A Reformed
Semi-Monthly
Magazine





                        Theological School of the PRC
CTI_-             -.                               LII
Vol. 67, No. 2
October 1,199o


Contents                                                                                                      THE
                                                                       October I, 1990                   STANDARD
Meditation - Rev. Jason L. Kortering
   A FATHER'S PITY                                                                                  3        BARER
                                                                                                         ISSN 0362-4692
Editorial - Prof. David J. Ef?ge/sma                                                                     Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July,
   STAFF MEETING                                                                                         and August. Published by the Reformed Free Pub-
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LETTERS                                                                                             6    49516.
                                                                                                         EDITORIAL COMMITTEE
                                                                                                         Editor: Prof. David  I. Engelsma
Convocation Address - Prof. Robert D. Decker                                                             Secretary: Prof. Robert D. Decker
   EARNESTLY CONTENDING FOR THE FAITH                                                               8    Managing Editor: Mr. Don Doezema
                                                                                                         DEPAXTMENT  EDITORS
                                                                                                         Rev. Ronald Cammenga, Prof. Robert Decker, Rev.
Search the Scriptures - Rev. Gise J. VanBaren                                                            Arie  denHartog,  Rev. Russell Dykstra, Rev. Barry
                                                                                                         Critters, Rev. Carl Haak, Prof. Herman Hanko,
   WORKING OUT YOUR SALVATION                                                                            Rev. John  Heys,  Rev. Marvin Kamps, Rev. Kenneth
                                                                                                         Koole, Rev. Jason Kortering, Rev. Dale Kuiper, Mr.
OPEN LElTER FROM THE RFPA - Mr. Peter Koole                                                              James Lanting, Rev. George Lubbers, Mrs.
                                                                                                         Marybeth  Lubbers, Rev. James  Slopsema,  Rev.
                                                                                                         Charles Terpstra, Rev.  Cise  VanBare",  Rev. Ronald
A Word Fitly Spoken - Rev. Dale H. Kuiper                                                                VanOverloop,  Mr. Benjamin Wigger, Rev. Bernard
   RECONCILIATION                                                                                 14     Woudenberg.
                                                                                                         EDITORIAL  OFFICE                 CHUliCH  NEWS  EDITOR
                                                                                                         The Standard Bearer               Mr. Ben Wigger
Special Article - Rev. Cornelius Hanko                                                                   4949  lvanrest                    6597  - 40th Ave.
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   REMINISCENSES ON THE EARLY S/3                                                                 14     EDITORIAL   POLICY
                                                                                                         Every editor is solely responsible for the contents
Taking Heed to the Doctrine - Rev. Marvin Kamps                                                          of his own articles. Contributions of general in-
                                                                                                         terest from our readers and questions for The
   THE BIBLE IS THE WORD OF GOD                                                                   15     Reader Asks Department are welcome. Contribu-
                                                                                                         tions will be limited to approximately 300 words
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Decency and Order - Rev. Ronald L. Cammenga                                                              must be signed. Copy deadlines are the first and
   THE WORK OF ELDERS                                                                             17     the fifteenth of the month. All communications
                                                                                                         relative to the contents should be sent to the
                                                                                                         editorial office.
The Strength of Youth - Rev. Barrett L. Gritters                                                         REPRINT   POLICY
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the covenant-conception of the NRC, see instead the November 1 issue of The SB.                          delayed delivery. Include your Zip Code.
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ter who's getting older, the prospect of a growing student bod at our seminary is most gratlfy-          16mm  microfilm, 35mm microfilm and  lO!imm
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2 I The Standard Bearer / October 1,199O


Meditation                                  A Father's Pity
Rev. Jason Kortering


   "Like as a father pitiefh his            He punishes the wicked and re-            sents headship  in the home, and he
children, so the LORD pitieth               quires satisfaction for the sins of       is responsible for the care of his
them that fear him. For he                  His people. That is not all, for man      wife and children. Hence, pity
knoweth our frame; he remem-                cannot provide that payment.              must come from him as father; and
                                            Hence the Psalmist David adds the         the mother is his helpmeet  as well.
bereth that we are dust"                    element of mercy. "The Lord is            Being the head of the home, he is in
                (Psalm 103:13,14).          merciful and gracious, slow to            a special position to display pity,
                                            anger, and plenteous in mercy" (vs.       for in his strength (physical, psy-
                                            8). That mercy of God is love in ac-      chological, and spiritual) he is
                                            tion. In mercy He removes our             equipped to provide what is so
   Pity!                                    transgression from us as far as the       sorely needed in the family, pity!
   Who wants pity?                          east is from the west (vss. l&12).          Fathers, are you reading this
   It seems no one. The handi-              He does that by the blood of His          carefully?
capped of our day tell us they want         own Son. What moves God to do               The great virtue which God
respect, not pity. The street people        this, to give His own Son in pay-         Himself ascribes to every father is,
scoff at pity They want action,             ment for the sins of His people?          of all things, pity.
they want money, food, places to            The answer to this question is, pity.       And we ascribe pity to weak-
live. The broken, the wounded of               Pity is to feel the pain of others,    ness. Far too many fathers think
our society want understanding,             to weep with those that weep, to be       their calling as head of the home is
not pity.                                   compassionate with the lonely, to         toughness. Rule and authority is so.
   Could it be that a people                share in the burdens of life. A good      abused by so many fathers. They
schooled in the virtues of being in-        description of pity is found in He-       become demanding tyrants. Their
dependent has lost the sensitivity          brews 4:15, where Jesus is de-            will is an iron law in the home. Be-
of compassion? Is pity a violation          scribed as our high priest, as one        fore long, his dictum is executed
of self-esteem? Has love grown              Who can be touched with the feel-         with threats and violence. His big
cold in this world?                         ing of our infirtnifies.                  hand can thrash the strongest
  It has.                                      That is pity!                          willed child into submission. Wife
  And pity has gone out of the                 As the Psalmist looks around           and children cower before his rage.
window.                                     him for an earthly display of the         Pity, that is for wimps! Do not talk
  The passage we consider here              pity which God has for His chil-          love to this man, that is mushy
speaks of the pity of our Heavenly          dren, the Holy Spirit moves him to        nothingness. Biblical authority is
Father and that of an earthly father.       focus his attention upon an earthly       his weapon; his law is God's law,
"As a father pitieth his children, so       father. As a father pities his chil-      and that is final.
the LORD pitieth them that fear             dren, so Jehovah pities them that           But God says, "as a father pities
him."                                       fear Him.                                 his children."
  Within the household of faith,               An earthly father is the example,        A father that pities his child
pity is not demeaning, it is Divine!        par excellence, for pity.                 sheds quiet tears when his little one
  Pity is the heartfelt desire to              That has to say something to fa-       is hurting. Even though he may
bridge justice and mercy. Let me            thers. We might argue, why not            not be on the front line to soothe
explain. In the Psalm before us,            mothers? They are the ones who            and comfort every need of his hurt-
God is extolled for His justice.            nurse the wounds and sing softly          ing children, at the end of the day
`The LORD executeth righteous-              as disturbed children try to find         he offers a prayer of thanksgiving
ness and judgment for all that are          sleep. Mothering is the epitome of        for his wife who can so ably nur-
oppressed" (vs.  6). In His justice         pity!                                     ture and mother the children he
                                               The Holy Spirit speaks other-          loves. He takes time to be with his
                                            wise: as a father pities his children.    children. He knows the greatest
                                            The most obvious reason is that the       deterrent to hurting children is to
Rev. Korfering  is pusfor of fhe Profes-    analogy drawn here is between             demonstrate his love by spending
fanf Reformed Church in Grandville,         earthly fathers and our Heavenly          time with them. On a daily basis
Michigan.                                   Father. Still more, the father repre-     these children know that their dad

                                                                                         October1,1990!TheStandardBearer/   3


loves them. When the hurt does              thers who read these words with            chose us in love unto the adoption
come, they can pour out their heart         pangs of guilt and deep feelings of        of children (Eph. 1:4,5X
to father, for he will listen, he will      inadequacy. Mothers read these               It was pity that reached out to
understand. When they are sick,             words and breathe a prayer to God          our first parents, Adam and IEve.
he will visit their bed at night.           that the father of her children            Our Heavenly Father did not give
When they are restless, he will pray        might be more like this.                   them a tongue-lashing and beat
with them. When they act in ways              In the measure that we fail, we          them physically when they came
of rebellion, he will discipline them       must surely repent of sinful behav-        from behind the bush, trembling.
and afterwards assure them of his           ior, also within the home. God has         He took from them the leaves of
love.                                       given to fathers a wonderful and           self-righteousness and clothed
   The sure test of pity is this:           awesome position in the home. Of-          them with the garments of blood.
when your child hurts, do you as a          ten times fathers think that author-       l+Ie told them they would have to
father hurt more than he does? Be           ity and love are incompatible,             bear the consequence of sin, `but
careful what this means. Do you             while the very opposite is true.           held out the promise of the seed of
have more hurt, not for yourself in         The law which gives to fathers their       the woman, Jesus Christ. The
self-pity, but do you have more             authority is the law of love. Pity is      wilderness sojourn confirms that as
hurt for your child than your child         the application of that law to the         a Father, Jehovah pitied Israel, and
does for herself or himself?                special needs of our hurting family.       that pity bridges the gap between
   Then you have pity                       Well may we spend more time on             justice and mercy. He punished
   Such a father is a gift from             our knees, repenting of our wrongs         them in their sins, and forgave
heaven. Such love and compassion            and asking God for guidance in             them their transgressions.
from an earthly father is a reflec-         correcting them.                             What pity Jehovah displays in
tion of our Heavenly Father.                  What assistance does God give            the death of His own Son. Look at
  Children in such a home are               to fathers to encourage them in the        that cross, the blood, the sha:me,  the
spiritually blessed. They can expe-         exercise of this pity?                     cries of anguish. Jesus bore that be-
rience firsthand what God is saying           The purpose of Psalm 103 is to           cause our Heavenly Father knew
here. As a father pities his chil-          guide us in extolling God's great          that we could never do that. He
dren, so Jehovah pities them that           love to us. The more we consider           spared us, but not His own Son.
fear Him.                                   what God has done for us, what               In His pity for us, Jesus, our ex-
   The urgency is this: If we abuse         His pity means to us as adults, fa-        alted Lord, is touched with tlhe feel-
our children, physically, sexually,         thers or mothers, married or single,       ing of our infirmities.
psychologically, spiritually, or any        whatever age we may be, the more             When our children see their
other way for that matter, what will        we will exercise love and pity to          earthly father exercising pity upon
our children think of their Heav-           others.                                    them, they are encouraged to look
enly Father? Imagine, that a child            Jehovah pities us! He is our Fa-         heavenward. And this passage
slapped across the face by an angry         ther Who bestows such pity upon            confirms God's faithfulness to
father has to fold his little hands         us that we can only respond with           them.
and pray, our Father Who art in             the doxology which begins and                In turn, they learn to fear JehO-
heaven. The very thought of God             ends this Psalm, "Bless the Lord, 0        vah. That fear is not to be scared of
being a father scares him. How              my soul!"                                  Him, but rather the opposite. They
will a child who is yelled at and             It was pity that moved Him to            learn to reverence their Heavenly
called names by an angry father             elect us. We are chosen, not be-           Father, to stand in awe of Him, to
ever have the courage to look to            cause we are better and more noble         listen to Him, and to obey Him.
heaven and believe he is precious           than others, as if we were distin-           That is what we earthly fathers
to his Heavenly Father?                     guished for our great qualities. He        desire most. Cl
  The Holy Spirit draws a compar-
ison between earthly fathers and
our Heavenly Father. Like as a fa-
ther pities his children, so JEHO-
VAH pities them that fear him.                                  0 Lord, how happy is the time
God intends that the loving secu-
rity of a Christian home becomes                                        When in Thy love I rest;
the womb out of which the chil-                                 When from my weariness I climb
dren of God are born into this                                          E'en to Thy tender breast.
world.
  And pity is a critical ingredient.                            The night of sorrow endeth there,
  Justice and mercy are joined to-                                      Thy rays outshine the sun;
gether by pity.                                                 And in Thy pardon and Thy care
  We may well ask, what does it                                         The heaven of heaven is won.
take for a father to possess such
pity? I am sure there are many fa-                                                   -Sl?, March 1,193l

4 I The Standard Bearer / October 1,199O


Editorial

H Staff Meeting                            Rev. R. Dykstra will co-edit           H Mailing
                                         "Strength of Youth" with Rev. B.
   At its annual meeting in June,        Gritters. Rev. Dykstra will concen-         Observant subscribers will have
the staff of The Standard Bearer (the    trate on issues faced by our college     noticed that in the past few months
contributing editors) reappointed        students. No doubt he would ap-          The SB has been arriving earlier
all the officers. Most of the rubrics    preciate suggestions and questions       than before. Previously, the maga-
and writers will also remain the         from college students, as does Rev.      zine was mailed on the date that
same during the coming volume-           Gritters from all our young people.      appears on the cover. Of late, we
year.                                    You can send them in care of The         have mailed each issue several
   There will be a few changes.          SB. We remind our readers that we        days prior to the date of the issue
Rev. M. Kamps and Rev. C. Terpstra       will send The SB to college students     so that mafty, if not most, of our
will write the `Taking Heed to the       without charge. Inform the busi-         subscribers receive the magazine
Doctrine" rubric with Rev. B.            ness office of their name and col-       by the date of the issue. This has
Woudenberg. Rev. Kamps and Rev.          lege address.                            required the cooperation of our
Terpstra intend to cooperate in            A new rubric will consist of brief     writers, obligingly given. It is in
writing on Reformed doctrine fol-        explanations of key biblical words.      large part due to the indefatigable
lowing the order of the traditional      Rev. D. Kuiper will write the col-       efforts of our industrious managing
six loci of Reformed theology: doc-      umn. Look for the heading, "A            editor, Mr. Don Doezema, to whom
trine of God; of man; of Christ; of      Word Fitly Spoken," in this issue.       a hearty thanks.
salvation;:of  the church; and of the      With regret, the staff accepted           A few localities, however, still
last things. Rev. Kamps will lead        the resignation because of age of        get the magazine intolerably late..
off .with the Reformed doctrine of       long-time staff member, Rev. C.          The cause of the delay is the postal
Scripture. Rev. Woudenberg plans         Hanko. Rev. Hank0 began to write         service in those areas, not our taadi-
to continue his study of the biblical    for The SB in 1929. He became a          ness in mailing. Alas, we can do
teaching on the call of the gospel.      member of the staff in 1935 and has      nothing about this. The intolerable
All of these men will be writing for     been a member since then. We             delay must be tolerated. We trust
the people, not for the theologians.     thank him for his significant contri-    that the magazine is worth waiting
We intend these to be articles that      bution to the Reformed faith and         for.
not only refresh the doctrinal un-       life as maintained in the PRC
derstanding of Reformed men and          through his writing for The SB. Re-
women, but also can be used to in-       placing Rev. Hank0 as editor of          w Subscriptions
struct others in the fundamentals of     "The Reader Asks" will be the edi-
biblical truth. We drop for now the      torial committee. We asked Rev.             It is gratifying that subscriptions
rubric, "Guided into All Truth."         Hank0 about the early history of         to The SB have risen to almost 2200.
   Rev. C. Haak will share with Rev.     The SB. His response is his "Remi-       We are by no means satisfied with
G. VanBaren the writing of Bible         niscences on the Early SB" else-         this, however. The Board of the Re-
study outlines for societies and per-    where in this issue.                     formed Free Publishing Association
sonal use. Following completion of         These are the plans for The SB in      and the editorial committee of The
the outlines on Philippians, we will     the coming year, if the Lord will.       SB are working together closely in
publish outlines on the book of            We welcome the new writers.            order to increase subscriptions.
Ruth. We encourage our societies         We thank those who have been             Appearing in this issue is an open
to choose their books for Bible          writing and are willing to continue.     letter to our present subscribers.
study accordingly. We will do our        Cooperation has been excellent.          The letter asks the help of our read-
very best to stay ahead of the soci-     Deadlines are met-Copy is on             ers by sending the business office
ety meetings in publishing the out-      hand. May this continue.                 of The SB the names and addresses
lines.                                                                            of persons who might be interested

                                                                                     October 1,199O  I The Standard Bearer I 5


in receiving our magazine. We will             We are also exploring other av-         will be addressing the con&tories
send all those whose names are               enues of adding io ourreadership.         0.n this matter. 100% participation
submitted a sample copy of The SB            The Board of the R.F.P.A. has sent a      by the membership of the PRC is a
with an order form offering a                letter to the evangelism committees       reasonable desire. One way to
year's subscription for only $6.             of the PRC requesting their mailing       achieve this is that every consistory
  I ask our readers to respond to            lists and suggesting that they in-        make a year's subscription their
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ing to receive the magazine. We              in the Presbyterian weekly, Chris-          Let us hear from you.
will do the rest. We are especially          fian Obseruer.                              If every subscriber sends in five
desirous to make the magazine                   Reaching those members of the          names, we can offer the magazine
known to people outside the PRC.             PRC who do not subscribe is an-           to 10,fKKl people. If half would sub-
The address and telephone number             other goal. The staff recently dis-       scribe, our subscription list would
of the business office are found in          cussed ways in which our PR con-          more than triple, to 7,000. This
the masthead.                                sistories can help us with this ob-       would be a good start. Cl           -DIE
                                             jective. The editorial committee




                                            Letters

Infant Baptism -                             the Reformed faith by denying the            Finally,, whether we call any
"Unbiblical Tradition"                       unity of the covenant of grace. It is     Baptists "Reformed" is a matter of
                                             not the fact of unity but the inter-      semantics. You suggest that it is
                                             pretation of unity which separates        "unlawful" to do so. Those of us
  I must respond to your editorial           us. You would not demand animal           Baptists who adhere to the dloc-
in the August 1,1990,  issue of The          sacrifices in our time to prove the       trines of sovereign grace in salva-
Sfandard  Bearer. I am a Baptist who         unity of the covenants, as dispen-        tion and love the light which. great
has found your paper quite useful            sationalists do. Can't you see that       Protestant Reformers have brought
and spiritually profitable. How-             to demand a ceremonial seal for in-       to this world can live without the
ever, the response you wrote to              fants, although required by the           mere title. However, what we can-
William Oosterman's defense of               Bible in your view, is only one in-       not live without is sound Bible
Baptist doctrine was entirely out of         terpretation of what the doctrine of      teaching (as we understand i 0,
line.                                        covenantal unity demands?                 namely, the doctrines of uncondi-
   First, I strongly object to your al-         While certainly there are some         tional election, particular redemp-
teration of the sacred Scriptures to         Baptists who fail to see the Scrip        tion, the regulative principle of
prove your point. You quoted                 tures as you and I do, there are          worship, and, yes, also the neces-
Luke l&16, but you added words               many Baptists who agree that, both        sity of repentance before the ad-
not contained in the original text.          in the Old Testament and the New,         ministration of baptism (Acts 2:38).
No doubt you did this to help                there are babes in the Kingdom of         The promise of Abraham was for
prove your point and explain your            God. Where Baptists disagree with         us, and for our children, and for all
interpretation of the text. How-             you is concerning whether the             who are afar off, euen as man!{ as fhe
ever, this is precisely the way the          babes in Christ are physical infants      Lord our God shall call. Any who
cults defend their false doctrines. I        or spiritual ones. (See Hebrews           the Lord our God has not called are
am not saying that belief in infant          8:ll.J Because the New Covenant           not beneficiaries of the promise
baptism or infant church member-             is spiritual, spiritual children of       and are not to be recipients of the
ship is cultic. However, the tech-           Christians are the ones invited to        seal of the covenant.
nique you used to prove your                 the New Testament parallel of cir-           Your editorial states: "If our
point is one used by the false               cumcision. In your view, this inter-      children are outside the church,
teachers.                                    pretation of Scripture is wrong.          they are outside the sphere of sal-
   Secondly, you mistakenly wrote            However, it is certainly not illegiti-    vation." This statement assumes
that all Baptists part company with          m a t e .                                  that there is a third state for

6 I The Standard Bearer I October 1,1990


mankind, (1) those who are saved,            In fact, this is not an illegitimate    rian, etc. theologies differ as to
(2) those who are unsaved, and (3)         way of teaching Luke 1816 at all.         what really happens during a pae-
those who are yet unsaved but-still        Luke 18:16,  in its context of verses     dobaptism. And what about
within a so-called sphere of salva-        15 and 17, itself is Christ's Word to     paedo-communion? Inconsistent,
tion. Those who are Christ's chil-         the New Testament church, "Allow          inconsistent, inconsistent, is the
dren by salvation will certainly be        the infants to come to me by being        watchword. As long as you con-
in heaven (John 10:29).  Those who         brought to the baptismal font by          fuse the church with unsaved mem-
are not ChrisYs elect will never en-       their parents, and forbid them not:       bers (in this case, children) we
ter heaven and cannot (John 3:3;           for the church - the kingdom of           won't have much to talk about.
665). The Bible speaks of no third         God in the present age - is made          The covenant becomes narrower
"sphere of salvation" from which           up of such infants." The children         and narrower...those  in the
some enter heaven and others be-           are infants. They are literal, physi-     covenant are believers only!  Thils is
come covenant breakers.                    cal infants, not spiritual infants -      an area where the Westminster
  Baptists believe that all the chil-      the parents were  carrying real ba-       Confession is confused as well.
dren of believers share in many            bies of a few months to Jesus. Je-          You also confuse regeneration
great and precious benefits, just          sus' touch of blessing of the infants     with  conversion.  You blur the dis-
like the Jews of the Old Testament         does not differ essentially from the      tinction between the world and the
(Romans 3:1-3). Baptists have as           baptism of infants. The basis is that     church by generating a community
much hope for the salvation of             infants of believing parents belong       of baptized heathen. Again, the
their children who die in infancy as       to the kingdom of God, i.e., the          covemnf is not made up of believers
those who adhere to the Westmin-           church.                                   and their seed, rather it is made up
ster and Belgic Confessions. How-            Luke 18:16, in ifs meaning as I         of those who know the Lord....
ever, our hope is based upon the           gave if (in keeping with the inter-                         Paul K. Christianson
clear promise of the Bible that "the       pretation given by the entire Re-                                  Clarkston, WA
lovingkindness of the Lord is from         formed tradition) is the very Word
everlasting to everlasting on those        of Christ. Luke 18:16, recited word-      Response
who fear Him, and His righteous-           for-word as it lies on the page of
ness to children's children, to those      the Bible, but understood in such a
who keep His covenant, and who                                                         I can tell you what actually hap-
                                           way as to deny infant baptism, is
remember His precepts to do                                                          pens during the baptism of a child
                                           not the Word of Jesus Christ. - Ed.
them" (Psalm 103:17,18). It is not                                                   of believing parents: God Himself
based upon unbiblical tradition                                                      signifies and seals that He makes
                                           Infant Baptism -
and sentimentality.                                                                  His one covenant of grace with be-
                Thomas E. Martin, Jr.      Theological Detour                        lievers and their elect children,
                                                                                     cleansing them from sin and unit-
                  Kennett Square, PA         I read your recent articles on          ing them with Himself by the blood
                                                                                     and Spirit of Jesus Christ. The re-
Response                                   "Covenant Children" in the July
                                           and August, 1990 issues of The            sult of this divine testimony is that
                                                                                     church and parents rear the child in
  I made it clear enough that I was        Standard Bearer.  While I certainly
                                           appreciate much of the PRC's  the-        the nurture and admonition of the
giving Luke 1816,  not word-for-                                                     Lord Jesus (Eph. 6:4). The power of
word as it stands on the page of           ology in many, many areas, I am
                                           afraid I cannot endorse the unscrip-      the sacrament, by the working of
Scripture, but in its meaning. As          tural, if not saccharine, sentimental-    the Holy Spirit, is that the elect chil-
soon as he read, "...by being              ity which surrounds infant bap-           dren grow up strengthened in faith
brought to the baptismal font...,"                                                   in Jesus Christ, as a rule from ten-
every reader knew that this was            tism. It amazes me to see so many         derest years. As they learn the
Luke l&l6 as interpreted by the ed-        good men taking this detour in            meaning of the covenant and infant
itor of The Standard                       their theology. My suggestion is
                         Bearer. No one    that you need a bit more Bible, and       baptism from the gospel, their own
was fooled.                                a bit less of John Calvin on this is-     baptism as infants assures them of
  If this is cultic, I at least have                                                 God's love for them and impels
fine, orthodox company in my               sue. Infant Baptists, no matter how       them to love this gracious God in
method of teaching the truth.              high sounding their words, will
                                           never be truly `Reformed" as long         response. Their baptism avails
When Martin Luther translated Ro-          as they cling to that umbilical           them, as the Belgic Confession
mans 328, he inserted into the text        which leads to Romanism...pae-            teaches in Article 34, through the
the word, "only" ("a man is justi-         dobaptism! Neither you, nor any           whole course of their life.
fied by faith only"), even though          other paedobaptist is truly able to         Your basic error is your denial,
the word does not appear in the            tell me or other Reformed Baptists        `The covenant is not made up of
Greek text. And he "added" this                                                      believers and their seed." Your
word to the German Bible, whereas          what actually occurs during a pae-        quarrel, thus, is not with me, but
I merely added words in an expla-          dobaptism...in fact, Romanist,
                                           Lutheran, Church of Christ, Con-          with Jehovah, Who said to Abra-
nation of the text in The SB.              gregational, Anglican, Presbyte-          ham, father of believers, "I will es-
                                                                                     tablish my covenant between me

                                                                                       October 1,199O  I The Standard Bearer i' 7


and thee and thy seed after thee in         contradict the Holy Spirit, Who           covenant of grace. You contradict
their generations..." (Gen.  127).          proclaimed the covenant-gospel on         the explicit teaching of the Bible;
Your controversy is with Jesus,             Pentecost, "The promise is unto           you defy the whole of the glorious
Who grounded His command that               you, and to your children..." (Acts       Reformed and Presbyterian tradi-
the infants be brought to Him for           2:39x                                     tion; and you exclude our children
His blessing in the fact that the              I marvel at the determination of       from the mercy of God and the sal-
kingdom of God is made up of                "Calvinistic Baptists" to exclude         vation that is in Jesus.
such infants (Luke 18:15-V).  You           the children of believers from the           why?  cl                        - Ed.




                                            Earnestly
Convocation                                 Contending for
Address                                     the Faith
Prof. Roberf Decker


   Our churches and our seminary            grace! For that we ought to thank
represent and stand in a glorious           Him without ceasing. And, sec-
tradition. That tradition is called         ondly, we ought to be zealous, en-
the Reformed faith. It consists of          thusiastic, eager to preach and
the truth of Holy Scripture as ex-          teach and to give witness to that
pressed in the great creeds of the          great truth! We must never be
church; as restored over against the        ashamed of the gospel. We ought
errors of Rome through the 16th             not be defensive about it, for, as the
century Reformation, especially             inspired apostle wrote in his epistle
under the leadership of God's ser-          to the Romans, "It is the power of
vants, Martin Luther and, more es-          God unto salvation to everyone
pecially, John Calvin; and as ex-           that believeth; to the Jew first, and
pressed in the Three Forms of               also to the Greek." And we must
Unity, our Reformed Confessions.            thankfully, joyfully preach it from
That truth is taught in the Protes-         our pulpits and on the mission
tant Reformed Churches along the            fields, and teach it to our children.
distinctive lines of particular and            If we are to do that we must be
sovereign grace over against the er-        willing to fight for that great and       Prof. Robert Decker
rors of common grace and along              glorious tradition. From the very
the line of God's unilateral and un-        beginning of her history the church       verse of Jude that we must
conditional covenant of friendship          has been involved in what Scrip           "earnestly contend for the faith
with the elect in Christ Jesus.             ture calls "the good fight of faith."     once delivered to the saints."'
  I call your attention especially to       The truth of Holy Scripture has             If my address appears to be cast
two things about this tradition. The        been under vicious attack all             in the form of a sermon, it is delib-
first is that for it we ought to be         through the ages. And the church          erately so. I would like to speak to
profoundly thankful. That we are            has had earnestly to contend (or          you on the topic, "Earnestly Con-
what we are is not because of our           fight) for the faith.                     tending for the Faith." 1) Contend-
faithfulness or strength but only              I need not tell you that that is       ing for What? 2) Contending
because of God's faithfulness and           true in our day as well. The Re-          What? 3) Contending Why?
                                            formed faith is almost everywhere           Contending for what? The an-
                                            scorned and denied except by a            swer is: for the faith, which lmust
                                            small remnant. If our churches are        be understood in the objective
Prof. Decker is professor of Practical      to remain faithful in doctrine and        sense. This is not faith as the bond
Theology in the Protestant Reformed         in life we will have to heed the ur-      which unites us to Christ, through
Semina y.                                   gent exhortation found in the third       which faith we receive all of the
8 / The Standard Bearer I October 1,199O


     blessings of salvation. Nor is it
     faith as the certain knowledge of
     God and the assured confidence
     that He is our Father for Jesus' sake
     as set forth in the Heidelberg Cate-
     chism. But it is faith as that truth
     which Scripture teaches, and that
     truth which we must believe.
       The faith is the troth of Holy
     Scripture: all the various doctrines
     revealed in Scripture as they consti-
     tute the one great truth of God -
     God as the sovereign, almighty
     Creator and sustainer and gover-
     nor of heaven and earth and all             Seminarians Haaksma, Dick, Baskwell, and DeJong.
     that is in them, the God of our sal-        absolute authority of Holy Scrip           live it without shame, then that
     vation in Jesus Christ!                     lure; and, closely related to this, the    faith will have to be either directly
       The faith is the truth of Holy            doctrine of expository (or exegeti-        or indirectly (explicitly or implic-
     Scripture as set forth in the great         cal), thematic preaching as the chief      itly) the content of all of the instruc-
     creeds of the church. In these ecu-         means of grace.                            tion given and received in our theo-
     menical creeds the church set forth           But the doctrines of the faith           logical school!
     the biblical truths of the Trinity, the     which distinguish our churches               That faith has been "once deliv-
     divinity and humanity of Christ,            from almost all other Reformed             ered to the saints." Literally the
     and others. It is the truth set forth       churches is our insistence on the          text says, "once," and that means
     in the Reformed Confessions: The            truth that God's grace is always           "once and for all." It never needs
     Heidelberg Catechism, the Belgic            particular, that is, for the elect in      to be repeated. And "delivered"
     Confession of Faith, and the                Christ Jesus; and on the truth that        means to give into the hands of am-
     Canons of Dordt. These creeds               God establishes, maintains, and re-        other, to deliver into another's
     were formulated for the instruction         alizes His unconditional covenant          hands for that one's use or power.
     of the members of the church, espe-         of friendship with believers and             How has the faith been once de-
     cially the children and youth. They         their children. It is these truths         livered to the saints? This brings us
     were formulated as an apology for           which are distinctively Protestant         to the very basics. According to
     the Reformed faith to the civil             Reformed and which must be                 Scripture's own testimony, it was
     rulers. And they were formulated            maintained over against the                by the miracle of the inspiration of
     as the biblical expression of the           Arminianism of common grace and            the Holy Spirit. The whole Scrip-
     doctrines of grace over against the         especially its well-meant offer of         ture, in all its parts and details, is
     errors of Arminianism.                      the gospel (the little point of the        inspired by the Holy Spirit of Jesus
       The faith is the truth of Scripture,      first point), and the Arminianism of       Christ and is therefore infallible,
     summed in the creeds as taught in           a conditional promise of the               without error, and the only and ab-
     the Protestant Reformed Churches!           covenant to all children of believ-        solute rule for the faith and life of
     If our professors and ministers do          ers.                                       the Christian.
     not believe that, we may as well               We should understand well that            Scripture reveals the whole
     close the doors of our seminary             this faith has to do with our salva-       counsel of God. That whole bod!y
     and our churches!                           tion. Jude found it necessary to           of truth has been delivered once
       The faith includes many truths            write about the common salvation,          and for all to the saints. All the
     cherished in our churches. There            the salvation which all the saints         doctrine of holy Scripture that
     are, for example, the doctrines of          have been given by God in His              makes up the one great truth of Je-
     grace, the T U L I P doctrines of the       grace, the salvation which is deliv-       hovah God has been delivered to
     Canons (total depravity, uncondi-           erance from the deepest misery of          the saints.
     tional election, limited atonement,         our sin and death into the highest           And that has crucial implica-
     irresistible grace, perseverance of         glory of fellowship with God. That         tions. The faith does not change! It
     the saints), with emphasis perhaps          the faith for which we must con-           is not culturally conditioned in th.e
     on double, eternal predestination.          tend has to do with our salvation          sense that it meant one thing in
     The faith includes the doctrine of          means it is a matter of life and           Bible times and something else in.
     the church (the marks of the true           death: eternal life and eternal            our culture today. What it meant to
     church which is distinct from the           death.                                     the church in Bible times it means
     false and from which no one has                That is the faith, the Reformed         for the church of all ages. And
     the right to separate himself; the          faith, the great, glorious tradition in    while, certainly, the church grows
     autonomy of the local congrega-             which we stand. If we are to be            and develops (and must do so) in
     tion; and more); the doctrine of the        profoundly grateful for this faith         its understanding of the riches of
     inspiration, clarity, infallibility, and    and if we are to preach and then to        God's truths revealed in Scripture,

                                                                                               October 1,1990  I The Standard Bearer I 9


I


                                                                                      by reason of whom the truth :is evil
                                                                                      spoken of. Thus the apostolic
                                                                                      church already had to contend
                                                                                      earnestly for the faith!
                                                                                        So it is in our day! The Holy
                                                                                      Scriptures make plain that these
                                                                                      false teachers are an ever prerjent
                                                                                      danger to the church of Jesus
                                                                                      Christ. No denomination is ex-
                                                                                      empt. And the Protestant Re-
                                                                                      formed Churches must heed this
                                                                                      exhortation as well! Scripture
                                                                                      makes equally clear that these men
                                                                                      are never honest and they are never
Dogmatics class - Seminarians Baskwell  and Haaksma,  special student                 sincere. They are always decleitful
BeLManring, auditor Rev. Gritters.                                                    and subtle, immoral. And thleir
                                                                                      false doctrines lead inevitably to
God's truth itself never changes.            and deacons in the church. It is the     ungodly living. I am not saymg
That is because God never changes!           sacred duty of all the saints of God     this; the Bible calls it lasciviousness
The truth of God transcends all              to fight earnestly for the faith.        and pernicious ways. And always,
peoples, races, and cultures; and it           Here we have no option. Divine         the Scriptures make clear, many,
must not be adapted to any time or           necessity is laid upon us earnestly      the majority (not a fezu but many>
place or culture. Rather, the de-            to contend for this faith. In all our    follow them into destruction.
mand of the faith is this: it calls for      preaching and teaching in the semi-        And that is what is going on in
the repentance of all who hear it in         nary and in the churches, in all our     the church today! It has been going
every age, race, and culture!                writing, as well as in all our wit-      on all through history, but espe-
  For that faith we must contend             nessing and daily life, we must be       cially now. Many articles of the
earnestly.                                   earnestly contending for the faith.      faith are openly denied! Think of
  The words, "earnestly contend,"              And it demands our all. Just as        the doctrines of creation and dou-
are one word in the Greek. It                the athlete had to give all of his       ble predestination; the sacraments
means to enter a contest, to com-            time and efforts for the training for    are profaned; women are allowed
pete in the gymnastic games. From            the competition, so we must con-         into the church offices. The direct
this it has the meaning in Scripture:        centrate all our attention to this       result of this departure is ungodli-
to fight with adversaries, enemies,          calling to fight for the faith.          ness. The Sabbath is no longer ob-
those who are opposed to the faith             I know, it is not the "in thing"       served by many, and so many other
of God and to its truth. Hence the           these days. Everyone is so nice,         practices of the fathers are di:s-
Authorized Version captures the              you know! People will ask us why         carded. There is divorce for any
meaning nicely, "earnestly con-              we have to fight all the time. But       reason, and remarriage. The anti-
tend."                                       we must expect sharp criticism for       thetical Christian life is scorned
  Now, note that this is an exhorta-         doing this. `Why must you always         and worldliness prevails.
tion, and an urgent one at that!             be so negative? You should be posi-        All of these and more are but
Jude writes: "I gave all diligence."         tive." But this must not deter us!       symptoms of the real problem. The
Literally we could translate, "hav-          God's Word says: earnestly contend       real problem is this: Scripture itself
ing interested myself most                   for the faith once and for all time      is denied. That is, no longer :is the
earnestly" to write unto you! And            delivered to the saints.                 Bible considered to be the inspired,
he adds: "it was needful for me,"              The reason for the exhortation is      divinely infallible rule for the faith
literally, "it is necessa* for me to         urgent, as stated in verse 4-19. Jude    and practice of the church. Higher
write unto you, exhorting, or urg-           tells us that certain men crept into     criticism of the Bible has won the
ing you to contend earnestly for the         the church unawares. Ungodly             day in the seminaries of this coun-
faith. In other words, Jude, under           men denied the only Lord God and         try and in Europe!
the inspiration of the Holy Spirit,          our Lord Jesus Christ. In other            Our calling is plain and urgent!
considered it his sacred duty to ex-         words, they were very evil men           Our own seminary must earnestly
hort the saints to contend for the           who deliberately and viciously at-       contend for the faith once delivered
faith.                                       tacked the faith once delivered to       to the saints! Our Reformed fathers
  This, therefore, is the calling of         the saints. Peter speaks of them in      were keenly aware of this. Article
the church. The exhortation, you             his second epistle, the second chap      18 of the Church Order of Dardt
will notice, comes to "the saints."          ter, as, "False teachers who privily     (our Church Order!) describes the
And that means all of the people of          bring damnable heresies into the         office (calling) of professors of the-
God. This is not merely the duty of          church, even denying the Lord that       ology in these terms. Professors
the seminary and its professors, nor         bought them." And, Peter adds,           must expound the Holy Scriptures
merely of the ministers and elders           many follow their pernicious ways,       and vindicate sound doctrine, no-

10 / The Standard Bearer I October 1,1990


tice, against heresies and errors!
The Form for the installation of
Professors of theology charges
them "to expound the mysteries of
the faith to the students, instructing
and establishing them in the
knowledge of God's Word," and
"to caution them in regard to the
errors and heresies of the old, but
especially of the new day." That,
brothers, colleagues on the faculty,
is our urgent task. To it we must
give our all. Only insofar as the
seminary is faithful to that task will
the churches be enabled to contend         Greek 201 - pre-seminarians Nathan Brummel, Doug Kuiper, Daniel
earnestly for the faith once deliv-        Kleyn.
ered to the saints.
     And, students, your calling is to     will support the school, that will       nary and churches professors whio
receive that instruction in the faith,     give it proper direction, and that       are faithful men of God and who
to give yourselves wholly to your          will carefully guard it against un-      will humbly, yet boldly, contend for
studies, so that you know the faith        faithfulness. And it needs a com-        the faith once delivered to the
and become equipped to preach,             mittee that will encourage profes-       saints. Pray that God will continue
teach, and defend over against the         sors and students, that will admon-      to give students who will learn and
heresies always plaguing God's             ish them when necessary as well.         believe the faith; who will preach
church. Let that faith become the          We are thankful to God for giving        and teach it in the churches and
burning conviction of your hearts.         us that committee. But do not for-       catechism classes and on the mis-
Your learning must be mixed with           get that the exhortation comes to        sion fields as God gives us open
faith.                                     the saints, to the church. The semi-     doors; who will earnestly contend
     People of God, this is your call-     nary belongs to the churches. It ex-     for that great and precious faith.
ing as well. Not only through the          ists for the sake of the churches and      May God, in His mercy, grant
synod of our churches and its theo-        never the other way around. Pray         this in these latter days for the
logical school committee. That too,        for us, will you? Support us and         glory of His Name! 0
to be sure! The seminary needs a           the cause of theological education.
Theological School Committee that          Pray that God will `give us as semi-




Search The                                 Working Out
Scriptures                                 Your Salvation
Rev. Gise VanBaren
k                                                                                                                           m
                                           Read and study Philippians               least appear to be so while we are
                                           2:12-18.                                 on this earth (a "double track" the-
                                             Our study in this short epistle        ology). Yet the Word of God does
                                           brings us to one of the most m-          not place one at odds with the
                                           markable  statements of the whole        other, but clearly joins them with
                                           of Scripture: it is the text which       the word "for." We must, therefore
                                           addresses the question of the            do that too.
                                           Sovereignty of God vs. the Respon-         Verse 12 commands us to work
                                           sibility of Man. Much debate has         out our own salvation with fear
Rev. VanBaren  is pastor of the Protes-    taken place about this subject. Of-      and trembling. To work out our
tant Reformed Church of Hudsonville,       ten it is presented as though these      salvation is not to say that we are
Michigan.                                  two truths are in conflict - or at       the origin and instigators of that

                                                                                      October 1,199O  / The Standard Bearer I ll


salvation. Our salvation is rooted           obedience did not depend on                This truth is difficult for our
in eternal election, it is accom-            Paul's presence. Even when he            minds to comprehend. To deny it,
plished in the cross of Jesus, and it        was absent they were to obey the         however, is to deny Scripture itself.
is worked out by the power of the            commands of their Lord. Not Paul,        To deny it would be to deny the ab-
Spirit in our hearts. We work out            but the Holy Spirit, must be with        solute sovereignty of our God. Per-
our salvation by walking a life of           them and guide them in their pil-        haps some consideration should be
sanctification. We are not simply            grimage. This was Paul's convic-         given to the question: how dloes
"saved." We are saved that we                tion as expressed in 1:27 as well:       God work in this way without
may do good works which God has              "...that whether I come and see          denying also the responsibility of
ordained for us (Eph. 1:4).                  you, or else be absent, I may hear of    the sinner?
   We are to obey the command of             your affairs, that ye stand fast in        The work of the child of God is
Christ to love God and serve Him.            one spirit...."                          presented in verses 14-18. His ev-
We could not obey Christ's com-                But, does the working out of our       ery action sets him forth as distinct,
mand any more than Lazarus could             salvation exclude the work of God?       different, from the world about
who was in the tomb when he was              Verse 13 shows the contrary fact.        him. Here is his thankfulness as a
commanded to come forth. Christ              The word "for" is very significant:      fruit of God's work in him. He
must give the life and the ability to        it points us to the only possibility     does "all things without mmmur-
do that which He commands. And               of working out our salvation. It is      ings and disputings." He must and
then we do it - even as Lazarus              God Who works in us both to will         does maintain the truth of God's
did when in response to Christ's             and to do of His good pleasure. It       Word. However, he does not en-
command he came out of the tomb.             is very remarkable that the Word         gage in disputes for his personal
   No doubt there is emphasis here           uses the terms "to will" and "to         honor - nor many disputes which
on what has been called "human               do." It is not only our "doing"          disrupt and cause loss of harmony
responsibility." One who is saved            which is of God, but also the very       within the church of Christ. He is
from sin and death, adopted as a             "willing." The Sovereignty of God        blameless and harmless - not ag-
son of God, must labor daily, con-           is such that it governs the entire       gressive and offensive. The latter
tinuously, in the matter of his salva-       person. Neither God nor Christ           situation, of course, is often the
tion. This is done in the way of             begs or pleads, asking the sinner to     cause of troubles within Christ's
prayer, study of the Word, and               submit. God governs both the will        church. The child of God does ,;,
godly living in our pilgrimage. He           and activity of elect sinners. Unless    nothing in which he becomes the
who refuses to do so is certainly            He do so, there will not be a "work-     occasion for blame. He does not
not saved.                                   ing out of our salvation."               seek to hurt or to offend the saints
   The great responsibility imposed            The text is so remarkable be-          of Jesus Christ.
on us is recognized by this Word of          cause it contradicts the two most          This separates him from the
God when it reminds that it is to be         common and most often recurring          world about him. One sees all
done with "fear and trembling."              errors that have arisen from within      manner of corruption, unrest, ha-
This refers not to obedience by              the bosom of the church. There is        tred, envy among the wicked. The
compulsion. Young children,                  the theory of the "free will" of the     Christian is as a "shining light? in
slaves, or others under harsh au-            sinner. This teaches that God gives      that world. He is as the briglht star
thority, may obey for fear of the            sufficient grace to enable anyone to     or the light of the moon on a dark
consequences of disobedience. But            obey Him if he will. It is the error     night. He is seen as one separated
the "fear and trembling" of the              of Pelagianism and Anninianism.          unto God. We can well ask our-
Christian is of a godly sort. There          But another, not dissimilar, error is    selves: is that a description of us as
is willing obedience. At the same            that which teaches that by our           well?
time, there is that conscientious at-        works, at least in part, we can earn       In addition, the child of God
titude that one must wholly and              salvation. It was the view of the        "holds forth the Word of life. . .."
properly serve God - and a con-              Pharisees. It is the teaching of the     Some rather translate this: Yholds
cern lest in any way we fail in this.        Roman Catholic Church. Scripture         fast the Word of life." Though the
The apostle even places this phrase          emphasizes so clearly: God directs       latter is indeed a fact, the former is
first in the text - to emphasize the         the will and the action. Ah, blessed     the proper translation of the pas-
fact. We must truly tremble if. per-         truth!                                   sage. The Christian "holds forth,"
haps we offend our great and lov-              There is presented here the            or exhibits, or displays the Word of
ing Father in any way.                       "good pleasure" of God. One              life. He does that in connection
   The church at Philippi must do            could profitably find in Scripture       with the work of the church .where
all of this even when the apostle            other references to "good plea-          that Word is proclaimed. He does
was not present. At Philippi the             sure." The phrase refers to God's        that also in his daily living when he
church was anxious to please Paul,           Council or Will whereby He gov-          walks in harmony with his confes-
it appears. When he was present,             erns all things. Eternally He has        sion. All can see that he belongs to
there was seen a godly walk. But             determined all things - also those       Jesus.
the members of the Philippian                things pertaining to our willing           Where that was seen in the
church had to remember that their            and doing.                               Philippians, there the effect and

12 I The Standard Bearer / October 1,199O


benefit of the work of the apostle          8. What does this passage teach               14. What is meant by a "crooked
Paul was also seen. Paul had not            concerning God's "Sovereignty"                and perverse nation"? Can that be
"rtm" or `labored" in vain. God             and man's "responsibility"?                   said of our nation as well? If so,
had applied the Word proclaimed             9. What do Canons II-IV, 11-12                how?
by the apostle that its fruit was           and Ephesians 3:14-19 say about               15. How do we shine as lights im
seen in the lives of God's people at        the work of God in us?                        the world? What did Jesus teaclh of
Philippi. Them is no greater joy for        10. What is God's "good plea-                 this in the sermon on the mount?
the preacher than to see that the           sure"? What other Scriptural terms            16. How do we "hold forth the
Word preached bears proper fruit.           are used to describe this same                Word of life"?
  Where there is faithfulness, Paul         thing: Check what the Canons                  17. What is it to "run in vain"? Is
can rejoice. He is imprisoned and           have to say of this.                          this ever possible for the Christian?
threatened even with death. But if          11. Why the warning against                   18. In what sense could Paul have
his life is offered as a sacrifice, that    "murmurings" and "disputings"?                `labored in vain"?
would be of no concern to him. He           Is there any danger that this be pre-         19. What is Paul's "offering" in
would regard the pouring out of             sent with us?                                 verse 17?
his own blood as a kind of libation         12. How is the Christian"blame-               20. Why should Paul be happy
offered with the sacrifice and ser-         less," "harmless," "without re-               about such sacrifice?
vice of the Philippians. He could           buke"?                                        21. Why should the church at
rejoice with that - and they could          13. How are we "sons of God"?            1    Philippi rejoice about this? 0
rejoice in the same thing.
QUESTIONS:                                                                                                                       -
1. Why should the Philippian
church need to be reminded that                              The Standard Bearer
they are to obey in Paul's absence?
Is there some danger that we might                                         4949 Ivanrest Avenue
also obey only when one in author-                                         Grandville, MI 49418
ity is present? Why?
2. What must one conclude from                                             Phone: (616) 531-1490
Paul's address, `My beloved"?
How else in this epistle does he ex-
press this tender feeling for the
church at Philippi?                            OPEN LETTER FROM THE RFPA
3. How is one to work out his
own salvation? How can we be                   Dear Subscribers,
told to do this when we know                      The Board of the Reformed Free Publishing Association has given
God's people are elect from eter-              during the last several years special attention to gaining new sub-
nity? If one does not do so, what is           scribers. Perhaps it would be better to say that we have attended to
the only conclusion that can be                the matter of expanding our readership. For the truth is that our first
~JNVJ; What does I John 2~4 say                concern in gaining subscribers is to share with others, through the ar-
                                               ticles written by our editor-in-chief and our Department Editors and
4. In what sense is there "fear and            Guest Writers, the distinctives of the Reformed faith as we have been
trembling" in the church? Why
fear? Why trembling? How does                  privileged to maintain them in the Protestant Reformed Churches for
this differ from the fear of the               better than 65 years. Only secondarily is our interest in increased rev-
wicked at the end of time who cry              enue - and that with a view to being able to publish at a more rea-
for the mountains to cover them at             sonable cost to our subscribers. The writers of The SB are motivated
Christ's return?                               by a love of the truth of the Word of God, and desire themselves in
5. What is the connection between              their writing to be sound in doctrine, and sensitive to the spiritual
verses 12 and 13? What is the sig-             needs of the church of Christ.
nificance of the connecting word                  At any rate, it occurred to us that our subscribers might be able to
"for"?                                         help us in gaining new readers. If you will send us the names ofpeo-
6. How does verse 13 deny the er-              ple who, in your opinion, might be interested in our magazine, we
ror of Roman Catholicism? How                  will send them a sample copy, along with a card offering a year's sub-
does it deny Arminianism? Is there
danger that these errors affect also           scription at half the regular price, for first-time subscribers. Send your
our thinking?                                  suggestions, if you will, to the Business Manager, whose address can
7. How does God work in us?                    be found on the inside of the front cover.
Does that not make our own work-                                                                              Yours sincerely
ing unnecessary? Do we not tell                                                                              The RFPA Board
ourselves sometimes that our obe-                                                                       Peter Koole,  Secretary
dience is not all that essential?

                                                                                            October 1,199O  I The Standard Bearer  I13


   A WORD PITLY SPOKEN
   Rev. Dale Kuiper
                                             RECONCILiATION
      The two great passages that set forth the concept of reconciliation are Romans 5:lO and II Corinthians 5:18-21.
    The word translated reconciliation, a word used only by Paul, sets forth our salvation in a very rich, broad way.
   Three ideas are implied in reconciliation: 1) There is a relationship between persons that has brought them very
   close. 2) This relationship is disturbed so that the persons have become alienated. 3) The cause of alienation
   has been removed, so that the relationship is restored, and peaceful harmony is once again enjoyed. These
    points make clear that reconciliation can never occur between strangers, but always between those who have
    formerly enjoyed a close relationship. (See I Cor. 7:ll where the apostle speaks of a wife being reconciled to her
   husband.)
       The original relationship between God and Adam, and hence between God and mankind, was the covenant
    of friendship. God created man good and after His own image, in true righteousness and holiness, that he
    might rightly know God his Creator, heartily love Him and live with Him (L.D. III). This relationship was dis$-
    turbed by the fall and disobedience of our first parents, and the resulting fall into sin and death of the entire
    human race. Man became the enemy of God (Rom. 5:lO); he became dead, living unto himself (II Cor. 5:14,15).
    In His great love for the world, God has reconciled the church (the new humanity) unto Himself by the death of
   His Son, "to wit, that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto
    them" (II Cor. 5:19). Christ has reconciled both Jews and Gentiles unto God in one body, by the cross, having
    slain the enmity thereby (Eph. 2:16). Thus the cause of estrangement is removed! Christ is made sin for us,
   Who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. Once more we are the friends of
    God, we are saved by His life, and may enjoy God's friendship now and forever!
       Strikingly, the Scriptures speak uniformly of our being reconciled to God. Although in human relationships
    there is usually mutual reconciliation, in the matter of salvation God does not reconcile Himself to us or to the
    world. Why should He? How could He? What would there be to know and enjoy forever, if the only good
    God changed in any respect? The unchangeable God brings to pass His immutable promise by making us new
    creatures and conforming us unto Himself in Christ!
       because God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, reconciliation will continue until the end of
    the world. The entire church, known unto God from eternity, must be brought into His gracious covenant of
    friendship. Accordingly God has committed the word of reconciliation unto the church. Through her ministry
    ambassadors for Christ speak in Christ's stead. Through the official ministry it is as though God Himself did
    call you to His side, "be ye reconciled to God!"
       Is man active or passive in reconciliation? The answer is that he is made active. Through the efficacious
    preaching of the gospel, God makes man active, giving him the right and the power to be reconciled. Thus the
    child of God repents, believes, is consciously justified, and has peace with his God. 0

    Rev. Kuiper is pastor ofImmanue1  Protestant R#otmed Church in Lacombe, Alberta, Canada.




                                              Reminiscences on
Special Article the Early SB
Rev. C. Hanko


                                                 "Rev. Hoeksema, if only you had       two months after  The Standard
                                               never published that  Standard          Bearer had made its first appear-
                                               Bearer!"                                ance. The classis was about to sus-
                                                 The remark was made on Classis        pend Rev. Herman Hoeksema and
Rev. Hanko is a minister emeritus in           Grand Rapids ,East by Rev. Veld-        his consistory from office in the
the Protestant Reformed Churches.              kamp. This was approximately            Christian Reformed Church be-
14 I The Standard Bearer I October 1,199O


                                                                                                                              I


                                            Yet what had happened was that         was packed to capacity at every
                                          Rev. H. Hoeksema and others were         meeting. There was a great enthu-
                                          no longer allowed to write in The        siasm for the cause. All the
                                          Banner, the church periodical of the     churches strove to have all their
                                          Christian Reformed Church. This          families receive this periodical. Al-
                                          meant that those in agreement with       though our churches in the vicinity
                                          the three points could express           of Grand Rapids were much
                                          themselves freely, but those most        smaller than they are today, the <at-
                                          intimately involved could not de-        tendance at the annual meeting iof
                                          fend themselves by instructing the       The Standard Bearer was much bet-
                                          church in regard to the Scriptural       ter.
                                          teachings on this subject.                  A little personal note. When I
                                            It was for that reason that the        was minister in Oaklawn  the fi-
                                          "Reformed Free Publishing                nances did not allow me to make a
                                          Association" was organized and           trip to Grand Rapids for The Sfan-
                                          began to publish The Standard            dard Bearer meeting, as much as I
Rev. Cornelius Hanko.                     Bearer, the first issue of which ap-     would have liked to have gone.
                                          peared in October of 1924. Had           But someone on The Standard Bearer
cause of his refusal to sign the three    Rev. Hoeksema and the others not         board must have thought that I at-
points of common grace adopted            sought a means to express them-          tended these meetings on a regular
by the synod of 1924.                     selves they wou1.d  have allowed         basis. One morning at two o'clock
  The impression was left that            themselves to be condemned with-         the police siren sent forth a shrill
publishing The Standard Bearer was        out being able publicly to defend        blast in front of my house.
an act of rebellion, which deserved       themselves.                              Aroused from a deep sleep I
being put out of office in the              That is when and how The Sfan-         dashed to the front door to hear ,a
church. The facts were quite differ-      dad Bearer came into existence.          voice calling, "Rev. Hanko, the po-
ent. Although the synod of 1924             Since I was only seventeen years       lice!" Wide awake and my curios-
had adopted the three points of           old at the time, I was nothing more      ity fully aroused, along with fears
common grace, they did not re-            than an observer, be it an interested    and trembling, I answered the call,
quire that all the office bearers in      observer.                                only to find out that a telegraph
the church express their agreement          Not long after this the Reformed       boy was delivering a telegram,
by signing them. On the contrary,         Free Publishing Association met          which read: "The Standard Beare]
the synod had clearly stated that         regularly once a year to decide on       meeting for tonight has been called
the last word was by no means             whatever matters might be brought        off. Do not come." In that suburb
spoken in regard to this matter, but      to them from the editors of The          of Chicago no one delivered a mes-
the office bearers should make a          Standard Bearer. I can well remem-       sage at night unless accompanied
thorough study of the matter and          ber that the large classroom, which      by the police. q
express themselves in writing.            held more than a hundred people,




Taking Heed                               The Bible is the
To The Doctrine Word of God
Rev. Marvin Kamps


                                          Introduction                             men of this world cannot say frolm
                                            The Reformed believer makes a          the heart that they believe "with-
                                          most profound confession. He             out any doubt, all things con-
                                          confesses what God has said. The         tained" in the divine Scriptures
                                          Reformed believer is in agreement        (Belgic Confession, Art. V). But the
Rev. Kamps  is pastor of Southwest        with the living God. Most men find       Lord always preserves to Himself a
Protestant Refomed Church in Grand        themselves at odds with the living       few who enter in at the strait gate
Rapids, Michigan.                         God over this book, the Bible. The       and joyfully confess what He has

                                                                                     October 1,199O  / The Standard Bearer I 15


declared to be the truth. "Thy               be praised in the city of our God, in     his Word" (Heidelberg Catechism,
Word is Truth" (John 17~17).                 the mountain of his holiness" (Ps.        L.D. 7). There is no salvation from
  To say that the Bible is the Word          481). Through the power of His ir-        sin and guilt except through Ifaith
of God is to confess its exclusive           resistible grace unto faith in Christ     in God's Word. He that rejects the
character. It is not the Word of             Jesus, His dear Son, we can shout         Word in whole or in part cannot be
man, even though men may indeed              triumphantly, "0 death, where is          saved. God will take away his part
have penned the words upon                   thy sting? 0 grave where is thy           out of the book of life (Rev. 22:18,
parchment and paper. Scripture               victory?" (I Cor. 15:55). Over the        19). We may not add to the VVord,
owes its "becoming" and "exis-               believer the second death hath no         nor may we subtract from the
tence" as the written record of di-          power.                                    Word. To declare the Word not true
vine revelation to Jehovah God                 Therefore, let us come reverently,      is to gainsay the Messiah and. to
alone. The Lord asks through the             humbly, and thankfully before Him         call God a liar (I John 1:lO).
prophet: "Is not my Word...?' fJer.          and His eternal Word.                       The Bible is God's Word. This is
23:29). God claims Scripture to be             We must recognize that the Bible        our confession from the depths of
His Word alone. The Lord God                 is the written record of God's living     our hearts. We live by this Word.
never attributes to man the source           Word. For before the Bible was            It governs, rules, directs, nourishes,
of the Word whereby He reveals               written the Word of God was               comforts, and strengthens the be-
Himself.                                     known. Adam in paradise received          liever in all his life. He has peace
  Let us remind ourselves Who                the Word of God's grace in the            with God through this life-giving
this God is, Whose Word we call              mother promise of Genesis 3~15.           Word. This Word in Christ Jesus
the Bible. He is Jehovah God. He is          We know it as Genesis 3:15 penned         justifies the believer. It sanctifies
the Creator of the heavens and the           by Moses; but our first father heard      him and will glorify him. The
earth. This God alone upholds and            this blessed promise fall from the        Word of God is to him the waker
governs all His creatures. Man and           lips of his Maker. And before the         and bread of life. This Word is
beast were formed by His hand.               fall Adam had God's Word, for he          written upon his heart. He takes
Even His enemies, wicked men and             walked with God in that fellowship        the Word with him wherever he
devils, receive their daily needs            of perfect righteousness. But the         goes. He fellowships in covenant
from His almighty hand. He is the            Word precedes not only Moses and          friendship with the living God
eternal, omniscient, omnipotent,             Adam but time itself, for "In the be-     through the Word. He worships
perfectly just and good God over             ginning was the Word, and the             through the Word. He prays to
all. All His works are done in righ-         Word was with God, and the Word           God for the blessings of salvation
teousness. He cannot lie. In Him is          was God." The Word is the eternal,        on the basis of the promises of the
no darkness at all. He is the truth.         only begotten Son of God, which is        Word. The Bible is his life. Take
He is the God of Abraham, Isaac,             in the bosom of the Father (John          the Word from the believer and he
and Jacob. He is Israel's God, the           1%). By this Word were "the heav-         has no comfort, no peace of soul,
friend of His people, and the eter-          ens made and all the host of              no joy, no blessedness. The Word is
nal Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.         them..." (Ps. 336). By this Word,         everything to him, for it is the love
He is the sovereign God, Who is              the second Person of the divine           letter of Christ to him and to all the
"Declaring the end from the begin-           trinity, were the light and the firma-    church. By that love letter Christ
ning and from ancient times the              ment called into being. By that           Jesus assures him that all is well,
things that are not yet done, saying,        same Word God shall create a new          comforts him and all the church
My counsel shall stand, and I will           heavens and earth wherein righ-           with the Word that the gates of hell
do all my pleasure" (Is. 4610).  No          teousness shall dwell. In the full-       cannot prevail against the church,
one can contradict the living God            ness of time (Gal. 4:4), the `Word        and declares that it is His Fatlher's
and live. He is GOD. The attribute           was made flesh, and dwelt among           good pleasure to give unto us the
of perfect justice is His alone, and         us, (and we beheld his glory, the         Kingdom of Heaven.
yet He is infinitely merciful. God is        glory as of the only begotten of the        The Bible is God's Word. The
Love. In Him are the fountains of            Father,) full of grace and truth"         Bible does not have this lofty posi-
grace and goodness. He is the un-            (John 1:14). Jesus is the,Word.  And      tion because men have so declared
changeably faithful friend of His            wherever the text of Scripture is         it to be. Nor is that our confession
people in Christ Jesus. He hath de-          opened, there is the life-blood of        because this is the testimony of the
creed that not one whom He hath              our Lord Jesus. Jesus said, "I am         church. It is rather our confe&on
given to Christ should perish. He            the way, the truth, and life." This       because the Holy Spirit testifies in
is longsuffering to usward (11 Pet.          Word become flesh is the only             our hearts that the Bible is God's
3:8,9). He lovingly but firmly               name under heaven given among             Word. But the Spirit of God does
holds all His own in His almighty            men whereby we must be saved              not make this testimony apart from
hand (John 10:29). He is the one             (Acts 4:12). Jesus is the Word, and       the Scriptures. Rather He gives this
Who hath redeemed us to Himself              the Word is Jesus. All that confess       confession to us through the Word.
by the blood of His Son out of ev-           Jesus, must confess with the Re-          We do not have the abiding testi-
ery kindred and tongue and nation.           formed believer, "I hold for truth        mony of the Spirit apart from the
"Great is the Lord, and greatly to           all that God has revealed to us in        Word but through the Word. The

16 I The Standard Bearer I October 1,199O


Word is God's Word, and only God             victed of the truth of Scripture and       an angel from heaven, preach any
Himself can identify His own                 enables us, amidst all the denials of      other gospel unto you than that
Word. The Bible is self-authenticat-         fallen men, to confess that the Bible      which we have preached unto you,
ing: "All scripture is given by              is God's written record bf His self        let him be accursed" (Gal. 1:8). Oh,
inspiration (God-breathed forth) of          revelation in Christ Jesus.                how heretics like to clothe them-
God..." (II Tim. 3:16). And we read             "The only authority, which can          selves in the angelic vestures of
in II Peter 2:21, "For the prophecy          declare upon the earth, that the           love and kindness as they deceive
came not in old time by the will of          Scripture is God's Word, is God            the people of God with their high
man: but holy men of God spake               Himself, the Christ, the Holy              sounding words, by which they
as they were moved by the Holy               Ghost, and therefore, the Scriptures       reason away the Word of God.
Ghost." The Word itself declares it          themselves, which is God's Word.             Let us all pray that the Lord may
to be the Word of God. The Holy              Therefore, the Bible also makes this       give us the faith to believe His
Spirit does not make a testimony in          testimony. It stands in this regard        Word and to walk in its light. Let
regard to the Scriptures apart from          above all men, above the writers           the Word of praise resound in the
those Scriptures, then to have us            themselves, above all the prophets         church of Christ Jesus: "Thy Word
discover that the Word bears this            and apostles, yes even above the           is a lamp unto my feet, and a light
same self testimony; rather, the             angels of God" (J.C. Sikkel, De            unto my path.... Thy testimonies
Spirit of Christ, Who dwells in all          Heilige Scriff en Haar Verklaring, p.      have I taken as an heritage for ever:
those who belong to Christ, when             22).                                       for they are the rejoicing of my
He works faith in us and calls us to           Remember the warning of the              heart? (Ps. 119:105,111).  Cl
the light, also causes us to be con-         apostle Paul: "But though we, or





Decency
and Order                                    The Work of Elders
Rev. Ron Cammenga


   The office of the elders, in addition     Article 16 calls the elders "...to ex-     The work of the elders in "evange-
to what was said in Article 16 to be         ercise church discipline and to see        lism" is also mentioned: "...and
their duty in common with the minis-         to it that everything is done de-          also to exhort others in respect to,
ter of the Word, is to take heed that the    cently and in good order." Article         the Christian religion." Not men-
ministers, together with their fellow-       55 speaks of the elders' calling to        tioned but worth noting is the pas-
elders and deacons, faithfully dis-          "...ward off false doctrines and er-       toral work in which the elders
charge their office, and both before and     rors that multiply exceedingly             ought also to be involved.
after fhe Lord's Supper, as time and         through heretical writings...." Arti-      GOVERNMENT AND
circumstances may demand, for the            cle 64 refers to the calling of the el-    DISCIPLINE
edification of the churches, to tiif the     ders to supervise the administra-            The first duty of the elders re-
families of the congregation, in order       tion of the Lord's Supper. Article         ferred to in Article 23 is "...what
particularly fo comfort and insfrucf         81 speaks of the elders' involve-          was said in Article 16 to be their
fhe members, and also fo exhort others       ment in cf37sura  morum.                   duty in common with the minister
in respect to fhe Christian religion.          Of all these articles, Article 23 is     of the Word...." The duty enjoined
Church Order, Art. 23.                       intended to be a brief description         jointiy to the ministers and the el-
   Several articles in  the Church Or-       of the work to which God calls el-         ders by Article 16 is "...to exercise
der describe the duties of elders.           ders. The article speaks of the call-      church discipline and to see to it
                                             ing of the elders in the government        that everything is done decently
                                             and discipline of the church. Men-         and in good order." The very first
                                             tion is made of the supervision by         duty of the elders, therefore, is the
                                             the elders of their fellow office-         government and discipline of the
                                             bearers. The role of the elders in         church.
Rev. Grmmenga is pastor of the               conducting family visitation is re-          It is the plain teaching of Scrip-
Profesfanf Reformed Church of Love-          ferred to. (We will treat this in a        ture, and a foundation stone of Re-
land, Colorado.                              separate article in the near future.)      formed church government, that

                                                                                         October 1,199O  I The Standard Bearer I 17


the office of the elders is the rule of             The government of the elders is      tion. Nor ought the elders to be in-
the congregation. One of the com-            twofold.                                    timidated by the minister. Before
mon Greek words used in the New                First, the elders are to have su-         God and for the benefit of thle
Testament to refer to the office of          pervision over the material goods           church they are to have oversight
elder makes this clear. That word            of the church. This includes several        of the minister's walk of life, as
is episkopos and means "overseer"            things. It includes that the elders         well as his public teaching and
or "superintendent," and is com-             have supervision over what we               preaching in the congregation. All
monly translated as "bishop" (cf.            commonly refer to as the "General           of his ministerial labors are subject
Phil. 19; I Tim. 3:2; Xtus 1:7). An          Fund." It includes that the elders          to the oversight of the elders.
elder is an "overseer," that is, one         have supervision over the property            Not only is this brought out in
who watches over the lives and               of the church, especially the church        Article 23, but this is also pointed
souls of the members of the church.          building and grounds. It includes           out in the "Form of Ordination of
   That the work of the elders is the        oversight of the official records and       Elders and Deacons."
rule of the congregation is also             archives of  the  congregation.               It is also the duty (of the elders) par-
plain from many passages of Scrip-             This does not mean that the con-          ticuIarly to have regard unto th,e doc-
ture which describe this office. The         sistory may not appoint commit-             trine and conversation of the ministers
following are a sampling:                    tees and helpers out of the congre-         of the Word, to fhe end thaf all things
   I Timothy 3:5, "For if a man know         gation to assist in this work. This is      may be directed fo the edification of the
not how to rule his own house, how           not only permitted, but often desir-        Church; and that no strange doctrine
shall he take care of the church of          able. Even then, however, such              be taught....
God? I'                                      persons and committees remain re-             This same supervision also in-
   I Timothy 597, "Let the eldets that       sponsible to the consistory.                cludes the walk of life and official
rule well be counted worthy of double               Secondly, the supervision of the     labors of the other elders and of the
honor, especially they who labor in the      elders applies especially to the spir-      deacons.
word  and doctrine."                         itual life of the congregation. Gen-        EVANGELISM
   Acts 20:28, "Take heed therefore          erally, the elders are to see to it that      Article 23 also mentions as one
unto yourselves, and to all theflock         "...everything is done decently and         of the duties of the elders tha& they
over the which the Holy Ghost hath           in good order." Specifically, the el-       "...exhort others in respect to the
made you overseers, to feed the church       ders are to exercise Christian disci-       Christian religion." By "others" the
of God, which He hath purchased with         pline. (More will be said about the         reference is to those who are non-
His Own blood."                              elders' main work of Christian dis-         church members. The reference,
   Hebrews 13:7, "Remember them              cipline in Articles 71-85;  which deal      therefore, is to church extension
which have the rule Over you, who            with "Censure and Ecclesiastical            work or local evangelism.
have spoken unto you the Word of             Admonition.")                                 The elders have a responsibility
God: whose faith follow, considering         SUPERVISION OF FELLOW                       here. Just because this is a vital as-
the end of their conversation."              OFFICEBEARERS                               pect of the work of the local church,
   Hebrews 1397, "Obey them that               The second main duty of the el-           it belongs to their supervision of
have the rule over you, and submit           ders is `I...to take heed that the min-     the church. The elders must be ac-
yourselves...."                              isters, together with their fellow-el-      tive in this work. They must pro-
   I Thessalonians  5:12, "And we be-        ders and the deacons, faithfully            mote this work and themselves
seech you, brethren, to know them            discharge their office...."                 participate in it.
which labor among you, and are over            Not only do the elders have su-             One of the questions asked of the
you in the Lord...."                         pervision over the congregation,            consistory at the annual church vis-
   The government of the church is           but they are also to take heed to           itation touches this aspect of the
listed in the Reformed "Form of              their fellowelders, as well as to the       work of the elders: "Is the congre-
Ordination of Elders and Deacons"            minister and the deacons. What is           gation busy in the  extension of
as the first duty of elders.                 referred to here is the mutual su-          God's kingdom, especially in. the
   Therefore, in thefirst  place, the of-    pervision officebearers are called to       promotion of missions, to the best
fice of the elders is, together with the     exercise among themselves. This             of its ability?"
ministers of the Word, to take the over-     was mentioned as part of the call-            Usually this work will be carried
sight of the Church, which is commit-        ing of the minister in Article 16.          on by a Church Extension Commit-
ted to them, and diligently to look,         This is also referred to in the             tee or an Evangelism Committee.
whether eve y one properly deports           "Questions for Church Visitation."          The work of such a committee is
himself in his confession and conversu-      It is this duty of mutual supervi-          under the supervision of the consis-
tion; to  admonish those who behave          sion that underlies the practice of         tory. It is advisable that the elder-
disorderly, am-l to prevent, as much as      censura morum, outlined in Article          ship be represented among the
possible, the sacraments from being          81.                                         membership of such a committee.
profaned: also to act (according to the        Particularly are the elders to as-        PASTORAL WORK
Christian discipline) against the im-        sume supervision of the office of             It also belongs to the work of the
penitent, and to receive the penitent        the ministry. The minister is not a         elders that they be involved in the
again into the bosom of the Church....       law unto himself in the congrega-           pastoral work of visiting the isick

18 / The Standard Bearer I October 1,199O


and shut-ins, and providing coun-               the elders visit the sick and others        classes, teaching catechism, leading
sel to those struggling with various            in agreement with the calling of            worship services when necessary
spiritual problems.                             their office?"                              conducting consistory and congre-
   Although our present article                    One passage of Scripture-that            gational meetings when necessary,
speaks only in passing of the el-               clearly brings-out this aspect of the       attending classis and synod, and
ders' calling "to comfort" the mem-             calling of the elders is James 513,         serving on classical and synodical
bers of the church, this aspect of              14: "Is any sick among you? Let             committees.
their work ought not to be slighted.            him call for the elders of the                 There are several.good  books
Certainly the minister and the dea-             church; and let them pray over              that deal with the work of elders.
cons have a calling here, as we                 him, anointing him with oil in the          Unfortunately, many of the best are
have noticed in the past. But, very             name of the Lord. And the prayer            in the Dutch language. The follow-
clearly, so do the elders.                      of faith shall save the sick, and the       ing is a list of the better books
   Earlier church orders spelled this           Lord shall raise him up; and if he          available in English.
duty out more carefully.                        have committed sins, they shall be             The Elders' Handbook, by Gerard
   Synod of Wezel,  1568: "The elders           forgiven him." '                                   Berghoef and Lester DeKoster.
furthermore should remember that it             VARIA                                          The Elders of the Church, by
also pertains to their office to visit and         The question is sometimes raised                   Lawrence R. Eyres.
comfort thz sick in accordance with             whether or not it is proper that an            The Ruling Elder, by Samuel
their calling...that  they not only uplift      elder be paid for his services. Gen-                  Miller.
the sick with the things that are neces-        erally elders and deacons carry out            Handbook for Elders and Deacons,
say for the sustenance of  their lives,         the duties of their office without                    by William Heyns.
i;Elso  cheer them up by comforting
      I,                                        being paid. However, in special                The Ruling Elder, by Cleland
                                                cases, as for example in a large con-                 Boyd M&fee.
   Synod of Dordtrecht, 1574: "Visit-           gregation where an elder may be                Unto Eve y Good Work A Manual
ing the sick belongs to the office of the       appointed by the consistory to be                     for Elders, by Ronald W.
ministers of the Word, and it is risky          especially devoted to sick visita-                    Nickerson.  Cl
to assign other persons to that task.           tion, an elder may be paid for his
Therefore, the ministers shall request          work. In this case he is unable to          1. There is disagreement concerning
the elders and deacons to help them             pursue an ordinary living. The              whether the sickness referred to in this pas-
with their task. They shall do so be-           consistory then may compensate              sage is spiritual or physical. For those inter-
                                                                                            ested in a sermon on this passage which ex-
cause their office in comparison with           him for his work.                           plains "sick" as physically sick, write to:
other Christians requires more with re-            Article 23 must not be under-            Loveland Protestant Reformed Church, 705
spect to visiting, comforting, and              stood as providing an exhaustive            E. 57th St., Loveland, CO 80538.  Ask f&r the
strengthening the sick, the poor, and           list of the duties of the elders. Be-       sermon entitled, "The Elders' Visitation of
members in                                                                                  the Sick." Plea& enclose $2.00 to cover cost.
                need of comfort."               sides the duties mentioned in the
  One of the questions asked at the             article, these may be added: visit-
annual church visitation is: "Do                ing and supervising catechism


    "As Thou Goest, Step by Step I Will Open up the Way Before Thee"
                                                          Proverbs 412

     Child of My love, fear not the unknown morrow,                        Stand not in fear thy adversaries counting,
            Dread not the new demand life makes of thee;                      Dare every peril, save to disobey;
     Thy ignorance doth hold no cause for sorrow                           Thou shalt march on, all obstacles surmounting,
            Since what thou knowest not is known to Me.                       For I, the Strong, will open up the way.

     Thou canst not see today the hidden meaning                           Wherefore go gladly to the task assigned thee,
            Of My command, but thou the light shall gain;                     Having My promise, needing nothing more
    Walk on in faith, upon My promise leaning,                             Than just to know, where'er the future find thee,
            And as thou goest all shall be made plain.                        In all thy journeying I go before.

     One step thou seest - then go forward boldly,                                                                -Author Unknown
            One step is far enough for faith to see;
    Take that, and thy next duty shall be told thee,
            For step by step thy Lord is leading thee.



                                                                                              October 1,199O  /The Standard Bearer  / I9


                                                   The End Times (6):
      The 
         r./ Strength
                        .I                  World Calamities,
     ot Yom
I
     Rev. Barrett Gritters                         Signs of the End *

        Earthquakes!
        Famines!
        Disease!
        War!
        Even young people in America
     who do not know very much by ex-               :I* : fc+i$ig; `iix$S ii+ +nts w$be &&ecutedin 6.,way,  no one has ever
     perience about war and famine                  `:* seen*before.' .Before this&ersec$ioncomes;  the.church  is called. to be ac-
     shake at the thought of them as                `.: $l;q in ~preaching  the gospel .toalI nations ,fMat$?@4&for, when. the
     much as they tremble when they                   : persecution comes,, the gospel &ill t;e' silencedl cflthe.  two witnesses": will
     consider earthquakes and diseases,              1. be killed&d their dead bodieswillhe  in theestreets  forthree.$nd  a ,half
     about which they know a little.                ?,$~ys;.  "_1,  ii  *_  *  ;  -a*  `,-~~~-i;,`::-:_;::   ...-;  .:$.,  :,  1;  1'  (`, . . .
     Our natural reaction to all of these           `,;.y.. .`There  are other signs of -&e coming-of-Christbestdes  the.apostasy
     is fear, even terror. Our natural re-            &at will exist inthe churchz;.One.group~of  mese,`(`world  calamities,." is '
     action is also that we hope and we             !~:-`$&p(.$:i~  M&t&& 2jif+J;,  `-;L ' :..`.`*.,.: ,, ,; `_
                                                    Vs. . .  ,' .,  `  I  _  :,  :                                         :I  .;_  :  .'  -    ,  1 .    '
     pray that they will all be taken                                                .  .*'  S1.' :  .:o  i  ;     1  `.I  `;,' .:
     away from us because we question
     how they will actually be "good"                  Maybe you object and say that                          says it will, it is understandable
     for us.                                        these signs have been in the world                        that the tempo of these devastating
        Are they necessary? Should we               since Jesus' ascension. And you                           signs picks up as we come clloser to
     entertain the hope that they will be           would be right. But all that that                         the end.
     removed? In Matthew 246-8,  Jesus              means is that Jesus' coming has                               But these signs are also sent as
     puts a different perspective on it.            been near for 2,000 years already. It                     the judgment of God on this
     "And ye shall hear of wars and ru-             has been "the last hour" for that                         wicked world. That this is true is
     mors of wars: see that ye be not               whole time. What has changed is                           seen not only from the fact tlhat
     troubled: for  all  these things must          the intensity and frequency of these                      man can do nothing to prevent
     come to pass, but the end is not yet.          signs - wars, rumors of wars,                             earthquakes, and that most dis-
     For nation shall rise against nation,          earthquakes, famines, and diseases                        eases are not the direct result of
     and kingdom against kingdom:                   are on the rise.                                          specific sins today, but also from
     and there shall be famines, and                WHY CALAMITIES?                                           the plain teaching of the Bible in
     pestilences, and earthquakes in                   Many of these are the result of                        Revelation.
     divers places. All these are the be-           the wickedness of our human race.                             Revelation 6 teaches that Christ
     ginning of sorr0ws.N                           Famines may result from man's                             sends out four horses into thie
     SIGNS OF CHRIST'S COMING                       carelessness and greed, war and                           earth, each bringing something dif-
        Wars, rumors of wars, earth-                revolution, rape of the land and                          ferent with him. The first horse is
     quakes, famines, pestilences, and              spoiling of the air. Wars spring                          the white horse of the victorious
     the rest aresigns  of the coming of            from pride and lust for power, to                         gospel preaching. The second is
     Jesus Christ. They are signs that Je-          say nothing of greed. Diseases,                           the red horse of sword and war; the
     sus is near and coming soon.                   some of them at least, come in large                      third, the black horse of greak  lack
                                                    part through man's own wicked                             and unreal riches; the fourth, the
                                                    behavior. Sexually transmitted dis-                       pale horse of death - pestilence
                                                    eases are at epidemic levels in                           and earthquakes and other "`natu-
                                                    many areas of the world, in large                         ral" disasters. Who opens the seals
     Rev. Gritters is pastor of the Protes-         part because of the vile behavior of                      to release these horses is the .Lumb.
     tant Reformed Church of Byron Cen-             the people. And since the wicked-                         He sends forth not only the gospel,
     ter, Michigan.                                 ness of man develops as Scripture                         but also these calamities!

     20  I The Standard Bearer i October 1,199O


  These signs must come. "All            the Antichrist to come, since the          nite wisdom and love for His peo-
these things must come to pass."         Antichrist will silence the witness        ple, sovereignly controls every
Jesus says that plainly in Matthew       of the church.                             event. His timetable is being kept.
24:6.                                       "All these things must come to          His plan is perfected. His gospel
  Why are these things necessary?        pass." -"But the end is not yet."          will go forth. His elect will be
What do they have to do with the         WORLD CALAMITIES PREPARE                   saved!
coming of Jesus?                         THE WAY FOR THE COMING OF                     "Be not troubled," Jesus says.
WORLD CALAMITIES                         THE ANTICHRIST                             Or, as He said in Luke 21, "Be not
HINDERTHE PREMATURE                        This may seem to contradict              ftwified."  Now you know why.
RISE OF ANTICHRIST                       what was just said. But the very           Our first reaction to all this is fear.
  When Revelation says that Satan        means that God uses to prevent the         All these calamities seem horrible
is bound for a thousand years and        Antichrist from rising prepare the         for us, too. Our friends die, our
will be released at the very end for     way for him when the time is ripe.         homes are destroyed, our lives am
a short period of time, it refers to       In the world today there is a dis-       threatened. But we are not terri-
something that hinders him from          satisfaction with the state of affairs.    fied, because we know these
deceiving the nations (see Revela-       Who is happy with wars? Who                calamities serve the coming of Je-
tion 20, especially verses 3,7,8).       wants the skirmishes to develop            sus Christ and the end of the
Satan is not able to gather the na-      into full scale battles in which we        world.
tions together under one head            are involved, our husbands or our             These signs mean that the end :is
against Jesus Christ. Satan is active    sons? What person would not                not yet. As long as the world is
presently, working furiously to ac-      want to see the social conflicts re-       filled with wars and their rumors,
complish his purpose. He is not          solved, the diseases cured, the            the end will not come at once. Do
banished from the earth. But he          famines eliminated, the earth-             you know that? Much must hap
cannot bring about his Antichris-        quakes predicted or prevented?             pen before Jesus will return. So the
tian kingdom fully because he is         Glory to that man that could cir-          critical behavior for us is not look-
"bound" from doing it.                   cumvent their damage or prevent            ing to the clouds (although see the
  Binding him axe the world              these things altogether!                   Heidelberg Catechism, Q&A  521,
calamities! How? The Lord Jesus            Exactly in this way, the hearts of       but enduring through all these
frustrates the purposes of Satan to      the wicked anticipate and long for         calamities, faithful to Jesus Christ.
bring the world into one military        the coming of a man to give them              But the end is coming. The signs
power by sending wars and rumors         deliverance from these evils (An-          themselves are certain promises of
of wars. By doing so, he throws a        tichrist). When that Man of Sin            that. Just as a pregnant woman h,as
wrench into the peace talks. As          comes to bring nations together in         pains that tell her that the baby is
long as Jesus sends the black horse      peace, with a world vision that em-        coming, the world experiences
to bring social strife - extreme di-     braces the nations, eliminating            these "labor pains" because it is
vision between rich and poor, dif-       wars and their ominous echoes,             . "pregnant" with the end of the
ferent philosophies of government        men will be filled with wonder and         world, the coming of Christ! It is
and economics -there will not be         say, `Who is like unto the beast,          coming!
one world power. When pestilence         and who can make war with the                         **St****
and plague and famine prevail            beast?" (Rev. 13). When he comes              There is something very practical
through the riding forth of the pale     with grandiose plans for economic          here that young people need to re-
horse, the world puts its shoulder       and social prosperity, they will           member. Do you think that war
to the wheel to solve fhese prob-        think to themselves, "Why did it           can be eliminated by President
lems, and there is little time or en-    take so long for us to bring forth         Bush and Soviet Premier Gor-
ergy to bring the world into one         such a marvelous man?"                     bachev negotiating at Camp
great power. Even though the                       ****+**                          David? Do you think famines ancl
world leaders may love to hold           WHAT A GRAND,                              diseases will be eradicated by the
hands and even speak of "marry-          COMFORTING,                                great doctors and scientists of the
ing" some day, the Lord will pre-        VIEW OF HISTORY!                           world? Do you suppose that some-
vent this worldwide union by the           This gives the child of God the          day we will no longer suffer the
world calamities.                        ability to stand back and under-           devastating effects of earthquakes
  Why does He do this? The               stand what is going on in the world        because of the scientific genius or
gospel must go forth and God's           today, what has gone on since time         the amazing power of man to pre-
chosen children brought in! If God       began.                                     vent them? Remember, the  world is
has chosen your children, not yet          Remember that, young people,             always insisting that these things
born, He will hinder the Antichris-      when there are earthquakes and             will happen. Following close be-
tian kingdom from developing             death, when wars rage and rumors           hind is much of the church today.
fully by these catastrophes until        of war echo across the land, when          They both answer "yes" to these
they are born or brought to faith.       your loved ones die because of dis-        questions. But if Jesus were to
Until the gospel has been preached       eases for which there is no cure.          come today, He would be pushed
to all nations, God will not allow       The Lord Jesus Christ, in His infi-        off the pulpits, driven out of the

                                                                                      October 1,199O  I The Standard Bearer I .21


churches (and maybe off a cliff), be-        peace and safety while the nations         we expect our Lord Jesus anld the
cause He preached that all these             go on in their sin.                        eternal kingdom of our God.
calamities must come to pass, and              Also, we look for our prayers to
will.                                        be answered by Jesus Christ at His         Questions for discussion:
   What should you do? Shall we              second coming.                             1. Do you know of any evidence
pray for no earthquakes? Pray for              Yes, there will be an elimination        that these natural calamities are in-
diseases all to be cured and famines         of war for a short time just before        creasing?
eliminated? Pray for peace?                  the end, a certain prosperity during       2. What is the church's responsi-
   Certainly! Absolutely!                    the reign of Antichrist, on this earth.    bility when some of these terrible
   But let us not forget how we pray         But it is not God's peace and God's        events take place? What is yours,
for this and in what way we desire it        prosperity. Do you pray for peace?         personally? (Try to answer this in
to come. We do not pray for an               Do you pray for prosperity? Pray           terms of what we say and in terms
earthly peace, nor do we expecf  an'         for it in the way of the removal of        of what we do.)
earthly peace. Of course, we desire          sin. And if you pray for peace on          3. Does the above article mean
all these calamities to be taken             earth, understand that in the way          that we should pray for war and
away - the beating of swords into            of this peace, the Antichrist will         disease and famine, since these
plowshares, the elimination of dis-          arise soon. Or he will himself be          bring forth the coming of Christ.
eases and social strifes. But we             the cause of it.                           4. Discuss some events in history
hope for this only in the way of the           But fear not, for these pains            that we can look back on and see
elimination of sin. For it is an at-         bring Jesus Christ. We endure              that the Lord used them to frustrate
tack on God's justice to pray for            them as a mother giving birth, for         attempts to unite the world. 1



                                             Book Review

GREAT LEADERS OF THE                         tions of the flesh, men who them-          here and there a man who was a
CHRISTIAN CHURCH, edited by                  selves were amazed at the great            heretic (Ignatius  Loyola, the
John D. Woodbridge; Moody Press,             work which God was pleased to              founder of the Jesuits, Francis
1988; 384 pp., $24.95, (cloth). (Re-         perform through them (Luther,              Xavier, e.g.). Some of the more
viewed by Prof H. Hanko.)                    e.g., once said that through the           modem choices also come as some-
   The history of the church, it has         years of the Reformation, he felt as       thing of a surprise. It seems a bit
been said, is the history of her lead-       if he was being carried along on           strange to compare Karl Barth, Di-
ers. Undoubtedly this is true when           the crest of a tidal wave over which       etrich Bonhoeff er, Billy Graham,
it is remembered that throughout             he had no control). But their story        and C.S. Lewis with Tertullian, Au-
the church's history from Pentecost          is the story of the church.                gustine, and Luther. And some
to today, God has been pleased to              This book contains biographical          omissions make one wish he had a
raise up men of outstanding ability,         sketches of 64 such men. Each              choice in this list of leaders in the
zeal, courage, and faithfulness              short chapter contains information         church: Gottschalk, William. Tyn-
through whom He has worked                   concerning their lives, their work,        dale, some of the divines at IDordt
mighty deeds for the welfare of              their place in the history of the          and Westminster. But the lines had
Christ's body.                               church, and how God used them              to be drawn somewhere.
   Sometimes these men are rela-             for the welfare of the church and            This book is of such worth and
tively obscure men, all but forgot-          the progress of the truth in the           value that it ought to have a place
ten by the church today Some-                world. As a bonus, there are chap-         in our home and school libraries
times they are renowned theolo-              ters on the first monks, the cru-          and ought to be must-reading for
gians through whom the Lord has              sades, and medieval monasticism.           every graduate from our high             -
given a great heritage of the truth.         A map of Paul's missionary jour-           schools. Not only can a greait deal
Sometimes they were men through              neys is included, along with sev-          be learned from it concerning the
whose works the Lord was pleased             .eral time charts which enable us to       history of the church, but the story
to give the church altogether new            place these men in their own time.         of these great men in the church of
direction and startling reformation.           We would probably not agree              Christ is a constant source of en-
They were men like us, men with              with all the choices which the edi-        couragement to us in the battle
many sins and weaknesses, men                tor made. A few medieval mystics           which we are called to fight. 5
who struggled with the tempta-               are included; a couple of popes;

22 I The Standard Bearer I October 1,199O


                                          Report 6f
                                          Classis East

                 September 12,199O        to the use of The Psalter. The             Kamps; November 18,25,  and De-
             Hudsonville Protestant       grounds for this decision (summa-          cember 2 - B. Gritters; January 6,,
                   Reformed Church        rized) were that past synods have          13,20  - K. Hanko; VENICE:
                                          always considered The Psalfer  to be       September 23,30 - R. Flikkema;
  Classis East met in regular ses-        the official songbook  of the denom-       October 7,14 -J. Slopsema; Ckto-
sion on Wednesday, September 12,          ination, that the imperfections indi-      ber 21,28 - K. Koole; KALAMA-
1990 at the Hudsonville Protestant        cated by Norristown ought to be            ZOO: December 9 - W. Bruinsma;
Reformed Church. Each church              dealt with by overture, and that the       December 16 -J. Kortering; De-
was represented by two delegates.         unity of the federation ought to be        cember 30 - G. VanBaren; January
  The majority of the day was             considered when congregations              13 - W. Bruinsma.
spent in deliberating a protest from      implement changes.                            In other business, classis ap
Norristown regarding a decision              Classis also dealt with an over-        proved the request from Pella to ae-
made by the May 9/30 classis              ture from Hope Church requesting           quest collections for their Building
which instructed them to return to        that the minutes of the classis be         Fund and received an interim re-
the use of  The Psalter.  Norristown      sent to each consistory. This over-        port from its church visitors.
protested that the May decision           ture was adopted and the minutes              Expenses for this classis were
was arrived at illegally. Classis         are in the mail.                           $1,988.10. Classis will meet next i:n
sustained the protest of Norris-             Hudsonville and Kalamazoo re-           Byron Center on January 9,
town with regard to legality but re-      quested classical appointments for         1991.  0
jected the advice of its committee        Lame, Northern Ireland and                               Respectfully submitted,
of pm-advice to allow Norristown          Venice, Florida. Kalamazoo also                                      Jon J. Huisken
to continue to use its own psalm          requested appointments for its                                         Stated Clerk
book. Classis decided instead to          own congregation while Rev.
sustain the original advice of the        Woudenberg is in Tasmania. The
special committee sent by classis to      following schedule was adopted:
Norristown that Norristown return         LARNE: October 7,14,21- M.





                                          News From
                                          Our Churches
ML Benjamin Wigger


                                          MINISTERIAL CALLS                          up-to-the-minute status of each one
                                            The `News" should start with             (as of September 8).
                                          calls this time - to make sure that          First Church in Grand Rapids,
Mr. Wigger  is a member of the Profes-    there is enough space to get them          MI presented a trio of Pastors B.
fanf Reformed Church of Hudsonville,      all in. There are, after all, five dif-    Gritters, J. Kortering, and T.
Michigan.                                 ferent calls to consider. Here is the      Miersma, from which their congre-

                                                                                       October 1,199O  ! The Standard Bearer I 23


                                                                                                                            SECOND  CLASS
                                                                                                                            Postage Paid at
                                                                                                                            Grand Rapids, Michigan

   FO. Box 6064
   Grand Rapids, MI 49506
~~-~  . .._ _ . ..__...-.-.-  -                                                                                            __11__1
    _I _--___ ".-__. II, ..-.- __._ --___-... .II_ . . . -._.-__l-l-~-----------                                            - - -
                                                                                                                     -.

gation extended a call to Rev. T.                            worker is the preferred way to go         of their church. And a proposal to
Miersma to serve as missionary to                            in Jamaica. However, if God does          remove the cross from the chancel
Jamaica.                                                     not provide men for this work, the        wall was defeated. Their chancel
    The congregation in our Hud-                             Synod of 1990 also approved an in-        wall will remain as it is.
sonville PRC in Hudsonville, MI                              terim plan. These guidelines pro-         Parting Thought:
met on August 27 and extended a                              vide that until a full-time mission-        "Christ is victorious in all things:
call to Rev. J. Kortering to serve as a                      ary and elder co-worker arrive in         war, woes, and death! As teachers
missionary to Lame, Northern Ire-                            Jamaica, a minister and an elder or       we will make it our goal to show
land.                                                        ex-elder will twice a year hold con-      the control of Christ in every aspect
    And the Council of the Kalama-                           ference-like educational sessions         of the life of our students" (Lamm
zoo PRC in Kalamazoo, MI called a                            for the men of the Jamaican               Lubbers, Administrator of our
congregational meeting in which                              churches. The curriculum will fo-         South Holland PR Christian
their church called the Rev. S. Key                          cus on the six loci of Dogmatics.         School).  0
to serve as missionary to the area                           The theological instruction will be
around Venice, FL.                                           given by the minister, and the prac-
    You may also remember that two                           tical implications of this instruction
of our churches are without under-                           will be under the leadership of the
shepherds. both the Randolph                                 elder. The materials will be in writ-     0 foolishness of God - far wiser
PRC in Randolph, WI and the                                  ing, with provisions for homework.          than
Hope PRC in Isabel, SD extended                              Currently Rev. Joostens and Mr.           Collected wisdom of the ages
calls to Rev. T. Miersma. Rev.                               Clare Prince are working on this.           known to man!
Miersma declined both those calls.                             These sessions could continue           The more I contemplate what
DENOMINATIONAL                                               for up to four years, if the Lord           should have been my end.,
ACTIVITIES                                                   does not provide a resident mis-          The higher must my praise to Him
    Our Protestant Reformed Semi-                            sionary and elder co-worker.                ascend.
nary Convocation was held on                                 CONGREGATIONAL                                                -Suimne hoyen~ga, 1990
September 11 in the Grandville                               HIGHLIGHTS
PRC in Grandville, MI. Prof.                                   At the same congregational
Decker spoke on the theme, "Con-                             meeting in which First Church             Grace flows from the cursed. tree,
tending for the Faith."                                      called a missionary to Jamaica, they      Grace as deep as the sea,
MISSION ACTIVITIES                                           also approved a proposal to build a       Grace for time and eternity,
    Having read this far in the                              canopy on the northwest entrance          Grace enough for me.
"News" column you are aware that                             of their church.                                                                -SB, 1930
there is a call extended to Rev. T.                            A congregational meeting was
Miersma to serve in Jamaica. The                             also held in our Southwest PRC in
Council of First Church, in agree-                           Grandville, MI. There the member-
ment with Synod 1990, believes                               ship also approved a proposal to
that a full-time missionary and co-                          erect a canopy at the north entrance

                                                                                                       WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
     LYNDEN PROTESTANT REFORMED CHURCH                                                                    On October 11,1990,  our par-
                                                                                                       ents and grandparents, MR. and
         The Lynden Protestant Reformed Church of Lynden, Washington is                                MRS. JOHN VELDMAN will cele-
            offering up to $330,000 in notes to finance the construction of our                        brate their 45th wedding anniver-
      sanctuary. (5-years: 8%; lo-years: 8.5%) These notes will be issued in                           sary. We are thankful to God for
  multiples of $1,000, payable on demand with interest paid semi-annually.                             the years of covenant instruction,
                                   For further information, please call or write:                      love, and care which they have
                                                  Albert deBoer                                        given us. We pray that God will
                                                 1633 Matz Road                                        continue to bless them an?
                                               Femdale, WA 98248                                       strengthen them.
                                                  (206) 3844148                                        6 children
                      We ask that you give this your prayerful consideration.                          21 grandchildren
                                                                                                                            Faith Church, Jenison. Michigan


24 / The Standard Bearer / October I,1990


