                    THE
                   STANDARD
A Reformed          BEARER
Semi-Monthly
Magazine


                                                            .
                         i              ;     ,~

                     we and our children stand
                     in.awe of the athletic h&roes
                    i of our day; we have-all kinds
                    ,-of honor' to  -.  be,stow on
                    mighty,' leaders;; we marvel
                     at the,grandeur of the Rocky
                     Mountains; butwhere is our
                    i feat%f the majestic Gob?!
                                   .

                              See "The Majesty of God" --
                                                    page  469  '


Vol. 67, No. 20
September I,1991


C O N T E N T S :                                                                                                                                         September I, 1991                                                  STANDARD
Meditation - Rev. Jason L. Kortering                                                                                                                                                                                                 Bm
           Wearing the Girdle of Truth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..~..................................*.. 459
Editorially Speaking - Prof. David J. Engelsma . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 461
Editorial - Prof. David J. Engelsma                                                                                                                                                                                         ISSN 0362-4692
           An "Election Theology" of Covenant (6) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 461                                                                                           Semi-monthly, exceptmonthly  during June, July, and August.
Letters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  ! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .    463     Published by the Reformed Free Publishing Assoctadon, Inc.
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All Around Us - Prof. Robert D. Decker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 464
Guest Article - Rev. Steven R. Key                                                                                                                                                                                          Poetmuter: Send address changes to the standad  Bearer,
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            Church Membership in an Evil Age (4) .,.,.,.....,.,........................... 466                                                                                                                              EDITORIAL COMMITlEE
Search the Scriptures - Rev. Car/J. Haak                                                                                                                                                                                    Edltoc Prof. Davkl J. Engelsma
           The Book of Ruth, lesson VI                                                                                                                                                                                      Becretaryz  Prof. Robert D. Decker
                                                                                                                                                                                                                            Meneglng Edltcfz  Mr. Don Doezema
            "His Name Shall Endure Forever" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 466
Taking Heed to the Doctrine - Rev. Charles J. Terpstra                                                                                                                                                                      DEPARTMENT EDITORS
                                                                                                                                                                                                                            Rev. Ronakl Cammenga, Prof. Robert Decker, Rev. Ark
           The Majesty of God (2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..*........................*....... 469                                                                                   denHartog, Rev. Russell Dykstm, Rev. Bany Glftlters,  Rev.
Day of Shadows - Rev. Johl A. Heys                                                                                                                                                                                          Carl Haak, Prof. Hennan Hanko, Rev. John Hey& Rev. Marvln
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            Made to be Christ's Royal Bride . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 471                                                                     Kulper, Mr. James Lantlng, Rev. George Lubbers, Mrs.
Decency and Order - Rev. Ronald L. Cammenga                                                                                                                                                                                 MaryBeth Lubbers, Rev. James Slopsema. Rev. Charles
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                                                                                      . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  ..~......................... 473                     Benjamin Wlggw,  Rev. Bemard Woudenberg.
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majesty. But, Calvin continues, "such is the weakness of our minds that we rise                                                                                                                                             cwnmunlultion$relathretotheumtenCsshould          beeenttothe
with difficulty to the contemplation of His glory in the heavens."                                                                                                                                                          edltoflal0m00.
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                                               W&!irin@ the G.irdle
 Meditation .                                  o                        f                               Truth
 Rev. Jason Kettering



                                               evil day." Thatevil  day is the same as     one of us as soldiers in the battle of
  Stand therefore, having your loins           the last hour. It includes all the time     faith.
  girt about &ifh truth. - -                   from Christ's ascension to His return.                What is truth? Indeed, as Pilate
                         Ephesians 6:14a.      The urgency is pressed uponus, how-         asked sarcastically, "What is truth?"
                                               ever, when we realize that tithin  this     The world of the ungodly claim to
         Stand!                                period of time the evil intensifies the     pursue truth. But truth comes born
         Not as an idle spectator, but         closer we come to the end. Our Lord         heaven to earth, not the other way
stand as a soldier.                            warned us of this when He said that         arotid.  The natural man cannot dis-
         Stand  in the heat of battle.         the influence of Satan would be so          covei- truth. He is in the dominion of
         Yes, we are surrounded with an        great that, unless the days were short-     the lie. This is tihat the battle Is all
army of evil spirits which fill the air.       ened, there would be no faith on the        about. Satan and his legions subject
They are well organized into differ-           earth. We areliving at the end of these     fallen man to the deceitfulness cnf the
ent ranks of command; their captain            evildays.  Satanis  concentratingupon       lie. They cry out, "There is no god."
is the prince of the powers of the air,        us personally as we approach the day        The gods they do profess to follow are
Satan himself. Being spirits they are          of the antichrist. He is shooting his       figments of their own imagination.
able to infiltrate into our inner being        barbs at the Reformed churches who          More than anything, they like to) say,
to influence us to commit sin. Satan           have the spiritual courage to ma+-          Man is god. Oh yes, he still has the
uses the ungodly world round about             tain the faith of the fathers.              limitations of his animal past, but
us to tempt us day and night. He even                Stand!  .`                            evolution holds forth the hope of the
appears as an angel of light within the             You cry, how?                          future. As man has progressed  p:hysi-
realm of the apostate church. He can                Take unto you the whole armor          tally, so now he is progressing so-
use the saints who fall into sin and           of God.                                     cially. All we have to do is believe in
thereby tempt others to follow and                "~~B@ili with the girdle d tith. '       ourselves. Man speaks of the new
give occasion to the enemy to mock.                  Obviously, the inspired apostle       world order. That order will be the
         The battle is the battle of faith.    is drawing a compa+on  between the          lawlessness of the antichrist. Free-
         Satan and his hosts concentrate       Roman soldier and the Christian sol-        dom to fallen man is to throw off all
upon the believer and the church with          diir in the battle of `faith. Paul was      conscience of sin and to indulge in
the one intention to take faith from           familiar with the appearance of Ro-         cvery.evil pleasure without disrupt-
the earth. He shoots his fiery darts,          mansoldiersin the garrisoninjerusa-         ing society.
seeking to get us to forsake our beliei:       lem-and throughout the Roman eni-                    How beautiful is truth. "In the
..,and to stop us from obeying God's           pire as he traveled about. It may have      beginning, God!" On that founda-
Will.                                          beeri that he was chained to such zi        tion, God reveals to us truth concem-
         The call to stand comes to us         soldiergttheverymomenthepenned              ing His ownexcellent virtues. He tells
from our Captain, our. Lord Jesus              these words, for he was `in prison in       us about creation and the beauty of
Christ. It is urgent, for He warns us in       R o m e ;                                   His handiwork. He instructs us con-
the previous verse, "Wherefore take                 As Paul.looked at that soldier         cemingthefallintosinandHisd%ne
Vito you the whole armour  of God,             who was so well prepared for battle         judgment upon alliniquity. We  learn
thatyemaybeable towithstandinthe               to come to the defense of the Roman         that the increase of sin in the world is
                                               empire, the Holy Sp&it  led him to see      due to God's righteous judgment
                                               an analogy for Us in our Spiritual' upon man's disobedietice.  In the cen-
                                               battle.                                     ter of truth is Jesus Christ who is the
                                                    The first part of that armor is the    way, the truth, and the life. He is the
Rev. Korfering  is pastor of the Protestant    girdle of truth.                            Person of the Son of God in our flesh.
Reformed Church of Grandville, Michi-                What the girdle did for the Ro-       He explained to us, "If ye continue in
gan.                                           man soldier, so truth.fdoes  for each       my word, then are ye my disciples

                                                                                            `September  1,199l I Standard Bearer' 1459


indeed; and ye shall know the truth,          Truth gives to us the courage            spoke ex cathedra.  He cleverly ap-
and the truth shall make you free"             to fight because we are sure            pealed to human reason as the reac-
(John 8:31, 32). In Jesus we are free             of what we are doing.                tion-to this: "Don't trust the church,
from the curse of our disobedience,                                                    trust your own reason." This led to
for He paid the penalty on the cross.                                                  the evil of scientism  - man's knowl-
In Jesus, we are free from the domin-       gave the soldier courage. Hence we         edge of the universe is ultimate truth.
ion of sin and the devil, for He sends      read, "Gird up thy loins like a man"       Many reacted to this by appealing to
His Spirit to break our stubborn wills      (Job38:3),andinIPeter1:13,"Girdup          mystical experience and feelings. To-
and to cause us to find sweet solace in     the loins of thy mind." These expres-      day this explains the tensionbetween
humble obedience to Him. The truth          sions direct us to intense activity and    rationalism and science over against
in Jesus is demonstrated in a mean-         courage.                                   mysticism and such things as the new
ingfullife of service. We are children           Truth is such a girdle for the        age movement. Apart from divine
of the Ring, and our whole being, our       Christiansoldier.Itfundionsinmuch          revelation, man believes in himself
very life, our possessions, our labor,      the same way. It binds together all the    andman  always changes. Hence truth
our leisure all come under His control      parts of the armor. Truth is a founda-     is relative.
as we further the cause of His king-        tion garment, without which there               Why can we take courage when
dom. Ultimately, the truth sweeps us        could be no breastplate of righteous-      we wear the girdle of truth? The an-
from earth into heaven itself.              ness, no boots of the gospel, no shield    swer is that such truth is authorita-
     This truth comes to us in written      of faith, no helmet of salvation, no       tive. We have the authority of God's
form. In the old dispensation God           sword of the Spirit. Secondly, truth       Word. It bears weight, for we know
revealed His truth to His people in         functions as a girdle in that, by gird-    we are right! Wearing the girdle of
theophany, in dreams, and through           ing up our loins with truth, we as-        truth we can fearlessly oppose the lie
prophets. Jesusspoke thistruthamong         sume the necessary courage to be a         because we are sure of ourselves, for
us. Eventually it was written down in       soldier. Truth gives to us the courage     our faith is based upon God's infal-
sixty-six books.                            to fight because we are sure of what       lible and inerrant  Word.
     Still more, this truth must be         we are doing. If we believe and con-             The Reformed theologian who
impressed upon our hearts. The same         fess the truth we have what it takes to    wears the girdle of truth does not
Spirit who wrote the Bible uses that        be a soldier.                              subject the church to repeated ques-
Word, especially by the preaching of             The history of the Christian          tions of heresy. Such issues as pre-
the gospel, to write this truth upon        church demonstrates this. When Paul        destination, creation, atonement are
our hearts. By the work of salvation,       girded his loins with truth he could       settled and thoroughly biblical, as
we believe this truth and love this         effectively deal with evil that was        they are expressedin our confessions.
truth.                                      present in the church. In Galatia he       The Reformed pastor stands in the
     This truth is our girdle. We are       could courageously deal with the evil      pulpit and does not say, "I think this
instructed (literally in the Greek),        of legalism which was present in the       is true." Rather he shouts, "Thus
"Stand, having girded your loins with       church. In Corinth he could carefully      saith the Lord." The Reformed be-
truth."                                     demonstrate the historical and spiri-      liever confesses and practices this
     The girdle was the first part of       tual necessity to believe in the resur-    truth with joy and certainty, rejecting
the armor the Roman soldier would           rection over against those who de-         all errors.
put on. As such it was basic to the         nied it (I Cor. 15). The early church           Do you wear this girdle? Have
"whole armour." It was a thick piece        fathers wore the girdle of truth and       you girded your loins? Three things
of leather, beautifully engraved. Its       boldly defended the deity of Christ        are necessary to do this. We have to
function was fourfold. First, it tight-     and the doctrine of the trinity over       know this truth, be convicted of this
ened the tunic to the body. The sol-        against those who attacked it. Luther      truth, and love the God who revealed
dier wore a knee length free flowing        and Calvin had this girdle on when         it to us. The battle of faith is one of
tunic. This was hardly conducive to         they faced the wiles of Satan which        allegiance to the God of our salvation.
hand-to-hand combat, so his girdle          had been entrenched in the apostate              Wearing it we can appreciate the
would bind this tunic close to his          church.                                    words of the great reformer, "That
body. Secondly, the girdle bound to-             Little wonder then that our en-       word above all earthly powers, no
gether the other parts of the armor;        emy the devil, diaboZos,  the liar from    thanks to them abideth; the Spirit and
e.g., the breastplate was attached to       the beginning, wants to rip off this       the gifts are ours, through Him who
the girdle, and the sheath for the sword    girdle. He does this throughout his-       with us sideth. Let goods andkindreds
was also attached to it. Thirdly, the       tory as well. In the pre-reformation       go, this mortal life also; the body they
girdle protected the loins, the abdo-       days he succeeded in deceivingchris-       maykill,God'struthabidethstill,His
men, with the stomach, the kidneys,         tians by the teaching that truth was       kingdom is forever."
and the bowels. Finally, the girdle         determined by the decree of the                  Girded with such truth leads us
bound up the entire lower region and        church, even by the Pope when he           to that eternal victory. 0

460  /Standard Bearer / September 1,1991


Editorially speaking . . .

     In the past year, a great deal of      other doctrine is more deserving of            include reviews of two recently pub-
editorial space has been devoted to         thorough explanation and vigorous              lished books on the subject of the
the Reformed doctrine of the cov-           defense. It cannot but be helpful to           Reformed doctrine of the covenant.
enant. Such a lengthy treatment of          the reader of this magazine, whatever          Both of these works show that the
the doctrine was not my original in-        his church affiliation, to compare the         truth of the covenant has a central
tention. Originally I wrote a brief         various covenant views in light of             place in the Reformed and Presbyte-
series on the covenant. The lengthy         Holy Scripture and the Reformed                rian tradition; that interest in the doc-
treatment was occasioned by response        creeds.                                        trine of the covenant is very much
to this series from those representing,          In any case, this last installment        alive today on a broad front; and that
and contending for, different views         of the section of my treatment of the          the issues at the heart of all past and
of a Reformed covenant conception.          covenant that deals with the "Liber-           contemporary debate over the cov-
We gave them their say in The Staur-        ated" teaching concludes our present           enant are the very issues with which
dard Bearer.                                consideration of the covenant. I think.        the Protestant Reformed Churches
     Perhaps this has wearied some               But consideration of the cov-             have grappled and on which these
readers. I hope not. No other doc-          enant goes out in this issue of the SB         churches have taken a distinctive
trine has stronger claim on the mind        with a bang, not a whimper. In addi-           stand.  Q
and heart of the Reformed Christian         tion to the editorial, we deliberately                                          - DJE
than the truth of the covenant. No





Editorial


     An "election theology" of cov-           the covenant. What is anyone to              tive, namely, that all the children of
enant demands a distinctionbetween            make of this reasoning? What doesit          believers alike are really in the cov-
being in living covenant fellowship           mean to be included in the sphere of         enant. This is the implication of his
with God by covenant grace and                the covenant? Here Engelsma's lan-           criticism of the Protestant Reformed
merely being in the sphere of the             guagesuddenlybecomesvague. And               Churches: They "do not reaZZy  (em-
covenant by natural birth. Believers          there is a clear reason for this turn to
                                              the vague concept of the "sphere of          phasis his - DJE) include all the chil-
and their genuine children, the elect         the covenant." When one closes the           dren  of believers in the covenant of
children of promise, are included in          door to the simple teaching of Scrip-        grace."
the covenant of grace. Hypocrites             ture, one begins to reach for what-               However one may choose to
and the children of the flesh are not in      ever might fit the occasion in order to      nameit, the distinctionisbiblical. The
the covenant in the same way. Dr.             salvage the situation. . . . The sad part    OldTestament stresses the difference
.DeJong as a faithful defender of "Lib-       of all of this is that the theory of the     between the remnant that is the true
erated" covenant theology is ex-              "sphere of the covenant" as pro-             Israel of God and the mass of Israel-
tremely critical of this distinction:         pounded by Engelsma is foreign to            ites among whom the  remna.nt  is
  Here the truth of his position finally      the Scriptures (cf. DeJong's  letter in
                                              theMarch 15,199lissue of TheStan-            found (cf. Is. 10:20-23,  Jer. 31:7, Joel
  appears. The children of believers          dard  Bearer).                               232, Mic.  2:12; cp. Rom.  9:27 and
  are included in the covenant, but                                                        11:5). Paul clinches the distinction in
  actually they are also excluded  from          He pleads for the only alterna-
                                                                                              September 1`1991  I SfandardSeawr/461


Romans  9:6: "For they are not all            founding father Benne Holwerda's             covenant Head? What then of Psalm
Israel, which are of Israel." Some -          astounding teaching that virtually           89:3, 19ff.? And what of Galatians
the elect children of promise - are           every New Testament mention of elec-         3:16 which explicitly identifies the
UIsrael,N that is, God's covenant             tion, including Ephesians  1:4 and           seed of Abraham that always was the
people, sustaining a relationship of          Romans 9:11,refers,  not to God's eter-      object of the covenant promises as
friendship and service with God by            nal decree, but to an act of God in          Christ Himself?
faithin Jesus Christ. Theothers-the           time.                                             By this denial, the "Liberated"
reprobate children of the flesh - are           (Holwerda) was of the opinion that         take issue with Q. 31 of the
merely "of Israel," that is, adhering to        whenever the New Testament men-            Westminster Larger Catechism:
the outwardmanifestation of the cov-            tions"election,"anactofGodintime           "With whom was the covenant of
enant and belonging to the sphere of            is usually meant. He was convinced         grace made? A. The covenant of
the covenant.                                   that he, pointing t`o these matters,
                                                couldcontribute to the discussionon        grace was made with Christ as the
      This relationship to the covenant         the relation between "election" and        second Adam, and in him with all the
is serious enough. Because of it, such          Covenant ("election" namely as the         elect as his seed."
children sin as do no others. They              hisforicaZanddivi.ne-sovereignintro-                The "Liberated" hostility to elec-
violate the covenant, treading under            duction into the Covenant). (Cf. J.        tion comes out in Canadian Reforlmed
foot the Son of God, counting the               Kamphuis,AnEzwlastingCovenant,             theologiannr.  Jelle Faber's cruel slan-
bloodof the covenant an unholy thing,           1985, pp. 65,66.)                          der of the covenant doctrine of the
 and doing despite to the Spirit of           Holwerda went so far as to suggest           PRC as "fatalism":
 grace (Heb. 10:29).  They bring upon         this paraphrase of Ephesians 1:4: "He          TheProtestantReformedChurches...
themselves the wrath- of God that             has us now, in time (my emphasis -             had chosen in an official deckkation
 avenges contempt for the covenant.           DJE), chosen in Christ according to            for an extra-scriptural binding along
Their punishment is the sorest (cf.           his purpose ofbefore  (sic) thefqunda-         approximately the same dogmatic
Matt. 11:2Off.; Heb. 10:26ff.).  Never-       tion of the world" (J. Kamphuis, p.            lines as a fatalism grounded in elec-
                                                                                             tion (quoted in Rudolf Van Reest,
theless, their position in relation to        109).                                          Schikder's Struggle for the Unity of
the covenant is essentially different                                                        the Church,  translated by Theodore
from that of the children of promise:                      Whatever have                     Plantinga, 1990, p. 428).
They are not included in the bond of           Reformed churches come to,                           Because the covenant doctrine
love and friendship created by the                that `election theology"                 of the PRC is grounded in God's elec-
regenerating Spirit and enjoyed by a                                                       tion of sovereign grace, the doctrine
 true faith in the Son of God. The                     is a term of disgrace,              of the PRCis  "fatalistic," according to
 difference is due to particular, sover-      rather than a banner of glo y?               Faber. But the enemies of predestina-
 eign, covenant grace shown to the                                                         tion raised this very calumny against
 elect children and to them only.                 ' The "Liberated" problem with           the doctrine of predestination con-
      I would like to have Dr. DeJong         election, because of their covenant          fessed by the Synod of Do&t (cf. the
 demonstrate that the assertion that all      conceptitin, comes out in their denial       "Conclusion" of the Canons). Dr.
 the children of believers are "reuZZy"in     that Christ is the Head of the cov-          Faber violates truth, equity, andchar-
 the covenant, presumably in the same         enant and that the Triune God has            ity in wishing to persuade the Re-
 way, doesnotnecessarilyinvolvehim            established the covenant with Christ         formed public that the PR "election
 in a denial of limited (covenantal)          as covenant Head. The reason for this        theology" of covenant is nothing more
 atonement; in a denial of the                denial is simply that viewing Christ         than fatalism. As little as election
irrestibility of (covenantal) grace; in a     as Head of the covenant necessarily          leads to a careless and profane life, so
 denial of the perseverance of (cov-          implies that God has established the         little does an "election theology" of
 enant) saints; and, ultimately, in a         covenant of grace only with the elect        covenant lead to carelessness in in-
 denial of (covenantal) election.             who are represented by Christ. The           structing the children in the ways of
       Especially would I like Dr.            "Liberated," however, are determined         the Lord Jesus; in calling the children
DeJong to show that the "Liberated"           to argue that many others besides the        to repent, believe, and walk in a holy
 doctrine of a conditional covenant           elect are really and properly mem-           life; or in warning them of God's
 promise to all the children and of a         bers of the covenant (cf. J. Kamphuis,       anger and judgment upon disobedi-
 conditional position of all the  chil-       pp. 7Off.).                                  ence.
 drenin the covenant does not involve                  This denial involves the "Liber-             Is not the "Liberated" weakness
 the"Liberated" inadenialofelection.          ated"inacontroversywithHolyScrip-            regarding election evident in thevery
       Imbedded deeply in the very            ture of enormous proportions. Is             factthatDr.DeJongsupposes"  `elec-
 heart of "Liberated" cpvenant doc-           Christ indeed not Head of the new            tion theology' of covenant" to be a
 trine is a fatal weakness regarding          covenant? What then of Romans                charge that disqualifies the covenant doc-
' God's eternal election. This comes          5:12ff.? Has God indeed not estab-           trine of the PRC, rather than the high-
 out in "Liberated" theologian and            lished the covenant with Christ as           est praise that commends it to all who

 462 /Standard Bearer I September  1 ,199l


love the truth of sovereign grace?              before Christ and the holy angels!             PR doctrine.
         Whatever have Reformed                 Ours is an "election theology" of cov-               He has missed doing so only by
churches come to, that "election the-           enant!                                         a little.
ology" is a term of disgrace, rather                  We askReformed and Presbyte-                   He wrote, "election theology (of
than a banner of glory?                         rian Christians to consider carefully          covenant)."
         The PRC accept the "charge"            this covenant doctrine, since  even  its             He should have written, U cov-
with humble gratitude to God. It is             enemies publicly testify that it is dis-       enantal theology of election."
our boast.                                      tinguished by that which has ever                    Butthisisanothereditorialstory.
         Let Reformed and Presbyterian          been the hallmarkof Reformed Chris-                                                     Cl
churches everywhere give heed! Here             tianity: election.
we stand in the midst of all                          By his charge, Dr. DeJong  has                                              -- DJE
Christendom! This is our confession             come close to describing the heart of


Letters

A Shift in Protestant Reformed                  and even the assertion that the re-            blies and to the order that is necessary
Thinking                                        fusal, or inability, of a consistory to        for life together in a denomination.
                                                acquiesce in the decision of a major           Later, this tendency was corrected,
         I am writing about the editorial,      assembly means the separatingof the            partly through the peculiar history of
"The Binding Decisions of aReformed             consistory from the denomination.              the PRC and partly by virtue of the
Synod" (nte SfundardBearer,  June 1,                  There is disagreement over the           fundamental determination of the
1991).                                          interpretation of the phrase in Article        PRC to be Reformed in church polity.
         I have an article from an issue of     31 of the Church Order of Dordt,                     I was alluding to this "shift in
the SB in 1946. It is about Reformed            "unless it be proved to conflict with          thinking" when I wrote, "The PRC
church polity. Are your editorial and           the Word of God," and over the ques-           may be thankful that the King of the
this article in full agreement? Or has          tion, whether the dissenting                   church has preserved us from this
there been a shift in PR thinking on the        consistory may agitate throughout              reactionary repudiation of synodical
matter?                                         the denomination against the deci-             authority."
                            Arie  van Zoest     sion of the major assembly that it                                                 -- Ed.
                     Gore, New Zealand          opposes. The 1946 SBarticle  takes the
                                                position that Article 31 of the Re-            The Mind of a Monk
                                                formed church order means that one
Response                                        proves to himself or that a consistory               It was refreshing for me to read
                                                proves to itself that a decision of classis    some  positive remarks about monas-
         I suppose that the article referred    or synod conflicts with the Word of            ticism in Prof. Hanko's article "Ber-
to appearedin the September 15`1946             God. It also justifies the action on the       nard of Clairvaux" (The  Staandard
issue of the SB under the title, "The           part of an individual or of a consistory       Bearer, June 1, 1991). I will quote
Fundamental Principles of Reformed              of publicly criticizing even severely,         some of those remarks. "Yet, at the
Church Polity" (Volume 22, pp. 514-             the decisions of major assemblies in           same time, monasticism represented
517).                                           order to convince other members and            what was also the best in the church.
         There is agreement between my          consistories of the error of those deci-       Monasteries were places of quietness
editorial and the article in important          sions.                                         and spiritual retreat.... They were
respects: the binding power of the                   Does this disagreement between            places where men and women gave
decisions of broader assemblies as an           this article and my editorial indicate a       themselves over to the cultivation of
expression of the unity of the church;          shift of thinking in the Protestant Re-        true godliness through prayer, medi-
the commitment of the consistory to             formed Churches on these matters of            tation on Scripture, and the discipline
allow itself to be bound by the deci-           church polity? No doubt, it does. In           of a life of self-denial.... Their refor-
sions of the broader assemblies as a            the earlier history of the PRC, under-         matory movements often served as
necessary aspect of lifein  the denomi-         standably, there was a definite ten-           dams against the tidal waves of cor-
nation ("with the reservation that              dency to react so strongly against             ruption which all but engulfed the
these decisions be not in conflict with         classical and synodical hierarchy that         church."
Holy Writ"); explicit rejection of the          certain expressions did injustice to                 Our need to be historically accu-
church polity of congregationalism;             the real authority of the major assem-         rate, and to portray to our people a
                                                                                                   September $1991  I Standard Bearer 1463


trueunderstandingofGod'spurposes                        In Psalter # 213, we sing, "Let    necessities to keep us alive?
in history, demands of us that we             children thus learn from history's                   Let us be honest. We cannot
present all aspects of events in church       light . . . . II                             serve God and mammon. Are we too
history. I have felt that the positive                  What lesson does the history of    far gone already in our materialism
contributions of monastic life have           monasticism teach us today?                  and spiritual compromise with the
too often been overlooked among us,                     I believe our times are rapidly    world, even to recognize the "abomi-
when we point out the dangers of              approaching the day of Antichrist, as        nation of desolation" when he ap-
trying to escape the world, and when          mentioned in Matthew 24:15-28;and            pears, let alone being ready to leave
we expose the many sinful practices           other places. The Dark Ages, when            all and "flee into the mountains"?
that arose, even in the monasteries.          monasticismbecamewidespread,was                      Will we live like monks, for
         James 1:27 tells us, "Pure reli-     a period of spiritual darkness, too,         Christ's sake, when He calls us to?
gion and undefiled before God and             and an early type of antichristian                   Dowesimplysay,"Itwon'tlhap-
the Father is this, To visit the father-      dominance....                                pen in our time; don't be crazy"?
less and widows in their affliction,                    Christians must more and more              Or do we say by faith, "Lord, I
and to keep himself unspotted from            be warned to be ready for these things.      am willing and ready; show me the
the world."                                   Too much warning against "world-             way, when the time comes"?
         As Prof. Hanko pointed out, the      flight" willlead  to complacent people               Or better, do we say, "I hear
purposes of monks to do goodworks,            who will little by little take upon their    Thee calling, Lord; I will confess Thy
such as when they provided shelter            foreheads the mark of the beast, until       Name before men every day; I will
from the persecution and violence of          they are swallowed up by the                 crucify my flesh by renouncing the
the day, established hospitals and            antichristian world-power. How               world in all that I do; make me Thy
schools, and recorded painstakingly           many of us even today would be               servant, Lord"?
the Scriptures, all were directed to-         willing to give up our televisions,                  "Let us go forth therefore unto
ward serving God in a pure and                radios, videos, audio systems, credit        him without the camp, bearing his
undefiled way. For many of these              cards, banking cards, houses and             reproach" (Heb. 13:13).
people, fleeing to the monasteries was        lands, friends, and take residence in a              Let us all have the mind of a
almost the only way that they could           bare cell or cave, suffering the scorn       faithful monk.
keep themselves "unspottedfrom the            of all that are round about us, and                                      John Hilton
world."                                       having barely enough of the earthly                                  Edger-ton, MN



All Around Us
Prof. Robert Decker

SYNODS AND GENERAL                            has been our custom we devote this           that seriously ill people have a right to
ASSEMBLIES                                    issue's column to a report on some of        take their own lives, making it the
                                              these. We will begin with brief re-          first major, mainline denominatio:n  to
         Summer, especially the month         ports on some of the larger, mainline,       goonrecordfavoringactiveeuthana-
of June, is the time when the General         liberal denominations and proceed to         sia.
Synods and Assemblies of the vari-            bring it closer to home by reporting         +       gave South African anti-apart-
ous churches all around us meet. As           on  some of the smaller, Reformed and        heid activist Nelson Mandela its Just
                                              Presbyterian denominations.                  Peace Award.
                                                                                           +       quietly passed a resolution to
                                              THE UNITED CHURCH OF                         "affirm, celebrate, and embrace the
                                               CHRIST (UCC)                                gifts for ministry of lesbian, gay, cand
                                                        At its General Synod the UCC       bisexual persons," and asked  .the
                                              (1.6 million members):                       churches to be "open and affirming"
                                              + denounced Clarence Thomas,                 of homosexuals. One hears the verbs;
                                              President Bush's nominee for the Su-         "affirm,celebrate,andembrace"used
                                              preme Court, as a Hsevere  opponent          by supporters of women in church
Prof. Decker is professor ofPractical The-    of civil rights and human rights."           office in Presbyterian and Reformed
010~  in the Protestant Reformed Semi-        Thomas is black.                             denominations these days. How long
nary.                                         + passed a resolution declaring              will it be before they are used in
464/SWtdard&arerBeptember1,1!391


support of lesbians and homosexuals         THE UNITED                                  called for the creation of liturgical
in these churches? The not too distant      METHODIST CHURCH                            materials from a woman's perspec-
future, in the opinion of this reporter.          Of 39 districts (equivalent to our    tive.
           National  6 International        classes) reporting action this summer                             The Church Herald
                      Religion Report       on the topic of gay ordination, 3'l
                                            districts urged that rules barring ho-      THE CHRISTIAN REFORMED
THE PRESBYTERIAN                            mosexuals from the ministry be up-          CHURCH IN NORTH AMERICA
CHURCH U.S.A.                               held. One district is asking the UMC's               In response to the teachings and
     At its 209th General Assembly          General Assembly to cancel all fund-        writings of several Calvin College
this 2.9 millionmember churchvoted          ing of study groups and taskforceson        professors, particularly Dr. Howard
534 to 31 to reject the Report on Hu-       h o m o s e x u a l i t y .                 Van Till, the 1988 Synod appointed a
man Sexuality and to dismiss the com-                   National  6 International       study committee on Creation/Sci-
mittee from any further work. This                                  Religion Report     ence. This committee presented its
report recommended a departure                                                          report to this year's synod as "a help-
from  biblical norms for sexual con-        THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH                     ful presentation of the problems sur-
duct in favor of an ethic based on          IN AMERICA                                  rounding the creation/ science de-
"justice-love.n It called for ordina-             The General Assembly of this          bate." The report was adopted and
tion of homosexuals and lesbians,           smaller (225,000 members), conser-          sent to the churches. A minority
approved of sex outside of marriage,        vative denomination which broke             report ("Declaration F") was also
and approved of homosexual andles-          away from the mainline Southern             adopted. It says "The church de-
bian "marriages."                           Presbyterian Church in 1973 (which          clares that the clear teaching of Scrip-
     But, all is not well in this de-       denomination recently merged with           ture and of our confessions on the
nomination concerning this issue.           the Northern Church to form the Pres-       uniqueness of human beings as
So&e 42,000 copies of the rejected          byterianChurchU.S.A.)issuedapress           imagebearers of God rules out the
report have been distributed to the         statement lamenting the "public con-        espousal of all theorizing that posits
churches and will remain available to       fusion" generated by the  PCUSA's           the reality of evolutionary forebears
the churches. Prof. John Carey, chair-      controversial report on sexuality. The      of the human race." Does this mean
man of the dismissed committee, said,       statement said, "The PCA reaffirms          that one can believe there are evolu-
"progressive congregations can useit        that sex is a gift from God which           tionary  forbears of the human race
to keep pressuring presbyteries for         should be expressed only in marriage        but not "espouse" the theory? This
change until it happens."                   between a man and a woman." Del-            weak statement was further weak-
     The Assembly also sent a pasto-        egates heard glowing reports of nu-         ened when the synod also adopted a
ral letter to the congregations reaf-       merical and spiritual growth in the         statement saying "`Declaration F is
firming the authority of the Bible, the     young  denomination.                        not intended and may not be used to
sanctity of the marriage covenant,                      National  6 International       limit further investigation and dis-
and past positions of the church re-                                Religion Report     cussion of the origin of humanity."
jecting homosexuality and banning                                                       Thus Van Till and others at the col-
the ordination of practicing homo-                                                      leges are free to continue teaching
sexuals. After the vote was taken to        THE REFORMED CHURCH                         and writing just as before.
reject the report on Human Sexuality,       IN AMERICA                                           TheCRCalso,andthisinspiteof
Presbyterians for Lesbian and Gay                 At its 185th annual General           some 40 overtures on the matte:r,  by a
Concerns, an officially recognized          Synod, which met at Hope College,           vote of 111-73 decided not to rescind
caucus in the denomination, led a           the RCA elected Dr.Beth Marcus as           its 1990 decision to open all &urch
silent protest on the Assembly floor.       vice-president. Since the vice-presi-       offices to women. The Synod of 1992
They were joined by several hundred         dent is the sole nominee for presi-         willvote  on the necessary changes to
commissioners, spectators, and key          dent, Dr. Marcus will be president of       the Church Order. Synod appointed
members of the task force whichpro-         next year's synod.                          a committee (Revs. Clarence
duced the report.                                The Synod, concerned over              Boomsma,  Morris Greidanus, Jacob
     Assembly actions on this whole         membership declines in the denomi-          Eppinga, and Edward Tamminga) to
question give conservatives in the          nation, passed a recommendation             gather biblical evidence for its 1990
PCUSA little cause for rejoicing.           concerning the use of evangelism re-        decision.
Sooner or later, but inevitably, the        sources andcalled uponRCA congre-                    The Synod in. other actions:
liberals will win this one!                 gations to equip lay members in per-        +        rejected two overtures calling,
           National  b International        sonal evangelism. The Synod passed          for Howard Van Till to "declare un-
                      Religion Report       resolutions concerning the Gulf War,        ambiguously that he believes Adam
                  Christianity Today        ecumenical matters, and women's is-         and Eve to be historical persons, our
                                            sues. Concerning the latter the Synod       first parents, made in the image of

                                                                                             September 1,199l I StandardBearerl465


  God by special creation in a non-               clear, unambiguous teachings of Holy        Herman Hanko  - "A Reformed
  evolutionary manner."                           Scripture on these matters arelabeled       Hermeneutic"; Dr. Nelson D.
  +       reappointed  Galen Meyer to a           "fundamentalists." Let us not forget        Kloosterman  - "Holy Scripture and
  four-year term as Editor of The Ban-            that except'we become as little chil-       Ethics"; Rev. David J. Engelsma -
  ner.                                            dren we shall in no case enter the          "Genesis1-ll:MythorHistory?"  The
  +       approved of Calvin Seminary's           Kingdom!                                    topics are designed to demonstrate
  choice of Dr. Richard Muller  and Dr.                              Christian Renewal        God`s preservation of the treasures~
  Ronald Feenstra to teach Historical                                        The Banner       given His church through the 16th
  Theology and Systematic Theology                      Reformed Ecumenical Council           century Reformation. Thosewhorev-
  respectively in its newly established                                 News Exchange         erence the Word of God, trusting it
  PhD program. Feenstra is currently                                                          with childlike faith, won't want to
  teaching at Marquette University in             INTERDENOMIhJATIQNAL                        miss this conference. Open discus-
  Milwaukee; andMuller,  a well-known             CONFERENCE                                  sion to follow each subject. $25.00
  and respected Calvin scholar, is cur-                Finally, the Protestant Reformed       cost includes conference and 3 mfeals.
  rently teaching at Fuller Theological           Synod approved of our PRSeminary's          Lodging...single $25.00, double
  Seminary in Pasadena, California:               sponsoring a conference on II The           $30.00. For additional information
          The decisions of this year's CRC        Reformed Doctrine  ..of Holy Scrip-         please contact: The Protestant Re-
  synod, especially those regarding               ture." The conference will be held,         formed Seminary, 4949Ivanrest Ave.,
  women in office and creation/ science           D.V., Oct. 30-Nov. 1`1991  at the semi-     Grandville,  .MI 49418. Phone: (616)
  indicate clearly the direction in which         nary. The speakers/ topics include:         531-1490 -Fax: (616) 531-3033. 0
  our mother churchis going. It grieves           Rev. Robert D. Decker - "The Inspi-
  us to see this. Those who argue for the         ration of Holy Scripture"; Rev.



                                                  Church
                                                  Membership in an
   Guest Article                                  Evil Age (4)
  Rev. Steven  Key,


          Our  Belgic Confession, on the          What an enormous entity is the              past years that has presented us as
  basis of Scripture, calls everyone to           church-world today! What a bewil-           teaching that there is only one true
  join himself or herself to the true             dering array of denominations and           church from a denominational point
. church.                                         congregations! Andin the face of that       of view - and we are it! The accusa-
          But when I say that only a true         baffling diversity and the overwhelm-       tion has been flung at us from time to
  church is a proper body to join, that           ing apostasy, we must fight against         time, "You P&s think you are the
  statement does not in itself clarify the        the error seen in the life of God's         only ones going to heaven." That.
  matter of church membership.                    servant Elijah. You recall, from I          teaching is not ours. I would not say
          It is not as easy as saying this one    Kings 19, that in the face of all the       that there have not been those indi-
  church is true and all others are false.        apostasy Elijah despaired of God's          viduals in years past who may have
                                                  church, supposing that he alone was         presented themselves that way. Just
                                                  the only survivor of the faith: "I, even    about any church has such zealous
                                                  I only, am left." God rebuked Elijah        souls. I know of those in years past
                                                  for this notion when He said, "I have       who thought such of the church in
                                                  left me seven thousandin Israel." We        which I was a member - and it was
                                                  must recognize the truth that God           not Protestant Reformed. Their par-
                                                  preservesHischurcheveninthemidst            ticular church or denomination was
                                                  of vast departures from His truth.          the true church and all others were
                                                       In that connection there has been      false.
  Rev. Key is pastor of the Protestant Re-        a rather persistent charge leveled at                 But if there were those who
  formed Church  of  Randolph, Wisconsin.         our Protestant Reformed Churches in         thought that way, they were in error.
  466 /Standard Bearer I September `1,199l


That has never been the teaching-of         God in the truth He assures you that          doctrines of the gospel, and they ap-
the Protestant Reformed Churches,           your testimony to your family will            pear totally indifferent to what is
nor does such a teaching stand in the       not go unheard.                               preached, so long as it does not of-
light of Scripture and the confessions;             The determining factor of where       fend. We hear Jesus saying of the
If, e.g., Martin Luther or John Calvin      ImustworshipasamemberofChrist's               church of our day as He did of the
took such a position, even with re-         body comes down to this: Where is             church of His own day: "This people
spect to the Roman Catholic Church          the truth of God's Holy Word main-            draweth nigh unto me with their
at the time of the Reformation, there       tained from a practical point of view?        mouth, and honoureth me with their
would have been no Reformation!             That is, do I in this church and its          lips;buttheirheartisfarfromme.  But
     The Belgic Confession gives us         fellowship of churches hear the pure          in vain do they worship me" (Matt.
some clear direction and counsel in         preaching of the gospel, preaching            15:8).
this regard. I encourage you to read        which trumpets forth the voice of                  The outward things of Christi-
Articles 27-29 of that Confession.          Christ, the clear, fearless blast of "thus    anity - baptism, the Lord's Supper,
(Andifyoudonothaveacopyofthat               saith the Lord," and the unadulter-           public worship, church membership,
scriptural confession, please notify        ated truth of the Scriptures? Sec-            and the like - will never take a :man
The Standard Bearer  and we will be         ondly, do I find here the proper ad-          to heaven, unless his heart is right
happy to send you a copy at no              ministration of the sacraments -              with God. So Paul writes in Galatians
charge.) The principle set forth in         again, with the truth of God's'Word           5:6: "For in Jesus Christ neither cir-
Article 28 is that I must be joined in      the determining factor? And finally,          cumcision availeth any thing, nor
the midst of the world to the holy          is there the scriptural exercise of the       uncircumcision; but faith which
catholic church.                            love of Christian discipline, without         worketh by love." That love is the
     The Belgic Confession considers        which neither the sacraments nor the          love of God. If that love lives in your
the subject of true and false church        pure preaching of the Word can be             heart, you are called to worship .Him
from' the viewpoint of the question:        maintained?                                   in spirit and in truth.
"Where must I join myself?" That is                                                            If God in His mercy has placed
an entirely different approach, you                                                       you in a church and denomination
see, than identifying that true church                                                    faithful to His Word, fervent in the
by its members. We have no doubt                                                          faith, soundin preaching, sacraments,
that even within denominations that           . . . church history teaches us             and Christian discipline, give Him
are falling away from the Word of                   that where the marks                  thanks. Take it not for granted. Pray
God, there are yet faithful individu-         of the church are removed,                  fervently for your pastors and
als, faithful pastors and officebearers,            so is its candlestick.                officebearers and for the continued
and even faithful congregations. But                                                      signs of God's grace in your midst.
that has nothing to do with the ques-                                                     Live in active dedication to your call-
tion before us nor with the direction                                                     ing as a member of His church.
of the Belgic Confession. God has set               Where any of those marks are               If in His providence the Lord is
before us the calling to glorify Him in     gone, removed from an instituted              trying you, if you find yourself in a
the truth.                                  church, your calling is to remove your-       church which is departing or has de?
     Therefore, the question becomes,       self for membership in a church where         parted from God's Word and its call-
U Where is that church in which I must      those marks are maintained. For               ing as a church, I urge you in the love
worship and live in active member-          church history teaches us that where          of Christ not to linger. Neglect not
ship?" And in Article 29 the answer         the marks of the church are removed,          your responsibility toward the church
is given us: "Here are the distinguish-     so is its candlestick Reformation in          in which you are. Follow the way of
iig marks."                                 that case comes only by way of sepa-          Christian discipline. But if that way is
     The determining factor of church       ration and renewal, to the glory of           gone or not open to you, flee for your
membership must not be family and           God.                                          life and the lives of your children! For
relatives. The words of Jesus are clear             In conclusion, church member-         evil men shall wax worse and wlorse,
and must be applied by us to our own        ship means nothingunless your heart           says the Apostle, deceivingandbeing
situation: "He that loveth father or        is right with God. There are thou-            deceived. Don't play with fire.
mothermore thanmeisnotworthyof              sands of people whose religion con-                Consider Lot, and the sorrow
me: and he that loveth son or daugh-        sists of little more than social interac-     which was his even in being saved.
termore  thanmeisnot worthyofme"            tion. The glory of God and the wor-           God saved Lot. But Lot lost his fam-
(Malt.  10:37).  The only thing you         ship of Jehovah is far from them.             ily. Would you feel the testimony of
must consider in that connection is         They know nothing of .experiential            the Spirit with your spirit, know
the spiritual welfare of your loved         Christianity. They do not separate            whom you have believed, and walkin
ones. But your calling is to glorify        themselves from the fellowship of the         the joy of faith? Then do not linger.
God in the truth; And in glorifying         ungodly, they show no interest in the         Hear the Word of God. 0
                                                                                           September 1,1991/ Standard Bearer I 467


                                                                The Book of Ruth
                                                                            Lesson  VI
                                                     `"His Name Shall
Search the
Scriptures                                          Endure Forever"
Rev. Carl Haak                                                              Ruth 4.91-22


        The book of Ruth begins with a             Secondly, in the closing verses    highly of Boaz and Ruth. But thinkfar
sadpicture of famine and sin, of death     of the book of Ruth, we see the work-      more highly of God, who gave them
and a door closed on begetting cov-        ing of God towards the fulfillment of      the strength to do what He brought
enant seed. But what a bright and          His covenant promises, especially          them into being to perform, andused
beautiful picture it is with which the     those given in Genesis 3:15 and Gen-       them so that our salvation was earned,
bookcloses. Boaz takes Ruth tobe his       esis 49:lO. In the midst of a day when     and will be a blessed reality for us
wife, and she bears a son. And be-         there was much wickedness, and             when He sends His Son to bring us
yond this, God unfolds His purpose         through people who themselves were         into that of which Canaan was only a
to continue the line of Christ. The        not faithful (Naomi, Elimelech), God       type and shadow."
beauty of thebookof Ruth, alongwith        not only preserved a remnant of be-             May God bless the study of the
all the Bible, is the salvation which      lievers, but preserved the Seed of the     book of Ruth to our hearts and lives!
God gives us in Christ, who was born       woman, who is Christ. (Compare
in that line of Boaz, Obed, and David      Genesis3:15withGalatians3:16.)  God,       Memory Work -- Psalm 7217-19
(Lam. 3:22,23).                            who knows the end from the begin-               :17 His name shall endure for-
        In Boaz's marrying Ruth, sev-      ning, brings Obed, and thus contin-        ever: his name shall be continued as
eral great truths are brought to the       ues the promised line of Christ. This      long as the sun: and men shall be
fore. In the first place, it shows that    is wondrous in our eyes (Ps. 118:22,       blessed in him: all nations shall call
the Old Testament did not maintain         23).                                       him blessed.
mere legalistic bars against the hea-              In addition it should be noted:         :18 Blessed be the Lord God, the
then. Although Ruth was a Moabitess,       1) How it is emphasized that God           God of Israel, who only doeth won-
her faith in Jehovah constituted more      gave Ruth conception (vs. 13).             drous things.
than ample credentials for her to be       2) That Naomi had to experience the             :19 And blessed be his glorious
received into the nation of Israel.        truth of Romans 828.                       name forever: andlet  the whole earth
Although there may well have been          3)ThatRuthisspecificallymentioned          be filled with his glory; Amen, and
naturalistic prejudices which she also     in the genealogies of Christ given in      Amen.
met, they were not there in men of         Matthew 1 (vs. 5). This corresponds
faith, such as Boaz. By him she was        to what the women say to Naomi             Points to Ponder
received as a child of God, and that       concerning Ruth in verse 15.                    l.The people at the gate readily
was sufficient for him. Ruth's confes-             Rev. Heys brings his comments      and publicly acknowledged them-
sion in chapter one is now sealed in       on the bookofRuthtoafittingconclu-         selves as witnesses to the marriage of
her marriage to Boaz.                      sion with these words: "Having             Boaz and Ruth and went on to bless
                                           promised through Jacob that the            them (vs. 11,12). Does this teach that
                                           sceptre wouldnot  depart from Judah,       marriages should be publicly wit-
                                           nor a lawgiver from between his feet       nessed?
                                           until Shiloh come, God brought Ruth              a. How do we give our blessing
                                           tothepromisedlandandmovedBoaz              to couples as they marry?
                                           to take her as his wife, so that Christ          b. Are we giving our blessing
Rev. Hank is pasfor of fhe Protestant      could and would be born in                 by our presence?
Reformed Church  of  Lynden, Washing-      Bethlehem, and salvation with all its            c. Outline the blessing given to
ton.                                       blessings might be given to us. Think      Ruth andBoaz. What is meant by the

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reference to Rachel, Leah, and the                      4.What is the meaning and sig-              7. Returning to our introductory
house of Pharez, in verses 11 and 12?           nificance of the name "Obed"? Why             lesson and the five points undler  sig-
         2.Was Ruth's conception a              did the neighbors name Obed (vs.              nificance, do you see these and/or
miracle? (Had she been barren? Was              17)?                                          others now?
Boaz old?) Discuss this in light of                     5.How was Naomi a nurse to                  8.Write out the personal ben-
other passages (Ps. 127, e.g.) and in           Obed (vs. 16)?                                efits you have received from this
light of our present evil day of abor-                  6. From Matthew 1, write out the      study.
tion, etc.                                      line of Christ from Abraham to Christ,              9.Review your memory work
         3.HowwasRuthbettertoNaomi              and, from Genesis 5 through 11, from          and write it from memory! Q
than seven sons (vs. 15)?                       Adam to Abraham.




Taking Heed to The Majesty :-of God
the Doctrine
Rev. Charles Terpstra                           0

                                                He is the God of infinite majesty and         we think of kings and queens, of high
         Enter into the rock, and hide thee     as such we must know Him. Job 37~22           rulers and dignitaries. The queen of
  in the dust, for fear of the Lord, and        declares that "with God is terrible           England is referred to as "Her Maj-
  for fhe glory of his majesty.                 majesty"; Psalm 93:l says that Jeho-          esty" by the citizens of that country.
                                 Isaiah 2:lO    vah is "clothed with majesty"; Psalm          In theU.S. we refer to judges as "Your
                                                96:6 teaches that "honour and maj-            Honor." But God bears these names
         The subject of the doctrine of         esty are before him"; in Psalm 145~5          supremely because He is the great
God, with which we are presently                the psalmist exclaims, "I will speakof        King and Judge of all the world. Both
dealing, is an exceedingly rich and             the glorious honour of thy majesty...";       Psalm 93 and Psalm 145 describe God
vast subject. If you look in the index          and in Hebrews  1:3 we read that              in His majesty because the psalmists
to any major work on systematic the-            Christ, whenHe ascended, "sat down            saw God as King (cf. v. 1 in both
ology, you will find that under the             on the right hand of the Majesty on           psalms).
doctrine of God (theology) aretreated           high." Our God is a majestic God.                   While this is the basic idea of
such things as God's being (including                                                         God's majesty, there are several other
proofs for His existence) and nature            God's Majesty Defined                         truths concerning God included in it.
(His incommunicable and communi-                        God's majesty is His greatness        First of  all, God's majesty includes
cable attributes), the Trinity, the eter-       and  dignity  as the sovereign God. The       His  transcendence.  God is  m,ajestic
nal counsel of God, and other related           word "majesty" comes from the Latin           because as the sovereign King He is
subjects.                                       word for greatness, and this same             infinitely exalted above all His cre-
         In our study of God together in        ideaisfoundintheHebrewandGreek                ation; He is high above all angels and
these articles, we will be focusing on          words for majesty in the Old and              men; His Being transcends heaven
thenatureofGodandexaminingsome                  New Testaments. God is  majestic              and earth. He is the high and lofty
of His main attributes. And we begin            because He is a great God, indeed the         One that inhabits eternity, who dwells
with the majesty of God. In answer to           only Great One: "For the LORD your            in the high and holy place (Is. 57~15).
the question, What kind of God is the           God is God of gods, and Lord of               The heaven is His throne and the
Triune God? the Scripture tells us that         lords, a great God, a mighty, and a           earth His footstool (Is.  6&l). His
                                                terrible..." (Deut.  10:17).  In Psalm 96,    thoughts and ways far surpass our
                                                before mention is made of God's               own (Is.  55:8, 9). This too  iis His
                                                majesty in verse 6, verse 4 describes         majesty. Have we seen God's majes-
                                                His greatness: "For the LORD is               tic transcendence and praised Him
                                                great, and greatly to be praised" (cf.        for it?
                                                also Ps. 145~3 in connection with v. 5).            Secondly, God's majesty in-
Rev. Terps tra is pastor of the Protes tanf             Furthermore, God's majesty            cludes  His incomparability.  He is ma-
Reformed Church of South Holland, Illi-         speaks of His dignity, His stateliness,       jestic because in His transcendence
nois.                                           His honor. Whenwe thinkof majesty,            there is no one and no thing that can
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becomparedtoHim.  HeisaKinglike               145 sets forth God's majesty in the          esty radiates in the members' walk of
none other, the only Potentate (I Tim.        fact that Godby Hisuniversaldomin-           holiness and obedience in the midst
6.15); He is the sole Creator and the         ion opens His hand and satisfies the         of the world. In her His grand.eur
sole Savior of the world (Is. 45:21,22);      desire of every living thing, giving         shows forth in the amazing diversity
He is a God of gods and a Lord of             them their foodindue season (vss. 15,        and unity of her members. In her His
lords (Deut.  10:17). Isaiah 40 sets          16). Psalm 29 describes God's maj-           dignity and honor are displayed in
forth God's majesty in the light of His       esty in terms of His power displayed         her preaching of the Word, adminis-
incomparability with some veryprac-           in thunder and lightning and rain.           tering of the sacraments, and exercis-
tical points. According to this Word          God's majesty is literally displayed         ing of Christian discipline. In her
of God, we see Gods majesty when              all around us, if only we will open our      God's transcendent glory is seen in
we understand that no one has been            eyes to behold it - in the intricate         herworshipinspirit andintruth. Are
God's counsellor  or has taught Him           design of the human body, in the             our eyes open to this majesty of God
(v. 13, 14); that the nations of the          beauty of a summer sunrise or sunset,        in creation, in Christ, and in the
world are as a drop of the bucket to          in the endless variety of animals and        church?
God (v. 15); that all the inhabitants of      insects, in the storm and tempest. As
the earth are as grasshoppers to Him          GerardM.  Hopkins wrote in his poem
(v. 22); that God calls the stars of the      "God's Grandeur," "The world is                    The majesty of God
heavens all by name (v. 26); and that         charged with the grandeur of God."                  is rarely thought  of
God never faints or becomes weary                  Furthermore, God's majesty is
(v. 28). The fact that no one and no          displayed in  Christ.  Because God's                    or spoken about
thing can be likened to God also be-          Son is the image of the invisible God,                    in our day.
longs to His majesty.                         He is the perfect reflection of God's
     Thirdly, God's majesty includes          greatness and dignity as sovereign
His glory. God is majestic because He         Ring. It is true that when Christ came       God's Majesty Defined
is a glorious God, a God whose nature         in the flesh in the state of humiliation          The majesty of God is rarely
radiates with infinite perfections. He        thatmajestywasveiled.  YetJohntells          thought of or spoken about in sour
is majestic in His power and strength         us that when the Word was made               day. In fact, in many cases it is under
(Ps. 93:l); He is majestic in His holi-       flesh His people beheld His glory (Tn.       outright attack. Not only do Chris-
ness, as Isaiah saw in his vision (Is. 6);    1:14). That majesty of God was re-           tians in general have a low view of
He is majestic in His grace and mercy         vealed in Christ's sinless and holy          God, but in some cases there is a
and compassion (Ps. 145:8).  Moses            walk among men; it was revealed in           blatant denial of God's supreme great-
saw the majesty of God when God               Christ' miracles, in His power over          ness and honor as the sovereignKing.
causedHisglorytopassbeforehimin               nature, over sickness and death, over        This is reflected in the proud and
the mount (Ex. 33:19ff.).  Do we ac-          Satan and his devils; it was revealed        perverted way professing Christians
knowledge the majesty of God's glo-           in Christ's gracious and powerful            speak of their salvation; this is dis-
rious Being and nature as revealed to         words which He spoke. God's maj-             played in the careless, frivolous, even
us too?                                       esty was revealed in Christ in His           blasphemous way church-goers wor-
                                              transfiguration, as Peter states in II       ship and pray; this is evident in the
God's Majesty Displayed                       Peter 1:16. It was set forth in the cross    carnal, hedonistic way confessing
     WhileGodismajesticinHimself              and resurrection and ascension of            people of God conduct themselves in
and by Himself, He displays His maj-          Christ, as the witnesses of these events     the world. Ours is the day of the
esty outside of Himself for all to see.       readily testified to. And still today        abasement of God and the exaltation
God will have His greatness and dig-          God's majesty is displayed in Christ,        of man.
nity acknowledged .by all His crea-           for though He is now in heaven, He is             And we Reformed Christians are
tures, in order that He might be glori-       the exalted Ring at God's right hand,        not free from sinning against the maj-
fied and honored as the supreme Ring          governing all things in the world for        esty of God. As J.I. Packer has writ-
of the universe.                              the final kingdom of God. Wherever           ten, also our faith is feeble and our
     Gods majesty is displayed first          and whenever we see the signs of the         worship flabby, because we have lost
of all in His works of creation and           end, we are seeing God's majesty in          sight of the majesty of God. We and
providence.  Psalm 8 speaks of the            C h r i s t .                                our children stand in awe of the ath-
excellence (majesty) of God as that is             Finally, God's majesty is dis-          letic heroes of our day; we have all
displayed in the glory of creation, in        played in the church, that assembly of       kinds of honor to bestow on mighty
the fact that God's fingers have made         allHiselectpeoplesavedbyHisgrace.            leaders; we marvel at the grandeur of
the heavens with its moon and stars           In her His greatness shines in the           the Rocky Mountains; but where is
(v. 3), in the fact that God created man      power of His grace to take them out of       our fear of the majestic God?!
and gave him such an honorable po-            sin and death andbring themintoHis                We must defend this glorious
sition in His world (vss. 4ff .). Psalm       favor and fellowship. In her His maj-        characteristic of our God, defend it

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with our words but also with our           reading of Isaiah 2:10-22?)
daily living. From the Scriptures we             And then let such a consider-              The lofty looks of man!
must increase in our knowledge of          ation of the majesty of God translate
themajesty of our God, and thenwith        into a life of pure worship, of reverent                shall be humbled,
thisknowledgewemustbecomemore              prayer, and of humble seeking of the               and the haughtiness
convicted of our own smallness and         grace of God in Christ alone for salva-                         of man .
insignificance before the awesome          tion. Let the praises and prayers of             shall be bowed down,
greatness of God. We must learn            the psalmists be ours, so that we give             and the Lord alone
more and more to put down all our          unto the LORD the glory due unto
pride and self-glorification, and seek     His name (Ps. 96:7, 8). (Read also                      shall be exalted
to live in godly fear and humility.        Psalm 145.) CJ                                            in that day.
(May I suggest for a starting point the                                                                       Isaiah 2:l ;I




 Day of                                     Made to be-Christ's
 Shadows                                    Royal Bride
Rev: John Heys


     After he offered up Isaac, and        God for Isaac as his wife. Abraham          What a faith and trust in God! Abra-
was taught by our God that He would        was concerned about the church's            ham was sure that God would keep
provide a sacrifice for our sins, Abra-    future, even as our solemn calling is       His promise. That servant of Abra-
ham, assured that-in Isaac his seed        to do all we can to keep our covenant       ham also showed a tremendously
would be called, did all in his power      seed spiritually strong, and as free        strong faith in God. He prayed, "0
to get a believing wife for his son        from temptations and sin as we can.         Lord God of my master Abraham, I
Isaac. Abraham was nearing the day              Abraham did not want his son           pray thee, send me good speedl  this
of his death, and Sarah his wife and.      himself to go back to where he lived        day, andshowlcindness tomymaster
mother of Isaac had died many years        before God called him to go to the          Abraham" (vs. 12).
before. By God's grace  Abraham            land of Canaan. God had promised                 In God's grace, and by His al-
wanted to help Isaac get a believing       Abraham and his seed that land of           mighty power, this servant-  did suc-
wife. He sent his faithful servant to      Canaan, and there they must settle          ceed in getting a believing wife for
the place from which he, Abraham,          and live. Abraham told his faithful         Isaac. He went to Mesopotamia where
had come, knowing that there his           servant that the Lord God of heaven         Abraham hadlivedbefore God called
servant would find a child of God for      had brought him out of his father"s         him out of that region and came into
his son to marry (Gen. 24:4).              house, and from the land of his kin-        the land of Canaan. It was quite a trip
     We do not do that today, that is,     dred. That servant, according to Gen-       for thisservant, and he took ten cam-
seek a wife or husband for our chil-       esis  24:5,~ had said to Abraham,           els with all the goods he-needed for
dren from our relatives. Physically        "Peradventurethewomanwillnotbe              that trip. We today can go directly in
that is not wise. But Abraham is very      willing to follow me unto this land:        the air by an airplane and getthere.in
concerned and eager to find a child of     must I needs bring thy son again unto       a short period of time. But this,was
                                           the land from whence thou camest?"          for that servant a slow and longjour-
                                           Abraham pointed out that God had            ney, first north, an< then around. that
                                           promised him that unto his seed,            desert, which they could not@ those
                                           which means Isaac and his descen-           days safely cross, south to the city of
                                           dants, He would give this land of           N      a       h       o        r    .
                                           Canaan.                                          Coming there to a well, this ser-
                                                Abraham even assured his ser-          vant knew that daughters of the men
                                           vant that God "shall send his angel         of the city would come here to draw
Rev. Heys is a minister emeritus in the    before thee, and thou shalt take a wife     water. (How d3ferent is that situa-
Protestant Reformed Churches.              untomysonfrom  thence" (Gen.24:7).          tion from that wherein we find our-

                                                                                        September 1,199l I Standard Bearer I471


selves today, having only to turn on a      that she was the one He chose to be        seeking Rebekah, nor even of seeking
faucet inside our home to get water to      Isaac's wife.                              any woman to be his wife. It was not
drink.) This servant is indeed seeking           Here we have, as already sug-         Abraham's work of sending his ser-
a woman that would make a good,             gested, God's providence and His           vant to realize a blessed union be-
believing wife for Isaac. He would          grace. There can be no doubt about it      tween Isaac and Rebel&  Abraham's
askherforadrinkofwater. He,aman             that Rebekah, being a woman fair to        servant did not by his own power and
this woman had never seen before,           lookupon, was desiredby other young        ingenuity succeed in getting the right
and he, a man, not a child or a helpless    men there in Mesopotamia. But God          woman. Our God gaveIsaac  this wife
woman, would ask her for help.              kept her as avirgin andbrought her to      and fulfilled Abraham's desire, in fact
     Surely this servant revealed a         thewellattherighttime,andwiththe           a desire that He had placed in Abra-
tremendously strong faith in God, in        willingness to help Eliezer, and do        ham. Our God brought Rebekah to
looking for a woman who would be-           what he had prayed for in concern for      the well at the right time and wit:h the
come a proper wife of Isaac. This           both Abraham and his son Isaac.            willingness to do what Eliezer re-
servant had an idea of what kind of              What is more, we have here in         quested. He kept all other women
woman he should bring back with             the day of shadows a very striking         from coming there the moment that
him to Isaac. But the important ele-        and beautiful shadow of what is com-       Eliezer arrived, Yes, all things work
ment we must not overlookis that he         ing to pass and will be finished per-      together for good to those that love
sought help from God. All things            fectly. Take note of the fact that here    God, to them who are the called ac-
work together for good to those that        in this incident we have four persons      cording to his purpose (Rom. 8:28), as
love God (Rom. 828). But what we            involved in a marvelous work. There        pointed out a moment ago.
must not overlook is that our God           is Abraham, his son Isaac, Eliezer his           And get this truth, as pointed
worked that good.                           servant, and Rebekah who was gath-         out before, that the name Isaac means
     Still more, Abraham knew a             ered from far away and brought to be       laughter. We who live in this vale of
woman in his relation, and living far       Isaac's wife. Here we have a shadow        tears and sorrows, in this world of sin
away in Mesopotamia, who was the            of a wonderful, most blessed truth         and death, most assuredly will be
kind of woman he wanted as the wife         concerning what still lies ahead and       laughing and rejoicing when we are
of his son Isaac. In fact, in Genesis       will most assuredly come to pass.          brought to live with Christ in the new
22:20-23wereadthatitwastoldAbra-            There are four persons, namely our         Jerusalem. Our God most assuredly
ham that his brother Nahor had be-          almighty, sovereign God, His Son           in this picture promises us that we
gotten a son called Bethuel, and that       Jesus Christ, His bride (the church),      will enjoy being Christ's royal bride.
Bethuel had begotten a daughter             and the servants our God uses,             A n d   R e b e k a h 's   l e a v i n g   o f
named Rebekah. And although Abra-           namely, the prophets and ministers         Mesopotamia and being brought to
ham did not tell his servant that he        of His word, which is the gospel. Our      the promised land pictures to us that
should go and get Rebekah to be             God, having eternally decreed abride       we will not only be taken out of this
Isaac's wife, that is what he strongly      for His Son in our flesh, is realizing     vale of tears and sorrows, but shall
desired as abelievingfather concerned       the day when the church, as Christ's       laugh with abiding joy in the King-
with the spiritual life of his son. He      bride, will dwe11 with Him in ever-        dom of Heaven as Christ's bride. Our
did not know whether Rebekah was            lasting glory; and He does use His         God reveals to us here what He did
now married.                                servants in the realization of His own     and will do to its perfection.
     When that servant of Abraham,          work. Theblessed truth here is that as           Yes, that servant of Abralham
Eliezer, whose name means "God is           Abraham succeeded in getting               gave Rebekah a golden earring and
help," and who surely was a believ-         Rebekah for Isaac through his ser-         two bracelets. But this was not to
ingchild of God, came to the well, the      vant, we have a shadow of how abso-        bribe her and entice her to come for
first woman to arrive, sent by God in       lutely sure the promise of our God is      more worldly goods where AbraJaam
His providence and grace, was this          that every elect child of God, pre-        and Isaac dwelt. He gave these be-
Rebekah. She came to draw water.            sented as a member of Christ's body,       cause he understood that God had
And she was unmarried, though a             His church, will most assuredly be         fulfilled his promise and brought to
woman very fair to look upon, Here          united with Him in the bond of cov-        him a woman that Abraham wanted
then came a young woman whom                enant fellowship.                          for his son. He was thankful that God
God caused to fulfill what Eliezer had           How beautiful we have in this         had heard his and Abraham's prayers.
in his prayer requested. In that provi-     incident the truth which our God                 Take note then also of what we
dence and grace our God did bring           preached throughlsaiah.  He declared,      read in verse 44. This servant of
Rebekah there before any other un-          "This people have I formed for my-         Abraham told  Laban, Rebekah's
married young woman came to draw            self; they shall show forth my praise"     brother, when they arrived away from
water. She was the one God had in           (Isa. 43:21). And so correctly we sing,    that well and to where Rebekahlived,
His counsel decreed to be there and to      "Praise God from Whom all blessings        that he had prayed to God that if a
do what Eliezer prayed for as a sign        flow." It was not Isaac's work of          virgin came and would draw water

472 /Standard Bearer / September 1,1991


not only for him, but also for his             cause God had sent His own Son to            works that faith. Beautifully and cor-
camels, this was the woman GOD                 blot out our guilt and make us to be         rectly we sing, N All that I am I owe to
had in mind for Isaac as his wife.             believers. Abraham, Isaac, Eliezer,          Thee, Thy wisdom, Lord, hath fash-
         What a faith did that servant of      andRebekah  werebelieversby God's            ioned me; I give my Maker thankful
Abraham reveal! What a wonder                  grace. And that we, together with the        praise, Whose wondrous works my
work of God's grace He reveals in this         other believers, are Christ's royal bride    soul amaze."
incident! Give no credit to men or             is because of what God did in us and              Thank God for the salvation He
women. Praise God from whom all                for us. For us He sent His Son to earn       has wrought  through His Son. Tlhank
blessings flow. And all this work of           this glorious relationship with him;         Him for making us Christ's royal
God's grace was possible only be-              and in us by the Spirit of His Son He        bride.  in



Decency and                                    Diaconal
Order                                          Cooperation
Rev. Ronald Cammenga


  In the places where others are devot-        The Netherlands. Originally the ar-          Cooperation with Other Relief
  ing themselves to the care of the poor,      ticle had only one provision dealing         Organizations
  the deacons shall seek a mutual un-          with contact between deacons and                  The primary reference of Article
  derstanding with them to the end             government agencies for the relief of        26 is to government relief agencies. In
  that the alms may all the better be          the poor. Our present article can be         The Netherlands the government did
  distributed among those who have             traced back to the  Church Order             not in every case turn over monies
  the greatest need. Moreover, they            adopted by the Synod of `s                   and properties confiscated from the
  shall make it possible for the poor to       Gravenhage, 1586:                            Roman Catholic Church to the Rlefor-
  make use of institutions of mercy,             In places where there are charity          mation  churches, but administered
  and to that end they shall request the         workers or other distributors of alms      these funds itself. A large portion of
  board of directors of such institu-            the deacons shall seek to keep in          these funds went into the public cof-
  tions to keep in close touch with              close correspondence with them to          fers for the relief of the poor. Article
  them. It is also desirable that the            the end that the alms may better be        26 requires the deacons to "seek a
  diaconates assist and consult one              distributed among those who have
                                                 the greatest need.                         mutual understanding" withgovem-
  another,  especially in caring  for  the          The original article reflected the      ment relief agencies so that duplica-
  poor in such institutions.                   state-church relationship that pre-          tion of relief may be avoided and so
                Church Order,  Article 26.     vai.ledinTheNetherlandsintheyears            that those with the greatest need are
                                               following the Reformation. Under             helped.
                                               this arrangement, the Dutch govern-               It would be a mistake to inter-
                                               ment involved itself in the adminis-         pret Article 26 to be promoting the
Background                                     tration of benevolence. The church           principle of government relief of the
         This article has its origin in the    was forced to recognize this and co-         poor, as if the church is here encour-
history of the Reformed Churches in            operate with the government.                 aging her poor to seek the help of the
                                                    Our present Article 26 reflects a       government rather than the church.
                                               major revision by the Christian Re-          This is often done today. Rather ,than
                                               formed Church in 1914. At that time          to go to the deacons and seek. the
                                               this article was updated and ex-             "mercies of Christ," the poor betake
                                               panded. Our present article provides         themselves to this government agency
                                               for diaconal cooperation in three ar-        or that humanitarian organization. It
                                               eas. First, in those cases "where oth-       becomes a temptation to over-bur-
                                               ers are devoting themselves to the           dened diaconates to recommend that
                                               care of the poor." Second, between           the poor seek the help of the govem-
Rev. Cammenga is pastor  of the Protes-        diaconates and institutions of mercy.        ment, which help is only too rea.dily
tant Reformed Church of Loveland, Colo-        And third, between different                 available.
rado.                                          diaconates.                                       Article 26is not so much encour-
                                                                                             September 1,199l I Standard Bearer I473


aging the practice of government re-          tions, but they or a member of their         estant Reformed Secondary Educa-
lief as it is simply recognizing the fact     family must have the care provided           tion, and the like. These collections
that this was being done. It would be         by these institutions, the deacons are       are necessary because usually the
a serious misreading of the article to        to make such care available and pro-         regular income does not cover the
interpret it aspromotinggovernment            vide for the payments. Such institu-         actual operating costs of such in&u-
relief, when the fact of the matter is        tions are business enterprises, oper-        tions.
that it was exactly the Reformation           ated on sound business principles.
that restored the office of deacon to its     The admission of the poor is not the         Cooperating Between Deacons
rightful place in the church. Our             responsibility of these institutions. To     of Various Congregations
C1zurch  Order stands not outside of          givethepoora"freeride"wouldbeto                   The third area of cooperation is
but within that Reformation tradi-            jeopardize the financial stability of        between different diaconates: "It is
tion.                                         the institutions. Therefore, each con-       also desirable that the diaconates as-
                                              gregation must make provision for            sist and consult one another. . .." The
                                              the care of its poor in these institu-       article refers to mutual consultation
           Relief of the poor                 tions through the office of deacon.          and assistance between local
  is the right and duty of the                     The 7&titutions  referred to in         diaconates. The basis for such coop-
                                              Article 26 are not ecclesiastical insti-     eration is the bond of unity between
                 church,                      tutions. On the basis of this article,       congregations in the same denomina-
          not the government.                 some have argued for church-built            tion. To be sure, one diaconate may
                                              and church-runinstitutions of mercy.         not intrude upon the labors of an-
                                              Both H. Bavinck and William Heyns            other diaconate. But that does not
Our Church Order derives much from            were in favor of this. In The Church         preclude a "bearing of one another's
the Church Or&drafted by the Synod            Order Commentary, VanDellen  and             burdens." One  congregation may be
of Dordtrecht, 1578. A question was           Monsma argue for ecclesiasticalinsti-        "burdened" with a large number of
put to that synod:                            tutions of mercy (cf. p. 12lff.). Many       poor, while another is not and experi-
  What a church must do which is              denominations establish and operate          ences a surplus in their benevolent
  hindered by the authorities in the          their own hospitals, homes for  tlie         fund. In this situation there may be
  ministry of mercy. Answer: All              aged, mentalinstitutions, and the like.      assistance extended from one
  diligence shall be followed that the             There are, however, serious ob-         diaconate to another.
  church again be given her right in the                                                             The pattern for this is set in the
  best possible way, which first the          jections to such an understanding of
  consistory and after that also the          Article 26. Among the many practical         New Testament. The members of the
  classis if necessary shall take care of,    difficulties that mightbe encountered        congregation at Antioch  assisteld the
  requesting the same from the gov-           inbuildingandsupportingsuchinsti-            saints in Jerusalem in the time of
  ernment if necessary.                       tutions, the main principle objection        drought (Acts 11:27-30).  During the
         This is the Reformed position on     is that it simpIyis outside of the church    course of his missionary Iabors, the
the relief of the poor. Relief of the         of Jesus Christ. The calling of the          apostle Paul took up collections for
poor is the right and duty of the             churchis to preach the gospel, admin-        the poor (II Cor. 9; Rom. 15~25-27;  I
church, not the government. The               ister the sacraments, and exercise           Cor. 16:1-3; Gal. 2:lO).
church is to insist on this right and is      Christian discipline. It is not the call-              In our own churches this has
not to allow the government to in-            ing of the church to build and main-         often been done. Then a diaconate,
fringe on it. It is to the church, not to     tain institutions for the care of the        with the approval of its consistory,
the government, that the people of            sick, aged, and handicapped.                 makes request of the other diaconates
God are to look in their time of need.             The institutions of mercy re-           or a particular diaconate for assis-
                                              ferred to are not institutions of an         tance. The diaconates contacted may
Cooperation with Institutions                 ecclesiastical nature, but institutions      come to the aid of their fellow
of Mercy                                      which may or may not be operated by          diaconate either by forwarding a cer-
         Article 26 requires the deacons      organizationsofbelievers,institutions        tain amount of money from the:ir Be-
to "make it possible for the poor to          which the members of the church              nevolent Funds or by scheduling a
make use of institutions of mercy,            may avail themselves of.                     special benevolent collection in their
and to that end they shall request the             Although the article provides           congregation. It has even happened
board of directors of suchinstitutions        for the support of those who make            on occasion that diaconates with a
to keep in close touch with them."            use of these institutions, it is implied     surplus have contacted their fellow
These "institutions of mercy" are hos-        that it is proper for the churches to        diaconates to inform them of this and
pitals, homes for the aged, institu-          support these institutions. In our           encourage them to contact themifthe
tions for the mentally and physically         churches collections are regularly           need arises. 0
handicapped, and thelike. If the poor         taken for such institutions as: Pine
cannot afford the use of these institu-       Rest,Elim,Bethesda,Societyforl?rot-

474 /Standard Bearer I September I,1991


BOOK REVIEWS

The Thousand Generation Cov-                  than is the case with the children of       roundly as a "misunderstanding" of
enant: Dutch Reformed Covenant                unbelievers. The children are merely        the covenant teaching of the Bible.
Theology and Group Identity in                set apart from all other children out-           The early theologians are instruc-
Colonial South Africa, 16521814, by           wardly. Gerstner callsthis the "exter-      tive. But the Reformed creeds are
Jonathan Neil Gerstner. Leiden, The           nal holiness" view. This covenant           authoritative for the faith of the Re-
Netherlands:  E. J. Brill, 1991. 280          doctrine, we are assured, would have        formed churches. Gerstner examines
pages. Hardcover. 135 gulden (about           worked against the development of           the Heidelberg Catechism, the Belgic
$70). (Reviewed by the Editor.)               apartheid in South Africa.                  Confession, the Canons of Dordt, and
                                                   Only a covenantal view which           the Reformed baptism form and con-
     It is the contention of Reformed         acknowledges that children of believ-       cludes that they too teach that the
theologianDr.  JonathanGerstnerthat           ers, though set apart for God, are still    children of believers are included in
an erroneous doctrine of the covenant         born dead in trespasses (and) in sins       the covenant in the sense that the:y are
on the part of many early Dutch Re-           together with all humanity and              regenerated in infancy.
formed theologians contributed sig-           equally in need of converting grace               Concerning the Belgic Confes-
nificantly to the "heresy" of apart-          which God alone can sovereignly be-         sion,  Gerstner writes:
heid in South Africa. This erroneous          stow in his time, can safely maintain         One'sees that the Belgic Confession
covenant doctrine is the belief and           the worship of the God of Scripture in        was clearly composed from an inter-
teaching that the inclusion of the chil-      allhis awe without degeneratinginto           nal holiness view of covenantal holi-
dren of believers in the covenant,            viewing grace as abirthright (p. 262).        ness. The baptism of infants of be-
which is the basis of infant baptism,                                                       lievers rested on assumed election
                                                   A prominent purpose of the
refers to a living, spiritual union of                                                      and assumed internal holiness. The
                                              book, therefore, is that "zeal for Con-       children of believers were separate
the children with Christ by the re-           tinuing Reformation may be reborn"            from the children of the world inter-
newing of the Holy Spirit already in          (p. 262).                                     nally as well as externally (p. 16).
infancy. Gerstnercalls this "theinter-             A large and valuable part of the             Although Gerstner finds the
nal holiness" view. This "dangerous           book is the author's thorough inves-        Heidelberg Catechism less clear on
misunderstanding of covenant theol-           tigation into the covenant doctrine of      the point in the all-important 74th
ogy" was a theological cause of the           the early Reformed theologians, par-        question and answer ("Are infants
evilof apartheidinasmuch asit "iden-          ticularly the Dutch theologians. The        also to be baptized?"), he judges that
tified the entire community as re-            specific question that Gerstner wants       it is "more likely that the Catechism . . .
deemed from their earliest days while         to answeris, "What was theirconcep-         (teaches) that the children of believ-
those outside were evil from their            tion of the place of the children of        ers already possess the Holy Spirit in
birth" (p. 262).                              believersin the covenant?" Or, to put       a regenerating sense . . . (pp. 1819).
     Gerstner's own covenant  con-            it differently, "What did they under-       Since, as Gerstner notes, the only pos-
ceptionis that of the "naderereformatie"      standbytheassertionintheReformed            sibility of explaining the 74th answer
("continuing reformation"), some-             baptism form, that the children of          of the Catechism differently is to take
times called "Dutch Puritanism."              believers are "sanctified in Christ"?       the promise of God to the children as
Inclusion in the covenant for the chil-            Gerstner frankly acknowledges          a  conditional  promise, those who be-
dren of the godly, signified by infant        that, almost without exception, the         lieve the covenant promise to be un-
baptism, merely means that the chil-          -view of the early Dutch theologians,       conditional cannot understand the
dren have an external relationship to         like that of the early Reformed theolo-     Catechism in any other way than as
the church institute and to the means         gians generally, was that of "theinter-     teaching that infants are redeemedby
of grace. Because of this formal rela-        nal holiness" of the infants of the         Christ and renewed by the Spirit al-
tionship, it is more likely that they         godly. Among those who held that            ready in infancy.
willbe converted when they grow up            the children of believers were (to use            The Canons of Dordt also teach
                                              Gerstner's term) "redeemed" already         the "internalholiness" view. Gerstner
                                              in infancy, that is, regenerated, were      is critical of the well-known 17th ar-
Books reviewed  are not  available fhrough    Bullinger; Ursinus; Olevianus; Beza;        ticle of the first head of doctrine, on
theofices  of TheStandardBearer.  Please      DeBres;Voetius;Bastignius;DeWitte;          children dying in infancy, but he ac-
contact your favorite bookstore or the        and others. This is  no insignificant       knowledges that the article teaches
publisher ifyou desire fb purchase any of     cloud of witnesses for the covenant         the regeneration of infants.
these books.                                  doctrine that Gerstner rates so                   The Reformed baptism form is,
                                                                                            September I,1991 / Standard Bearer / 475


if anything, even clearer and stronger         cion, to force a certain race-the          A View of the Covenant of Grace, by
in affirming the rebirth and sanctifi-         blacks-to separate themselves from         ThomasBoston.  IntroductionbyRev.
cation of infants. "The baptism form           the whites physically. This is a cor-      MalcolmH.  Watts. Lewes, E. Sussex,
. . . is clear in its affirmation that         ruption of the truth of the covenant.      England: Focus Christian Ministries
children of believers have been re-            But it is a corruption to which any        Trust, 1990.232pages.  Paper. About
deemed at least by the time of the             Reformed view of the covenant is           $12. (Reviewed by the Editor)
prayer of thanksgiving after the bap-          prone, not only that view that holds
tism" (p. 48).                                 the elect children of believers for re-             Thomas Boston was a Presbyte-
     It would seem to be impossible            generate.                                  rian minister in the Church of Scot-
to dispute Gerstner's analysis of the               One evil among the Dutch Re-          land from 1699 to 1732. He is well-
Dutch Reformed tradition and creedal           formed both in The Netherlands and         known for his Human Nature in its
position:                                      in South Africa that Gerstner amply        Fou$old State and for his involve-
  The deeply rooted Dutch Reformed             demonstrates was the practice of bap-      ment in the "Marrow  Controversy,"
  tendency towards internal holiness           tizing the children of parents who         a doctrinal controversy in the Church
  views of their own children remained         plainly showed themselves to be un-        of Scotland in the early 1700s.
  central, buttressed so strongly by the       believing and unholy. The fiery Re-
  baptism form itself. "We thank                                                                   A View of the Covenantof Grace
                                      you
  that you have forgiven us and our            formed preacher witha most remark-         is his thorough, excellent treatment of
  children all our sins" (p. 249).             able name, Engelbertus Franciscus Le       the biblical truth of God's covenant
     This is no small problem for              Boucq, charged that                        with His people in Christ. It is one of
Gerstner and other Reformed theolo-              Holy Baptism is so shamefully            the best'studies of the covenant to
                                                 abused here that it is an abomina-
gians who reject this covenant doc-                                                       come out of the Presbyterian tradi-
                                                 tion. It is performed on everyone,
trine for the radically different view                                                    tion.
                                                 without distinction, not determining
of the "nudere  refornzatie."  Not.only  is      if the mothers or fathers be Chris-               Since Boston was convinced,
the "external holiness" conception               tians, or without passing appropri-      correctly, that the covenant is the cen-
contrary to the Reformed tradition,              ate acts of adoption. Indeed one has     tral, unifying truth in Scripture and
but also it conflicts with the creeds,           good reason to believe, that if the      since he rightly viewed the entire
major and minor, which are binding               Governor sent a sheep in human           mystery of salvation as covenantal,
within the Reformed churches.                    clothing to the ministers, that they     his "view of the covenant of grace"
     Gerstner's attempt to hang South            would have baptized it (p. 232).         takes in the whole panorama of bibli-
Africa's separation of the races on the             Reverend Engelbertus  Fran-           cal revelation. Bostonrelates all to the
"internal holiness" doctrine of Dutch          ciscus Le Boucq spoke of conditions        covenant of grace. The thoroughness
Reformed theology is unconvincing.             in South Africa. But the same was          of the study is indicated in the com-
If it is true that an abuse of Reformed        going on in The Netherlands. A rea-        plete title: A View of the Covena& of
theology contributed to apartheid in           son for the "abomination" was the          Grace from the Sacred Records
South Africa, it is by no means evi-           close, unholy union between church         wherein the Parties in thatCoveaant,
dent that the specific doctrine that           and state in both countries. But it was    the Making of it, its Parts,
was applied wrongly was the teach-             an "abomination." The holy signs           Conditionary and Promisso y, and
ing of the "internal holiness" of cov-         and seals of the covenant of God are       the Administration thereof are Dis-
enant children. Norisit apparent that          not for everyone, but only for believ-     tinctly Considered together with the
the covenant view of the  "nadere              ers and the children of believers.         Trial of a Saving Personal Inbeing in
reformtie"  would have withstood                    The same abomination abounds          it, and the Way of Instating Sinners
apartheid.                                     in Reformed churches today. Not            therein, unto theirEternal Salvation.
     The error of theDutchReformed             only "liberal" churches,butalso "con-               WritingtothepeoplewithGod's
in South Africa was that they trans-           servative" churches knowingly bap-         glory and their salvation as his pur-
formed the spiritual separation im-            tize the children of parents who           poses, Boston uses language which is
plied in the covenant with them-               plainly show, and even openly admit,       clear, warm, urgent, and practical.
selves and their children into a physi-        that they are not true believers. This     Both the warmth of Boston's s,tyle
cal separation, A separation that con-         is profanation of the covenant, every      and his relating everything to the cov-
sists of holiness was made a racial            bit as much as the admission of unbe-      enant are evident in a moving pas-
matter. A separation that ought to             lievers to the Lord's Table. The con-      sage on death:
distinguish church from world was              sequence is the same: The wrath of           O! but the passage betwixt the two
                                                                                            worlds is a dark, dangerous, and
made a policy for organizing national          God comes down upon the whole                gloomy one! Who can without hor-
life. A separation that ought to work          congregation (and denomination).             ror think of the Jordan of death, and
itself out in everyday life in this way,            (An expanded version of this            the darksome  region of the grave!
that the sanctified freely keep them-          review will appear in the Fall 1991          But withal, God's covenant-people
selves from the unholy world spiritu-          issue of the Protestant Reformed             should remember, that their Lord
ally, became an instrument of coer-            Theological ]ournal.)  n
476 /Standard Bearer / September 1,199l


  hath business in that passage, as well         ally entered into it, and instated in it;     will, let him take the water of life
  as on either side of it. The line of the       forasmuch as that Spirit of faith is          freely." He writes:
  covenant is drawn through it, mak-             effectml  in them, to a real uniting            Finally, as for the willingness which
  ing a path by which the redeemed               them with Christ (p. 209).                      you are afraid you are defective in,
  safely pass. So there also is the scene               ItiscauseforsorrowthatBoston             surely, in all other cases, he that saith,
  of Christ`s administration of the cov-       spoils this beautiful piece of workon             Whosoever will, let him take such a
  enant: he hath the keys of hell and of       the covenant by introducing the error             thing, will, according to the common
  death, Rev. i.18. It is great weakness,      of the "Marrow" doctrine (pp. 151-                sense and understanding of such
  to think that he doth only, as it were,                                                        words amongst mankind, be re,ck-
  stand on the                                 155; pp. 168ff.). Basically, the "Mar-
                   other side of the river,                                                      oned to offer that thing unto all, and
  directing the believer in his passage,       row" doctrine as appliedby Boston to              to exclude none from it; however it.
  and ready to receive him when he             the covenantis the teachingthat Christ            may bear an intimation, that it is not
  comes ashore: nay, it lies on him, as        wills to realize the covenant person-             tobe forced on any. Why then should
  administrator of the covenant, even          ally with every human without ex-                 this manner of speech, Rev. xxii.17,
  to go into the water with the passen-        ception. Bostonputsitthis way: "The               be thought to limit the gospel-offer
  ger, to take him by the arm, and             object of the administration of the               to a certain set of men? (p. 219)
  going between him and the stream,            covenant is sinners of mankind in-                    If Revelation 22:17  is Christ's
  to break the force thereof unto him,         definitely" (p. 151). The promises of           offer of stilvation to all men, inas-
  and to bring him safe ashore: Psalm
  xxiii.4, "Though I walk through the          the covenant are for all. God well-             much as all men are supposedly will-
  valley of the shadow of death, I will        meaningly offers the covenant and its           ing to drink the water of life, or are
  fear no evil; for thou art with me" (p.      blessings to all without exception. A           supposedly able to will to drink the
  157).                                        man's inclusion in the covenant and             water of life, the text teaches that the
      In sharpest contrast with many           reception of the promised blessings             unregenerated sinner does after all
Presbyterian and Reformed churches             depend upon his acceptance of God's             have the spiritual ability to will, or
and preachers today, Boston contends           offer by believing.                             desire, Christ and eternal life. Luther,
vigorously that the covenant with                       Basic to the "Marrow" doctrine         Calvin, the Reformation, the Canons
Christ's people is unconditional. The          is a deceptive, but distinct, form of           of Dordt, and the Westminster Con-
sole condition, if one would speak of          universal atonement: God has made               fession were wrong. Erasmus,
conditions at all, was the satisfaction        a grant of Christ crucified for the             Pighius, Rome, and the Arminians
that Christ accomplished by His life-          salvation of all sinners without ex-            were right.
long obedience and by His death.               ception (cf. pp. 151,152,222).  Boston                The obvious answer%to  Boston's
  The covenant of grace is absolute,           enlarges on this familiar theme by              question, "Why then should this man-
  and not conditional to us. For being         asserting that Jesus Christ, the Testa-         ner of speech . . . be thought to limit
  made with Christ,  as  representative        tor of the new covenant, has named as           the gospel-offer to a certain set of
  of his seed, all the conditions of it        legatees in His testament (the biblical         men?" is, "because only a certain set
  were laid on him, and fulfilled by           reference is Heb. 9:15-V)  all human
  hi (p. 26).                                                                                  of men ever will, or can will, that is,
     In accordance with his view that          beings without exception. Named as              desire, the water of life, namely, those
God has made the covenant with                 beneficiaries of Christ's death, in-            whom the Spirit of Clirist regenerates
Christ as the head of the covenant and         tended recipients of the covenant and           as He wills" (cf. John 3:8). However,
in accordance with his view that the           its benefits, are all men (cf. pp. 1.68,        his question should be rephrased,
covenant is unconditional, Boston              169).                                           "Why should the call of Revelation
holds that the covenant is made with                    The effect of this intrusion of the    22:27 be thought to be addressed to a
the elect alone.                               "Marrow" doctrine upon Boston's                 certain set of men?' There is a caill of
     Contrary to the contention of             view of the covenant of grace is that           the gospel that is addressed to all who
some that the traditional Presbyte-            conditionality, once banished, reap-            hear the preaching, elect and repro-
rian view of the place of children in          pears; the grace of the covenant, for-          bate alike (cf. Matt. 22:14). But this is
the covenant is that they are merely           merly so vehemently defended, is                emphatically not the call of Revela-
outwardly set apart for God, without           sacrificed; and Boston, ardent cham-            tion  22:17. The call of Revelation
any work of grace in their hearts as           pion of free grace, plunges willy-nilly         22:17is  the gracious, particular call to
infants, Boston insists that elect in-         into free will.                                 the spiritually thirsty and to the spiri-
fants of believing parents are in the                   The end of this roadis the heresy      tually willing.
covenant in the sense that the Holy            of free will. And Boston takes the                   At bottom, Boston's error is his
Spirit indwells them, that is, that they       road to the very end. In support of his         denial that the administration of the
are regenerated in infancy.                    contention that Christ intends the              covenant is determined by election.
  And hence it is, that infants, not ca-       covenant for all, offers it to all, and         Boston rejects an election theology of
  pable of actual believing, nor of            promises its blessings to all by "con-          the covenant, at Ieast as regards the
  knowing what the covenant is, yet            ditional phrases," Boston appeals to            realizing of the covenant with par-
  having the Spirit of faith, are person-      Revelation  22:17: "And whosoever               ticular persons. He should have bceen

                                                                                                 September 1,1991! Standard Bearer II 477


warned off from this error by the            is influencing professing Christians.       David: His Life and Times, by Ivor
biblical figure that he makes use of,        Showing familiarity with many as-           Powell. Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel
the figure of the last will and testa-       pects of American popular culture,          Publications, 1990. 448 pages, $12.95
ment. No human testator leaves it            the author gives the reader a good,         (paper). [Reviewed by Rev. Ron
indefinite in his will who his heirs are     hard look at pop art, rock music, and       Cammenga.]
and who the beneficiaries shall be.          television, among other things.
When we make our will, the one thing                  The chapter on television, en-           The author is of Scottish, pre-
that we are concerned about more             titled, "Popular Culture's Medium:          sumably  Presbyterian, extraction. His
than any other is to specify definitely      The Entertainment Appliance," is dis-       bookis intended to be a "biographical
the precise persons to whom our es:          quieting in the extreme. Television is      commentary" on the life of King
tate shall come upon our death.              "not simply the dominant medium of          David. This is a noble endeavor.
     And are we then to think that the       popular culture, it is the single most      More space is devoted to the life of
Christ of God left it indefinite in His      significant shared reality in our entire    David in the Old Testament than to
testament who should receive the in-         society" (p. 160). Television is the        any other figure. In all the Old Testa-
heritance of the covenant? Are we to         entity that unifies our culture. "In        ment there is hardly a more colorful
suppose that, having come to earth to        television, we live andmove  and have       figure than David. Undoubtedly we
do the Father's will of saving the elect     our being" (p. 160). The author is not      have all heard sermons and series of
(John 6:37ff)  and having gone to the        being blasphemous. He charges that          sermons on the life of David -- his
cross to give eternal life to the elect      television is serving a role once re-       slaying of the giant, his narrow es-
(John 17:1, 2), Jesus "made out His          served for God: "the role of defining       capes from Saul, his coronation as
testament to sinners of mankind uni-         reality" (p. 161). Apart from the un-       king, his entanglement with
versally and indefinitely? The notion        holy content of most of its programs,       Bathsheba, his flight from Absalom,
is not only wicked, but absurd.              it forms a people who are crazed for        and more. A study of the life of this
      It is perfectly clear that the doc-    entertainment. The very form of the         outstanding Old Testament type of
trine of the "Marrow" that Boston            medium - visual and dramatic -              our Lord Jesus Christ will certainly
here applies to the truth of the cov-        "encourages the aversion to abstrac-        yield rich returns for the individual
enant is the 18th century equivalent         tion, analysis, andreflectionthat char-     Christian, as well as for whole con-
of the theory of the "well-meant gos-        acterizes our culture at all levels" (p.    gregations.
pel offer" so popular with Presbyte-         171).                                             Powell'saimistoprovideacom-
rian and Reformed churches in the                     In a "light-handed" manner,AZZ     mentary that will be of special use to
20th century. This too makes A View          God's Children calls professing Chris-      ministers. "If I have written as a
of the Covetrnnt  of Grace important         tians to recognize the peril of confor-     minister with alliterated headings,
reading for Presbyterian and Re-             mity to the worldby their openness to       understand that such expression has
formed Christians. Although one              popular culture. Essentially, it raises     been my style for over sixty years. It
makes a good beginning and has the           the basic biblical warning to the chil-     is my prayer that others willbe helped
best intentions, to introduce into the       dren of light that they keep them-          as they prepare their sermons" (Pref-
doctrine of salvation the element of a       selves separate from the world's            ace). Although written with minis-
love of God for all and a desire to save     works of darkness. It identifies some       ters in view, this commentary never
all is to ruin all.                          of these works of darkness at the end       enters into a tedious discussion of
      (An expanded version of this           of the 20th century. We Reformed            textual orlinguisticmatters. This will
book review will appear in the Fall,         preach the warning as `the "antith-         appeal to the ordinary believer since
1991 issue of theProfesfanf&formed           esis."                                      such diversions are often a distrac-
Theological Journal.) H                               There is vigorous condemnation     tion. For this reason Powell's com-
                                             of the typical evangelical and charis-      mentary also serves as good devo-
All God's Children and Blue Suede            matic church in the United States to-       tional material. He does an excellent
Shoes: Christians & Popular Cul-             day in that fl the church has avirtually    jobofrelatingwhatDavidh&written
ture,  by, Kenneth A. Myers.                 uncritical attitude toward the form of      in the Psalms to events that took place
Westchester, IL: Crossway Books,             popular culture" (p. 181). In fact, the     in his life.
1989. 213 pp. Paper. $8.95. (Re-             -churches have adopted the tactics of             However, the Reformed reader
viewed by the Editor.)                       our culture: entertainment over in-         willlikelybe  somewhat disappointed
                                             struction; what seems to work over          in the book's contents.
      An odd title; an easy, witty style;    the truth of the gospel; andshepherds             The reason for this is that, al-
but an urgent subject and a useful,          of the sheep becoming "entrepreneurs        though generally Reformed, it is not
interesting book.                            of emotional stimulation" (p. 182).         distinctively so. One evidence of this
      The subject is the "popular cul-                After our young people read the    is the author's view of reprobation, a
ture" of the United States-where it          book, they should give it to their par-     view that is obviously not the historic
has come from; what it is; and how it        ents. And then discuss it together. n       Reformed view but really the

478/SandardBearer/Septemberl,l991


Arminian position. This becomes              the extra mile' so that guilty people       the anti-type. The result is that we
plain from various statements made           would never say: `If you had tried          look too much at David and never at
in reference to Saul. "There is reason       once more, we might have repented.'         Christ.
to believe that God never ceases to          God never abandons anyone until                  This is a serious weakness, as it
love people. He may remove them              further effort is useless' (p. 63).         is in preaching on the Old Testament
from office- when they are no longer              The main weakness of the com-          in this way. The seriousness is that
fit for service, but His love is eternal.    mentary is the author's failure spe-        ultimatelythegospelisremovedfrom
It is worthy of attention that during        cifically to point out how David is a       the Old Testament. There is a warn-
the years that followed, the Lord was        type of Christ. He makes David a            ing here that is worth sounding. We
extremely patient with the petulant          type of every Christian, an example to      ministers ought to preach on the Old
king, but unfortunately, Saul was so         us in his moments of strength and           Testament, probably more than we
self-centered and sinful that God            victory as well as weakness and dis-        do. But when we preach the Old
could do nothing for him,, (p. 35).          tress. And that certainly is valid. But     Testament we must preach Christ and
Later he writes, "Although Saul ap-          he fails to see David as a type of          the cross of Christ. That's the chal-
peared at intervals to be repentant,         Christ. There is no indication that at      lenge, if you will, of preaching on the
thecontinuationofhishatredofDavid            his greatest moments David is a pic-        OldTestament, especially the histori-
proved that he had become (emphasis          ture of the great King, the Lord Jesus      cal material.
mine, RC) a reprobate' (p. 53). He           Christ. InDavid's  failings there is no          We recommend this commen-
also states that "Even though He sees        indication of his imperfection as a         tary to our readers, therefore, with
the end from the beginning, it is in-        type, and of the superiority of Christ,     reservations.  0
cumbent upon the Almighty to `go


News From Our .Churches
Mr. Benjamin Wigger


CONGREGATIONAL                               not in the immediate future for the         ship service. On Sunday evening,
HIGHLIGHTS                                   First PRC of Grand Rapids, MI. A            June 16, Rev. Gritters preached from
                                             proposal to build a new parsonage at        Jude 3, emphasizing the call in the
        Just a little driving around         this time wasrejectedby their congre-       text, "earnestly to contend for the
should be enough to convince anyone          gation.                                     faith once delivered to the saints.'
that summer is the time when road                 A congregational meeting held               You may be interested to know
constructionand/orrepairsaremade.            in late spring resulted in a decision by    that last summer the Sunclay  School
You can drive hardly anywhere with-          the congregation of the Pella, IA PRC       collections taken at the Pella, IA PRC
out running into some road work.             to put siding over the brickexterior of     were designated for Reformed theo-
Well, the same can be said.of many of        their church. We assume this was            logical books to be sent to Reformed
our churches. In the summer their            also done this summer.                      pastors and students of the Hungar-
outside projects also get done.                   The congregation of the Hope           ian Reformed Churches in Rom;ania.
        First, we want to inform our         PRCin Redlands, CA decided thatre-          Pella sent their ,money and in turn
readers that the congregation of our         siding the exterior of their church         received a letter of thanks and infor-
Byron Center, MIPRC  completed their         building was not yet necessary. In-         mation from the committee with the
new parsonage, whichislocated right          stead, they decided to restain the out-     following note: "We have  s,ince
alongside and slightly behind the            side of their sanctuary.                    shippedover$1,750.00  worth of books
church. .Rev. and Mrs. Gritters, along            And, after receiving a proposal        to Romania including works of Rev.
with their family, moved in the last         from the Building Committee, the            HermanHoelcsema,  whichtheychose
week in June. Their new address is:          Consistory of the First PRC in              from our suggested list.'
1947 84th St., Byron Center, MI 49315.       Edmonton, Alberta, Canada decided                The second annual Sunday
        However, a new parsonage is          to go ahead with repairs to the side-       evening of Fellowship was held on
                                             walks of the church, the parsonage,         July 21 immediately after the evening
                                             and their parking lot.                      service of our First, Grand Rapids, MI
                                                  We can add here that the congre-       PRC. A light supper was served,
Mr. Wigger is u member ofthe Protestant      gation of our Byron Center PRC also         followed by singing.
Reformed Church of Hudsonville,  Michi-      found time~this summer to invite their           There was also a note in First's
gan.                                         community to a special evening wor-         bulletin reminding the congregation

                                                                                            September1,1991 lStandardBearerl479


&DMD                                                                                                     sfcoNDcfAss
   BHER                                                                                                  Postage Paid at
                                                                                                         Grand Rapids, MichJgan
   P.O. Box 6064
  Grand Rapids,  MI 49576      .


of the need for light, summer-weight        young people of theByron Center, MI        east PRC of Grand Rapids, MI formed
clothing, shoes, glasses, and bed lin-      PRC, was held from August 5-9 at           a new trio consisting of the Revs. R.
ens for Jamaica. Although it didn't         Grand Valley State University. The         VanOverloop, J. Slopsema, and B.
say, we assume that theseitems would        theme, "ReformedYoungPeopleLiv-            Gritters. And at a congregational
be sent to Jamaica to correspond with       ing in the Last Times," was broken         meeting, they called Rev. B. Gritters
the arrival of Revs. Joostens and           down into three different addresses        to serve as their pastor.
denHartog, who would aid inits dis-         to the conventioneers. Rev. Gise                    Rev. C. Haak informed our
tribution.                                  VanBaren spoke on Tuesday morn-            Hudsonville, MI PRC that he was
     While Rev. denHartog  is away          ing on "Knowing About the End."            declining their call to serve as mis-
from his pulpit in Redlands, CA, Rev.       This was followed in turn by Rev.          sionary to Lame, Northern Ireland.
M. Kamps, a former pastor in                Wilbur Bruinsma speaking on                Consequently Hudsonville formed a
Redlands, agreed to spend his family        Wednesday morning about "Living            new tio of the Revs. R. Cammenga,
vacation in Redlands, thereby sup-          With a View to the End." And Rev.          B. Gritters, and R. Hanko. The con-
plyingthecongregationwiththelively          Russ Dykstra brought the subject to a      gregation was to call on August 12.
preaching of God's Word for three           close by speaking Thursday evening                  Rev. R. VanOverloop declined
Sundays.                                    on the topic of "Experiencing the          the call he had been considering to
                                            End."                                      serve as missionary pastor to the is-
DENOMINATIONAL                                    The text in which this was all       land of Jamaica.
NEWS                                        centeredwasIThessalonians5:8:  "But                 And Rev. R. Hanko declined the
     Many of our readers know that          let us, who are of the day . . . . I)      call he was considering to serve as
the month of August means the an-                                                      pastor to the Hope PRC of Isabel, SD.
nual PR Young People's Convention.          MINISTERIAL CALLS                                                                  cl
This year's version, sponsored by the             The congregation of the South-

                                                            NOTICE!!!                  will take place from the following nomi-
              NOTICE!!!                     You are invited to attend a                nations: Rich Bos, Bernie Bruining,
     Classis West of the Piotestant           CONFERENCE ON CHRISTIAN                  Tom Bodbyl, Mark Engelsma, Leon
Reformed Churches will meet in                         CHILD-REARING                   Garvelink, and Bill Langerak.
Edger-ton, Minnesota, on Wednesday,         at Loveland Protestant Reformed                     The speaker for the evening will
September 18,1991,  at 8:30 AM, the         Church on Thursday, Friday, and Sat-       be Rev. Ken Koole, pastor of our Faith
Lord willing. All delegates in need of      urday, September 26-28. Prof.              Church. Demonstrate your support of
lodging or transportation from the air-     Herman Hanko, Rev. Ronald                  the Standard Bearer by your atten-
port should notify the Clerk of             Cammenga, and Mr. Ronald Koole             dance. Men, women, young people
Edger-ton's Consistory.                     will team up to make presentations on      - all are warmly encouraged to at-
         Rev. R. Hanko, Stated  Clerk       Thursday and Friday evenings and           tend.
                                            morning and afternoon sessions. A                            Peter Koole, Secretary
              NOTICE!!!                     question and answer session will fol-
   Bible Study at Dordt College             low each of the speeches. (Between                          NOTICE!!
     A group of students dedicated to       the two sessions on Saturday, a meal                The annual meeting of the East-
the historic Reformed faith meets to-       will be served.) Everyone is invited to    ern League of Men's and Ladies' Soci-
gether Monday evenings at 7:00 in the       join us for food and fellowship.           eties will be held, the Lord willing, on
Dordt College library for a Bible study.                                               Tuesday, September 17,1991, at 8:00
The meetings are sponsored by the                           N O T I C E ! ! !          PM, in Southwest Protestant Re-
Protestant Reformed Churches in the               The Annual meeting of the            formed Church. Rev. G. VanBaren
area. This year we plan to study            R.F.P.A. (Standard Bearer) will be         will speak on "The Development of
Genesis 1-I 1. Any student at Dordt is      held in Grandville Protestant Reformed     Mission Efforts in Ireland." All mem-
welcome to attend. If you have any          Church (40th St.) on Thursday, Octo-       bers and others interested in this topic
questions, please call Rev. Russ            ber 3, at 8 PM.                            are urged to attend.
Dykstra (712) 726-3382.                           Election of new board members                 Dorothy Decker, Vice-secretary
48O/StandadBearer/Septemberl,l991


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