                     1HE

  A Reformed
  Set&Monthly
~  Magazine





                            in a more impressive way than only by
                            speaking them with the mouth. H6
                            said them with the deed.' He stood! . . .
                              Because. he stood, genuine Prot-
                       qstants enjoy the gospel of grace and
                            its benefits today.
                              Without his standing, publicly, cou-
                      rageously, and  firmly, there would
                            have been no Reformation.



                                                                        ~I
                      .        .)





                                                   See "Taking a Stand" - p. 53

  vol. /u, NO. 3
  November I,1993


 CONTENTS:                                                                                                          November I, 1993

 Meditation - Rev. Richard G. Moore
         Written for our Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..*.......................................*. 51
 Editorial - Prof. David J. Engelsma                                                                                                                                              1SSN 0362-4692
         Taking a Stand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..*........*............................ 53
 Letters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..**........*.......................... 55    Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July, and August.
                                                                                                                                                                                 Published bythe Reformed Free Pub&h&! Assoclatlon, Inc..
Taking Heed to the Doctrine - Rev. Thomas C. Miersma                                                                                                                             4849  lvmrest Ave.,  Qrsndville. MI 49418. Second  Class
         The Doctrine of the Trinity (4) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59                  Postage Paid at &mdvilla, Michigan.
 Guest Article - Rev. Ronald H. Hank0                                                                                                                                            Poatmwtrr: Send address changes to the Standard Bearer,
         Arminianism in England . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .              P.O. Sax 603, Grandville, MI 49468-OS03.
                                                                                                                                                                       61
Secretary's Annual Report to the RFPA - Mr. Cal Kalsbeek  ,.,.....,......,....  63                                                                                               EDtlORtAL COMMllTEE
                                                                                                                                                                                 Editor: Prof. David J. Engelsma
Go Ye Into All the World - Rev. Ronald J. VanOverloop                                                                                                                            Secretary: Pmf. Robert D. Decker
         Calvinism and Missions                                                                                                                                                  Managing Editor: Mr. Don Doezema
         IV. Irresistible Grace . . . . ..`..............................................,................... 65                                                                 DEPARTMENT EDlTORS
A Cloud of Witnesses - Prof. Herman C. Hank0                                                                                                                                     Rev. Wilbur Brulnsma,  Rev. Rondd Cammmga,  PnX Robert
                                                                                                                                                                                 Decker, Rev. Arie dmHartog,  Rev. B-my Qrittsm, Rev. CM
         The Story of Two Fredericks (1) . . . . . . . . . ..*.........................................* 67                                                                      Ha& Rev. Cornelius Hmko. Prof. Herman Henko, Rev. John
Book Reviews                                                                                                                                                                     Hey-s. Rev. Steven Key, Rev. Dale Kuipar. Mr. James Lmting.
                                 . . . ..*.............................................i.....*.......*.........................                                        69        Rev. Gorge Lubbers, Mrs. MaryBeth Lubbers, Rev. Thomas
News From Our Churches - Mr. Benjamin Wigger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71                                                              Mbrsma,  Rev.  Audred  Sprimema,  Rw.  Char&s  Terptira,
                                                                                                                                                                                 Rw. GiwVanBamn, Rw. RonaldVanOvwrkq, Mr. Benjamin
                                                                                                                                                                                 Wigger,  Rw. Bernard Woudenberg.

                                                                                                                                                                                 EDlTORlALOFFlCE             CHURCH NEWB EDITOR
                                                                                                                                                                                 Thu Standard Bearer         Mr. Bon Wlgger
                                                                                                                                                                                 4949 Ivanrest               8597  4DthAve.
                                                                                                                                                                                 Qrundvilb,  MI 49418        Hudaonvllle, MI 49426
                                                                                                                                                                                 BUSINESS  OFFICE            NEW ZEALAND DFFtCE
                                                                                                                                                                                 The Standard Bearer        Ths Standard Bearer
                                                                                                                                                                                 Don Doezema
                                                                                                                                                                                 P.O.  Box So3               ~F~~~
                                                                                                                                                                                 Qrandvill0. MI              Watnuiomata, New Zealand
                                                                                                                                                                                                             NORTHERN WlELAND  OFFICE
         The previous (October 15) issue of the 93 was a special issue                                                                                                           PiEyLF6~4776                do Mr. Jomthm  Mduloy
                                                                                                                                                                                         (616) 531-1490      184 Church Rd.. GbmWrry
celebrating the Reformation. We planned this. Without any planning,                                                                                                              FAX:  (616) 531.3022        Sallymena, Co. Antrim ST42 3EL
except for the editorial, this issue continues the celebration of the                                                                                                                                        Norlhom Ireland
                                                                                                                                                                                 EDtTORlALPOLfCY
Reformation begun in the past issue.                                                                                                                                             Ewryeditorbadelyrqonsibleforthecontenbofhlsow
                                                                                                                                                                                 artlde6.Contrlbutlon6dgmemldnt~fmmourresdar6and
         Since the present issue is received by the readers during the week of                                                                                                   qu&lormbrTheRea&rAakndeparbnsnt                are wslcome.
                                                                                                                                                                                 t2mtributlons  will bs IimM to approtimately  300 words and
the annual commemoration of the Reformation (October 31), this is                                                                                                                mustbsneaUywrittenoftypewdUm,~dmustbeslgned. Copy
timely.                                                                                                                                                                          deadlInes  am  the first and fifteenth  c4 the month. All
                                                                                                                                                                                 communioatims  mlatlve to the contmb should be sent to ths
         Prof. Hanko presents Luther's earthly protector, Elector Frederick                                                                                                      6dltorl6l oltke.
the Wise, and some of the history of the Reformation.                                                                                                                            REPRlNl POLICY
         Rev. Ron VanOverloop and Rev. Ron Hank0 write on the central                                                                                                            PermiaabnIsherebygrantedtwtfiemprMngofartk&ainour
                                                                                                                                                                                 magazinebyottwpubH&um,prwided:a)thatwchmprinted
doctrine of the Reformation: sovereign grace. Rev. VanOverloop                                                                                                                   ertlda am reproduced In fun; b) that proper aclmavledgmmt
                                                                                                                                                                                 iUmsde;G)th&U~ctt,,6dWkdhhwMchauch~rint
proclaims and explains the truth positively. A former missionary, he                                                                                                             apqeum !d sent to our edltcflal ofliw.
shows that the doctrine does not stifle missions. Missionary Hanko                                                                                                               !3JSSCRlPllONPOUCY
defends the doctrine against an attack upon it on the mission field.                                                                                                             .S4hxlp6on prlca: $12.00 per year in the U.S., $15.00
                                                                                                                                                                                 eluewhwe. Unless a definite request for discontinuance is
         The meditation magnifies Holy Scripture as the Word of God and                                                                                                          rocdved. It  I@  aswnmd  that  the  wbswiber  wirhea  the
                                                                                                                                                                                 6utJ6crlptlmtowntklue,6ndhetibobitledformww6l.lfyou
calls us believers and our children to use it. As Scripture was the                                                                                                              h6wach6ngeof.sddros6,@eauonotlfytheBudno6sOfllco66
foundation of the Reformation, so our hearing and reading Scripture                                                                                                              ~~pcrslbklk\wdwbavddtMl-isnceOf
                                                                                                                                                                                 interrupted deltvwy. Indude your Zip w poetal code.
were the goal.                                                                                                                                                                   AovEKfwNQwucY
        The editorial, the one article deliberately written for the occasion,                                                                                                    The StandsrdBwurdoes  not aaxpt wmmerdd advertising
reflects                                                                                                                                                                         d my kind. Announcementa of church and uchool wmb.
                   on Luther's N taking a stand." "Heroic," we would say. "Mere                                                                                                  mnlvor6arb6, obltuarb6,  md uympalfty msokdms  will ba
duty," Luther would have said.                                                                                                                                                   pleo6dforaM.OOfw.   Thooo6houldlm6mttotheBu6ln069
                                                                                                                                                                                 OfflwandshwldbeauxmpanledbytheS3.Wfas. Deadline
        Perhaps even our "Letters" column bears some resemblance to a                                                                                                            for announcornenb  I6 6t loaut on* month prior to publlcatlon
famous "relic" of the Reformation: the church door at Wittenberg.                                                                                                                dub.
People post their positions here for debate.                                                                                                                                     SOUND VOLUMES
                                                                                                                                                                                 Tim Bu6he6s Off& will accept standing Mders fw bound
        As you read all the articles, do not neglect to rejoice in heart over                                                                                                    copieaofthacurrmtvdume.  SuchordersamfilMa8soona8
                                                                                                                                                                                 psslbbaftorcompbtlondavolumoywar,
what Christ did for us in the early 1500s in Wittenberg, Germany.                                                                                                                16mm  mkmfilm,  36mm mbofllm  and 105mm microfiche, and
                                                                                                                                                            --DJE                urtidu  copier  um  wullable through  Uniwsity  Miwtilm6
                                                                                                                                                                                 IntOWlationd.
SO/Standard Bearer/November  I,1993


             Written For Our Learning

                                                 While He used the instrumental-        the salvation of the church, man is
       Romans 15:4     "For whatsoever       ity of men to write the Word, these        presented as the author of his own
things were written aforetime  were writ-    men could not write one word apart         salvation. Salvation is set forth as
ten for our learning, that we through        from this work of God, this inspira-       dependent upon the desire of man.
patience and comfort of the scriptures       tion of the Word. Therefore the proph-     He must want it.
might have hope. n                           ecy, the Word of God, came not in old          But no less is this the case with a
                                             time by the will of man; but holy men      much more accepted paraphrase of
       God is the Author of the Scrip-       of God spake as they were moved by         the Bible, the New International Ver-
ture, which is a Word of power. The          the Holy Ghost, as we read in II Peter     sion of the Scriptures. This version is
Scriptures are thelivingWordof  God.         1:21. It is for this reason that the       touted in Reformed circles as a faith-
They are this because they are the           prophets had to search their own           ful translation of the manuscripts of
Word of the living God. No other             writings as to the meaning of the very     the Scripture, but in reality it is a
book is able to lead us with authority       words that they wrote, as is the testi-    paraphrase, for so many words are
and guide us with power as does the          mony again of Peter in the first chap-     added or subtracted from the original
Holy Word of God. Thus the Scrip-            ter of his first epistle. Men wrote the    in this version. For evidence of this,
tures become a precious treasure for         Word, and this from different per-         youwoulddowelltoreadapamphlet
God's people. To hear them pro-              spectives because God had brought          publishedby the TrinitarianBible  So-
claimed, and to take them in hand for        them forth in different times and dif-     ciety, entitled "New International
study, is a precious thing for us. For       ferent circumstances. God did so in        Version."
through that Scripture we hear God           order that they would be prepared to           It is important that we not be led
speak to us.                                 write His Word exactly, word for           astray by those who would bring less
       This is true because God is the       word, and in the style that God had        than the full Word of God before us,
Author of the Scriptures. The sixty-         determined for His Scripture.              by whatever means and for whatever
six books of the Holy Scriptures were            We may not then tamper with            reasons. Are we to believe that the old
penned by many men throughout the            this Word by paraphrasing it in any        versions of the Bible and the KJV are
history of our world, and yet one            manner, nor may we be careless with        not clear in their teaching, or that they
voice alone speaks throughout its            the use of that Word. Both are a real      contain language that cannot be  rm-
pages. The Scriptures themselves tes-        possibility. We are aware of the many      derstood? Are we that much slower
tifythatthisistrue,andwemayinno              paraphrases of the Bible that we find      of understanding than our fathers,
way detract from this testimony. We          on the market. One of the better           who did not receive nearly as much
read in II Timothy 3: 16 that U All          known is the one titled "Reach Out,"       formal education as we do today, so
Scripture is given by inspiration of         or the "Living Bible." To illustrate       that we cannot understand the old
God." The presentation here is that          what the Living Bible does to the          English of the King James Version?
God has breathed the words of the            Word, we note the following. In Acts           Do not believe this. Whatever
Scriptures, so that by His Spirit God        13:48  the KJV has "And when the           version of the Scriptures that is used
so directed that each word of the            Gentiles heard this, they were glad,       must not be a paraphrase, and it must
Bible was set down exactly as He             and glorified the word of the Lord:        not change the meaning of the origi-
determined that it should be given to        and as many as were ordained to            nal manuscripts. Further, we know
us.                                          eternallifebelieved." The paraphrase       that the King James Version has stood
                                             makes a mockery of this text. It reads,    the test of time, and that it is a faithful
                                             "When the Gentiles heard this, they        setting forth of the Word. ThankGod
                                             were very glad and rejoiced in Paul's      that we still hold to it in our worship
                                             message: for as many as wanted eter-       and homes, even though the charge is
Rev. Moore is pastor of the Protestant       nal life believed." Thus, instead of       made that we be old-fashioned.
Reformed Church of Hull, Iowa.               the teaching that God is sovereign in          Now this Word of God, the Bible

                                                                                              November 1,1993/Standa~  Bear&l


as it is proclaimed and then also stud-            may not be received.                           fense. Jesus  Himself gives us  the
ied and taught, is such that we find                    But as the Spirit has quickened           perfectexampleofthistruth.  Wemay
that through it God speaks to man. It              the child of God, and as He applies            say that Jesus is very God come into
isnotabookthatmerelyspeaksabout                    the preaching of this Word to the              our flesh, perfect  man;  and yet when
God, but it is a book by-                                          heart of the regenerated       Satan came and tempted Him, He
which God speaks to us.                                            sinner, that sinner is         turned to the Word of God. Even
We see in the Scriptures                                           delivered from the             Jesus says, "I can of mine own self do
the Divine God reaching                     We see                 power of sin to walk in        nothing" (John 5:30); and if Jesus,
down to us who are crea-           in the Scriptures               newness of life. At the        whoisperfectandholymanaswellas
tures to reveal Himself                                            same time, when the
                                    the Divine God                                                the Son of God, says this, then cer-
unto us, and to set forth                                          wicked come before
                                    reaching down                                                 tainly we also must say that of our-
His will for us. And we                                            that Word with hearts          selves we can do nothing. This must
through that Word hear                   to us who are             hardened in sin, the           be our confession.
the voice of our God say,                  creatures               same power of the                  Jesussaid toSatan,  "Itis written!"
"Incline your ear, and                     to reveal               Spirit applies the Word        Three timesHe so answered the temp-
come unto me; hear, and                                            to their greater  con-
                                           Himself                                                tations of Satan. The Word of God is
your soul shall live."                                             demnation. The result
                                          unto us...                                              sufficient for the battle. Christ found
    The Word that we                                               is that, as the elect child    safety in the Word, and so must we. It
receive, which shall also                     I                    of God is led to receive       is our shield against the enemy. As
serveasthearmoroflight                                             that Word, as he in this       very man Jesus kept the Word of God
(cf. Romans 13:12), must not only be               sense learns from the Word, the Word           in His heart and mind, and as did the
instructive, but must also be a Word               works within His inmost being the              Psalmist, so our Lord could say, and
of power, to change and to rule in the             testimony of salvation.                        we must say, as God gives us the
lives of God's children. The Word of                    In I Thessalonians 2:13 we read,          grace, "Thy Word have I hid in mine
God is such. It brings comfort to the              "For this cause also thank we God              heart, that I might not sin against
child of God and leads him in a pa-                without ceasing, because, when ye              thee" (Ps. 119:ll).
tient walk as he passes through the                received the word of God which ye                  The Word is the nourishment that
midst of this life. For it is a powerful           heard of us, ye received it not as the         we need in this life of faith as the
Word of God that declares to us that               word of men, but as it is in truth, the        church of Jesus Christ. How sad it is
our sins are forgiven. It is a power to            word of God, which effectually                 when a congregation no longer re-
conduct us beyond the grave into                   worketh also in you that believe."             ceives that Word, but casts it aside for
heaven.                                            The Word itself works within, be-              other things, whether that be testimo-
    It is an instruction that contains             cause it is the effectual Word of God          nials, extended liturgy, stories, or the
also the divine power of execution.                that is applied by God through the             plain philosophizing of men. How
Jesus teaches us, "It is the spirit that           Spirit to the heart of His church. In          sad it is too if we come to church and
quickeneth; the flesh profiteth noth-              this sense the mere letter profits noth-       promptly go to sleep, or fill our heads
ing: the words that I speak unto you,              ing. The Bible sitting on the coffee           with thoughts of the business day, or
they are spirit, and they are life" (John          table, not proclaimed, not studied,            the date that will soon follow. How
6: 63). So different from the word of              and not loved, has no power.                   sad when we find all kinds of excuses
man! We must understand that the                        But God promises to abide by His          to absent ourselves from the preach-
Word of God actually brings to pass.               Spirit of power in the heart of those          ing of the Word, and attend church
This is seen in the creation of the                who listen to His voice and who                only once on a Sunday, or even skip a
world. The Word is powerful. God                   trembleinrevewncebeforeHis  Word.              few Sundays of worship altogether.
said, "Let there be light," and there              Jesus says, "If a man love me, he will         How sad when we do not find time to
was light. We read in Psalm  33:6,9,               keep my words: and my Father will              study the Word or prepare for cat-
"By the word of the Lord were the                  love him, and we will come unto him            echism, or we skip going to our Bible
heavens made; and all the host of                  and make our abode with him" (John             studies and Society meetings. Even
them by the breath of his mouth....                14:23). By God's grace our hearts are          worse, how sinfulit  is to make light of
For he spake, and it was done; he                  quickened by the Spirit as we study            the spiritual things of God's king-
commanded, and it stood fast." The                 the Word and as we come ,under  its            dom, by not taking time for them.
Word that God speaks through the                   powerthroughthepreachingandwe                      The Word of God is food for the
Scriptures and whereby we learn is                 experience that God and our Savior             soul. Jesus said, "It is written, Man
spoken with the same efficacious                   Jesus Christ abides with us. And if            shall not live by bread alone, but by
power. It has the power to deliver                 God be for us in Christ, and if He             everywordthatproceedethoutof the
from sin and to lead us in life. It also           dwells in our hearts, then we shall be         mouth of God." By the grace of God
has the power to condemn to death. It              victors in all of life.                        the child of God hungers after the
is not a mere word of man that may or                  Thus the Word is our sure de-              Word of God. He seeks the pure

52lStandard  BearerlFlovember  I,1993


preaching of the Word, and longs to        sweetness and life for God's children.         and to sit.under  its tutelage. For by
study the Scriptures. When we are              The Scripture is a complete rule           that Word we learn the*ways of our
rushed we may skip a meal at home,         for faith and doctrine. Within the             God and are led by Him in all of this
and think little of it, until another      Scripture is the fullness of the doc-          life. We are led by the Lord of the
meal-time comes and our stomachs           trine of salvation, and the guidance           church in the faithful service of God,
remind us that if we do not eat soon       and rule for the life of faith. This is the    and are comforted by the Savior's
we shall become sick or weak. We           plain testimony of the Scripture itself.       Words of peace.
need food to live and to be strong and     We read in II Timothy 3: 15-17, "And               The Scriptures to which we turn
thus to work and be well. And yet,         that from a child thou hast known the          and which we learn are those which
when it comes to spiritual food, some-     holy scriptures, which are able to make        testify of Christ, our Salvation. Jesus
times we think that we can do with-        thee wise unto salvation through faith         says of the Scriptures, "They are they
out it. It is not so! We can no more       which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture        which testify of me" (John 5:39). fl To
sustainspiritualvigorandhealthwith-        is given by inspiration of God, and is         him gave all the prophets witness"
out feeding daily and weekly upon          profitable for doctrine, for reproof,          (Acts 10:43). And Jesus says tous that
the Word, thanwecanmaintainphysi-          for correction, for instruction in righ-       "Heaven and earth shall pass away,
cal power and strength without eat-        teousness: That the man of God may             but my words shall not pass away"
ing daily bread.                           beperfect,thoroughlyfurnishedunto              (Matt. 24~35). To whom else, then,
     By the grace of God, that Word is     all good works."                               shall we turn? Jesus has the Words of
for the child of God "sweeter also             Our calling is therefore to turn to        eternal life. True comfort and hope.
than honey and the honeycomb"; for         this Word always, to study this Word,                                                        0
every Word of the Lord is full of





                                Taking a Stand

     Martin Luther took a stand.           point. "Are you alone right, and is all          son-Idonotaccept  theauthorityof
     Publicly he confessed the truth of    the church wrong?" With this he                  popes or councils, since they have
the Word of God. Courageously he           struggled in his temptations.                    often contradicted one another -
defended the truth against all attacks         Still he stood.                              my conscience is captive to the Word
upon it. Firmly he stood his ground,           The whole world knows of his                 of God. I cannot and will not recant
                                                                                            anything,fortoactagainstconscience
maintaining his confession and rout-       stand at Worms on the evening of                 is neither right nor safe. Here I stand,
ing the enemies of this confession. He     April 18,1521. Before the high-rank-             I cannot do otherwise. God help me.
did not fall silent, did not compro-       ingrepresentatives of the church, the            Amen.
mise, did not even waver.                  most powerful civil authorities of the
     He took a stand although every-       day, and the emperor himself, under                Scholars question whether the
thing that a man values was on the         the most intense pressure to recant            words, "Here I stand," are authentic,
line: reputation, livelihood, member-      his confession of the truth, when at           but unnecessarily. They are found in
ship in the church, liberty, and life      the very beginning of the Reforma-             the earliest accounts of the event. The
itself.                                    tion all was at stake - true church,           night before, facing this test, Luther
     He took a stand even though he        gospel, salvation, and the glory of            wrote to himself, "With Christ's help,
stood alone. It is one thing to take a     God -Luther stood.                             I shall not recant a single particle."
stand in the company of others where           The question was this: "Will you           Fact is, Luther said the words, "Here
there is encouragement and support.        recant or not?"                                I stand," in a more impressive way
It is another thing to stand alone.            This was his answer:                       than only by speaking them with the
This, he'tells us, troubled him in his                                                    mouth. He said them with the deed.
weaker moments. For the enemies of           Your Majesty and Your Lordships              He stood!
his confession and stand, clever as the      ask for a plain answer. Unless I am              Because he stood, there was a
devil, attacked him especially at this       convincedby Scrlptureandplainrea-            Reformation.

                                                                                                November 1,1993/Si%miad BeareriS


    Because he stood, genuine Prot-         volt against their masters and against      Melanchthon bent and was ready to
estants enjoy the gospel of grace and       the civil authorities. The issue was        break. At a distance from the pro-
its benefits today.                         this: Would the Reformation faith           ceedings (for he was an outlaw),
    Without his standing, publicly,         become an earthly force for social,         Luther stood, and he virtually com-
courageously, and firmly, there would       political, and economic change?             pelled his colleague to stand. There
have been no Reformation. There             Would the gospel promote revolu-            would be no compromise of truth for
would only have been the tyranny of         tion in society? Would the Refoina-         the sake of unity. For the unity of the
the Roman papacy, the superstition          lion church surrender her spiritual         Spirit of Christ is unity in the truth.
of Roman tradition, and the Roman           identity? The temptation is still with          The 95 Theses were really a stand.
lie of free will, works-righteousness,      us, and not only from the liberal left.     Although posted as propositions for
and human merit.                                Luther took a stand. He took a          discussion, they breathed the spirit of
    ItwasnotonlyatWormsthatthat             strong stand against a powerful temp-       a stand against the entire Roman sys-
man of God stood. Nor was the stand         tation that is especially destructive of    tem of penance and for the gospel-
at Worms the only stand that mat-           the faith of the Reformation.  His          system of free forgiveness to every
tered for the Reformation. Again and        stand was far too strong for many           penitent of heart by faithin the Christ.
again, on critically important issues,      today who claim to be his spiritual             Luther was ready to take a stand
at moments of crisis, invariably alone,     descendants. Luther wrote a tract           in his own congregation. It is very
Luther stood. Marvelously, he stood         entitled, "Against the Thieving, Mur-       well possible that this called for more
for the truth of the Word of God.           dering Hordes of Peasants." In it he        courage than did his stands against
    He took a stand at Leipzig in 1519      radically dissociated the Reformation       pope, Roman Church, revolutionar-
in a debate with that shrewd cham-          gospel from all such revolutionary          ies, and.proud humanists. Everypas-
pion of the Roman Catholic papacy,          movements. He called on the magis-          tor knows the pressure to avoid the
John Eck. The issue was that of au-         trates, indeed on "everyone who can,"       sensitive areas in his own congrega-
thority in the church, whether pope         to "smite, slay, and stab" the rebels.      tion, exactly the areas that faithful-
or council, or Scripture alone. Pressed     ThatwascostlyforLuther.  Itcosthim          ness to Christ demands be addressed.
by Eck, Luther declared that popes          and the Reformation the support of          Certain it is that it is here that many
and councils can err and, in fact, have     much of the working class. But it           pastors and theologians betray Christ
erred. He denied that the authority of      saved the gospel, according to the          and sell out the truth today. They are
the pope is of divine origin. Cried         WordofChristinMatthew2652:  "all            bold to speakout against heresies and
Eck, "Luther is setting himself above       they that take the sword shall perish       immoralities "out there" in the world
popes and councils." Replied Luther,        with the sword."                            or in other churches. But they dare
"No, I am setting Scripture there."             If his stand against the peasants       not address errors in their own con-
Seemingly fatal to Luther's personal        cost Luther the support of the work-        gregations and denomination. They
interests, this stand was fundamental       ers, his stand at the same time for the     refuse to take a stand on controversial
to the Christianity of the Reforma-         truth of the bondage of the will of the     issues in their own circles.
tion. The sole authority in the church      natural man cost him the backing of             Late in his life, at the age of 56,
is Scripture.                               many of the scholars and humanists.         Luther mounted his pulpit in
    In1522Luthertookastandagainst           In 1525, responding to an attack on         Wittenberg to deliver himself of one
the "heavenlyprophets" whoinvaded           the Reformation's doctrine of the           of the most vehement sermons ever
Wittenberg in his absence at the            bound will by the most famous and           preached against drunkenness and
Wartburg  Castle. These forerunners         influential scholar of that day,            gluttony- the drunkenness and glut-
of the charismatics of our day claimed      Erasmus, Luther wrote the book, The         tony of the members of his congrega-
direct revelations from the Spirit, per-    Bondage of the Will. Init he defended       tion.
formed miracles (so they said), and         the essential truth of the Reformation:
minimized Scripture, doctrine, and          man is a helpless slave of the devil          Where one can find sermons which
preaching. Luther's colleagues were         spiritually, so that his salvation must       will stop the Germans from swilling
receptive, at least uncertain. Luther       be the work of the sovereign, particu-        I do not know.... To sit day and
returned, condemned the movement            lar grace of God alone. He humbled            night, pouring it in and pouring it
("I slap your `Spirit' on the snout"),      man and exalted God. He also of-              out again, is piggish.... If you are
drove the self-styled prophets from         fended the proud.                             going to be a born pig and guzzle
                                                                                          beer and wine, then, if this cannot be
the city, and preserved the Reforma-            In 1530, in connection with the           stoppedbythemlers,youmustknow
tion from mysticism.                        conference of Protestants and Roman           that you cannot be saved. For God
    He took an equally decisiveand          Catholics at Augsburg, Luther' ada-           will not admit such piggish drinkers
important stand in 1525 in the matter       mantly opposed any compromise of              into the kingdom of heaven.
of the Peasants' Revolt. The oppressed      doctrine in order to achieve union
workers in Germany wanted to use            with Rome. As is always the case, the           Luther took a stand.
Luther's gospel of liberty in their re-     appeal to unity was powerful.                   We love him for this, but this did

54/Standard Bearer November  1,1993


not make him a "nice guy." He was                  "Shed a tear over doctrine"? Who           This goes far to explain why
not the kind of pastor or theologian         does this? Of course, only one who           Luther stood at that critical juncture
who is popular today: careful to             loves the doctrine of Christ. Is there       of post-apostolic church, and, there-
offend no one; skilled, and often            anyone at all today, we are tempted to       fore, world history. But not entirely.
schooled, to please everybody; the           ask, including ourselves, who loves          The explanation of Luther's standing
man who can skirt every issue or             the doctrine of Scripture so? But then       is not Luther, not even the godly,
come down wonderfullyon both sides           neither will we take a stand.                Christian, Spirit-filled Luther. It is
of the issue; the smiling pleasant,                He stood because he also loved         Christ. Christ upheld him in all that
back-slapper and hand-shaker. Most           the church. He saw her in her igno-          fearsome, confused struggle. Christ
Protestan;  churches to-                                   rance and drunkenness,         made him stand.
daywouldthrow Luther                                        and he loved her as the           Luther himself sang this in the
out as fast as the pope           Thee reason why          manifestation of the           original of his great Reformation
did, and it took the pope            ministers,             elect, redeemedbody of        hymn, "A Mighty Fortress":
only three years. They            theologians, and          Christ. Everything he
would use the same lan-               churches             did, everything he gave,         By our own strength is nothing won.
guage: "Arise, 0 Lord!                will not             everything he suffered           We court at once disaster.
a wild boar is devastat-            take a stand           - and he did, gave, and          There fights for us the Champion
ing your vineyard."             for the truth today         suffered much-he did            Whom God has named  our Master.
    But his motivation          is that they do not        for the church. The rea-         Would you know his name?
was love.                              love it.            son why ministers and            Jesus Christ the same
                                                                                            Lord Sabaoth is he.
    He loved the truth L                                   theologianswillnottake           No other God can be.
of the Word of God. He                                     a stand is that they do          The field is his to hold it.
did not only know the truth. He loved        not love Christ's church.
the truth. The reason why ministers,               Above all, he loved God in Jesus           This is why, regarding the need
theologians, and churches will not           Christ. He wore this love on his             of the hour for the truth and church of
take a stand for the truth today is that     sleeve. One does not prove this in           God, we may not doubt.
theydonotloveit.  ThereisinLuther's          Luther. One only observes it with a              The need of the hour is that
magnificent  The  Bondage  of  the Will      certain awe. He loved God in a               officebearers and churches take a
a line that is touching, almost haunt-       friendly way, as one loves a daily           stand for the truth and against error
ing, the more so because it is a "throw-     companion. He loved God in a per-            - the very same doctrines and the
away" line as Luther hastens on to the       sonal way, as the wife loves her hus-        very same evils concerning which
issue before him. "You," says the            band. He loved God in a vehement             Luther took a stand.
Reformer to the sophisticated,               way - more than father, mother,                  There will be preachers and
learned, heretical Erasmus, "who             family, friends, name, position, pos-        churches that take such a stand.
never shed a tear over Christ's doc-         sessions, and life.                              At least one. 0
trine in all your life."                                                                                                    --DE




n Execution of the                           is blessed forever! (cf. Rom. 1:24,25).      Cammenga contains a statement that
Homosexual                                           Editor Engelsma's comments           I believe cannot stand unchallenged.
                                             in the editorial of September, 1993,         Rev. Cammenga writes: "Rather than
    Informative, edifying, instructive,      deserve emphasis in this connection:         to tolerate and approve homosexual-
and scripturally-sound articles con-         "What is so often overlooked in the          ity, the churches ought to excommu-
cerning the vile sin of sodomy ap-           debate over homosexuality is that            nicate the impenitent homosexual and
peared in the July, August, and Sep-         Romans  1:18ff. teaches that the ap-         the state ought to put him to death"
tember 1,1993,  issues of the Standard       proval and practice of this sin is itself    (italics mine, AL). It is the second part
Bearer. We live in a world in which          the awful judgment of God upon a             of this statement to which I take ex-
men and women have been given up             people that has deliberately held the        ception.
in the lusts of their hearts to impurity,    truth of God under in unrigh-                    Concerning the excommunication
to the dishonoring of their- bodies          teousness. This shameful wicked-             of the impenitent homosexual
among themselves because they have           ness is divine punishment."                  (whoremonger) there canbe  no doubt.
exchanged the truth about God for a                However, the article, "The Shame-      The Form for the Administration of
lie and worshiped and served the             ful Sin of Homosexuality (2)," Au-           the Lord's Supper speaks concerning
creature rather than the Creator, who        gust, 1993, by Brother Rev. Ronald           "those who have no part in the king-

                                                                                                November 1,19WStandad  Bearer/55


dom of Christ (those who must be             Cammenga trying to put us back un-            his series on "The Shameful Sin of
excommunicated, AL) and who must             der the curse of the law?            . . c    Homosexuality" published in the
keep themselves from the table of the                               Sharon Brummel         August lst, 1993 issue of the Standard
Lord."                                                               Edgerton,  &@I        Beaier.   Thereareseveralitemsinthis
    All sin is worthy of the death                                                         article that attracted my attention and
penalty. "The wages of sin is death"         RESPONSE:                                     that I believe warrant comment.
(Rom.  623).  I`... knowing the judg-           j After considering the matter                 The first comes in the opening of
ment of God, that they which commit          raised in your letters, I remain con-         the article labeled "Some Statistics."
such things are worthy ofdeath" (Rom.        vinced that the state ought to execute        But, we have no source given for
1:32). But the execution of theimpeni-       homosexuals, that is, those who pub-          these data, nor do we have any idea
tent homosexual (whoremonger) is             licly practice this evil. That the church     when these data were gathered. It
not the calling of the state. We no          is called to discipline homosexuals in        seems to me that responsible joumal-
longer live in theocratic Israel, when       her fellowship does not. exempt the           ism (responsible writing, for that
the civil laws declared death for any-       state from dealing with this evil. "...       matter) requires that sources be given
one who committed sins such as               Christian Discipline is of a spiritual        for this kind of information. But it
swearing, murder, and fornication.           nature, and exempts no one from Civil         even ought to go beyond listing a
    To affirm that the state is called to    trial or punishment by the Authori-           source when it comes to quoting sta-
execute those whom the church ex-            ties..." (Church Order, Article 71). To       tistics. In order to be good evaluators
communicates is to violate the prin-         take this position is no more a return        of these "data," in order for us (the
ciple of the separation of church and        to theocratic Israel than it is to insist     readers) to be able to decide whether
state. This freedom is one of the good       that the state administer the death           these are good statistics or bad, we
gifts of God to society.                     penalty in the case of murderers.             need to know more about how these
    Because impenitent homosexu-             Neither is insisting that this is the         statistics were put together: who did
als believe that such sexual perver-         duty of the state violating the prin-         the study? why was the study done?
sion is their religious right, execution     ciple of the separation of church and         is this publicly accepted data? who
of homosexuals by the state wouldbe          state. It is only calling on the state to     were the populations that were sur-
tantamount to religious persecution.         carry out its God-given duty "to ex-          veyed? whose records were looked
I believer Editor Engelsma correctly         ecute wrath upon him that doeth               at? are these comparative data to the
indicates that "whatever truth and           evil..." and to "bear not the sword in        overall population or to the  homo-
substance of the civil law (of Israel,       vain..." (Rom. 13:4). In administering        sexual population? was this data gath-
AL) remain . . . are executed spiritu-       capital punishment against homo-              ered across the U.S., in Colorado, in
ally by the church" (cf. September 1,        sexuals, the state fulfills its Divine        Michigan? when was the study done?
1993, "A Holy Nation").                      duty in "the punishment of evildo-            The point is that statistics don't al-
    "For without are dogs  (i:e., false      ers" and "the praise (and protection,         ways reveal what the truth is. Statis-
teachers), and sorcerers, and                RC) of them that do well" (I Pet. 214).       tics are regularly M,cooked,"  as you
whoremongers,  and murderers, and                I consider this the state's duty          will realize when you read or see
idolaters, and whosoever loveth and          with respect to homosexuals, not only         advertisements for products. It is
maketh a lie" (Rev. 2215).                   because this crime was punishable by          interesting to note also that Rev.
                        Agatha' Lubbers      death in the Old Testament economy,           Cammenga quotes 1982 data from
                    Grand Rapids, MI         but because this is such a vile crime, a      the Center for Disease Control. This
                                             crime that so threatens the well-being        data is quite out of date, and, in fact,
    Please have Rev. Cammenga com-           of the citizenry that the death penalty       probably represents data collected
ment on his article in the August 1993       is warranted. The basest of evils             prior to the AIDS epidemic. This, it
Standard Bearer (p. 450), where he           deserves the severest of punishments.         seems to me, severely limits the rel-
said, M the punishment for homosexu-         Consider how many thousands have              evancy of these data.
als in Israel was the death penalty.         died,.and are dying every day, as a               There are other aspects about the
Still today that penalty ought to be en-     result of the homosexuallife-style. In        presentation of these statistics that
forced. M What does he mean by that?         a very real sense, as a class, the homo-      are troublesome, but I will limit my-
    Wouldn't he have to say the same         sexuals are murderers, responsible            self to one since it will give an ex-
about all the other sins punished by         for the deaths of multitudes of "inno;        ample of what I have said above. Rev.
death in the Old Testament and all           cent" people. For now, at least, I            Cammenga gives the "median" age
those mentioned in Romans 1:29-31;I          would. stand by my -original state;           of 42. A median is the halfway point
Timothyl:9,10;  andICorinthians  6:9,        ment.                                         of a list of numbers and should not be
lo? In God's sight all sin is worthy of                     - Rev. Ron Cammenga            confused with a "mean" or an aver-
death. How would the state put to                                                          age. The number 42 is the median, for
death, for example, the unrepentant              Iwrite in response to Rev. Ronald         example, of this list: 37,41,42,89,91
covetous of our day? Isn't Rev.              Cammenga's second installment in              -it's in the middle of this group. The

WStandard Bearer/November 1,1993


average of this set of numbers, how-        it seems, needs to do some clarifying        believe it to be a heinous sin. But
ever, would be 60. A median is prac-        andgrounding here. We are given an           somehow we have to communicate to
tically useless in a small set of num-      assertion without the benefit of good,       those who struggle with these sins
bers. And that demonstrates the point:      sound, logical argument or exegesis.         that we have the compassion to help
we simply do not have enough infor-             My third concern comes from the          them.
mation about the source of these sta-       quotationof the OldTestament  (Prov-                                     Jon J. Huisken
tistics to make intelligent use of them.    erbs) regarding the length of life of the                                  Jenison, MI
    But, the most bothersome part of        reprobate world: "Truly, the life of
the publication of these statistics is      the wicked is cut short." It appears         RESPONSE:
that most people are going to accept        that Rev. Cammenga is a believer of              1. The statistics citedin the article
them as the gospel truth. They              his statistics, but is this an appropri-     are the most current that were avail-
shouldn't. And, Rev. Cammenga               ate application of this text? Are there      able at that time. For the most part,
should not have published them with-        no old reprobates? Is the average life-      they were taken from the mass of
out clarification about the source and      span of the reprobate significantly          literature that flooded Colorado last
nature of these "data."                     different from the average life-span         summer and fall in connection with
    My second concern regards the           of the elect? How are you going to           "Amendment Two." Unless other-
use that Rev. Cammenga puts to the          tell? Certainly sin has consequences;        wise stated, it should have been un-
civil law of the Old Testament. He          certain sins may very well lead to           derstood that the statistics applied
claims, in fact, that God's law re-         death. But it seems to me that Rev.          generally to the U.S. To have cited
quires that all homosexuals (impeni-        Cammenga makes a general state-              sources for all these statistics would
tent ones, I think he would insist) be      ment about the consequences of sin           have taken up more space than the
killed by the civil government. On          for the unbeliever - if you are com-         body of the article itself. Neither was
what basis does Rev. Cammenga               mitting a heinous sin such as homo-          this necessary. I have the data on file
make this claim? It is hard to tell from    sexuality, you aren't going to live          for any who might be interested. If
the article itself. Without putting         long-but I believe he would have a           there is any evidence that the statis-
words in Rev. Cammenga's mouth, I           very tough, if not impossible, task to       tics were inaccurate or misleading I
would guess from the article that since     try to prove that. The point here,           would be interested in seeing this.
God's law required it in the Old Tes-       again, is that if such assertions are to         2.To take the position that the
tament, andsince God doesnot change         be made and are supposedly                   state ought to put to death those who
and God's law therefore does not            grounded in the Scriptures, then some        are taken in the sin of homosexuality
change, it ought to continue until to-      clarification and some exegesis is re-       is no more theonomic than to insist
day. Such smacks of the theonomic           quired before such assertions might          that murderers be put to death. For
view of the Old Testament and of            be believed.                                 an explanation of my position with
,historyoftheRushdoonycrowd.  How               My final concern is what an ar-          respect to this, see myresponse above.
wouldRev.  Cammenga distance him-           ticle like this does for the churches in     This was a passing remark, not some-
self from this group? Where is Rev.         general. The Standard Bearer has a           thing that pertained to the main con-
Cammenga going to draw the line             fairly wide circulation in this country      cern of the article, and therefore I did
with this? There were many instances        and abroad. Is this really the kind and      not elaborate. I would say, however,
in the Old Testament where the sin-         form of message that we want to              that it is not the concern of the state
ner was put to death - blasphemy,           send? Is it ahight to write anything         whether one is penitent or impeni-
rebellion against father and mother,        we please without proper grounds?            tent. The concern of the state is with
adultery. Now, it seems to me that if       Thefactisthateverysinimaginableat            the public life in society. The state is
Rev. Cammenga is going to argue for         some time or other may (and often            called to punish public acts of homo-
the annihilation of impenitent homo-        does) afflict the Christian. That in-        sexuality. I ask, "What is the altema-
sexuals, he ought to continue and           cludes the sin of homosexuality -            tive? Is the state to take no action
include all of these as well. Further, I    not just the thought, mind you, but          against this evil publicly practiced?
can not recall that the Old Testament       the deed. Does this article give any-        What warrant is there for any action
distinguished between penitent and          one with this affliction any hope at all     by the state?"
impenitent. If you committed one of         that someone in our churches might               3. With regard to the objection to
thesinsrequiringcapitalpunishment,          be willing to listen and counsel? I          the use of Proverbs 10:27, of course
you died. Isn't that also the case with     personally have dealt with cases, in         there are wicked men who live to be
moderncapitalpunishment laws? It's          our churches, dealingwith homosexu-          old. But, as a general rule, those who
conceivable that a felon convicted of       ality,soitissomethingwithwhichwe             live impenitently in sin suffer the con-
murder and given a death sentence           have to concern ourselves. This is not       sequences in body and in mind. The
could very much repent, could very          to say in any way, shape, or form, that      consequence is a shortened life. (In
much be a Christian, in fact, and still     I am advocating the acceptance, willy-       this connection, I also refer you to the
be executed. At best, Rev. Cammenga,        nilly, of homosexualbehavior. I, too,        language of the 5th Commandment.)

                                                                                                  November l,lQB3Jstandard  Beard57


 Certainly this is clearly the case with        Under the new covenant, after Jesus          by Prof. David J. Engelsma in the
 the sin of homosexuality. And this,            Christ, this ["Holy Nation"] is the           September 1,1993 issue entitled; "A
 too, is part of the warning to the             spiritual body of all those in all the       Holy Nation."
 individual who is walking in this sin.         world who believe in Christ and are               This outstanding article clearly
     4. With regard to the concern              sanctified by the Spirit, which uni-         shows just how far from holy this
 that the article communicated no com-          versal body manifests itself in con-
                                                gregations and denominations that            nation truly is. So many things hap-
 passion to those who are struggling            clearly show the marks of the true           pen so subtly that people need com-
 with this sin, the brother ought to            church.                                      mentaries such as this one to see the
 have done me the courtesy of reading                                                        complete picture.
 the series in its entirety. The second       The PR churches have always main-                   I was particularly interested in
 article was not the conclusion. I be-        tained the teachings of the catholic@          the paragraph concerning the July4th
 lieve that&t the articles that followed,     of' the church. For this reader the            weekend. This point was brought
 the love of Christ, that confronts the       quoted writing seems to be in some             home to me in a very personal way at
 sinner with his sin and calls him from       conflict with an. earlier editorial,           that time.        :
 his sin, was demonstrated.                   "Aloof from the Alliance" (SB 6/l/                  Having been an unchurched per-
                 -Rev. Ron Cammenga           93).                                           son for several years, after escaping
                                                      Perhaps no other church-related        the clutches of an extremely persis-
 n Encouragement from                         periodicals see the need of maintain-          tent and entrapping cult, I began to
 an "Outsider"                                ing or promoting what is known                 attend, about June or so, a small (Prot-
     The writings in the  Standard            throughout the Reformed church-                estant) church near my home. I had
Bearer  are profitable for the encour-        world as Calvinism. Thanks for the             tried several churches in hopes of
agement, education, and spiritual             good reading the SB affords its read-          finding one which came close and
benefit of its readers. But they are not      ers, especially the "outsiders" and, I         true to God and the Bible. I had gone
 directed solely to those of the PRC.         hope, also the "insiders."                     to basic Bible churches, as well as
The writings are perhaps also directed                                    Hen y Doom         some of the mainline churches. I was
to readers outside of the PR denomi-                                   Kentwood,  MI         usually welcomed warmly and lov-
nation, the Reformed church-world                                                            ingly, and was sure I had found a
at large. This reader, being an "out-         n R&onstruction and Drama                      church home. But after a few weeks,
sider," also receives profitable ben-                 I appreciated very much the edi-       I might just as well have been invis-
efits from your magazine.                     torial in the September 1,1993  issue          ible. I gave up for awhile, and one
     In the August, 1993 issue a medi-        entitled, "A Holy Nation."                     Sunday awoke with an impulse to
tation written by Rev. C. Hank0 en-                   I have been uncomfortable with a       attend church, somewhere! I thought
titled "Contentment" is most profit-          movement, predominantly in Re-                 of the little church that is, just two
able for the lifting up of one's spirit       formed circles, to "reconstruct" this          blocks  away," so I went there. In
above all that is temporal and mun-           nationintoaChristiankingdom.  Prof.            attendance were no more than a dozen
dane. It lifts us up to a higher plain, to    Engelsma's statement, "The calling             people, and I felt that there I would
the eternal and heavenly. It instructs        then of the true church in the United          receive adequate care for my deeply
the reader to "wait on the Lord . . . . II    States . . . is to be what we are by grace:    wounded soul. For a little while, it
    The readers are also benefited by         3 holy nation," was especially an en-          was wonderful. The pastor is a gifted
the writing of editor Engelsma in his         zouragement  to me as I find myself in         and remarkable speaker, as well .as
editorial, "A Holy Nation" (SB 9/ l/          1 climate of opinion which would say           loving and caring to his flock.
93), in which he sets forth the sound         that this simply isn't enough.                     After I had'attended for about a
scriptural teachings relative to the              I also found the last article on           month, and felt well-settled and one'
current state of affairs in our nation.       drama to be the most helpful of all. It        of the group (I was invited to partake
The editor rightly expresses the pre-         was beneficial to learn that not only          the Lord's Meal with the rest, which
vailing mind-set of the citizenry both        do a few Christians called the Protes-         I did do), I received a deep shock. It
outside and, more importantly, within         tant Reformed Churches have con-               was announced that there would be
the church. He also sees grave conse-         cerns about drama, but that saints             no service on Sunday, July 4th! I could
quences for the anti-Scriptural rul-          and churches for centuries have had            hardly believe what I was hearing -
ings espoused by the three compo-             objections also.                               that a governmental holiday, and a
nents of our government. Prof.                                      D. Scott Connerley       "dayoff,"wasputaheadoftheLord's
Engelsma makes a profound state-                                          Bedford, IN        day! I have not been back there. Nor
ment, that prompted this reader's                                                            apparently am I missed as I thought I
reply to his editorial. The quoted            I Celebrating the 4th                          would be. Not one person, not even
paragraph is no doubt the foundation             I have just finished re-reading,            the pastor, seems to care enough to
and core of the "Holy Nation":                `or about the third time, the editorial        cdl me or come to my home, to see
                                                                                             what is the matter. I had expressed to

WStandafd Bearer /November 1,1993


them how much I had appreciated             I wish that one of the Protestant Re-      and the series on the sin of homosexu-
being welcomed and made to feel a           formed congregations was nearby!           ality.  The Standard Bearer  is not
part of the congregation. I feel foolish    There is one, I understand, in the         afraid to approach these subjects and
that I thought this was the case.           northern part of Washington at             lay them out in the open in a way no
    I realize that no church that would     Lynden. However, that is too far           one else does. You always bring out
put the Fourth of July ahead of God is      away for a Sunday service, unless I        aspects of the subject that Ihave never
one that I should be a part of, whether     happened to be up there on a week-         read anywhere else.
as a true member, or as an interested       end.                                           Thank you again for your mar-
person.                                         I continue to enjoy your maga-         velous magazine. 0
    I take it as a sign from God that I     zine, and gain much wisdom from                                   Mritge  Beltrami
have not yet found a local church that      each issue. I was also deeply inter-                                Portland, OR
lives up to God's expectations. How         ested in the series on TV and movies,





.Thk.Doctrine of the Trinity (4)

    God is a triune God: Father, Son,       tion to the Son; the Father begets the     of the Father. Thus we confess, "The
and Holy Ghost. This truth is set           Son. The very names Father and Son         Father is made of none: neither cre-
before us, ashas been shown, in all the     indicate this relationship. It is more-    ated, nor begotten. The Son is of the
works of God, in all His revelation to      over the express testimony of Scrip-       Father alone: not made, nor created:
us, and in the very language or terrni-     ture that the Son is the "only begot-      but begotten" (Athanasian Creed,
nology  of Scripture itself. This doc-      ten" of the Father (John 1:14,18).         Article 21,22).
trine is not founded upon one or two            Nor is this merely a matter of the
texts of Scripture but belongs to the       Son in our flesh and blood, our Lord       The Holy Ghost in Relation
whole fabric of God's self-revelation.      Jesus Christ. Our Lord Jesus Christ is     to the Father and the Son
                                            also God's Son according to His hu-            The Holy Ghost is revealed in
Distinct Personal Properties                man nature by conception of the Holy       Scripture as the third person of the
and Relations                               Ghost of the Virgin Mary, for it was       Trinity. As the word Spirit indicates,
    According to this revelation of         `God's eternal Son who thus assumed        He is the breath of God, the divine
God.we distinguish not only three           our human nature. But by the desig-        power and might. He is not however
persons; Father, Son, and Holy Ghost        nationonly Begottenwe are directed         an impersonal force, but it is He who
within the being of God, each ios-          beyond our Savior's incarnation to         "searcheth all things, yea, the deep
sessing the whole of the divine na-         His unique  Sonship. As the Only           things of God" (I Cor. 2:lO). The word
ture, but we also may say something         Begotten, the Son, He is in the "bosom     "Comforter" emphasizes the person-
about them as to their distinct per-        of the Father" (John 198). He is the       ality of the Spirit, as well as His work
sonal properties and relations to one       Word which was in the beginning            in relationship to us. The word
another.                                    with God and was God (John l:l-3).         "Spirit," moreover, which in the Old
                                            He is eternal Son, begotten by an          Testament means wind or breath,
The Father and the Son                      eternal work of God; so that we read       emphasizesthedistinctpersonalprop-
    The Father is the first of the per-     that his "goings forth have been from      erty of the Spirit, that He proceeds
sons, as indicated by His name Fa-          of old, from everlasting" (Micah 5:2).     from the Father and the Son, and is
ther; the Son, the second. The names        Moreover, as the Only Begotten of the      breathedforthorspiratedastheSpirit
Father and Son point us to the distinct     Father He is "the brightness of his        of God. Thisis also the teaching of our
property of the Father and His rela-        glory, and the express image of his        Savior, that the Father "will send" the
                                            person". (Heb. 1:3).                       Spirit in His name (John 14:26).  We
                                                The Father stands therefore in         read also that the Son will send the
                                            relation to the Son as Father, distinct    Spirit. "But when the Comforter is
Rev. Miersma is pastor of First Protes-     from the Son whom He begets. The           come, whom I will send unto you
tant Reformed Church in Edmonton,           Son is distinct from the Father as the     from the Father, even the Spirit of
Alberta, Cqzada.                            Only Begotten, the Word and image          truth, which proceedeth from the Fa-

                                                                                             November 1,199WStandard  Beami


       ther, he shall testify of me" (John             confess therefore, "The Holy Ghost is              and blessedness, and rejoicing in His
       15:26).  The Spirit is thus said to be          of the Father and.of  the Son: neither             .own perfection. That life is the cov-
       sent from the Father and to "proceed" 1 made, nor created, nor begottem'but                        enant life of God. It is the deepest
       from the Father. The relation of the           proceeding" (Athanasian Creed, Ar-                  ground of that eternal life which is the
       Spirit to the Father is therefore that         ticle 23).                                          blessing of our salvation.
       He proceeds from the Father.                                                                            It is into that life that God wills to
           The same relationship is drawn             A Triune Covenant God                               take His elect in Jesus Christ (Eph.
       concerning the Son and the Spirit.                      It is in the light of this truth of the    1:3-6). In Jesus Christ, God and man
       This point is disputed by the Eastern          Trinity that we must also speak of                  are brought together in one person in
       Orthodox churches,                                                God as a covenant God.           the communion of life which God has
       which deny this double                                            The doctrine of the Trin-        in Himself. For God,the Word, the
       procession and teach that               The doctrine              ity is not to be conceived       etemalSonofGodbecameflesh.  Thus
      the Spirit proceeds only.               of the Trinity             as a mere static, formal         the apostle John writes, "For the life
       from the Father. The'                   is not to be              description of the truth         was manifested, and we have seen it,
       truth that the Spirit pro-             conceived as a             of God in Himself. That          and bear witness, and shew unto you
       ceeds also from the Son G        mere static,  formal             God is the triune God            that eternal life, which was with the
       is however. plainly               descri)tion of the              (Father, Son, and Holy           Father, and was manifested unto us"
       taught in Scripture. The               truth of God               Ghost, three distinct            (I John 1:2). By Jesus Christ God takes
       Lord Jesus,theSoninour                  in Himself.               persons in one divine es-        us into the fellowship of His own life
       flesh, will send the Spirit                                       sence) means that He is          and gives unto us eternal life, in com-
       (John 15:26). The Spirit                                          truly the living God. He         munion of love with Him. "And this
       is given to the Mediator, the Son of           lives within Himself a life of com-                 is life eternal, that they might know
       God, in our nature, to accomplish our          munion and fellowship. God is Love                  thee the only true God, and Jesus
       redemption and to be poured out                because He lives within Himself a                   Christ, whom thou hast sent" (John
       upon the church as the Spirit of Christ.       divine love life, in the perfect bond of            17~3).  He declares unto us, "I will be
       This work of Christ and coming of              His holy being. Herein lies also the                thy God and ye shall be my people"
II     Christ in the Spirit rests upon the            deepest ground of God's covenant as                 (Gen. 17:7; Rev. 3-4,7). In Jesus Christ
       truth that the Spirit proceeds not only        He makes that covenant known to us,                 we are born unto life, adopted unto
       from the Father to the Mediator to be          takes us into His fellowship, in order              spiritual sonship, and made children
       poured out on us, but from the truth           that He might be our God and we His                 of the Living God to live in commun-
      that the Spirit proceeds also from the          people in Christ Jesus. The Scriptures              ionwithHim  (cf. John 1221-24;  I John
      Son. Thus Jesus who is the person of            repeatedly point us to the wonder of                4~5-11;  5:10-12).   0
      the Son of God will Himself come to             this divine life of the triune God. The
      us by His Spirit to be with us: "I will         Son is God's "beloved Son" in whom
      notleave  youcomfortless: Iwillcome             He is well-pleased (Matt.  3:170. The                     HEh'EWZR  FORSAk73  ME
      to you" (John 14:18). This promise of           Son wills the will of the Father and
      Jesus is not simply that the man Jesus          comes to do the will of Him that sent               I have a friend of all others the best,
      Christ, in the human nature, shall be           Him. In the triune God there is a                        He never forsakes me;
      with us, but the whole Christ, God              communion of love, knowledge, unity                 Trusting in Him I am sweetly at rest,
      and man. Jesus says, "I" will come to                                                                   He never forsakes me.
                                                      of purpose and will in the one only
      you. He who says "I" in Jesus Christ            divine knowledge, will, and purpose.                Trials maycompassme, sorrows be mine,
      is the person of the Son of God. When           "No man knoweth the Son, but the                        He never forsakes me;
      after His resurrection Jesus appeared           Father; neither knoweth any man the                 Closer the arms everlasting entwine,
      to His disciples, we read that "he              Father, save, the Son" (Matt. 11:27).                   He never forsakes me.
      breathed on them, and saith unto                The Spirit "searcheth all things, yea,
      them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost"                the deep things of God" (I Cor. 2:lO).              Tho' the world sever my tenderest ties,
      (John2022).  It is He who "sends" the               God is the living God, not simply                   He never forsakes me;
      Spirit, who thus breathes upon them             as the self-existent "I am," for life is            The' the stars fade, and the light from the
      of His own Spirit. The Spirit was                                                                            skies,
                                                      more than existence, but because He                     He never forsakes me.
      given as the breath or Spirit of Christ,        lives within Himself a divinely per-
      the whole Christ, that He might be              fect love life of fellowship and com-               He thro' the valley my soul will attend,
      with us in the Spirit.                          munion. Therein God is love (I John                     He never forsakes me;
          Accordingly, the distinct personal          49). God lives in perfect, eternally                Praise to His name, He'll be true to the
      property of the Spirit is that He pro-          blessed communion with Himself, a                            end,
      ceeds from both the Father and the              Father-Son relationship in the Spirit,                  He never forsakes me.
      Son, not as two Spirits, but as the one         loving Himself, knowing Himself,                                         The Standard Bearer
      Holy Spirit of the Living God. We               searching the depths of His own glory                                                  8-15-33

      6OIStandard  Bearer /November 1,1993


              Arminianism in England

    The following notice appeared in         the Gospel is not and never has been             Second, if a denial of common
a recent issue of the periodical, Ref-       "the very essence of Hyper-                  grace and the free offer is hyper-Cal-
ormation Today, whose editor is the          calvinism." It is somewhat wearying          vinism, then both Calvin and the Five
gentleman mentioned in the article,          that these things need to be repeated        Points of Calvinism (as originally for-
Mr. Erroll Hulse:                            so often. &4r. Hulse has knowledge of        mulated in the Canons of Dordt) are
                                             the Standard Bearerand the Newslet-          hyper-Calvinistic.1 The Canons of
            HyFer-Calvinism in               ter. If only he would read them! He          Dordt mention common grace only
             Northern Ireland                would not then get all his facts wrong.      once (III/IV, B, 5), only to reject it as
    The very essence of  hyper-              In the interest of truth, however, let us    part of the erroneous teaching of the
  calvhism is the denial of common
  grace and the free offer of the gospel.    go over these matters again.                 Arminians  (against whom the Can-
  A magazine with the title the Sfan-            First,regardinghyper-Calvinism,          ons were written). Calvin says the
  dard Bearer (from GrandviIle,  MI,         let it be stated again that hyper-cal-       following  in his  treatise, The  Eternal
  USA) is avigorous opponent of com-         vinism is the denial of so-called duty       Predestination  of  God
  mon&race. Achurchhasbeenstarted            repentance and duty faith, i.e., that
  in Lame, Co Antrim  which is send-         the Gospel includes  a. serious call,                 Cabin's Calvinism, p. 49. The
 ing out a news sheet which propa-           addressed to alI who hear it, to repent        fiction of Pighius is puerile and ab-
  gates erroneous Calvmism. Hyper-           of sin and believe in Jesus Christ. In         surd, when he interprets grace to be
  calvinism denies the Reformed faith.                                                      God'sgoodnessininvitingallmento
    Among the works of excellence            other words, hyper-Calvinism denies            salvation, though all were lost in
  from  the. ministry of Prof John           that all who hear the Gospel must be           Adam. For Paul most clearly sepa-
  MurraywerehiswritingsontheFree             admonished that it is their duty before        rates the foreknown from those on
  Offer (works, ~014 pp. 113-114) and        God to repent and believe. This in             whom God deigned not to look in
  Common Grace (Wmks, vo12 pp 94-            turn leads to the idea that the Gospel         mercy.
  119). See also The  Great Invitation       can be preached only to the elect, and
  by Erroh Hulse, EP and The Love of         makes it all but impossible to do mis-                Calvin's CaZvinism,  p. 51. Pighius
  God for bll Mankind RT 76.                 sion work Neither the  Covenant                willhimselfconfessthatthereisneed
                                             Reformed Fellowship Newsletter  nor            of illumination to bring unto Christ
    Mr. Hulse is wrong on all counts.        the Standard Bearer (nor any other             those who were adversaries to God;
The Covenant Reformed Fellowship,            publication of the Protestant Re-              but he, at the same time, holds fast
which publishes the news sheet men-          formed Churches or of the Covenant             thefictionthatgraceisofferedequally
tioned above, is not a church, nor has       Reformed Fellowship) have ever                 to all, but that it is ultimately ren-
it been meeting in Lame for almost           propagated these errors. We do be-             dered effectual by the will of man,
two years. But Mr. Hulse does not                                                           just as each one is willing to receive
                                             lieve that all who hear the Gospel
only have these facts wrong. The                                                            it.
                                             preached must be exhorted and ad-
charges made in the notice that both         monished to repent. We do believe                     Calvin's Calvinism, p. 104. Now
the Covenant Reformed Fellowship             that this dufy must be urged upon              let Pighius boast, if he can, that God
New&tier and the Standard Bearer             them most seriously. They must un-             willeth   all  men to be saved! The
are guilty of propagating hyper-cal-         derstand that if they do not repent          above arguments, founded on the
vinism are also utterly false. A denial      and believe they will perish! We do            Scriptures, prove that even the exter-
of common grace and the free offer of        urge all who hear the preaching to             nal preaching of the do&&e of sal-
                                             repent and believe! We  are doing              vation, which is very far inferior to
                                                                                            the illumination of the Spirit, was not
                                             mission work, Northern Ireland be-
Rev. Hanko is missionary to Northern                                                        made of God common to all men.
                                             ing one field in which we are work-
Ireland.                                     ing.
                                                                                                     November 1,1663/standard Bearen'


       Calvin's Calvinism, p. 152. After                  kind," XV, 37), the Belgic Confession,          that clearly speaks of a love of God for
    this, Pighius,  like a wild beast es-                 and Canons of Dordt (I, 10,13,  II, 9).         those who are not and never will be
    caped from his cage, rushes forth,                    The closest he could come would be              saved -just one, to set against the
    b&nding  over all fences   n his way,
                                 i
    uttering such sentiments                                             thequotationofJohn3:16           hundreds of passages that speak of
    as these: "The mercy of                                              in Canons I, 2. But Mr.          the eternal, unchangeable, and abid-
                                                     1
    God is extended to ev-                                               H&e knows, as well as            ing hatred of God for those who con-
    ery one, for God wishes                       to speak               anyone else, that the in-        tinue unbelieving and unrepentant
                                         . . .
    all men to be saved; and          of a love of God                   terpretation of John 3:16        and who are never saved. Where in
    for that end He stands            for                                which makes it teach a           Scripture is God's love for Esau or for
    and knocks at the door                    all mankind                love of God for everyone         Judas? Where is God's love for the
    of our heart, desiring to            is a blatant                    is not the Calvinist inter-      wicked of Psalm 1 and Psalm ll?
    enter."                                 denial of                    pretation of the passage.            In a letter to Mr. Hulse we raised
                                       unconditional                     In fact, to speak of a love      -some of these points. Mr. Hulse sent
      Honesty demands                 election and of                    of God for all mankind is        the following reply:
  of Mr. Hulse that he                                                   a blatant denial of un-
  admit that a denial of                 particular                      conditional election and             John Calvin is rightly esteemed as
  common grace and the                   atonement.                      of particular atonement.           a progenitor of the doctrine of com-
  free offer are not out-                                           J    For Mr. Hulse, therefore,          mon grace (see Collected Writings
  side but within the Cal-                                               to imply that he repre-            of PmfJohn  Murray). You are selec-
  vinist tradition.                                       sents true Calvinism, when he teaches             tive in your choice of reformed mate-
       Third, Mr. Hulse is the one out-                   something that the Calvinist creeds               rials (i.e., the quotes from Calvin and
  side the Calvinist tradition. The titles                                                                  the references to the Canons). The
                                                          (including the original Five Points of
  of the two articles of Mr. Hulse men-                                                                     Puritans do not support your case.
                                                          Calvinism) do not teach, is absurd.
  tioned in this notice clearly show that                                                                     The problem with both Arminians
                                                          For him to suggest that his                       and hyper-Calvinists is rationalism.
  his irresponsible and erroneous                         Arminianism is true Calvinism is a                Both parties refuse the concept of
  charges are the result of his                           l i e .                                           what J I Packer tetis "antimony"
  Arminianism. Mr. Hulse is not a                              The same is true of invitations.             (sic). Don Carson prefers the term
  Calvinist, nor does he understand                       Whether the title of Mr. H&e's ar-                m tension."
  Calvinism, though he wishes to                          ticle, The Great Invitation, refers to the          ForhypersGodonlyhatesthenon-
  present himself under false colors as                   Gospel itself as an invitation, or to the         elect and only loves the elect. There
  a Calvinist. It is not and never has                                                                      are various ways out of this quan-
                                                          practice of ending sermons with an
  been Calvinistic to believe in a love of                                                                  dary. A careful study of the use in
                                                          "invitation," makesno  difference. The
  God for all mankind. That is                                                                              Scripture of (the Hebrew word for
                                                          fact is that the whole "invitation sys-           mercy) might be one. Arminians
  Arminian. Nor is it Calvinism to                        tem" developed out of the Wesleyan,               who rationalize see all Calvinists as
  present the Gospel as an"invitation,                    evangelical Arminian, and Funda-                  hypers, and hypers see all those who
  even if one believes in the free offer of               mentalist tradition, and not out of               do not rationalize as they do as
  the Gospel! That, too, is Arminianism                   Calvinism. Nor will Mr. Hulse find               Arminians.
  of the worst sort.                                      any favorable reference to invitations
      To teach a love of God for all                      in the Reformed Creeds.'                            This, obviously, is no reply at all.
  mankind, as Mr. Hulse does, is to                           It is one thing, however, to de&            Wedidnotattempt toprovethat John
  teach the oppositesf Calvinism. The                     ate from the Reformed Creeds. It is             Calvin did not teach common grace.
-. Reformed Creeds know nothing of                        quite another to deviate from Scrip-            That is another matter entirely and
  such a love of God for all mankind.                     ture. It is one thing to be called an           niuchmoredifficult.  AlIweattempted
  No matter how hard he searches, Mr.                     Arminian.  Itis somethingmuchmore               to show was that a denial of common
  Hulse will not find one reference in                    to be called unbiblical. Mr. Hulse is           grace and the free offer of the Gospel
any of the Reformed Creeds that                           not only an Arminian. He is also                is not outside the Calvinist tradition,
  speaks of a love of God for all. The                    unbiblical. Let him try to find one             either as it is defined by Calvin him-
  Westminster Standards, for example,                     passage in Scripture that uses the              self or by the original Five Points of
  speak only of a love of God for the                     word "grace" to refer in any sense to           Calvinism, the Canons of Dordt. One
  elect (Westminster Confession of                        the reprobate wicked! There is none.            clear quote either from Calvin or the
  Faith, II, i and proof texts, III, v, XVII,             Let him try to find a single passage            Canons would have sufficed to prove
  ii, Westminster Larger Catechism, 30,                                                                   that point, and there are many be-
  79,83).  The sameis true of the Heidel-                                                                 sides those we have given. But per-
  berg Catechism (the only passage in                                                                     haps Mr. Hulse prefers irrationality.
  theHeidelberg  Catechism that speaks                    1 The word "invitation" in some English         His answer at least would seem to
  of."allmankind" speaksof"thewrath                       translations of Canons III, IV, 8, is a bla-
                                                          tant mistranslation, as a careful study of      indicate that he does. Perhaps he
 of God against the sins of all man-                      the original Latin text will clearly show.      prefers irrationally to believe that even

  62lStandard Bearer /November l,lQ93


though both Calvin and the Canons              from Scripture the word "grace" used
do speak against common grace and              mreference to the non-elect. Let him        2 Life by His Death, p. 54. This book is an
the free offer, it is nevertheless anti- or    show us from Scripture that Godboth         abridged version of The Death @Death  in
hyper-Calvinistic to do the same.              hates and loves the wicked and loves        fhe  Deafh of Christ. In an introductory
        Regardingthel?uritans,Mr.Hulse         and hates the righteous. We are thank-      essay to this book J. I. Packer says (Packer
has apparently not read them either,           ful to say he will not be able to do it.    does believe in the free offer): "And when
for neither is opposition to the offer         And God forbid that any of God's            we come to preach the gospel, our false
outside the Puritan tradition, though          people should hear from the mouth of        preconceptions make us say just the op-
                                                                                           posite of what we intend. We want
there were many who did hold to it.            Mr. Hulse or anyone else that God           (rightly) to proclaim Christ as Saviour;
John Owen, thoughhe uses the words             hates them and loves the wicked!            yet we end up saying that Christ having
"offer" and "invitation," neverthe-            That is not only irrationality of the       made salvation possible, has left us to
less shows himself strongly opposed            worst kind, but blasphemy against           become our ownsaviours. It comes about
to the offer-theology of someone like          God and slander against His people.         in this way. We want to magnify the
Mr. Hulse and rejects the idea that the            The problem is not that we are          savinggraceofGodandthesavingpower
Gospel as an off ef reflects a desire on       guilty of rationalism, but that Mr.         of Christ. So we declare that God's re-
God's part to save all and a love of           Hulse is irrational and deceptive. He       deeming love extends to every man, and
God for all who hear. Owen says, for           wants to be an Arminian with the            that Christ has died to save every m"an,
example:                                       name "Calvinist." He calls his theol-       and we proclaim that the glory of divine
                                                                                           mercy is to be measured by these facts.
                                               ogyatension. Wecallitnonsense. He           And then, in order to avoid uuiversaiism,
        Also, the fact that believers and      calls it an "antimony" (the word he         we have to depreciate all that we were
  unbelievers live mixed together, and         wants is antinomy, meaning a self-          previously extolling, and to explain that,
  thepreachercannotcertainlytellwho            contradiction). We too call it anti-        after all, nothing that God and Christ
  are, and who are not, the elect of           mony - poison. For though it may            have done can save us unless we add
  God, means that he must preach in                                                        something to it; the decisive fador  which
  general terms to all. This does not          indeed be self-contradicting, such          actually saves us is our own believing.
  mean that the gospel promise is made         contradiction in theology is the death      What we say comes to this-that Christ
  generaiiy  to all, but merely that it is     of all theology.                            saves us with our help; and what that
  declared generally to all. Since Christ          Whether or not Mr. Hulse pays           means, when one thinks it out is this -
  is only received by faith, and since         any attention to what we have said,         that we save ourselves with Christ's help.
  faithisGod'sgifttowhomhepleases,             we trust that others will read what is      `I'hisisahollowanticiimax.  Butifwestart
  it is clear he cannot intend the salva-      written in the Standard Bearer and          by a%rming  that God has a saving love
  tion of any to whom he does not give         the Covenant Reformed Fellowship            for ail, and Christ died a saving death for
  faith.2                                      Newsletter and test what they read          all, and yet bailc at becoming universai-
                                               against the perfect standard of the         ists, there is nothing else that we can say.
        The charge of rationalism we have      Word of God. They will see for them-        And let us be clear on what we have done
heard before. We reject this charge            selves the truth of what we have said       when we have put matters in this fashion.
also as an attempt to avoid the issues.        and will not listen to rumors and lies      We have not exalted grace and the Cross;
Rationalism is reason without Scrip-                                                       we have cheapened them.
                                               that reflect a total lack of concern for
ture. We are willing to go to the              the truth. 0
Scriptures. Let Mr. Hulse show us
  ..



        Secretar k Annual Report to
   the RFPx- September, l-993

                                                   From Moorestown, NJ: "I just            clearly and biblically."
                                               received and read my StandardBearer             A reader from Corcoran, CA who
                                               for March i5th, 1993. Once again we         has "been trickedby Arminianismfor
Mr. Kalsbeek  is secretary of the Board of     are grateful for your keen ability to       almost 17 years" writes: "I praise
the RFPA.                                      expose error and proclaim truth             God that He has sent me the Standard

                                                                                                 November 1,1993l~ndard Beard63


Bearer and you as a part of His wit-       dard Bearer. You might ask, "Were           scribers. Allow me to throw out just
ness, to help me to understand the         not these things being done in the          Cme more statistic: in the past five
truth."                                    past?" Our answer: "Yes, they were          Jrears the number of StandardBearers
    Port Murray, NJ: "Thankyou for         being done, but often in a hit-and-         Inailed has increased by 598, or 32%.
publishing such an excellent, out-         miss fashion."                                  The third category I promised to
standing Reformed magazine."                   The second - and most signifi-          atddress  this evening is "the maga-
    As the Reformed Free Publishing        cant -category to which I will draw         2:ine." The Board has been active this
Association begins the 70th year of        your attention this evening is "the          )ast year in promoting some changes
publishing the Standard Bearer, the        readers." Your Board and Business           Fn the appearance of the Standard
above examples of correspondence           Manager, Mr. Doezema, have ex-              1;scarer, including the adoption of a
from our readers are an encouraging        pended much energy in a variety of          11ago for our magazine. I need not say
reminder that we remain on task, i.e.,     .attempts  to expand the readership of      0nuch about this since you will be able
"To witness to the truth contained in      the Standard Bearer during this past        tlo see these changes for yourselfwhen
the Word of God as expressed in the        year. We have advertisedin the  Grand        `ou receive your October 1 issue.
Three Forms of Unity," and "To re-         Rapids Press, Evangelical Times, and        incidentally, in this connection the
veal false and deceptive views repug-      Christianity Today.  Additional pro-        l?ioard has only one complaint: `The'
nant thereto."                             motional ideas by means of advertis-        nurnerous  excellent responses of S&z-
    My responsibility in this report is    ing are currently in the works. We          d!ard Bearer readers to our Editor's
to highlight for the Reformed Free         have sought out and used mailing            rlequest for logo ideas made the selec-
Publishing Association "the princi-        lists from various organizations of         tiion of one an extremely difficult task.
pal activities which have occurred         our churches. We have arranged to               The 69th year of publishing the
throughout the year." I will place         havetheStan&dBeareronthemaga-               S:tanakrd  Bearer has been interesting
these activities into three categories:    zine sale rack at Baker Book House.         and exciting for the RFPA Board. We
the Board, the readers, and the maga-      We have had copies of the  Standard         aIre greatly appreciative of the efforts
zine.                                      Bearer sent on a regular basis to all of    C)f all those who make the publication
    First of all, then, the Board. Your    the Protestant Reformed Churches             lnd distribution of the  Standard
Board spent a considerable amount          encouraging the members to distrib-         igearerpossible.  At the same time we
of time this past year with internal       ute them toindividualsand/orplaces           cannot help but observe what a great
affairs. Questions concerning who          of business with waiting areas. All of      iblessing it is that our Lord is pleased
has what responsibilities were asked       these attempts to expand our reader-        tto give us this work to do. We echo
and answered. We now know exactly          ship have borne fruit, in varying de-       t1he words of the apostle Paul in I
what our Business Manager, Manag-          grees.                                      1`hessalonians 24, "... as we were
ing Editor, Typesetter, and Standing           Another continuing source of new         llowed of God to be put in trust with
Committees are supposed to be do-          readers and subscribers is gift sub-        :he  gospel, even so we speak; not as
ing, and furthermore we haveit down        scriptions. If "gift subscriptions" is      FIleasing  men, but God, which trieth
on paper, just in case we forget. We       made to include also those given to us       lur he&s."  0
now know that the Finance Commit-          by various of our churches' evange-
tee must each year consider such           lism committees, then we have re-
matters as subscription rates, cost for    ceived no fewer than 275 such sub-
bound volumes, the need for new            scriptions during the last volume year.
equipment, and the balance of our          Of the 95 from these committees, 51
accounts. It has been established that     were submitted by Byron Center's.
the Membership, Information, and           Two individuals who have been es-
Education Committee must concern           pecially  active in promoting the Stan-
itself with promoting the Standard         dard Bearer  through gift subscrip-
Bearer  within the Protestant Re-          tions the past several years are Eleanor
formed Churches, submittingrecom-          Rutherford (36) and Al Salmon (26).
mendations for the annual  associa-        We thank them for their efforts.
tionmeeting, updating the index, and           In numerical terms: On July 1,
keeping the churches informed about        1992 the number of copies mailed
what is happening. And our Publica-        stood at 2,218; one year later 2,461
tion and Book Committee has been           copies of the Standard Bearer were
assigned such tasks as promoting the       mailed. That is an increase of 241, or
Standard Bearer to those outside the       11% in just one year! That's a sizable
Protestant Reformed Churches, and          increase. However, it shouldbe noted
dealing with matters relating to the       that some of these are not yet - and
publishing and mailing of the Stan-        may never become - paying sub-

6Mtandard l3e&~rlNovember I,1993
         -


                               Calvinism and M.issions-
                        IV. Irresistible Grace

                                             Bible teaches that God's grace is al-        stead of "irresistible" avoids an ap-
    It is a commonly held position in        ways effectual, that is, irresistible. It    parent conflict. It would seem that
the church world that one either ac-         is equally true that the only way to do      "irresistible" conflicts with Acts 7~51,
cepts or rejects Gods efforts to save.       the work of missions and evangelism          where Stephen said that the Israelites
    It is said, too, that the only way to    is with a firm grasp of the truth of the     "always resist the Holy Ghost."
do the work of evangelism and mis-           irresistible grace of God.                        When we speak of efficacious or
sions is by seeking to persuade the              It is a tremendous reassurance to        irresistible grace, then, we are speak-
objects of that work to accept Christ        know that every sinner can be over-          ing of the internal operation of grace,
as their personal Savior. It is said that    come by the power of God's grace, to         not of the external means grace uses.
everyone must be told that it is his         know that the most hardened sinner           Acts 251 speaks of the refusal to com-
responsibility to open his heart and to      can be like putty in the hands of the        ply with the demands of the gospel to
let the waiting Savior into his heart        sovereign Potter. What a relief it is to     repent and believe. Stephen does not
and life. Whether anyone is saved or         know that the dispensing of salvation        say that they resisted what God
not is, thus, ultimately dependent           is not dependent upon how often or           wanted to give to them. But by killing
upon the exercise of his freewill to         how well I witness. What courage is          the prophets they rejected and re-
accept orreject  Christ. And when this       given me at the thought that the God,        belled against God's Word to repent.
commonly held position is challenged         who uses weakest means to fulfill His        In this connection, the Rev. Robert C.
by an insistence that God's grace can-       will, can use my best but still very         Harbach writes,
not be resisted, the response often          feeble efforts to be His means to cause
given is the generalization that there       the devil to flee. Then, in my mission            God is always Almighty God!
is then no need to do the work of            work, I do not need to restrict my             Therefore they who did resist the
evangelism and missions.                     witness to the less than worst sinners,        Spirit, did not resist the Spirit in them
    Throughout history the Reformed          but the Word of God canbe presented            for they ivere  devoid of the Spirit.
fathers have faced and answered this         to all with the assurance that God is          That resistance is to the Spirit in the
.unbiblical  teaching and the rash gen-      able. Nor do I need to resortto  tricks        prophets and in the ministers of the
eralization which accompanies it.            to make my witnessing                                       Lord; it is resistance to
                                                                                                         the external calls and re-
They have answered with theology             have greater impact.                                        proofs through the
clearly based on the Word of God,            Yousee,Ibelieveinsov-                                       preaching of the Word.
                                                                                God's grace
andwithapracticeofprayerfullyand             ereign, irresistible grace.                                 But when the Spirit is in
unceasingly doing the work of evan-           *  *  *  *  * * *                   does not,              men in His grace . . . He
gelism and missions. When their                  Calvinism rejoices              force one               thus makes them willing
position was ridiculed with slander-         in the truth that saving                                    and turns them to Him-
                                                                                to be saved
ous caricatures, these Reformed fa-          grace is irresistible!                                      self. "Thy people sh&ll
                                                                            .against his will,
thers defended. their position with              It might be better to                                   be willing in the day of
                                                                               butgrace
more Scripture and with more ardent          call it "effectual" or "ef-                                 thy power" (Ps. 110:3).
                                                                                                         (Calvi&m,  the Truth.)
labors in missions.                          ficacious" grace. These              changes
         it******                            words would avoid the              o n e 's   wili.              ItisatruismthatGod
    The truth of the matter is that the      idea that grace forces or                                   does not save any man
                                             compels, a possible im-                                     against his will. How-
                                             plicationof "irresistible." God'sgrace       ever, "it is not of him that willeth, nor
Rev. VanOverbop  is pastor of' Bethel        does not force one to be saved against       of him that runneth, but of God that
Protestant Reformed Church in ElkGrove       his will, but gracechanges one's will.       showeth mercy" (Rom.  9:16).
                                                 Also, the use of "effectual" in-
Village, Illinois. (                                                                           Let-every reader remember that

                                                                                                November 1,1993/standard Beard65


all mankind is so totally depraved             sistible God. Does not the Holy Spirit         Pet. 3:18). "No man cun come to me,
that there is not one that doeth good,         inspire Paul to ask the rhetorical ques-       except the Father which hath sent me
no not one (Rom. 3:10-12).  No hu-             tion, "Who hath resisted His will"             dvawhim;andIwiZZraisehimupatthe
man, of himself, has a desire for the          (Rom. 9:19)? Therefore God has mercy           last day" (John 644). He said, "and I,
true God (Job 21:14) or a desire to be         "on whom He will have mercy, and               if I be lifted up from the earth, will
saved. If Godhadleftmankindinthis              whom He will He hardeneth" (Rom.               draw all men unto me" (John 12:32).
terrible state to go to "everlasting           9:18). If God's grace can be resisted,         He will do it! It is not that He will try
punishment" (Matt. 25:46) it would             then God can be overcome. If God's             to do it, but that He willaccomplishit.
have been most just and                                          will and desires can be      Because not every man is drawn to
right. But God did not                                           frustrated, thenHeisnot      the Lord, the obvious implication is
do so, for it pleased Him,                                       God. Such a god is no        that Jesus is speaking of all kinds of
before the foundation of          If God's will                  greater than the idols of    men, all men without distinction of
the world, to choose in                and desires               the nations.                 race, class, or conditions. "AZ2 that the
Jesus Christ some of                     can be                     The church father         Father giveth me shaZZ come to me"
mankind unto everlast-                 fkustra ted,              Augustine said, "The         (John 6:37). Every one of them come
ing salvation to the praise             then He                  nature of the Divine         to Him, and nothing and no one can
of the glory of His grace                                        goodness is not only to      stop them from coming to Him. The
(Eph. 1:46). The rest of               is not God.               opentothosethatknock,        sheep do hear His voice (John 10:16,
mankind God chooses to L                                    J    but also to cause them to    27).
leave in their sins to the                                       knock and ask."                      Another passage of God's Word
praise of the glory of His power and                   Our Reformed fathers in the Cun-       which clearly implies efficacious or
wrath (Rom. 9:22). For those whom              ens OfDordtproperly  andbeautifully            irresistible grace is Acts 13:48: "As
GodchosefrometemitytobeinChrist,               reflect Scripture when they draw a             many as were ordained to eternal life
God sent His Son, who died for their           parallelbetweenelectionandthisdis-             believed."       God's ordination unto
sins (Rom. 58; I Cor. 15:3).                   pensing  of God's grace. "As He has            election was an effectual act, because
     In the summary given in the pre-          chosen His own from eternity in                all that were ordained believed. In
vious paragraph everything follows             Christ, so He confers upon them faith          addition, God calls everyone whom
an orderly fashion determined and              and repentance, rescues them from              He predestinated, and every one of
controlledby an all-wise and all-pow-          the power of darkness and translates           themHejustifies  (Rom. 8:29,30).  Jesus
erful God. From this point forward             them into the kingdom of His own               said that He "gizzs eternal life to as
do we stop with God's powerful work,           Son, that . . . they may glory not in          many as" the Father gave Him (John
and is everything left to the will and         themselves, but in the Lord" (III/IV,          122).
whim of sinful and fickle man? Can             lob). Note well that the result is, as it                  * *  +  * *  *  *
God elect some of mankind for noth-            must be, that God receives all the                     Every man, by virtue of his rela-
ing? Can God give His Son to die for           &ry.                                           tionship to Adam, is at enmity with
nought, just because some are able to              In fact, earlier that same article         God and "will not come to" Jesus
resist Him - resist Him whom the               speaks more clearly to this point. "But        (Rom. 8:7; John 6:40). If God's grace
Scriptures call  fl the Almighty"? Are         that others who are called by the              is not effectual or irresistible, how
God's hands tied at this point? Is it          gospel, obey the call, and are con-            could any man be saved?
possible that He could fail? Could it          verted, is not to be ascribed to the                   That someone believes is not be-
be that God is foolish enough not to           proper exercise of freewill whereby            cause he wanted to believe. Nor is it
have counted the cost before He                one distinguishes himself above oth-           because he began to strive to believe,
started to build, so that He "is not able      ers, . . . as the proud heresy of Pelagius     and so God helped him. Nor is it
to finish it" (Luke 14:28,29)?                 maintains; but it must be wholly as-           because he cooperated with God's
     Are not such questions blas-              cribed to God."                                grace. Nor is it because he finally
phemy? The God who determined                      On the eve of the moment of His            yielded to grace. But that anyone be-
salvation for His elect and gave His           ascension to the right hand of power           lieves is because he has been regener-
own Son to die in their place will             of the Almighty God, Jesus said, "AZZ          ated by the sovereignly effectual, sav-
"save His people from their sins"             power is given unto me in heaven and            ing grace `of God. The Spirit of God
(Matt. 1:21). There is no reason to fear      inearth" (Matt.28:18).  BeforeHis"all           graciously gave faith and repentance.
or doubt, for "He will save" (Zech.           power" none can stand. Listen to the                    That any one does not believe is
3:17)!                                        Scriptures. Of His sheep Jesus said,            because he has not been regenerated
    Grace is the favor and love of            "Them also Imustbring,  and theyshaZZ           by this irresistible grace of God. The
God. The power of grace is the power          hear my voice" (John l&16). Notice              natural man does not receive the
of the favor and love of God Himself.         that Jesus does not say He will try to          things of the Holy Spirit, "for they are
Therefore, it is fitting to speak of "ir-     bring them. After all, He suffered for          foolishness unto him: neither can he
resistible" grace, for God is an irre-        sin, "that He might bring us to God" (I         know them, because they are spiritu-

66/Sfandafd  Bearer/November 1,1993


ally discerned" (I Cor. 2:14).                tree, it may bring forth the fruits of     God is pleased to use to bring sinners
    TheSpirit'seffectualworkofgrace           good actions" (III/IV, 11).                into His kingdom.
upon someone does not destroy his                                                            We canbe confident that the Spirit
person,nor any of his faculties. Rather,        Later these Reformed fathers de-         will effectually use the gospel procla-
the Spirit works through each elect's       clare that the work of the Holy Spirit       mation to bring to salvation and keep
faculties. Listen to the language of the    in the elect is truly supernatural, "not     in salvation. We have no reason to
Canons of Dordt.                            inferior in efficacy to creation, or the     wonder, doubt, or fear about God's
                                            resurrection from the dead." There-          useofthatpreachingwhichproclaims
    When God accomplishes his good          fore, "all in whose heart God works          God's Word. He will use it. Our
  pleasure in the elect, or works in        are certainly, infallibly, and effectu-      evangelism and mission work can be
 1 them true conversion, he not only        ally regenerated, and do actually be-        performed in the confidence and as-
  causes the gospel to be externally        lieve" (Canons,  III/W,  12).                surance that God can and will call
  preached to them, and powerfully                    *  *  +  *  *  *  *                unto Himself whomsoever He will,
  illuminates their minds by his Holy            The irresistible, efficacious nature
  Spirit, that they may rightly under-                                                   and that He will use our faithful ef-
  stand and discern the things of the       of God's gracein saving the elect does       forts to proclaim His truth to accom-
  Spirit of God; but by the efficacy of     not diminish the responsibility to           plish that end.
  the same regenerating Spirit, per-        preach the gospel in the established             God's salvation is not mere po-
  vadestheimnostrecessesoftheman;           congregation or in the mission field.        tential, but it is "the power of God"
  he opens the closed, and softens the      Nor does it diminish the earnest and         (Rom.  1:16). The gospel does not
  hardenedheart, . ..infusesnewquali-       serious proclamation of the gospel           proclaim a Divine possibility of sal-
  ties into the will, which though here-    call to faith and repentance, together       vation, but it is Divine application of
  tofore dead he quickens; from being       with the promise of salvation to al.l
  evil, disobedient, and refractory                                                      salvation. God will, without fail, use
                                            who believe. We have every reason to
  (stubborn, resistent),  he renders it                                                  the means of faithful preaching to
  good, obedient, and pliable; actuates     be encouragedin our proclamation of          draw all of His people unto Himself.
  and strengthens it, that like a good      the gospel, because it is the means                                               cl





Introduction                                magistrates to protect and advance           might of Rome and to stand firm
    One cannot study the history of         the cause of the Reformation. Al-            against papal threats and promises;
the Reformation of the 16th century         though many powerful rulers in Eu-           both have received from history
without being impressed with God's          rope were deeply involved in the his-        names which reflect the high esteem
a&wise  and gracious providence over        tory of the Reformation, two outstand-       in which they were held: the first was
the affairs of men and nations which        ing figures illustrate how God uses          called Frederick the Wise, and the
made the Reformation possible. His-         men to accomplishHis purpose. These          second,FrederickthePious;bothwere
tory is replete with such examples,         two men both bore the name                   used by God on behalf of the Refor-
whichonlytheblindareunabletosee.            F r e d e r i c k                            mation so that, humanly speaking,
One example is God's use of earthly              They had muchin common. Both            without them the Reformation would
                                            were given the same name; bothwere           never have succeeded.
                                            born devoted Roman Catholics; both               Yet there the similarities end. One
                                            had the title Frederick III; both ruled      never left the Roman Catholic Church;
Prof. Hunko is professor of Church His-     over part of Germany; both were              the other became an ardent Calvinist.
toy and New Testament in the Protes-        deeply involved in the Lutheran Ref-         One remained single alI his life; the
tant Reformed Seminuy.                      ormation; both dared to oppose the           other married twice and begat eleven

                                                                                               November 1,1993li3tW?cl~ Beare&7


children. One was quite old at the          soil. Its buildings were made of rough       State made the Reformation possible.
time the Reformation began; the other       wood plastered with mud. Its inhab-              Frederick remained loyal to his
was involved in the terrible struggles      itants were poor, crude, unlettered,         saints and relics. In fact, by 1520,
in Germany which followed upon the          and vulgar.                                  three years after the Reformation be-
Reformation. One was Elector of the             Yet it was in this village that          gan, the number of Frederick's relics
poorest province in Germany; the            Frederick decided to build a Univer-         had increased to 19,013.
other Elector of the wealthiest. The        sity, probably because a castle of the           Yet Luther found safety under
roles they played in the Reformation        Elector was here, but also because the       Frederick's care.
were  equally crucial.                      finances of the Elector were limited             Frederick's confidence in Luther
                                            and Frederick could make use of the          was confirmed after the Heidelberg
Frederick the Wise                          monks of the local Augustinian Con-          Disputation. Less than one year after
His Enrly Life                              vent to teach with little or no expense      the Reformation began, Luther went
    At the time of the Reformation          for salaries. While only about 415           to Heidelberg to defend his theses
Germany had no strong central gov-          students first attended this Univer-         among those of his own Augustinian
ernment. It was divided into seven          sity, during Luther's day it became so       Order. His enemies refused to argue
provinces, over each of which ruled         popular that thousands of students           the issue of indulgences, but insisted
an Elector. These Electors, when the        were enrolled, and Melanchthon said          simply that because the pope had
need arose, met in a Reichstag to           that he heard no fewer than 33 lan-          approved indulgences, and because
choose an emperor, usually not with-        guages spoken on campus by the stu-          the pope was the supreme authority
out papal interference, who would           dents. But these glory days were yet         in Christendom, Luther had no choice
rule in the name of the Electors over       to come.                                     but to recant. But Wolfgang, present
the whole of Germany.                           It was probably at the suggestion        at the Heidelberg Disputation, wrote
    Frederick the Wise was born in          of Johann vonstaupitz,  vicar of the         Frederick "Luther has shown so much
1463, twenty years before Luther. He        Augustinian Order to which Luther            skill in the disputation as greatly to
was born of royal blood, for his father     also belonged and chaplain of                contribute to the renown of the Uni-
was Elector of Saxony before him,           Frederick, that Frederick invited            versity of Wittenberg."
and he inherited the electoral dignity      Luther to become professor there.                 Shortly after Luther's theses
upon his father's death.                    Little did he know what events this          spread throughout Europe, and the
    Frederick was a model ruler             appointment would trigger. Luther            pope began to take notice of what he
whose outstanding characteristics           himself thought little of the town. He       firstthoughtwasnothingbutamonk's
were piety (in the Roman Catholic           said it was on the extreme boundary          quarrel, Frederick was ordered to
sense) and a deep love of justice. In       of civilization and that a few steps         send Luther, that "child of the devil,"
keeping with his piety he made a            away was barbarism. Repeatedly he            to Rome to recant. Frederick refused
pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 1493         wanted to leave it. Melanchthon,             this order from the pope on the
and purchased there many relics             who came from the fertile Palatinate,        grounds that Luther had not received
which he paid for out of his own            often complained that he could get           and would not receive in Rome a fair
purse. Carefully and lovingly he            nothing fit to eat in the whole village.     trial.    Instead, Luther went to
moved them to Wittenberg where                                                           Augsburg to defendhis theses. It was
they were installed in the castle chapel    Frederick and the Reformation                only after a safe-conduct had been
- the very chapel on which Luther               Frederick's love for his univer-         promised Luther that Frederick per-
later nailed his 95 theses.                 sity, coupled with the fact that Luther's    mitted him to go.
    An old catalogue of the period          presence on the faculty gave the uni-            Frederick's confidence in Luther
lists the relics, 5005 in number. They      versity the prestige that Frederick          was further confirmed when
were considered so impressive that          wanted for it, prompted him to be-           Frederick asked Erasmus what he
the pope granted Frederick the right        come the protector of the Reforma-           should do about Luther. Erasmus
to give indulgences to anyone visiting      tion.                                        responded that Luther's only crime
them. Each such visit shortened the             We believe in the truth of election      had been to touch the triple crown of
stay of the visitor in purgatory by 100     and reprobation. We also believe that        the pope and the stomachs of the
years. Nor would the indulgences be         in God's eternal purpose reprobation         monks.
soon exhausted, for the total merit of      must serve election. And surely this             In 1520, upon the death of
the indulgences, ordered by the pope,       implies that the rule of earthly kings       Maximilian, emperor of the Holy
was no less than 1,902,202  days.           and magistrates serves the purpose           Roman Empire, the pope offered the
    The town of Wittenberg was not          of the salvation of the church. With-        crown to Frederick. But Frederick
a place in which one would care to          out passing judgment on Frederick            had the good sense and humility to
live. It was a small village of about       himself - God only knows whether             decline, an act which Wylie, a church
XXX) inhabitants, on the banks of the       Frederick was one of His own - the           historian of note, described as "inex-
river Elbe and situated in poor, sandy      protection of the Reformation by the         cusable timidity." Charles V from


Spain, a bitter enemy of the Reforma-      ping" of Luther after the Diet. He                 port. Nay, I believe that I can offer
tion, became emperor instead.              I      v
                                           ordered Luther spirited away to his                i           -
                                                                                               ourHighnessbetterprotection  than
    Fredericknever openly espoused         castle in Wartburg, deep in the                    your Highness can offer me. Did I
Luther's theology, always claiming         Thuringian Forest. There, for nearly               think that I had to trust in the Elector,
that as a layman he knew nothing of        a year, he protected Luther from all               I should not come at all. The sword
                                                                                              is powerless here. God alone must
these matters. As cordial as he was to     his enemies who sought his life. And               act without man's interference. He
Luther personally, he refused to come      it was in the peace and quiet of the               who has most faith will be the most
publicly to the defense of the Refor-      castle that Luther wrote some of his               powerful protector. As I feel your
mation. He always insisted that            important works and  made the first                Grace's faith to be still weak, I can by
Luther had to fight out his own con-       translation of the New Testament into              no means recognize in you the man
victions, and he would continue to         German.                                            who is to protect and save me. Your
protectLutheruntilLutherwasgiven                   Although Luther finally left the           Electoral Grace asks me, what you
a fair trial which was based on prin-      castle without Frederick's permission              are to do under these circumstances?
ciples of justice.                         because of the uprisings in Wittenberg             I answer, with all submission, Do
                                                                                              nothingatall,buttrustinGodalone....
    Yet he remained Luther's protec-       brought on by the Anabaptist proph-                If your Grace had faith, you would
tor. He invited the theologian             ets, Frederick did not interfere with              behold the glory of God; but as you
Melanchthon to Wittenberg when             what Luther considered his solemn                  do not yet believe, you have not seen
Melanchthon joined the Reformation.        callingbefore God. Luther's explana-               it. Let us love and glorify God for-
He never prevented Luther from             tion to the Elector of his return is               ever. Amen.
preaching his convictions in the castle    worth quoting.
church. He continued to encourage                                                              .When the peasants revolted
Luther in his vast publishing ven-               Grace and peace from God our Fa-           against the Electors of Germany after
tures when the truths of the gospel              ther and our Lord Jesus Christ, and        suffering intolerable injustices,
were spread far and wide through the             my most humble service.                    Frederick was the only Elector who
printed page. When Luther and his                  Most illustrious, high-born Elec-        urged his colleagues to show mercy
colleagues burned the papal bull of              tor, most gracious Lord! I received        when between 100,000 and 150,000
excommunication in the streets of                the letter and warning of your Elec-
                                                 toral Grace on Friday evening, be-         peasants were slaughtered.
Wittenberg in June of 1520, Frederick            fore my departure. That your Elec-                 In 1525 Frederick was dying. He
did not interfere. When Luther was               toral Grace is moved by the best           urgently called Luther to come to his
summoned to the Diet of Worms,                   intention, needs no assurance from         bedside,butLutherwassofardistant
where he made his heroic stand on                me. I also mean well, but this is of no    that by the time he arrived the Elector
thebasisofScripture-"HereIstand.                 account.... If I were not certain that     had died. Before he died, he partook
I can do naught else. God help me."              we have the pure gospel on our side,       of the Lord's Supper in both kinds -
-Frederickwas there. In fact, it was             Iwoulddespair.... YourGraceknows,          an act which some church historians
Frederickwho insisted that Luther be             if not, I make known to you, that I        claim is evidence of his embracing of
given a safe-conduct from the                    have the gospel, not from men, but
                                   em-           from heaven through our Lord Jesus         Protestantismat themoment of death.
peror. Frederick saw all that hap-               Christ.... I write this to apprise you             Whether we shall see Frederickin
pened; not once did he criticize Luther          that I am on my way to Wittenberg          heaven I do not know. I hope so. But
for what he was doing.                           under a far higher protection than         that Godusedhiminmysteriousways
    But his greatest contribution to             that of the Elector; and I have no         for the good of the Reformation is a
the Reformation was his "kidnap-                 intention of asking your Grace's sup-      truth which no one can deny. Cl


                                           in it a wealth of material to aid them           and redaction criticism. But there is
                                           in understanding what is a difficult             very little of this type of criticism in
The Gospel According to John, by           book But those with no formal edu-               the commentary, and when Dr.
D.A. Carson. GrandRapids,MI: Wm.           cation in college or Seminary can also           Carson does work with it, he does so
B. Eerdmans Publishing Company,            easily read the book. It is true that it         in a very careful way.
1992. 715 pp., $34.95. [Reviewed by        has some Greek in it here and there;                     There are passages of John which
Prof. Herman Hanko.]                       but the Greek is used sparingly and              are misinterpreted in the commen-
                                           the book reads easily.                           tary in an effort to leave room for
    Dr. Carson's commentary on the                 AllofthisdoesnotmeanthatIam              some general and universal love of
Gospel According to John is one of the     in total agreement with all that the             God. John 3:16 expresses God's love
best commentaries I have read on this      book contains. For one thing, D.A.               for all men, and Jesus' act of washing
beautiful and important part of Scrip-     Carson has some inclination to adopt             Judas' feet was an expression of Jesus'
ture. I recommend it to all our read-      various higher critical methods of bib-          love for Judas. But in other places
ers. Ministers and teachers can find       licalinterpretation,particularlysource           Carson comes out strongly for the
                                                                                                     Novofnbw  1,l aB3/SWwd  BecrretB9


sovereignty of grace in the work of             Exegetical Commenta  y on the New             Christians as "little gods." Evangeli-
salvation. He insists that John 6:37            Testament. Whether this is the first          cal people flock to these shenanigans
and 6:44,45 refer to election. On John          book in this new proposed set, I do           in multitudes. This well-researched
10:26,27,  he writes:                           notknow.  Ihavenotpreviouslyheard             book exposes the wild goings-on in
                                                of the set, and find no listing of other      charismatic circles today. Among the
     What then can explain the obtuse-          volumes in this commentary. But if            charismatic teachers held up to ex-
  ness of so many hearers? It is that           the set is of the quality of this book, it    amination are EarlPaulk;  BiU Hamon;
  they do not belong to Jesus' sheep. It        will be good.                                 Kenneth Hagin, Jr.; John Wimber;
  is not just that his own sheep do hear
  his voice, that he knows them, and                The treatment of this important           Mike Bickle; Kenneth Copeland; Rob-
  that they follow him, . . . but that those    epistle of Paul is, in almost alI re-         ert Tilton; and Paul Crouch.
  who are not his sheep do not hear his         spects, excellent. Silva deals with the            Of particular interest and signifi-
  voice, that he does not know them,            text itself and expounds the meaning          cance to the Reformed reader is the
  and that therefore they do not follow         carefully. His material is throughout         author's revelation of the unholy alli-
  him....                                       helpfuland,forthemostpart,soundly             ance between the charismatics and
                                                in the Reformed tradition. For ex-            theleadersofthemovementforChris-
Carson is somewhat contradictory in             ample, in his treatment of 2:12,13, a         tian reconstruction, a movement that
this respect. While, as I mentioned             passage which Silva calls "remark-            claims to be Reformed (pp. 92-95; cf.
above, Carson holds that Christ ex-             able," he emphasizes how this pas-            also chapter 8, "The Dominion Pur-
presses his love for Judas in the foot-         sage teaches the determinative char-          suit: Will the Church Christianize the
washing, Christ was also sovereign              acter of God's workin salvation. Also         World?"). One reconstructionist jus-
over the choice of Judas as the be-             in the difficult doctrinal passages           tifies the alliance by describing it as
trayer. One wonders how such in-                (Phil. 2:5-11, e.g.) Silva does justice to    God'smixingthelightoftheReformed
compatible ideas can be held in tan-            thetextanddealswithitinthelightof             faith with the heat of the charismatic
dem by an eminent scholar such as               Scripture as a whole.                         movement. This justification is mis-
Carson. Yet I appreciated the un-                   The commentary has in it quite a          taken. The charismatic movement is
abashed defense of the truths of sov-           bit of Greek and many technical pas-          essentially hostile to the Reformed
ereign grace.                                   sages which make this volume of               faith, and the Reformed faith, to the
    One of the best aspects of the              dubious use for the man in the pew.           charismatic movement. Every at-
commentary is Carson's honest deal-             But, for the student and preacher who         tempt to unite the two means the
ing with the text. This especially is           wants to have good material on                death of the Reformed faith and life.
what makes the commentary so help-              Philippians, this commentary is a             The Reformed faith needs no heat
ful. In fact this honesty with the text         must.                                         from the charismatic movement. It
compels Carson, in opposition to al-                If I had any significant disagree-        has its heat from the same source
most all of modem scholarship, to               ment with the exegesis at all, it would       from which it derives its light: the
hold to two cleansings of the temple,           bewithSilva'sinsistencethattheprob-           doctrinal truth of the Reformed faith
one at the beginning and one at the             lems in the church of Philippi were           itself.
end of Christ's ministry. Carson him-           serious and deep, threatening to de-               Winds of false doctrine are blow-
self explains that this position is a           stroy the church. The epistle seems to        ing through evangelical  Protestant-
lonely one, but that he is compelled to         me to be the one epistle of Paul in           ism with gale force. Many are being
take it because of the text.                    which he has almost no rebukes to             carried away. The New Charismatics
    We might note too that Carson               bring to the attention of a congrega-         makes this frighteningly clear. Re-
rejects John 8:lff. as being part of the        tion which occupied such a large place        formed believers should know these
original, inspired gospel, but he treats        in his affections. n                          things. They should also know the
it nevertheless. And, in his discus-                                                          basic errors of the charismatic move-
sion of the miracles, Carson does not           The New Charismatics, by Michael              ment as such. The fantastic doctrines
do much with the miracles as signs -            G. Moriarty. Grand Rapids, MI:                a n d   gractices o f   t h e   "new
i.e., with what the miracles as signs           Zondervan Publishing House, 1992.             charismatics" are natural develop-
signified.                                      384~~.  (paper), $17.99. [Reviewedby          ments of basic charismatic teaching.
    We urge our readers who love the            the Editor.]                                  This, the author, himself sympathetic
gospel of John to purchase and use                                                            to "charismatics in general," does not
this commentary. n                                  The charismatic movement is now           recognize. Well may Reformed Chris-
                                                working itself out in the most abomi-         tians thank God for the sound doc-
Philippians,  by Moises Silva; Grand            nable heresies and strangest practices:       trine of the Reformed faith and, par-
Rapids MI: Baker Book House, 1992.              modem apostles and prophets; new              ticularly, for the "biblical sanity" of
255 pp., $19.95. [Reviewed by Prof.             revelations; signs andwonders; afive-         the Reformed faith regarding
Herman Hanko.]                                  fold ministry; a health and wealth            eschatology (the teaching of the last
    This book is a volume in Baker              gospel; and viewing charismatic               things).
                                        6
7OIStandard  Bearer/November 1.1993


             T h e   a u t h o r   o f   T h e   N e w    Dockery. Grand Rapids: Baker Book            contributions to the development of
     Charismatics  is a premillennialist,                 House, 1992. 247 pp., $14.95 (paper).        the truth.
     and this colors his analysis. q                      [Reviewed by Prof. Herman Hanko.]                In this investigation the author
                                                                                                       finds various methods which were
     We Must Obey God, by Samuel E.                           The author of this book, while           used: literal, typological-Christolog-
     Waldron. Arvinger, Texas: Simpson                    mainly interested in contemporary            ical, authoritative, allegorical. These
     Publishing Company, 1992. 30 pp.                     Hermeneutics,isinterestedinthelight          models become the "window"
     (paper). $3.75. [Reviewed by the                     which ancient hermeneutical meth-            through which we can see and under-
     E d i t o r . ]                                      ods shed on our modem scene.                 stand modem hermeneutical issues.
                                                              To accomplish this goal, the au-             While Dockery wants a "norma-
             A 30-page booklet demonstrat-                thor investigates Jesus' use of the Old      tive" Scripture (pp. 180,181),  he seems
     ing generally that refusal to obey                   Testament Scriptures, and the                to place too much emphasis on the
     wicked commands of human authori-                    Hermeneutics which were used by              need for contextuahzation - a fairly
     ties does not imply the right of "civil              the church fathers up to and includ-         recent "buzzword" which emphasizes
     disobedience" as a weapon of rebel-                  ing the Council of Chalcedon  (A.D.          the need for making Scripture rel-
     lion and demonstrating particularly                  451). He deals with such interesting         evant to our modem age. While Scrip-
     that Operation Rescue against abor-                  church fathers as Clement, Ignatius,         ture is indeed "relevant" to alI time,
     tion is sinful in its tactics.                       Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Tertullian,         this relevance of Scripture is due to
             Available from Simpson Publish-              John Chrysostom, Theodore of                 the fact that God wrote it through the
     ingCompany,P.O.BoxlOO,  Arvinger,                    Mopsuestia, Augustine, Jerome, and           Holy Spirit for the church of all ages.
     Texas 75630-0100. H                                  Theodoret.  He not only gives a brief            The book is interesting and in-
                                                          survey of their life, but also describes     structive to all who are concerned
     Biblical In tetpretation  Then andNow:               the methods of biblicalinterpretation        about the science of the interpretation
     Contemporay Hermeneutics in the                      which they used, and tells how these         of Scripture.  0
     Lightof theEarly Church,byDavidS.                    methods worked out in their own



     Ministerial Activities                               that news item I indicated that Rev.         School. Rev. Terpstra spoke on one's
             The congregation of Southwest                Bekkering was considering the call to        calling to apply himself diligently in
     PRC in Grandville, MI invited all                    Jamaica when Synod decided to close          the pursuit of spiritual wisdom. Tues-
     members of other West Michigan PR                    that field. That, at least, was what I       day there was an Officebearers' Con-
     congregations to meet with them for                  thought.  Andit seemedlogical to me          ference on the topic of "Reformed
     the installation of Rev. R. Cammenga                 that no field in Jamaica meant that          Missions." Tuesday evening there
     onSeptember at their church. Prof.                   Rev. Bekkering no longer had a call to       was volleyball and basketball at the
     Hanko officiated at this service.                    consider. Evidently, however, it hap-        Lynden Middle School, for all fami-
             The congregation of Loveland,                pened differently. Rev. Bekkering            lies and delegates of Classis. Wednes-
     CO PRC extended a call to Rev. R.                    received the call and, in fact, he sub-      day was Classis, followed on Thurs-
     VanOverloop, presently serving our                   sequently also declined it,  alI before      day evening by a slide presentation
     churches as pastor of Bethel PRC in                  this year's Synod decided to close the       on Missions in Ghana, presented by
     Elk Grove Village, IL, to serve as their             field in Jamaica. I apologize for any        Rev. R. Dykstra, who spoke about the
     pastor. Rev. VanOverloop has de-                     confusion I may have created.                recent work of our churches' Foreign
     clined the call.                                                                                  Mission Committee in Ghana.
             I take this opportunity, also, to            Denominational Activities                        On Sunday morning, September
     clear up a misconception that I may                      The congregation of Lynden, WA           5th, the group known informally as
     have inadvertently created in the                    PRC served as host to the meetings of        the Georgetown Area PR group met
     August issue of the SB, regarding the                Classis West for the first time in their     for the first time at the Bauer Elemen-
     call that Rev. W. Bekkering received                 history this past September. In con-         tary School. At that first Sunday
     from First PRC in Grand Rapids, MI                   nection with the meeting of Classis,         service there were approximately 30
     to serve as missionary to Jamaica. In                the congregation planned a full week         families represented, with about 140
                                                          of events for their spiritual profit, and    individuals in attendance. Prof. R.
                                                          to enjoy and experience the commun-          Decker preached on the theme,
                                                          ion of saints. On Monday evening             "Joshua's Choice," based on the fa-
     Mr. Wigger is ai elakr in the Protestant             before Classis met, Rev. C. Terpstra         miliar text Joshua 24:15b:  "but as for
     R@ormed Church of Hudsonville,  Michi-               was the guest speaker for convoca-           me and my house, we will serve the
I    gan.                                                 tion exercises for Covenant Christian        Lord."

                                                                                                             November 1,1993/stsndardBeareft71


&DMD                                                                                                                SECOND CLASS
   5mER                                                                                                            Postage Paid at
                                                                                                                    Grandville, Michigan
   P. 0. Box 603
   Grandvile,  MI 49466-0603


Evangelism Activities                           course appreciate any help you can         School Activities
    The ,Evangelism Committee of                give us."                                       In a newsletter from the Associa-
Hudsonville, MI PRC sponsored a                                                            tion for PR Secondary Education in
lecture in their church on September            Congregational Activities                  Lansing, IL, it was reported that, since
14 with Rev. G.  VanBaren,  Hud-                    Rey. and Mrs. Kortering stopped        their beginning in 1981, they have
sonville's pastor, speaking on the topic        in California on their way back to         been able to save enough money to
"The Zigzagging Spirit."                        Singapore in early September and           make it possible to consider the pos-
    From news out Of South Holland,             were able to preach for the congrega-      sibilityofpurchasingpropertyinLan-
IL PRC's Evangelism Committee, we               tion of the Hope PRC in Redlands.          sing. Presently they are looking-at
quote part of a letter received from            Rev. Kortering also consented to give      property adjacent to that owned by
the clerk of a Protestant Chaplain in           a slide presentation and speak about       the Peace PRC.
the Soledad (California) prison: "The           his work in our sister churches in
purpose of this letter is, I would like         Singapore, where he is engaged as          Foodfor  Zli.ogfit
for you to send our prison chapel               minister-on-loan from our denomi-                "Our whole life should be so angled
some booklets, This chapel has no               nation.                                    towards God that whatever strikes upon
Reformed literature at all. I'm trying              The Hope Heralds presented their       us, whether sorrow or joy, should be
to get us as much Reformed literature           annual fall concert after the evening      defected upwards at once into His pres-
as possible. : My personal  preference          service onSeptember 12th, in the au-       ence. II                           J. Moyar  0
is Reformed theology. We will of                ditorium of Hope PRC in Walker, MI.


                                                  RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                   versary. We are thankful to God for
                                                    The Hope Protestant Reformed           giving us parents who have taught
                                                Choral Society (Walker, Ml) mourns         and instructed us in His ways. We
                N O T I C E ! ! !               the loss of a dear friend gnd longtime     pray that God will bless them and
    We extend our congratulations to            member,                                    keep them in His care in the years to
our pastor,                                          MISS SYBIL ENGELSMA,                  come.
    REV. RICHARD G. MOORE,                      who passed from this veil of tears on           "But the mercy of the Lord is from
who, on October 8, 1993 celebrated              August 20,1993. We expr`ess Chris-
25 years in the ministry of God's Word                                                     everlasting upon them that fear him,
                                                tian sympathy to the Engelsmafamily,       and his righteousness unto children's
forthe Protestant Reformed Churches.            .and pray that we all might be com-        children" (Psalm 103:17).
For this we praise and thank our cov-           forted by the Word of the Lord in
enant God.                                                                                 # Barb and Randy Feenstra
                                                Isaiah 35:lO. "And the ransomed of                     Jackie, Gerald, Lauren, Craig,
    "Howbeautifularethefeetofthem               the Lord shall return, and come to
that preach the gospel of peace, and                                                                                                    Marty
                                                Zion with songs and everlasting joy        # Ruth and Arlen TerAvest
bring glad tidings of good things" (Ro-         upon their heads; they shall obtain joy                Becky, Stephanie, Emily,
mans 10:15).                                    and gladness, and sorrow and sighing                                        Gerard, Gerrit
                             Council of Hull    shall flee away."                          $+ Bob and Carey VanDenTop
        Protestant Reformed Church                           Steve Lotterman, President                David, Shelly, Julie
                                                                Karla Kamps, Secretary     * Joyce and Karl
                LECTURE                                                                                            VanOostenbrugge
          November 5,1993
                 7:45                                                                                  Jason, Brad, Joel
                          p.m.                                                             9 Marge and Bill Zwak
                in the                              WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                                Mike, Doug, Amanda
               South Holland                        On October IO, 1993, our parents       # Ed and Cris VanDenTop
    Protestant Reformed Church                  and grandparents,
       Rev. Audred Spriensma                                                                           Jill, Steve, Amy
                                                     MR. and MRS. GERALD                   Sk Don and Lisa VanDenTop
               will speak on                                 VAN DEN TOP,                  itc Tom VanDenTop
      "Living the Reformation"                  celebrated their 35th wedding anni-                                        Qrand Rapkls, Mlchlgan
                                       ,
72lStandard Bearer  November 1.1993


