we under-
esses, know ye not that the              God! In fact, friendship with the          stand our spiritual marriage to
friendship of the world is en-           world makes the saints to be adul-         God. Those who are married to
mity with God? whosoever                 terers and adulteresses!                   God have entered into a love relal-
                                            How important it is that we shun        tionship with Him. They love Him
therefore will be the friend of the      the friendship of the world that we        dearly and in love delight to serve
world is the enemy of God.               may be the friends of God.                 Him as their God. In this way of
                        - James 4:4                  *al-*****                      loving devotion and service those
                                            By addressing the members of            who are joined in marriage to Gald
                                         the church as adulterers and adul-         also enjoy God's love for them.
                                         teresses James suggested that saints       This mutual love comes to expres-
  You adulterers and adulteresses!       of God are married. For adultery is        sion in a most intimate fellowship
  This is how James addressed the        unfaithfulness to one's marriage           and companionship. Those who
church of his day.                       partner.                                   are married to God are able to walk
  I wonder whether he would be              The marriage that is called to our      with Him and talk with Him. They
compelled to address the church to-      attention is not earthly but rather        live one life with the ever blessed
day in the same manner?                  heavenly and spiritual. The Scrip-         God.
  James was probably writing to          tures frequently describe the rela-          The. wonder and beauty of this
the Jewish Christians scattered by       tionship between God and the               marriage is that it exists at all. For
persecution into Syria. It becomes       church or between Christ and the           we did not seek this marriage with
apparent that, in spite of the perse-    church in terms of marriage. Old           God. By nature we hate and op-
cution they had experienced, these       Testament Israel was the wife of           pose God. The thought of living in
Christians were characterized by         God. The New Testament church is           a close relationship of friendship
infighting. This internal fighting       the bride of Christ. In Jesus Christ       and fellowship with God was far
and warfare James attributed to          we have been joined to God in a            from our mind.
their sinful lusts that warred in        most blessed and eternal marriage.           Nor is there anything attractive
their members.                           The marriage we enjoy as men and           in us that would incline God's
  Nor is it difficult to see how         women on the earthly level is only         heart to us and to seek our hand in
these evil lusts and passions would      a faint picture of this higher, spiri-     marriage.
also lead the saints into friendship     tual marriage that is presupposed            Yet God loved us anyway! He
with the world.                          here.                                      has loved us with an eternal, un-
  Hence, James was constrained by           Our spiritual marriage to God is        changeable, elective love. In this
the Holy Spirit to remind them that      a most delightful relationship of          love He has irresistibly drawn us to
friendship with the world is enmity      love and fellowship with the living        Himself in marriage. At great sacri-
with God. One who will be the            God.                                       fice to Himself He paid for all our
                                            Consider the earthly marriage of        sins in the person of His only be-
                                         a man and a woman. In that case            gotten Son, thereby removing all
                                         marriage is a love relationship in         the offense of our many sins. In
                                         which man and woman live one               His grace He has purified our
                                         life together in close fellowship. In      hearts and lives. He has even cre-
                                         fact, there is no closer love relation-
Rev. Slopsema is pastor ofHope                                                      ated love for Himself in our hearts
Protestant Rtformed  Church in           ship in all of life. In marriage a         and thus has drawn us to Himself
                                         man and a woman become one
Walker, Michigan.                                                                   in marriage.
                                         flesh.

                                                                                        July 1,199O  / The Standard Bearer I 4I.l


   Married we are to-the living God        ruption of the world. They are tan-      ever will be the friend of the world
in Jesus Christ. This marriage is          talized by its immorality, its high      is the enemy of God. And tlhe saint
our very life and salvation.               living, its high-sounding philoso-       who cultivates the friendship of the
           * *.*  *  *  *  *               phy that elevates man. Inevitably        world becomes unfaithful to the
   But now we must deal with the           they seek out the world. They be-        marriage he or she has with the liv-
world.                                     gin to live like the world, talk like    ing God. He is an adulterer. She is
   This world is the world of fallen,      the world, act like the world. More      an adulteress.
sinful mankind. With this world            and more they fill their souls with               *  * *  *  *  *  *
we are very familiar, for we live          the pleasures of the world. In-            Should we discover,  upon  exam-
right in the middle of it. We meet         evitably this brings them into close,    ining ourselves, that we are,, in fact,
the world when we go to our place          personal friendships with worldly,       adulterers or adulteresses, let us in
of work. We are confronted with            profane people. More and more            godly sorrow seek forgiveness of
this world when we turn on the TV,         their time is spent with worldly         God. This can be found in J'esus
listen to the radio, go to the news'       people; less and less with the saints    Christ and in His blood.
stand and bookstore. Everywhere            of God.                                    And let us be faithful in our mar-
we go, wherever we turn, we are              Are you the friend of the world?       riage to the living God.
confronted with this world.                           *****x-E+                       Let us repudiate the worl(d and
   This world is the enemy of God.           Let it be known that the friend-       become its enemies.
The world has nothing in its heart         ship of the world is enmity with           Let us develop and cultivate our
but hatred for the living God. It          God. Whosoever will be the friend        friendship with the living God.
hates God's righteousness; it hates        of the world is the enemy of God.        This is done through prayer and
God's revelation; it hates God's             There is a basic principle that un-    the diligent, proper use of God's
commandments. All that is God's            derlies this teaching of God's Word:     Word.
the world hates and despises. Con-         when two are enemies of each               And to motivate us, let us re-
sequently, the world not only tram-        other, one can not be the friend of      member the great love God has
ples under foot the commandments           both. This is not very difficult to      shown to us in making us His
of God, it also opposes God and the        understand. One of the basic ele-        bride. He loved us who were
cause of God in every way it can.          ments of friendship is that one          unlovable. He has married `us at
This great enmity arises out of a          takes the side of his friend and         great sacrifice to Himself. It cost
fallen nature not saved by the grace       champions his cause over against         Him His only begotten Son, Who
of God.                                    that of his enemies. If friendship       died for us on the cross. In the
   What is your relationship to this       means anything, it means that.           marriage into which He has
world?                                     Consequently, when two are ene-          brought us He has blessed us richly
   It becomes apparent that many           mies, you can not be the friends of      with every good thing.
of the saints in James' day had cul-       both. You must choose which will           Shall we despise this great love
tivated a friendship with the world        be your friend. And that will nec-       by cultivating a friendship with His
and had become the friends of the          essarily make you the enemy of the       enemies... by becoming adulterers
world.                                     other.                                   and adulteresses?
   Sorry to say, the same is also true       Especially is this true when it          Shall we not rather, in humble
of many in the church today.               comes to God and the world. The          gratitude, be faithful to our God,
   Friendship involves especially          world and God are enemies. The           loving Him with all our heart,
two things: attraction and compan-         world hates God, and as the enemy        mind, soul, and strength? 0
ionship. Friendships develop when          of God seeks to destroy the cause of
two or more find in one another            God. God, in turn, hates the world
something that is mutually attrac-         with. an eternal hatred. As the                      Kindness
tive and that draws them together.         world's enemy God opposes the
This can be a common interest, a           world and will one day destroy the
common goal, even a common                 world.                                   Be swift, dear heart, in saying
problem. But for some reason they            In light of this, will you be the          The kindly word;
are attracted to each other. And be-       friend of the world?                     When ears are sealed thy
cause they are attracted to each             Friendship with the world im-                   passionate pleading
other they also seek each other's          plies that in your heart you have            Will not be heard.
company. They delight to be with           essentially repudiated God: His
each other and to do things to-            perfection, His law, His cause in the    Be swift, dear heart, in doing
gether.                                    world. It means that you long after          The gracious deed;
   These same elements apply to            the world rather than after the liv-     Lest soon, they whom thou
friendshin with the world.                 ing God. And it requires that you                 holdest dearest
   Those who are friends of the            join with the world in its opposi-           Be past thy need.
world are attracted to the world.          tion to the living God.
That which they find attractive              Yes, indeed, the friendship of the                       -Author Unknown
about the world is the sin and cor-        world is enmity with God. Whoso-

412 I The Standard Bear&  I July 1,199O


                                                    n The Covenant of God
                                                         and the Children of
                                                          Believers (5)
Editorials                                          n Slaughtering Baptists?

n The Covenant of God                               all it is not so (Reformed Dogmatics,           Since faith is the gift of God to the
and the Children of                                 London, 2950, pp. 622,623).                     elect (III, IV, 14; I/9), the promise is
                                                    This has been a prominent view in               for the elect. It cannot, therefore,
Believers (5)                                       Dutch Reformed theology since the               fail (V/8).
                                                    Afscheiding  (Secession) of 1834. In              On no other reading can the
   My treat~ment of the Rtformecl doctrine          his  book,  Prediking en uitverkiezing          teaching of the Heidelberg Cate-
of the inclusion of the children of believers       (Preaching  and  Election,  Kampen,             chism in Q. 74 or the statements jii
in the covenant of God, begun in the                19591,  Professor C. Veer&of,  himself          the form of baptism that our chil-
March X,1990  issue of The Standard                 an advocate of the position that all
Bearer, was                                                                                         dren are "heirs of the kingdom of
                interrupted by the special is-      children of believers are in the                God and of His covenant" and that
sue on preaching and by the editorial on            covenant by conditional promise,
Synod. The editorial in the issue of M a y   2                                                      they are "sanctified in Christ," be
contended that the covenant is established          acknowledges that the position that             true. If the reference is to every one
with the elect children only and offered two        referred the phrase in the baptism              of the children of believers, not to
grounds for this contention: 1) the rule of         form, "our children...are sanctified            the elect among them, it simply is
faith in Scripture that the covenant mercy          in Christ," to the elect children was           not true that "redemption from sin
of God is particular and sovereign; 2) the          perhaps the dominant position in                by the blood of Christ, and the
teaching on this ve y matter in Romans              the churches of the Secession. This             Holy Ghost, the author of faith, is
9:Zjf. The editorial in this issue picks up         was the doctrine of Simon Van-                  promised to them" (Heid. Cat.) or
the argument at this point, proposing a             Velzen, the outstanding theologian              that they are "sanctified in Christ"
third ground for the distinctive covenant           in the churches of the Secession (cf.           (baptism form).
view of the Protestant Rejormed Churches.           Veenhof, Prediking, pp. 66ff.).
The treatment will conclude in the next is-                                                           God realizes His covenant in tlhe
sue of The SB with a consideration of the              Fourth, only this covenant view              line of generations. He gathers His
conversion of the covenant child.        - E d .    is in harmony with the Reformed                 church from age to age from the
   Third, this understanding of the                 confessions. The Westminster Con-               children of believers. As the Puri-
place of children in the covenant is                fession holds the promise of the                tans were fond of saying, "God
found in the Reformed tradition.                    covenant of grace to be particular              casts the line of election in the loins
Heinrich Heppe, who has distilled                   and unconditional: "...promising to             of godly parents." For the sake ad
the essence of the Reformed tradi-                  give unto all those that are or-                the elect children, all are baptized.
tion from the creeds and from the                   dained unto life His Holy Spirit, to              It is the covenantal election of
writings of the Reformed theolo-                    make them willing and able to be-               God that determines the viewpoint
gians, quotes the 17th century Re-                  lieve" (7.3). In the chapter on bap-            that believing parents and church
formed theologian, J. H. Heidegger,                 tism this Presbyterian creed teaches            take toward the children and that
as expressing the Reformed view:                    that the grace promised in baptism              governs the approach in rearing
   As for the adults, outward baptism does          is strictly controlled by God's eter-           them. We do not view them as un-
not seal inward grace for all of them, but          nal predestination:                             saved heathens ("little vipers"),
for those alone who bear in their hearts a          . ..the grace promised is not only offered,     though there may well be vipers
faith the rmrse of feigned and confess it in        but really exhibited and conferred by the       among them, any more than we
words. Nor yet for the children of believ-          Holy Ghost, to such (whether of age or in-      view the congregation as a gather-
ing parents one and all, but only jor the           fants) as that grace belongeth unto, accord-    ing of unbelievers because of the
elect is baptism the sign of regeneration           ing to the counsel of God's own will, in His    presence of unbelievers among the
and universal spiritual grace. Although it          appointed time (28.6).
is right and godly in the case of individual        The Canons of Dordt restrict the                saints. But we view them as chil-
children of the hind to have good hopes of          promise of the gospel and the                   dren of God.
the judgment in love, in the case of them           sacraments to believers (III, IV/S).

                                                                                                        July 1,199O  I The Standard Bearer I 413


   This matter of the parents' and              Viewing their children as God's            Baptists, much less participated in
church's view of the children is of          covenant children, believers must             mass slaughter of those unfortu-
great importance practically                 approach them as elect children in            nates. Like Calvin and virtually all
Jonathan Edwards' view of the chil-          their teaching and discipline, even           Protestants of that age, the Re-
dren as "little vipers," coupled             though there may indeed be repro-             formed Church in The Netherlands
with a tendency to base the assur-           bate and unregenerated children               had no use for freedom of religion.
ance of being children of God upon           among them. Election determines               Accordingly, they forbade public
subjective, doubtful experience,             the approach. All the children                worship of Anabaptists wherever
may well have been one of the                must receive the instruction that             they had influence with the !%ate.
main causes of the covenant's run-           the regenerated must have and will            But that they were responsible for
ning out in New England, includ-             profit from. By means of this rear-           killing the Anabaptists is doubtful.
ing Edwards' own church. The chil-           ing in the nurture and admonition             In his authoritative, sympathetic
dren learned their lesson well from          of the Lord, the covenant promise             history of the Anabaptists, G;. H.
the great teacher: The little vipers         will work the fruit of conversion in          Williams speaks only of the indus-
grew up to be big vipers. There              the elect children.                -DJE       try of the Reformed clergy to refute
was a judgment of God in this. To                                                          or convert the Anabaptists, not of
call that common which God has                                                             any industry to kill them: He
cleansed is forbidden (Acts 11:9).           I Slaughtering Baptists?                      notes, in fact, that the Anabaptists
Although, like their believing par-                                                        in The Netherlands gained security
ents, they retain a viperish nature,            In the "Letters" column of this            and finally freedom to worship
covenant children are not vipers,            issue of The Standard Bearer, Baptist         when the Reformed came to power
that is, children of the devil, but Je-      Pastor William Oosterman objects              (cf. The Radical Reformation,  pp. 777,
hovah's children (Ezek. 16:20,21).           to my editorial on the Reformed               778).
They- are not sinful flesh, spiritually      doctrine of the covenant (The SB,                A.L.E. Verheyden, like Williams
like the devil; but they are holy (I         April 15,1990,  "The Covenant of              wholly sympathetic to the Anabap-
Cor. 7~14). Quite unlike the chil-           God and the Children of Believ-               tists, also observes that the An-
dren of disobedience, who are                ers"). Specifically he objects to the         abaptists enjoyed freedom from the
ruled by the prince of the power of          criticism of the Baptist position that        threat of death in the north of the
the air so that they have their con-         is inherent in the covenant-doctrine          Lowlands when Calvinistic rule re-
versation in the lusts of their flesh        of the Reformed faith.                        placed that of the Roman Catholics.
(Eph. 2:1-3), the baptized children             Pastor Oosterman is careless               Although the Mennonites (Anabap-
of believers are in the Lord Jesus so        with history. He charges that my              tists) were condemned by the Re-
that they honor their parents (Eph.          spiritual ancestors in the 16th cen-          formed preachers as seditious and
6:lff.).                                     tury slaughtered Baptists, suggest-           heretical, "they were nonetheless
   The same result of the error of           ing that in condemning the Baptist            free from serious threats of the tor-
viewing the children of believers as         error I am a child of my fathers              ture room, the stake, the gallows, or
unsaved heathens appears in the              who killed the prophets. My spiri-            drowning" (cf.  Anabaptism in Flan-
churches that maintain this view             tual ancestor in the 16th century             ders, 1530-1650: A Centu y of Strug-
today. As a rule, these churches are         was John Calvin. Calvin did not               gle, p. 83).
filled with young people who can-            slaughter Baptists (in those days                Pastor Oosterman could show a
not be assured that they are gen-            they were called "Anabaptists" or             little more gratitude on behalf of
uine believers and saved children            "Catabaptists," i.e., rebaptizers).           the Anabaptists toward my spiri-
of God. Indeed, they grow old and            Instead, Calvin refuted them with             tual ancestors than he does.
die without ever enjoying the com-           sound doctrine, or converted them               `It is also a historical mistake to
fort of the covenant with God or             to the Reformed faith. In his thor-           point to the widespread, severe af-
being able to sit down with their            ough study, Calvin and the Anabap-            flictions of the 16th century An-
covenant Friend at the covenant              tist Radicals, Willem Balke writes:           abaptists as evidence of theilr godli-
meal, although oddly enough they             The battle against the Anabaptists, which     ness and soundness in the faith.
are permitted to make public con-            came to such a terrible climax in Munster     Suffering for one's religious beliefs
fession of faith and to be members           shortly before Geneva turned to the Refer-    is not the same as suffering for
of the congregation (cf. C. Steen-           mation, was waged with the word  and with     Christ's sake. The fact is that the
block, Random Verbond, Roeping  en           the pen by the Genevan reformer and his       Anabaptists were heretical, alto-
Doop,  Gouda, The Netherlands,               associates. Whenever the government of        gether apart from their rejection of
1979, pp. 44,45; also C. Hegeman,            Geneva intervened, the result was invari-     the one covenant of grace and in-
Explanation  of  the Reformed Doctrine,      ably condemnation, but not bloodshed. No      fant baptism. They denied
Stickney  SD, 1965, p. 70). And the          one, except the Antitrinitarian Servetus,     sovereignpredestination, original
few who do arrive at the assurance           was condemned to death (pp. 201,202).
                                                Calvin also married a former An-           sin, and justification by faith1  alone.
of salvation derive this assurance,                                                        They were strong advocates of the
not from the promise of the                  abaptist.
                                                Neither is it proved that Re-              false gospel of salvation by the free
covenant and baptism, but from               formed Dutch Protestants killed               will of the natural man. A leading
some mystical experience.                                                                  Anabaptist,  Menno Simons, denied

414  / The  Standard Bearer I July 1,199O


the real humanitv of our Savior.           1525. Think of Thomas Munzer            be so precious, that it may or ought
Article 18 of the Reformed creed,          and Andreas Karlstadt. Revolution       in any thing do prejudice to the
the Belgic Confession, explicitly          was not the aberration of a few, fa-    verity of God, or can be available to
condemns this "heresy of the An-           natical extremists among the An-        prove erroneous and perverse doc-
abaptists." And these were the best        abaptists, but marked the move-         trine" (Against Anabaptists,  quoted
of the Anabaptists. The worst were         ment itself in the 1520s and 1530s.     in Balke, CaZwin  and the Anabaptist
antitrinitarians and receivers of di-      Therefore the Belgic Confession         Radicals,  p. 176).
rect revelations from the Holy             distances the Reformed Church             Jesus does not pronounce every-
Spirit.                                    from Anabaptism by confessing in        one blessed who suffers for his reli-
   Nor should the revolutionary            Article 36, "we detest the Anabap-      gious convictions. Rather, He
spirit of the Anabaptists be dis-          tists and other seditious people,       blesses those who are persecuted
missed so lightly ("using Munster          and in general all those who reject     "for My sake," i.e., for the sake of
as a pretext for branding `every           the higher powers and magis-            the truth (Matt. 5:ll).
Baptist' as a heretic"). The Anabap-       trates...."                               Surely Pastor Oosterman, who
tist revolution at Munster in 1534            Already Calvin exposed the er-       confesses to holding the doctrines
shocked Europe and understand-             ror of the argument that the An-        of grace, does not wish to identify
ably brought suspicion upon all            abaptists' suffering was proof of       himself with the Anabaptists of the
Anabaptists. But Munster was not           the soundness of their cause. With      16th century! Or is it indeed the
the only Anabaptist revolt against         reference specifically to the death     position of the "Calvinistic Bap-
the civil authorities. Anabaptists         of the Anabaptist leader, Michael       tists" today that the Anabaptists of
also played a prominent role in the        Sattler, Calvin wrote, "the death of    the 16th century were their spiri-
Peasants' Revolt in Germany in             a man, whatsoever he be, can not        tual ancestors?  Cl                - DJE





                                          Letters

The Baptist Objection                      and the Children of Believers," and     cle that some of your own baptized
                                           a corresponding correction:             children "grow up ungodly, unbe-
  During the reformation period               1.    "Here the Reformed faith       lieving, and disobedient, and per-
in Holland, from lo-50,000  Baptists      - Calvinism - parts company              ish. God is not their God." We&
were put to death by cooperating           with all Baptists" (DJE).               as Baptists, we have been welcom-
Roman Catholic and Protestant                Where have you been? Even the         ing believers into fellowship and
Churches. This was the result of a        current handbook of denomina-            into our churches as MEMBERS, of
deliberate refusal to listen to what      tions in America lists the Re-           all ages. If a five-year-old undelr-
the Baptists were saying, while us-       formed/Calvinist Baptists as a sep-      stands, believes, and repents he,/
ing Munster as a pretext for brand-       arate group of churches. And what        she is baptized and becomes a
ing "me y baptist" as a heretic. You      about Spurgeon, Carey, and the           member. You are so far from the
are an educated man, and as such          Gospel Standard Churches of Eng-         truth that I can safely say that most
should know better. In your               land, or Trinity Pulpit in America?      of the Baptist churches I know
"Covenant" editorial (The SB, April          2.     "Every Baptist seriously       have children who are members.
15,1990),  you seriously misrepre-        errs...every Baptist holds that the      Unlike your churches, we welcome
sent us and make some very false          children of believers are lost hea-      a child who believes in Jesus even
accusations, the kind that led your       thens outside the church.... There       when the parents don't believe.
spiritual ancestors to slaughter          are no children in that church"            3.     "Every Baptist Church de-
Baptists. Please print the following      (DJE).                                   nies membership to all children"
as a letter in the next issue, to fur-       How wrong. As a Baptist who           03%
ther prevent such animosity be-           believes in tota depravity (and the        I know of no such Baptist church
tween blood-bought believers.             other four points of "Calvinism") I      anywhere. How many of our con-
  The following are quotes  from          believe that all children are "chil-     stitutions have you ever examined?
the article, `The Covenant of God         dren of wrath, even as others"           Have you heard of the 1689 Con-
                                          (Eph. 2:1,2), until they am made         fession, so similar to the Westmin-
                                          alive. You confess later in the arti-    ster?

                                                                                       July 1,199O  I The Standard Bearer I 415


   4.     "The Baptist Church will          for lack of a few drops of water and      valiant effort to harmonize the Bap-
not suffer the little children to come      is in hell as a heathen.                  tist denials that baptism has come
to Christ, but forbids them" (DJE).           Finally, do not set up a false posi-    in the place of circumcision and
   It was in the angry atmosphere           tion and then seek to defend your         that the infants of believers are in-
created by such false statements            own. Be fair. The Baptist Pastor,         cluded in the covenant with the Re-
that Reformed Dutch Protestants             David Kingdon, has written a book         formed doctrine of the unity of the
killed Baptists. We invite all who          worthy of your study called Chil-         covenant of grace. He fails. If cir-
believe to join, as the church allows       dren of Abraham. With the recent re-      cumcision does not find its fulfill-
only believers to unite with the            vival of Calvinism among Baptists,        ment in baptism, and if the promise
body of Christ. Age is no barrier,          let us learn to rejoice in common         of the old covenant to the children
as witnessed by J. Edwards in Nar-          ground and cease all forms of mis-        of godly parents is not maintained
rative of  Surprising Conversions.          representation.                           under the new covenant, the
   5.     "Among the other implica-                              Wm. Oosterman        covenant with Israel and the
tions of this grim teaching...is that           Pastor, Parkland Baptist Church       covenant with the church are two,
there is no ground for any hope of                     London, Ontario, Canada        fundamentally different covenants.
the election and salvation of the                                                     This is the Baptist's position,. willy-
children of believers who die in in-                                                  nilly. He cannot escape it.
fancy or in early childhood" (DJE).         R E S P O N S E                             I have read Kingdon's book. Has
   Wrong again. I could quote from                                                    Pastor Oosterman read Professor
a dozen Baptists beginning with               My reply to this Baptist objection      Herman Hanko's refutation, We
Spurgeon, who hold the view that                                                      and Our Children?
all who die in infancy AND THE              against the Reformed doctrine of
                                            the covenant appears in the edito-          The fifth in my series of editori-
ABORTED CHILDREN are elect                  rial column of this issue of              als on the covenant appears ,in this
and will be known in heaven, re-                                             The      issue of The SB. A sixth, conclud-
gardless of who the parents were.           Standard Bearer. A second install-
                                            ment of the reply, treating the theo-     ing installment will follow. I hope
The infant-baptist, Dr. Dabney              logical aspects of the objection, will    that the intrusion of the present
agreed with Spurgeon  on this. But          follow in the August 1 issue.             controversy (welcome, of course)
what hope can you offer to a griev-           Pastor Oosterman recommends             does not detract from following the
ing mother who has not had a child                                                    line of the series on the covenant
sprinkled? The child died a pagan           the book by David Kingdon, Chil-
                                            dren of Abraham. Kingdon makes a          through to the end. q           -Ed.




                                            The Holy Spirit - His
                                           Work in the Economy
Rev. Charles Terpstra                       of Salvation

INTRODUCTION                                would dare slight or minimize the         suffered and done for the salvation
   To say that the work of the Holy         work of the Spirit in salvation. It is    of the human race remains useless
Spirit in salvation is of vital impor-      not too much to say that without          and of no value for us." How then
tance is perhaps to state the obvi-         Him there would be no persons             does Christ become of use and
ous. Nevertheless, this must be             saved and no church gathered.             value to the elect according to
our starting point. No individual           The Spirit is the indispensable Ap-       Calvin? "...He unites himself to us
believer and no church of Christ            plicator of the blessings of salva-       by the Spirit alone. By the grace
                                            tion Christ has merited for His           and power of the same Spirit we
                                            own in His death and resurrection.        are made his members, to keep us
                                            Indeed John Calvin is correct in his      under himself and in turn to pos-
Rev. Terpstra  is pastor of the Protes-     judgment that, "as long as Christ         sess him."'
tant Reformed Church of South Hol-          remains outside of us, and we are           Yet in spite of this vital impor-
land, Illinois.                             separated from him, all that he has       tance of the Spirit's work in salva-
416 I The Standard Bearer I July 1,199O


                                          Spirit and Pentecost, or the Spirit         this truth we sing: too in PsaIter
                                          and His gifts in the church. But ob-        #287: "Thy Spi& 0 Lord, makes
                                          viously, we cannot treat the entire         life to abound...."
                                          scope of the Spirit's role; we must           This is the Spirit's role in cre-
                                          needs limit our subject.                    ation. In Psalm 33:6 we read of the
                                            In this article it is my intent to fo-    truth that all the host of heaven
                                          cus on only a couple of aspects of          was made by the "breath" of God's
                                          the Spirit's work in salvation, but         mouth, referring to the Spirit.  M7e
                                          from a somewhat unique perspec-             are  also familiar with the fact that
                                          tive. We will consider the Spirit as        the Spirit of God "moved upon the
                                          the Author of life, as the Revealer         face of the waters" in the beginning
                                          of truth, and as the Realizer of sal-       of creation. Edward H. Bickersteth
                                          vation's goal; and we will do that          informs us that this "moving" od
                                          from the viewpoint of the parallels         the Spirit involved His giving life
                                          between the Spirit's work in cre-           to the creation: "The Hebrew  wlord
Rev. Kamps introduces Rev. Charles        ation and His work in the recre-            implies the tremulous fluttering or
Terpstra.                                 ation of the elect sinner. We say           brooding of a bird over its nest, ,in-
                                          that this is a somewhat unique per-         fusing life from its own vital
tion, the doctrine of the Person and      spective, because there have been           warmth."3  The life-giving Spirit
work of the Holy Spirit has not al-       others who have made this parallel,         was also involved in the creation of
ways received the attention it de-        Abraham Kuyper being one, in his            man. When God made man, He
serves. J.I. Packer backs this assess-    monumental work The Work of the             formed him "of the dust of the
ment when he refers to the doctrine       HoZy Spirit, and R.C. Sproul being          ground, and breathed into his nos-
of the Holy Spirit as the "Cin-           another, in his recent book The             trils the breath (i.e., Spirit) of life..."
derella of Christian doctrines."2  It     Mystery of the Holy Spirit. I will,         (Gen. 2:7). Adam was quickened
is not the case that the church ig-       therefore, use what they have done,         by the Spirit. So too Job ascribes
nored and was silent about the            but also expand on it.                      his life and existence to the Holy
work of the Spirit; she was merely          There is one other point on               Spirit: `The Spirit of God hath
very brief and did not fully delin-       which we ought to be clear before           made me, and the breath of the
eate the Spirit's role in salvation.      we commence our study, and that             Almighty hath given me life" (Job
Of late, however, this has changed.       is that the Spirit about Whom we            33:4). Referring to one'more pas-
Due most likely to the emphases           write we believe to be a distinct           sage, we find that in Psalm 104:30
and excesses of the Pentecostal           Person of the Godhead and thus              the Spirit is related to the life of the
movement, the church has taken a          fully divine (God). Even though             animal world and the renewal of
closer look at the work of the Holy       our subject is the Spirit's economic        the earth: `Thou sendest forth thy
Spirit, setting forth more clearly        role and not His essentit place in          Spirit, they are created: and thou
and fully the role of the Spirit in       the Trinity, yet these two roles can-       &newest the face of the earth." We
salvation. This is good, since we         not be separated. The Holy Spirit           concur then with A. Kuyper who
owe so much to this divine Person.        Whom we believe to be the One               writes that it is the Spirit "who c;mi-
And therefore, this subject which         Who applies the salvation God the           mates every rational being; who
we here treat is worthy of our at-        Father planned and God the Son              sustains the principle of Zife in every
tention.                                  accomplished is the Holy Spirit             creature."' For this reason the early
  We begin this study of the              Whom we believe and confess                 church in its Nicene Creed con-
Spirit's work in salvation with the       "from eternity proceeds from the            fessed the Spirit as "the Lord and
understanding that this subject is        Father and the Son...; who in order         Giver of life."
exceedingly  broad.  A hasty glance       is the third person of the Holy Trin-         It ought not be surprising the:re
through a Bible Concordance will          ity; of one and the same essence,           fore that the Spirit is also spoken of
reveal that the role of the Spirit in     majesty and glory with the Father           as the Author of life in the salva-
the salvation of men is truly great.      and the Son: and therefore, is the          tion of elect sinners. He is the
The Spirit is ascribed many titles        true and eternal God..." (Belg.             Originator of the new life of regen-
and is connected with a host of ac-       Cod, Art. XI).                              eration. R.C. Sproul draws the par-
tivities in salvation. There are,         THE HOLY SPIRIT AS  THE                     allel where he writes, "As He is the
then, many different aspects of the       AUTHOR OF LIFE                              generating power of biological life,
Spirit's work which one could               The Holy Spirit is inseparably            so is He the source and generating
treat, given the topic we have. One       connected with life in the Bible. He        power of spiritual life. His worlc in
could consider, e.g., the work of the     is everywhere referred to as the            redemption mirrors and supple-
Spirit and regeneration, or the           Originator of life, both in creation        ments His work in creation.N5 And
Spirit and sanctification..- Or one       and in salvation. This is the first         Sproul's chapter on regeneration he
could consider the work of the            parallel we make. One of the titles         aptly entitles "The New Genesis."
Spirit in the elect church as a body      given to Him in the Scriptures is             Throughout the Old and New
and deal with such things as the          "the Spirit of life" (Rom 8:2). Of          Testament Scriptures the Holy

                                                                                          July1,19W/The  StandardBearerf  417


Spirit is identified as the One Who        born again, or is able to choose to        der that they might be illuminated
causes the dead sinner to be made          be made spiritually alive by the           to know and understand the truth.
spiritually alive. The classic pas-        power of his free will, or actually        Just as God in the beginning com-
sage in the Old Testament is               helps the Spirit in the work of be-        manded the light to shine out of
Ezekiel 37~1-14. There in vision the       ing regenerated. All such Pelagian         darkness by the Holy Spirit, so He
prophet sees a valley full of dry          and Arminian errors are con-               has shined in our hearts by the
bones, symbolizing spiritually life-       demned by Scripture and by our             same Spirit, to give the light of the
less and hopeless Israel. But              Confessions, as for example,               knowledge of the glory of God in
Ezekiel is commanded to prophesy           Canons III/Iv, Arts. 12,14. The            the face of Jesus Christ (II Cor. 4:6X
to these bones and God promises to         Spirit alone is the Author of the            This truth of the Spirit's work of
make them live. And so after he            new life in man. This truth is not         revealing spiritual things to the sin-
calls to the wind to breathe upon          merely one of the doctrines of             ner's heart and mind is set forth
these bones, the breath came into          Scripture and Calvinism; it is the         clearly in I Corinthians 2:lOff. You
them and the bones lived. This             believer's experience. He knows in         will note here the close relation be-
wind symbolized the life-giving            the depths of his own heart that he        tween the Spirit's role within the
Spirit of God, as God Himself ex-          is born again unto newness of life         Godhead (His essential role11 and
plained to the prophet in verse 14.        solely by the Spirit of life, and not      His role in salvation (economic
Here we have an Old Testament              by anything he has done or willed          role). The Spirit is the One Who
picture of the Spirit's work of re-        to do.                                     searches the deep things of God;
generation.                                THE HOLY SPIRIT AS THE                     He has perfect knowledge and un-
  This truth we find more clearly          REVEALER OF TRTJTH                         derstanding of the spiritual things
revealed in the New Testament.               The Scriptures also join together        of God. But these things of IGod He
The classic New Testament passage          the Holy Spirit and the work of re-        reveals unto us, so that we have the
is John 3:1-8, where Jesus explains        vealing God's truth to the sinner.         wisdom of God, the knowledge
to Nicodemus the great truth that          The Spirit is He Who illuminates,          and understanding of the truth.
the natural man, who is by nature          bringing things to light; Who en-          You will also notice the sharp con-
"flesh," i.e., spiritually dead in sin     lightens, giving understanding;            trast made here between the natu-
so that he cannot even see the king-       Who opens up the truth, causing it         ral man and the spiritual man,
dom of God, must be born again             to be known and embraced. Al-              verses 11,14. This same emphasis
from above unto new, heavenly life         ready in Genesis 1:2,3 there is a          we find in other New Testament
by the Spirit. The Holy Spirit alone       close connection made between the          texts. In Ephesians 1:17,18  IPaul
is the Author of this life in man.         Spirit and illumination in the work        prays on behalf of the Ephesian
This truth is found in many other          of creation. As the Spirit moved           Christians that they might be given
places. In John 6:63 Jesus said, "It       upon the face of the waters, God           the "Spirit of wisdom and mvela-
is the Spirit that quickeneth; the         uttered His first command: "Let            tion in the knowledge of him: The
flesh profiteth nothing...." In Ro-        there be light." The Spirit was the        eyes of your understanding being
mans 8:lO Paul teaches: "And if            One through Whom God brought               enlightened...." This work of the
Christ be in you, the body is dead         His light to shine upon the creation,      Spirit is implied in Jesus' promise
because of sin; but the Spirit is life     thus preparing His creatures for life      to send the Spirit of truth, Who
because of righteousness." This            and motion.                                would take the things of Jesus and
same connection between the Spirit           So it is in the realm of salvation.      reveal them to His people, and thus
and the spiritual life of salvation        It is the Spirit's work to reveal the      guide them into the truth (cf. Jn.
we find in II Corinthians 3:6 and          spiritual things of God to man the         14:17,26;  15:26; l&13-15). This
Galatians  6:8.                            sinner. Man is by nature in spiri-         promise was fulfilled in the pour-
  It must be stressed that in this         tual darkness; his mind is void of         ing out of the Spirit on Pentecost,
work of imparting eternal life to          the true knowledge of God and              for that Spirit inspired the apostles
the elect sinner the Spirit is abso-       himself and the world in which he          to write the New Testament Scrip
lutely sovereign. .It is a work per-       lives; his understanding is dark-          tures, and through those Scriptures
formed by Him exclusively, with-           ened; and his heart is blind (Eph.         the Spirit has guided the church
out the will and cooperation of the        4:17,18).  And because man's will          into the truth in all ages.
sinner. Just as the original creation      is bound in sin, he does not want to         On this work of the Spirit the be-
came to life not of itself but only        know the truth. As Jesus said in           liever also lives in conscious depen-
through the quickening Spirit, so          John 3:19, men love darkness rather        dence. He knows he owes his sav-
also does the totally depraved,            than the light. Without the illumi-        ing knowledge of God to the Spirit;
dead sinner come to life not of him-       nation of the Spirit, natural man is       he knows he depends on the Spirit
self or by assisting the Holy Spirit,      unable to know anything about the          for the understanding and applica-
but only through the life-giving           kingdom of heaven and its spiritual        tion of the reading and hearing of
Spirit. This has to be stressed over       realities, let alone being able to seek    the Word; he knows he needs the
against all those proud, synergistic       entrance into it. But Christ, Who is       Spirit for the knowledge of his sins;
theories of men, who teach that the        the light of the world fJn. 9:5), dis-     in sum, he knows that he is in-
sinner can prepare himself to be           penses His Spirit to His elect in or-      debted to the Spirit for all his light.

418 / The Standard Bearer I July I,1990


He gives thanks and prays for the         the saints. The Spirit preserves the      His saving work. When the be-
Spirit as his divine Revealer.            life of regeneration in His people.       liever dies, it is the Spirit Who ush-
THE HOLY SPIRIT AS THE                    He indwells, the elect and keeps          ers the soul into the bosom of Jesus.
REALIZER OF SALVATION'S                   them in union with Christ. He             And in the end of time it is the
GOAL                                      powerfully keeps His own in sanc-         Spirit Who is said to be the One to
  By this we have in mind the idea        tification, helping them in the fight     raise our bodies and bring us into
that the Holy Spirit is the One           against sin and evil, and giving          the perfection of the new creation.
through Whom God brings all               them the victory.                         Just as Christ was quickened ac,-
things to the goal He has purposed,         This preservation of the Spirit is      cording to the body by the Spirit, so
viz., perfection in the new creation.     beautifully taught in the Scriptures.     also will the elect be in the day of
He is the divine Realizer of God's        In II Corinthians 1:22 and Eph-           their resurrection (Rom. 8:ll). In
plans, both with regard to the cre-       esians 1:13,14  we find the ideas of      fact, the Scripture teaches in II
ation and with regard to His elect        the sealing of the Spirit and the         Corinthians 3:18 that the believer is
people. A. Kuyper makes this              Spirit as our earnest. To be sealed       already in this life changed into the
point in his work of the Spirit:          with the Spirit means that due to         same image as his glorious Lord,
`Thus to lead the creature to its         the indwelling of the Spirit, our sal-    from glory to glory, by the Spirit of
destiny . ..to make it perfect, is the    vation and perfection are secured.        the Lord. Is it any wonder then.,
proper work of the Holy Spirit."6         We are marked by the Spirit as be-        that the apostle Peter refers to the
Closely related to this work of the       ing God's, and nothing can make           Spirit as "the Spirit of glory'?! (cf. I
Spirit is His work of preserving all      us lose our seal. And again, be-          Pet. 414).
things until God's purposes are           cause of the indwelling of the               With this Spirit in his heart the
fully realized. The Spirit is also the    Spirit, the elect have God's down-        believer has an assured hope and
Preserver of God's works. We find         payment and thus His guarantee            confident expectation of reaching
this truth about the Spirit from His      that they will reach their goal, the      the goal. With this thought we con-
work in creation first of all. In con-    inheritance of eternal glory. Ro-         clude using the apostle's benedic-
nection with the Spirit's role of         mans 8:19ff. tie together the cre-        tion in Romans 15:13: "Now the
"brooding" over the waters in the         ation's desire for perfection with        God of hope fill you with all joy
beginning of creation, it may also        God's people's. And it shows that         and peace in believing, that ye lmay
be pointed out that this implies the      our groaning for glory is due to the      abound in hope, through the power
Spirit's sustaining power. R.C.           fact that we have the firstfruits of      of the Holy Ghost." Cl
Sproul makes this point in connec-        the Spirit. In Him we have the first
tion with Genesis 1:2: `Tart of the       cutting of the harvest, and thus the      1. Institutes of the Christtin Religion, John Calvin, p.
                                                                                    541, Vol. 2 of M&kill ed., Westminster Press, 1973.
Spirit's work is to `hover' over cre-     pledge of the full harvest in the day     2. Kmming Gal, J.L Packer, p. 60, Intervarsity
ation, keeping things intact. In this     of Jesus Christ.                          h?ss, 1973.
regard we see the Spirit as the di-         Yet, in the second place, the           3. The Holy Spirit, His Person and Work, Edward I-L
                                                                                    Bicker&&h,  p. 14, Kregel,  1976.
vine Preserver and the Protector.         Spirit is also the One Who actually       4. The Work of the Holy Spirit, Abraham Kuy~w,  p.
The Spirit works to maintain what         brings about our perfection in            26, Funk and Wagmlls,  1900.
the Father brings into being."7                                                     5. The Mystery offhc Holy Spirit, RC. Sproul, p. 90,
                                          glory. He is the Realizer of our sal-     TjmIale, 1990.
What we have to understand is that        vation and He brings it to pass by        6. Work, Kuyper, p. 21.
the Spirit upholds the creation in                                                  7. Mystery, Sproul, p. 85.
order to bring it to God's com-
pleted goal in the new heavens and
earth.
  This work of the Spirit in up                                  Thank Thee, Lord
holding and realizing God's works
must also be applied to His work in
the salvation of the elect. It is         Bow down Thine ear, 0 Lord, to            I thank Thee, too, for giving me
God's goal to bring His people to             hear                                  A vision of eternity
perfection, to eternal glory, to that     For I, Thy loving child, come near        When my soul among the sons of
state in which they are without sin       To rest in Thee, my only dwelling               God was born;
and death, and in which they are              place;                                So for life hem which Thou dost
fully in His image in Jesus Christ.       For joy in service, strength through            bless
And the Holy Spirit is His agent to           prv=,                                 And a life beyond of happiness;
realize this goal. The Spirit leads       Relief from every shade of care,          Where the dusk of years shall end
the elect to perfection. This He          For bliss of sins forgiven through .            in heaven's mom,
does first of all by preserving His           my gate                               I would adorn Thee as I ought,
work of salvation in the elect, so        I sing my praises to Thy name,            Remembering Thy blood has
that they are kept in grace and do        Yesterday, today, the same,                     bought
reach their goal. This idea we rec-       And also ever more!                       My peace forevermore!
ognize as the fifth point of historic
Calvinism - the preservation of                                                                                   - Grace W. Height

                                                                                          July I,1990 /The Standard Bearer I 419


                                            The Holy Spirit
                                            and Missions
Prof. Robefl Decker


   One cannot help but note a .vast           ment in Jesus Christ, in His cross
difference between the Old and                and.resurrection  and ascension to
New Testament eras.                           glory. Now the Spirit brings to the
   The Holy Spirit "was not yet" in           church, by means of the Word, the
the Old Testament (John 237-39).              realities of the finished work of
This does not mean that the Holy              Christ. No longer is the church
Spirit did not work in the Old Tes-           limited to the typical theocracy in
tament. In I Peter l:lO-12  we read           Israel, but the elect are gathered out
this: "...of which salvation the              of all nations by the Spirit and
prophets have inquired and                    Word of the exalted Lord Christ.
searched diligently, who prophe-                 All this begins with the wonder
sied of the grace that should come          of Pentecost. Prior to Pentecost,
unto you: searching what, or what             even as late as the ascension of our
manner of time the Spirit of Christ           Lord, the disciples do not under-
which was in them did signify,                stand the work of Jesus. With Jesus
when it testified beforehand the              on Mt. Olivet, just moments before        Prof. Robert Decker
sufferings of Christ, and the glory           He ascends to glory, the disciples
that should follow. Unto whom it              ask, "Lord, wilt thou at this time re-
was revealed, that not unto them-             store again the kingdom to Israel?"       Son of God gathers out of the
selves, but unto us they did minis-           (Acts 1:6).                               whole human race those chosen to
ter the things, which are now re-               Mind you, this is after the cross       everlasting life! To the work of
ported unto you by them that have             and resurrection and the Lord's           missions, therefore, the Holy Spirit
preached the gospel unto you with             post-resurrection appearances to          is indispensable.
the Holy Ghost sent down from                 them. Jesus answers, "It is not for         We define missions as that work
heaven; which things the angels               you to know the times or the sea-         of God in Christ by which, through
desire to look into." This teaches            sons...but ye shall receive power af-     the official ministry of the Wolrd by
that the Spirit did work, and that            ter that the Holy Ghost is come           the church, He gathers His elect in
too as the Spirit of Christ. The              upon you, and ye shall be wit-            the new dispensation out of all na-
Holy Spirit of Christ certainly was           nesses unto me both in Jerusalem,         tions, both Jew and Gentile, with a
active in the work of salvation in            and in all Judea,  and in Samaria,        view to the manifestation of His
the Old Testament. But He was                 and unto the uttermost part of the        glory in the new heavens and earth.
limited to the types and the shad-          earth" (Acts  1:7-g).                       There are several elements in this
ows. When the Holy Spirit testified             When Pentecost comes and the            definition which deserve our atten-
of the sufferings of Christ to the            Spirit is poured out, they received       tion. In the first place, missions is
prophets He signified these things.           power indeed! Now suddenly they           emphatically and exclusively the
   In the New Testament this is dif-         understand! And Peter can preach           work of God in Christ by the Holy
ferent. The types find their fulfill-         that marvelous sermon out of the          Spirit of Christ. Secondly, missions
                                             prophecy of Joel concerning the            is accomplished by means of the of-
                                              coming of the Day of the Lord! And        ficial preaching of the gospel by the
                                              the fruit is that 3,000 believe!          institute of the church of Jesus
                                                The wonder of Pentecost can             Christ. Thirdly, missions has as its
                                              never be over emphasized! The             immediate goal the gathering of the
                                             Holy Spirit plays an indispensable         elect church, both Jew and Ge:ntile,
                                             role in the gathering of the church        out of the nations. And, fourthly,
                                             out of the nations. For it is through      missions has as its ultimate goal
Prof. Decker is professor of Practical       the Holy Spirit that Jesus returns to      (telos) the full manifestation of
Theology in the Protestant Reformed          be with His church, and it is              God's glory in Christ in the new
Setnina  y.                                  through the Holy Spirit that the           creation.
420 I The Standard Bearer I July I, 1990


  Think of it! In no less a task than      not depart the Comforter will not         clusivelv the work of the exalted.
the gathering of the elect is the          come, whereas if He does, He will         Lord Jesus Christ through the Holy
church of Christ is involved! God,         send the Comforter to them. When          Spirit! This is evident from the in-
by means of the preaching of the           the Comforter comes He will m-            troduction to the Book, chapter l.:l-
Word by the church, saves His              prove the world of sin, righteous-        2. The former treatise is Luke's
church and brings the world of un-         ness, and judgment.                       Gospel narrative in which he
belief and sin into judgment to the          Again Jesus speaks of the Com-          records that which Jesus begun both
glory of His name!                         forter as the Spirit of Truth. The        to do and to teach. Hence, by im-
  Two crucial implications of this         Spirit of Truth will not speak of         plication, what we have in Acts is
are that missions belongs to the           Himself, but will speak of that           that which Jesus continued both to
very essence of the task of the            which He hears from Christ. Thus          do and to teach.
church. One cannot conceive of the         the Spirit will guide the disciples         From this point of view the book
church apart from missions! A              into all the truth, and in this way       is not really the Acts of the Apo?r
church that does not engage in mis-        He will glorify Christ.                   tles but the Acts of the exalted Lord
sions fails in her task, is disobedi-        In this light we can understand         Christ. That missions is the work
ent to her Lord, and is not worthy         the Great Commission (Matt.  28:18-       of Christ through the Holy Spirit is
of the name church. This is, at the        20). Jesus commands the disciples         evident throughout the Book.
same time, a powerful incentive for        to teach all nations and to baptize       Christ sheds forth the Spirit and by
the church to be busy in missions!         in the name of the Triune God.            the Spirit Christ accomplishes His
Why fear or doubt or be discour-           And He promises that He will be           work through the Apostles (Acts
aged? Why despise the day of               with them always, even unto the           2:33; 3:6,16; 48-12; 30-31). Christ's
small things? God accomplishes             end of the world. This can only           leading through the Spirit is also
His great purpose through the fool-        mean that Jesus is with the church        evident in the death of Stephen and
ishness of preaching. It is His            through the Holy Spirit. Christ           the consequent persecution and
work, and His purpose will be              comes to live with us in the Spirit.      dispersion of the Jewish Christians
achieved! Let us be getting on then        This is the meaning of Jesus'             (Acts 81; 1l:lgff.j. Christ sends
with the task!                             promise to the disciples just mo-         Philip to the Ethiopian eunuch
  The Holy Spirit, we said, is indis-      ments before He ascended (Acts            (826-29).  Christ calls Paul to
pensable to the work of missions.          1:4-11). They will be baptized with       preach to the Gentiles (g&15).  The
Jesus spoke of this often, especially      the Holy Spirit and through the           apostle Paul was led by Christ
in John, chapters 14-16. Jesus tells       Spirit they will receive power. By        through the Spirit throughout his
the disciples that He is going to          that power of the Spirit of Christ        ministry (Acts 13:24). Acts 13:52
prepare a place for them in His Fa-        they will be witnesses of Christ in       tells us that because of the conver-
ther's house of many mansions.             Jerusalem, Judea,  Samaria, and to        sion of many Gentiles in Perga and
He promises that the Father will           the uttermost part of the earth.          Antioch the disciples were filled.
give them the Comforter Who is               This is precisely what happened         with joy and the Holy Ghost. (Cf.
the Spirit of truth. The world can-        when the Spirit was poured out.           Acts 166-7.)  The message of Acts
not receive the Spirit, but He will        The record of this we have in the         as,far  as missions is concerned L
dwell with the disciples and be in         Book of Acts. Acts records the his-       that Christ is present with His
them. Then Jesus says, "I will not         tory of the early expansion of the        church in the Spirit! The crucified,
leave you comfortless: I will come         church...or the history of missions       risen Lord Jesus Christ Who has all
to you" (vss. 16-18).  Jesus will be       under the leadership of the apos-         power in heaven and on earth. He
with them through the Spirit of            tles. It begins with the ascension of     has returned, as He promised, to be
Truth, the Comforter.                      Christ and ends with the apostle          with the church in the Spirit.
  In this same chapter, verses 25          Paul in prison in Rome. Acts                Before the Spirit is poured out,
and 26, Jesus identifies the Com-          records the spread of the gospel be-      the church is a little group of 120
forter as the Holy Ghost. The Fa-          yond the Jews and among the Gen-          believers. They are waiting, pra.y-
ther will send the Comforter in the        tiles. At first the apostles labored      ing in an upper room in Jerusalem.
name of Christ. The Spirit will            among the Jews (the only exception        They do not understand, do not
teach the disciples all things and re-     being Philip's work among the             know what to expect. But then the
mind them of everything Jesus              Samaritans, Acts  8). Subsequent to       Spirit is poured out! Suddenly tihey
taught them. According to John             Peter's vision of the unclean ani-        understand, and Peter preaches a
15:26-27,  the Comforter (Spirit of        mals and the conversion of Cor-           marvelous sermon on Joel 2: The
Truth) Who proceeds from the Fa-           nelius and his house, Acts records        Day of the Lord is here! Christ
ther will testify of Christ. The fruit     the gathering of the church out of        brings 3,000 to conversion! Christ
of that testimony of the Spirit will       the nations. And all of this would        through the Spirit drives the church
be that the disciples will bear wit-       have been impossible without the          out into the world. The church
ness of Christ.                            pouring out of the Holy Spirit as         then becomes a mighty host, the
  In John 16:5-15  Jesus tells the dis-    the Spirit of Christ.                     Lord adding daily to it such as
ciples that it is EXPEDIENT for              Acts really teaches us one, great       should be saved. The apostles alre
them that He depart, for if He does        principle of missions, viz., it is ex-    given great boldness. These, who

                                                                                         July 1,199O  / The Standard Bearer / 421


had formerly been unlearned and              mand is the same: "Make disciples        Christ gathers His elect out of the
ignorant, are given boldness in the           of all nations; preach the gospel of    nations to the glory of God!
faith; courage to stand before kings          the kingdom to the ends of the            May God give us grace to lbe
and governors; strength to endure            earth as a witness to the nations."      faithful to this great task, the one
all kinds of opposition, abuse, and          The promise is the same: `Lo, I am       thing He told His church to do,
persecution, even death! All this            with you always, even unto the end       viz., preach the Word to the na-
through the grace of Jesus Christ            of the world."                           tions! I7
Who was present with them                       Christ is with us through the
through the Holy Spirit.                     Holy Spirit. He comforts us,
   That same Lord Jesus Christ is             strengthens us, enables us to be His
present with us today! The com-              witnesses. Through these means




                                           The Work of t:he
                                           Evangelical
                                           Presbyterian Church1
Rev. Philip Burley                         of Australia

   The Evangelical Presbyterian            ~ people were then attached to dif-        loose fellowship organizations
Church (E.P.C.) has been in exis-          ~ ferent denominations: Baptist,           were Arminian, mostly Baptist,
tence since July 29,196l (though it           Church of Christ, Methodist, Pres-      and independent in character. As
was first constituted under the               byterian, to name a few. They were      they fought a common enemy they
name `Reformed Evangelical                    grieved by the departure of these       gradually became aware of the ex-
Church").                                     denominations from the funda-           istence of one another. The result
   In order to gain an appreciation           mentals of the Christian faith.         was that there was an exchange of
of the work of the E.l?C. it will be          Some of the truths no longer            speakers, missions were heldi in the
necessary to look at the back-                taught included the complete in-        different centers, and many people
ground and formation of the                   spiration of the Scripture, the need    made decisions at the evangelistic
church. We will, therefore, con-              for the new birth, separation from      meetings, some in tents, some in
sider this subject under three head-          ungodliness, and the need of holi-      the open air. The speakers were
ings.                                         ness. These people were also frus-      full of zeal and were determined to
BACKGROUND AND                                trated in their attempts to address     serve their Lord with all their
FORMATION                                     the problems that faced them in         hearts. They sacrificed much to
   In the early 1950s there were              their churches and by the lack of       take their message to all men.
groups of earnest sincere Chris-              willingness on the part of their           It was not long before they were
tians throughout Tasmania. These              ministers to hear their protests        faced with bitter disappointment.
                                              against the rising tide of mod-         Many of those who had made "de-
                                              ernism, humanism, and liberal the-      cisions" at their meetings fell. away
                                              ology that was sweeping through         and did not go on to manifest the
                                              their churches.                         fruits of true faith. This caused
                                                The result of all this was that       them to ask the question, what is
                                              some were forced out and others         wrong? Is there something wrong
                                              left of their own accord. Thus a        with our message? They came to
                                             loose fellowship network came            the conclusion that there must be
Rev. Burley is pastor of the Evangeli-       into being, and eventually drew          more to the Gospel than they knew.
cal Presbyterian Church in Win-              these Bible-believing Christians to-     Some of them started to read
naleah, Tasmania, Australia.                 gether. These believers and the          Charles Finney, who placed much

422 I The Standard Bearer I July 1,199O


emphasis on repenfance. Soon there              this position, which we believe to be tke
was a very heavy emphasis on re-                true Scriptural one.
pentance. They now had fewer                       We have prayerfully considered, and a0
converts, for they were making it               deeply appreciate tke advice and assistance
harder for people to make a deci-               of mature Reformed brethren in tke faith
sion, since they were preaching                 concerning tke principle of tke ecumenidy
more "works."                                   of tke Church, and believe tke way we kave
                                                chosen is not inconsistent with this princi-
   In the late 195Os, in their search
for the answers to their problems,              Pk.Tke ordination of our first members of
they came across some `Reformed"                Presbytery wdl be conducted by a Pres-
publications such as Jonathan                   bytery from tke Presbyterian Church of
Edwards Religious  Affections,                  Eastern Australia (Free Church).
George Whitefield's sermons, and                   It is our earnest desire to co-operate in
the Westminster Confession of                   tke promulgation of tke Reformed  Faith in
Faith. One of Spurgeon's sermons                our land to tke fullest possible extent with
entitled "Salvation Altogether of               all who are militant for tke Reformed Faith.    Pastor Philip Burley
Grace" was greatly used at this                    Praying that our generation shall see a        The E.l?C. folk had come,
time. Early Banner of Truth Trust               Reformation that enthrones God, that es-
                                                tablishes righteousness, unmasks false reli-    through many tears and much
publications began to appear and                gion, and strips sinners of vain confidence.    study, to the doctrines of grace and
books published by the Sovereign                   This historic statement reveals              of the sovereignty of God, and they
Grace Publishers were circulated.               much about the foundation and                   were not persuaded by the argu-
All of a sudden there was an amaz-              purpose for which the church was                ments of the ministers of the
ing work of God's grace, a revival              originally constituted as a separate            P.C.E.A.
of truth. The doctrines of human                denomination. It displays the roots               Later in the controversy the
depravity and of God's sovereign                which were being put down in the                P.C.E.A. men made reference to the
grace were at the very center of this           soil of the Reformed inheritance                "Marrow men" and held them up
work of God. Their preaching                    which came through the Scottish                 as an example as to how the Gospel
which had been man-centered now                 line.                                           should be preached to sinners. The
became God-centered, and God-                   DEVEL0PmN-E AND                                 language recommended was that .
honoring.                                       CONFIRMATION OF                                 "Christ is dead for YOU," "Christ
   On the 29th of July, 1961, a num-            DISTINCTIVES                                    is YOUR'S to come to," "the deed is
ber of these fellowships were con-                 This newly formed denomina-                  made out in your name - YOU
stituted the Reformed Evangelical               tion had three ordained ministers               only have to take possession,"
Church, by the ordination of three              and three men who were acting as                "Christ hath taken upon him the
of their already serving pastors. El-           student pastors, so the important               sins of all men," "the Father hath
ders were also called by the people             matter of training these men had to             made a deed of gift unto all
and set apart by ordination. The                be dealt with.                                  mankind...."
following is the original "Declara-                Though separate denominations,                 All these expressions were in-
tion of Intention."                             the E.P.C. and the K.E.A.  agreed               deed offensive to the E.K. folk.
   On tke 29th offuly, 1962, the Pastors        on the joint setting up of a Theolog-           They certainly believed that the
and Elders from  our Reformed  congrega-        ical College which they called the              Gospel must be preached to all
tions met to finalize arrangements for the      John Knox College. It was while                 men, but the offer was to be in the
constituting of tke Reformed Evangelical                                                        sense of a publicizing or a setting
Church, and for tke ordination of a Pres-       these three students were at the col-
bytery in Tasmania.                             lege that the matter of the Free Of-            forth of Christ as the only way to
   Tke Standards and Formula&s of tke           fer of the Gospel arose. It was soon            heaven, and of our desperate need
Church shall be, tke Westminster Confes-        discovered that there were serious              of Him, and of the command given
sion of Faith, tke Larger and Shorter Cate-     doctrinal differences between the               in God's Word that we are all
chism, tke form of Presbyterial Church          officers of the E.P.C. and of the               bound to repent and believe on the
Government, and tke Direct0 y of Public         P.C.E.A. The  E.K. officers, with               Son of God. It was a lifting up of
Worship as orighdly  accepted by the            their Arminian background, were                 Christ for all to see, a setting forth
Church of Scotland, wkick includes tke          deeply disturbed and offendedby                 of His sufficiency, and telling the
original Calvinistic principle of things not    the P.C.E.A.`s concept for the basis            hearers that unless they fled to Him
commanded in Scripture, (either expressly,
or by good and                                  of "the offer," which is an unful-              from the wrath to come they would
                   necessary consequence de-    filled desire in the heart of God for           surely perish. To the E.K. folk the
dud  from its statements) are  forbidden in
worship.                                        the salvation of all men, and a uni-            death and the atonement of Christ
   As history kas ever proved that unity in     versal non-saving love in God for               were for the elect alone.
tke Church is best maintained in tke unity      the reprobate. The manner in                      So in this way the battle lines
of tke Spirit and truth, and not necessarily    which "the offer" was preached                  were drawn, and this distinctive of
in adopting tke name of a visible organiza-     was to them a compromise of the                 the E.P.C. as a church was estab-
tion of any older establisked denomination,     doctrines of grace and of the Re-               lished. Through much study thle
and believing that this unity in our ranks      formed faith.                                   E.P.C. people came to see that they
can be best maintained thus, we agreed to
                                                                                                    July 1,199O  I The Standard Bearer ,I 423


were not alone in their stand. They      other hand the E.K. has an affinity      the E.I?C. are seeking to revise their
found there were many who had            with the P.R.C. of America in the        practice and constitution, with a
gone before, who had held to their       doctrine of particular grace, yet        view to making it more workable
position such as Knox, Rutherford,       again there are the very real differ-    and applicable to Australian cir-
Gillespie, Dickson, Durham, and          ences in matters of worship and          cumstances, and, in some in-
men that followed them such as           government.                              stances, more consistent with their
Professor Dunlop, Robert Wodrow,           The E.P.C. sees that, by God's         understanding of God's Word.
Thomas Blackwell, J. Willison, J.        grace, it must maintain those truths     They are consulting the Orders and
Brown of Wamphray  William               which God in His goodness has re-        Practices of other Reformed
Guthrie.                                 vealed to her as a church. Them          Churches to assist them in this
   In the years that followed, the       must be no watering down of these        work.
E.K. discovered that there were          doctrines,in order to form any al-         Though the E.P.C. have had
other denominations which had re-        liance with another denomination         many trials and hardships, their
jected the doctrine of the "marrow"      which would of necessity remove          continued existence is evidence of
and "common grace," and that they        the blessing of God from the E.P.C.      God's gracious work. Though they
were not entirely alone in the           as a denomination.                       battle with their faults and short-
world in their stand on this issue.      TI-IE E.P.C. IN ITS WORK AN-D            comings, they desire to continue
They were greatly encouraged by          WITNESS TODAY                            faithfully serving the Lord, in
this discovery.                            In the Reform& world, the              "their comer of His vineyard.."
   There are a number of other ar-       E.K. are theologically a very con-       They seek to bear witness to the
eas which,the E.K. would class as        servative and confessional church.       full-orbed Reformed faith which is
their distinctives. One is the matter    They desire to safeguard and pre-        the most consistent expression of
of the Covenant and its implication      serve their precious heritage in the     God's Word. They seek to doi this
in Christian education. On the one       Reformed faith for future genera-        without compromise, but with a
hand, we do not hold to presump-         tions. Apart from holding to those       compassionate understanding of
tive regeneration; and, on the other,    doctrines and practices which all        the problems and the difficuhies  of
we do not treat our children as a        Reformed churches hold, they re-         others. They believe they need the
mission field. The E.K. believe          main distinctive as a denomination,      brethren of other Reformed
.that covenant children are Chris-       in holding to sovereign particular       churches, in order to encourage
tian in the sense that they are mem-     grace, as founded on God's eternal       and help one another in setting
bers of the visible church, and have     covenant. Also, in applying the          forth the Lord Jesus Christ, in all
all the outward privileges of the        supreme Lordship of Christ to wor-       His beauty. They believe that the
people of God. They are to be            ship, they practice exclusive psalm-     world lies in darkness, and needs
taught their responsibilities as         ody unaccompanied by music.              this great light; therefore they are
those who are guilty of both origi-        At present, the E.K. consist of        seeking to shine forth, to God's
nal and actual sin.                      five congregations, and two              glory, and the ingathering of His
   There is also the matter of the       preaching stations. There are three      lost sheep who sit in darkness and
Lordship of Christ, with its applica-    pastors, or teaching elders, with ap-    in the shadow of death.
tion to a Christian view of politics     proximately 350 souls under their          At present, their resources do not
and the civil magistrate. The rulers     pastoral care.                           enable them to support their `own
of our land are in fact answerable         Since the recent separation of         missionaries, but they  are seeking
to the Lord. They derive their au-       two congregations from our fellow-       to witness and evangelize those
thority from Him alone, and there-       ship, we enjoy a measure of unity        around them. They support various
fore are responsible to rule in the      and purpose not previously en-           missionary endeavors, which. in-
civil sphere according to His Holy       joyed. We continue to maintain our       clude the Presbyterian Church in
Law.                                     synodical structure to help in the       Uganda, the Reformation Transla-
   Further, the matter of biblically     care of the congregations, which         tion Society in Taiwan, and the
regulated worship has been con-          are separated by distances of up to      Trinitarian Bible Society. The E.P.C.
firmed over the years. This princi-      2,000  miles. We also have two           is at present preparing a sympo-
ple requires a warrant from Scrip        young men as students in training        sium on denominational distmc-
ture for every element of worship.       for the ministry. We look upon           tives, and is working toward more
   These distinctives have made it       these students as an answer to the       regular publishing of their maga-
extremely difficult for the E.P.C. to    prayers of the people, as our need       zine, The Evangelid  Pmbyferian,  as
forge a sister-church relationship       for ministers is great. At our last      well as other publications.
with any other denomination. On          Synod there was approval, on a             The E.K. believes that the West-
the one hand we agree with Scot-         limited basis, to take up the kind       minster Confessional standards, as
tish Presbyterians in the matters of     offer of help from the Protestant        approved and qualified by the Re-
worship, church government, and          Reformed Churches in the training        formed Church of Scotland in 1647,
the civil magistrate; but there is a     of our students.                         are the most consistent summary of
great difficulty when it comes to          To help settle and establish the       the truths of God's holy Word, and
the "marrow" theology; on the            work of our denomination further,        are in harmony with the continen-

424 1 The StandardBearer!  July $1990


tal Reformed symbols, such as the          Directory for the Public Worship of          viduals who hold the Reformed
Belgic Confession, the Heidelberg          God; the Form of Presbyterian                faith as precious. Their aim is to
Catechism, and the Canons of               Church Government and the Direc-             enter meaningful, face-to-face dis-
Dordt. They see these standards as         tory for Family Worship; and the             cussion with them. They desire to
part of their heritage. By the West-       First and Second Books of Disci-             understand precisely where they
minster standards the E.l?C. mean:         pline.                                       agree and disagree with others, and
The Confession of Faith; the Larger          At present, the E.P.C. are seeking         thus to what extent they can work
and Shorter Catechisms; the                to continue their contact with other         together, whilst maintaining their
Solemn League and Covenant; The            Reformed churches, and with indi-            distinctives. q




                                           The Promotion of
                                           More Meaningful
                                           Sister-Church
                                           Relationsh.ips
Rev. Rodney Miersina


                                           makes such relationship "meaning-                  4. Taking heed to one an-
                                           ful" in order finally to establish                    other's life as churches;
                                           how it can be made "more" mean-                       constantly acquainting one
                                           ingful.                                               another with decisions (of
                                              Since the Protestant Reformed                      their broadest assemblies;
                                           Churches of America seem to be                        mutual decisions as to revi-
                                           the point of common contact, let us                   sions of and additions to
                                           look at their definition of a sister-                 the creeds, the Church Or-
                                           church relationship as set forth in                   der, and liturgical forms.
                                           the Constitution of their Commit-                         Such a full sister-church
                                           tee for Contact with Other                            relation shall be estab-
                                           Churches (pp. 55-56, Church Order).                   lished only with those for-
                                           Under "V. General Mandate: B."                        eign churches of whom we
                                           we read:                                              are assured not only that
                                              B. A full sister-church relation-                  they accept the Reformed
Rev. Rodney Miersma in his own                       ship with foreign churches                  standards as their basis,,
pulpit                                               implies:                                    but that they indeed main-
                                                     1. Mutual acknowledgment                  j tain them in their ecclesias-
  In order to discuss how to pro-                      of offices, so that ministers             tical life.
mote a "more meaningful" sister-                       of sister churches are al-          The underlying principles  for
church relationship we must first                      lowed preaching privileges       the above can be found in the Holy
come to an understanding as to                         in one another's congrega-       Scriptures and in the subordinate
what a "sister-church relationship"                    tions and are eligible to be     standards of the PRCA, the specific
is. Then we can discuss what                           called by congregations in       references being the Heidelberg
                                                       sister churches.                 Catechism, Q & A 54; the Belgic
                                                     2. Mutual acknowledgment           Confession of Faith, Articles 27--29;
                                                       of membership attests.           and the Church Order of the
Rev. Miersma is pastor of the Profes-                3. The delegation and recep-       PRCA, Article 85 (cf. "IV" of the
tant Reformed Church of New                            tion of delegates to the         above mentioned Constitution),.
Zealand, a sister-church to the Protes-                broadest assemblies of           Although specific Scriptural refer-
tant Reformed Churches of America.                     such sister churches.            ences are not given, the Reformed

                                                                                            July 1,1990  / The Standard Bearer ,I 425


Home and foreign participants                                         Rev. and Mrs. Lau, slide presentation on Singapore





Committee members record the speeches                                 Rev. Colebom poses a question





            Mr. Callender as precentor, for a Psalter    I    P.R. clergy in good attendance
            number without organ


   426 1 The Standard Bearer 1 July 1,199O


left to right: USA, NZ, UK
                                                                           Two cultures, one goal: missions





The Mahtanis and Korterings share a table                                                   Profs Hanko and Decker enjoy a light moment





                                             Taking good advantage of coffee/cookie time



                                                                                                   July 1,199O  I The Standard Bearer I 427


Churches in the Netherlands, Lib-            There must therefore constantly          most important parts of a sister-
erated, when speaking on this same         be communication so that we come           church relationship. This brings us
subject, give John 17:11,17,20,21;         to know one another more and               back to the putting into action what
Ephesians 3:14-4:6;  and II Timothy        more intimately. It is then that we        was expressed in word, without
3:15,16  as references.                    will discover not only that we are         reservation, with complete and
  Having established what a sister-        so very much alike, but that we            wholehearted commitment.
church relationship is, we now ap-         need each other. Too often a church          Turning now to the relationship
proach the question, `What makes           has been in isolation for so long,         on the unofficial level, we can be
this relationship not only `mean-          rather independent, fighting her           relatively brief. A good, healthy,
ingful,' but `more' meaningful?"           own battles, that when she finds a         living relationship at the official
The answer to this question can be         "sister" she assumes that she can          level will result in a similar xela-
as many and as varied as there are         only give and can be enriched in no        tionship developing at the tmoffi-
churches involved, and even as             way by her new "sister." Few               cial level. By the latter is meimt
many and as varied as there are in-        things are more demeaning than             contact between members of sister-
dividuals within each church. In           getting the feeling that one can           churches as families and as individ-
other words, the answer is highly          only be enriched by another, but           uals, which contact has no legal
subjective rather than objective.          can not contribute anything of             standing. When two churches are
  I believe that there are two levels      worth in return. The body of               working harmoniously together,
of sister-church relationships. One        Christ is one, all the members of it       then the saints of each will seek
level is the official level, where con-    are dependent on each other for the        each other out. Personal visits
tact is made and maintained offi-          welfare of the whole. As this is           should be encouraged. In New
cially through the broadest assem-         true in the physical body, so is this      Zealand we can speak from experi-
blies. The other level is an unoffi-       true in the spiritual body as this ap-     ence. Situated on the other side of
cial level through the members of          plies to the individual congrega-          the world from our "sister" we are
the churches as they personally live       tions and denominations which are          filled with joy when fellow-saints
out what has been established on           visible manifestations of that spiri-      from our sister-church come to visit
the official level.                        tual body.                                 us. Here the intimacy is brought
  Beginning with the official level,         Eventually it all comes down to          out which is almost impossible at
relationships between churches can         this: If sister-church relationships       the official level. In addition,, there
be truly meaningful only if the            are to be meaningful, then the con-        could be a regular exchange of
mandate, such as set out in the            tact should be active, living, and in-     news, whether by way of a
above constitution, is actually put        timate. Then the churches will be          "newsletter" or the church bul-
into practice. It has always been          working together in their highest          letins. In New Zealand, when a
stressed from the pulpits of true          and, really, only calling, that is, the    newsletter such as Hudsonville's
churches that doctrine and practice        preaching of the gospel unto all the       "A Closer Look" is received, or
cannot be separated, that what one         world unto the gathering of Cod's          when a bulletin from First PRC is
believes must also be lived. There-        people from every nation, tongue,          slipped in with our shipment of
fore, we must always guard against         and tribe. Practically this is done in     shaara  Be4zrers, it is passed from
dead orthodo>cy. This also applies         the way of meeting the needs of            family to family and read with
here. All the constitutions with           our sisters to the best of our ability     great delight. We begin to feel the
their mandates, rules, guidelines,         according as the Lord has blessed          heartbeat of our sister-churches.
etc. amount to nothing if they are         us. This may be in the sharing of          The children and the young people
not acted upon. This struck me as I        ministers, educating men from a            could write to "pen pals." The ex-
studied the history of some                sister-church for the ministry, co-la-     change of church directories would
churches in their contact with other       boring in missions, exchanginglit-         also promote closer ties, whether
churches. Contact would be made,           erature for mutual edification, of-        this is done at the official or tmoffi-
and a sisterchurch relationship            fering advice when it is requested,        cial level. Each church could ap-
would be subsequently estab-               or simply lending an ear. At times         point a member of their congrega-
lished... but it would not last. The       it  may also mean monetary assis-          tion to send out bulletins and the
relationship was inactive and there-       tance in order that our sister may         like on a monthly basis similar to
fore really dead. The churches in-         have the blessing of having her            what is done for The Standard
volved, recognizing this, would            own minister of the gospel. Any-           Bearer and The Beacon Lights. The
then officially terminate the rela-        thing less would be a denial of a          various churches through their
tionship, even though confession-          meaningful sister-church relation-         Evangelism Committees could
ally they could and should have re-        ship. One of the greatest and most         keep sister-churches informed of all
mained "sisters."                          important helps is "ministers              available material, particularly
                                           preaching." In short, a sister-            tapes of lectures and pamphlets, all
                                           church relationship without the            of which are extremely helpful in
                                           privilege of being able to call a          evangelism work and for the edifi-
                                           minister from the sister-church            cation of the members themselves.
                                           would be a denial of one of the            The mom contact there is rmoffi-

428  I The Standard Bearer/ July1,1990


cially the more meaningful is the         loneliness and isolation being cast      the neglect of one's own church.
relationship officially. Thus, there      away As we learn from each other           In light of the preceding it is in-
is a reciprocal relationship between      we grow in grace, truth, and             cumbent upon all of us as churclhes
the two levels, for the same thing is     knowledge. : What before we were         and as individuals to deal with one
true in reverse.                          not able to accomplish by ourselves      another with patience and with
  Meaningful relationships pro-           we can now do with the help of our       charity, all the while respecting
duce meaningful fruits. In these          sister.                                  each other's convictions.
latter days which are characterized          There are also things that can          We pray that some of the ideas
by rampant apostasy and increas-          take away from a good relation-          expressed in this article may help
ing evil, when one feels more and         ship. Fears have been expressed          to stimulate ever more meaningful
more like Elijah in thinking that we      such as the danger of compromise         relationships with our sister-
are all alone, it is encouraging to       and suspicion, division among            churches and with others with
learn that one is not alone. We then      one's own for the sake of a relation-    whom we have contact, that our.
go about our work with renewed            ship with'another,  and the spend-       covenant God and Father may re-
vigor and strength, the feelings of       ing of time with a sister-church to      ceive all honor and glory. Cl




                                          Report of
ML Jon Huisken                            Classis East

  Classis East met in regular ses-        East. Since some of this material        companiment by January 1991,
sion on Wednesday, May 9,199O             was treated in closed session, re-       and to cease from the practice of
with a continued session on May           porting will be limited to those as-     using other creeds for sermon
30,199O.  The continued session           pects of the appeals that were in        texts. Classis expressed its thanks
was necessary to give a committee         open session.                            to Norristown for the cessation of
of pre-advice sufficient time to             Two of the appeals dealt with         elders delivering their own ser-
study the material given them. Rev.       the application of Article 31 of the     mons.
B. Woudenberg chaired the session         Church Order, specifically whether          Byron Center overtured the cllas-
of May 9th and Rev. W. Bruinsma           matters could be preached about          sis regarding the time of submis-
the session of May 30th.                  which were in the process of being       sion of material to be treated by
  Several matters of import occu-         appealed to synod. Classis de-           classis, asking that the three-week
pied the agenda of classis: the re-       cided not to sustain the appellants      deadline prior to a meeting of clas-
port of the special committee of          in this matter, citing the fact that     sis for material to be submitted for
classis to visit Norristown and sev-      classis had already decided twice        inclusion in the agenda be changed
eral appeals from members of two          in the matter and a previous deci-       to thirty days, thus allowing more
of the congregations in Classis           sion of Classis West in 1981 which       time for the publishing and send-
                                          dealt with the similar question in-      ing of the agenda to the consistal-
                                          volving Article 31.                      ries. Classis adopted this overture.
                                             The committee report regarding        This means that material for the
                                          Norristown dealt with Norris-            meeting of September  12,199O
                                          town's use of their own songbook,        must be in the hands of the Stated
                                          Norristown's practice of not using       Clerk by August 13,199O.
                                          musical accompaniment, Norris-             Expenses of classis (for both ses-
                                          town's previous practice of having       sions) amounted to $5,673.17.
                                          elders deliver their own sermons,        Classis will meet next on Septem-
                                          and Norristown's use of creeds           ber 12,199O  at Hudsonville. Cl
                                          other than the Heidelberg Cate-                        Respectfully submitited,
                                          chism as texts for preaching. Clas-                               Jon J. Huisken
Mr. Huiskn  is an elder in the Protes-    sis advised Norristown to return to                                  Stated Clerk
tant Refomed Church of Grandville,        the use of The Psalter, to bring to
Michigan.                                 completion its study of musical ac-

                                                                                       July I,1990 I The Standard Bearer I 429


                                           Book Review
                                                                                    a

THE SEED OF THIE WOMAN, by                 grasp of the author, the simple               tion of clay, or an addition of soul,
Arthur C. Custance, 580 pp. Avail-         birth of one child will ever remain           body, and spirit. Man had a spiri-
able from Doorway Publishers, Box          as confessed in humble amazement              tual soul as well as a physical soul.
291, Brockville, Ontario K6V 5V5.          by the Psalmist in Psalm 139:13,14:           It was not so that out of the body
(Reviewed by Rev. George C. Lub-           "For thou didst form my inward                and soul of man there emerged per-
bers.)                                     parts (reins): thou didst cover me            sonality.
  Hem is a book which is written           in my mother's womb (knit me to-                The author attempts to demon-
in a rather clear style and in a clear     gether). I will praise thee for I am          strate the fusion of body and spirit
vocabulary. This book appeals to a         fearfully and wonderfully made....            into a living soul by placing two
critical and attentive reader who is       My frame was not hid from thee                stained pieces of glass, colors, blue
willing to do .just a bit of critical      when I was made in secret, and cu-            and yellow, upon each other -to ob-
thinking. The book delves into the         riously wrought in the lowest parts           tain the color green. It is thus in
field both of biblical exegesis and of     of the earth." If this is true of the         the color green that we have an il-
Nicean theology. We recommend              conception and birth of every hu-             lustration of man being made a liv-
this book to the observant reader.         man mortal, that it is shrouded in            ing soul. When I read this there
  The title of this book is obviously      secrecy, how much more the birth              came to mind what I had read in
derived from Genesis 3:16. This            of the eternal WORD made flesh!               the late Dr. Abraham Kuyper's Die-
would lead the student of Scripture           Should anyone desire to read               taten Dogma&k,  Locus de Homini,
to expect some positive exegetical         more in detail and in depth this              page 24, where he denominaites this
interpretation both of the seed of         rather learned book which is stud-            type of Trichotomy as being Pan-
the Serpent and of the seed of the         ded with scientific, experimental             theistic. He dictated to his Semi-
Woman in their battle throughout           data, we urge him to procure this             narians, "All the proponents of Tri-
the ages. However, the writer lim-         book at the above-given address.              chotomy admit that there are not
its his perspective and observations          There is also an interesting and           three essential parts, but only two
to the seed of the woman, and nar-         instructive part of the book which            created parts, but that a third. entity
rows this down simply to the con-          deals with the age-old question of            emerged from these two." Accord-
ception of Jesus in the womb of            Dichotomism versus Trichotomism.              ing to Kuyper this is unbiblical
Mary, a real woman. That she was           The author here attempts to solve             teaching.
a Virgin is not discussed. Rather the      this mystery of whether man con-                In the candid judgment of this
author attempts to show that the           sists of two parts or of three parts          reviewer the weakness of this well-
uniqueness of the germ plasm in            (body and soul, versus body, soul,            written volume is the lack of care-
Eve's body differed from the sperm         and spirit) from Genesis  2:7: "And           ful exegesis.
in Adam's body in that it was not          JEHOVAH God formed man of the                   We heartily recommend this
affected by the poison of physical         dust of the ground, and breathed              thought-provoking book to all pro-
death. Eve, therefore, had some-           into his nostrils the breath of life;         fessors, teachers, and other
thing immortal in her germ plasm           and man became a living soul."                thoughtful, discerning readers. Cl
which Adam did not retain as man.             In my Seminary instruction some
   How this affected the birth of          sixty years. ago, Prof. Herman
Christ from a "woman" without              Hoeksema pointed out that we
the assistance of a man remains            should not overlook that the text
rather nebulous in this book. In the       says that Jehovah formed MAN
judgment of this reviewer this             from the dust of the ground. He
comes as no surprise. The incarna-         did something more: He also
tion of the eternal Son under the          breathed into his nostrils the breath
overshadowing power and protec-            of life, so that man became a living
tion of the Holy Spirit is and will        soul!
ever remain the Mystery of all mys-           Man was made such that in this
teries. In spite of all the scientific     creation he is spiritual soul, image
research and the vast encyclopedic         of God. He was not a mere forma-
430 / The Standard Bearer I July I,1990


                                          News From
ML Benjamin Wigger                        Our Churches

MINISTERIAL CALLS                         CONGREGATIONAL                          preach June 10,17, and 24, D.V.
  Both Rev. Richard Flikkema and          ACTIVITIES                                I did a little research and discov-
Rev. Barrett Gritters have declined         We are happy to report hem that       ered that the last time the seminary
their calls to serve as the pastors of    the congregation of the Lynden          granted a license to "speak a word
the Hope PRC in Isabel, SD and            PRC in Lynden, WA has adopted a         of edification" to any seminary stu-
Randolph PRC in Randolph, WI,             proposal from their Consistory to       dent was in 1985.
respectively.                             award the contract bid to build         SCHOOL NEWS
MISSION ACTIVITIES                        their new church building. Con-           On May 29 the fourteenth An-,
  In late April, the Council of the       struction is scheduled to begin         nual Spring Combined Protestant
Hope PRC in Redlands, CA sent             sometime this summer, D.V.              Reformed Christian Schools Band
their pastor, Rev. A. denHartog,            The Evangelism Society of the         Concert was held at the Calvin Col-
along with elder Everett Van-             Southeast PRC in Grand Rapids,          lege Fine Arts Center in Grand
Voorthuysen, to Santa Cruz, CA, a         MI sponsored a lecture at the           Rapids, MI. Under the direction of
city about 350 miles north of Red-        Calvin Fine Arts Center on May 10.      Mr. Andrew Kamper, bands from
lands, to meet with four families         Southeast's pastor, Rev. Steve Key,     Adams, Heritage, Hope, and
there who had requested that Red-         spoke on the topic "Church Mem-         Covenant performed individual
lands visit with them concerning          bership in an Evil Age."                numbers. Then the stage was re-ar-
the possibility of mission work in          The congregation of the               ranged and all 130 musicians com-
their area.                               Grandville PRC in Grandville, MI        bined to play several numbers un-
  These men met with this group           cordially invited everyone in the       der the direction of guest conduc-
of four young couples and reported        West Michigan area PR churches to       tor, Mr. David E. Smith.
to their congregation that these          their open house on May 21.               I, for one, was especially im-
families are very zealous for the           There was a special Bible Study       pressed by these young people and
faith that God has given to us in         held at the South Holland PRC in        the talent they showed. It re-
our churches. Pray for this group         South Holland, IL recently. The         minded one of Psalm 33:3b "play
as they discuss with Redlands  what       Adult Bible Study groups from           skilfully with a loud noise."
the will of the Lord may be for fu-       Bethel, Peace, and South Holland.         The School Board of Heritage
ture work in Santa Cruz.                  met in a combined society meeting       Christian School in Hudsonville,,
                                          to conclude their society year. The     MI presented a proposal to its soci-
                                          Bible study was on Mark 6:30-56,        ety members in late April to build a
                                          with fellowship and refreshments        junior high addition to the school.
                                          afterwards.                             Tentative approval was given, de-
                                          DENOMINATIONAL                          pending on the outcome of a finan-
                                          HIGHLIGHTS                              cial drive in June of this year. This
                                            The faculty of our Seminary is        addition, which would be the sec-
                                          thankful to God and pleased to an-      ond for Heritage since 1985, would
                                          nounce that Seminarian Mitch Dick       consist of four regular classrooms,
                                          has been licensed to "speak a word      a band-choir room, and a Special
                                          of edification" in the churches. Ac-    Education room. Presently Her-
                                          cording to our Church Order, the        itage has 14 classrooms and two
                                          purpose of having seminarians           portable classrooms, but a study
                                          preach in the churches is twofold:      committee projects the need for nn
                                          1) "for their own training" and 2)      l%room school by 1992. q
                                          "for the sake of becoming known to
                                          the churches."
Mr. Wigger is a member of the Protes-       Mitch Dick will get his first op-
tant Reformed Church of Hudsonville,      portunity to do just that in Lynden,
Michigan.                                 WA where he is scheduled to

                                                                                      July 1,1990  / The Standard Bearer / 431


   THE
STANDARD                                                                                                               SECOND CLASS
 Bi54RER                                                                                                                Postage Paid at
                                                                                                                        Grand Rapids, Michigan

 PO. Box 6064
 Grand Rapids, MI 49506



RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                               NOTICE!!!                                           WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
   The Mary Martha Society of the                      Classis  West of the Protestant                     On June 22,199O our parents
Hope Protestant Reformed Church                      Reformed Churches will meet in                      and grandparents MR. & MRS.
of Redlands, California expresses                    South Holland, Illinois, on Wednes-                 HERMAN VANDYKE celebrated
its sincere sympathy to Mr. and                 '    day, September 5, 1990, at 8:30                     their 40th wedding anniversary.
Mrs. Jim Bleyenberg and family in                    AM, the Lord willing. All material                  This is a happy occasion for our
the death of her father, MR. RALPH                   for the Agenda is to be in the hands                family because we know that godly
BRUMMEL.                                             of the Stated Clerk, 30 days before                 parents are a priceless gift from our
   May they be sustained by God's                    Classis  convenes. All delegates in                 heavenly Father and for this we are
grace and comforted in His Word:                     need of lodging or transportation                   grateful. We, their children and
`Thou shalt guide me with Thy                        from the airport should notify the                  grandchildren commend thern to
counsel, and afterward receive me                    Clerk of South Holland's Consistory                 the care of our Lord in the dalys
to glory" (Ps. 73:24).                               using the forms provided for that                   ahead.
   Rev. Arie denHartog, President                    purpose.                                               "The lines are fallen unto me In
   Anna Mae Bodbyl, Secretary                           Rev. R. Hanko, Stated Clerk                      places large and fair. A goodly her-
                                                                                                         itage is mine, Marked out with gra-
RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                               RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                              cious care" The Psalter #27:!5.
   The Martha Ladies Aid Society of                     On April 14, 1990, the Lord took                   John &Judy VanDyke
the Hull Protestant Reformed                         to His eternal rest the father of a                    Gary & Cris VanDyke
Church expresses its sincere sym-                    beloved member of our congrega-                        Donald  & Linda VanDyke
pathy to Mrs. Peter D. Westra and /                  tion, MR. LOLKE T. WIETSMA.                            Steve & Pat VanDyke
family in the loss of her sister,               i      The congregation extends their                       Alan & Sandy VanDyke
ELLEN DICK.                                          support and sympathy to his family,                   Timothy & Linda VanDyke
   May they be comforted by the                      but especially to his daughter, Mrs.                   Kathy VanDyke & Tim Decker
words of the Lord in John 11:25,  "I                                                                               17 grandchildren
                                                     Hissy VanBrakel. "For I know that                                        Hope, Walker, Michigan
am the resurrection and the life: he                 my redeemer liveth, and that he
who believes in me, though he                        shall stand at the latter day upon
were dead, yet shall he live."                       the earth: And though after my skin
   Rev. Richard Moore, President                     worms destroy this body, yet in my
   Marie Brummel, Secretary                          flesh shall I see God" (Job 19:25,
                                                     26).
RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                  K. Hanko, President
   On April 26,1990, the Lord took I                    Richard Martin, Clerk         Norristown, PA
to glory the mother of a beloved           j
member of our congregation, MRS.,                    WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
SARAH KEY.                                              On July 11, 1990, the Lord will-
   The congregation extends their                    ing, our dear parents and grandpar-
heartfelt sympathy to her family, but                ents FRED and ALBERTA
especially to her daughter, Mrs.                     BOUWKAMP will celebrate their
Mary Hanko. "But as it is written,                   50th Wedding Anniversary.
Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, j                    We, their children and grandchil-
neither have entered into the heart                  dren, rejoice with them. We are
of man, the things which God hath :                  thankful to our heavenly Father for
prepared for them that love him" (I                  God-fearing parents and may He
Cor. 2:9).                                           continue to bless them in the years
   M.A.R. VanBrakel, Vice-President                  to come.
   Richard Martin, Clerk      Norristown, PA           Judy & Frank Triezenberg
                                                        Fred  & Joann Bouwkamp
                                                        Dave  & Char Bouwkamp
                                                             9 grandchildren
                                                                 First Church, Grand Rapids, Michigan





432 I The Standard Bearer I July 1,199O


