A Reformed      BEARER
Semi-Monthly
Magazine





                   See 
                   See "A Pastor'
                           "A Pastor s Heart
                                    's Heart" -
                                                " - p.
                                                    p. 255
                                                           255



March 1,1994


CONTENTS:                                                                                                                                March I, 1994
                                                                                              \                                                                                                                                 &DMD
Meditation - Rev. John A. Heys                                                                                                                                                                                                    BE4ER
   Our Christian Liberty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..*.......................... 243
Editorial - Prof. David J. Engelsma                                                                                                                                                                   lSSN 0362-4692
   The Headship of the Reformed Husband . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
All Around Us - Prof. Roberf  D. Decker ..,...,......,.............,....,....,...,.,.....                                                                                              247.           Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July, and August.
                                                                                                                                                                                                      Published oy the Reformed Free Publishing Association, Inc.,
A Cloud of Witnesses - Prof. Herman C. Hanko                                                                                                                                                          4649 lvanrest Ave., Grandville, MI 49416. Second Class
   Caspar Olevianus:                                                                                                                                                                                  Postage Paid at Grandville, Michigan.
   Author of the Heidelberg Catechism (1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248                                                                   Postmaatrr:  Send address changes to the Standard Bearer,
Search the Scriptures - Rev. George C. Lubbers                                                                                                                                                        P.O. Box 603, Grandville, MI 494660603.
   A Faithful Saying . . . . . . . . . . . . ..*.*........................................*..*..................                                                                       250            EDtl'ORtAL  COMMITTEE
                                                                                                                                                                                                      Editor: Prof. David J. Engelsma
Day of Shadows - Homer C. Hoeksema                                                                                                                                                                    Skretary: Prof. Robert D. Decker
  The Creative Work in the Beginning (2) *...*..*....*................*.........,... 253                                                                                                              Managing Editor: Mr. Den Doezema
Special Article - Prof. Herman C. Hank0                                                                                                                                                               DEPARTMENT EDITORS
    A Pastor's Heart (2)                                                                                                                                                                              Rev. Wilbur BNinsma, Rev. Ronald Cammanga, Prof. Robert
                                              . . . . . . . . . . ..~~......~...~...........~...............~..........~..........                                                     255            Decker, Rev. Ado denHanog, Rev. Barry Gritten, Rev. Cad
Decency and Order - Rev. Ronald L. Cammenga                                                                                                                                                           Haak. Rev. Cornelius Hanko, Prof. Herman Hanko, Rev. John
   Deacons' Meetings                                                                                                                                                                                  Heys, Rev. Steven Key, Rev. Date Kuiper, Mr. James Laming,
                                            . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..*.................................................. 257                                                   Rev'Gearge  Lubbers, Mrs. MaryBeth Lubbers, Rev.Thomas
Strength of Youth - Rev. Wilbur G. Bruinsma                                                                                                                                                           Miersma,  Rev. Audred Spriensma, Rev. Charles Terpstra,
   The Fear of Single Life                                                                                                                                                                            Rev. GlwVanBaren, Rev. RonaldVanOverloop.  Mr. Benjamin
                                                   . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259    Wigger, Rev. Bernard Woudenberg.
Book Review . . . . . . . . . . ..*.................................................*............................                                                                      262            EDfTORlAL  OFFlCE            CHURCH NEWS  EDtTOR
News From Our Churches - Mr. Benjamin Wigger . . . . . ..a........................ 263                                                                                                                The Standard Bearer          Mr. Ban Wigger
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knowledge of the history of the church, Prof. Hanko gives us delightful                                                                                                                               EDfTORlAL   POLICY
and informative sketches of the life and labor of many of the leading                                                                                                                                 Every ediior fs solely responsible for the contents of his own
                                                                                                                                                                                                      articles. Contributkmsofgenerallntersstfromourreadsrsand
figures of church history. Adding to the value of the historical and                                                                                                                                  questions for The Reader Asks deparlment are welcome.
                                                                                                                                                                                                      Contributions will be limited to approximately 266 words and
biographical accounts are the observations that our church historian                                                                                                                                  mustbeneatlywrfttenortypawritten,andmustbesigned.          Copy
makes on the history that he is presenting. Such an observation occurs                                                                                                                                deadlines are the first and fifteenth  of the month. All
                                                                                                                                                                                                      communications relative to the contents  should be sent to the
in the article in this issue. Having mentioned that a future Reformed                                                                                                                                 editorial  oflice.
minister was greatly helped by the comment of an old priest in the as yet                                                                                                                             REPRINT POLtCY
unreformed church, Hanko remarks that "it must have been these lonely                                                                                                                                 Pbrmlssion!s  hereby granted forthe reprinting of articles in our
                                                                                                                                                                                                      magazinebyotharpubtications,provkled:  a)thatsuchreprlnted
and scattered men who enabled the church of Christ to stay alive during                                                                                                                               articles are reproduced in full; b) that proper acknowfsdgmsnt
                                                                                                                                                                                                      is me&% o) that a copy of the periodical in which such reprint
those perilous times."                                                                                                                                                                                eppears Is sent to our editorial otfice.
      In this issue, Prof. Hanko begins his treatment of Caspar Olevianus,                                                                                                                            SUBSCRIPTION POUCY
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242lStandard  Bearer March 1,1994


                      0u.r Christian Liberty

     "But Icertifi you, brethren, that the      reveals to us here through the apostle        in any of his children.
gospel which was preached of me is not          Paul.                                             In I Peter 4:6 we read that the
after man. For 1 neither received if of man,        What Paul writes about here is            gospel was preached to them that
neither was I taught it, but by the revela-     our actual, real, andblessed Christian        were spiritually dead, not thosephysi-
tion of Jesus Christ. "                         liberty. That liberty is the liberty          callydead.LikewisePaulinEphesians
                       Galatians 1:11,12        which Christ Jesus earned for those           2:l states that we are "quickened,
                                                whom His Father eternally chose in            who were deadintrespasses and sin."
    What Paul wrote here,in this first          Christ. It is not a liberty that our flesh    And when God told Adam that the
chapter of his epistle to the Galatians,        wants. It is a liberty which Christ           day he ate of the forbidden fruit he
is as serious and necessary for us              earned for us and by God's grace              would die, He did not merely refer to
today as it was in the day when he              works in us. Since man fell into sin in       the punishment which he would de-
wrote it. And we ought not only to              Paradise, we, the whole human race,           serve. Stating, as He did, that he
agree with Paul, in order to agree              come into this world in a liberty which       would die the day that he ate the
with God; but we should also realize            Satan brought upon us, a liberty that         forbidden fruit, God presented the
what an astounding development                  every man has by nature, and is re-           terrifying truth that he would that
there is in the different forms of the lie      vealed in all his walk of life. Through       day die spiritually, and never be able
which Satan has brought into the                Adam's sin of eating the forbidden            to serve God, or want to serve Him,
church-world today.                             fruit we are all set free from that           unlessGod would cause him to be
    By some in these churches in                spiritual life wherewith Adam was             born again.
Galatia Paul was accused of bringing            created. Andliberty is freedom. Every             Let us bear in mind, and hold on
a gospel that did not please them.              liberty is not a Christian liberty, even      tightly to the fact, that spiritual death
They considered it to be a false doc-           though by Satan's craftiness in the           means that one cannot do anything
trine. Likewise today the false doc-            church-world it is called that. Much          pleasing in God's sight. In fact, being
trines which Satan has worked into              of what is called Christian liberty is        spiritually dead means that one does
the church-world divide and sepa-               devilish rebellion against God.               not do anything, and cannot want to
rate many churches and link them up                 God told Adam that if he would            do anything, that is pleasing in God's
with the world.                                 commit the sin of eating of the forbid-       eyes. It means that our flesh enjoys
    Today many churches maintain                den fruit, he would die. That meant           going away from God, as Adam re-
that they are free to walkin  what they         that all his seed, the whole human            vealed the day that he ate the forbid-
call Christian liberty. Actually they           race, would come into this world spiri-       den fruit (Gen. 3%).
are walking in antichristian deviltry. tually dead. That death came in the                        Now spiritual death means inca-
It is amazing to realize what a tremen-         day that Adam did what Satan pre-             pability of doing anything, or of hav-
dous number of different kinds of               sented as an advantage for him. And,          ing any desire to do anything, that is
churches there are today. They do not           coming upon Adam, it came upon the            performed in love toward God. Ev-
simply have different names; but they           whole human race. When a man dies             ery unbeliever, in all his thoughts,
have distinctly different kinds of doc-         physically he has no power to benefit         desires, and actions, will be going
trines and walks of life. We do well,           his children that are left behind him.        against God. That he does and that he
therefore, to consider what our God             Although Adam had not yet begotten            wants to do. Yes, every sin is an act
                                                a son or daughter, he did die spiritu-        away from God. It is due to the fact
                                                ally; and in no way could he bring            that man's backis turned, as Adam's
                                                forth children that did not want to go        was, away from God. Adam and Eve
                                                Satan's way. Even though Adam did             tried to hide themselves from God,
                                                not die physically for 930 years, he          fearing the punishment which their
Rev. Heys is a minister emeritus in the         could not, after being born again in          sin wouldbringupon them. But what
Protestant Reformed Churches.                   God's grace, implant any spirituallife        must not be overlooked or denied is

                                                                                                       March 1,1994/Standard  Bearer/243


that every act of sin-and thus every         come and will not let those who by          comesonlyuponthosechoseninHim.
act of every unbeliever - is against         God's grace remain faithful to God          Go back to what was quoted a mo-
God.                                         buy or sell, because they refuse to         ment ago in Romans 6:23, namely,
     Take note of the fact that Paul         have the mark of the beast in their         "The wages of sinis death: but the gift
begins this epistle to the Galatians by      right hands or in their foreheads. The      of God is everlasting life through
stating that Christ "gave himself for        believers are going to get very poor,       Christ Jesus our Lord." Those who
our sins, that he might deliver us from      and not have what their earthly lives       were not chosen in Christ cannot and
this present evil world" (Gal. 1:4). He      need. That Antichrist and his king-         donotreceiveanythinginGod'sgrace.
also states in verse 6, "I marvel that ye    dom will have what they will call           WhatPaulwrotetotheRomansislike
are so soon removed from him that            wonderful and enjoyable lives. Is that      that which he taught the Galatians.
called you into the grace of Christ          due to God's grace? And do the              What he wrote to them was not "after
unto another gospel." Through Paul           believers who die in starvation lose        men," but "by the revelation of Jesus
our God presents all the unbelievers         God's grace? If giving earthly goods        Christ."
as an evil world. The unbeliever does        to men is always an act of God's                Our Christian liberty is a liberty
not simply fail to do what is an act of      grace; does God's grace not fall also       which God works only in His elect.
love toward God; but he does evil,           upon those of Satan's kingdom?              And what Paul states to the Galatians
which means that he goes against             Surely we should reject fully the teach-    is true. Christian liberty is liberty
God in all his thinking, willing, and        ing that any of God's grace falls on        Godrealized through Christ, and only
acting.  All  that is not for God is         those not chosen in Christ.                 for those who are Christians. Chris-
against Him. There simply is no spiri-           The day lies ahead of us, and           tians are liberated from their guilt,
tualneutrality. In Luke 11:23  we have.      there is much evidence that that day        but also from their love of sin. Chris-
Jesus' word for that. He states, "He         is approaching, when it will look to        tian liberty is realized by Christ;and
that is not with me is against me; and       our flesh as though God is not gra-         only those who are the members of
he that gathereth not with me                cious to His church, but shows His          His body, by God's eternal decree,
scattereth."                                 grace to the wicked world in its com-       have Christian liberty.  CI
     The awesome truth therefore in          ing prosperity;and it will surely look
the church-world as we find it today         to us as though God is not dealing
is that where a church departs from          with us in His grace. However, as
the truth, it is not only departing from     Paul wrote in Romans 6:23, "The
Christ, but is going against Him. That       wages of sin is death; but the gift of                       REMINDER
is the awesome and terrible fact which       God is everlasting life through Jesus
should be borne in mind. One is              Christ, our Lord." We may not and                       In response to our re-
either for or against Christ, for Godor      mustnotjudgeGod'sgracemerelyby                  quest, in the January 15 issue,
against God.                                 the material things He gives.                   for copies of old Acts of Synod
    WedowelltobearinmindPaul's                   What Paul writes here to the             of the Protestant Reformed
word that the gospel which he                Galatians is so very true. The gospel           Churches we received a
preached was not his philosophy. He          which he preached was not devised               couple of much-appreciated
was accused of having brought these          by man, but given him by God. The               donations of books. We do,
Galatians a false doctrine, a message        gospel which he preached to the                 however, need more. Even
which he had invented, or borrowed,          Galatians was the truth which he re-            the set in the denominational
from those who were not faithful             ceived "by the revelation of Jesus              archives is still missing a
apostles of Jesus Christ.                    Christ," not by man.                            couple of the older volumes.
    What we stand for as churches is             What he taught the Galatians                And we should have backup
likewise called by some today a false        stands in perfect harmony with what             copies for the set in the li-
doctrine, namely, that God's grace is        God said to Adam, namely, that the              brary, in the event that some
only upon His church; and that there         day he committed his first sin, he              are lost. We are most con-
is no grace of God that falls upon the       would die spiritually, and be on his            cerned about the 1940s and
rest of the human race. By God's             way to physical death. We can be sure           195Os, of course, but several
grace, however, we have and still do         that upon man - the whole human                 years in the 60s and 70s are
maintain a particular grace that falls       race that died spiritually in Adam -            also potential problems for
only upon His elect.                         no grace of God came except upon                supply. So, whatever you're
    Now surely it cannot be denied           those chosen in Christ.                        willing to part with, we will
that God gives to unbelievers many               Upon those who were in eternity            be delighted to take. The
things which their carnal flesh enjoys       chosen in Christ comes Christian lib-          address of the seminary is:
- even often to a greater extent than        erty. The truth of the matter cannot                    4949 Ivanrest  Ave.
He does to His church. According to          rightly be denied, namely, that God's              Grandville, MI 49418
Revelation 13:15-M the Antichristwill        grace which comes through Christ

244lStandard  Bearermarch  I,1994


                        The `Headship of the
                          Reformed Husband

        The feminist movement and the         His church. To deny that the headship      himself to and for his wife, sacrificing
insubordinate wife are getting all the        of the husband over the wife in            himself. He has the right to live his
attention in conservative circles to-         Ephesians 5:22-33 means authority in       life, not apart from his wife or at the
day. They are being blamed for the            the human family is to depose Christ       expense of his wife, but with her and
disturbance of marriage and the fam-          from office in the church. That            through her. He has the right to treat
ily.                                          headship  is authority is confirmed by     her by word and deed with tender-
        Thisisunderstandable. Thefemi-        the proper response on the part of the     ness: "nourishing and cherishing
nist movement is powerful in the              wife: submission (w. 22, 24) and           (her)" (Eph. 5:29). He has the right to
world. It makes obvious inroads into          reverence (v. 33).                         make her welfare the purpose of his
the Reformed and evangelical                      Christ authorizes the Reformed         married life with her. In and by this
churches. Denying the  headship  of           husbandandfathertogovemhiswife,            relationship of love, he has the right
the man in the church, feminism nec-          children, and household. This is his       to govern her life.
essarily rejects also the headship  of        responsibility. He will give account           Although his headship over his
the husbandin the home. Any move-             to Christ in the Day of Judgment.          children differs in certain respects
ment that "liberates" the wife and                The husband's headship is not          from the exercise of that headship
mother from submission to her hus-            absolute authority. It is not the right    over his wife, the nature and purpose
band is indeed an enemy of marriage           to treat wife and children as the man      of the father's authority over his chil-
and the family, as well as a disturber        pleases. It is rather the right, and       dren are the same. It is an authority of
of the peace of the home.                     duty, to treat wife and children as        love that aims at the children's earthly
        The trouble is that another threat    Christ pleases. Christ is Lord of the      and spiritual good. Good instruction
to the home is easily overlooked. This        wife, children, household, and hus-        anddisciplinewillbeaspecialfeature
threat is not a whit less destructive of      band. The will of Christ determines        of the father's rule. Patience with the
marriage and the family than the in-          the nature of the husband's headship,      children's weaknesses and pity for
dependent or rebellious wife. It is           the manner in which the headship  is       them in their troubles will character-
every bit as prevalent in conservative        carried out, and the end, or goal, of      ize a Reformed man's headship over
churches, _ including the Protestant          the headship. Every husband knows          the family. In andby this relationship
Reformed Churches, as is the danger           this will of Christ, for Christ has        of love, he has the right to govern
of the unruly wife. This is the wicked-       plainly revealed it in Holy Scripture.     their lives.
ness of the abuse of his headship by          He has plainly revealed His will con-          ThewifemustbeabletoseeChrist
the husband and father.                       cerning the husband's headship  in         in her husband.
        Christ the Lord calls the Chris-      Ephesians 5:23: "even as Christ is the         The children must be able to see
tian husband and father to headship:          head of the church."                       their heavenly Father in their dad.
"For the husband is the head of the               The headship of the husband is a           This is Reformed headship. The
wife, even as Christ is the head of the       headship  of love. It is a headship  of    Lord Christ demands it of every man
church" (Eph. 5:23; cf. I Cor. 11:3).         the love with which Christ loves His       who marries. Every married man has
This headship  is authority over the          church. The authority of a husband is      vowed before God that he will be
wife and, by implication, the family.         strictly qualified, controlled, and di-    such a husband and father, for this is
This is proved beyond any question            rected by love, indeed by such love.       one of the marriage vows. The ability
by the comparison in Ephesians 5                  The husband has the right to re-       to carry out this headship  is a pre-
between the husband's headship over           gard his wife as dear and precious to      cious grace of the Holy Spirit for which
his wife and Christ's headship  over          himself. He has the right to give          a young man should earnestly pray

                                                                                                  March 1,1994I3tandard Bearer/245


before he marries and for which all             family. It is the submission of terror.            There is, and must be, help for
husbands and fathers ought to pray              Wife and children cower in the pres-        wives and children in the church who
as long as they live. The Spirit works          ence of this hateful, hurtful head.         suffer under husbands who abuse
this grace in covenant lines, so that               No man may justify this tyranny         their headship. This help is at the
good headship is handed down from               by appeal to his headship. Christ           same time help for the sinning hus-
father to son. The boy grows up                 gives no one this kind of authority.       bands who, if they continue in their
seeing his father treat-                                      This is devilish perver-      grievouswickedness,willbedamned.
ing his mother and the                                        sion of headship.             The help is the church. Specifically
children in the right                 The children                Such a husband is a       the help is the sharp preaching and
way. Under the bless-                                         fool. Mistreatinghiswife      firm discipline of the church. The
ing of the Spirit of the              must be able            - his own flesh - he is       preaching gives positive,`detailed in-
covenant, theboylearns                 to see their           actually hating himself       struction to husbands as to the proper
how to be a Christian              heavenly Father            (Eph.  5:28,. 29). If he      exercise of headship. It also point-
husbandandfatherhim-                  in their dad.           thinks to achieve his         edly warns against the abuse of
`self.                                                        wife'swillingobedience        headship. This preaching works re-
          Headshipis abused. [                                in this way, he only de-      pentance and a change of behavior.
Headship is abused in                                         ceives himself. A wife               The wife who suffers at the hands
conservative circles. I am not now              cannot be browbeaten into willing           of a brutal husband, or who sees the
referring to the shortcomings of all            obedience. She must be won by love.         children being injured' by a cruel fa-
husbands and fathers, even the holi-            Christ draws His wife by cords of           ther, must tell the church, that is, the
est, which shortcomings are a grief to          love.                                       consistory. The elders must not turn
them. Nor do I refer to sinful deeds                The cold or cruel father foolishly      the woman away because of the prob-
against wife and children that all hus-         ruins his own flesh and blood - the        lems that the case promises. They
bands and fathers sometimes com-                children of his own body. It is likely     must take hold of the matter. They
mit, which they confess both to God             that he sets in motion an abuse of          must work with the sinning husband
and to their family. But I refer to a           headship down through his genera-           so that he repents and changes his
wicked way of life that is ongoing in           tions, as his sons follow his example.     conduct. They must keep a close
marriage and family, to a pattern of            There is blessing in the covenant that     watch on the family for some time in
conduct on the part of the ti head of the       is healthy for the family from genera-     order to be sure that the husband
home" that never changes because it             tion to generation. There is also judg-     does not fall back into his old ways.
is never repented of.                           ment in the covenant as the sins of                Such oversight of family life is the
          One form of the abuse of headship     fathers are visited upon the children      church's business. Christ has called
is the failure of the husband to live           to the third and fourth generation,        her to guard the husbands and fa-
with his wife and children. He eats                 This is not to say that a young        thers in her fellowship against their
and sleepsin the same buildingalright,          husbandin the church may excuse his        spiritual and eternal ruin. Christ has
but there is no involvement with the            own wretched behavior toward his           also called her to protect the helpless
family, no care for their life, no inter-      family on thebasis of the bad example       wife and children against the oppres-
est in their doings and problems, no            of his father. No one may regard           sor.
daily oversight. Work and recreation            himself as a helpless vic-                                      In these wild, bewil-
are his love. This head must not be             tim. The Word of God                                        dering times at the end
surprised that there is a lack of re-          instructs him clearly                   A wife               of the ages, the Reformed
sponse when he does try to assert his          enough how he is to live                                     church must be the de-
will in the home. A body does not              with his wife, regard-               cannot be               fender of marriage and
respond to a distant, disinterested            less of the example of              browbeaten               the family.
head.                                          his father. The Word                into willing                 She must oppose
          A worse form of the abuse of         imperiously calls him to            obedience.               feminism, proclaiming
headship is harsh, cruel rule. The             take Christ as his pat-                                      the church-like submis-
husband and father governs by threat           tern, not his disobedi- 1                                    SionoftheChristianwife.
and force. He rages. He ridicules and          ent father. There is a                                           With equal determi-
belittles. He is always critical, never        Holy Spirit who,empowers  every be-         nation, she must oppose selfish male
praising. His physical discipline of           liever to be the loving head that the       dominion,proclaimingtheChrist-like
his children consists of battering them        Word requires. In the Day of Judg-          headship  of the Christian husband.
in an outburst of anger, rather than           ment, God will hold every husband                                                    Cl
spanking them in the love that desires         fully responsible for failing to be a.                                          - DJE
their holiness. He may even dare to            head of his wife in the love of Christ.
hit, or otherwise lay rough hands on,          The Judge will not accept a plea of
his wife. There is submission in the           "extenuating circumstances."

246lSfandard  Bearer/March  1,1994


111 RE-Imagining Conference                    n Dutch Churches Adopt
                                               New Church Order                          The CRC has maintained close ties
                                                                                         with the Reformed Churches in the
    "This was no Christian meeting,"                                                     Netherlands for many years. The two
said Faye Short about the RE-Imagin-               For a number of years we have         denominations in fact instituted the
ing Conference partially sponsored             beenreportingontheunificationpro-         Reformed Ecumenical Synod (now
by the United Methodist Church.                cess involving three Dutch denomi-        known as the Reformed Ecumenical
Short, a representative of the Evan-           nations. The process, called samen op     Council) in the late 1940s. Will the
gelical Coalition of United Methodist          weg (together on the way), involves       new church apply for membership in
Women (ECUMW), said the Novem-                 the Netherlands Reformed Church           the Reformed Ecumenical Council?
ber meeting was heretical, neo-pa-             (State Church), the Reformed                  One thing about which no one
gan, and blasphemous. The meeting,             Churches in the Netherlands (formed       need wonder is the fact that the union
held in Minneapolis and attended by            out of the secessions from the State      will do nothing to promote or main-
2,150 women and 60 men, was de-                Church in 1834 and 1886),  and the        tam the Reformed faith as that faith is
signed to celebrate the midpoint of            Evangelical Lutheran Church of the        taughtinScriptureandsetforthinthe
WorldCouncilofChurches'Ecumeni-                Netherlands.                              Three Forms of Unity.
cal Decade of the Churches in Soli-                The union is now about to be                          REC News Exchange
darity With Women.                             realized. In November delega tes from
    The speakers, most of them femi-           the three churches adopted a church       n North American
nist theologians, led participants in          order by a vote of 179 to 19. Most of
"re-imagining" a church where ev-              the 19 negative votes came from con-      Presbyterian and
eryone shares common visions of                servatives within the State Church.       Reformed Council
spirituality. Attenders borrowed                   The new church order contains
from Native American and Eastern               an article on baptism which does not          This body met in Grand Rapids,
faiths, in what critics called a syn-          mention infant baptism. An amend-         Michigan on November 9 and 10.
creticapproachtoChristianity.  ("Syn-          mentwasproposedthatspecifiedthat          NAPARC  consists of six member de-
cretism" is a combining of conflicting         children of the congregation should       nominations: The ChristianReformed
beliefs. In other words, it's a compro-        be baptized, and that others should       Church, The Orthodox Presbyterian
mising of the truth of Scripture with          be baptized after making confession       Church, The Presbyterian Church in
unbelief.) Averyunorthodoxliturgi-             of faith. The amendment failed.           America, The Reformed Presbyterian
cal blessing and communion-like ser-               The new church order appears to       Church, The Korean American Pres-
vicewas  heldinwhichmilkandhoney               allow children to the Lord's table.       byterian Church, and the Associate
were used. The ceremony invoked                Conservatives protested that this was     Reformed Presbyterian Church. Six-
the wisdom spirit of "Sophia, Creator          still under discussion in the Nether-     teen other Reformed and Presbyte-
God" in a celebration of women's               lands Reformed Churches. In the end       rian Churches, including the Protes-
sensuality and "warm body fluids."             the article was adopted with only 20      tant Reformed Churches in America,
Themes of goddess worship and the              negative votes.                           were invited to send "observer repre-
invalidity of the concept of sin were              The new church order has no           sentatives."
pervasive, saidPresbyteria,n  Layman           statement on marriage. This pro-              Though the interim committee
Editor Parker Williamson. Because              voked a lengthy discussion in which       recommended that the Reformed
the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)               questions were raised concerning the      Churches in the United States' appli-
helped fund the conference, several            church's role in "covenant relations,"    cation for membership be approved,
churches have voted to withhold fi-            homosexualrelationships, and people       the plenary session once more de-
nancial contributions to- the                  who lived together without being          cided to postpone action on this ap-
denomination's headquarters.                   married. Several proposed amend-          plication for one year. Concern was
            National  b International          ments were defeated. The synod ap-        expressedby delegates from the larger
                        Religion Report        pointed a study committee to deal         denominations at last year's meeting
                                               with these issues.                        and again this year, that admitting
                                                   We wonder about a number of           the RCUS and other smaller denomi-
                                               matters once the union is completed.      nations would give these denomina-
                                               Whatwilltherelationshipbebetween          tions a majority in NAPARC.  Other
Prof. Decker is professor of Practical The-    the united church and the Christian       delegates were opposed to admitting
oZogy in the Protestant Reformed Semi-         Reformed Church in North America?         the RCUS because of the latter's par-
nary.
                                                                                                 March 1,1994IStandard  Bearer/247


ticipation in the Alliance of Reformed     with representatives of the CRC about      other decisions the Alliance adopted
Churches, which consists largely of        women officebearers.                       a procedure for the examination of
independent congregations which                                Reformed  Herald       those seekingdrdinationinto  the min-
have seceded from the CRC in recent                                                   istry of the Word and Sacraments.
years. It will be interesting to see       n Alliance of                                  The Alliance also adopted a rec-
what NAPARC  does with the RCUS            Reformed Churches                          ommendation to contact specific con-
next year.                                     This group of churches (59             servative Reformed bodies with two
    The Council also passed a motion       churches and 130 delegates) consists       questions: "Are they interested in
proposed by the Orthodox Presbyte-         largely of independent congregations       working toward federative unitywith
rian Church to send a letter to the        which have seceded from the Chris-         the independent churches, and if so,
CRC expressing concern about itsvio-       tian Reformed Church. The Alliance         what procedure would they suggest?"
lation of Scriptural principles and its    met in Lynwood, Illinois last Novem-       The churches to be contacted are the
own Belgic Confession in the 1993          ber. As was true last year, the Protes-    Canadian Reformed Churches, the
decision to allow congregations to         tant ReformedChurcheswereinvited           Free Reformed Churches, the Ortho-
ordain women to the offices of minis-      to send observer delegates. Revs.          dox Christian Reformed Churches,
ter and elder. Following this another      Charles Terpstra and Ronald Van            the Protestant Reformed Churches,
motion was passed "out of deep love        Overloop represented the l?RC:             the Orthodox Presbyterian Churches,
for our brothers and sisters in the            Recognizing the need to federate,      the Christian Presbyterian Church,
CRC and with a humble spirit to es-        the Alliance appointed a committee         and the Reformed Church in the
tablish a pastoral committee" to meet      to work on a church order. Among           United States. IJ
                                                                                         Reformed Believers Press Service




                            Caspar OleVianus:
                                    Author of the
              Heidelberg Catechism (1)

Introduction                               have one more man to discuss: Caspar       Early Life and Training
    God used more than one man to          Olevianus.                                     Caspar Olevianus was born on
write that precious creed of the Re-           History has not recorded for us        August 10,1536,  two years after the
formed churches: The Heidelberg            what precise part each of the two          birth of his colleague Ursinus. He
Catechism. Frederick III, elector of       authors of the Catechism played in its     was born in one of the most famous
the Palatinate, ordered it written and     formation; and speculations on the         cities in Trans-Alpine Europe, the city
supported the project, even offering       subject by historians have proved          of Trier, or, as it was sometimes called,
suggestions from time to time.             fruitless. But it does seem to be a        Treves. The city was built on the
Zacharius Ursinus, professor of the-       manifestation of God's great wisdom        banks of the Moselle River on the
ology, was one of its authors. We          when, in the formulation of this mar-      border of Germany and Luxembourg.
have described the life and work of        velous creed, Godusedboth the theo-        It boasted of the fact that its history
these two men in earlier articles. We      logian Ursinus and the preacher            went back to the days before the birth
                                           Olevianus. Not only is the Catechism       of Christ, and it claimed to be one of
                                           an unsurpassed summary of the Chris-       the oldest, if not the oldest city north
                                           tian faith- the touch of a theologian;     of the Alps. The Emperor Caesar
                                           but it is a confession eminently suit-     Augustus had started the city in 15
Prof. Hanko is professor of Church His-    able to preach - the touch of a man        B.C. and had made it an important
tory and New Testament in the Protes-      who was himself a gifted and elo-          city in an ocean of barbarians.
tan t Reformed Semina y.                   quent preacher.                                The city had the distinction of

246fSfandard Bearer/March 1,1994


being briefly the home of the great         their godliness for His cause.                Conversion  and Early Work
church father Athanasius, when, be-             Trier was a Roman Catholic city.              The years Olevianus spent in
cause of his uncompromising defense         It remained such even though the              France were profitable, if for no other
of the truth of Christ's divinity, he       Lutheran Reformation spread                   reason than that they led to his con-
had been banished from his church in        through much of Germany. It re-               version to the Reformed faith.
Alexandria in Egypt. That was back          mained immune to Lutheran teach-                  Caspar attended the universities
in the first half of the 4th century.       ings. Caspar was brought up, there-           of Paris, Orleans, and Bourges, the
    The prominence of the city in the       fore, in a Roman Catholic home and            same universities in which Calvin had
Middle Ages was due in large mea-           taught in a Roman Catholic school in          received his training. Although he
sure to the fact that the cathedral in      Trier the first 14 years of his life.         studied law, he came under the influ-
the city claimed to have in its posses-         Offsetting this Roman Catholic            ence of leading thinkers in the univer-
sion the seamless robe of Christ over       influence was one incident which              sities who were more or less commit-
which the soldiers gambled at the           made a deep impression on Casper              ted to Lutheranism; but more impor-
cross. (This robe is still put on public    during these years, an incident of            tantly, he came under the influence of
display at 25-year intervals, and hun-      which he himself later spoke. While           Huguenot teaching. The Huguenots
dreds of thousands crowd the city to        Casper was at school, an aged but             were French Calvinists who had been
look at it.) Further, the abbey church      kindly and saintly priest planted a           delivered from Roman Catholicism,
in the city claimed to be the burial        seed in his heart which was eventu-           but who were forced to meet secretly
place of the apostleMatthew,  the only      ally to bear fruit. It was nothing more       because they were severely perse-
apostle, sotraditionsaid, tobeburied        than a remark which the old priest            cutedby the king and the church. The
north of the Alps.                          made to him in the corridors of the           shadow of the stake, the hangman's
    Olevianus was born of Gerhard           school. Recognizing the abilities of          noose, and the sword hungconstantly
von der Olewig and Anna Sinzig. The         the young boy, the priest put his arm         over them and their families. Not
name "Olewig," which means "01:             over Caspar's shoulder and said to            only did Caspar come in contact with
ive," actually refers to a part of the      him: !`Never  forget that salvation and       them, but he became persuaded of
city, perhaps even a small village an-      comfortaretobefoundonlyinChrist's             their position and even attended their
nexed to the city, knownby that name.       perfect work." Again and again,               secret meetings.
"Olevianus" is the Latinized form of        through those darkand drearycentu-                Especially one experience
that name.                                  ries when Roman Catholicism held              changed his life. While walking with
    Caspar's father was a merchant,         sway over the minds and consciences           a friend, a prince from Germany, along
relatively wealthy, and a prominent         of men, we find these isolated indi-          the river which ran by Bourges,
citizen of this historic place. He was      viduals who, in spite of Rome's de-           Caspar and this friend were invited to
a ,baker,  a president of the Bakers'       nial of Christ's perfect sacrifice for        cross the river in a boat in which were
Guild, a member of the city council,        sin, held to the truth that all our salva-    other students. Caspar refused be-
and treasurer of the city. He followed      tion is only in Christ. It must have          cause the students in the boat were
a family tradition of service to the        been these lonely and scattered men           drunk, but his friend took up the
city, for Caspar's grandfather was          who enabled the church of Christ to           offer. In midstream the students be-
president of the Butchers' Guild and        stay alive during those perilous times.       gan rocking the boat .and it over-
also a member of the council. These             In 1550, at the age of 14, Caspar         turned. Caspar dived into the water
positions in the city were important,       completed his studies in Trier. His           to save his friend, but was unable to
for Trier, because of its ancient and       grandfather stepped in and offered to         do so because of the swift current. He
illustrious past, wa5 a "free" city in      support Caspar's further education            was himself in danger of drowning.
Germany.                                    in France provided Caspar would               At that crucial point, Caspar prom-
    Caspar's mother was a pious and         study law. This was somewhat                  ised thatifGodwouldsparehislifehe
godly woman who exerted great in-           strange, for Trier had its own univer-        would preach the gospel in Trier. His
fluence on her family and son. It is        sity; but it becomes a bit understand-        friend's valet, thinking Caspar was
striking, if I may make here a some-        able when we remember that Trier              his master, hauled Caspar from the
what parenthetical remark, that so          was solidly Roman Catholic and its            water, while the friend drowned.
many of those men who occupied              schools were steadily losing students,        Although Caspar continued his stud-
places of great importance in the cause     while theuniversities of other parts of       ies in law, that promise, made in the
of God and of His church, had very          Europe were becoming very popular             cold waters of the river Auron, was
godly and pious mothers. It is a fact       because of openness to Renaissance            not forgotten.
of history that ought to give all cov-      and Reformation teachings.                        After completing his studies in
enant mothers pause: they never know            It was in France that Caspar's life       France, Caspar returned to Trier -
what the effect of their piety and          took an extraordinary turn.                   not yet to preach (for this he was
humble service of God will be upon                                                        untrained), but to practice law. His
their children and how God will use                                                       promise, however, sat heavily upon

                                                                                                  March 1,1994lStandard  Bearetl249


his soul, and he found no satisfaction          times - and the times were blessed           the city, were known in Geneva to
in the legal niceties of 16th century           with many gifted preachers!                  have some Calvinistic leanings. To
law practice. In disgust and restless-              The year 1559 was an important           them Calvin wrote to try to encour-
ness, Caspar traveled to Geneva for             one in the history of the Reformation.       age them to work towards reforma-
the express purpose of talking with             During this year French Protestants          tionin the city, and especially to bring
Calvin.                                         held their first Synod in Paris, John        Caspar Olevianus to the city to help.
     The two years he spent in Swit-            Knox returned to Scotland to estab-               It seems as if Caspar went with-
zerland were important ones. He not             lish the Presbyterian Church there,          out really revealing what his position
only met with and talked to Calvin,             William the Silent made his vow to           on reformational matters was. He
but had opportunity to spend many               drive N the Spanish vermin" from the         must-have, for the time being, con-
hours with Theodore Beza, Henry                 Netherlands, Elector FrederickIII the        cealed his true purposes, for he had
Bullinger, Peter Martyr, William Farel,         Pious began his reign in Heidelberg,         no difficulty, because of the reputa-
and Peter Viret, all luminous stars in          and Calvin opened his Academy in             tion of his parents and grandparents,
the Reformation heavens. The years              Geneva and published the last edi-           obtaining an appointment to teach
were not spent, though, in idle chat-           tion of his Institutes.                      philosophy in the school of a solidly
ter; he studied in Geneva under                     In June of this important year, at       Roman Catholic city. He chose to
Calvin, learned Hebrew, mastered                the urging of Farel- that firebrand of       teach Melanchthon's Dialectics. The
theology, was instructed in the art of          a Reformer who hadbeen instrumen-            instruction was in Latin, and Dialec-
preaching, and prepared himself for             tal in keeping Calvin in Geneva -            tics was rather boring to any but the
the ministry.                                   Olevianus returned to Trier.                 most ardent students; so Olevianus
     It must have been good instruc-                Trier was still a Roman Catholic         could be of little influence. Here we
tion which he received in preaching             City, and Caspar's presence as a min-        shallleavehimforawhile,inhis home
because, alongwith the development              ister of the truth of the Calvin Refor-      town, in a sense flying under false
of his native gifts, this instruction           mation would not have gone over              colors, eager to keep a vow he had
made Caspar one of the outstanding              very well there. But two men, Otto           made long before, stuck in a philoso-
and most eloquent preachers of the              Seele and Peter Sierk, influential in        phy class in a dying school. 0





                              A Faithful Saying
                                                            Lesson 13

     . . . and exercise thyself rather unto         Our lesson includes the apostolic        1:18). Forthis warfareTimothywo&
godliness . . . godliness is profitable unto    exhortation to Timothy, who is a             need spiritual weapons. With the
all things, having promise of the life that     Christ-appointedminister of God. He          sword of the Spirit he could pull down
now is, and of that which is to come.           became this through the laying on of         strongholds, cast down imaginations
     This is a faithful saying and worthy       hands by the presbytery in the pres-         and every high thing that exalteth
of all acceptation.                             ence of the entire church at Lystra and      itself against the knowledge of God,
    For therefore we both labour and            Iconium. I Timothy 414 indicates             andbringintocaptivityeverythought
suffer.  reproach, because we trust in the      thatTimothywasequippedwithwon-               to the obedience of Christ -i.e., take
living God, who is the Saviour of all men,      derful and astounding spiritual gifts,       captive every thought to make it obe-
specially of those that believe.                which are referred to by the term U the      dient to Christ. (Cf. II Corinthians
     These things command and teach.            gift." Paul says to him that he is not to    10:4-5.)
                        I Timothy 4:7-10        "neglect the gift* which was given
                                                thee by prophecy (i.e., through a pro-
                                                phetic message) and with the laying          [I(It seems correct to assume that no one
                                                on of the hands of the presbytery." As       but Paul knew exactly what the  special
                                                a man of God, Timothy would be able          gift was that Timothy possessed. Paul,
Rev. Lubbers isa minister emeritus in the       to engage in a good warfare (cf. I Tim.      knowing this, encourages Timothy not to
Protestant Reformed Churches.                                                                neglect this gift.]
25OISfandard Bearer/March 1,1994


    In the previous lesson we noticed         great Protevangel spoken by God to         the faith, and to the knowledge of the
that Timothy is urged to exercise him-        Eve and Satan (Gen. 3:15) as well as       Son of God, unto the truly mature
self unto godliness. Paul often speaks        the fulfillment of the promise to          man, unto the measure of the stature
of godliness. He does so in I and II          Abraham spoken by God on Mount             of the fullness of Christ. (Cf. Ephesians
Timothy and also in Titus. We no-             Moriah. (Compare Genesis 2215-18           410-16.)  This is the reason for the
ticed in former lessons that godliness        and Hebrews 610-20.)  This is a clear      command to accept this faithful say-
is really the God-ordained end or             case-study of the faithfulness of all      ing.
purpose (i.e., telos - end) of God's          the covenant sayings of God.                       Paul himself was a noteworthy
work of salvation. Christ came into               An exhibition of the most pro-         and wonderful example of the work
the world to bring this about and to          found and significant fulfillment of       of God's grace. He had been con-
establish all those ordained unto life        the truthfulness of the Word of the        vertedfrom the errors of Judaism and
unto perpetual godliness. For this            Lord occurred on the outskirts of the      work righteousness. Paul had not
purpose Christ arose from the dead,           ancient city of Damascus when Saul         merely had a confrontation with
ascended on high, and was received            of Tarsus was saved by sovereign           Christ, but he had learned to say, "...
in glory as the head of the church,           grace. Paul had been counted faithful      when it pleased God to reveal his Son
which is Christ's body. Through               to serve as a chosen vessel. He was a      in me" (Gal. 1:16). This was a won-
Christ and His work the saints have           vessel of Christ called to bear the        derful manifestation of all the good-
been made new creatures.. (Cf.                message of the Cross. He stood be-         ness of God toward him, so that in one
Galatians 6:12-16.)  Is it not the sanc-      fore kings and the Gentiles. He was        moment the emissary of the Jews and
tification of the saints that is the very     one through whom Christ would              the Sanhedrin became the beloved
end, purpose, or tebs of our having           show what great things one must            apostle of Christ to the Gentiles.
been blessed with all spiritual bless-        suffer for the sake of the gospel of               Wonder of wonders, Paul now
ings in Christ Jesus?                         grace.                                     has but one desire, and that is that he
    Hence, it is only they who exer-              If ever there was a thankful sin-      be found in Christ, not having his
cise themselves in godliness who en-          ner saved by grace without the works       own righteousness but the righteous-
joy a good conscience. They experi-           of the law, it was Paul. (Read             ness which is by faith in Jesus Christ.
ence that what the Law could not do,          Philippians3:1-15.)  Thissavedapostle      He now has but one joy and that is to
Christ did by fulfilling the Law for          must often'have comforted and in-          walk in the hope of Israel, the hope of
them. It is, likewise true that it is only    structed poor sinners to take heart.       the resurrection from the dead. This
when a minister enjoys a good con-            How people must have experienced           was the central theme of his preach-
science which has been purged from            unspeakable joy as Paul expounded          ing. (Cf. Philippians 3%15.)
sin that he can be a good and faithful        the theme of the gospel - "where sin                   *  *  *  *  *  *  *
minister.                                     abounds, grace does much more
                                              abound."
             *     *  *  *  *     *  *            The second instance in which Paul              Paul writes in I Timothy 49-11
                                              speaks of the"faithfulness of the          that because of the faithfulness of this
    So that Timothy may understand            word" is I Timothy 3:l. "This is a true    saying we "both labor and suffer re-
theimportanceofbeingexercisedunto             (faithful) saying, If a man desire the     proach, because we trust in the living
godliness, the Holy. Spirit through           office of a bishop, he desireth a good     God, who is the Saviour of all men,
Baul tells him that this is a "faithful       work."                                     specially of those that believe. These
sayingandworthyofallacceptation."                 The third instance is found in the     things command and teach."
    Three times in I Timothy Paul             text of I Timothy 49, in which Paul                It is crucial that we properly un-
says that something is faithful and           affirms that Timothy and allbelievers      derstand these words which have
worthy of acceptation.                        must exercise themselves unto godli-       often been misinterpreted to mean
    The first instance is in I Timothy        ness. Timothy and all believers are        that Paul is here teaching that God
1:15. In this passage Paul refers to the      encouraged to accept the faithfulness      intends to save all human beings.
great mystery of gracious salvation.          of the saying in the confidence that       This is not the meaning. This text
He had spoken of this in Romans 5:20          God will surely keep His promise.          cannot be used to teach the universal-
which says, "Moreover the law en-             Paul encourages Timothy to be faith-       ist heresy and Arminian heresy that
tered that the offence might abound.          ful in his godly exercise as an evange-    all men can be saved. This is contrary
But where sin abounded, grace did             list. There is a good reason for this      to the clear teaching of Scripture in
much more abound." Stated most                command to accept the faithfulword.        John 6:44. "No man can come to me,
briefly the mystery is that the "gift of      In II Timothy 45 Paul commands             except the Father which hath sent me
God is eternallife through Jesus Christ       Timothy to "endure afflictions, do the     draw him: and I will raise him up at
our, Lord." This is the basic saying          work of an evangelist, make full proof     the last day."
which is worthy of all acceptation. It        of thy ministry." He must do this so               First, let us notice that the phrase
is the truth and the fulfillment of the       the brethren will come to the unity of     "faithful saying" refers to a word

                                                                                                     March I,1 Q94/Standard Bearer/251


which God speaks. We can only ac-           was the universal rule for all men (all       manifest in the flesh, is justified by the
cept this as the word of God when by        humans) who believed, whether they            Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto
faith we believe that this is God's         are Jews or Gentiles (i.e., all kinds of      Gentiles, believed on in the world,
solemn oath which He sware by Him-          people). (Cf. Romans 4:24,25.)  This          and received up in glory" (I Tim.
self, and out of His own holiness. He       was a message for all men-all kinds           3:16).
is a God who cannot lie. (Cf. Genesis       of men who had been ordained unto                 The church gathered by the truth
2216; Hebrews 6:13-19.)                     life eternal. These are those concem-         of the gospel is the pillar and ground
     Second, it should be noticed that      ing whom Christ said, "... those that         of the truth. Paul shouts triumphantly
the covenant oath which God sware           thou gavest me I have kept, and none          in II Timothy 219, "Nevertheless the
to Abraham concerning the salvation         of them is lost..." (John 17:12b).            foundation of God standeth sure,
of all men in His only begotten Son              Two thingsTimothymust  do. He            having this seal, The Lord knoweth
mustbecommandedandpreachedin                must "command" and "teach" men                them that are his. And, Let everyone
all the world. It is emphatically stated    everywhere to believe the gospel of           that nameth the name of Christ de-
that it must be preached clearly, so        the Cross. We should notice that in           part from iniquity."
thatJesusmaybepowerfullysetforth            reality these were the very words                 This is true godly exercise which
as the Son of God as this is made           contained in the Great Commission.            Paul teaches and which the church is
manifest through His bodily resur-          (Cf. Matthew 2819-20.)                        called to practice.
rection from the dead. Paul himself              Although the words "command"
had been convinced most profoundly          and "teach" belong together, Timo-                      *  *  *  *  *  *  *
concerning the importance and sig-          thy is told that he must "command
nificance of the resurrection through       men" everywhere. The term "com-               Some Questions to Consider:
the glorious heavenly appearance of         mand" in the Greek means "to an-
the resurrected Christ on the road          nounce" the Gospel - the Gospel of                1. Isitpossibleforanypersonto
from Jerusalem to Damascus. (Cf.            the death and resurrection of Christ          teach the Bible and not teach some
Acts 9:15,16;  23:1-11;  26:4-29.)  That    to all men everywhere. To all those           form of doctrine - either false or
which he had once denied became his         who have been ordained to life and            true?
supreme and undying confession.             are saved in Christ Timothy and all               2. What does Paul say in
Those whom he had once persecuted           preachers of the Gospel must give the         Ephesians 4:14 concerning the sleight
now became his friends.                     assurance of Jesus Christ  - that He          of men and of those who would ship-
     Third, we should notice that Paul      has all authority in heaven and earth.        wreck the children of God so that they
speaks to Timothy about his own toil        "Allpowerisgivenuntomeinheaven                will lose faith?
and labor which results in reproach.        and in earth" (Matt. 2818). He who                3. What is the strong weapon of
Paul uses himself as an example to          says these words is the Lamb of God           the believer according to Ephesians
Timothy of one who suff eredreproach        who carries away the "sin" of the             4:15?
for the sake of the gospel. (Cf. Acts       world - not the sin of all men head               4. Can a godly man deny the
9:15, 16; II Corinthians  11:16-33.)        for head, but the sin of the cosmos -         deathandresurrectionofJesusChrist?
Notice also the testimony of Paul in        the world that Jesus Christ was sent              5. If one denies the mystery of
Galatians 6:17b where he says, "Ibear       to save. (Cf. John 3:16.)                     godliness that is great (cf. I Tim. 3:16)
in my body the marks of the Lord                Paulgivesthiscommandbecause               can he or she be one who speaks the
Jesus."                                     there is work for Timothy. He must            truth in love? 0
                                            reject the old wives' fables of all those
           *    *    *    *    *    * *     who leave the faith. He must labor so
                                            that the foundation stands. This he
    The passage under consideration         must do in the assurance of the Son of
concludes with the command of Paul          God who is at the Father's right hand
to Timothy in the brief and meaning-        and who has the authority over all the
ful words, "These things command            powers of hell. Christ says toTimothy
and teach."                                 through Paul, "These things command
    Timothy must be concerned not           as my authorized evangelist."
merely about this life but about the            But Timothy must not neglect II to
life which is to come. This is the          teach." Basic to the work of the key-
resurrection life earned by the work        power of the Word is that of authori-
of Christ. This was glad-tidings writ-      tative teaching. It is by sound teach-
ten not merely for Abraham` and the         ing that we come to health-producing
Jews but also for the Greeks and Gen-       doctrine. The great mystery of godlii
tiles. The message of righteousness         ness is a matter of teaching accurately
by faith without the works of the law       thebasic doctrines, i.e., "... that God is

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                                                         Chapter 2
                          The Creative Work
                        in t                                                      ing (2)

How Did God Create All Things?               How can it be possible? We may only           that work of creation,  therefore,the
    In answering this question, we           bow before the Word of the Scrip-             Father works, through the Son, andin
must remember the strict limitations         tures. Through faith we understand            the Holy Spirit. i  .,
of the question. Creation is a unique        that the worlds were framed by the                ThisisconfirmedbyallSciipture.
work of God. We cannot even know             Word of God, so that things whichare          In the first place, not only does the
it, exceptbyrevelation. Andthemere           seen were not made of things which            Bible speak of the Spirit brooding
creature can never comprehend this           do appear (Heb. 11:3).                        upon the face of the waters here in
act of God's omnipotent will. When               In the second place, therefore,           verse 2; but repeatedly in the narra-
we ask this question, therefore, in the      when we ask how God created, we               tive of the successive days of creation
first place, we must bear in mind that       ask that question in faith. We askit in       Genesis speaks of the Word spoken.
it is not the intention of this question     the framework of the Scriptures, in           God spoke through the eternal Word,
curiously to pry into the nature of          which God Himself has made known              the Son, or Second Person in the Holy
God's work or to ask how it. is pos-         to us all that we need to know and all        Trinity. This is the meaning when
sible that such a thing as creation          that we can know concerning His               repeatedlywereadinGenesis  1, "And
could take place. In that respect there      own wonderful work of creation.               God said...."
is but one position to take, and that is:        Concerning this manner of cre-                Moreover, in connection with the
God is the Almighty Sovereign and            ation Scripture informs us:  fl the Spirit    creation of man on the sixth day,
Lord, and He always acts as the in-          of God moved upon the face of the             while there is no specific reference to
comparable God, not as the creature;         waters." This immediately reminds             the three Persons of the Holy Trinity,
He is the God who calls all things into      us of the truth that creation is the          there is nevertheless mention of a
existence by the act of His almighty         work of God triune, and that there is         plurality  of Persons in God when we
will. And in that respect creation is        no separation to be made with respect         read in Genesis 1:26, "And God said,
like the miracles. You and I cannot          to the w&k of God in the Holy Trin-           Let us make man in our image, after
comprehend them. They are alto-              ity. It is not simply thus, that the          our likeness." Thus, we read also in
gether beyond the understanding              Father creates, and the Son redeems,          the prologue of the Gospel according
derived from mere human experi-              and the Holy Spirit sanctifies - each         to John: "In the beginning was the
ence. In terms of man's work and             working in separation from the other          Word, and the Word was with God,
man's method of doing things and             Persons of the Trinity. But all the acts      and the Word was God. The same
man's use of means and man's under-          of God are the acts of God Triune.            was in the beginning with God. All
standing, you cannot explain God's           Even as within Himself God lives and          things were made by him; and with-
work. God's works are other. They            acts and had fellowship eternally as          out him was not any thing made that
are divine. We are simply confronted         the Triune God, so all the activity of        was made" (John N-3). Also in He-
by them as the work of God who is            God out-going, in time, is the reflec-        brews l:l, 2 we are instructed that the
really  God. And thus it is also with the    tion of His activity within Himself.          Son, by whom God has spoken to us
unique work of creation. We do not           GodisTritme. HeisoneinBeingand                in these last days, and whom He hath
and we may not ask: Is it possible?          three in Persons. And all the three           appointed heir of all things, is He "by
And we do not and we.may  not ask:           Persons operate within the Godhead.           whom also he made the worlds."
                                             The Father generates, and eternally               This same truth from a slightly
                                             knows and loves the Son in Himself.           different viewpoint is beautifully set
The late Homer Hoeksema was professor        And so it is also in all the out-going        forth in Proverbs 8, which also makes
of  Dogmatics and Old Testament in the       works of God, of which creation is the        it plain that creation in the beginning
Protestant Reformed Seminary.                first in time. God Triune creates. In         does not signify or presuppose a
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change in God, because God is not           all creation, a creation which is the             time,limitedbytimeinallhisconcep-
governed by time, but dwells in eter-       revelation of  His eternal thoughts,              tions. And one whoshould imagine
nity; and all His works are with Him        thoughts which through the Son He                 that his mind had reached out into the
in His counsel eternally. Proverbs 8        conceived in Himself form eternity to             beginning of which the first verse of
speaks of the eternal Wisdom which          eternity. Thus God called thename of              Scripture speaks would nevertheless
was with God before the world was,          every creature - out of Himself,                  be forced to extend in his own think-
and which was present in the creation       through the Son, and in the Spirit.               ing the mysterious line of time back of
of the world. It tells us, for example:     And by speaking He separated from                 this beginning,and  thus to give the lie
"The Lord possessed me in the begin-        the chaos the creature                                          to his own statement by
ning of his way." And again: "I was         which He thus named.                                       I    the question, "And what
set up from everlasting." And again:        The Father called; the             A beginning                  was before this begin-
"I was daily his delight" (Prov. 8:22-      Spirit quickened; and                                           ning?" A beginning be-
31).                                        the Word gave form and            before which                  fore which there is no
        And in that beautiful passage of    separate existence to            there is no time               time, with respect to
Scripture which speaks of the First-        every creature, so that it         ,.. no human                 which it is even absurd
born of every creature, who is the          might be the embodi-            mind can possi-                 to speak of a before, no
image of the invisible God Himself,         ment of God's thoughts.         bly comprehend.                 human mind can possi-
we read: "By him were all things            When God made all                                               bly comprehend; and no
created, that are in heaven, and that       things by the Word of                                           mere philosophy and
are in earth, visible and invisible,        His mouth, and all the                       I                  human science can ever
whether they be thrones, or domin-          host of heaven by His Spirit, He re-              approach this beginning.
ions, or principalities, or powers; all     vealed Himself. He spoke. He spoke                    In the second place, we must not
things were created by him, and for         concerning Himself. And He spoke                  conceive of this beginning in such a
him" (Col. 1:15, 16). Moreover, we          to us. The infinite Word of God pro-              way that it took place and had exist-
read in Job 26:13: "By his Spirit he        ceeded out of His mouth in a mani-                ence without the will and creative
hath garnished the heavens." And in         fold variety of concrete, created                 power of God. It did not merely
Psalm 33:6: "By the word of the Lord        Words. The eternal Word went out                  "happen." When the creative Word
were the heavens made, and all the          into time. Creation as a whole, there-            first proceeded out of the mouth of
hosts of them by the Spirit of his          fore, is a created Word of God, and all           God, time and the beginning of time
m o u t h . "                               creatures .are so many individual                 werecreated. Timewithallitschange,
        Hence, according to the text in     thoughts, words; and together they                time with all its succession of mo-
Genesis, the Spirit moved upon the          reveal the perfect and infinite Wis-              ments, time with all its advance to-
face of the waters. The original term       dom of the Most High. By creation,                ward an end, time with all its devel-
here contains the idea of tremulously       therefore, as an act of Self-revelation           opment, is itself a creature of God's
fluttering, or of brooding, as a hen        on the part of God, He makes Himself              hand which came into existence by
upon her eggs. And the conception is        known as God who is God indeed, the               His almighty will and according to
that as the material of all things is       God who is. infinite in power and                 His eternal decree. And time is the
present in the original waters, in the      wisdom, and glorious in all His per-              creature which conditions the exist-
unformed mass of creation, the Spirit       fections.                                         ence of all creation. It is in that time
quickens and engenders life and  en-                                                          that the creature lives and moves and
ergyin that chaos. In and through the       When Did God Create?                              acts and develops, according to the
Holy Spirit is the bond of life which           The answer of Genesis 1 is that               counsel of God, and changes and in-
unites the whole creation in fellow-        creation commenced "in the begin-                 creases and decreases and disappears,
ship with God.                              ning."                                            also according, to that counsel.
        And the Word separates and gives        Let us be reminded once more, in                  In the third place, that very term
form to that creation. That God spake,      the first place, that by this declaration         "in the beginning" points us already
and it was done, does not mean that         of Holy Writ we are confronted by an              to the end, to the omega of all things.
He simply pronounced some kind of           amazing mystery, which can be                     This world is not eternal. It had a
magic formula, and that creation is         known only by revelation. No histo-               beginning; and it shall have an end,
some kind of hocus-pocus. In cre-           rian can possibly take his starting-              when, in the day of Christ, the heav-
ation the eternal and infinite Word of      point in this beginning. He may go                ens shall be rolled up as a scroll, and
God proceeded outside of Himself, in        back to ancient times,and he may                  the very elements shall melt with fer-
the Spirit. And when through that           carry his historical research into the            vent heat, in order to make place for
Word, who is in Himself the eternal         remote past; but never will he be able            the new creation, in which heaven
and infinite fullness of divine wis-        to approach this beginning, thebegin-             and earth and all things shallbe  united
dom and thought, God speaks, He             ning in the absolute sense of the word.           in and through our Lord Jesus Christ.
gives existence outside of Himself to       He cannot because he is a child of                The very term "in the beginning,"

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therefore, reminds us that, according            In that same light, the relation        Christ. When God created the world
to the counsel and will of God, the          between creation and redemption is          in the beginning, He had the end, His
Creator, creation shall run through          such that creation was adapted by           eternal kingdom and tabernacle, in
the course of history. It reminds us         God to His purpose of redemption            mind. To glorify Himself in Christ
too, moreover, that while all created        from the very beginning. Redemp-            and the church and to perfect all things
things were originally one harmoni-          tion isnorepair work; and Christ is no      on the higher, heavenly level of the
ous whole and stood in their pristine        afterthought of God. On the con-            new creation - that is the original
perfection at the end of creation-week,      trary, creation from the beginning is       design of the Creator. When He cre-
nevertheless that first creation was         adapted to the final purpose of God's       ated the first world, He had the final
not God's final purpose. God had             counsel.                                    world in view. When He created the
prepared a higher purpose and glory              Hence, while according to that          first Paradise, He did so with a view
for the works which He createdin the         counsel and will of God it is indeed        to the ultimate and everlasting Para-
beginning. And that higher purpose           true that the original creation is one,     dise of God. The first man, Adam,
was exactly that all things, both in         so that one creature was adapted to         was made an image of the last man,
heaven and on earth, shouldbe  united        the other, and so that all things, fi-      Christ. The Creator is also the Re-
in Christ as the glorious Hea-d of all       nally, through man, were adapted to         deemer, and He made all things with
creation and as the Head of His              God as man's covenant friend-yet,           a view to redemption. Moreover,
church, and that, tooalong the way of        according to that same counsel, all         because this is true, creation is
sin and grace. The relation between          creation is also formed in such a way       throughout Scripture the image of
creation and Christ is such that Christ      that it can become the stage for the        recreation, and the earthly is the im-
in the counsel of God is the Firstborn       tremendous battle of sin and grace          age of the heavenly.
of every creature, who prepares the          and for the higher revelation of the            It is in this sense that we must
way for all the other creatures and is       virtues and praises of Godin Christ as      understand the "beginning" of Gen-
destined tobe the Heir of alI things. In     the Firstborn from the dead, and in         esis 1 as the beginning of all history,
that sense all things are created unto       theworkofredemptionthroughHim,              and in particular as the beginning of
Him and through Him, according to            and, finally, in the gathering together     all sacred history. 0
Colossians 1:15ff.                 .,        of all things in heaven and on earth in




                       A P,astor's Heart

(Second installment of a speech delivered    continue in them: for in doing this         Luther could spare so much time for
at the Ojj?cebearers'Conference  in South    thou shalt both save thyself, and them      devotions when his pace was hectic
Holland, IL, March 2,2993)                   that hear thee."                            and his schedule crowded, Luther
                                                 The pastor must pay attention to        replied: "The busier I am, the more
Requiring Specific Gifts  (cont.)            his own spiritual life. If he is to care    time I need for prayer."
    Certain gifts are also required of       for the people of God, he can do so             ItisinterestingthatPaul,innearly
a pastor/minister which have to do           only after he has taken care of himself.    all his epistles, speaks of the fact that
with himself.                                Caring for himself involves care for        heis constantlyinprayer,notonlyfor
    A couple of texts speakdirectly to       his own spiritual life, that is, his own    himself, but for the churches to which
this. In I Timothy  1:6, Paul urges          life of fellowship andcommunionwith         he writes. He prays for and over his
upon Timothy: "that thou stir up the         God in Christ.                              congregations.
gift of God, which is in thee by the             Three things especially are in-             Such spiritual care also involves
putting on of my hands." Andin 496           volved in this.                             meditation. Meditation is neither
he writes to his spiritual son: "Take            The pastor must have time for his       prayer nor devotion. Vinet (Pastora
heed to thyself, and unto the doctrine;      own private and personal devotions.         Theology, tr. by Thomas H. Skinner,
                                             How true this was of Luther. Often he       Ivison & Phinney, 1854) tersely but
                                             would rise at 3:00 in the morning to        accuratelydefinesmeditationas"get-
Prof. Hanko is professor of  Church His-     spend three hours in his devotions.         tinginto themiddleof things." Medi-
tory and New Testament in the Protes-        When questioned on the matter by a          tation is not day-dreaming. The
tant Reformed Seminary.                      colleague who could not imagine that        Psalms speaks more than once of

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meditating on God's works. The                     try to shear the sheep.                      out there. They face the world every
Scriptures are the object of our medi-                      Apastormustknowthepowerof           dayoftheirliv&.Wehadbetterknow
tation, but particularly as they cast              sin and grace. If you would ask me           what is going on out there.
their infallible light on us in our call-          who, more than any other, taught me              I have a couple of quotes which
ing and place in God's vineyard. But               the power of sin, I would have to say,       sum it all up.
meditation requires solitude, and soli-            surprisingly, Rev. George M. Ophoff.             Gregory of Nazianzen said it all
tude is a scarce item in a busy                    His whole character did not seem to          centuries ago:
minister's life.                                   be the kind which would lead him to
    Taking heed to oneself involves                have a profound understanding of                 We must first be pure, and then
also self-examination. Roman Catho-                the operations of sin in our natures.          purify others; be taught, then teach
lics, I am told, require of their prelates         But he did. He taught me the crucial           others; become light, and then en-
daily examination of conscience. By                truth that a man's strengths are, as           lighten others; draw near to God
this they mean that one carefully ex-              often as not, also his weaknesses. He          ourselves, and then induce others to
                                                                                                  approach him; sanctify ourself,  and
amines all his activities of the day in            taught me the strength of sin as it            then make others holy (quoted in
the light of Scripture that he may                 works its hardening power in our               Hoppin from Vinet, pp. 423,424).
come to know his own heart with its                lives. He taught me what we could                The faithful servant of Christ, the _
motives, its thoughts, its activities, in          call the "ripple effect"of sin, as sin in      teacher of the gospel, is a man of
order to weigh them in the balances of             us touches the lives of countless oth-         sound mind, burning with zeal for
God's mercifully cruel scrutiny of us.             ers - something more true of minis-            the glory of God and the salvation of
I recommend it as most conducive to                ters than of most others because of            men, one taught by the Holy Spirit,
developing a pastor's heart.                       their position in the church of Christ.        experimentally acquainted with the
    To possess a pastor's heart re-                A pastor/minister must understand              ways of God; one who seeks not the
                                                                                                  things of men, but men themselves;
quires gifts which are needed to deal              this.                                          not his own things, but the things of
with God's sheep. While Scripture                       But he must also understand the           Christ; of chaste and unadulterated
either mentions or implies many of                 power of God's grace. He must not              manners; by his example teaching
these, I call your attention to three              only understand that grace is indeed           the virtues of piety, modesty, gentle-
whichareof outstandingimportance.                  a power sufficient for every need, but         ness, zeal, prudence, gravity; one
   One of these is surely the gift of              he must understand that God is                 who, like a candle set upon a candle-
self-denial. This calling to self-denial           pleased to give His grace, not as a            stick, gives light to all who are in the
is implicit in Paul's admonition to                medicinal dose of antibiotics, to be           house, to all who are desirous of
Timothy (II Tim. 23) to endure hard-               taken one teaspoon at a time, four             salvation; both showing the way of
                                                                                                  life, and on gospel terms dispensing
ship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.            times a day, but as grace which works          the blessings of grace and peace.
The opposition  a  minister faces re-              through the deepest and profoundest            Withersoever he goes, there is light;
quires self-denial of a                                           of struggles. God's             wherever he turns his steps, there is
particular kind, for he                       L                   peoplemustunderstand            salvation; when he opens his lips,
must, in the face of great                                        grace.                          there is the salt of grace; everywhere
provocation, remain a                 . . . faithfulness             A pastor/minister            beloved, respected, and not less the
shepherd, something                   in one's calling            must keep up with the           means of imparting consolation to
not easily done. And                      requires                times. I recall a student       others, than a solace to himself
faithfulness in one's call-                                                                       (Vitringa,  quoted in Fairbatrn,  pp.
                                        self-denial               who graduated from a            90,91).
ing requires self-denial                                          seminary full of prom-
of a most strenuous kind                    ofa                   ise, destined to assume       Expressed in his Work
as he, in obedience to                most strenuous              leadership in the                 A pastor's heart is expressed in
Christ, spends himself in                 kind . . .              churches, but who was,        his work That expression of his heart
theministryoftheWord.                                             after several years,          is revealed on the pulpit. If it is not
    In close connection  L                                        caught in the backwa-         revealed there, he will never be effec-
with self-denial is what                                          ters and forgotten in         tive in his personal labors among the
James M. Hoppin  (op. cit.) calls "com-            some unincorporated cluster of               sheep. His labors effectively reveal
plete indifference of heart for tempo-             houses in the prairies of the mid-           his pastor's heart even though there is
ral goods." While much could be said               West. WhenIquizzedanolderpastor              truth to what Charles Bridges wrote
of this, I only remind you of the fact             about what happened, the answer              so  long ago  (The Christian Ministry,
that Paul lays this down as a qualifi-             was simple: "He lost his effective-          Banner of Truth Trust, 1967). The
cation for bishops, and warns against              ness, and his ministry became irrel-         words were written in 1830 and are a
the dangers of riches in frightening               evant, because he lost touch with the        description of the pew, but remain
words (II Tim.  6:!0, 11). And no times." We are dealing with sheep.                            true today.
pastor/minister can ignore Ezekiel's               We are doing so from the relative
warnings to those who use the minis-               security of our studies. Our sheep are

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    Every...ministerisconversantwith          Publications, 1993, p. 7), he makes the      cations required of a pastor, Fairbairn
  the fact, how very little our pulpit        startling statement: "If the study is a      writes:
  discourses are comprehended, re-            lounge, the pulpit will be an imperti-
  tained, or applied by [the person in        nence."                                          If the portraiture . . . of the ideal of
  the pew]. There is a sort of mental             One with a pastor's heart is one           a Christian minister be too high to
  deafness among the mass: so that,                                                          warrant the expectation of its being
  except the wordisbrought to themin          who, above all, recognizes the deter-          fully realized amid the difficulties
  thesmallestparcels,andwiththemost           minative character of preaching.               and temptations of a present life, it is
  direct application, the sound only is       Preaching is God's way of minister-            at least what should be constantly
  heard; while the meaning is never           ing to the sheep, of fulfilling all the        aimed at (p. 90).
  fixed upon the mind with an intelli-        many callings implied in the terms
  gent or permanent apprehension  (p.         used to describe him, in showing that            IclosewithapoemfoundinJames
  350).                                       he truly has a pastor's heart.               Spencer Cannon (Lectures on Pa&o-.
                                                   Ifheistoomuchoutsidehisstudy,           ral Theology, New  York: Charles
    Thisvery fact ought to give incen-        because the work in the study seems          Scribner,  1853):
tive to us to labor diligently in prepa-      dreary, because it lacks glamour, be-
ration for our preaching. Pastoral            causeit seems to be removed from the         A skilled workman he
work begins on the pulpit. All other          personal contact with people his soul        In God's great oralvineyard: what to
workin the congregationis of no avail         craves; if a pastor/minister is influ-              prune
if the pulpit is considered of second-        enced by current trends in which he is       With cautious hand, he knew -what
aryimportance. Allindividualpasto-            more counselor than preacher; if he is              to uproot:
ral work must be built upon, and I            magnetically attracted to the inten-         What were mere weeds, and what
dare say, receive its power from,             sity of person-to-person contact, at                celestial plants
preaching. From the pulpit the sheep          the expense of the hard workof  wres-        Which had unfading vigor in them,
are cared for, fed, attended to in their      tlingwith Scripture and making good                 knew;
needs, encouraged in the battle of            sermons; if work in his study appears        Nor knew alone, but watched them
faith, strengthened in weakness.              to him to be drab and uninteresting; if             night and day,
    Apastorlministerspendstimein              any or all of these things are true, then    And reared and nourished them, till
his study. In JohnHenry Jowett'sbook,         he demonstrates by his activities that              fit to be
The Preacher: His Life and Work               he lacks a pastor's heart.                   Transplanted to the paradise above.
(quotedinTheEpisfZesofPeter,Kregel                 In anticipation of the high qualifi-                                                    cl





                         Deacons', Meetings

                       `The deacons shall meet, wherever necessa y, eve y week to transact the business pertaining
                  to their ofpee, calling upon the Name of God; whereunto the ministers shall take good heed and
                  if necessa y they shall be present. "                               Church Order,  Article 40.

Introduction                                  semblies shall be maintained: the            ings of the deacons: "Each week the
    No mention is made in Article 29          consistory, the ciassis, (the particular     deacons shall meet together to dis-
of the Church Order of deacons' nieet-        synod), and the general synod." Dea-         cuss fruitfully the matters concerning
ings as a distinct ecclesiasticalgather-      cons' meetings are not a separate eccle-     the poor." The Synod of Dordt, 1578,
ing: "Four kinds of ecclesiastical as-        siasticalassembly in the strict sense of     decided: "The deacons shall meet
                                              the word. They are really an exten-          together every week or as often as
                                              sion of the consistory.                      necessary, in order to deliberate con-
Rev. Cammenga  is pastor of Southwest              As far as the background of Ar-         cerning whatever pertains to their
Protestant Reformed Church in                 ticle 40 is concerned, already the           office and shall do their counting ev-
Grandville,  M i c h i g a n                  Synodof Dordt, 1574, called for meet-        ery month or else according to cir-
                                                                                                      March 1,1994lStandard  Bearer1257


cumstances in the presence of the              pose: "... to transact the business          afforded more time for consideration
consistory." The Synod of Middel-              pertaining to their office." Specifi-        of their work. Too often when mat-
burg, 1581, ruled: "Similarly, the dea-        cally, the deacons' meetings are to be       ters pertaining to the deacons are
cons shallmeet everyweekin order to            concerned with the work of the dea-          considered at the general consistory
transact the business pertaining to            cons, the work of the collection of the      meeting, along with all of the other
their office." The Synod of the Hague,         alms, and the distribution of benevo-        matters the consistorymust dealwith
1586, decided: "Similarly, the dea-            lence. Things belonging to the busi-         in an evening, the work of the dea-
cons shallmeet everyweekinorder to             ness of the general council meeting          cons gets short shrift. In addition, the
transact the business pertaining to            ought not to be considered at the            poor in the church are given some-
their office prayerfully, to which the         deacons' meetings. The "business             what freer access to the deacons if
ministers shall take good heed and if          pertaining to their office" is described     regular monthly deacons' meetings
necessary be present." The Synod of            in Church Order, Articles 25 and 26.         are held. Also, because the work of
Dordt, 16181619, adopted our                       This business would include:             the deacons is largely dealt with at the
present Article 40.                                1. Benevolent Fund report.               deacons' meetings, these matters are
     Article 40 prescribes separate                2. Reports of committees that            eliminated from the agenda of the
deacons' meetings in congregations             met with individuals and dispensed           regular council meetings. Having
where the diaconate is of sufficient           alms.                                        deacons' meetings does mean one
size to make this possible. Article 37             3. Consideration of requests for         more meeting a month for the dea-
of the Church Order provides for the           benevolence with appointment of              cons. But usually the council meet-
inclusion of the deacons in the                needed committees.                           ings do not last so long as otherwise
consistory. The last part of the article           4. Cases that ought to be inves-         they might.
reads: "Whenever the number of                 tigated.
elders is small, the deacons may be                5. Reports of visits to the eld-         Supervision by the Elders
added to the consistorybylocalregu-            erly, the widows and widowers, and               The last part of Article 40 reads:
lation; this shallinvariably be the rule       the shut-ins.                                U . . . whereunto the ministers shall take
where the number is less than three."              6. Causes outside the congre-            good heed and if necessary they shall
In cases where the deacons are added           gation: sister churches, individuals         be present." This provisionwas added
to the consistory, separate deacons'           from another church who might have           by the Synod of the Hague in 1586.
meetings are not usually held.                 requested help, even non-Christians          The intention was that the deacons'
    But when there are a sufficient            (Gal. &lo).                                  meetings shouldbe supervisedby the
number of deacons, this should be                  The deacons' meetings are to be-         consistory. The minister(s) were to be
done. Then the deacons should meet             gin by "... calling upon the Name of         present for supervision as well as for
separately, the elders should meet             God...." The meetings are to be              consultation and advice. It would be
separately, and the elders and dea-            opened with prayer. Although not             good that Article 40 were revised, so
cons should meet together. Generally           specifically mentioned, there ought          that instead of reading "minister" it
separate deacons' meetings should              also to be the reading of Scripture.         reads: `I... whereunto the  elders  shall
be held in congregations where the             This should be done by the president         take good heed . . . . fl Generally, in
number of deacons is four or more.             of the deacons. The deacons' meet-           churches where there  are. separate
                                               ings should also be closedwithprayer.        deacons' meetings, the minister takes
The Nature of Deacons' Meetings                This provision of Article 40 is in-          his turn in rotation with the other
    The deacons' meetings are to be            tended to be a reminder to the dea-          elders in attending the deacons' meet-
formalmeetings. Thedeaconsarenot               cons of their absolute dependence            ings:
merely to meet informally as may               upon God in carrying out the work of             The deacons' meetings fall under
become necessary, perhaps after a              their office.                                the supervision of the elders. As
Sunday worship service or before the               In addition, this provision also         much as the minister and his work
consistory meeting. But these are to           serves to protect the spiritual nature       and the work of each elder and com-
be official meetings. They ought to be         of the work of the deacons. Their            mittees of elders falls under the su-
held on a set date, at a set time, in a set    office is not just the distribution of       pervision of the consistory, so does
place. The meetings ought to be pub-           money. But their office is the admin-        the work of the deacons. For this
licly announced in the church bulle-           istration of the mercies of Jesus Christ.    reason Article 23 specifies one of the
tin. Minutes of the meeting are to be          The deacons are in much need of              duties of t>e elders to be "... to take
recorded in a minute book. Officers            wisdom and grace properly to carry           heed that . . . the. deacons faithfully
are to be elected and function at the          out this important work in Christ's          discharge their office...." And Article
meetings: President, Secretary, Vicar          church.                                      25 requires of the deacons that "they
(Vice-All or General Adjunct). An                  There are distinct advantages to         shall render an account in
adopted agenda ought to be followed.           holding separate deacons' meetings.          consistory... N of their distribution of
    These meetings have as theirpur-           One advantage is that the deacons are        benevolence.

258jStandard  BearerJh!arch 1,1994


        For this reason an elder must al-     title 30, II... also elders and deacons,               1. Matters of Christian disci-
ways be present at the deacons' meet-         who, together with the pastors,gform               pline.
ings. He has only advisory vote, that         the council of the Church . . . . II Other             2. Oversight of the preaching
is, only the right to speak. He is to         names for the council include: the                 (including catechism classes) and the
serve the deacons with his counsel, as        general or fullconsistory-inDutch,                 administration of the sacraments.
well as report to the next consistory         breede kedceraad.                                      3. Confessionsoffaith,requests
meeting.                                           Generally, the division of labor              for baptism, admittance to the Lord's
                                              willbe in line with the peculiar offices           Supper, membership transfers.
Division of Labor                             in which the officebearers labor. This                 4. Family visitation.
        When separate deacons' meet-          means that the deacons' meetings will                  5. Decisions respecting del-
ings are held, the following names are        deal with matters of benevolence, the              egates to the broader assemblies.
the best to designate the various bod-        elders' meetings (consistory meetings)                 6. Report of elder present at the
ies in the local congregation. First,         with the oversight of the congrega-                deacons' meeting.
there is the consistory. This is the          tion. And the council meetings will                    7. Visits to sick, aged,and wid-
rulingbody of the minister(s) and the         deal with those matters common to                  ows.
elders. The articles of the Church            the labors of the officebearers in the                 Council meetings:
Order  that speak of the "consistory"         local congregation.                                    1. Financial reports and mat-
refer always to the ministers and the              The followingis a suggested divi-             ters pertaining to the general finances
elders, in distinction from the dea-          sion of labor.                                     of the congregation,
cons. (Cf., for example, Articles 4,5,             Deacons' meetings:                                2. Various standing committee
10,37.) Othernamesfortheconsistory                 1. Counting of offerings.                     reports.
include: elders' meetings, restricted              2. Matters ofbenevolence in the                   3. Matters dealing with build-
consistory  - in Dutch,  smalle               local congregation.                                ing, grounds, and property.
kerkeraad.       Second, there is the              3. Other matters ofbenevolence.                   4. Nomination of officebearers.
diaconate, orbody of deacons. Third,                    a. Sister churches.                          5. Calling of a minister.
there is the council. This is the body                  b. Other causes.                             6 .   Matterstobebroughtoncon-
of minister(s), elders, and deacons                4. Visits to sick, aged,and wid-              gregational meetings.
combined. This is the designation of          ows.                                                   7. Annual church visitation.
the Belgic  Confession of Faith, Ar-               Consistory meetings:                              8.  Censura Morum.  0





            The Fear of Single  Life

        "Let's talkabout dating!" was the     order that our Sunday School could                 est fears a Christian young person
suggestion I made at the beginning of         practice for its Christmas program. It             faces is: Will God fulfill my desire to
one of our Young People's meetings.           probably should have been pursued,                 marry? Here is the hard fact: Most of
There followed a little laughter and          and perhaps still can be - in all our              us, but not all of us, are going to find
then silence.                                 Young People's Societies. But then,                a life's mate. There maybe some who
        "OK, let's talk about not dating."    maybe it is too touchy a subject. Dat-             are not so much troubled by that,
A little more laughter and some more          ingis a difficult area of life. It is fun . . .    because marriage is to them not such
silence.                                      and yet it can cause plenty of heart-              a vital part of life. But, to most, the
        We never did pursue the subject,      ache. There are rules, both spoken by              prospect of never marrying is a pain-
since our meeting was canceled in             parentsandunspokenbypeers...and                    ful one. I want to marry . . . but per-
                                              yet there are no rules. "All is fair in            haps I willbe  one of those who are left
                                              love and war!" - so it is said.                    behind.
                                                   But if heartache belongs to those                 Neither is this a foolish or unwar-
Rev. Bruinsma is pastor of First Protes-      who date, even more is this true of                ranted fear. It is not one the answer to
tant Reformed Church in Holland, Michi-       those who would like to date but                   which is: "Oh, come on; what a silly
gan.                                          seldom, if ever, do. One of the great-             thing to worry about!" It is a legiti-

                                                                                                             March 1,1994lStandard Bearer1259


mate fear because it flows out of the             the marriage bond. They take seri-                Are there solutions to this fear of
noble and highly honorable desire to              ouslythe WordofGodwhenitteaches              living single? Yes. Maybe not exactly
find a godly spouse with whom we                  them, "He that findeth a wife, findeth       the solutions we are looking for, but
can establish a covenant home and                 a good thing, and obtaineth favor            solutions nonetheless.
family. In contrast to the wicked who             with the Lord" (Prov.  18:22).  Or,               These solutions are not to be
would rather live in wantonness and               "God setteth the solitary in families"       found, however, in some of the sinful
fornication, covenant young people                (Ps. 68:6). So, the desire to marry is       ways which spiritually weak young
want to marry because they see in                 noble and good.                              people in their insecurity might pur-
marriage security and happiness.                      But though it may                                        sue to avoid the possi-
They have witnessed that in their                 be one's desire to marry,                                    bility of living a single
own families. They have observed                  it is not always the will                                    life. In the first place, the
the love of God in the various rela-              of God for him or her to            But though               solution is not to be
tionships found within the home.                  marry.                           it may be one's             foundinpopularity. Too
They have been a part of a home and                   This can happen in           desire to marry,            often a young person
family where mother and father love               the life of a young man,        it is not always             convinces himself that if
each other and bestow that same love              f&t of all. He may re-           the will of God             only he can be
on th&r children. They reflect on the             peatedly ask for dates                                       popular,then he will be
good times they had in their own                  and be turned down. Or            for him or her             abletogooutonallkinds
family, even though they may not be               he may go out on dates,              to marry.               of dates with whomever
too quick to admit it. Covenant youth             yet find that it never                                       he pleases. Somehow he
see for themselves, firsthand, what               seems to "click" with                                        must impress his peers
hasbeenpreachedtothemfromchild-                   him and his dates. He then becomes           and show them that he is "bad." If I
hood on, that God chooses to carry on             discouraged and dates less and less.         am a young man I might reason to
His, covenant friendship in the gcn-              As he grows older there are fewer.           myself,the guys that seem to get all
erations of believers. For that reason,           young women available to date (Or            the ti hot" girls are the ones who throw
in the heart of covenant youth is the             are there? Maybe he should open his          parties, get drunk, and even go so far
`knowledge that marriage is the first             eyes!), and as a result he begins to fear    as to commit fornication. That must
step to a life of happiness and content-          that the single life is in store for him.    be the solution to finding a girl to
ment. As active members in the church                 The scenario is worse in the case        marry. Or, if I am a young woman, I
they want a piece of that inheritance             of a young woman. A young man has            might be led to think that the only
which God gives to covenant fami-                 a job and career he can pursue which         way I am going to catch a guy is by
lies.                                             will keep him busy enough. A young           doing these same things. I have to act
         Now, it is true that there are le-       woman, however, may go through               as if I am enjoying myself at these
gitimate exceptions to this rule. The             high school with no other desire but         drunken bashes. I might even have to
apostle Paul was one of them. He saw              to marry. But no one asks her out. Or        give myself to the sinful lusts of some
no necessity in his life to marry; and            if a few do, then these do not ask her       ego-inflated goon who likes to brag
the Lord used him mightily as a single            again. All of a sudden she finds             about his exploits, because if I do not
man. In fact, Paul went so far as to              herself out of high school, somewhat         I may be left behind. No one is going
render this advice to single men in I             out of circulation, and still with the       to want me in the end and I will never
Corinthians 232-33:  "But I would                 simple desire to marry and raise a           get married!
have you without carefulness. He                  family. She becomes discouraged and               This certainly is not a solution!
that is unmarried carethfor the things            oftentimes desperate. What should            God will not bless young people who
that belong to the Lord, how he may               she do? How frightfullife seems to be        walk in this sinful way. And even if
please the Lord: but he that is mar-              with no prospects of marriage on the         they get married these sinful actions
ried careth for the things that are of            horizon.                                     will haunt them the rest of their mar-
the world, how he may please his                      What often complicates all of this       riedlives. And, believe me, these sins
wife." This same advice Paul gives to             is that these young men and women            of youth can be awfully painful to a
young women inverse 34 of this chap-              begin to judge their value as a person       child of God who later in life comes to
ter. There are those, therefore, that             in light of whether they are married         a deeper understanding of how hor-
for one reason or another choose not              or not. They begin to feel inferior,         rible these sins were!
to marry. These have no fear of single            worthless, and undesirable. "Why                  Is it not true, however, that even
life, but on the contrary view it as              doesn't anyone want me? Am I that            though we may not be those who go
favorable.                                        bad? What did I do wrong? And                to such an extreme, nevertheless we
         But it is safe to assume that this is    what can I do to change things? There        still view.popularity  as a solution to
the exception to the rule. Most young             is no way I want to go through life          living a single life? We find ourselves
people, both men and women, look                  single!" How hard and long we can            attempting to climb this ladder of
forward to a rich, rewardinglifewithin            agonize over such questions!                 popularity no matter what the cost to

26iYStandard Bearer/March 1,1994


      others, and no matter whom we hurt                   less than the spiritual best! You may         will of God. How bitter we can be-
      and shun in order to gain a higher                   not fully understand it now, buttake          come at times when acertainrelation-
      place on that ladder. We look down                   it from a pastor who has had to deal          ship does not work out the way we
      on the "geeks" of our class and join                 with damaged and broken marriages:            want it to. How bitter we can become
      our classmates in making fun of them.                You do not want to settle for an unbe-        toward the person who broke off what
      Maybe we feel this boosts our own                    liever or one who is so spiritually           we thought might have been a good
      popularity. Then, too, perhaps we                    weak that you and your children will          relationship. How bitter we can be-
      are not willing to go to the sinful                  suffer untold heartache and pain!             come with God. "Why does not my
      extremes of others, but we are willing               Especially is that true when we con-          dating life seem to go the way I want
      to compromise our own principles                     sider that marriage is for life! This is      it to?" Don't you understand, that
      when our peers pressure us to walkin                 not a solution to single life. Single life    when we say this we are not viewing
      sin with them. We simply cannot                      is a thousand times happier than              the situation through the eyes of faith?
      refuse them when they press us to go                 marriage to an unbeliever!                    Faith looks away from ourselves and
      with them to movies, a bar, or what                      The true solution to our fears can        at God, and ultimately rests in His
.     have you. After all, if we do not go            be found in one unshakable truth:                  willforus. Iknowthatdoesnotmake
      with them, then ute will be considered               that whatever God sends us in this            life easier, but it does give us content-
      a geek, and then we will probably               valley of tears He will turn to our                ment in our way. God's will is being
      never get a date. There has to be alittle            advantage (Heidelberg Catechism,              done for us.
      compromise of our faith, we feel, be-           Lord's Day 9).                                         DonotforgeteitherthattheLord's
      cause this is the only way we are                        Ah, yes, your response is antici-         will for some is that they remain single
      going to be able to catch a guy or girl.        pated: "Those are nice words and I                 their whole life (Matt. 19:12).  This
      And often times (sad to say) this does          believe them, but that does not allevi-            means that God has a purpose for that
      land us that date. But if we think this         ate the pain and the hurt I feel. That             person us a single person in His church.
      is the solution to securing for our-            does not alleviate my fear that I may              IfGod'swillforusistomarry,Hewill
      selves a husband or a wife, we are              be single my whole life when I do not              show us in due time. But until that
      wrong. Can we truly expect God to               want to be." I know. But, is this not              time we must labor to find our pur-
      bless us when giving in to sin and              where our faith really kicks in? First             pose and place in God's church. A
      going places and doing things He tells          of all, we have to take to heart what              single person is, after all, a valuable
      us not to do? This will not assure us           Jesus teaches us in Matthew 6:34:                  and necessary part of the church of
      of a life's mate; it will only serve to         "Take therefore no thought for the                 Jesus Christ. God has placed in the
      leave scars that we will carry with us          morrow: for the morrow shall take                  body of Christ all kinds of members,
      all our lives.                                  thought for the things of itself. Suffi-           each having his own function and
          One other solution that manyfool-           cient unto the day is the evil thereof."           place in the particular circumstances
      ish young people may seek, espe-                This calls for patient, quiet persever-            of life in which God leads them. As
      cially as they grow older, is to lower          ante. We may not look at the future                members of Christ's body we all have
      their standards in what .to expect in a         and fret and worry about what may                  animportant function, no matter who
     life's mate. For fear that they will             or may not happen. Faith leaves the                we are. The church would be incom-
     never marry, a young                                                future in the hands of          plete without us.
     woman or man may                                                    God.                                Never ought the fear of being
      settle for something less                                              As young men and            single turn us from our place and
     thanaGod-fearingmate.                 Single life                   women we must con-              function in the church. Never ought
      Oh, they may start out                       is a                  tinue to live for Christ        thatfeartakeawayourjoy.Godknows
     with high spiritual stan-         thousand times                    and remain faithful to          what is best for us. And when we are
     dards, but as time goes            happier than                     His cause and kingdom           burdened, then we must cast ourbur-
     on and there are no suc-                                            in this world. We must          dens on the Lord, knowing that He
     cessful dates then that               marriage                      rely on God. If it is His       will sustain us. With that confidence
     young person begins to                   to an                      will for us to marry, He        all our fear will fade away and be
     lower those standards.               unbeliever!                    will guide the events of        replaced by thankfulness. How is
     They may even consider                                              our lives in such a way         that possible? Because when we trust
     an unbeliever as a pos-                                             that we will meet and           in God He will make us realize that
     sible mate.        Young                                            marry that young man            single life also can be as fulfilling as
     people, you are precious in the sight            or woman He has chosen for us. We                  married life and can bring us great
     of God! You have been bought with                need not fear. Nor ought we to force               reward.  o
     a great price, the precious blood of             the issue. We must simply follow the
     Jesus Christ,and are therefore of great          Lord's guiding.
     value to God. Never ought you to feel                     And that points us to another act
     so worthless as to settle for something          of faith: simple, childlike trust in the

                                                                                                                 March 1,1994/Sfandard  BearerD61


What is Faith? by J. Gresham Machen.         breakdownthefalsedistinctionwhich             to hold to two mutually exclusive
Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth               has been set up between knowledge             teachings at the same time. On the
Trust, 1991. 262pp,  $9.95 (paper).          and faith, and to restore to its proper       one hand, he wants to maintain that
[Reviewed by Steven R. Key.]                 place sound doctrine and the pri-             salvation is entirely the work of God.
                                             macy of the intellect.                        He writes, e.g., on page 173: "The
    This book contains the material              The approach which  Machen                very centre and core of the whole
of a course of lectures which was            takes in this consideration of the bib-       Bible is the doctrine of the grace of
delivered at the Grove City Bible            lical truth of faith is an interesting        God - the grace of God which de-
School in the summer of 1925. There          approach. He develops, first of all,          pends not one whit upon anything
are only eight chapters in this book of      the subject of "Faithin  God," in which       that is in man, but is absolutely
some 262 pages. The chapters, there-         he points to the truth that faith has         undeserved, resistless, and sover-
fore, are somewhat lengthy, giving           substance. Faith lays hold on God             eign." Excellent! But Machen  denies
thorough development to their                who is the Creator-Redeemer who               the very truth of that statement when
themes.                                      reveals Himself to us, and more par-          he writes (p. 143): "Andfaith consists
    One who would contrast faith             ticularly to our minds.                       simply in our acceptance of that won-
with knowledge  - something fre-                 The heading of the next chapter is        drousgift(thegiftofsalvationthrough
quently done today - will be struck          "Faith in Christ." Here Machen  de-           the cross of Christ - SK). When we
by the introductory chapter of this          velops the truth that faith in God            accept the gift, we are clothed, en-
book. This is not a book for one             depends completely upon Christ's              tirely without merit of our own, by
content with a superficial, feelings-        redeeming work There is a serious             the righteousness of Christ . . . . I He
oriented Christianity.                       fault, however, in this section. Here         makes faith, therefore, a condition
    J. GreshamMachen,  Presbyterian          Machen falls into the error of a double-      unto salvation and indeed unto justi-
scholar from the early part of this          track theology. While he emphasizes           fication, a condition that must be ful-
century, begins with a scathing de-          that Godis theFather of some and not          filled by man.. With that we heartily
nunciation of the anti-intellectual ten-     all, he also states that "the door of the     disagree!
dency of his age - something which           household of faithis open wide for all            We heartily agree, however, with
is still pertinent nearly 70 years later.    men to come in. Christ died to open           what he writes on page 180 (which
He confronts what he observed as a           that door, and the pity is that we try        contradicts completely what he had
decline in education, assisted by ab-        to close it by our failure to spread the      written on page 143): "Faith is not
surd teaching theories and general           invitation throughout all the world"          regarded in the New Testament as
laziness in learning. This growth of         (p. 86). There is, therefore, a failure to    itself a meritorious work or a merito-
ignoranceis a detriment to the strength      show the relationship between faith           rious condition of the soul; but it is
and stability of the church. Prior to        and sovereign election. Furthermore,          regarded as a means which is used by
developing the truth that our Chris-         there is a failure to develop faith as        the'grace of God: the New Testament
tian faith must have substance,              the work of God in His people.                never says that man is saved on uc-
Machen writes:                                   This error, sad to say, surfaces          count@hisfaith,  butalwaysthatheis
                                             againin the subsequent chapters, and          saved through his faith or by means of
  . ..In one sense, indeed, we are tradi-    runs as a current through the ,book.          his faith; faith is merely the means
  tionalists.... But on the whole, in        Machen  fails to understand the dis-          which the Holy Spirit uses to apply to
  view of the conditions that now ex-        tinction that our Heidelberg  Cat-            the individual soul the benefits of
  ist, it would perhaps be more correct      echismmakes,e.g.,betweenthebond               Christ's death" (emphasis is
  to call us "radicals" than to call us
  "conservatives." We look                   or power of faith which God estab-            Machen's).
                               not  for a
  mere continuationof spiritualcondi-        lishes when He grafts us into Christ,             In spite of the above-mentioned
  tions that now exist, but for an'out-      and the activity of faith.                    inconsistencies and errors, which are
  burst of new power; we are seeking             The focus of the book is entirely         certainly serious, the discerning
  in particular to arouse youth from its     upon the activity of faith. And al-           reader can certainly gain much from
  present uncritical repetition of cur-      though one could certainly write a            this volume. Reformed pastors are
  rent phrases into some genuine ex-         book on that aspect of faith, the fail-       encouraged to read it prior to preach-
  amination of the basis of life; and we     ure to grasp clearly the idea of faith as     ing from Lord's Day 7 of the Heidel-
  believe that Christianity flourishes       a work of God leads to the error of
  not in the darkness, but in the light                                                    berg Catechism.
                                             makingfaith theworkofman. Thatis                 `The book also has a thorough
  (P. 13).                                   the unavoidable consequence of                subject and textual index, a feature
    Thus Machen  points out that one         double-track theology - double-               which is always appreciated by this
of the chief purposes of this bookis  to     track, because Machen  himself wants          pastor. Cl
262fSfandard Bearer/March 1,1994


                                              gregationaswellasvisitorsfromother          Christian High School's P.T.F.A., in
Congregational Activities                     congregations on Sunday evening,            Grand Rapids, MI, members were
        Before we go any further into this    January 30.                                 able to meet together and hear Dr.
issue of the "News," there is one up-                                                     Leroy Stegink, the head of the Educa-
date that should be made from the             Young People's Activities                   tion Department at Calvin College,
February 15th "News." That is that                The Young People's Society of           speak on the timely topic, at least for
the date set for the organization of the      our First PRC in Holland, MI recently       Michigan residents, "School Reform
Bauer group has been moved back to            discussed a timely topic for after-         in Michigan and How It Affects the
the 2nd of March. That's one week             recess. They took a long hard look at       Schools."
later than was reported here last time.       contemporary gospel music.                      The P.T. A. of our Hope PR Chris-
        The consistory of our Hope PRC            Several of our other Young              tian School in Grand Rapids, MI, met
in Walker, MI recently extended an            People's Societies have been busy           together on February 3 to hear Rev.
invitation to young adults and young          these past few months with projects         W. Bruinsma speakon the topic, "The
married couples of other area PR              to help raise funds for this year's YP      New Age Movement."
congregations to join them in their           Convention. The youngpeoplein our
Monday evening Bible Class led by             First PRC in Edgerton, MN spon-             Ministerial Activities
Prof. Hanko. The present discussion           sored a soup supper in December.                The congregation of our
is on prayer.                                 Southwest  PRC's young people held          Loveland, CO PRC has extended a
        The young singles of our              a pancake breakfast in mid-January.         call to Rev; R. Dykstra to become their
Grandville, MI PRC met recently af-           And the young people of our Lynden,         next pastor. Rev. Dykstra presently
ter a Sunday evening service to dis-          WA congregation, this year`s host           serves our churches as pastor of the
cuss a pamphlet by Prof. D. Engelsma          society for the convention, sponsored       Doon,  IA PRC.
on the covenant. Nothing very un-             a hostess dinner for the enjoyment of           We also want to extend our con-
usual about that-except for the fact          their congregation.                         gratulations to Seminarian Allen
that Prof. Engelsma was also there, to                                                    Brummel and his wife, Crysta, on the
help lead the discussion and, pre-            Evangelism Activities                       birth of their first child, a son, Dean
sumably, to answer any questions                  The Evangelism Society of our           Ray, born January 23.
that might arise about what he had            Byron Center, MIPRC invited all area
written.                                      congregations to attend a meeting                        ffoodJFor ?7iou~ht
        The Consistory of the Hope PRC        after their evening service on January          "My whole outlook upon every-
in Redlands, CA recently decided that         23, to hear Mr. DanVanderKlokspeak          thing that happens to me should be
the elders will now come to the front         about work he has done at the Kent          governed by these three things: my
of the church to shake hands with the         County Jail. Visitors were encour-          realization of who I am, my conscious-
minister immediately following the            aged to come with questions.                ness of where I am going, and my
benediction. The purpose for this                                                         knowledge of what awaits me when I
change, prompted partly by sugges-            School Activities                           get there." 0
tions from members of the congrega-               At the last meeting of Covenant                           D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
tion, was to make for a more visible
presence of the elders at the worship
service, especially in their signifying
by a handshake with the minister
their agreement with the Word                   RESOLUTlON.OF SYMPATHY                                     NOTICE!!
preached. The elders will also take               The Adult Bible Society of Faith            All standing and special commit-
part in greeting the congregation at          Protestant Reformed Church wishes           tees of Synod, as well as individuals
the door after the worship service.           to express its sympathy to Mr. and          who wish to address Synod 1994, are
        The Choral Society of our             Mrs. Robert Noorman in the death of         hereby notified that all material for the
Grandville, MI PRC presented a pro-           his brother,                                1994 Synod of the Protestant Re-
gram for the enjoyment of their con             MR. HAROLD NOORMAN.                       formed Churches should be in the
                                              May they take comfort in Romans             hands of the Stated Clerk no laterthan
                                              `8:28: "And we know that all things         April 1. Please send material to the
                                              work together for good to them that         Stated Clerk:
Mr. Wigger is an elder in the Protestant      love God."                                               Rev. M. Joostens
Reformed Church of Hudsonville, Michi-                        Rev. K. Koole, President            2016 Tekonsha S.E.
gan.                                                           Jan Talsma, Secretary           Grand Rapids, MI 49506.

                                                                                                   March 1,1994/Standard  Bearer/263


   BH!                                                                                                                 SECOND CLASS
                                                                                                                       Postage Paid at
                                                                                                                       Grandville, Michigan
   P.O. Box 603
  Grandville, MI 49468-0603


      TEACHERS NEEDED!!!                              WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                                  IN MEMORIAM
    The Board of the Reformed Heri-             On March 1,1994 (February 29)                       On January  17,1994, it pleased
tage Christian School Association is           MR. and MRS. HENRY KAMPHUIS                      our heavenly Father to call our be-
inviting applications for  a  full-time    celebrated 50 years of marriage. We, rejoice         loved father, grandfather, and  great-
teacher/administratorposition (grades      with them, and thank God for the many years          grandfather,
1-8) which will begin in August of         they have shared, We thank them for their                    SIMON ONDERSMA,
1994. Applicants for a second  full-       covenant instruction through the years and           to his heavenly home.
time teaching position are sought as       pray for God's continued blessing on them                "Thou shalt guide me with thy
well. Successful applicants must be             "But the mercy of the Lord is from ever-        counsel, and afterward receive me to
committed to the Reformed faith, bib-      lasting to everlasting upon them that fear him,      glory" (Psalm 73:24).
lical inerrancy,  6-day creation, male     and his righteousness unto children's chil-          # Gordon and Elaine Ondersma
headship, the antithesis between           dren" (Psalm 103:i 7).                               +$+ David and Nancy Ondersma
Christianity and the world, and  cov-      $z Roger and Phyllis King                            9 Harvey and Marilyn Holstege
enantal theology. Teacher certifica-       9 Roger Kamphuis                                     % Raymond and Barbara  VanTil
tion and experience are strong pluses.     9 Jim and Beverly Langerak                                 21 grandchildren
Applicants should send a letter of         $$ Don and Mary Kamphuis                                   13 great-grandchildren
application and resume to either: David    $+ John and Sally Kamphuis                                                       Hudsonvllle, Mlchlgan
Kloosterman, 5630 Powderhorn,              # Bob Kamphuis
Kalamazoo, Ml 49009 (phone: 616-           * Dan Kamphuis                                                        NOTICE!!
375-5751), or Curt Veldman, 3503           8 Tom and Irene Kamphuis                                 All students enrolled in the Prot-
Huron, Kalamazoo, Ml 49006 (phone:                    31 grandchildren                          estant Reformed Seminary, who will
616-344-2998).                                        7 great grandchildren                     be in need of financial assistance for
    Our association plans to open a                                            QrandRapkb,MW    the coming school year, are asked to
new Christian school in the fall of                                                             contact the Student Aid Committee
1994. We are explicitly committed to                     TEACHER NEEDED!!1                      Secretary, Mr. Larry Meulenberg,  O-
the Three Forms of Unity, and to                The Protestant Reformed Christian               342 Begole St. S.W., Grand Rapids,
biblicaldoctrinessuchasaredescribed        School of Loveland, Colorado is accepting            Ml 49504. (Phone (616) 453-8466.)
in the teacher qualifications listed       application for a4-6th grade teaching position       This contact should be made before
above. Our association is composed         for the 1994-1995 school year. Those inter-          the next scheduled meeting of March
of parents and individuals from Inde-      ested in applying should send their applica-         17,1994,  D.V.
pendent Reformed, Protestant Re-           tion to the school: 705 E 57th St:; Loveland,                         Student Aid Committee
formed, Orthodox Presbyterian, and         CO 80538; or contact Glen Griess: (303) 869-                 Larry  Meulenberg,  Secretary
Christian Reformed congregations.          4835 or Ron Koole: (303) 667-9440.
                                                                                                  RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
       TEACHER NEEDED!!!                         RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                             The Adult Bible Society of Faith
    Covenant Christian High School              We would like to express our Christian          Protestant Reformed Church ex-
is urgently seeking applicants `for        sympathy to Uncle Rich andAunt  Betty Bloem          presses its sympathy to Mr. and Mrs.
teaching positions for the 1994-l 995      and Jan and Keith Gott in the death of our           Hat-v Holstege and family in the pass-
school year in the following areas:        cousin,                                              ing of his brother,
Science, History, English, and Choir.                   JAMES DAVID BLOEM,                             MR. JAY HOLSTEGE.
Consideration will be given to both        who was taken to his eternal home on Febru-          May they take comfort in the truth that
part-time and full-time applicants.        ary 4,1994.                                          "God shall wipe away all tears from
Those interested should contact                 May you be comforted by the words of            their eyes; and there shall be no more
Agatha Lubbers, (616) 453-5048             Revelation14:13,"Blessedarethedeadwhich              death, neither sorrow, nor crying, nei-
(school) or (616) 458-2057 (home), or      die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the      ther shall there be any more pain: for
Rick Noorman, (616) 457-6087. Ap-          Spirit, that they may rest from their labours;       the former things are passed away"
plicants may send a letter of applica-     and their works do follow them."                     (Revelation  21:4).
tion to the school at 1401  Ferndale                                               Lovingly,                    Rev. K. Koole, President
S.W., Grand Rapids, Ml 49504.                                             The Kuiper family                      Jan Talsma, Secretary
                                                                      nephews and nieces
264/SfandardBearer~arch  1,1994


