A Reformed
Semi-Monthly
Magazine             e!&Lf?!!I
                                  ..  _!  -  `_        ;:.,  _              ,.          1


         Special
    Reformation
          Issue




                    The
             Reformation
                     of
                    1924


                                                     Herman Hoeksema
                                                     (The Reformer of 1924)
                                                            _-         r
                      I     .      '     ;-     -      /,_  _ ,  _  -  ~  .'      ,I
Vol. 72, No. 2
October 2 5,1995


          CONTENTS:                                                                                       October 15, 1995
1                                                                                                                                                        f
          Meditation - Herman Hoeksema
              Jehovah's Goodness .I.............,.....I....I......,.................................... 27
          Editorial - Prof. David J. Engelsma
              The Reformer of 1924: "Doctor of the Covenant" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29                                               ISSN 0362-4692
          Special Articles                                                                                                                                    Beml-monthly, except monthly during June, July, and August.
              T;: Win the Battle But Lose the War -                                                                                                           Publlshed bythe Reformed Free PubllshlngAe.soclatlon. Inc.,
                                                                                                                                                              4248  lvanresl  Ave.,  Gmndvllle. MI  49418.  Second  Clana
                   Common Grace and the Janssen Controversy                                                                                                   Poetage Pald at Qmndville, Mkhlgan.
                        - Prof. Herman C. Hanko . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31    Poalme6ter:  Bend address changes to the Standard Bearer,
              The Preaching of the Gospel: Promise and Command                                                                                                P.O. Box 803. Gmndvllle, MI 42462&K%
                        - Prof. Robert D. Decker . . . ..I...............................................                                            34       EDITORIAL COYMllTEE
              1924 and the Antithesis -A Reaffirmation                                                                                                        EdItor: Pmt. David J. Engelama
                                                                                                                                                              Becretaryz  Pml. Robert D. Decker
                        - Rev. Russell Dykstrq . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..I.I........... 36            ManagIng Edkor: Mr. Don Doezeme
              Reformation of Church Government                                                                                                                DEPARTMENT EDtlORS
                        - Rev. Barrett L. Gritters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..!...... 36       Rev. Wlkur B!ulnsma, Rev. Ronald Cammenga. Pmf. Robert
              "The Development of the Covenant of Grace:                                                                   _                                  Decker, Rev. Me denHaftog, Rev. Cad Heak, Pmf. Herman
                                                                                                                                                              Hanko, Rev. Ronald Hanko, Rev. Jaoon Kortedng, Rev. Dale
                   A Rich, Consistent Reformed View"                                                                                                          Kulper, Mr. James Lentlng, Mm. MafyBeth Lubbers, Rev.
                                                                                                                                                              Thomae  Mlerema,  Rev. Glee VanBaren, Rev. Ronald
                        - Rev. Charles J. Terpstra ..I.II..............,,.,...........................                                               41       VanOverkop,Mr.BenjamlnWlgger,Rw.BemardWwdenberg.
              Where We Stand Today - Rev. Co[nelius  Hanko ,,................,,,.,,,,. 44                                                                     EDmORtAL OFFtCE            CHURCH NEWS EDITOR
          News From Our Churches - Mr. Benjamin Wigger ,,,,,........,.,....**......*.... 46                                                                   The standard  Bearer       Mr. Ben Wlgger
                                                                                                                                                              4240 lvamB6l               8587  4OthAve.
                                                                                                                                                              Qmndville, MI 48418        Hudeonvllle, MI 48428
                                                                                                                                   $I                         BUSINESS OFFICE            NEW ZEALAND OFFICE
          .h  rnW.*d                                                                                                               `!                         me 
                                                                                                                                    r                             Standard Bearer        The Standard Bearer
                                                                                                                                    I                         Don Omezeme                do 6. VanHark
                                                                                                                                                        1     P.O.  Box 603              66 Fraeer  St.
                                                                                                                                                              Qrandvllle, Ml             Walnulomata, New Zealand
             This is our annual Reformation issue of the Standard Bearer. By it we                                                                              484680603
                                                                                                                                                              PH: (616) 521-1480         UNITED KtNQDOM OFFICE
     join in the celebration of Christ's reformation of His blood-bought church in                                                                                   (616) !s&1778       c/o Mr. Jonathan MoAuley
     the 16th century.                                                                                                                                        FAX:   (616)521-3033       164 Church Rd., Qlmtieny
                                                                                                                                                                                         Ballymena, Co. Anblm BT42 3EL
             This great work of Christ, particularly ,in the Reformed branch of the                                                                                                      Northem lrdand
                                                                                                                                                              EDtlORtAL POUCY
     Protestant church, must be carried on, defended, and developed.                                                                                          Every editor Is eolely msponelble for the contenta of hle arm
             There is a great deal of loose talk today about "ongoing reformation,"                                                                           a&lee.  Contrlbutlonaolgenerallnteresttmmourreadenand
                                                                                                                                                              queetbno  for The ReaderA& department are welmme.
     about the necessity of the churches "always reforming." Often, this is in-                                                                               Contitutbns will be llmited  to appmxlmately  300 worda end
`tended to justify novel, grievous departures from the doctrines of the Refor-                                                                                muetbeneatlywrftteno~~~,~m~~~~~.Copy
                                                                                                                                                              deadllnw  are the  first  and  lIttee& of the month. All
     mation.                                                                                                                                                  communkaUono mlatlve to the oontenta should be sent to the
             We in the Protestant Reformed Churches take "ongoing reformation"                                                                                edltodJ onke.
     seriously; .                                                                                                                                             REPRINT POLICY
             The church history of 1924 was ongoing reformation.                                                                                              Permlssbn*herobygrantedfwUlemprlnUngofartldeeInour
                                                                                                                                                              maOazlnebyomerpubllcaUone,pmvlded:a)thateuchmprlnted
             The gospel of salvation by grace alone - sovereign, particular grace -                                                                           aftklee em repmduced In fuY; b) that proper aclmowtedgment
     was defended against the subtle attack on it, in the Reformed sphere, by a                                                                               lo made; c) that a copy of the perkdlcd  In whkh euch repdnt
                                                                                                                                                              appeambeenttooureditoriatofke.
     universal gospel-grace.                                                                                                                                  SUBSCRIPTION POUCY
             The Reformation-gospel (which is the gospel of the Bible) was devel-                                                                             Bub6cdptkn  prka 517.00 per year kl me U.S., uss20.00
     oped. The particularity of sovereign grace of predestination, of the cross,                                                                              elsewhere. Unleee a deflnhe request for dleconUnuance  Is
                                                                                                                                                              mcehfed,  R  lo  aeeumed that the  aubscrilq  wlehee the
     and of regeneration was applied to the preaching of the gospel and to the                                                                                wbecrlptlonto~Unue,sndhewUlbebWledtorronowal. Ifyou
     covenant with believers and their children.                                                                                                              heveachanOeofpddmse,pleasenoUtytheBuslneesOr(lceae
                                                                                                                                                              early a6 pofslble  In order to avokl the Inconvenlenu,  of
             The salvation of sinners under the gospel does not depend upon his                                                                               lntenupted dellvory. lndude  your Zip w Postal  Code.
     acceptance of a well-meant, but powerless offer. The salvation of believers'                                                                             ADVERTIBINO POUCY
     children does not depend upon their performance of a condition.                                                                                          The Standardksuerdoea  not accept oommerclal advertlelng
             Salvation is of, by, and to the triune God and Father of Jesus Christ.                                                                           ot any kind. Announcement6 of dwrch and 6cM evente,
                                                                                                                                                              annivemadee, obkuartea, and sympathy reeoluUc+w will be
     Alone!                                                                                                                                                   placxJforaS10.OOfee.  TheaeshouldbeeenttoUl~Suelneaa
     ,       In this issue, we members of the PRC celebrate the 16th century Refor-                                                                           OMceandahouldbeaccompanledbyVleS10.001ee.  Deadllne
                                                                                                                                                              for announcement6 la at least one month pdor to publlcatlon
     mation in its continuance and development.                                                                                                               date.
             Let no,one take this ill of us.                                                                                                                  BOUND VOLUMES
             Our desire is that other Reformed and Presbyterian Christians, indeed,                                                                           me Bu6lne66 Oflka wlU accept etandlng ordem for bound
                                                                                                                                                              ooplfd6of~eoumntvdume.  Suchordemarefllledaeeoon~
     other Protestants, share these grand truths and their comfort with us.                                                                                      - -
                                                                                                                                                              po6flfp7after completion of a volume yepr.
             Even, should God'will it,.by this special'issue.                                                                                                 16mm  mkxofllm, 35min mlaotllm  and l&mm mlcmtlche,  and
     4                                                                                                                                       -DE              aftkld  co&e are avdlable through Unlvemlty Mkmfllma
                                                                                                                                                              Intematloial.

     26lStandard  Bearer/October X,1995


                   Jehovah's Goodness*
                                              I                                    >f                                                   1

                                                   though in a far inferior degree; but        nally subsisting in the unchangeable
    Tie Lord is good to all . . . but all          in the sense that He is the Sole Good,      Essence of limitless goodness, &ink-
the wicked will he destroy.                        that there is no good apart from Him        ing in the perfect mind, willing with
                    Psalm 145:9a, 20b.             or without Hun. He is the ultimate          the perfect will, are living in abso-
                                                   and .absolute criterion of all good.        lute Self-sufficiency an uninterrupt-
    Emphatically, according to the                 He is not good in the sense that He         ed divine life of purest goodness,
Hebrew original, the poet, who is                  answers to a certain standard of            dwelling in a Light that is never in
the inspired author of this psalm,                 goodness that might be applied to           any wise bedimmed.
puts it: "God is Jehovah."                         Hun, but Himself is the only Stan-              Yea, good is Jehovah!
    The Lord is goodness essential-                dard.of  all that is called good.               Everlastingly, solely, unchange-
                                                       He is good because He is God.           ably good!
lY* Apart from any relation to His                     Very perfection in all His ador-
creatures, conceived all by Himself,               able virtues.
in Himself, for Himself, as the abso-                  Good is Jehovah!
lutely Self-existent, Self-sufficient, in-                                                         Because the Lord is good, the
dependent One, the Lord is good.                                                               absolute good in Himself, He is also
His essence is goodness; His eter-                                                             good to all His creatures.
nally adorable Divine Being is only                    The Lord is good!                           Good is Jehovah to all!
good. Gould we enter into the amaz-                    And because the very Being of               He is the overflowing Fount of
ing profundity and explore the fath-               His adorable Godhead is goodness,           all good.
omless depths of His infinite Being                the Divine Nature in all the glorious           All the good His creatures ever
the deepest depths of the incompre-                attributes thereof is purest perfec-        receive is solely from Him and is
hensible divine essence would reveal               tion and immaculate goodness. Nei-          only good because He is good and
nothing but goodness.                              ther is there any reason of want in         because He assumes an attitude of
    He is the Light and there is no                God why He should need an object            goodness to them. He is full of rich-
darkness in Him. He is Truth, Righ-                unto which to reveal and upon               est benevolence, which He lavishes
teousness, Holiness, Purity, Love,                 which to lavish His goodness. For           in profuse abundance upon all the
Grace, Mercy, and Eternal Life, and                as the Triune God He lives from ev-         wide creation. His goodness  pro-
there is no lie, unrighteousness, de-              erlasting to everlasting the perfect        fuses the silvery lustre throughout
filement, corruption, and death in                 life of infinite goodness in and            the starry heavens and arranges their
Him.                                               through Himself. Never does there           marvelous harmony night upon
    He is Summum Bonum, the High-                  arise from the unfathomable depths          night. His goodness decks the sun
est Good, not in a mere superlative                of His perfect Essence the slightest        with that glorious attire of wondrous
sense, not in a sense that would com-              thought that is not good, perfect,          gold, day after day. His goodness
pare Him with other goods or                       true. Never the faintest thrill of im-      adorns the lily of the field with pur-
goodnesses, that might perhaps be                  perfection is there in the will of Je-      est beauty such as Solomon never
conceived as existing next to Him                  hovah. Never the most impercepti-           possessed and clothes the royal ce-
                                                   ble discord is there in His divine feel-    dars of Lebanon with strength and
                                                   ing. Never is there the tiniest ripple      majesty. His goodness causes the
                                                   of evil on the stream of life flowing       royal eagle to renew its strength as
* Reprinted meditation of Rev.                     from.His divine heart.                      it sweeps the firmament with pow-
Hoeksema from the October  1924*is-                    No shadow of darkness ever              erful wing, and fills the mouth of
sue of the Standard Bearer, v&i. 1,                bedims the light of life, perfect and       the young raven crying to Him for
no. 1, p. 1. This was the first'piece              infinite, of the Divine Family. Fa-         good. His goodness remembers the
printed in the Stuirdurd  Bearer. ,.               ther, Son, and Holy Ghost, each eter-       roaring lion and the chirping spar-

                                                                                                     October l5,199!i/Standard  Bearer/27


row on the housetop. His goodliess            But more must be said.                  tion and be made to partake of the
clothes the meadows in-velvety                Suffering creation, sin and guilt       glorious liberty of the children, of
green and covers the fields with          and misery and death and all the            God!
golden grain. His goodness made           thick darkness from hell only became            Bowels of mercy!
man a little lower than the angels,       the occasion for God to manifest His            The Lord is good to all! His
adds keenness to his mind and             goodness more abundantly.  Dark-            tender mercy is over all His works!
strength to his arm, and fills his        .ness was employed by Him as a
heart with gladness.                      prism through which to resolve the
     Surely, all the works of His hand    pure white beam of His goodness
speak of His goodness.                    into wonderful rays of manifold per-            Good is Jehovah.
     Good is Jehovah to all!              fection. First of all there is, on qcca-        But all the wicked will He de-
                                          sion of sin and suffering, the beauti-      stroy.
                                          ful and rich manifestation of God's             Seemingly there is irreconcilable
                                          wonderful mercy and loving-kind-            conflict here. The Lord is good, and
    Nor is this the last word that is     ness. His tender mercies are over           yet He destroys. Many a sinful mind
to be said about the goodness of Je-      all His works. Radiating from the           will not have it so. Many would
hovah.                                    cross of God's beloved Son, this ten-       dream of a goodness without righ-
    It may be the last in the estima-     der mercy beams its warm glory first        teousness, of a grace without justice,
tion of a natural religion that knows     of all upon, His chosen people,             of a benevolence without holy wrath.
of no sin and speaks of no grace.         whom He loved with love everlast-           And yet, upon closer investigation,
    It might be the last word, had        ing, with a love that is always first.      this apparent conflict disappears,
Paradise not been lost. There in the      Upon them He lavishes His tender            dissolves itself into most sublime
midst of that Edenic virgin beauty        mercy in the blood pouring from the         harmony. He will destroy all the
of creation, in that original state of    heart of His only begotten, and in          wicked because He is good. The de-
unmarred perfection, where sin had        these streams of mercy He cleanses          struction of the wicked, God's wrath
not dropped her stain, and misery         them from guilt, heals them from sin,       upon them, is but another aspect of
had not left her scar, and the groan      redeems them from the power of              His perfect goodness.
of the sufferer  `was  not heard  -       death, comforts them forever for                The wicked are the vessels of
there God's goodness displayed it-        their misery, and makes them heirs          wrath, fitted unto destruction. They
self simply as goodness, overflow-        of a glory unspeakable, of a life in-       are those that love iniquity and hate
ing riches of benevolence, poured         comparably richer, fuller, deeper           righteousness. God is not in all their
upon every creature according to the      than ever First Paradise knew. They         thoughts. They say within their
measure of its capacity.                  taste His lovingkindness and tender         hearts, they express it in their words,
    The single light-beam of God's        mercy, speak of it and sing of it,          they reveal it in their ways - that
goodness had not resolved itself into     `showing forth the praises of Him           there is no God. They are God's
the many-colored rays of His grace,       that called them from darkness into         enemies and children of their father
tender mercy, and loving kindness         His marvelous light. But even as            the Devil. They dwell in darkness
in contrast with His holy wrath and       the awful darkness of sin and mis-          and love it. They crucify Christ and
faultless justice.                        ery spread from the first Adam till         persecute His people. They make
    But sin entered. And in the           it enshrouded an entire groaning cre-       the measure of their iniquity full.
wake of sin came death. And with          ation in its horrors, so the glad light         So are all the wicked.
death followed suffering in all its       of redemption radiates from the Sec-            But the Lord is good. And be-
awful forms, agony of soul and body,      ond Adam, falls first upon the elect,       cause He is good and there is no
pain, sorrow, grief, fear. And the        thence to spread again over the             evil in Him, because He is a light
curse of God was pronounced upon          whole creation. Remembering His             and there is no darkness in Him,
the creature and subjected it to van-     groaning creatures with bowels of           therefore His soul loves the righ-
ity; the chilling breath of a good        mercy and compassion, the Lord              teous and loatheth the wicked, His
God, maintaining Himself in His           stretches the rainbow of an everlast-       face beams with tender mercy upon
goodness over against a sinful            ing covenant over all. His tender           those who love Him but burns with
world, caused the whole creation to       mercies are over all His works.             fierce wrath upon them who love
groan and travail together in pain.           The creature is made subject to         iniquity, He preserves the righteous
And even thus the creature, made          vanity. It is subject to the yoke of        but destroys all the wicked.
subject to vanity, and man in his         bondage. It is travailing in pain to-           The Lord is good. Therefore
guilt bending under the cruel             gether until now.                           there .are in Him bowels of mercy
scourge of suffering and death, are           But in hope!                            and consuming fires of holy wrath!
testimonies that the Lord is good             The whole creation shall be lib-            Hallelujah!  0
and that there is no evil in Him.         erated from the bondage of corrup-

2Wtandard  Bearer/October 15,1995


  @j&g&T                                                                          `,`8          _-                          .-




                 The Reformer of 1924:
           "Doctor of'the Covenant"
                                          I                                  ,                                                         t
                                                                    Life                   34 in 1517).
                                                                                               Although he never engaged in
    In the reformation of the church               Hoqksema  was born near the             graduate study or obtained an ad-
begun in 1924, the reformer was                city of Groningen in the Netherlands        vanced degree, indeed this was im-
Herman Hoeksema. This is not a                 in 1886, the date of the birth also of     possible for him in the press of his
slighting of Henry Danhof and                  Karl Barth. He was the child of a          work, he was a brilliant, well-read,
George Ophoff, the two ministers               broken, poverty-stricken home. His         and highly disciplined preacher,
who were deposed with Hoeksema                 father was an unbeliever, an adul-         theologian, and author.
by the Christian Reformed Church               terer, arid a drunk who abandoned               Hoeksema was a man of many
(CRC). Danhof was influential g                his wife and their four young chil-        gifts. He was physically strong and
developing the doctrines that have             dren. Herman Hoeksema is evi-              athletic, a good ice-skater and a
come to distinguish the Protestant             dence that God establishes His cov-        swimmer who loved to disappear
Reformed Churches (PRC), as his                enant with the children of but one         over the horizon on Lake Michigan
profound treatise of 1920 on the cov-          believing parent (I Cor. 7:14). He is      and remain there for hours. An art-
enant, "De I&e van het Genadeverbond           also evidbnce that God delights to         ist, he wrote poetry, hymns, and
("The Idea of the Covenant of                  make something out of nothing in           moving devotional pieces. His med-
Grace"), clearly shows. But Danhof             His church, thus "to bring to nought       itations in the magazine  of the ref-
soon abandoned the churches in                 things that are" (I Cor. 1:28). It is      ormation, the Standard  Bearer, are
which the reformation would be                 intri$ng  that this child of a failed      the motions of the heart that knows
worked out to go his independent               marriage, who saw firsthand the            the great and good God. They de-
way. Besides, Hoeksema was the                 misery `of the deserted wife and           mand to be published in book form.
more prominent of the two in the               mother, later opposed the Reformed         He was a painter whose oils are
controversy in the early 1920s.                tradition by teaching that marriage        lovely. As an adult, he learned the
    Ophoff was Hoeksema's loyal                isan unbreakable bond, so that even        organ sufficiently to accompany his
colleague from the beginning. In the           the deserted, "innocent" party is for-     singing of the beloved Dutch psalms.
struggle in the early 1950s within the         bidden to reinarry.                            More importantly, he was a
PRC to maintain the reformation, it                A godly mother had powerful            faithful, loving husband and a solid
was Ophoff who clearly saw the                 influence upon her son for his own         family man.
threat to the PRC in the covenant              salvation and for the good of the
theology of Klaas Schilder and who             church of Christ.                                      P r e a c h e r / P a s t o r
insisted that this theology be reject-             Having emigrated to the United
ed, whatever the cost. But original-           States in 1904, Hoeksema sought the            Friend and foe alike recognized
ly it was Hoeksema, five years old-            minigry in the CRC. He was trained         Rev. Hoeksema as a truly great
er than Ophoff, who decisively in-             at Calvin College (then, Calvin Pre-       preacher. His enemies tried to den-
fluenced the younger pastor. Even              paratory School) and Calvin Semi-          igrate the reformation of 1924 as
in the schism of 1953 by which the             nary. In 1915, at the age of 29, he        merely a matter of people mesmer-
gospel of sovereign grace was pre-             was ordained into the ministry in          ized by an orator. There was stir-
served in the PRC, Hoeksema came               the CRC. When the conflict involved        ring oratory in a deep voice from a
to play the leading role. Ophoff was           in the reformation reached its climax      commanding presence. There were
content always to work in the shad-            in 1924, Hoeksema was no brash             also penetrating exegesis, excellent
ow of his towering contemporary.               no&e, but a mature 38 (Luther was          homiletics, and solid doctrine. `J`here

                                                                                                 October 15,lQQS/Standard  Bea&


 was also .the mysterious unction of                    Theologian                    formed truth must have nothing of
the Holy Spirit that alone makes the                                                  anything that smacks like Heynsian
 great preacher.                            If you  ask  me what, in our time,        theology, nor will he ever retrogress
     The power and worth of his             on? people need above alI, in the         into a traditional conditional theolo-
preaching are evident in the pub-           first place, my answer is: Doctrine!      gy."
lished volumes of collected sermons,        If you ask me what they need in               As other theologians were the
e.g., When I Survey . . . . sermons on      the second place, I say: Doctrine!        "angelic doctor," or the "doctor of
the suffering of Christ.                    If you ask me what they need in
                                            the third place, I say: Doctrine!         grace," Hoeksema was the "doctor
     Hoeksema developed his theol-                                                    of the covenant."
ogy in connection with, through, and          This was Hoeksema's published               Within the framework of the
for the sake of preaching.                conviction already in 1921 when he          confessions, Hoeksema claimed lib-
     Never would he surrender his         was still in the CRC.                       erty to differ from the Reformed tra-
pulpit, not even when the synod of            The necessary doctrine was the          dition. He corrected the tradition in
the PRC offered him a full-time pro-      Reformed faith as set forth in the          such doctrines as the image of God
fessorship, so that he could devote       Reformed confessions. Central was           in man; the covenant with Adam in
more time to study and writing. As        the sovereignty of the grace of God         Paradise; and marriage, divorce, and
far as he himself was concerned, he       in the salvation of elect sinners.          remarriage.
was not Prof. Hoeksema, but Rev.          Hoeksema drew out more clearly                  Theologians express their theol-
Hoeksema. All of his lifelong train-      than had been done before the im-           ogy in writing. Hoeksema pub-
ing of men for the ministry in the        plication that grace is particular.         lished, among other works,  Re-
PR Seminary aimed solely at the pro-      Grace both as favor toward men and          formed Dogmatics, The Triple
duction of good preachers for the         as actual power working deliverance         Knowledge (a commentary on the
churches. He had no interest in           is intended for and given to the elect      Heidelberg Catechism),  Believers
theological scholarship for its own       alone. Hoeksema, like Paul in               and Their Seed,  and  Behold, He
sake. This emphasis on preaching          Ephesians 1 and like Christ in John         Cometh! (commentary on Revela-
stemmed from his conviction that the      10, saw salvation in Christ as found-       tion). In addition, he wrote many
preaching of the gospel is the Word       ed upon God's eternal predestina-           pamphlets and brochures. A verita-
of God. He took seriously the Re-         tion.  6. C. Berkouwer has remarked         ble treasure-trove of editorials, med-
formed confession that preaching is       that no one has developed theology          itations, and articles fills the first 41
the chief means of faith, grace, and      consistently with predestination as         volumes of the  Standard Bearer.
salvation. When an ordained man           has Herman Hoeksema.                        Much of this remains untranslated
preaches the Word of truth, Christ            Hoeksema's main contribution,           in the Dutch language. It is now
Himself speaks with His living voice      however, has been the development           time for a PR man, working through
to His church.                            of the distinctively Reformed doc-          this mass of material, as well as
     In the earlier days of the refor-    trine of the covenant. .He explained        many unpublished sermons, to  make
mation, before the demands of             it as a living relationship of fellow-      the theology of Herman Hoeksema
preaching, writing, teaching, and         ship between God and the church in          the subject of a doctoral dissertation.
missions took their toll on his time      Christ. Rooted in God's own triune          This would benefit the PRC and the
and energies, he was an active, ef-       life, it is the goal of the work of sal-    rest of the catholic church.
fective pastor in'his congregation of     vation, not merely a means to final
some 500 families.                        bliss. Hoeksema viewed the cove-                           Churchman
     He was a tireless worker, who        nant in the light of the gospel of
poured himself out for his congre-        grace, teaching that God establishes            On principle, Herman  Hoekse-
gation, the churches, and the truth.      the covenant with Christ and the            ma was not a professional theolo-
Gertrude Hoeksema tells of the 20-        elect in Him and that the covenant          gian, but an ardent churchman. He
hour days and the sleepless nights        promise is unconditional, not depen-        loved the church. He loved her
in her fine biography, Therefore          dent for its realization upon man or        above all in the PRC, but he loved
Have I Spoken. The ingratitude of         his work.                                   Christ's church. He worked in and
many of his congregation and espe-            In the turbulent time leading up        for the church. He founded, guid-
cially of his former students must        to the schism of 1953, Hoeksema             ed, suffered for, and devoted him-
have cut him to the quick in the cru-     told the as yet united churches that        self to a denomination of churches.
el days of 1953, although he never        "the most peculiar treasure of the          As a churchman  - a Reformed
said a-word about it in the years of      PRC (is) their peculiar view of the         churchman - he insisted on, and
my own seminary training under            covenant." Confidently (and accu-           submitted to, the Church Order of
him, 1960-1963, a mere seven years        rately), he stated that "he that has        Dordtihot only as regards the gov-
later.                                    been captivated by this beautiful Re-       ernment of the local church by el-
                                                                                      ders but also as regards the govem-

3OlStandard  Bearer/October 15,1995


ment of the churches by the major              Reformed Ecumenical Synod to send          in the unregenerated, unbelieving
assemblies. No independent, he!                observers to Edinburgh, saying that        world that produces good culture,
The result has been a distinctive,             "we ought to rub shoulders with oth-       so that the church may cooperate
workable, beneficent church polity             er Reformed men."                          with the world and allow herself to
in the PRC, a fine balance of the au-                                                     be influenced by it. Against the first
tonomy of the local congregation                            Reformer                      error, Hoeksema asserted that the
and the real authority of the major                                                       grace of God in the gospel is partic-
assemblies.                                        Against this background of             ular. Against the second, he posit-
    As he had opportunity, Hoekse-             preacher, theologian, and churchman        ed the biblical truth of the antithe-
ma manifested wider interest than              must the reformer of 1924 be seen.         sis.
only the PRC. His effort at reform                 Christ did not use him to reform               As a reformer, he stood. He was
in the early 1920s had the welfare of          a church ravaged by theological            a man of courage.
the-CRC in mind. The CRC rejected              modernism, as was the case with                    As a reformer, he suffered. He
its reformer. But where would the              Machen, although the consequences          was hated, cursed, deposed, isolat-
CRC be today, had it hearkened to              of the error of the common grace           ed, betrayed, and, thus, killed. He
Herman Hoeksema? In the 194Os,                 that Hoeksema fought would be              paid the price.
Hoeksema enthusiastically promot-              sheer modernism.                                   As a reformer, he-is being vin-
ed a conference with the Reformed                  Hoeksema purified the church           dicated, not by men but by God in
Church in the U. S. In the late 1930s          of the'destructive heresy of common        history.  His.warnings and prophe-
and again in the late 194Os, Hoekse-           grace.' He did so in two main re-          cies are fulfilled. It becomes .more
ma extended the hand of fellowship             spects. He condemned the teaching          and more difficult to oppose, or even
to. Schilder, when other Reformed              that God is gracious in the preach-        ignore, the truths that .he proclaimed.
churches in the United States were             ing of the gospel to all who hear,                 As a reformer, he ought to be
at pains to distance themselves from           offering them salvation with the wish      honored for the truth's sake.
the Dutch theologian and even to               that all will be saved. This is the                This, we gladly do. For, with
ostracize him. In the early  195Os,            introduction of the Arminian doc-          many others, we have loved our re-
when some of his colleagues op-                trine of,preaching  into the Reformed      former.
posed the idea, Hoeksema urged ac-             churches. Second, he repudiated the                For the truth's sake. 0
ceptance of the invitation from the            teaching that there is a work of grace                                        - DJE
                                                   .                                 <
                                         -.                                                ~--~~~~&&i&@


                      To Win the Battle But Lose the War -
               Common Grace and the
                  Janssen Controversy
                                         I                                     II                                                        I
    The controversy over the error             pelled from the Christian Reformed                 Prof. Janssen was appointed to
of common grace, which marks the               Church for refusing to express agree-      the faculty of Calvin Seminary in
beginning of the history of our Prot-          ment, with this erroneous doctrine.        1914 after he completed his studies
estant Reformed Churches, did not              Although common grace had been             and earned his degrees from vari-
begin in 1924 when Revs. Hoekse-               taught for some time in the history        ous universitiesin  Germany, France,
ma, Ophoff, and Danhof were ex-                of the Dutch Reformed Churches, it         and the Netherlands. Although he
                                               became an issue in connection with         was a very gifted teacher, and al-
                                               the controversy which swirled              though he had a great influence on
Prof. Hanko is professor of Chu&~&s-           around Prof. Ralph Janssen, profes-        hisstudents, suspicions arose among
tory an> New Testament in the frotes-          sor of Old Testament studies `in           other members of the faculty con-
tant Reformed Seminary.                        Calvin Theological Seminary.               cerning his teachings. His colleagues

                                                                                                    October 15,1995/Standafd  Beam/31


asked the Theological School Com-         of the committee and Synod to ig-        And this human element in inspira-
mittee for an investigation, and af-      nore the question of common grace.       tion became the launching pad for
ter much maneuvering his case was         In fact, so he wrote, because com-       all his erroneous views.
presented to the Synod of the Chris-      mon grace was ignored, the Janssen           Basically, Dr. Janssen firmly be-
tian Reformed Church in 1920. That        controversy was really never settled,    lieved that much of what the Old
Synod exonerated him, but the sus-        even though the Synod of 1922 con-       Testament patriarchs and prophets
picions continued. A study commit-        demned him.                              believed and taught was borrowed
tee, of which Revs. Herman Hoek-              Dr. Janssen was condemned for' from heathen sources. Abraham
sema and Henry Danhof were mem-           teaching higher critical views of        lived in Ur in the middle of hea-
bers, was appointed to study his          Scripture. He, in the judgment of        thens. Moses was brought up in the
teachings and report to the Theolog-      the Synod of 1922, denied the di-        palace of Pharaoh. The nation of
ical School Committee. Although           vine inspiration of Scripture, denied    Israel and the prophets were con-
the committee was divided in its re-      the miracles, and did serious injus-     stantly surrounded by heathen peo-
port, the majority advised that Dr.       tice to important aspects of Scrip-      ple and influenced by them. The
Janssen's teachings were contrary to      ture's truth. All this was, by his       result was that much of Israel's be-
Scripture and the Reformed Confes-        own insistence, on the basis of com-     liefs was received from Babylon,
sions. This report was submitted to       mon grace. When the Synod of 1922        Egypt, and other pagan sources. The
the Synod of 1922, and Dr. Janssen        condemned these views, but refused       creation account came from Babylon,
was found guilty and deposed from         to enter into the question of com-       although it may have been purged
his office of theological professor.      mon grace, it left the latter issue      of some mythological elements by
    It was this controversy which         hanging. `It was that issue which,       inspiration; the law and the Psalms
brought to the attention of the           immediately after the Janssen con-       show Babylonian influences; the
churches the doctrine of common           troversy, arose again in the form of     name "Jehovah" may have come
grace. Dr. Janssen himself was re-        objections to Rev. Hoeksema's deni-      from heathen sources; Israel's be-
sponsible for this. In all his writ-      al of common grace; and the Synod        lief in God was not a pure monothe-
ings in defense of his position he ap-    of 1924, in adopting the three points    ism, but was mixed with pagan poly-
pealed to common grace and insist-        of common grace, opened the door         theistic elements. The stories of
ed that his views would stand or          for Hoeksema's condemnation.             Samson were not historical, but were
fall on the one question of whether           Rev. Hoeksema, after he was set      patterned after the heroes in the pa-
common grace was Reformed.                outside the Christian Reformed           gan world, for Israel needed its hero-
    It is an interesting sidelight of     Church, and when reflecting on the       myths just as the heathen did. The
history that neither the Theological      entire Janssen controversy, spoke        patriarchs' views of the resurrection
School Committee, nor the study           prophetically when he wrote that the     from the dead and the immortality
committee, nor the Synod of 1922,         failure to condemn common grace          of the soul were imperfect and in-
although they were all fully aware        would result in the views of Janssen     complete because they were taken
of Janssen's appeal to common grace       ultimately prevailing. His prophe-       from the heathen who did not un-
in support of his position, entered       cy proved correct, for every view        derstand these things perfectly. And
into this aspect of the case. It was      which Janssen taught concerning          David's desire to build a temple was
not so much as mentioned in all their     Scripture has now been accepted in       nothing but an effort to imitate the
material.                                 the Christian Reformed Church.           temples of the heathen, all of whom
    The reason for this was undoubt-      And, strikingly, often times this has    worshiped in them.
edly that the Theological School          happened with a specific appeal to          Janssen also denied the super-
Committee and the study commit-           the doctrine of common grace.            natural character of the miracles.
tee were divided on that question.            Because of the importance of this    Here his emphasis was on scientific
Revs. Hoeksema and Danhof op-             issue, we must inquire more care-        research. Science gave the clue to
posed common grace,. while most if        fully into what precisely Dr. Janssen    the explanation of miracles, which
not all the other members of the          taught and how he connected his          were to be explained in a natural
committee held to the doctrine. All       teaching with common grace.              way. The walls of Jericho fell be-
seemed to agree that to enter into            Dr. Janssen insisted on an or-       cause of a severe earthquake; the
the question of common grace              ganic view of inspiration as over        manna was not miraculously sent in
would so badly divide the TSC and         against a mechanical view. While         the sense that God directly brought
the study committee that no con-          this was certainly proper (we too be-    it, but it was rather the food found
demnation of Janssen would then be        lieve in the doctrine of organic in-     on bushes which grew in the wil-
possible.                                 spiration and repudiate mechanical       derness; the water from the rock was
    `Rev. Hoeksema later expressed        inspiration), he meant by organic in-    there all the time in the rock, and
regret over this failure and said that    spiration a kind of inspiration which    Moses only happened to hit a thin
it was a serious mistake on the part      allowed room for a human element.        piece of rock with his staff which

WStandard  Bearer/October 15,lQQ5


released the water; the sun and the       Kuyper, Janssen taught that general              Janssen was rightly condemned
moon did not stand still at Joshua's      revelation (God's manifestation of           for his teachings on Scripture; and
command, but reappeared after a           Himself in creation), a product of           the Christian Reformed Church, due
very dark storm or an eclipse.            common grace, gave to the heathen            primarily to the work of Herman
    Because Scripture was not com-        some knowledge of God which Isra-            Hoeksema, gained a victory in a sig-
pletely inspired by God, and because      el borrowed in the development of            nificant battle.
of a human element in Scripture, one      its religion. Thus, although the ele-            But the issue of common grace
had to approach Scripture empiri-         ments of religion found in Israel's          was not settled and was, in fact, ig-
tally, i.e., with the approach of sci-    belief in God were taken from hea-           nored. The result was not only that
ence,  to. discover which parts of        then sources, they nevertheless had          common grace continued to be
Scripture were actually of divine  or-    their origin in God because God, by          taught in the church, but that three
igin. Thus parts of Scripture were        His common grace, bestowed upon              faithful ministers were ousted from
not the Word of God at all.               the heathen these crucial elements           the denomination for denying it.
Ecclesiastes contained the  pon-          of the truth.                                Only two short years after Janssen
derings of a very pessimistic philos-              Janssen's denial of the miracles    was condemned, the Synod of the
opher; the Song of Solomon was            was also connected to common                 Christian Reformed Church  adopt-
nothing but an oriental love song;        grace. Science, so Janssen taught,           ed the very views of common grace
Daniel was not written by the proph-      was the product of common grace              which Janssen used as a basis for
et whose name the book bears; and         because the heathen, full of this            his denial of Scripture.
the Pentateuch was composed by            strange:grace,  could understand God             Herman Hoeksema's prophecy
many different authors, some of           through general revelation. Hence,           was fulfilled. Because common
whom were nothing but editors.            the believer had to accept the prod-         grace was not repudiated and was,
    It is evident that Janssen robbed     ucts of science as God's work and            in fact, ofiicially  adopted and godly
Scripture of its divine character in      receive it into his own faith. As ap-        men deposed and set outside the de-
most of its parts.                        plied to the miracles, this meant that,      nomination, in but a few decades
    But all these views were con-         to do justice to science (the fruit of       Janssen's views of Scripture with all
netted to common grace. In fact,          God's common grace), one had to              their horrible, consequences were
Janssen used the doctrine of com-         explain the miracles in scientific           openly taught in the church and
mon grace as his sole support, and        terms. Creation had to be explained          have now received official sanction
he charged his accusers with deny-        in such a way that it did no violence        within the denomination.
ing what to him was at the heart of       to science, which discovered that the            The battle was won, but the war
the Reformed faith.                       earth was very old. Science has              was lost!
    How did he do this?                   shown that the amount of matter and              There is a lesson from history
    The doctrine of common grace          energy in the creation is constant.          here. Let those who are troubled by
which Janssen embraced was that           Thus, God, having once created,              the apostasy in the Christian Re-
taught by Dr. Abraham Kuyper.             could not and would not create any           formed Church learn this lesson of
One must not conclude from all this       more matter than He created at the           history. Common grace lies at the
that Dr.~Kuyper  would have agreed        beginning. And so the manna was              root of this apostasy. To reform the
with Janssen in his views of Scrip-       already in the creation, for God             church requires that the evil be
ture. He would have,protested  them       could not create something not               plucked out, root and all. 0
vigorously, because Kuyper held to        formed at the beginning. The water
avery strict view of Scripture. Nev-      in the rock had been present from
ertheless, imbedded in Kuyper's           creation, and could not have been                          Bibliography:
views of common grace were surely         created by God at the time of Isra-
the conclusions to which Janssen car-     el's wandering, for this would make          Hanko, H.  A Study Of  The Rela-
ried them.                                a mockery of science. And such mir-          tion Between The V&us of Ralph
    Kuyper believed that the com-         acles as the passage through the Red         Janssen And Common Grace. Mas-
mon grace of God so operated in all       Sea, the fall of the walls of Jericho,       ter's Thesis.
men that sin was restrained by an         and the standing still of the sun,
internal working of the Holy Spirit,      could not contradict the discoveries         Hoeksema, H. "Of Love and Ha-
so that the heathen were able to do       of science,lest  God's work of com-          tred," Standard Bearer 30 (May 1,
good works. Specifically, they were       mon grace be spumed.                         1954): 340-341.
able to know God, retain knowledge            And so, common grace became
of good and evil, do the good in a        the doctrinal root of a vicious and          Hoeksema, H.  The Protestant Re-
measure, and accomplish  .much in         unprincipled attack on Scripture             formed Churches in America,  Second
the way of scientific.advancement.        which left God's holy Word in tat-           Edition. 1947. See especially pp.
    Taking hold of these views of         ters.                                        17-26.

                                                                                                 October 15,1995/Standard  Beam33


                                                     !                ,
              _  -    `.                                                              `I         L%?J&~Do~
                                                                      \!_     -,"                                 I'

   The Preaching of the Gospel:
               Promise and Command
    From the very beginning of their      Arminian' sense, i.e., an offer to all             To this teaching the PRC object on
history and continuing to the             which depends on the free will of                  biblical and confessional grounds.
present, the Protestant Reformed          the hearers. Further, what the Prot-               We shall have to limit ourselves to a
Churches have been accused of             estant Reformed deny is that God is                discussion of the confessional refer-
teaching and defending "hyper-Cal-        gracious to all who hear the gospel                ences and biblical texts cited by the
vinism." Because the Protestant Re-       preaching and that God desires the                 1924  synod.
formed Churches deny that God is          salvation of all who hear the preach-                   Canons II, 5 reads:
gracious to all who hear the preach-      ing of the gospel.
ing of the gospel, that God sincerely         The synod of the Christian Re-                   Moreover the promise of the gos-
desires the salvation of all who hear     formed Church in 1924 adopted                        pel is that whosoever believeth in
the `gospel, and that God freely ofi      three points of doctrine by which she                Christ crucified, shall not perish but
fers salvation to all who hear the        expressed belief in the error of com-                have everlasting life. This prom-
preaching of the gospel, the Protes-      mon grace. The first point as adopt-                 ise, together with the command to
tant Reformed are dismissed by            ed'by the CRC synod of 1924 reads:                   repent and believe, ought to be de-
                                                                                               clared and published to all nations
many as "hyper-Calvinists." It is                                                              and to all persons promiscuously
charged that the Protestant Re-             Relative to the first point which con-             and without distinction, to whom
formed preach only to the elect, re-        cerns the favorable attitude of God                God out of his good pleasure sends
generated sinner, that the Protestant       towards lhumanity  in general and                  the gospel.
Reformed do not believe in missions,        not only towards the elect, synod
and that the Protestant Reformed            declares it to be established accord-
                                            ing to Scriphue and the Confession               This article teaches that the promise
refuse to call everyone to repent and       that, apart from the saving grace of             of the gospel must be preached pro-
believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. My        God shown only to those that are                 miscuously to all pations  and men
esteemed colleague is precisely cor-        elect untp eternal life, there is also           without distinction. It teaches that
rect when he insists, "This is totzil,      a certain favor or grace of God                  the gospel goes where God in His
and usually inexcusable, misrepre-          which He shows to His creatures                  good pleasure sends it. .The content
sentation."' To put it bluntly, the         in general. This is evident from                 of the promise of the gospel, accord-
Protestant Reformed Churches are            the Scriptural passages quoted and               ing to this article, is that whosoever
not guilty as charged. The Protes-          from the Canons of Dordrecht, II,                believeth in Christ crucified shall not
tant Reformed Churches teach and            5 and m/IV, 8 and 9, which deal                  perish, but have everlasting life.
practice missionsvigorously both in         with tbe,general  offer of the Gos-
                                            pel, while it also appears from the
North America and in foreign lands.         citations made eom Reformed writ-
The Protestant Reformed Churches            ers of the most flourishing period               1 David Engelsma,  Hype+Calvinism and
teach and vigorously defend the,            of Reformed Theology that our Re-                the Cd of the Gospel (Grand Rapids: Re-
truth that God calls all men every-         formed writers from the past fa-                 formed Free Publishing Association,
                                                                                             1980),  p. 21.
where to repent of their sins and to        vored this view.j                                2 Anyone who is sincerely interested in
believe in the Lord Jesus?                                                                   what the Protestant Reformed teach and
    What the Protestant Reformed          The latter part of this first point                what they deny relative to the points
Churches deny, and that too most          (sometimes called "the little point of             under discussion ought to read
emph@ically,  is that the preaching       the first point"), "This is evident                Engelsma's book eyper-Calvinism  and
of the  gospkl is an offer in the         from the Scriptural passages quoted                the  Cull   of the Gospel and the doctrinal
                                          and from the Canons of Dordrecht,                  part of Herman Hoeksema's The  Profes-
                                          II, 5 and III/IV, 8 and 9, which deal              tant Reformed Churches in America.
                                                                                             3 Herman Hoeksema, The Profestunf  Re-
Prof. Decker is professor of Practical    with the general offer of the Gos-                 formed Churchesin America  (Grand Rap-
Theology in the Protestant Reformed       pel," is the CRC's official teaching               ids: The Reformed Free Publishing As-
Seminary.                                 of a well-meant offer of the gospel.               sociation, 1947),  p. 317.

WStandard  BearerlOctober  l&i995


Note well that the article presents               pleasures of this world, and pro-         sures of wrath, not knowing that the
the promise of the gospel as strictly             duce no fruit. - This our Savior          goodness of God leads man to re-
particular, for it is to them that be-            teaches in the parable of the sower,      pentance. Thisis true of the ungod-
lieve in Christ, that is, the elect. The          Matthew 13.                               ly,-reprobate   m a n .
gospel is not presented as a general                                                                The synod also cited Ezekiel
offer which can be rejected or ac-              It should be noted that the article         18:23 and  33:ll. These texts read,
cepted at will, but as a command!               speaks of Christ being "offered" in         "Have I any pleasure at all that the
The article certaixily  does not teach          the gospel. The word translated "of-        wicked should die? saith the Lord
that the preaching of the gospel is             fered" is the Latin verb, ofero, which      God: and not that he should return
grace of God to all who hear it.                has as its first and primary mean-          from his ways, and live?" (18:23).
    Canons III/IV, 8 states:                    ing, "to present?`5  With this no Re-       "Say unto them, As I live, saith the
                                                formed person has a problem.                Lord God, I have no pleasure in the
  As many as are  called  by the gos-           Christ is presented in the preaching        death of the wicked; but that the
  pel, are unfeignedly called. For              of the gospel to all who hear that          wicked turn from his way and live:
  God hath most earnestly and truly             preaching. The fault and guilt of           tum ye, turn ye from your evil ways;
  shown in his Word, what is pleas-             the rejection of the gospel by the          for why will ye die, 0 house of Isra-
  ing to him, namely, that those who            reprobate is not God's, nor Christ's,
  are called should come to him. He,                                                        el?"
                                                nor the gospel's, but wholly the sin-
  moreover, seriously promises eter-                                                                These texts do not teach that
                                                ner's. This article does not even
  nal life, and rest, to as many as shall                                                   God is gracious in the preaching of
                                                come close to suggesting that the
  come to him, and believe on him.'                                                         the gospel to the reprobate wicked.
                                                presentation or offering of Christ in       There is no offer of grace and salva-
This article teaches that the calling           the gospel is grace to all who hear.        tion in these texts. In both passages
ofthe gospel is unfeigned. This call-               The CRC synod of 1924 cited             there is a direct statement by the.God
ing is to repent and believe. God is            three passages of Scripture in sup-         of Israel that He has no pleasure in
serious when He sends this calling              port of its contention concerning the       the death of the wicked, but in that
to any man. No man has the right                "well-meant offerl  of the gospel. The      the wicked turn from his evil ways
                                                first, Romans  2:4, reads, "Or
before God to remain in his sin and                                                         and live. In  33:ll this statement
persevere in unbelief. God reveals              despiseth thou the riches of his good-      stands in the form of an oath, "As I
in the gospel what is pleasing to him,          ness and forbearance and long-suf-          live, saith the Lord God," and there-
                                                fering not knowing that the good-
viz., that the ones called should come                                                      fore is no offer, but a most emphatic
to Him. God seriously promises                  ness of God leadeth thee to repen-          divine assertion. Note too that both
eternal life and rest, not to all who           tance?" The text does not say that it       passages are addressed to the "house
hear the gospel, but to as many as              is the intention of God to lead to re-      of Israel," the typical manifestation
believe and come to Him. The                    pentance, but that God's goodness,          of God's church. God, because He
promise of the gospel, therefore, is            forbearance, and longsuffering actu-        has no pleasure in the death of the
strictly particular. Certainly the ar-          ally  leads  to repentance. The apostle     wicked, comes to His church
ticle does not teach that the preach-           is addressing the "0 man" of verses         through the prophet and calls them
ing of the gospel is grace to all the           1 and 3, and "man" here cannot be           to turn from their evil ways and live.
hearers.                                        understood as an individual, for then       By the power of that Word of God
    Canons II/IV, 9 states:                     the text would be saying of the same        the elect do indeed turn from their
                                                man that God's goodness leads him           evil ways and live. What a rich,
  It is not                                     to repentance, while that very man
                the fault of the gospel, nor                                                abiding comfort there is in these pas-
  of Christ, offered therein, .nor of           does not know this, despises that           sages!
  God, who calls men by the gospel,             goodness, and gathers to himself                 No, God is not gracious to the
  and confers upon them various                 treasures of wrath. This is impossi-        reprobate in the preaching of the
  8ifts, that those who are called by           ble. If God's goodness leads a man          Word. God does not come with a
  the minisky of the word, refuse to            to repentance, that man does not de-
  come, and be converted: the fault             spise that goodness. And, if a man
  lies in themselves; some of whom              despises the goodness of God, sure-
  when called, regardless of their                                                          ' The phrase translated "that those who
                                                ly that goodness of God does. not
  danger, reject the word of life; oth-                                                     are called should come to him" is in-
  ers, though they receive it, suffer it        lead him to repentance. We must,            correctly translated as "should comply
  not to make a lasting impression              therefore, understand "man" as a            with the invitation" in some Engl&h  edi-
  on their heart; therefore, their joy,         class, collectively. It is true that the    tions-of the Canons. The Latin  origikl
  arising only from a temporary faith,          goodness'of God leads man, that is,         is, "ut vocati ad se veniant. " (Cf. Philip
  soon vanishes, and they fall away;            elect man, to repentance. It is also        Schaff's  Creeds  of  Christendom,  vol. III;
  while others choke the seed of the            true that man despises the goodness         pp. 565-566.)
  word by perplexing cares, and the             of God and gathers for himself trea-        5 Cf. CasseZZ%  New Latin Dictionary, by
                                                                                            D . P .   S i m p s o n .

                                                                                                      October 15,1995/Standard  Bearer/35


 well-meant offer in the preaching of               heavy-laden sheep Jesus comes with             are not of Jesus' sheep also hear the
 the Word. God's promise isalways                   the command, "Come unto me, I will            voice of Jesus, but they believe not,
 particular. But, most emphatically,                give you rest" (Matt.   11:28).  And          because they are not of His sheep
 God does "command all men every-                   when those sheep hear the voice of             (John  10:25-26).   0
 where to repent" (Acts 1230).  To                  Jesus they come to Him and find
 every single one of His laboring and               rest! (John  10~27,  28). Those who
                                      I-                                     I,/
      ;                   _:                .;.                            - 1;
                                                       -                                                 ~~~'
 1                                                                           ,I     .)     ..;                                    .     -/:

           I.-924 and the Antithesis -
                      A Reaffirmation

      You may not know exactly what                 holy majesty and glory would ap-                   Thus the people of God lived an-
 the antithesis is, but that is not be-             pear in all its radiant beauty if it          tithetically. Abraham lived in
 cause it is new. The antithesis is as             were revealed against the black                Canaan, but as a pilgrim and strang-
 old as the human race. In the dawn                background of sin, death, and hell.            er. Israel lived surrounded by the
 of time God placed .in the middle of              The lines of the antithesis, between           nations, but were enemies of the hea-
 the garden the two well-known trees               light and darkness, would be unmis-            then, separated from them, a holy
-the tree of life and the tree of the              takable.                                       nation of priests consecrated unto
 knowledge of good and evil. God                       By his disobedience, man                   God. The believer's antithetical con-
 set before Adam the daily obliga-                 brought upon himself the horrible              fession is heard in Psalm 139:21,  "Do
 tion to serve God antithetically by               darkness of total depravity, God's             not I hate them, 0 LORD, that hate
 eating of the fruit of the tree of .life          curse, and death. Yet this too was             thee?"
A and enjoying covenant life with                  according to God's eternal purpose                 The antithetical calling is rein-
 God; and, by rejecting the forbid-                to establish His covenant of friend-           forced by the Holy Spirit in II
 den fruit of the tree of the knowl-               ship with:a people chosen and gath-            Corinthians 6, "for what fellowship
edge of good and evil. That is the                 ered out of a fallen and sinful race.          hath righteousness with unrigh-
life of the antithesis ina nutshell -              Thus from Adam and Eve would                   teousness? and what communion
saying `Yes' to God and to all that                come forth two seeds, as God an-               hath light with darkness? And what
He requires, and saying `No' to what               nounced in Genesis 3:15, "And I will           concord hath Christ with Belial? or
God forbids, and to all that opposes               put enmity between thee and the                what part hath he that believeth with
God.                                               woman, and between thy seed and                an infidel? . . . Wherefore come out
      The .antithetical  requirements              her seed; it shall bruise thy head,            from among them, and be ye sepa-
became more pronounced when Sa-                    and thou shalt bruise his heel." God           rate, saith the Lord."
tan came to tempt Eve with a lie                   Himself promised to establish the                  Historically, the church under-
that contradicted God's command.                   antithesis between the two seeds ("I           stood this calling and continued to
Clearly Adam and Eve had the re-                   will put enmity between..."), and              insist upon it, though not without
sponsibility to uphold ,God's  law and             that by making the elect seed of the           periods of inconsistency. The early
to reject Satan's slander. But they                woman to be His covenant friends.              New Testament church rejected- the
failed, turning against God, and join-                 God% plan was now ready to                 flight from the world as advocated
ing with God's enemies. This failure               be unfolded throughout history. His            by the Manicheans. But she gradu-
of man was not a failure of God's                  people, though from the same stock             ally slipped into both world confor-
plan, nor an unexpected turn of                    of Adam as the ungodly, and living             mity on the one hand, and world
events to God. Rather it was sover-                in this woild, would be called to live         flight on the other, in the dark days
eignly determined by God to serve                  antithetically. They must do this, not         before the Reformation.    n
His purpose, namely, the glory of                  by attempting to flee out of this                  God used men like Luther and
His Name. For God knew that His                    world; rather, as they live in and             Calvin to set the church back on the
                                                   among the ungodly seed of the ser-             proper, antithetic path. On the one
                                                   pent, the friends of God are to live           hand, they rejected both the monas-
Rev. Dykstra is pastor of the Protestant           for God, and stand against sin and             tic life of Rome and the Anabaptist
-Reformed Church of Doon, Iowa.                    the ungodly.                                   world-flight. On the other hand,
%/Standard  Bearer/October 15,1995


while rebuking sin in all its forms,       H. Hoeksema entitled, "The Antith-             common. Together we can labor for
the Reformers maintained the total         esis in Paradise." In this and suc-            the building up of the home, of so-
depravity of fallen man. Believers         ceeding issues Rev. Hoeksema ex-               ciety, of the state, of commerce and
were called to spiritual separation        plained the historical development             industry, of science and art.... The
from the ungodly, from their enter-        of the antithesis through Adam, the            calling of God's people to live from
tainment, from their corrupt living.       fall, and the promise of Genesis 3:15.         a different principle than the world
                                                                                          is denied. The antithesis is absolute-
    The Reformed churches estab-           In issues three and four, Rev. B. J.           ly destroyed! We may be in the
lished this teaching in the creeds by      Danhof, in a discussion of the                 world and of the world both, for
maintaining the total depravity of         progress of God's revelation, de-              together we live of the power of
man, the sovereignty of God's grace,       clared and proved that God revealed            common  grace!
and the believer's calling to live a       Himself antithetically. Rev. G.M.
new and holy.life, separate from sin.      Ophoff likewise understood and set                   He remained equally opposed to
    Yet, in the Reformed churches          forth the- importance of the antithe-        world-flight. In the same article he
in the Netherlands, the antithesis         sis over against common grace.               wrote, "But this is not the only way
was significantly compromised by               It is striking that from the be-         in which the principle of the antith-
the theory of "common grace" -the          ginning these men explained the an-          esis is destroyed. It is denied just as
idea that God is gracious to all men,      tithesis in light of God's eternal cov-      well by all those movements that
elect and reprobate alike. This par-       enant of friendship with man - the           would separate themselves from the
ticularly affected the believer's atti-    covenant being the most significant          world in the sense that they would
tude toward the ungodly because            doctrine developed within the PRC.           go out of the world." *
common grace often included the            They also continued to reaffirm the                  But, sad to say, the theory of
thought that the unbeliever could do       truth of the antithesis over against         common grace continued to bear its
good. The question then arises, why        common grace. In a masterful arti-           fruit in the mother church of the
must the believer be opposed to the        cle entitled "Antithesis, Synthesis,         PRC. The first noticeable problem
unbeliever, why cannot they be             and Dualism," Rev. Hoeksema ex-              had to do with the entertainment,
friends? Afterall, God is gracious to      plained his opposition to common             or the "amusement problem." In re-
the reprobate, why cannot the be-          grace, and then added:                       sponse to various overtures, the
liever be the same? And if the rep-                                                     CRC Synod of 1927 appointed a com-
robate can do much good, the Chris-          But we are not so much concerned           mittee to report the next year on
tian should feel at ease to enjoy the        with the criticism and exposition of       movies, dancing, and card playing.
`tgood"  that the wicked produce,            the errors of this conception as with      Rev. Hoeksema was pointed in his
and even join activities to accom-           the  clear fact that  it deskoys the       criticisms, not only because part of
plish common (good) goals.                   antithesis.  If it is true that in this    the report was based on common
    Although these ideas were pro-          present life and with a view to their
                                             earthly                                    grace, but also because he believed
                                                         development God is gra-
posed and believed by many, it was          cious to all, and has a covenant of         the report gave legalistic rules that
not ,until 1924 that a church official-     friendship with all men, what busi-         failed to set forth the antithetical life
ly adopted the doctrine of common           ness have we not to be friends with         required of the believer. In 1928,
grace. In that year the Christian Re-       those,to whom the Lord is gracious?         Rev. Hoeksema predicted that "pres-
formed Church not only formulated           Certainly, the outcry of the poet           ently you may see consistories in-
and adopted the "Three Points of            must be eliminated  from Scripture:         vestigating whether or no a play or
Common Grace," but also deposed             "Should I not hate them, Lord, that         movie is good or bad, in order to
three ministers and their consistories      hate thee? I hate them with a per-
                                            fect                                        determine whether or not anyone
for refusing to sign the same. That                  hatred!" God is the friend of
                                            all,  be it  only for the present and       becomes subject to the discipline of
action was the immediate cause for          with a view to the affairs of the           the church by attending it." And he
the formation of the Protestant Re-         present time. We have no business           added that "within a short time we
formed Churches in America.                 to be enemies of those that are in          will see the day that the whole mat-
    In many ways, the formation of          this life the friends of God. Besides,      ter of the theatre . . . is dropped, or
the Protestant Reformed Churches            do we not live from a common                their frequenting is sanctioned by
m-1924 must be considered a refor-          principle of life in this world? The        some Synod."2 Thirty-eight years
mation of .the church. That is em-          world does good. Not saving good,           later it happened, and .at least part
phatically true in the area of the an-      it is  kue, but good in the sight of        of the, reason why a believer could
tithesis. Early on in the controversy,      God. It does so from the grace of
                                            God wrought in their hearts by the
the founders of the PRC recognized          Holy Spirit of God. Shall we then
the destructive affect of  common           separate ourselves and condemn              l Standard Bearer,  Vol. 4, pages 356,
grace on the doctrine of the antithe-       the good and lovely  worlcs  of the         357.
sis. The first issue of the Standard        world? No, but we shall rather              2 "Dr. Martin Luther on the Stage,`!
Bearer  contained an article by Rev.        unite with them, and do things in           Standard Bearer, Vol. 4, page 198.

                                                                                                  October 15,1995/Standard  Bearer/37


view movies was that "sin is being             Rather the point is that the forma-                    tinues to call all believers to live an-
restrained by common grace."3                  tion of the PRC in 1924 was a needed                   tithetically as covenant friends of the
     Eleven years later the CRC ap-            reforming of the church of Christ in                   holy God. Almost seventy years ago
proved of dancing on the same ba- , this area, among others. The truth                                Rev. Hoeksema wrote:
sis as movies had been. The point of           of the a#itheiis was reaffirmed in
this is not simply to criticize the            1924, and developed in the years af-                     Hence, we must  maintain the anti-
CRC. Rather it is to show that the             ter. But most importantly, it could                      thetic view of life and the world.
denial of the antithesis, by adopting          be, and is yet preached in the PRC!                      God establishes His  covenant with
common grace, has produced these               The antithesis `preached means that                      us antithetically. We cannot serve
disastrous, un-Reformed fruits.                the people of God are called to a life                   Him without rejecting and fighting
     The list goes on. In other areas,         of obedience,  ldving and serving                        mammon. In the world and not of
                                                                                                        the world, living in all the domains
the "good" of unbelievers can be               God, over against the sins of every                      of life, but from the principle of
used by the church to interpret the            age. The entertainment of the world,                     light, condemning the darkness,
Bible. Sociologists can be cited to al-        the friendship with the world, danc-                     such is the purpose of God with
low for homosexual tendencies, de-             ing, movies, w&Idly music, are con-                      His people and our calling, till the
spite the condemnation of the Bible.           demned in the preaching and writ-                        victory is won!'
They can also be used to deny the              ing. Participation in them still results
headship of the man in the home                in personal admonitions from the                       That is the,privilege  of the PRC. May
and church. The conclusions of un-             pastor and elders. The members of                      God keep her faithful. 0
godly scientists on the origin of the          the PRC do not claim to be "better"
earth can be used to interpret Gene-           than other Christians. But the rejec-
sis 1 and make room for eirolution.            tion of common grace by the PRC                        3 Acts of CRC Synod, 1966, quoted
The destruction of the antithesis by           means that sins can still be exposed,                  by H. C. Hoeksema, "Prediction Ful-
common grace bore bitter fruits.               rebuked,  and1 disciplined in her                      filled," Standard Bearer,  Vol. 43,
     Again, the purpose is not sim-            midst. The doctrine of the antithesis                  page 173.
ply to be critical, nor is it to say,          being inseparably interwoven with                      4 "Antithesis, Synthesis and Dual-
"We told you so" to the mother                 the glorious doctrine of the covenant,                 ism," Standard Bearer, Vol. 4, page
church, a ,wicked response indeed.             the result is that the preaching con-                  357.

                                                          . .               .       II      I
                                                                 .     .                                       q+&&&p&~.
                                 `.                 8)                      -       I:     I.'
                                                                                                       `,
                                                                                    (/      _A-                                       I.     :


                                       Reformation of
                       Church Government

    The minister is a heretic. Or schis-       the synod procefd to depose the whole                  aspect of Christ's church, let him
matic. Or walking in disobedience to           consistory? These questions bring out                  only observe the current hierarchy
one of the other commandments. What            the issues of church government in-                    of some Reformed synods, as well
shall be done? Shall the next meeting          volved in the separation of 1924.                      as the (understandable) over-reac-
of classis  proceed to his suspension, and                                                            tion to this abuse of power.
then deposition? Shall the synod exer-             The reformation of 1924 was a                              The PRC hold to the autonomy
cise this discipline? May the  classis         return to the historical and biblical                  (self-rule) of each local congregation.
and synod exercise this authority? . . . If    roots in the church's government.                      While the PRC, faithful to the Re-
the synod advises the minister's               When gatherings of  classis of the                     formed tradition, vehemently op-
consistory to discipline the minister, but     mother church of the PRC deposed                       pose  independentism  (witness our
the consistory ignores that advice, may        ministers and con&stories,  they were                  strong denominational ties and our
                                               guilty of hierarchy  - taking to                       stand regarding the  real authority of
                                               themselves authority and power                         the broader assemblies) we, just as
Rev. Gritters is pastor of the Protestant      which belong to the local congrega-                    strongly oppose  hierarchy -both  the
Reformed Church of  `Hudsonville,              tion alone. For anyone today to                        misuse of the  author@   w&h the
Michigan.                                      think that this is not an important                    broader assemblies rightly possess,
39lStandardBearerlOctober  l&l999


and the taking to themselves of au-          Church in Amsterdam were de-              logic is clear: since the classis has
thority which belongs only to the lo-        posed by the 1886 synod. In the           jurisdiction  over the consistory,
cal congregation.                            CRC in this country,  Classis             classis must be able to discipline and
        The error of the churches early      Muskegon deposed the consistory of        depose consistory members. In addi-
in this century was that of hierar-          Muskegon  CRC  in connection with         tion, because Article 79 requires the
chy.                                         the Bultema heresy in 1918. Dr.           sentence of a neighboring consistory
        The error to avoid in reaction to    Geelkerken (who denied the histo-         and the judgment of classis for depo-
this sin is that of independentism.          ricity of the first chapters of Gene-     sition of a minister, the conclusion
    What was that early error of hi-         sis) was deposed by the Synod of          is reached that these other bodies
erarchy? When the teaching of com-           Assen in the Netherlands in 1926.         discipline  a minister.
mon grace was made official denom-           Because this practice continued in            The logic is clear. It is also mis-
inational dogma by the Synod of              the Netherlands, Rev. Klaas Schilder      taken.
Kalamazoo in 1924, the ministers of          was deposed by these same church-              Article 36 of the Church Order
the churches were called by the Syn-         es in 1944.                               gives to the classis jurisdiction (au-
od to conform their teaching to that             Neither "surprising" nor "justi-      thority) over the consistory, the
dogma.        When the fathers of our        fied" should be the words that de-
denomination refused, Classis  Grand         scribe the discipline of the  PRC's       1  For  this  history,  see  The Protestant
Rapids East, in November, 1924, be-          spiritual fathers in 1924 and 1925.       Reformed Churches in America,  by
gan the process of discipline of the         The actions were violations of Re-        Herman Hoeksema (Grand Rapids, '
Rev. Herman Hoeksema, suspend-               formed church polity, not without         1936, second edition 1947).
ing him from his office ,of minister         opposition in the churches.               2 The question may be raised here, but
of the gospel, and declared the                  All along God's people in the         not answered because it is beyond the
consistory of Eastern  Avenue CRC            churches cried out at the injustice of    scope of this article, whether these min-
outside of the federation of church-         broader assemblies exercising disci-      isters were bound by Article 31 of the
es.  On  January 24, 1925,  Classis          pline. Committed to the truth of          Church Order of Dordt to consider set-
Grand Rapids West deposed the                the autonomy of the local congrega-       tled and binding the synodical decisions
                                                                                       of 1924,  and therefore not agitate
ministers and consistories of Hope           tions, these voices called the church     against them. On the one hand, dog-
CRC (the Rev. George  M. Ophoff),            back to the historic Dutch Reformed       mas  were  declared, and the ministers
and Kalamazoo I (the Rev. Henry              practice which allowed no "broader        called to conform their teaching to them.
Danhof).l                                    assemblies" but only consistories to      On the other hand, Synod of 1924 also
    The stand of the PRC is that no          exercise discipline.                      decided to "urge the leaders of our peo-
classis and no synod has the right               Be clear on the issues here. In       ple, both ministers and professors to
from Jesus Christ to exercise the keys       1924 there was disagreement on the        make further study of the doctrine of
of the kingdom. Only the local con-          question of the rights of classis. But    common grace; that they give them-
gregation and consistory may exer-           already then the disagreement was         selves carefully (sic) of the problems
                                                                                       that present themselves in connection
cise discipline.2                            not over the essential issue. For, al-    with this matter, in sermons, lectures,
    The wrongful taking of power             though one party opposed a classis        and publications." Even if the judg-
by broader assemblies in 1924 was            deposing a consistory, they defend-       ment is made that the public opposi-
only a continuation of a long history        ed the position that a classis may        tion to these synodical decrees was un-
of departure from the right way of           depose a  minkter   or an  elder.  We     justified and sinful, our contention here
synodical behavior. As in all refor-         maintain the issue to be this: may a      is that the classis had no right to exer-
mation, there is a long process of           classis (or synod) exercise the keys      cise the power of discipline to depose
deformation and misbehavior that             of the kingdom at all?                    ministers and consistories.
must finally be corrected.                       In defense of classis and synod       ' This is a long, complicated history that
                                                                                       is worth pursuing. For a beginning
    The history of the church-in the         exercising discipline, appeal was al-     and a good bibliography, see Richard
Netherlands is our history. As ear-          ways made to Articles 36 and 79 of        DeRidder's  "A Survey of the Sources of
ly as 1816 the decrees of King Will-         the Church Order. The decision of         Reformed Church Polity and the Form
iam I gave the synod of the Re-              Classis Grand Rapids West in 1925         of Government of the Christian Re-
formed churches there the power to           read: "Classis Grand Rapids West          formed Church in America," Calvin
discipline officebearers. In 1834,           deposes the aforesaid Consistory by       Theological Seminary Syllabus, 1983,
Rev. H. DeCock,  of Ulrum, was sus-          virtue of its jurisdiction over the       pages 83ff. The development of church
pended by the classical board of             consistory as expressed in Art. 36 of     government in the Reformed Churches
Middelstum, and then deposed by              our                                       of the Netherlands cannot be under-
                                                     Church Order  - `The  Classis     stood apart from the church's relation-
the Provincial Board at %roningen.           has the same jurisdiction over the        ship to the civil government, just as
Thirty-two years later, five ministers,      consistory as the particular synod        Presbyterian distinctives must be under-
forty-two elders, and thirty-three           has over the  classis and the general     stood in the light of the civil  govem-
deacons in the Dutch Reformed                synod over the particular."' The          ment in England and Scotland.

                                                                                                 October 15,1995/Standard  Bear&39


same jurisdiction as the synod has           ify for themselves the right to exer-      right of the Church and her confes-
over the classis.      What often fails      cise discipline.                           sions, help the congregation in the
notice is that the article does not give          This interpretation of Reformed       election of another consistory, but
classis and synod the same kind of           church polity has staunch defenders        the Classis may not act without the
authority that the con&tory  has over        in Reformed church history.                congregation.... The churches in gen-
the congregation  - the authority to              Gisbertus  ,Voetius   (1588-1676),    eral must not do what belongs to
exercise the keys of heaven's king-          one of the young Dutch delegates to        the consistory. According to Re-
dom. The classis has authority, but          the Synod of Dbrdt, staunch defend-        formed Church Right, if the whole
not to discipline the officebearers in       er of ReformedCalvinism  and cham-         consistory is corrupt and there is no
the member churches.                         pion of Reformed church govem-             normal way to rectify it, the power
     That also becomes plain from            ment, supported the right of the syn-      of the church reverts back to the con-
Article 79. Unquestionably, the con-         od to excommunicate a consistory,          gregation, and the denomination can
sistory may not act alone in disci-          but meant by excommunication not           and must then offer help so that an-
pline. The beauty of Reformed                their formal discipline and deposi-        other consistory is chosen in the
church government is the safety of           tion, but the setting of them outside      place of the unfaithful one."'
the multitude of counselors and the          of the fellowship of the churches.              The best known English lan-
mutual supervision of the churches.               Since then, the general Reformed      guage authority on Reformed church
(We grieve that the independent              stand has disallowed the right of di&      order, VanDellen and Monsma's
churches do not really have this.)'          cipline to the `broader assemblies.        Church Order Commenta y, takes the
Without the concurrence of the               Shortly after the hierarchical actions     strong view that, to be true to Re-
neighboring consistory, no  con-             in 1924 and 1925, a Rev. G. Hoekse-        formed principles, no synod and no
sistory member may be suspended              ma (not to be confused with the Rev.       classis may ever exercise discipline
or expelled, and without the judg-           Herman Hoeksema) wrote a pam-              over officebearers.
ment of the classis, no minister may         phlet defending the right of a classis          Standing with us in this are also
finally be deposed. Nevertheless, the        to depose a minister and consistory.       the American and Canadian Re-
consistory suspends and the                  In it, he does our cause service by        formed Churches (Liberated, or
consistory deposes, not the classis          admitting that "Formerly it was con-       vrijgemaakt)   and the Free Reformed
o r   s y n o d .                            sidered fundamentally unreformed
     Defense of synod's authority to         to depose a consistory, through clas-
exercise discipline, in spite of the fact    sical or synodical  action."    Refer-     4 As they are constituted-now,  the broth-
that Article 79 does not give this au-       ring to the deposition of the heretic      ers and sisters in the newly forming con-
thority, on the reasoning that the           Dr. Geelkerken, Rev. G. Hoeksema           gregations that have separated from an
Church Order does not address it-            said, "The synod of Assen has done         apostate mother church are less Re-
self to all the possible situations that     what the authorities in the Nether-        formed with regard to church govem-
might arise, is weak. The authority          lands had, since the time of the           ment than the congregationalists, if con-
                                                                                        gregationalists  can be considered Re-
to depose an officebearer is no small,       Doleantie, condemned as hierar-            formed at all with regard to church gov-
nor rare, matter. Besides, the               c h y ?                                    ernment.  Adherents to the Cambridge
Church Order does speak of the in-               Although Abraham Kuyper's              Platform of 1689 (which was considered
volvement of Classis and Synod in            son, Prof. H.H. Kuyper, defended           radically un-Reformed by the Presbyte-
discipline, and limits their power to        synod's right to discipline, Abraham       rians of that day) would stand aghast
the approval of a consistory's deci-         Kuyper himself believed it wrong.          at their independency. For the Cam-
sion to depose. Nor is it possible to        So did the recognized church order         bridge Platform, see The Reformation of
claim that the deposition of minis-          authorities H. Bouwman and F.L.            the Church: A Collection of Reformed and
ters was a matter Reformed church-           Rutgers. In a  ;published, personal        Puritan documents on Church Issues, se-
                                                                                        lected with introductory notes by Iain
es considered to be a detail, a mat-         letter to a Rev. Van Lonkhuyzen,           H. Murray, Banner of Truth, 1965, re-
ter too infrequently occurring, to ad-       who also opposed synod's right to          printed 1987.
dress; and that, had they addressed          discipline, Dr. H. `Bouwman wrote:         5 See VanDellen and Monsma's Church
the issue, they would have written           "Your questionewhether I have ever         Order Commentary,  pages 327-329.
into the Church Order permission             in my lectures said that a classis can     6 Find reference to his brochure, "Can a
to depose. The churches did face             depose a consistory, surprises me          Classis Depose a Consistory," chapter
the question early in their history,         somewhat. I do not remember ever           1, translated into EngIish in part by Rev.
resulting already in 1581 in the             having taught this and I would say         G.M. Ophoff, in a long series of artides
Church Order change requiring the            that this is impossible. The Classis       in  the  Standard Bearer,  beginning in
concurring judgment of a neighbor-           can help the consistory in the posi-       volume 4, page 179.
                                                                                        7 Quoted in the minority committee
ing  classis when an officebearer was        tion of an elder. The  Classis can         report to the CRC Synod of `1926 re-
deposed?        Deliberately,  the early     also, when a consistory is complete-       garding the question at issue.
Dutch Reformed synods did not cod-           ly in error or acts contrary to the        6 See pages 327-329.

4OjStandard  Bearer /October 15,1995


Churches of Australia (also "liberat-               tant Reformed  Church.  If the gath-       come together") the local  congrega-
ed"). Their W. Meijer, in his Young                 erings of the local congregations          tion  exercises discipline over her
People's History of the Church, re-                 have the right to discipline, they also    members.
peatedly teaches the children of his                have the right to baptize, adminis-            The Reformed Form for the Or-
churches the danger of hierarchy of                 ter the Lord's Supper, and preach.         dination of Elders and Deacons has
synods who take to themselves the                   We believe the Lord gave these             it straight. In Jesus' instruction to
power to depose ministers?                          rights to the local congregation           the apostles as to how discipline
     Presbyterian students of Re-                   alone. Our Presbyterian brothers           must be exercised over any member
formed church government recog-                     would disagree. Presbyterian church        of the congregation, the "church"
nize this as the Reformed view,                     polity has the credentials and mem-        that must be told is the body of el-
which they see to be the significant                bership of a minister in the classis,      ders in the local congregation.
difference between Presbyterian and                 with ordination by the  classis                In reformation, the churches
Reformed church government.                         (presbytery). Thus, rather than dis-       must never over-react. Needing at-
Edmund P. Clowney puts his finger                   cipline by the congregation, disci-        tention was the un-Reformed prac-
directly on the difference when he                  pline is exercised by the  classis         tice of hierarchy. But we must not
says, "Some aspects of Reformed or-                 (presbytery), which is also consid-        reject all the authority of, and bless-
der, .as distinct from Presbyterian                 ered the church.                           ings from, the broader assemblies.
polity, reflect the primacy given to                    As the Church Order gives au-              May God save us from abusive,
the local church and its consistory.                thority to discipline to the local         hierarchical synods and classes.
Ministers of the gospel are members                 consistory alone, so does the Scrip-       May God also save us from neglect-
of the local church and are subject to              ture. To no one else is this authori-      ing to show the unity of the body of
the discipline of the consistoy" (em-               ty given.                                  Jesus Christ. 0
phasis mine,  BLG).`O The Presbyte-                     Acts 15, the basis for all appeals
rian brother recognizes this to be Re-              to the authority of broader assem-
formed, in distinction from Presby-                 blies, indeed gives authority to           9 Publication Organization of the Free
terian, where ministers are subject                 broader assemblies. We thank the           Reformed Churches of Australia (not to
to  the discipline  of  the presbytery.  He         Presbyterian brothers for reminding        be confused with the Free Reformed
is correct in his analysis of what is               us of that and emphasizing that. But       Churches in America) Launceston, 1973.
properly Reformed.                                  Acts 15 does not give  authority to        See Volume 3, pp. 16, 63, 93-95, 108ff.,
     Related is the question whether                the assembly of churches to disci-         and 118.
the local congregation is the church                pline.                                     lo "Distinctive Emphases in Presbyteri-
or whether the broader assembly is                      I Corinthians 5 gives the author-      an Church Polity" in  Pressing Toward
                                                                                               the Mark Essays Commemorating Fif-
the church. Note the PRC's repeat-                  ity to discipline to the local congre-     ty Years of the OPC, C.G. Dennison  and
ed .reminder that we are Protestant                 gation at Corinth. In a worship ser-       R.C. Gamble, editors, Committee For the
Reformed Churches and not Protes-                   vice of the church ("when ye are           Historian of the OPC, 1986.

                                                                                   I'  -           -&&@j&&&p&&@  j
         _                                                                   ,:

                      "The Development of the
                                Coven~ant of.Grace:
  A Rich, Consistent Reformed View"
                                                                                   ,'
                                               I                                                              .     _I

                                                                                                   .  ..If you ask me what is the most
                                                        But I ask, what is the heritage of       peculiar  treasure of the Protestant
                                ,-I:                  the Protestant Reformed Churches?          Reformed Churches, I answer with-
Rq.  Terpstra is pastor  of  the  Pt;otes-           Is there any part of the truth which        out any hesitation: their peculiar
                                                      they have emphasized and further          view of the covenant.
tant Reformed Church of Sotith  %ol-                  developed in distinction from  oth-          And what is their particular con-
land, Illinois.                                       er Reformed Churches?                      ception?

                                                                                                      October 15,1995lSta..dard  Beareri


     It stands closely connected with         formed faith'had always been cove-                  In the third .place, the develop-
   their denial of common grace, and          nantal over against the dispensation-        ment of a distinctive view of the cov-
   with their emphasis on the doctrine        al, Bap,tistic views of the radical right    enant of grace was prompted by a
   of election and reprobation.
     Moreover, it emphasizes and car-         of the Reformation. But the view of          specific controversy in the PRC over
   ries out the organic idea.                 the covenant &ich held sway in the           the nature of the covenant. This took
     Briefly stated it teaches that God       Reformed churches was not thor-              place in the late 1940s and early
   realizes His eternal covenant of           oughly biblical nor consistent with          195Os, and was related to develop-
   friendship, in Christ, the Firstborn       the whole of Reformed doctrine. Bas-         ments in the Netherlands. Dr. Klaas
   of every creature, and the First-be-       ing their view on contracts between          Schilder, a prominent minister and
   gotten of the dead, organically, and       men and treaties between kings and           professor in the Reformed Churches
   antithetically along the lines of elec-    subjects, Reformed theologians de-           in the Netherlands (GKN), was de-
   tion and reprobation, and in con-          fined God's covenant of grace with           posed from these churches and
  nection  with the organic develop-          His people in terms of a mutual              formed the "Liberated" Churches
  ment of  aII things.                        agreement, in which God and man
     That is, in a nutshell, the pecu-                                                     because he objected to the GKN's
  liar Protestant Reformed  heritage.'        as co-parties agreed to certain terms        position that infants of believers are
                                              and conditions (cf. even J. Calvin           to be baptized on the basis of their
     So wrote Herman Hoeksema in              himself on Gen. 17~2, 4, 7). The es-         "presupposed regeneration" (the
1950 on the occasion of the twenty-           tablishment and realization of the           view of Dr. Abraham Kuyper).
fifth anniversary of the Protestant           covenant, then, depended on God              Schilder stressed that God's prom-
Reformed Churches, revealing what             meeting the demands of His condi-            ises to these children are promises,
he believed to be the distinctive con-        tions, but equally on man fulfilling         not suppositions. But he went on to
tribution of the Protestant Reformed          his conditions. They were careful            teach that these promises of God are
Churches to the Reformed faith, as            to- teach that these conditions were         also conditional, dependent for their
well as their distinctive stand in the        fulfilled on behalf of elect sinners by      fulfillment on the faith of the child?
Reformed church-world. And he                 the work of Christ, and in them by           Hoeksema initially had sympathized
would have known, not only because            the work of the Spirit in the heart,         with Schilder and his struggles, but
he had served as a pastor in these            and therefore by God's grace alone.          when Schilder took ,this position,
churches for all of those twenty-five         Yet, the ideas of mutual agreement           Hoeksema was deeply disappoint-
years and preached this truth, but            and conditions were seen as essen-           ed and strongly opposed it, calling
also because he was personally re-            tial to the covenant. With this Hoek-        it "pure Heynsianism." The truly
sponsible for the development of the          sema and others in the PRC took              sad thing, however, was that
covenant of grace in these churches           issue.                                       Schilder's view of the covenant
as her leading theologian. The heart              In the second place, and more            found ready acceptance among
of this development was the appli-            specifically, there was an errant view       manyministers in the PRC. Without
cation of the Reformed doctrine of            of the covenant in the PRC's mother          seeing the plain contradictions to the
God's sovereign, particular grace to          church which contributed to this de-         faith they professed, they openly
the doctrine of the covenant. The re-         velopment.  In connection especially         embraced and publicly taught a con-
sult was a doctrine of the covenant           with the Reformed doctrine concem-           ditional covenant with its general
which was profoundly rich in and              ing God's covenant with the children         promise. The outcome was a split
thoroughly consistent with  aII the           of believers, Prof. William Heyns, a         in the PRC in the early 1950s over
doctrines of the Reformed faith.              professor of theology in the Chris-          the doctrine of the covenant. As sad
                                              tian Reformed Church, taught that            as this controversy was, it was nec-
The reasons for this development              this covenant of grace is essentially
    The development of this distinc-          a promise which God offers to all
tive view of the covenant of grace in         the children of believing parents on         i "Protestant Reformed," Standizrd  Bear-
the PRC did not take place in a theo-         condition that they repent and be-           er, Vol. 26, March 15, 1950, p.269.  Also
logical or ecclesiastical vacuum.             lieve. God offers to all these chil-         quoted in  A Watered  Garden,  by
There were specific, contemporary             dren that He will be their God-if            Gertrude Hoeksema, Reformed Free
factors which contributed dire,ctly to        they turn to Him and believe on              Publishing Assn., 1992, p.163.
this development,  .factors which             Him.2 Hoeksema saw in this view              z Cf. H.  .Hoeksema's  treatment of
made this development a true con-             not only the same errors of agree-           Heyns' view in chapters  1,2  of  Believ-
                                                                                           ers and Their Seed, RFPA, 1971, pp. 9-
tinuation of the Reformation of. the          ment and con'ditionality,  but also the      33.
church and her doctrines.                     added error of the well-meant offer          3 Cf. the pamphlet "The Main Points of
    In the first place, there was the         of salvation which he had con-               the Doctrine of the-Covenant," which is
prevailing view of the -covenant in           demned as part of the first point of         a speech given by Dr.K.SchiIder  in 1944
the Reformed church-world. The Re-            common grace in the controversy of           (translated by T.  vanlaar,  1992, and
                                              1924 within the CRC.                         available from Inheritance Publications).

42JStandard  Bearer Ectober 15,1999


essary for the development of the                Closelv related to this, Hoekse-        covenant and promises was not for
doctrine of God's covenant of grace          ma condemned the idea that the cov-         all men or for all children of believ-
with His people along truly biblical         enant is conditional and maintained         ers who are baptized, but only for
and Reformed lines.                          that the covenant is unconditional.         the elect. God's covenantal, grace is
                                             Repentance ,and faith are not cbndi-        particular, in its intention, in its ob-
The main lines of this development           tions which man fulfills in order for       jects, and in its effect. Hoeksema
        The development of this view         the covenant to be established and          stated it in summary form in this
was along the following main lines.          realized, but the God-bestowed              way:
First of all, the very essence of the        means by whichthe  bond of the cov-
covenant was re-defined. Instead of          enant is applied to the sinner, and              Historically this covenant is real-
the traditional idea of the covenant         received and enjoyed by him. The              ized in the line of the continued
as an agreement or as a promise,             PRC see in this notion of condition-          generations of believers. These gen-
Hoeksema found the essence of the            ality the insidious error of Armini-          erations receive the sign of the cov-
covenant to be that of a relationship,       anism, since it was the Arminians             enant, circumcision in the old, bap-
                                                                                           tism in the new dispensation, and,
the bond of friendship and fellow-           who talked so proudly of conditions           in general, are.addressed and treat-
ship between God and His people              the sinner must fulfill by his free will      ed as the real covenant people of
in Christ. This is how he described          in order to be saved. With the Can-           God; yet, God's election and,rep-
it:      I                                   ons of Dordt we condemn this idea             robation cut right through these
                                             out of hand as contrary to Reformed           generations, and "God is merciful
        The  idea of the covenant is nei-    teaching (cf. Canons, I, B, 4, 5, 7; 11,      to whom He will show mercy, and
  ther that of a pact or agreement,          B, 3; V, B; 1).                               whom He will He hardens."6
  nor that of the promise, nor that of           We do not deny that there are
  a way of salvation; but it is the eter-    conditional clauses in Scripture, but            It was in the way of this devel-
  nal and living fellowship of friend--                                                  opment that the PRC defended, pre-
  ship between God and His peoPle            we do deny that these "if" clauses          served, and advanced the absolute
  in Christ, according to which He is        mean that God is dependent on the           sovereignty  of God in the salvation
  their Sovereign-friend, and they are       willing and working of us or any
   His friend-servants.                      sinner. As Calvin stated in his re-         of His people. According to this
        By friendship we mean a bond         sponse to those who wanted to use           doctrine of the covenant, it is the
  of most intimate fellowship, based         these conditional sentences to ad-          Triune God, as the Sovereign God of
  on the highest possible likeness of        vance free will, God speaks with            salvation, who alone establishes, pre-
  nature by personal distinction.'           "ifs" to "prick the consciences" of         serves, and realizes His covenant
                                             unbelievers and make them under-            with His people. It is this which
This rich, warm, and personal con-           stand that because of their sins they       makes the covenant a work of true
cept he saw in the Scriptures them-          are "justly excluded from those             and pure grace. All the other con-
selves in such places as Exodus              blessings due the true worshippers          ceptions ultimately make the cove-
2942-46,  Psalm 25:14, Matthew 1:23,         of God." And contrariwise, God              nant one of works - man's works.
John 1:14, James 2:23, and Revela-           uses them for believers to "apprize         Precisely at this point the great Ref-
tion 21:3.                                   us of our misery and how whole-             ormation fought its fundamental bat-
        Secondly, the fundamental  na-       heartedly we disagree with his will,"       tle. Precisely at this point the PRC
ture of the covenant was thus also           -and then to "prompt us to calI upon        have carried on this battle with re-
re-defined. Rejecting the idea of the        his Spirit to direct us in the right        gard to the doctrine of the covenant?
covenant as a  bilateral  (two-sided)        way."5
agreement, Hoeksema spoke of it as               Thirdly, the development of the
a  unilateral  (one-sided) relationship.     doctrine of the covenant in the PRC.        `Standard Bearer,  Vol. 22, March 15,
According to this view, there are not                                                    1946, p. 269.
                                             also involved the application of
two parties in the covenant, but only                                                    5 Znstitutes, J.McNeill, ed.; F.L.Battles,
                                             God's particular grace to the cove-
one, God Himself, who takes His                                                          trans.; Westminster, 1960, Vol.1, II,V,lO,
                                             nant. Rejecting the theory of "com-         p. 328.
people into His own party (side).            mon" grace, Hoeksema understood             6 Standard Bearer, Vol. 22, March 15,
This does not deny that God's peo-           that the idea of a general, covenan-        1946,  p. 269.
ple have a part in the covenant, as          tal promise offered to all children of      `These main points of the covenant of
our "Baptism Form" speaks of it (to          believing parents, or offered to all        grace received official standing in the
love and obey God), but it rejects           sinners in general in the gospel, is        PRC with the adoption of "The Decla-
the Pelagian synergism inherent in           contrary to the Reformed truth of           ration of Principles" at the Synod of
the agreement idea and preserves the         double predestination. He rightly           1951.  If any of our readers are interest-
biblical truth that God alone estab-                                                     ed in obtaining a copy of this, they may
                                             believed that the doctrine of elec-
lishes His covenant with His people                                                      contact the StandarG  Bearer office. PRC
                                             tion and reprobation meant that             members may consult their "Church
(cf. Gen. 6:18; 15%18;  17:2-g). *           God's saving grace revealed in His          Order" books, pp.  IlOff.

                                                                                                    October 15,199SlSlandard  Bearer/43


The on-going relevance of this de-         he claims, is supported by Scripture        this truth - CJT) will go forward
velopment  '                               and "Near'Eastern  suzerain-vassal          and continue to develop the pure
    And still the Reformation con-         treaties" (p. 22). But according to         Protestant Reformed truth of God's
tinues; still the battle on the "front"    this conception the covenant again          eternal covenant.
                                                                                         To do this is the specific calling
of the covenant goes on. This is evi-      becomes a bilateral agreement, since        of the Protestant Reformed Church-
dent from the fact that many in the        it depends on the commitment of             es.
Reformed community still view the          both God and man. This the Re-                Failure to do this is our death. It
covenant of grace as a conditional         formed faith must emphatically nof          is the end of our distinctive exist-
agreement or as a general promise.         have; this is the "sacred cow" we           ence.8
In the August, 1995 issue of               must slay. So the battle goes on in
Tabletalk,  for example, editor            defending the truly biblical and Re-          May the Lord give us grace to
R.C.Sproul,  Jr. compares God's cov-       formed conception of the covenant         rise up and face this challenge in the
enant with His people to the game          of grace.                                 years ahead. 0
"Let's Make a Deal": "When we                  But defending this truth is not
make a deal with Him, when we              sufficient. It is also our calling to         Recommended Books on the
choose the covenant of grace, we do        battle for the continued development                  Covenant of Grace:
so because He first chose us. We sign      of this truth of the covenant. The        A Watered Garden, A Brief History
the deal because He sends His Spir-        truth of God is never stagnant or         of  the Protestant Reformed Church-
it to change our hearts, because He        static; it marches forward. So those      es in America, Gertrude Hoeksema,
predestined that we would sign"            who hold to the truth of God's sov-       RFPA,-1992.
(p.2). Such an attempt to give a Re-       ereign covenant of grace must nev-        God's Everlasting Covenant of
formed slant to a wrong,idea  of the       er be satisfied with the development      Grace,  Herman Hanko,  RFPA,  1988.
covenant fails miserably.                  of the past; they must go on to de-       Believers and Their Seed, Herman
    In the `same issue Mark Seeley         velop it according to the truth of        Hoeksema, RFPA, 1971.
states that it is time for Reformed        Scripture and the Reformed confes-
Christians to "slay the sacred cow"        sions. Hoeksema himself stated this
of defining the covenant in terms of       at the time of the twenty-fifth anni-
God's relationship to man as the           versary of the PRC:
Westminster Confession does, and                                                     8 Standard Bearer,  Vo1.26, March 15,
rather define it as "a commitment              But rather than go backward, he       1950, p.269.
confirmed by an oath." This idea,            (the Reformed Christian who loves
                                                                             I
                                                                    :.      ,I         .j&@@@j@@&&-
                                                              .           _.I



                Where We Stand Today
                                           , .          _-                  .t                                                  1
    A glance at our history may well       ing Christian Reformed Churches. It       organized: Byron Center and I-&d-
cause us to exclaim, "What has God         was only in 1926, after their protests    sonvilIe in Michigan; South Holland
wrought!"                                  against their expulsion had been re-      in Illinois; Hull and Doon in Iowa;
    These past 70 years plainly tes-       jected by the-synod of the Christian      and  Redlands  in California. From
tify that the Lord has richly blessed      Reformed Church, that our present         time to time other churches were
us, even numerically.                      name, Protestant Reformed Church-         added.
    In the early part of 1925 three        es, was adopted.                              In 1927 two of the older students
churches, Eastern Ave., Hope, and              Soon after, we became a denom-        were ordained to serve as pastors in
Kalamazoo, organized as the Protest-       ination. In ,June of 1925 the semi-       Sioux Center and Hull, Iowa. They
                                           nary was opened with three profes-        returned to school to finish their
                                           sors, Revs. Danhof, Hoeksema, and         studios in 1929, when the first class
                                           Ophoff, and ten students.                 of the.Seminary, consisting of six stu-
Rev. Hanko is a minister emeritus in           Gradually other churches were         dents, graduated and were ordained
the Protestant Reformed Churches.

44lStandard  Bearer /October 15,1995


into the ministry in our churches.        the covenant from the aspect of the         ten to a tape or read a sermon or
    By 1952 we had 24 churches and        relationship of friendship between          the  Standard Bearer  of fifty or more
28 ministers. Although the split of       God and His people in Christ. This          years ago will immediately recog-
1953 greatly reduced our numbers,         beautiful  and thoroughly scriptural        nize the strong emphasis on doc-
today, after 70 years, we have 27         view of God's covenant has become           trine. An example of that can be
churches and 27 ministers, with a         the hallmark of the Protestant Re-          found in the sermons of Rev.
total membership of 1,514 families        formed teaching and preaching.              Herman Hoeksema in  God's Eternal
and 6,281 souls.                              This truth was challenged by            Good `Pleasure. We were advised in
    Our Seminary also has experi-         many of our leaders before 1953.            the seminary: "When the truth is
enced the blessings of our Lord. We       The resulting split saw many former         preached, God's people can and do
now have, in Grandville, Michigan,        members leave us. It must be grant-         apply it to their own lives." Or
our own seminary building, which          ed that our churches had gathered           again, "Preach to the most intelli-
has recently been enlarged. And           in its membership a lot of dead             gent in your audience; the others will
during the course of the years 69         wood, much of which left us at that         also be edified."
students have graduated into the          time; but it must also be admitted              Today the preaching often em-
ministry, some of whom have passed        that some very good members were            phasizes the problems we face as be-
on into eternity, and some have left      led astray by those who wished to           lievers in an evil world, especially
us. Four professors have entered          introduce into God's covenant the           problems related to the family. And
into the Rest, and today we have          theory of a conditional promise. Yet        a more serious effort is made to
stilI three professors with 10 stu-       the positive result has been that we        reach the young people and the chil-
dents.                                    see, more clearly than before, the          dren of the congregation. The ques-
    Our Standard Bearer, as well as       unconditionality of God's covenant,         tion, however, may well be raised,
other of our literature, is being sent    especially because it is God's cove-        "Has the pendulum swung too far
out to many areas beyond our              nant.                                       the other way? Are our people be-
churches. A number of our local               Because the view that regards           ing as thoroughly indoctrinated as
churches are active in sending out        God's covenant as a relationship of         they should be?" We must main-
pamphlets and other material.             friendship is so thoroughly scriptur-       tain the one, but not at the cost of
                                          al, a truth that runs as a golden           the other.
                                          thread through the entire Word of
                                          God, it has warmed the hearts, not
    God's blessing is most evident        only of our own people, but also of
in our doctrine. A rich heritage has      many outside of our churches.                   What can be said about the spir-
been entrusted to us as members of            We are not a church with a neg-         itual life of the churches then and
the Protestant Reformed Churches.         ative message, merely proclaiming           now?
    As would be expected, in our          what we do not believe, but we are              As is usually the case in any ref-
early history the preaching was po-       entrusted by Christ with the calling        ormation, a great enthusiasm was
lemic.    Hardly a sermon was             to preach the positive truth of God's       evident among our people in the ear-
preached that did not mention the         sovereign grace, also as it applies to      ly years of our existence. Even be-
denial of the theory of common            the covenant. This enriches the truth       fore we separated from the CRC,
grace and of the free, well-meant of-     of the covenant far beyond any oth-         large crowds attended our evening
fer of the gospel; and stress was laid    er teaching. It is our calling to hold      services in the Eastern Avenue
on the sovereignty of God.                that which we have, that no man             church, even to the extent that chairs
    Gradually it became evident that      take our crown.                             were placed along the aisles and on
the doctrine of God's, sovereignty            The question might be raised: Is        the pulpit, and some people had to
also stood in close relationship to       there a difference between the              remain standing. The fire chief oc-
the truth of God's covenant.              preaching in our churches now and           casionally paid us a visit to clear the
    Various views of the covenant         the preaching in our early years? To        hallways.
existed in the Reformed church            that the answer surely is that basi-            Common grace, the well-meant  1
world. An elder of our Southwest          calIy the same truth is preached from       offer, and related subjects were in
congregation advised me at the time       all our pulpits. The remark is -often       the minds and on the-lips of young
of my entering into the ministry not      made that whether we hear one min-          and old. Since Grand Rapids at that
to preach on the subject of the cove-     ister or another, the truth that is pro-    time was heavily populated with
nant for a long time. The reason he       claimed is basically the same. We           church members, common grace
gave was that there were various          can be extremely grateful for that.         was a point of interest for many. If
views and he was not sure if -any         Yet it must also be admitted that           you saw a group of people engaged
were correct. Soon the Rev. Her&m         there has been a shift in emphasis in       in earnest conversation, either on a
Hoeksema developed the doctrine of        the preaching. Anyone who will lis-         street comer or in the grocery store,

                                                                                              October 15,1995/Standard  Bearer145


as often as not you would find that      passed on to others. Church ser-            our future? I think there are. One
the subject of their discussion was      vices and lectures were well attend-        of them is the complacency which
common grace and related matters.        ed. There was a zeal for maintain-          has settled over many of our peo-
Sunday evening and week-day vis-         ing the truth, even though it ,often        ple. There is an obvious lack of
its were occasions for lively discus-    meant rifts and problems in families        knowledge of sound doctrine and
sions of the issues of the day. Even     and among friends.                          lack of interest in our own history
the Grand Rapids  Press  reported on            It was to be expected that this      and the reason for our existence.
the front page the happenings at the     first enthusiasm could not last in-         God warns us in His Word, "My
Classis of the CRC.                      definitely.  ,Through the years we          people are  .destroyed  for lack of
    I think of the time when we met      have lost our enthusiasm for and in-        knowledge."
in the St. Cecilia building in down-     terest in the truth. A certain com-             Another cause of concern is the
town Grand Rapids. Most of the           placency has settled upon the mem-          poor attendance at the worship ser-
member's of the church walked about      bers of our churches. We take for           vices on special occasions, and the
three miles to get there. Automo-        granted our inheritance, those rich         lack of interest and enthusiasm
biles were not common in those           and blessed truths of the Scriptures        among young and old for our soci-
days. Yet three Sunday -services         entrusted to us. Many slight our call-      ety meetings.
were well attended. Or I think of        ing to maintain and defend the truth,           Also reason for concern is the
the congregation I served in which       to teach it to our children, and to be      fact that some among us repeatedly
there was always nearly 100 percent      willing to suffer and to die for it.        clamor for change. They want some-
attendance at the divine worship ser-           Repeatedly the remark is made        thing new, something different, so
vices and catechism classes, and         by those who visit other churches in        that the preaching of the Word is no
even at the various society meetings.    our own country or overseas, "We            longer of primary importance. Some
    Although this first enthusiasm       certainly may be thankful for the           are unwilling to stand alone. They
settled down considerably, the in-       preaching we hear every Sunday .in          are tolerant of new movements that
terest in the truth remained. Not        comparison with what is brought in          arise in the church-world round
only in the local churches, but also     other churches." But the question           about us. They can readily be swept
throughout the country, a call went      is: Are we ,thankful?  Is our faith a       along with every wind of doctrine.
out for more information on the is-      matter of preference or of convic-          Our Christ calls us to "Hold that
sues of the day. Rev. Herman Hoek-       tion? Would we, as will be true in          which thou hast, that no man take
sema made a number of lecture tours      the time of the reign of the Anti-          thy crown."
throughout the Midwest and the           christ, be willing to see our children          These present times of lawless-
West explaining the doctrinal issues     suffer hunger for the truth of God's        ness warn us that the end of the ages
in the churches. New congregations       Word? Are we willing to die for it?         is not far off and that Antichrist will
arose in Michigan, Illinois, Wiscon-     Or would .we be tempted to com-             soon make his appearance. Our Lord
sin, and as far as the west coast.       promise and take the consequenc-            urges us now, stronger than ever:
    The Standard Bearer was not          es?                                         "Be thou faithful unto death, and I
only widely read, but studied and               Are there reasons for concern for    will give thee a crown of life." 0

 /lQlsw@timm                                                                              jg&w'
                                                                                                                  m
                                                                        lj


School Activities                        ready for this school year.                 Our Hands for This Good Work."
    Earlier this year we informed               September 15th marked the  ten-      Rev. Gritters spoke of our building
you that our Hull, IA PR Christian       year anniversary of the Heritage            the walls of the church of Jesus
School Society approved plans to         Christian School in Hudsonville, MI.        Christ, the walls of truth. After the
add two classrooms and restrooms         Exactly ten years before, on the same       outside program, coffee and cake
to their school building. On August      date, the dedication of Heritage was        were served inside, where visitors
28, supporters of Hull were invited      held, The, tenth anniversary was            could check out displays and a vid-
to an Open House to come and see         commemorated with a combined                eo.  '
the new addition, complete and           program, celebration, and Open                  On July  14, the Lacombe PR
                                         House. Rev. B. Gritters, pastor of          School Board in Alberta, Canada
                                         the Hudsonville PRC, was the fea-           asked Mr. Rick Span to speak re-
                                         tured speaker and he addressed the          garding his experience as a teacher
Mr. Wigger is a member of the Protes-    good-sized .crowd  of supporters on         in `the Hope Christian School in
tant Reformed Church of Hudsonville,     Nehemiah  2:17-20,  "Strengthening          Redhinds, CA.
Michigan.

@/Standard  Bearer/October 15,1995


Congregational Activities                 pastor of the R.W.H. According to        Evangelism Committee of the Hope
     By the time you read this, Rev.      the R.W.H. Radio Committee, this         PRC in Redlands, CA has obtained
J. Slopsema will have completed al-       is the  .first full-time radio pastor    for distribution a Spanish translation
most two months as pastor of the          since the late Rev. Hoeksema. In         of OUT three forms of unity. Evident-
First PRC in Grand Rapids, MI. On         addition to preparing approximate-       ly a lot of this literature has been
Sunday, August 13, he was installed       ly 40 messages a year, Rev. Haak         made available by the Evangelism
as First's seventh  undershepherd,        will also be advising the committee      Committee of the First PRC in Hol-
with Rev. D. Kuiper leading the ser-      in its work. Rev. Haak was to begin      land, MI. If you are interested in
vice. On the following Lord's Day,        his work, the Lord willing, on Octo-     this or other literature, drop them a
Rev. Slopsema preached his inaugu-        ber 8.                                   note at 290 East 18th St., Holland,
ral sermon entitled, "Preaching               While many of our church choirs      MI 49423.
Christ Crucified," based on I             are just now beginning to get back
Corinthians  1:23, 24. Earlier that       into the fall practice schedule, one     Minister Activities
week First's congregation  formay         choir, the all-male Hope Heralds,                 Rev. R. Dykstra declined the call
welcomed the Slopsemas with a pro-        from our west Michigan churches,         he received from the Grace PRC in
gram and a get-acquainted hour.           has already given two concerts; one      Standale,  MI. Grace's new trio was
    The Consistory  of the First PRC      at the Hope PRC in Walker, MI and        Revs. Bruinsma,  denHartog, and
in Holland, MI has, through its           the other at the Kalamazoo, MI PRC,      Candidate Kuiper. They called Rev.
Building Committee, been actively         as part of their annual pre-society      Bruinsma.
looking for suitable building sites on    program.                                          Hope Church in Walker, Mi
which they could one day relocate.                                                 formed a new trio consisting of
Finally, after many disappointments,      Evangelism Activities                    Revs.  denHartog, Dykstra, and
First's Council called a special con-         The Evangelism Society of the        Koole. Rev. Dykstra received the
gregational meeting for mid-August        Byron Center, Ml PRC just recently       call.
to vote on one pqssible building site.    purchased a tape duplicator.                      Candidate Allen Brummel has
The result of that meeting was that           The Evangelism Committee of          received the call from the Edgerton,
First has purchased seven acres of        the Peace PRC in Lynwood, lL in-         MN PRC; and Candidate Dou$as
land on 104th Ave. between Riley          formed their congregation that they      Kuiper received the call from Byron
and Quincy Streets, next to Hunters       had obtained some Spar&h litera-         Center, MI PRC.
Creek development. A quick check          ture for distribution. They had "Our
of .my Ottawa County map shows            Only Comfort" by Rev. Haak, "The                         Food-for c!?iqgfit
me that this location would put First     Faith and Practice of the PRC in                  "The Holy Spirit helps our infir-
just  s'lightly north and west of         America,"  "Whosoever Will" by           mities, but He does not encourage
Zeeland,  MI, or just east of Holland.    Rev. Hoeksema, and  The  Sovereign-      our idleness; He loves active believ-
A proposal to hire an architect to do     ty of Gbd by A. Pink                     ers."
preliminary plans  was also ap-               Rebted to this news item, the                                 - C.H. Spurgeon
proved. But don't go changing the
address of First in your 1995 Year-
book just yet. According to Rev.
Bruinsma, First's pastor, construc-
tion cannot begin before late 1996 at
the earliest.                               RESCjLUTlON  OF SYMPATHY                 RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
                                              The' Martha Society of the Hull          The Martha Ladies' Aid Society
Denominational Activities                 Protestant Reformed Church ex-           of the Hull Protestant Reformed
    On September 19, the annual Mr.       presses sincere sympathy to Mrs.         Church expresses its Christian sym-
and Mrs./Adult Bible Societies'           Joyce Kooiker in the recent passing      pathy to Joyce Kooiker in the loss
League Mass Meeting was held in           away of her sister,                      of her brother,
the Hope PRC in Walker, MI. Rev.              MRS. ARNETTA VAN TOL,                              JOHN MULDER.
D. K&per, pastor of the Southeast         and her brother,                             Our ,prayer is that she and her
PRC in Grand Rapids, MI, spdke on                   MR. JOHN MULDER.               family be comforted with the Word
the subject, "Angels."                        May she and her family find          of God in Lamentation 3:22, 23: "It
    The Reformed Witness Hour Ra-         comfort in God's Word from Psalm         is of the Lord's mercies that we are
dio Committee announced  that Rev.        29:ll: "The Lord Will give strength      not consumed, because his compas-
C. Haak, pastor of the Bethel PRC         to His people: the Lord will bless       sions fail not. They are new every
in Itasca, IL, has agreed, and has re-    His people with peace.                   morning; gr&t is thyiaithfulness."
ceived permission from' his                           Rev. R. Moore, president                    Reti. R. Moore, President
Consistory, to be the full-time radio           Mrs. Jack Andringa, secretary                     Judy Brummel, Secretary

                                                                                              October 15,1995lStandard  Bearer147


       PE
~~f#Dp$FjiD                                                                                                      SECOND CLASS
     /gF@@g                                                                                                      Postage Paid at
                                                                                                                 Grandville, Michigan
     P. 0. Box 603
     Grandvile,  MI  49466-0603
r                .                                                          ,1                                                              I

     RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                                       WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
      The Mary-Martha Society of
Hope Protestant Reformed Church                          On October  1, 1995, our  par-       9 Jim and Lois Rau
in Redlands expresses their sincere                  ents and grandparents,                        Dan and Carol Boeve
sympathy to fellow members Janice                       MR. and MRS. ALVIN RAU,                    Kimmy and Cheryl Kooiker
Feenstra, Beth Feenstra, Sarah                       celebrated their 45th wedding anni-             Christina, Brady
Feenstra, and Michelle Buiter and                    versary. We are thankful to our               Jeff and Kim Scholten
their families in the sudden loss of                 heavenly Father for giving us God-            Rod
their father and grandfather,                        fearing parents and for the Chris-       9 Rev. Kenneth and Pat Koole
           MR. ABE DE HEER.                          tian love and instruction we have             Justin, Bruce, Catherine,
       May they find comfort in the                  received from them in these many                                              Audra
words of II Corinthians  5:l: "For                   years. It is our prayer and hope         + Dave and Mary Kregel
we know that if our earthly house of                 that the Lord will continue to keep           Lisa, Brent, Jason, Ryan,
this tabernacle were dissolved, we                   and bless them in the years that He                                             Emily
have a building of God, an house                     may give them. "But the mercy of         0 Dave and Norma Rau
not made with hands, eternal in the                  the Lord is from everlasting to ever-         Dawn, Kevin, Lydia, Renae
heavens."                                            lasting upon them that fear him, and     0 Mike and Elaine Rau
              Rev. A. denHartog,  Pres.              his righteousness unto children's             Nathan, Benjamin, Erin, Joel
            Beth VanUff elen, Secretary              children" (Psalm 103:17).                                        Grand Raplds,  Mlchlgan

       WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                           r . .
       On September 1,1995, our par-
ents, MR. and MRS. EDWIN
                GRITTERS,                                     Grand Rapids area:
celebrated their 45th wedding anni-                                                                       Chicago area:
versary. We are thankful for their                              Southwest PRC
godly example and covenant instruc-                               4875 Ivanrest                     The Reformation's
tion and pray that the Lord will hold                              Grandville
them in His care.                                                                                   Great Temptation
       "The lines are fallen unto me in                                                                   Prof. H. Hanko
pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly                            Friday, Nov. 3
heritage" (Psalm 16:6).                                              8:00  P.M.                      Thursday, Nov. 2
$ Jerry and Shirley VanderKolk                          What Was the Reformation?                            230 
+ Ed and Jeanne Karsemeyer                                                                                           P.M.
                                                               Rev. R. Cammenga
+ Rev. Barry and iori Gritters                                                                             Grace OPC
0 Mike and Brenda Gritters                                                                       1510 Green Brook Blvd.
9 Roger and Hilda Gritters                                      Saturday, Nov. 4                          Hanover Park
+ Rick and Shari Gritters                                            8:00  A.M.
         24 grandchildren                                Luther: Man of Conviction                        Friday, Nov. 3
                             Redlandr, California              Prof. D.]. Engelsma                           7:30 P.M.
                                                                                                   South Holland PRC
                                                                    10:45  A.M.                      16511 South Park
                                                              Luther: Theologian                          South Holland
                                                              of the Glo y of God
                                                               Prof. 0.1. Engelsma


48lStandard  Bearer /October 15,199S


