                          The
                     Standard
A Reformed           Bearer
Semi-Monthly
Magazine





                            There  are  Bible  studies  which
                            examine  the  history,  so  true;
                            which  commend  the  doctrine,
                            so fair; which are concerned to
                            discern  the  will  of  God  for
                            godly living, so important.  But
                            these  same  Bible  studies  may
                            well  miss  Jesus  by  their  lack
                            of spiritual focus on and devo-
                            tion to Him.



                     See "Good Bible Study ... and Jesus"--p. 470



Vol. 73, No. 20
September 1, 1997


CONTENTS:                                                            September 1, 1997                                                        The
                                                                                                                                       Standard
Meditation -- Rev. Cornelius Hanko
    A Hope That Maketh Not Ashamed ................................................ 459                                                    Bearer
Editorial -- Prof. David J. Engelsma                                                                             ISSN 0362-4692
    "That They All may be One," or
                                                                                                                Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July, and August.
         "The Mystery of the Great Whore"? ........................................ 461                         Published by the Reformed Free Publishing Association, Inc.,
A Word Fitly Spoken -- Rev. Dale H. Kuiper                                                                       4949 Ivanrest Ave., Grandville, MI  49418.  Periodical Postage
                                                                                                                Paid at Grandville, Michigan.
    Imagination ........................................................................................ 466
All Around Us -- Rev. Gise VanBaren .................................................... 467                     Postmaster:  Send address changes to the Standard Bearer,
                                                                                                                P.O. Box 603, Grandville, MI  49468-0603.
Special Article -- Rev. Douglas J. Kuiper
                                                                                                                EDITORIAL COMMITTEE
    Many Languages ............................................................................... 468          Editor:  Prof. David J. Engelsma (e-mail:  dje@iserv.net)
Search the Scriptures -- Rev. Mitchell C. Dick                                                                   Secretary:  Prof. Robert D. Decker
                                                                                                                Managing Editor:  Mr. Don Doezema
    Good Bible Study ... and Jesus ...................................................... 470
                                                                                                                DEPARTMENT EDITORS
Ministering to the Saints -- Prof. Robert D. Decker
                                                                                                                Rev. W. Bruinsma, Rev. A. Brummel, Rev. R. Cammenga,
    The Elders and Discipline ............................................................... 472               Prof. R. Decker, Rev. A. denHartog, Rev. M. Dick, Prof. H.
                                                                                                                Hanko, Rev. R. Hanko, Rev. S. Key, Rev. K. Koole, Rev. J.
When Thou Sittest in Thine House -- Rev. Ronald J. VanOverloop
                                                                                                                Kortering, Rev. D. H. Kuiper, Mr. J. Lanting, Mrs. M. Lubbers,
    Paedobaptism Demands Parental Instruction                                                                   Rev. T. Miersma, Mr. G. Schipper, Rev. G. VanBaren, Rev. R.
                                                                                                                VanOverloop, Mr. B. Wigger, Rev. B. Woudenberg.
         and Ecclesiastical Keys ............................................................ 474
Contending for the Faith -- Rev. Bernard Woudenberg                                                              EDITORIAL OFFICE              CHURCH NEWS EDITOR
                                                                                                                The Standard Bearer           Mr. Ben Wigger
    Bavinck, Hoeksema, and Schilder ................................................. 476                       4949 Ivanrest                 6597  40th Ave.
                                                                                                                Grandville, MI  49418         Hudsonville, MI  49426
News From Our Churches -- Mr. Benjamin Wigger ............................... 479
                                                                                                                BUSINESS OFFICE               NEW ZEALAND OFFICE
                                                                                                                The Standard Bearer           The Standard Bearer
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  In This Issue ...
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    On  the  cover  we  call  attention  to  the  provocative  article  by  Rev.                                         (616) 538-1778       c/o Mr. Jonathan McAuley
                                                                                                                FAX:  (616) 531-3033          164 Church Rd., Glenwherry
Mitchell Dick on the right way of studying the Bible.  This article serves                                                                    Ballymena, Co. Antrim BT42 3EL
as an introduction to the resumption of Rev. Dick's series of articles on                                                                     Northern Ireland
                                                                                                                EDITORIAL POLICY
the gospel of John.  These articles are intended to help our readers with                                       Every editor is solely responsible for the contents of his own
                                                                                                                articles.  Contributions of general interest from our readers and
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458/Standard Bearer/September 1, 1997


 Meditation                                                                                 Rev. Cornelius Hanko


                               A Hope That Maketh
                                           Not Ashamed

                                           liever is an assured hope rooted in                  333    333    333
                                           faith which is based on the prom-                What if....
    And hope maketh not ashamed; be-
                                           ises of God's Word that can never                What if our hope proves to be
cause the love of God is shed abroad
                                           fail.                                        a mere fantasy?  What if there is
in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which
                                                    Hope is certainty, but hope is      no life hereafter?  What if death is
is given unto us.
                                           also  expectation.    We  sometimes          final or we end in hell?
                         Romans 5:5.
                                           speak of the departed saints as be-              There are many who profess to
                                           ing dead.  There is nothing further          cherish a hope of a great happiness
                                           from  the  truth.    They  are  very         to  come,  yet  for  them  heaven  is
We rejoice in the hope of the
      glory of God!
                                           much alive, even more alive than             nothing  more  than  the  Indian's
    In joyful and eager anticipation
                                           they ever were while here on earth.          "happy hunting grounds."
we look forward to the eternal day
                                           We look forward with eager antici-               What if I have deceived myself
when the glory of our God will be
                                           pation to a  sinless, perfect life  in       into imagining an eternal security
fully revealed to us in Christ Jesus,
                                           glory  that  abides  forever.    The         that does not even exist?  My hope
and we with all the saints will re-
                                           glory of our God will fill us so that        would be put to shame.
flect that glory and will show forth
                                           we  can  devote  ourselves  com-                 Again, what if heaven is indeed
the praises of Him who is all in all.
                                           pletely to the praise of His name.           a reality, but it does not measure
    Now we still suffer tribulation
                                                    Hope arises from our new life       up to my  expectation?  What if I
brought upon us by the surround-
                                           in Christ.  That life finds no abid-         should discover that all the sacri-
ing  evil  world  and  the  wrestling
                                           ing place here on earth.  In faith it        fices that I have made, all the suf-
with sin that still wars in our mem-
                                           reaches out with eager longing for           ferings I have endured, the battle I
bers.  Yet we rejoice in the midst
                                           the new Jerusalem, the city of the           have  fought,  and  the  reproach  I
of this tribulation, not as if we en-
                                           eternal King.  This is the yearning          have borne far outweigh my future
joy suffering, but because we know
                                           of  sons  and  daughters  who  love          happiness?
that  tribulation  works  patience,
                                           our heavenly Father and desire to                Consider a man who strives for
and  patience  works  experience.
                                           dwell in His presence, to see His            a heaven as the place of perfect re-
Like a well-trained, seasoned sol-
                                           face in Christ Jesus, to behold His          tirement, where every duty and re-
dier  we  are  fitted  by  our  God  to
                                           glory, and to tell His praises eter-         sponsibility  is  cast  off,  where  he
oppose  all  the  onslaughts  of  the
                                           nally.  It includes a  joy unspeak-          can spend his leisure hours sitting
powers of darkness.  We may wa-
                                           able that is a foretaste of the eter-        at the stream of life and eating the
ver, may even fall into sin because
                                           nal joy.                                     fruit of the trees of life.
of the weakness of our sinful flesh,
                                                    As the Dutch poet expressed it:         Or  think  of  the  mother  who
but we can never perish, for we are
                                                      O, to be there                    yearns  for  her  beautiful departed
kept by the power of God through                      Where tears never flow,           daughter  with  such  longing  that
faith unto the very day of our final                  Where  the  heart  knows  no      she  has  but  one  desire,  that  she
salvation.                                              sorrow, pain nor woe,           may die and be with her daughter
    We rejoice in  the  hope of the                   Where  neither  thorns  nor       again in heaven.  Imagine her dis-
saints.  This is not a mere "I hope                     thistles grow.
so,"  such  as  the  world  cherishes.                O, to be there!                   appointment  when  she  discovers
The unbeliever can never be sure                    But more.  Oh, to live fully and    that her mother-daughter relation-
of the future.  His hopes are often        eternally in the intimate presence           ship is gone forever.
shattered.  But the hope of the be-        of Father, in the light of His coun-             Or imagine the musician who
                                           tenance to the praise of His match-          is thrilled with the prospect of de-
                                           less name!                                   veloping his voice or musical tal-
Rev. Hanko is a minister emeritus in                Blessed hope of the saints!         ent to perfection, so that he can en-
the Protestant Reformed Churches.                                                       tertain  and  receive  the  adulation

                                                                                            September 1, 1997/Standard Bearer/459


from  the  multitudes  that  no  man       make His glory known by saving             scribe  us  as  obedient  sons  and
can number.                                us through the dark way of sin and         daughters in God's house, who are
    What if my desire for heaven           death, and through the marvelous           eager to serve, for it is our joy to
is all wrong?  It is not what I ex-        redemption by the blood of Jesus           do our Father's will.
pected and I end up in hell?  How          Christ,  our  Lord.    God  loves  us          We love the brethren.  Even as
ashamed I would be.                        with  a  love  which  is  higher  than     we  are  enemies  of  all  those  who
    Or,  once  more,  suppose  that        the heavens, deeper than the sea,          hate God, so we also count as fa-
heaven is real and all that we an-         and broader than the universe.             ther, mother, sister, and brother all
ticipate is true, but that at the last         This  love  of  God  is  as  un-       those who love the Lord.
moment  it  should  slip  from  our        changeable  as  God  Himself.    We            Not as if we have attained to
grasp.                                     are engraven in the palms of God's         perfection.    Far  from  it,  for  we
    Jesus  warns  us  in  Matthew          hands as His cherished possession.         humbly  confess  that  we  are  still
7:22, 23, "Many will say to me in          Heaven and earth may pass away,            very  sinful  with  many  imperfec-
that day, Lord, Lord, have we not          but God's love abides forever.             tions.  We must still complain that
prophesied  in  thy  name?    and  in          Behold the extent of this love,        when  we  will  the  good,  evil  is
thy name cast out devils?  and in          which  is  so  great  that  the  Father    present with us, so that we cry out,
thy  name  done  many  wonderful           surrendered His Son to the horrible        O  wretched  man  that  I  am,  who
works?    And  then  will  I  profess      punishment  of  the  death  of  hell.      shall deliver me from the body of
unto them, I never knew you, de-           The  Son  gave  Himself  to  utter         this death?  If our salvation in any
part  from  me,  ye  that  work  iniq-     desolation in the torments of divine       way  depended  upon  us,  we  not
uity."                                     wrath.    The  Father  gave  His  Son      only might perish, but we certainly
    Suppose that at the end of the         and the Son gave His life to save          would.    Yet  we  rest  assured  that
way  we  should  discover  that            us from sin and death and to bring         God who has begun a good work
heaven is not for us!  "If in this life    us into the glorious liberty of the        in us will surely finish it.
only  we  have  hope  in  Christ,  we      sons  of  God.    We  are  redeemed,           In one word, we have become
are of all men most miserable" (I          purchased unto God as His pecu-            pilgrims and strangers on the earth,
Cor. 15:19).                               liar possession, saved from death          with our eternal home in the heav-
          333    333    333                unto everlasting life by the blood         ens.  Here below we have no abid-
    But  No!  A thousand times No!         of  the  Lamb  of  God  who  takes         ing  city,  we  are  only  passing
Perish the thought!                        away the sins of the world!                through,  for  we  look  for  the  city
    Our  God  assures  us:    Hope             Besides  all  that,  behold  what      that  hath  foundations,  whose
maketh not ashamed!  The sincere           manner of love the Father has be-          Builder  and  Maker  is  God.    Al-
hope of the believer can never fail        stowed upon us who are justified,          though our flesh clings to all that
him.  We have the testimony of the         declared  free  from  sin  and  guilt,     is earthy, our eye of faith is fixed
holy  Scriptures  and  of  the             and  assured  of  our  adoption  to        upon  the  house  not  made  with
indwelling  Spirit  to  assure  us  of     sons.  Even more than that, we are         hands, eternal in the heavens.  For
that!                                      transformed  into  the  likeness  of       us to live is Christ, and to die is
    Why?  Because the love of God          Christ,  restored  in  His  image  in      gain.
is spread abroad in our hearts!            true knowledge, righteousness, and             More than conquerors are we
    God is love!  The love of God          holiness, to know God as our God,          in Christ Jesus!  Nothing can sepa-
is  that  divine  attribute  whereby       to love and to serve Him with our          rate us from the love of God, nei-
God loves Himself as the ultimate          whole  being.    We  are  saints   in      ther death nor life, nor angels, nor
of all perfection.  The triune cov-        Christ Jesus, members of the eter-         principalities,  nor  powers,  nor
enant  God  lives  in  intimate  com-      nal family of God.                         things present, nor things to come,
munion of life as Father, Son, and             All of which means that we are         nor  height,  nor  depth,  nor  any
Holy  Spirit.    They  are  intimately     devoted  servants in God's house,          other creature (Rom. 8:38, 39).
united  with  one  another  by  love,      prophets who proclaim His praises,             Added  to  all  that,  we  have
the bond of perfection.  Together          priests who are devoted with our           God's  sure  promises.    None  has
they  experience  blessed  harmony         whole being to our God, and kings          ever failed.  None will fail.  These
and  unity  in  their  thinking  and       to  conquer  over  sin  in  our  own       we embrace by faith.  We are heirs
willing and in all their works.            members and to fight the battle of         of God and joint heirs with Christ.
    Wonder of wonders--that love            faith in an evil world.                        We have the beginning of the
includes you  and  me  as "elect  in           We  are  servants--yes,  even           eternal joy in our hearts, a joy un-
Christ Jesus," beloved of God, cho-        bond-servants,  slaves  of  Jesus          speakable and full of glory!
sen from before the foundations of         Christ, yet more than willing, even            How  can  that  hope  ever  put
the earth according to His eternal         happy  in  and  thankful  for  our         anyone to shame!
foreknowledge!  God has willed to          lowly position.  One can better de-            To God be the glory!   u

460/Standard Bearer/September 1, 1997


 Editorial




                  "That They All may be One,"
                                                            or
       "The Mystery of the Great Whore"?

                                            this significant ecumenical achieve-          the  Scriptures  and  ecumenical
                                            ment  later.    The  other  is  an  ecu-      councils, could become the foun-
                                            menical conference  that was held             dation for a unified and transfor-
                                            in Aiken, South Carolina in May,              mative witness to the present age.
One of the great signs of the
           coming  of  Christ  is  the
         uniting  of  the  apostate         1995.  The participants in this con-          Is it possible, we asked ourselves,
                                                                                          for those who are deeply commit-
churches as the false church.  This         ference were prominent represen-              ted  to  differing  theological  per-
is the beast from the earth of Rev-         tatives of two large churches and             spectives to help each other in de-
elation 13 and the great whore of           one  large  theological  group:    the        fending and communicating their
Revelation 17.                              Roman Catholic church; the East-              common faith?  And if so, how?
    One  of  the  great  works  of          ern  Orthodox  Church;  and                   How  can  Protestants,  Roman
Christ in history is the uniting of         evangelicalism, especially evangeli-          Catholics  and  Eastern  Orthodox
His people in manifestation of the          calism in North America.                      Christians talk to each other so as
oneness of  His church.  This car-              This  conference  is  reported,           together  to  speak  with  Christ's
ries out His purpose, "that they all        and its ecumenicity is promoted, in           mind to the modern world?  (Re-
                                                                                          claiming, p. 8).
may be one" (John 17:21).                   the book,  Reclaiming the Great Tra-
    The  Reformed  Christian  and           dition:  Evangelicals, Catholics & Or-      The  theme  of  the  conference  was
the  Reformed  church  must  be             thodox  in  Dialogue,  ed.  James  S.       "An Ecumenical Conference of Tra-
aware of these two great events in          Cutsinger  (Downers  Grove,  IL:            ditional Christians."
history.  They must be able to dis-         InterVarsity Press, 1997).                      The book that reports and pro-
tinguish them.  They have a call-               The  question  concerning  this         motes the ecumenicity of the con-
ing to be active with regard to them        ecumenical  event  is,  "`That  They        ference consists of the six main con-
both.  The one they must condemn            All may be One', or `the Mystery            ference addresses.  Peter Kreeft and
and  stand  aloof  from.    The  other      of the Great Whore'"?                       Richard John Neuhaus (both, it will
they must honor and promote.                    Let us test this church-uniting         be noted, defectors to Rome from
    "That  they  all  may  be  one"         activity.                                   Protestantism, the former from the
calls  the  churches  to  genuine               The assumption underlying the           Reformed  communion,  the  latter
ecumenicity.  "The mystery of the           conference  is  that,  despite  their       from Lutheranism) speak for Rome.
great whore" is Satan's counterfeit.        differences,  evangelicals,  Roman          Harold O. J. Brown and J. I Packer
                                            Catholics, and the Orthodox share           represent evangelicalism.  Patrick
    Recent Ecumenical Events                a "great tradition."  This "great tra-      Henry Reardon and Kallistos Ware
    Two ecumenical happenings in            dition" is thought to be the essence        are the spokesmen for Eastern Or-
recent times demand Reformed at-            of the Christian faith.  Evangelicals,      thodoxy.    Each  essay  is  followed
tention.    One  is  the  decision  this    Roman  Catholics,  and  the  Ortho-         by a response from a theologian of
summer  by  four  large  denomina-          dox  share  a  common  faith.    The        one of the other churches or group.
tions,  including  the  Reformed            purpose of the 1995 meeting was
Church in America (RCA) and the                                                                  A Common Faith?
Evangelical  Lutheran  Church  in             to test whether an ecumenical or-             All agree that the three bodies
                                              thodoxy, solidly based on the clas-
America (ELCA), to enter into full
                                              sic Christian faith as expressed in       represented  at  the  conference  do,
communion.  I intend to examine

                                                                                            September 1, 1997/Standard Bearer/461


in fact, have "the great tradition"          do  with  the  Reformation's  insis-        theological justification for thus at-
in common, much as they may dif-             tence  on  `Scripture  alone'?"    The      tempting to get beyond the Father.
fer on non-essentials.  This is the          answer,  all  across  the  board,  is,      Such an endeavor scarcely differs
error of the book, as it was the er-         "Mute this insistence, and by am-           from Meister Eckhart's (great mys-
ror of the conference.  The official,        biguous  formulas  subject  Holy            tic--DJE) pursuit of a `God beyond
creedal Protestant position is that          Scripture to the authority of Roman         God'" (p. 108).
both Rome and Eastern orthodoxy              and  Orthodox  church-tradition."               Orthodox Isaac Melton gets off
have  corrupted  the  gospel  and,           The book is worth reading simply            one of the great lines in the book.
thus, abandoned the essence of the           for  the  purpose  of  discovering          Condemning the liberals' perverse
Christian  faith.    They  have  done        what high-powered ecumenicity is            explanation of the doctrine of the
this by denying the truth of salva-          doing  with  the  Protestant                Incarnation as teaching that "by his
tion by sovereign grace alone.  Both         Reformation's  confession  of  the          incarnation  Christ  sets  his  divine
Rome and Eastern Orthodoxy teach             sole authority of the written Word          seal  of  approval  on  the  base,  the
free will; justification by faith and        of God.  The title of the book gives        tawdry, the mundane and even the
works; universal, ineffectual atone-         the game away.  Why is the title            corrupt," Melton tells us, as he told
ment; general, resistible grace; and         not,  Reaffirming  and  Returning  to       the conference, that
conditional  predestination.    Of           Sola Scriptura ?
course,  most  of  modern  evan-                                                           the most extreme but quite reveal-
gelicalism  is  one  with  Rome  and                                                       ing  example  of  this  I  have  ever
Orthodoxy in this denial of the gos-                                                       encountered  was  in  a  National
pel, but this only means that most                Distinguished Orthodox                   Public Radio program I heard in
of modern evangelicalism has for-                Far and away the most impres-             1985.    A  Roman  Catholic  priest
                                                                                           (who  most  certainly  lacked  his
feited all right to the name "evan-          sive  contributors  are  the  Eastern         bishop's  nihil obstat) informed his
gelical."    "Evangelical"  means            Orthodox.  They pull no punches.              interviewer and his audience that
"faithful  to  the  gospel,"  and  the       Bradley  Nassif  responds  to  J.  I.         anonymous  homosexual  "acts  of
gospel is the message--the truth--             Packer's  cautious,  compromising             love" in a San Francisco gay bath-
of  salvation  by  (sovereign)  grace        piece by bluntly asserting that the           house  were  for  him  the  apex  of
alone.                                       Orthodox Church is the one, true              incarnational spiritual experience.
                                             church, so that "authentic Christian
    Do  such  then  believe  in  Jesus       unity"  requires  ecclesiastical  and       Melton  then  observes,  "The  only
  the  only  Savior,  who  seek  their       sacramental oneness with her.  He           `incarnational experience' that took
  salvation and welfare of saints, of        states that the united witness to the       place in the baths was the repeated
  themselves, or anywhere else?              gospel  that  Packer  thinks  is  pos-      enfleshing of the AIDS virus in the
    They  do  not;  for  though  they        sible will employ icons, that is, ma-       immune cells of its victims" (p. 96).
  boast  of  him  in  words,  yet  in                                                        Orthodox theologian Kallistos
  deeds they deny Jesus the only de-         terial images of God, Christ, Mary,
                                                                                         Ware has a brilliant article on the
  liverer and Savior; for one of these       and the other saints.  Unabashedly,
  two things must be true, that ei-          the  Orthodox  zealot  urges  upon          doctrine of the Trinity.  One who
  ther Jesus is not a complete Sav-          evangelical  Packer  Orthodoxy's            might buy the book for its ecumeni-
  ior;  or  that  they,  who  by  a  true    mysticism;  monasticism;  asceti-           cal theme will find himself amply
  faith receive this Savior, must find       cism;  and  doctrine  of  deification       repaid in another coin by this treat-
  all things in him necessary to their       (salvation's consisting of man's be-        ment of the Trinity.  Totally ignor-
  salvation.                                 coming divine).                             ing  the  matter  of  the  coming  to-
                      Heid. Cat., Q. 30          Patrick  Henry  Reardon,  an-           gether of the churches, Ware sets
                                             other Orthodox theologian, annihi-          forth  "the  Trinity  as  shared  love
    This issue receives little atten-        lates evangelical Donald Bloesch's          and interpersonal koinonia (fellow-
tion  in  the  book,  as,  evidently,  it    astonishing  concession  to  femi-          ship)"  (p.  134).    The  address  is
received little attention at the con-        nism,  that  "in  teaching  us  to call     titled, "The Trinity:  Heart of Our
ference.    The  prominent  issue  in        him Father `God adopted patriar-            Life."
this quest for church union, and the         chal concepts in order to reveal his
issue that  vexes the seekers most           will  and  purpose  to  the  human
sorely, is the relationship between          race.'"    Such  teaching,  says
Scripture  and  extra-biblical  tradi-       Reardon  rightly,  "is  to  make  a             Ignoble Roman Champion
tion.    The  question  for  the             claim about God for which there is              Distressing to me is the pres-
evangelicals,  as  for  the  Roman           no  warrant  in  Holy  Scripture....          ence  in  the  Roman  lists  of  Peter
Catholics and Orthodox who desire            This is purely private theology.  It        Kreeft.    A  classmate  of  mine  at
evangelical participation in the ecu-        has nothing to do with either the           Calvin  College  in  the  late  1950s,
menical venture, is, "What can we            Bible  or  the  church.    There  is  no    Kreeft has since apostatized from

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the Reformed faith to Roman Ca-            James Clarke, 1957)?  Remember?              editorial.    Consider  that  the  con-
tholicism.  He is now one of Rome's        You said then that the doctrines of          tent of this "Conclusion" is the rea-
chief apologists to Protestants.           "the helplessness of man in sin and          son  why  we  Reformed  Protes-
                                           (of)  the  sovereignty  of  God  in          tants--the real evangelicals in the
                                           grace" are "the very life-blood of           world--will  not,  indeed  cannot,
     "What Doest Thou Here,                the  Christian  faith"  (p.  58).    In      join you in your oneness and co-
            J. I. Packer?"                 those days, you taught the children          operation with Rome.
    More  distressing  still  is  the      of  the  Reformation--Protestants,                To abuse us as "fundamental-
presence, posture, and performance         evangelicals--that Arminianism is             ists" is unworthy of you.  Your fel-
at  the  conference  of  renowned          "a renunciation of New Testament             low conferee chides you:  "As the
evangelical theologian J. I. Packer.       Christianity in favour of New Tes-           academic world grows ever more
Packer tiptoes gingerly through the        tament  Judaism"  and  that                  hostile to Christianity, anything re-
minefield of evangelical union with        Arminianism is "in principle a re-           sembling  Christian  orthodoxy  is
the false church of Rome.  He af-          turn  to  Rome,"  which  meant,  of          now called fundamentalism" (S. M.
firms that conservative Protestants        course, that Rome is certainly noth-         Hutchens,  yet  another  of  the  Or-
are able to join together with the         ing but "New Testament Judaism."             thodox  participants,  "A  [Some-
Eastern  Orthodox  and  Roman              No  shared  "great  tradition"  in           what] Protestant Response to Rich-
Catholics  "in  bearing  witness  to"      1957!    And  you  warned  Protes-           ard John Neuhaus," in  Reclaiming,
the  gospel  of  salvation  in  Jesus      tants--evangelicals--at  that  time,           p. 64).
Christ.  With  Orthodoxy  and  Ro-         warned  them  sharply,  warned                   Packer's essay in Reclaiming in-
man  Catholicism,  evangelicals            them  against  the  very  spirit  and        dicates the avowed motivation for
share  an  "understanding  of  ruin,       conduct that you yourself now dis-           the effort to unite evangelicals, Or-
redemption, regeneration and the           play in ecumenical conferences and           thodox, and Roman Catholics:  only
reality of fellowship with our risen       books:                                       out of this "convergence" can there
Savior."                                                                                emerge a "contemporary witness to
    Packer  then  lashes  out,  with         We are forced to ask whether Prot-         God that is sufficiently strong and
uncharacteristic  fury  and  scorn,          estant Christendom has not tragi-          significant" (p. 169).  The world has
against  those  evangelicals  who            cally  sold  its  birthright  between      become exceedingly worldly.  An
refuse to join him in his unholy al-         Luther's day and our own.  Has             effective witness to God demands
liance:                                      not  Protestantism  today  become          the size and strength of the union
                                             more  Erasmian  than  Lutheran?
                                             Do  we  not  too  often  try  to           of  evangelicals,  Roman  Catholics,
  To be sure, fundamentalists within         minimise and gloss over doctrinal          and Orthodox.
  our  three  traditions  are  unlikely      differences  for  the  sake  of  inter-        This  motivation  ignores  the
  to join us in this, for it is the way      party peace?  Are we innocent of           biblical injunction that those coop-
  of  fundamentalists  to  follow  the       the  doctrinal  indifferentism  with       erating in witnessing to God in an
  path of contentious orthodoxism,           which  Luther  charged  Erasmus?           idolatrous,  immoral  world  them-
  as if the mercy of God in Christ           Do  we still  believe  that doctrine
  automatically  rests  on  persons                                                     selves be one in the truth of God.
                                             matters?    Or  do  we  now,  with
  who are notionally correct and is                                                     It also ignores the lesson of history
                                             Erasmus, rate a deceptive appear-
  just  as  automatically  withheld                                                     that God does not need, and usu-
                                             ance  of  unity  as  of more  impor-
  from those who fall short of no-           tance  than  truth?    Have  we  not       ally  does  not  choose,  size  and
  tional correctness on any point of         grown used to an Erasmian brand            strength for the witness to Himself:
  substance.  But this concept of, in        of  teaching  from  our  pulpits--a         Noah;  Elijah;  the  remnant;  the
  effect, justification, not by works        message  that  rests  on  the  same        apostles; Athanasius; Luther.
  but by words--words, that is, of            shallow  synergistic  conceptions
  notional  soundness  and  preci-           which  Luther  refuted,  picturing
  sion--is near to being a cultic her-        God  and  man  approaching  each
  esy in its own right and need not                                                      Evangelicalism and C. S. Lewis
                                             other almost on equal terms, each
  detain us further, however much                                                           Many evangelicals who are dis-
                                             having  his  own  contribution  to
  we may regret the fact that some                                                      mayed by these ecumenical devel-
                                             make to man's salvation and each
  in  all  our  traditions  are  bogged      depending  on  the  dutiful  co-op-        opments are  going to  have to re-
  down in it (p. 174).                       eration of the other for the attain-       evaluate the Anglican author, C. S.
                                             ment of that end?--as if God ex-            Lewis, with whom they are carry-
    Ah, Dr. Packer, what has hap-            ists for man's convenience, rather         ing on a torrid love affair.  Lewis,
pened to you since you wrote the             than man for God's glory?  (p. 60)         though dead, spoke loudly at the
grand "Historical and Theological                                                       conference.  The introduction to Re-
Introduction"  to  your  and  O.  R.           I will run the "Conclusion" of           claiming, titled, "Finding the Cen-
Johnston's  translation  of  Luther's      your passionate, powerful article of         ter,"  tells  us  that  the  conference
The  Bondage  of  the  Will  (London:      1957  immediately  following  this           took  its  lead  from  Lewis'  well-

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known book, Mere Christianity.  Ex-       ing the Reformation gospel of sal-              mally label "Calvinistic" and hast-
plicitly in Mere Christianity and im-     vation by (sovereign) grace alone,              ily pass by. This is what Lutheran
plicitly in his other writings, Lewis     the "Ecumenical Conference of Tra-              orthodoxy itself has done; and the
advocated  what  the  editor  of  Re-     ditional  Christians"  was  further             present-day  Evangelical  Christian
claiming correctly calls "a most im-      unfolding  of  the  mystery  of  the            (who has semi-Pelagianism in his
portant  ecumenical  principle"  (p.      great whore.   s                                blood)  will  be  inclined  to  do  the
9).  The principle is, as Lewis him-                                         -- DJE        same.  But both history and Scrip-
self described it,  that                                                                  ture, if allowed to speak, counsel
                                                                                          otherwise.
  it is at her center, where her tru-                                                         Historically, it is a simple mat-
  est children dwell, that each com-       "Conclusion" of the "Historical                ter of fact that Martin Luther and
  munion is really closest to every         and Theological Introduction"                 John Calvin, and, for that matter,
  other in spirit, if not in doctrine.    to J.I. Packer and O.R. Johnston's              Ulrich Zwingli, Martin Bucer, and
  And this suggests that at the cen-        translation of Martin Luther's                all  the  leading  Protestant  theolo-
  ter of each there is something, or
  a Someone, who against all diver-             The Bondage of the Will.                  gians of the first epoch of the Ref-
  gences of belief, all differences of                                --J.I. Packer        ormation,  stood  on  precisely  the
  temperament, all memories of mu-                                                        same  ground  here.    On  other
  tual persecution, speaks with the           The following is an excerpt from            points, they had their differences;
  same voice (Mere Christianity, cited    J.I. Packer's "Historical and Theologi-         but in asserting the helplessness of
  in Reclaiming, p. 9).                   cal  Introduction"  to  his  and  O.R.          man in sin, and the sovereignty of
                                          Johnston's  translation  of  Martin             God in grace, they were entirely at
In  other  words,  evangelicals,  Or-     Luther's  The  Bondage  of  the  Will           one.  To all of them, these doctrines
thodox, and Roman Catholics are,          (London:  James Clarke, 1957), pp. 57-          were  the  very  life-blood  of  the
in reality, one in God Himself.           61.  The section published forms the            Christian faith.  A modern editor
    But  the  same  C.  S.  Lewis,  it    conclusion of the "Introduction."               of Luther's great work underscores
should be noted, taught that all re-          It  sets  forth  the  message  of  the      this fact:  "Whoever puts this book
ligions are essentially one.  In  The     Reformation:  "sovereign grace."                down without having realised that
Last  Battle,  concluding  volume  in         It demands that this be our wit-            evangelical theology stands or falls
the Narnia series, Lewis has Aslan,       ness in the world.                              with the doctrine of bondage of the
symbol  of  Christ,  inform  Emeth            It  warns  against  compromise  of          will has read it in vain."  The doc-
(significantly, the Hebrew word for       this  message  in  the  interests of  "in-      trine  of  free  justification  by  faith
truth), a lifelong worshiper of the       ter-party peace."                               only, which became the storm-cen-
heathen god, Tash, and a lifelong             By implication, it insists that this        tre of so much controversy during
hater of Aslan, that "all the service     gospel be the basis of all ecumenical           the Reformation period, is often re-
thou hast done to Tash, I account         union and cooperation.                          garded as the heart of the Reform-
as  service  done  to  me."    By  his        In all of this, the "Introduction"          ers' theology, but this is hardly ac-
noble  seeking  and  honest  service      is  right.    This  was  the  stand  of  the    curate.    The  truth  is  that  their
of the idol, Emeth is saved at death      Reformers.  This is the position of the         thinking  was really centred upon
(The  Last  Battle ,  London:    The      Reformation creeds.  This is the testi-         the contention of Paul, echoed with
Bodley Head, p. 166).  Worshipers         mony of Scripture.                              varying  degrees  of  adequacy  by
of the God of Jesus Christ and wor-                                           -- Ed.       Augustine,  and  Gottschalk,  and
shipers of the Allah of Mohammed                                                          Bradwardine,  and  Wycliffe,  that
alike inherit the new world.  Tak-            What is the modern reader to                the sinner's entire salvation is by
ing Lewis as their ecumenical men-        make  of  The  Bondage  of  the  Will?          free and sovereign grace only.  The
tor, those who planned the confer-        That it is a brilliant and exhilarat-           doctrine  of  justification  by  faith
ence in South Carolina might have         ing performance, a masterpiece of               was important to them because it
invited the noble pagans to partici-      the  controversialist's  difficult  art,        safeguarded  the  principle  of  sov-
pate.                                     he will no doubt readily admit; but             ereign  grace;  but  it  actually  ex-
                                          now comes the question, is Luther's             pressed for them only one aspect
                                          case any part of God's truth? and,              of  this  principle,  and  that  not  its
         Ecumenicity of the Lie           if  so,  has  it  a  message  for  Chris-       deepest aspect.  The sovereignty of
    "`That They All may be One,'          tians to-day?  No doubt the reader              grace  found  expression  in  their
or  `the  Mystery  of  the  Great         will find the way by which Luther               thinking at a profounder level still,
Whore'"?                                  leads him to be a strange new road,             in the doctrine of monergistic re-
    Working  for  church  union           an approach which in all probabil-              generation -- the doctrine, that is,
while rejecting the truth of the sole     ity he has never considered, a line             that the faith which receives Christ
authority  of  Scripture  and  ignor-     of  thought  which  he  would  nor-             for justification is itself the free gift

464/Standard Bearer/September 1, 1997


of  a  sovereign  God,  bestowed  by         Christianity in favour of New Tes-           mity with God, blind and dead to
spiritual regeneration in the act of         tament Judaism; for to rely on one-          the things of the Spirit?  And hence,
effectual  calling.    To  the  Reform-      self for faith is no different in prin-      how rarely do we hear faith spo-
ers,  the  crucial  question  was  not       ciple  from  relying  on  oneself  for       ken of as Scripture depicts it--as it
simply, whether God justifies be-            works, and the one is as un-Chris-           is expressed in the cry of self-com-
lievers  without  works  of  law.    It      tian and anti-Christian as the other.        mittal  with  which  the  contrite
was the broader question, whether            In the light of what Luther says to          heart, humbled to see its need and
sinners are wholly helpless in their         Erasmus, there is no doubt that he           made  conscious  of  its  own  utter
sin,  and  whether  God  is  to  be          would  have  endorsed  this  judg-           helplessness even to trust, casts it-
thought of as saving them by free,           ment.                                        self in the God-given confidence of
unconditional, invincible grace, not             These  things  need  to  be  pon-        self-despair  upon  the  mercy  of
only  justifying  them  for  Christ's        dered by Protestants to-day.  With           Christ Jesus--"Lord, I believe; help
sake when they come to faith, but            what right may we call ourselves             Thou my unbelief!"  Can we deny
also  raising  them  from  the  death        children of the Reformation?  Much           the essential rightness of Luther's
of sin by His quickening Spirit in           modern  Protestantism  would  be             exegesis of the texts?  And if not,
order to bring them to faith.  Here          neither owned nor even recognised            dare we ignore the implications of
was the crucial issue:  whether God          by  the  pioneer  Reformers.    The          his exposition?
is the author, not merely of justifi-        Bondage  of  the  Will  fairly  sets  be-        To accept the principles which
cation, but also of faith; whether,          fore us  what  they believed about           Martin  Luther  vindicates  in  The
in the last analysis, Christianity is        the salvation of lost mankind.  In           Bondage of the Will would certainly
a religion of utter reliance on God          the light of it, we are forced to ask        involve  a  mental  and  spiritual
for salvation and all things neces-          whether  Protestant  Christendom             revolution for many Christians at
sary  to  it,  or  of  self-reliance  and    has not tragically sold its birthright       the present time.  It would involve
self-effort.    "Justification  by  faith    between Luther's day and our own.            a  radically  different  approach  to
only"  is  a  truth  that  needs  inter-     Has  not  Protestantism  to-day  be-         preaching and the practice of evan-
pretation.  The principle of sola fide       come  more  Erasmian  than                   gelism, and to most other depart-
is not rightly understood till it is         Lutheran?  Do we not too often try           ments  of  theology  and  pastoral
seen  as  anchored  in  the  broader         to minimise and gloss over doctri-           work as well.  God-centered think-
principle of sola gratia.  What is the       nal differences for the sake of in-          ing is out of fashion to-day, and its
source and status of faith?  Is it the       ter-party peace?  Are we innocent            recovery will involve something of
God-given  means  whereby  the               of the doctrinal indifferentism with         a Copernican revolution in our out-
God-given justification is received,         which  Luther  charged  Erasmus?             look on many matters.  But ought
or is it a condition of justification        Do  we  still  believe  that  doctrine       we to shrink from this?  Do we not
which it is left to man to fulfil?  Is       matters?    Or  do  we  now,  with           stand in urgent need of such teach-
it a part of God's gift of salvation,        Erasmus, rate a deceptive appear-            ing as Luther here gives us--teach-
or is it man's own contribution to           ance  of  unity  as  of  more  impor-        ing which humbles man, strength-
salvation?  Is our salvation wholly          tance  than  truth?    Have  we  not         ens faith, and glorifies God--and
of  God,  or  does  it  ultimately  de-      grown used to an Erasmian brand              is  not  the  contemporary  Church
pend on something that we do for             of  teaching  from  our  pulpits--a           weak for the lack of it?  The issue
ourselves?  Those who say the lat-           message  that  rests  on  the  same          is clear.  We are compelled to ask
ter  (as  the  Arminians  later  did)        shallow  synergistic  conceptions            ourselves:  If the Almighty God of
thereby deny man's utter helpless-           which  Luther  refuted,  picturing           the Bible is to be our God, if the
ness in sin, and affirm that a form          God  and  man  approaching  each             New Testament gospel is to be our
of  semi-Pelagianism  is  true  after        other almost on equal terms, each            message, if Jesus Christ is the same
all.  It is no wonder, then, that later      having  his  own  contribution  to           yesterday, to-day and for ever--is
Reformed  theology  condemned                make to man's salvation and each             any  other  position  than  Luther's
Arminianism as being in principle            depending on the dutiful co-opera-           possible?  Are we not in all hon-
a return to Rome (because in effect          tion of the other for the attainment         esty  bound  to  stand  with  him  in
it  turned  faith  into  a  meritorious      of that end?--as if God exists for            ascribing  all  might,  and  majesty,
work) and a betrayal of the Refor-           man's  convenience,  rather  than            and dominion, and power, and all
mation (because it denied the sov-           man for God's glory?  Is it not true,        the glory of our salvation to God
ereignty of God in saving sinners,           conversely, that it is rare to-day to        alone?  Surely no more important
which  was  the  deepest  religious          hear  proclaimed  the  diagnosis  of         or far-reaching question confronts
and theological principle of the Re-         our  predicament which Luther--               the Church today.
formers'  thought).    Arminianism           and Scripture--put forward:  that                           Sola fide
was,  indeed,  in  Reformed  eyes  a         man is hopeless and helpless in sin,                      Sola gratia
renunciation  of  New  Testament             fast bound in Satan's slavery, at en-              SOLI DEO GLORIA.   u

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  A Word Fitly Spoken                                                                            Rev. Dale Kuiper


                                         Imagination

    The word imagination occurs thirty-six times dained them for him.  Thus the devil imagined it
           in Holy Scripture.  It is striking that every        were better that he were God, rather than being
           occurrence of this word, with one exception,         one of God's holy servants.  Thus the devil dangled
    is in the evil sense; and almost every use of the           before the imagination of Eve and Adam the at-
    word  is  found  in  context  with  the  words  "evil       tractiveness  that  they  could  be  God  themselves,
    heart."    God  makes  plain  in  His  Word  that  He       determining what is good and what is evil.  Thus,
    does not think much of the imaginations of men!             through  the  fall  of  our  first  parents,  every  man
        Just before the flood, "God saw that the wick-          comes into the world imagining vain, evil, corrupt
    edness  of  man  was  great  in  the  earth,  and  that     things.
    every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was              The  only  cure  for  the  wicked  imagination  is
    only evil continually" (Gen. 6:5).  One of the things       regeneration of the heart, so that the thoughts of
    which  the  Lord  hates  is  "an  heart  that  deviseth     the  heart  are  in  harmony  with  the  revelation  of
    wicked  imaginations"  (Prov.  6:18).    When  God          God  in  His  Word.    In  that  Word  the  truth  and
    called Judah to conversion of life, their response          reality of all things is to be found:  the truth of
    was, "There is no hope:  but we will walk after             God, creation, the fall, Jesus Christ, salvation by
    our own  devices, and  we  will every one do the            faith in Him.  Our imaginations are not to be given
    imaginations of his evil heart" (Jer. 18:12).  These        free rein; our meditations and musings are always
    imaginations  are  first  and  foremost  against  the       to be subject to, and in harmony with, the truth of
    Lord  God  Himself  (Lam.  3:60,  61).    After  Peter      the Word of God.
    and  John  had  been  released  from  prison,  they             Little children have strong, vivid imaginations.
    prayed to God, quoting Psalm 2, "Why do the hea-            They pretend to be driving the car like dad.  Or
    then  rage  and  the  people  imagine  vain  things?"       they imagine that they are housewives and moth-
    (Acts 4:25), observing that Herod, Pilate, the Gen-         ers.  Nothing wrong there.  Occasionally it hap-
    tiles,  and  Israel  were  gathered  against  the  child    pens that the imagination of children becomes too
    Jesus.    Natural  man  is  without  excuse  because,       strong and controlling so that they are out of touch
    knowing  God,  they  refuse  to  glorify  and  thank        with reality.  They imagine they have a playmate
    Him, being vain in their imaginations and having            who  makes  them  do  evil  things.    They  imagine
    foolish,  darkened  hearts  (Rom.  1:21).    The  only      that they never do anything wrong.  They refuse
    hope  for  this  universal  depravity  of  mankind  is      to take responsibility for their own sins.  This re-
    the holy gospel which is able "to cast down imagi-          quires discipline.  This requires careful instruction
    nations, and every high thing which exalteth itself         by the parents and teachers, who know both the
    against the knowledge of God" (II Cor. 10:5).               power of the sinful imagination and the power of
        What is the imagination?  It is the ability and         the Word and Spirit of God to set forth the truth
    power to form a mental image of something not               of all things.
    present to the senses.  The imagination is the cre-             As our delight is in the law of the Lord, as we
    ation of the mind as that mind is given spiritual           meditate in that law day and night, we are set free
    direction by the heart.  An evil heart can only in-         from vain imaginations and the curse that comes
    spire the mind to imagine vain, corrupt things.  In         upon them.  Jehovah is God alone.  We are His
    fact, without the imagination it is not even pos-           people for Christ's sake.  Let God be God!  And let
    sible to sin.  Sin is that a person imagines things         His Word be true!   u
    better than the way that God has willed and or-




   Rev. Kuiper is pastor of Southeast Protestant Reformed Church
   in Grand Rapids, Michigan.



466/Standard Bearer/September 1, 1997


  All Around Us                                                                                 Rev. Gise VanBaren

                                               Who  taught  Ms.  Drexler  to           tor, one trained in the arts of heal-
                                             think, or not think, in a way that        ing,  to  carry  out  a  "partial  birth
                                             caused her to regard her newborn          abortion."  The doctor could have
s "Prom birth...                               baby as disposable trash?  Many           induced labor.  He could have as-
just plain wicked"                           people and things, no doubt.              sisted  in  the  partial  birth  of  the
S                                              ...If she is like millions of other
     o  wrote  George  Will  of  the         young adults, she has spent thou-         babe--making sure, however, that
      Washington Post as printed in          sands  of  hours  watching  movies        the baby's head did not come out
the Loveland, CO  Reporter-Herald,           and  television  programs  not  de-       of the birth canal.  He could have
June 12, 1997.  We have all read of          signed  to  encourage  delicacy  of       inserted a scissors into the baby's
the horrific crimes of young girls           feelings or to suggest that sexual-       brain  and  then  suctioned  it  out.
who  give  birth  to  a  child  and          ity  has  morally  complex  dimen-        The young girl, if she felt up to it,
promptly  kill  that  child.    George       sions and serious consequences.  If       could have then gone to her prom.
                                             she is like millions of other young
Will  makes  some  very  valid  and                                                    Few would criticize her.  She then,
                                             adults, she has pumped into her
moving  points--based  not  on                ears  thousands  of  hours  of  the       with the doctor's assistance, would
Scripture or a specific religion, but        coarsening lyrics of popular mu-          merely  have  been  removing  "un-
upon biological facts.  Listen:              sic.  And she certainly has grown         wanted tissue."  A few might look
                                             up  in  a  social  atmosphere  satu-      askance  at  the  doctor--but  he
     According to a friend, 18-year-         rated with opinion leaders' appro-        would have been acting within the
  old  Melissa  Drexler  paused  in          bation of, and collaboration with,        law.    What  a  difference  just  one
  front of the mirror in the bathroom        the political program of reducing         day would have made!  Now the
  to touch up her makeup before re-          abortion--the  killing  of  some-          girl  is  likely  to  be  charged  with
  joining her date on the dance floor        thing--to  a  mere  "choice,"  like        murder--a day earlier, a different
  at the prom.  She had just tossed          choosing  to  smoke  a  cigarette,        procedure, and she would be home
  her  6-pound,  6-ounce  baby  boy          only not nearly that serious.
  into a trash bin next to the blood-          However,  foremost  among  the          scot-free.    How  hypocritical!
  stained stall in the restroom where        moral  tutors  who  prepared  Ms.         Surely all of this is also "just plain
  she had given birth.  "She seemed          Drexler to act as she did is the Su-      wicked."  It all represents what one
  to  be  enjoying  herself,"  said  a       preme  Court.    By  pretending  in       writer called a "moral meltdown,"
  classmate about Drexler's postpar-         Roe  v.  Wade  not  to  know  when        not just on the part of one young
  tum dancing.                               life begins, the Court encouraged         girl, but on the part of the nation
     Medical examiners have deter-           looking away from the stark fact          as a whole.
  mined that the baby was alive dur-         that abortion kills something.  Ig-
  ing the birthing process, which oc-        noring  elementary  science,  the         s
  curred early in the prom.  He was          Court said, preposterously, that a             "That They May Be One"
  soon discovered by a maintenance           fetus is "potential life."                So Jesus prayed in  John 17:11.
  worker who thought the trash bag             ...The barbarism at the prom is                 His reference was His church.
  was unusually heavy.  Unsuccess-           being termed a "tragedy" calling          It is a prayer for unity on the basis
  ful attempts were made to resus-           for "compassion" all around.  No,         of  truth--for  it  was  to  be  a  one-
  citate him.                                an earthquake is a tragedy.  This         ness as Christ was one with His Fa-
     Believe it or not, much may de-         was  an  act  of  wickedness--a            ther.
  pend on whether it can be deter-           wicked choice--and a society in-                But  there  have  been  devilish
  mined that the baby died before            capable of anger about it is sim-
  the  umbilical  cord  was  cut.    Or      ply decadent....                            imitations of that oneness through-
  whether the air sacs in his lungs                                                    out history.  It was seen at the time
  inflated,  indicating  that  he              George  Will  is  correct:  this  is    before  the  flood.    It  was  evident
  breathed,  however  briefly,  inde-      not  a  "tragedy,"  it  is  "just  plain    again at the Tower of Babel.  But
  pendent  of  his  mother.    Ms.         wicked."                                    now, in these last days, it is being
  Drexler  may  be  charged  with              Having said that, however, one          seen again.  There is the sense that
  something.    Maybe  murder.             cannot help but note the hypocrisy          the world  must unite.  We have a
  Maybe  endangering  a  child.                                                        global economy.  The environment
  [Maybe conducting a partial-birth        of our society.  This young girl will
                                                                                       is affected by  what  all of the na-
  abortion at a prom without a li-         likely, and justly, be charged with
  cense?]                                  murder.    But  had  she  been  a  bit      tions of the world do.  Diseases can
                                           more clever, had she followed the           no longer be limited to some iso-
                                           instructions of the teachers of our         lated  area.    So  there  is  some  ur-
Rev. VanBaren is pastor of the Prot-       day,  she  would  have  gone  to  an        gency,  it  seems,  for  nations  not
estant Reformed  Church  of  Loveland,     abortion clinic the day before the          only to cooperate, but to work un-
Colorado.                                  prom.  She would have had a doc-            der some supra-national authority.

                                                                                            September 1, 1997/Standard Bearer/467


This fact was pointed out in a pa-            is  taking  place  in  our  day.    The           El Nio is blamed for Denver's
per,  Pro-Farmer,  March  15,  1997,          world,  of  course,  has  no  alterna-          infamous  Christmas  blizzard  of
given to me by an Iowa farmer.  In            tive but to unite and try to solve              1982.
it there was a reminder of what is            its problems.  With modern tech-                  ...El Nio is a periodic warm-
taking place today:                           nology  and  current  development,              ing of water temperatures in the
                                                                                              tropical areas of the Pacific along
                                              such union is inevitable.  But it is            the equator near South America.
    As you read this, 450 powerful            not being carried out in obedience              It  is  named  after  baby  Jesus,  or
  delegates  of  governments,  world          to God's Word and law.  Rather, it              "El  Nio"  in  Spanish,  since  the
  environmental  groups,  universi-           has the clear marks  of the devel-              warm  pool  of  water  usually
  ties and banks are meeting in Rio           oping anti-Christian world power.               reaches  South  America  near
  de Janeiro to map your future un-           It  surely  is  fulfillment  of  Revela-        Christmas....
  der a master environmental plan                                                               ...This  year,  early  signals  sug-
  called "Agenda 21."                         tion  13--the  beast  that  arises  out          gest a major event is brewing.  In
    The conference, dubbed "Rio+5"            of  the  sea.    It  is  but  another  re-      June, the last full month for which
  is  a  follow-up  to  the  1992  U.N.       minder to watch and pray.                       there  are  data,  trade  winds
  Earth Summit.  The 1992 Summit              [A post-script:  My thanks to those             changed  direction  for  several
  spawned several treaties aimed at           who send in  materials they con-                days, and the water temperatures
  transcending national sovereignty,          sider  might  be  of  interest  in  this        in  the  eastern  Pacific  rose  more
  including  the  "biodiversity               rubric.  Though I do not respond                than 3 degrees Celsius.  Usually,
  Treaty."  This treaty calls for glo-        to those who send such materials,               the water temperature increases 1
  bal  "eco  regions"  controlled  by         I do greatly appreciate this assis-             or 2 degrees.
  "Non-Governmental  Organiza-
  tions"  (NGOs),  a  code  word  for         tance.  And if I cannot make use of
                                                                                                So,  the  scientists  are  already
  environmental  organizations                all the materials sent in, I trust the
  working  in  concert  with  the             senders will understand.]                     alerting us of disasters which may
  United Nations.                                                                           befall  this  coming  season.    These
    The  biodiversity  Treaty's  view         s "El Nio `blockbuster'                      have already a natural explanation
  of individual property rights, for          brewing, scientists warn"                     for  whatever  may  come.      But
  example, is that your rights "are                                                         again, Scripture reminds us too of
  not unchanging, but rather a com-           "Unpredictable phenomenon could               those things which shall fall upon
  plex,  dynamic  and  shifting  rela-        bring  drought  or  deluge."    This          the earth near the end of this age.
  tionship between two or more par-           was the headline in the Denver Post,          We  ought  ever  to  remember  that
  ties, over space and time."                 Saturday,  July  26,  1997.    The  ar-       the explanation of the disasters that
    U.S.  government  delegates               ticle went on to state:
  signed the Summit treaty in 1992.                                                         come, whatever the "scientific" ex-
  But  a  wary  Congress  has  so  far                                                      planation, is finally the fulfillment
                                                   It's too early to tell if the inten-
  refused to ratify it, which would                                                         of  Scripture.    Indeed,  it  is  "El
                                                sifying  El  Nio  in  the  Pacific
  place  the  Biodiversity  Treaty              Ocean will mean snow dumps or               Nio," or Baby Jesus, but now res-
  above U.S. law.                               droughts in Colorado this winter,           urrected and ascended, who causes
                                                an  atmospheric  scientist  says  of        all these things to be.  It is prepa-
    It is a chilling reminder of what           the weather phenomenon.                     ration for His glorious return!   u

  Special Article                                                                                       Rev. Doug Kuiper



                                 Many Languages!

                                              I                                             human  knew.    Today,  however,
                                                 n previous articles we saw that            there are many languages: English,
                                                   language is both God's creation          Dutch,  German,  French,  Spanish,
                                                   and His gift to the human race.          Chinese,  to name only a few.   In
                                              God  created  Adam  able  to  speak           this  article  we  will  examine  how
Rev.  Kuiper  is  pastor  of  the  Protes-    and understand language--one lan-              so many languages came into ex-
tant Reformed Church of Byron Cen-            guage.    For  many  years  that  lan-        istence.
ter, Michigan.                                guage was the only language any                   Those who deny that God cre-

468/Standard Bearer/September 1, 1997


ated  language  also  deny,  for  the          general  Christian  public,  so  that      deavor is that "the people is one,
most part, that there was one origi-           it  became  the  accepted  opinion         and  they  have  all  one  language"
nal language.  G. Revesz denies, for           throughout the Middle Ages and             (Gen. 11:6).
two  reasons,  that  there  was  one           to the recent past.3                            This manifestation of rebellion
original language.  First, he argues                                                      against  Jehovah's  command  was
that if all men spoke the same lan-              Scripture does not tell us what          the historical occasion for God to
guage, they would also have lived            language  Adam  and  Eve  spoke.             scatter the people over the face of
in the same geographic area; how-            We know only that after the con-             the  whole  earth  by  confounding
ever, the fact that human remains            fusion  of  tongues  the  church,  es-       their speech.  That their speech was
from  prehistoric  times  have  been         pecially  the  covenant  seed  of  the       confounded means that at that mo-
found in all parts of the earth indi-        line of Abraham, spoke Hebrew or             ment  in  history  new  languages
cates that men did not all live in           Aramaic (the latter being closely re-        were created. Genesis 10:5, 20, 31,
the same geographic area.  Second,           lated to the Hebrew language).  We           and 32 show that God confounded
we  have  no  knowledge  of  one             know  this  from  the  fact  that  the       the languages in such a way that
original language, or even of a few          Old Testament was written prima-             extended families spoke the same
original languages, and "there is no         rily in the Hebrew language.  Fur-           language.
hope that historical or comparative          thermore, Abraham is called "the                                 *****
linguistic science will ever be in a         Hebrew"  in  Genesis  14:13.    The               Remembering  that  language
position to throw light on them."1           point  of  this  text  is  certainly  not    enables us to have fellowship with
    It is clear that Mr. Revesz dis-         that Abraham spoke Hebrew; but by            God  and  with  other  humans,  we
regards Scripture and considers the          saying  that  Abraham  was  a  He-           must examine the effect which this
physical and linguistic sciences to          brew,  even  "the"  Hebrew  in  the          confusion  of  tongues  had  on  the
be  his  authority.    We,  however,         midst of the native inhabitants of           church's  relationship  with  God,
turn  to  Scripture,  which  makes           Canaan,  the  text  does  imply  that        with  fellow  saints,  and  with  the
clear in Genesis 11:1, 6 that before         Abraham  spoke  the  Hebrew  lan-            world.
the confusion of tongues there was           guage.                                            With regard to the church's re-
but one language in existence.                   That Adam and Eve spoke He-              lationship with God, this confusion
    What  was  this  language?               brew is, therefore, a reasonable as-         had  no  real  effect.    God's  people
Many  Jews  and  Christians  have            sumption,  though  it  cannot  be            could continue to have fellowship
held to the idea that Adam and Eve           proven to be true beyond all doubt.          with  God,  because  God  does  not
spoke  Hebrew.    Paul  Isaac  Her-                            *****                      understand only one language, or
shon,  a  rabbinical  commentator,               God created one language.  To-           a few languages.  He who created
says:                                        day  there  are  many  languages.            language can speak to His people
                                             Scripture tells us these many lan-           and  can  be  spoken  to  by  His
         The  sacred  tongue,  Hebrew,       guages came about in the way of              people,  no  matter  what  language
  was spoken by all till the genera-         the confusion of tongues at Babel,           they speak.
  tion of the Confusion of Tongues,          recorded  in  Genesis  11:1-9.    The             The effect of this confusion of
  for the world was created with the         narrative teaches us that not sim-           tongues  on  the  church  itself  was
  sacred tongue; but now each of the         ply  language,  but  languages,  are         that the saints were drawn together
  70 angels took one nation and in-          the creation of God.
  structed it in a new language; but                                                      in  unity.  This was true in a physi-
                                                 In the years before the confu-
  God  instructed  Israel  in  the  He-                                                   cal way; God scattered the enemies
                                             sion  of  tongues,  the  world  had
  brew tongue.2                                                                           of  the  church,  so  that  the  church
                                             banded itself together in opposition         would be preserved.  I will not go
                                             to God's command to replenish the
Arthur Constance says that                                                                so  far  as  to  say  that  every  indi-
                                             earth  (Gen.  9:1).    In  the  land  of     vidual person who left the area of
                                             Shinar the children of men (that is,
         rabbinical  commentators,                                                        Shinar  was  not  a  child  of  God;
  early Christian writers, and, until        the  spiritual  seed  of  the  serpent,      Scripture does not say that.  How-
  comparatively  recently,  modern           not of the woman) began to build
  Christian  scholars  generally  ac-        a  city  and  a  tower  whose  top           1    G. Revesz,  The Origins and Prehis-
  cepted the view that this original         would  reach  unto  heaven.    Their         tory of Language, translated by J. But-
  language was Hebrew.  It is true           motive for this undertaking was to           ler, New York (Philosophical Library
  that a few of the early Church Fa-         make for themselves a name, and              1956), 89.
  thers  challenged  this,  but  such        their purpose was that they might            2    Quoted  by Arthur  C.  Constance,
  great names  as those of August-           not be scattered abroad upon the             "The Confusion of Languages,"  Door-
  ine,  Jerome,  and  Origin  can  be        face of the whole earth (Gen. 11:4).         way  Papers,  vol.  VI:  "Time  and  Eter-
  quoted  in  support  of  it;  the  few                                                  nity,"  Grand  Rapids  (Zondervan,
  like Gregory of Nyssa who argued           The Lord's stated reason why the             1997), page 194.
  against  it  failed  to  influence  the    men were succeeding in their en-             3    Ibid., page 192.

                                                                                               September 1, 1997/Standard Bearer/469


ever, Scripture does make clear in          cause they knew the truth.                  pel  of  Jesus  Christ,  so  that  the
Genesis 11:8 that it was the sons of            This confusion of tongues also          church might be gathered from ev-
men  who  were  scattered,  and  in         had an effect on the church's rela-         ery nation, tribe, and tongue.
Genesis 11:10ff. that the church was        tionship with the world.  We know                             *****
found in the generations of Shem.           that  God  has  commanded  His                  Knowing that the confusion of
The genealogy recorded in Genesis           church  to  be  separate  from,  and        tongues  effected  a  separation  be-
11:10ff. ends in Abraham, who was           have no fellowship with, the world.         tween  the  church  and  the  world,
only  five  generations  down  from         By confusing the tongues, and call-         in  that  the  people  of  God  could
Peleg, in whose days the earth was          ing  the  church  out  of  Abraham's        communicate  only  with  fellow
divided (Gen. 10:25, a reference to         line  which  spoke  one  language,          saints, we are led to face this ques-
the confusion of tongues).                  God  made  it  impossible  for  the         tion:  how  does our language to-
    Two things become clear there-          church and the world to have fel-           day compare with the world's?  Is
fore.  First, if any of those who left      lowship  with  each  other.    They         it the same, or is it different?  Of
the  area  of  Shinar  at  the  time  of    could not understand each other's           course,  our  physical  language  is
the  confusion  of  tongues  were           speech!  The church was forced to           not different.  We can, and do, con-
God's children, they were soon cut          live antithetically with respect to the     verse with other people we meet,
off  from  God's  covenant  in  their       wicked world, in accordance with            whether they are members of the
generations.  Second, those in the          her calling.  In this sense, the con-       church or not.  However, what of
line of the covenant (Shem's line,          fusion of tongues was the church's          our spiritual language?  The world's
through Peleg, to Abraham) spoke            salvation.                                  spiritual language is that of the lie.
the same language!  That they spoke             This  separation  of  the  church       The  church's  spiritual  language  is
the same language was also an out-          and world did not last long.  The           that  of  the  truth.    The  latter  lan-
ward  form  of  unity,  and  it  made       language  barrier  was  eventually          guage is that which God speaks --
possible the fellowship of the saints       broken.  This opened the way for            indeed it is that which God  gave.
which  the  church  has  always  en-        some in the line of the covenant to         Which language do you speak?
joyed.  Further, that they spoke the        fellowship with the world, and fall             We will return to this question
same language was a reflection of           away  from  the  church.    It  also        in the next two articles, as we con-
the  true  doctrinal  and  spiritual        opened the way, particularly in the         sider  what  effect  the  fall  had  on
unity  of  the  church.    The  saints      new  dispensation,  for  the  church        language, and what effect redemp-
could understand each other, and            to go into the world with the gos-          tion in Christ has on the language
they  could  understand  God,  be-                                                      of God's people.   u

  Search the Scriptures                                                                            Rev. Mitchell Dick


                      Good Bible Study ... and Jesus

                                                Come, He is, incarnate.  In flesh!      About  whom  do  we  talk  in  our
Good Bible study is the study
         of Jesus.                              He is also in ink!  Not that Jesus      Bible studies?  Jesus!
    Jesus, He and no other, is the          is John 1 verse 29.  Or that Jesus is           What, therefore, does Genesis
eternal, living Word of God.  Jesus,        the Bible on your shelf.  But Jesus         1  mean  to  us,  but  Jesus?    For  by
He and no other, is the name, the           is the truth of the Scriptures.  He is      Him and for Him all things were
revelation of God, whom to know             all that it says.  And all that it says     created  (Col.  1:16).    Why  the  fall
is to know the Father, whom to call         is one Word:  Jesus.                        into sin?  Jesus!  For His coming to
upon  is  to  call  upon  the  Father,          This  is  because  the  Spirit  of      save us from it.  To the praise of
whom to praise is to honor the Fa-          Jesus  authored  the  Scriptures  (II       the glory of grace and gospel truth
ther.                                       Tim.  3:16,17;  I  Pet.  1:11;  II  Pet.    come  by  Him  (John  1:16,17;  Eph.
    Jesus, the Word, the communi-           1:20,21).  And the Spirit always tes-       1:4-6).    Who  is  the  seed  of  the
cation of God given among men.              tifies of Jesus (John 15:26; cf. John       woman,  and  of  Abraham,  and  of
                                            5:39!).                                     David?  Jesus, Son of God, Son of
                                                Good  Bible  study  will,  there-       Man (Gen. 3:15; 17:7; Ps. 89:3,4,29;
Rev. Dick is pastor of Grace Protes-        fore, be  focused on Jesus.  What do        Gal. 3:16)!  What are the Old Tes-
tant  Reformed  Church  in  Standale,       we look for in Bible reading? Jesus!        tament sacrifices all about?  Jesus,
Michigan.

470/Standard Bearer/September 1, 1997


the  pure,  atoning  Lamb!    Who          the zenith of God's right hand!  To          these  spirits  have  a  willing  ally:
spoke  through  the  prophets,  was        the glory He had with the Father             weak flesh.
prefigured by priests, and reigned         before the worlds were framed.  In               The spirits of Satan would di-
through kings? Jesus, the officer in       Him, from there, we see the light            vert our focus.  They would have
God's covenant!  Of whom do the            of God's own countenance shining             us  focus,  even  in  Bible  study,  on
gospel accounts testify?  The his-         upon us.                                     everything but Jesus, or at best on
torical Jesus!  Of whom and what               He is our Man!   Our Sun!   Our          Jesus  and  other  things.    Indeed!
does Paul write?  Jesus and justifi-       light forever!                               There are Bible studies which ex-
cation through His blood!  Whose               Jesus!  Our light and joy!               amine the history, so true; which
coming does the Revelation depict?             Study of Jesus: truly  enlighten-        commend  the  doctrine,  so  fair;
Jesus'!                                    ing and enriching!                           which are concerned to discern the
    Good Bible study, focused on               One subject, also inexhaustible--         will of God for godly living, so im-
Jesus!                                     for Jesus is the eternal and infinite        portant.  But these same Bible stud-
    Good Bible study, focused on           Son  of  God  come  in  the  flesh.          ies  may  well  miss  Jesus  by  their
Jesus, will be done  in the Spirit of      Jesus, Man.  And Jesus, God.  Scrip-         lack of spiritual focus on and de-
Jesus.                                     ture  study,  the  study  of  Jesus,  is     votion to Him.
    Good Bible study will be in the        the study of God.                                These other spirits would ruin
Spirit who makes special students.             Christology ... is theology!               the  way  we  study.    They  would
He  makes  children-of-the-Father              Scripture.  Jesus there.  God in         turn  our  study  from  deep  red  to
students.  These cling to Scripture        Him  revealed.    There  is  eternity        deep blue, from heartfelt to heart-
as the loving, Holy Word of the Fa-        about Him.  There is infinity about          less,  from  contemplation  to  com-
ther.  These come to Scripture de-         Him.    There  is  pure  goodness  in        putation, from hot to lukewarm or
sirous of hearing  Father  speak  in       Him.  There is Godness, fullness of          cold.    They  would  make  us  lazy,
and through the Mediator.  These           the  Godhead  dwelling  in  Him.             easygoing,  and  casual  about  our
are humble to submit to His will           There is communication of essence,           approach to Scripture.  They would
revealed to them, and even to His          from eternal Father to eternal Son.          make  us  proud  and  critical  of
rebuke  sounding  forth  to  them          There is communion of love in eter-          Scripture.    They  would  make  us
from His Word.  These believe the          nal  divine  Spirit.    There  is  Trin-     worldly  and  indifferent  to  Scrip-
Bible.  These have the mind of the         ity....                                        ture.
Spirit  to  receive  truth  profitably.        Oh,  who  can  search  the                   The result of the anti-Jesus spir-
These  are  encouraged  and  com-          depths?!                                     its' work is seen today.  There are
forted by the promises of the Word.            Good Bible study is one study.           still many Bible studies, and Bible
These delight in the promises and          One subject.  One end: knowledge             students.    There  are  some  even
blessings  of  the  Word  more  than       of  Jesus.    Knowledge  of  God  in         learned in the truth and able to re-
in all the riches of the world.            Jesus.   Theology!                           fute all comers with a single dia-
    Good Bible study, focused on               Never poor knowledge.                    tribe.  But there are very few who,
Jesus, in the Spirit of Jesus, is rich         For  believing knowledge is not          through their studies, and in their
and enriching!                             cold.  It is not abstract.  It is not        knowledge  of  sacred  truth,  grow
    We study one subject, Jesus.           outside  of  our  life.    For  to  know     closer to Jesus and to God.
    Just  Jesus  is  our  study,  but      God and Jesus Christ whom He has                 Bible study: to make us poor!
never dull.                                sent is  life eternal.  Such Scripture                333    333    333
    For  Jesus  is  the  Star  out  of     knowledge, therefore, is fellowship              Who  will  have  good  Bible
Jacob!  He is the only Mediator and        with God.  It is the blessed life of         study?  Who will search the Word
name  of  God  given  among  men           holy intimacy with God and things            written to investigate the truth as
whereby we must be saved!  This            of heaven.  Forever.                         it is in Jesus?  Who will scan the
Jesus!    Sun  of  God!    God's  Man!         Good Bible study...and Jesus!            Book to survey the cross?  Who will
He shines brighter, once in humili-            Focused on Him.                          love  the  message  loving  the  love
ation,  and  now  forever  in  glory,          In His Spirit.                           of  God?    Who  will  seriously,  in-
than the most brilliant star in the            Rich!                                    tensely, and devoutly engage in be-
heavens.                                            333    333    333                   lieving, Berean Bible study, study-
    He  goes  out--in  hell's  black            Much Bible study today is not            ing  the  Word  written  in  order  to
hole!  But no!  He shines brightest        good.                                        commune with the Word who lives
there!    Bearing  our  sins  on               There  are other  spirits.   They        and abides for ever?
Calvary's  tree,  enduring  God's          are  from  the  devil.    All  are  anti-        Pray for the Spirit of Jesus and
wrath....  He is brilliant in love, in       Jesus.    They  are,  therefore,  anti-      the grace of Jesus.
passion, in power!                         Bible.  They seek to hinder and stop             Good Bible study ... and Jesus!
    He then  rises!  He  ascends!  To      altogether good Bible study.  And                                                   u

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  Ministering to the Saints                                                                 Prof. Robert Decker



                The Elders and Discipline

                                          fession  speaks  of  Christian  disci-     forth in this section of the Church
                                          pline as the third mark, by which          Order are: 1) Every attempt must
In previous articles we have dis-
     cussed  the  elders'  calling  to
    shepherd the flock of God.  In        "the true church may certainly be          be made to save the erring mem-
this and succeeding articles we will      known, from which no man has the           ber; 2) The sin must be confessed
consider the more specific calling        right to separate himself" (Art. 29).      and left by the erring member; 3)
of the elders to exercise church dis-     The Confession also stipulates that        There must be, in the way of the
cipline with respect to those in the      the elders must punish transgres-          confession of the sin, reconciliation
congregation  who  impenitently           sors,  be  called  by  Christ  through     with God and with his church; and
walk in sin.                              the church, and exercise good or-          4) The church of Jesus Christ must
    The seriousness of this matter        der  among  themselves  and  in            be kept pure by way of the removal
of  Christian  discipline  is  obvious    God's church (Articles 30 -32).            of the offense which sin causes.
from the emphasis placed upon it              The Church Order of the Prot-              Article 71 distinguishes Chris-
in Scripture, the Reformed confes-        estant Reformed Churches likewise          tian  discipline  from  civil  punish-
sions, and the Church Order.  We          carefully presents the calling of the      ments.  Christian discipline, the ar-
have in previous articles repeatedly      elders to exercise discipline in the       ticle  maintains,  is  "of  a  spiritual
called  attention  to  the  various       church.  The elders and ministers          nature."  This means Christian dis-
Scripture passages which speak of         of the Word are "to exercise church        cipline has to do with one's place
the elders' calling to exercise Chris-    discipline and to see to it that ev-       in the church and kingdom of God.
tian discipline in the church.  We        erything  is  done  decently  and  in      Civil  punishment  has  to  do  with
will not repeat these.*                   good order" (Art. 16).  The elders         one's  conduct  as  a  citizen  of  the
    We  do  wish  to  remind  the         are  called  to  apply  the  various       state  and  with  maintaining  good
reader, however, that this is a con-      steps  of  censure  which  culminate       order in society.  These two spheres
fessional matter.   The Heidelberg        in the "last remedy," excommuni-           must always be kept distinct.  Even
Catechism speaks of the preaching         cation,  and  they  are  to  supervise     if the individual, guilty of but one
of  the  Word  and  Christian  disci-     the reconciliation of repentant sin-       sin, falls under the jurisdiction of
pline as the two keys of the king-        ners (Arts. 71 - 78).                      both  the  civil  magistrate  and  the
dom of heaven by which the king-              Articles  71-78  lay  down  the        elders  of  the  church,  the  two
dom of heaven is opened to believ-        general and fundamental rules of           spheres of authority must be kept
ers  and  shut  against  unbelievers.     discipline as these are rooted in the      separate.  The sinner may be rec-
The  elders  are  called  to  exercise    principles of discipline revealed in       onciled  with  God  and  his  church
Christian  discipline  by  brotherly      Holy Scripture.  The Church Order          in the way of repentance of his sin,
admonishing  those  who  maintain         does not give a detailed list of rules     but he is not by this exempt from
doctrines or practices inconsistent       to be followed rigidly in every case       the penalties the state is obligated
with the command of Christ.  They         of discipline.  Such would be im-          to impose on him.  A person may
must also forbid the impenitent the       possible,  for  each  case  is  unique.    have committed the sin of stealing.
use of the sacraments, and by this        This  means,  therefore,  that             He  may  have  confessed  that  sin
the impenitent are excluded from          consistories must determine how to         and  been  in  this  way  restored  to
the Christian church, and by God          apply  the  basic  rules  in  each  in-    good standing in the church.  But
Himself  from  the  kingdom  of           stance.  While each case is unique,        this does not mean that he is ex-
Christ (Q. 83, 85).  The Belgic Con-      and while the rules may, for that          empt from serving time in prison.
                                          reason,  be  applied  differently  in          Article  71  also  speaks  of  the
                                          each  case,  the  rules  or  principles    twofold purpose of Christian dis-
Prof. Decker is professor of Practical    remain the same.  Those rules, fur-        cipline.  One purpose of Christian
Theology in the Protestant Reformed       thermore,  do  apply  in  each  case.      discipline,  and  this  purpose  has
Seminary.                                 The  fundamental,  basic  rules  set       been lost sight of in our day, is "to

472/Standard Bearer/September 1, 1997


remove offense out of the church           salvation  of  the  sinner  must  be        flourishes the saints assume of one
of Christ."  The church of Christ is       their aim.  Only when it becomes            another that each is confessing his
a  manifestation  of  the  body  of        clear that the Word of God which            or  her  sins  and  fighting  against
Christ.  Christ is her Head.  Where        the elders are bringing is harden-          them  (cf.  James  5:16  and  I  Peter
sin  is  allowed  to  remain  in  the      ing the sinner must they apply the          4:8).  These sins do not, in them-
church there is offense.  It becomes       "last  remedy,"  excommunication            selves, create offense in the church.
the occasion for the world to speak        itself.  Even when that last step is             The Church Order is speaking
evil of Christ and His church.  The        taken, it is taken  with the prayer         of sins which cause offense in the
offense must be removed.  Not only         that God will use excommunication           church because the sinner refuses
so,  but  when  sin  appears  in  the      to  bring  the  sinner  to  repentance      to repent of them.  These sins are
body  of  Christ,  reproach,  confu-       and reconciliation.                         either sins in which the truth of the
sion,  separation,  offense,  evil             In  this  connection  it  is  ex-       Word  of  God  is  denied  or  sins
speaking  disrupt  the  communion          tremely important to be reminded            which transgress God's holy law.
and  fellowship  of  the  people  of       that the power of the keys of the           They would, if allowed to remain
God.  The offense must be removed          kingdom and the authority of the            in the church, destroy the commun-
both for the sake of the church as a       elders of the church lie in the Word        ion of the saints and mar the holi-
whole and for the sake of the indi-        of  God.    The  elders  have  no  au-      ness  of  the  church.    They  might
vidual members of the church.  The         thority of their own to exercise the        very well become the occasion for
sin  is  removed  and  fellowship  is      keys of the kingdom.  When God              the  unbelieving  world  to  blas-
restored when the sinner is brought        binds in heaven what is bound on            pheme  the  name  of  God  and  his
to  repentance  and  is  reconciled        earth,  this  is  not  because  God  is     Christ (cf. II Sam. 12:14).
with God and his church by means           concurring in the decisions of men.              But in the last analysis there is
of Christian discipline.  Sometimes        It is because the Word of God has           only one sin worthy of censure and
it  is  necessary  to  remove  the  of-    had its effect either in saving or in       excommunication, and that one sin
fense by excluding the impenitent          hardening the sinner.  The elders           is the sin of impenitence.  All sins
sinner.  By one's refusal to repent        must  be  men  who  are  steeped  in        are  equally  serious  and  offensive
after being repeatedly admonished          Scripture.  They must be men who            to our holy, righteous God.  All sin
by  the  elders  and  the  people  of      have the ability, the gift from God,        must be confessed and left.  All sins
God, the sinner reveals that he is         which  enables  them  to  bring  the        may be forgiven in the way of the
not  a  member  of  Christ's  body.        appropriate  Word  of  God  to  the         sinner's repenting.   This, after all,
This sinner must be cut off lest the       sinner.  The elders must always, in         is  the  wonderful  assurance  of
whole body become infected with            all the exercise of Christian disci-        God's  Word,  "If  we  say  that  we
his evil.  The table of the Lord must      pline, come with nothing more or            have no sin, we deceive ourselves,
not be profaned by an impenitent           less than the Word of God.  And             and the truth is not in us.  If we
sinner.  This, then, is the negative       when the elders do this, they may           confess our sins, he is faithful and
aspect of the purpose of Christian         be confident that God's Word will           just to forgive us our sins, and to
discipline.    Offense  must  be  re-      never return void.  It will always          cleanse  us  from  all  unrigh-
moved from the church of Christ.           accomplish  God's  purpose.    The          teousness.  If we say that we have
    The other purpose of Christian         Word of God will work repentance            not sinned, we make him a liar, and
discipline  is  the  salvation  of  the    in the godly and it will harden the         his word is not in us"  (I John 1:8-
sinner.  This is the purpose of the        ungodly.    In  both,  God's  church        10).  It is only when the sinner re-
preaching of the Word as the chief         will be kept holy and God's name            fuses to repent of an error in doc-
key  of  the  kingdom.    Preaching        will be praised.                            trine  or  of  an  offense  in  conduct
aims at preserving the purity of the           The  Church  Order  speaks  of          that Christian discipline is applied.
church by removing offense and by          two types of sins for which disci-                                                  u
saving the sinner in the way of re-        pline is applied, error in doctrine
pentance.   This is the  purpose of        and offense in conduct (Article 72).
the individual application of Chris-       The idea of the Church Order cer-
tian discipline by the elders of the       tainly  is  not  that  all  sins  become    *    Among the Scripture passages
church as well.  This is true in the       the  object  of  ecclesiastical  disci-     which form the basis for Christian
objective sense, but it must also be       pline.  God's people have daily to          discipline and which we have ex-
true subjectively.  The elders must,       put off the old man and put on the          amined in some detail in previous
in the exercise of censure, be moti-       new.  God's people sin constantly           articles  are:    Matthew  16:16-19;
vated exclusively by the desire to         according  to  the  flesh.    But  the      18:15-20; John 20:23; Romans 16:17;
save the sinner.  Never must their         saints  confess  these  sins  both  to      I Thessalonians 5:12-15; II Thessa-
motive be to "get rid of" an unde-         God and to one another.  And in             lonians 3:6, 14; I Timothy 5:17-20;
sirable member of the church.  The         the church where the love of God            Hebrews 13:7, 8, 17.

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       When Thou Sittest In Thine House                                                    Rev. Ronald VanOverloop


                    Paedobaptism Demands
                   Parental Instruction and
                              Ecclesiastical Keys

Children and young people are members and have them bap- parents want Jesus' blessing upon
           must expect it.  Parents and       tized,  desiring  this  for  their  chil-    their  children.    Most  parents  de-
           consistories  must  insist  on     dren  because  they  think  there  is        sire that many other things influ-
it.                                           some security for eternity in mere           ence their children, but they care
        Instruction  and  discipline  by      church membership.  They do not              little about the blessing of the Son
parents and by the church must fol-           know the biblical reasons for infant         of God.  But the parents in Mark
low the administration of the sac-            baptism except in some vague way.            10, notwithstanding the criticisms
rament  of  baptism  to  the  infant          They  still  desire  it,  but  only  be-     of the religious leaders and the re-
children  of  professing  believers.          cause  the  church  is  the  one  in         bukes of the disciples, were persis-
Instruction  and  discipline  are  a          which  they,  their  parents,  and           tent in fulfilling their desire to have
necessary part of the concept of in-          grandparents were baptized.                  the  Savior  bless  their  children.
fant baptism.                                     We say sadly, and we add, er-            They  wanted  salvation  for  their
        The  infant  children  of  believ-    roneously.  Such is not the correct,         children.    Notice,  in  the  fourth
ers also must be baptized because             the  biblical,  setting  in  which  the      place, that the Lord's response to
God graciously promises to gather             sacrament of baptism is to be ad-            the disciples' rebuking of the par-
in  generations  (Gen.  17:7;  Acts           ministered.  What is to be the cor-          ents was that "He was much dis-
2:39).    But  a  charge  has  been           rect and biblical setting?                   pleased" (Mark 10:14).  Any effort
brought against paedobaptism.  It                                                          to prevent from reaching the Sav-
is the charge that baptizing infants                    333    333    333                  ior  those  who  desire  the  Lord's
results  in  a  church  full  of  hypo-                                                    blessing makes one worthy of the
crites or a membership roll that far              First,  the  Scriptures  are  clear      Lord's great displeasure.  Finally,
exceeds attendance at worship ser-            that not all infants are to be bap-          notice that Christ explains His dis-
vices.                                        tized.                                       pleasure to the disciples by declar-
        Sadly it must be admitted that            We can learn this from the in-           ing that the kingdom of God is "of
this charge seems to be true when             cident in the life of Jesus when He          such"  (Mark  10:14),  i.e.,  of  those
we  look  at  some  churches  of  the         blessed the children.  First, notice         whose parents earnestly desire the
past and of today.  But I contend             that the parents were bringing "in-          Savior's  blessing  on  them.    Jesus
that whenever this charge seems to            fants" to Jesus (Luke 18:15).  Sec-          did not say this of all infants, but
be  true  it  is  because  parental  in-      ond, notice that it was the desire           only of the infant children of this
struction  and  church  instruction           of these parents that Jesus "touch"          kind of parents.
and discipline have been neglected.           them,  i.e.,  "bless"  them  (Mark               The church which seeks to be
The practice of baptism has become            10:13, 16).  Third, it is noteworthy         faithful to the Word of God does
a habit or custom in such a church.           that  the  original  text  emphasizes        not baptize all the infants they can
Parents  bring  their  recently  born         that in order to reach Jesus these           find  on  the  streets.    First,  such  a
babies to the church of which they            parents  made  repeated  efforts  to         church would baptize only the chil-
                                              get past the rebuking disciples.  We         dren of members of their congre-
                                              conclude  that  these  parents  were         gation.  Second, they would not au-
                                              very  zealous  to  have  Jesus  bless        tomatically  baptize  all  the  infant
Rev. VanOverloop is pastor of George-         their children.  Not all parents in          children of those who are members.
town Protestant Reformed Church in            Jesus'  day  wanted  Jesus  to  bless        Rather they would exercise care to
Bauer, Michigan.                              their children.  Today, too, not all         baptize  the  children  of  members

474/Standard Bearer/September 1, 1997


who are in good standing and who            in  the  doctrines  taught  in  that          ample, for we are always teaching,
are willing to make a vow.                  church.    Baptism  implies  the  re-         whether we intend to be doing so
    First the parents must be mem-          sponsibility to rear our children in          or not.  If we are worldly in our
bers in good standing, i.e., faithful       the truth in order to bring them to           homes, seeking personal pleasures,
to their confession of faith.  To put       conscious  faith.    Their  conscious         then  our  children  will  likely  be
it negatively, good standing means          faith  consists  in  daily  repentance        worldly.  If we constantly criticize
that they have said or done noth-           and conversion and a walk of obe-             or gossip, then we are teaching our
ing which contradicts the faith and         dience.  The parents accept the pri-          children  to  be  slanderers.    If  we
godliness  required  by  Scripture.         mary responsibility of rearing their          show contempt for those in author-
Second,  they  must  vow  to  accept        children.    The  church  also  has  a        ity, then we are teaching our chil-
the  responsibility  of  rearing  their     duty toward the child, but it is the          dren to be rebels.
children  in  the  truth  of  God's         parents  which  make  the  church's                    The purpose of all parental in-
Word.    The  faithful  church  de-         instruction effective.                        struction is that our children learn
mands  of  the  parents  a  vow  that           What is the parents' responsi-            how to live godly in this world.
they will seek the Savior's blessing        bility of rearing their children?                      All of the instruction of godly
upon their child in the way of their            It  is  not  to  save  them.    First,    parents  has  the  nature  of  com-
prayerfully instructing that child to       only  God  can  save  by  opening  a          manding, not giving options (Gen.
the  utmost  of  their  power  in  the      heart.  And second, godly parents             18:19).  Children must see that as
nurture  and  admonition  of  the           know  experientially  that  if  their         God's children they are required to
Lord.                                       children's  salvation  depended  on           keep His ways.  The purpose of this
    The demand for this vow and             them, then none would be saved.               instruction  is  to  order  and  direct
the demands of the vow show that            The comfort of the covenant prom-             their  whole  life,  i.e.,  to  be  disci-
there is a great responsibility im-         ise is that God saves our children,           plined or to live a self-disciplined
plied in infant baptism.                    and that His grace is the only hope.          life.
    The concept of infant baptism               Reformed believing parents ac-                     One of the effects of this kind
would  be  destroyed  if  we  would         cept the duty of teaching the Word            of instruction is that some of our
not include this responsibility.  It        of  God  (Ps.  78:4;  Eph.  6:4).    We       children grow up and show them-
is always the case that God's grace         teach our children with the prayer            selves  to  be  unrepentant  and  un-
gives responsibility (cf. Gen. 17:1).       that  God  will  work  faith  in  their       godly.  Then we must not despair.
When  God  graciously  establishes          hearts.    We  constantly  pray  that         If they are rebellious and unrepen-
His covenant with us and our chil-          God will use our instruction in His           tant  when  they  are  chastised,  we
dren,  He  says,  "Therefore,  show         Word to make faith in them.  Un-              must  go  to  the  elders  (cf.  Deut.
them the fear of the Lord, instruct-        der the constant presentation of the          21:18-21).    The  elders  will  then
ing  them  in  God's  law  and  de-         truth and demands of God's Word,              work  with  them;  and  if  they  are
manding  they  conform  to  that            faith and a walk of faith develop             still  unrepentant,  then  the  whole
law."  Children must be shown that          by the grace of the Spirit.                   church must excommunicate them.
their baptism places upon them the              God created the family as the
responsibility to walk in godliness.        most  powerful  agent  for  the  in-                      333    333    333
The form for baptism used in the            struction  of  children.    Therefore,
Protestant  Reformed  Churches              we  must  live  as  a  family  so  this                The church also has a respon-
clearly  shows  this  responsibility:       instruction can take place:  Be with          sibility toward the child to which
We  are  "by  God  admonished  of           the  children.    Have  a  home  life.        it  administers  the  sacrament  of
and  obliged  unto  new  obedience,         Use the various situations that arise         baptism.  That responsibility is pri-
namely, that we cleave to this one          in the home as God-given oppor-               marily  that  of  the  elders  of  the
God...; that we trust  in Him  and            tunities to instruct.  Speak of God's         church.  They accept that child also
love Him with all our hearts, with          judgment  and  of  Christ's  coming           into their care.  This is a spiritual
all  our  souls,  with  all  our  mind,     in tragic news events.   Allay their          care, a care for the soul, the spiri-
and with all our strength; that we          fears by speaking of their safety in          tual life of the child.  In Hebrews
forsake the world, crucify our old          Jesus.  Parents must teach about all          13:17 we read that there are those
nature, and walk in a new and holy          of  life  in  the  light  of  the  Bible:     who  "have  the  rule  over  you,  ...
life."                                      work, play, marriage, government,             for  they  watch  for  your  souls,  as
    It  is  the  responsibility  of  the    church,  modest  clothing,  true              they that must give account."  This
parents and of the church to keep           beauty, and real strength.                    states clearly that the elders have
this  obligation  always  before  the           This teaching of children by be-          to give an answer to God for how
consciousness  of  these  children.         lieving parents must be done con-             they watched over and ruled that
Parents vow to bring up their chil-         stantly, always.  This shows the tre-         soul.
dren, to the utmost of their power,         mendous  importance  of  our  ex-                      The "watch" the elders perform

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is not mere observation, but is an             see and hear, and fear.  In this way       those who, having the name Chris-
active "watch."  This watch is the             the children and young people get          tian,  maintain  doctrines  or  prac-
exercise of "keys of the kingdom."             the  message  that  membership  in         tices  inconsistent  with  what  the
Jesus  gave  those  keys  to  His              the church is not for every physi-         Bible describes as Christian.  These
apostles (Matt. 16:18, 19; 18:17-20).          cal child of believing parents, but        people are often admonished in a
The keys are the preaching of the              for  believers  and  their  spiritual      brotherly manner, but refuse to re-
Word  (particularly  catechism  in-            seed.  Then they see the calling to        nounce  their  errors  and  wicked
struction) and Christian discipline.           believe or perish, for baptism and         practices.    First  the  church  must
This  is  discipline  in  the  general         faith are inseparably connected.           forbid  them  the  use  of  the  sacra-
sense,  that  which  comes  through                Parental  instruction  and  the        ments, and finally the church ex-
preaching and teaching.  For years             church's exercise of the keys of the       cludes  them  from  their  member-
in catechism classes (beginning in             kingdom go hand in hand.  Faith-           ship.    This  also  is  the  answer  to
the child's life as soon as possible)          ful parental instruction must be ac-       the charge that infant baptism cor-
the church instructs the children it           companied by  faithful exercise of         rupts the church.
baptizes in Bible history and doc-             the  key  of  pure  preaching  and             Infant baptism is properly ad-
trine with the goal of teaching the            proper  discipline  by  the  church.       ministered  in  the  church  where
church to be disciplined, i.e., to be          The  preaching  of  the  gospel  and       parents are constantly reminded of
obedient, in what they believe and             Christian discipline open the king-        Scriptures' demands to teach their
in how they live, to the Lord and              dom to believers and shut it to un-        baptized children God's Word and
Savior Jesus Christ.                           believers.  As difficult as the latter     to show their children the respon-
    Parental  demands  and  Chris-             may be, it must be done.  God re-          sibility to repent and believe, and
tian  discipline  must  accompany              quires it of the watchmen He places        where the elders lovingly adminis-
and follow baptism.  This is an an-            on the walls of Zion.                      ter Christian discipline.  May God
swer to those who object that in-                  The kingdom of heaven is shut          give us such churches!
fant baptism corrupts the church.              and  opened  by  the  key  of  Chris-          Parents must instruct their chil-
Discipline causes the church to be             tian discipline.  This occurs upon         dren.  Churches must truly disciple
preserved, because all the members                                                        their children.   u

  Contending for the Faith                                                               Rev. Bernard Woudenberg



           Bavinck, Hoeksema, and Schilder

    Beware  lest  any  man  spoil  you         similarity of the covenant view of         same  theological  positions,  but
through  philosophy  and  vain  deceit,        Rev.  Hoeksema  to  that  of  Dr.          with  a  difference.    Bavinck  went
after  the  tradition  of  men,  after  the    Herman Bavinck, by every measure           on to study in several major Euro-
rudiments of the world, and not after          the  greatest  and  most  balanced         pean universities, and in time be-
Christ.                                        scholar of the Secession, if not of        came a close friend of Dr. Abraham
                         Colossians 2:8        all Dutch Reformed theology, and           Kuyper, working with him to bring
                                               the  prime  example  of  what  has         together the Afscheiding (Secession-
                                               been  called  the  "confessional  Re-      ists) and the Doleantie  (Aggrieved)
                                               formed mentality."1   Not to be for-       into  the  new  Reformed  (Gerefor-
Few things enable us to under-
      stand better what happened
      between  the  Rev.  Herman               gotten in this is the contribution of      meerde) denomination.  Their theo-
Hoeksema and Dr. Klaas Schilder                Prof. Foppe M. Ten Hoor, profes-           logical backgrounds and outlooks
during  the  decade  of  the  forties          sor of Dogmatics at Calvin Semi-           were  different,  but  Bavinck  was
than  the  realization  of  the  close         nary, under whom Herman Hoek-              convinced that they could work to-
                                               sema  studied,  and  who  perhaps          gether  for  the  good  of  the  Re-
                                               more than any other was his theo-          formed  faith,  and  to  the  glory  of
                                               logical mentor.2                           God.
                                                   Foppe Ten Hoor and Herman
Rev. Woudenberg is a minister emeri-                                                          This conviction, however, was
                                               Bavinck  had  been  classmates  in
tus  in  the  Protestant  Reformed                                                        not shared by Ten Hoor.  Already
                                               school,  and  shared  basically  the
Churches.                                                                                 in the Netherlands, and even more

476/Standard Bearer/September 1, 1997


after he moved to the United States         preached were always thronged--              quick  comparison  between  his
to teach and  write as a  professor         while  to  the  intelligentsia  which       Manual  of  Reformed  Doctrine  and
at Calvin Seminary, he was deeply           controlled the churches he had be-          Bavinck's Our Reasonable Faith.
disturbed by much of what Kuyper            come  the  most  non  grata  (un-                Bavinck's book, in its original
was bringing into the churches.  It         wanted) of all.  In fact, even as he        Dutch  version,  was  entitled,
was  not  so  much  what  Kuyper            traveled to America the word had            Magnalia Dei (The Wonderful Works
taught as it was the way in which           gone  before  that  his  speeches           of God),  which represented exactly
he approached it.  Rather than ex-          should  be  ignored,  and  his  pres-       what it sought to be.  While cover-
tracting his views from the confes-         ence shunned.                               ing  all  of  the  basic  doctrines  of
sions  and  Scripture,  Kuyper--by               So  it  was  that,  in  their  meet-    Christianity,  it  focused  on  what
every  measure  an  academician--            ing, Hoeksema and Schilder were             God  does,  or,  as  expressed  in  its
sought  to  take  the  learning  of         drawn together as brothers.  There          opening line, "God, and God alone,
worldly  scholars,  including  their        were differences, to be sure, in their      is  the  Highest  good."    Nowhere
speculative philosophies, and use           theological viewpoints  and  meth-          does  that  become  more  evident
it  to  develop  the  Reformed  faith.      ods;  but  with  their  mutually  af-       than in his great chapter on "The
This Ten Hoor rejected--as in prin-          firmed commitment to the confes-            Covenant of Grace."5     There, after
ciple did also Bavinck.  Ten Hoor           sions and Scripture, they were con-         pointing out the futility of all hu-
constantly  spoke  out  against  it,        fident  that  as  time  went  on  they      man attempts to escape judgment
warning  that this could only  end          would  be  able  to  work  construc-        by man's own works, Bavinck looks
in molding the church after the im-         tively together -- until, that is, the       upon the covenant as God's won-
age of this sinful world, as indeed         Second World War intervened.                derful provision of grace by which
it has come to do.3                             The  cloud  of  that  war  hung         He takes those whom He has cho-
    It was under this influence that        dark,  long,  and  silent  over  the        sen in Christ and establishes an or-
Herman  Hoeksema  received  his             churches, and little was known of           ganic  relationship  of  fellowship
theological  education,  and  Ten           Schilder other than that he, as one
Hoor's warning he believed to be            of the few who had the courage to           1     Prof. Henry Zwaanstra distinguishes
                                                                                        this as a category of early CRC theologians,
true.    It  was  only  that,  with  his    speak  out  against  the  Nazis,  was       over against two other groups, the "Sepa-
clear and analytic mind,  he came           in danger for his life.  The wait was       ratist Calvinists" and the "American Cal-
to focus on what he considered to           long,  but  finally  word  came             vinists," in his book  Reformed Thought and
be  the  underlying  fault  in  it  all,    through that Schilder still lived --         Experience  in  a  New  World,  J.  H.  Kok,
                                                                                        Kampen, 1973, pp. 68-70
namely,  Kuyper's  theory  of  com-         but  that  under  the  cover  of  that
mon  grace,  by  which  he  was  ex-        war,  when  a  popular  uprising            2    A copy of the unpublished thesis has
                                                                                        been sent us by Rev. Cornelis Pronk, en-
cusing this bringing of the think-          could hardly take place, the lead-          titled,  F. M. Ten Hoor, Defender of Reformed
ing of the world into the church of         ers  of  the  churches  had  deposed        Principles  Against  Abraham  Kuyper's
God.4                                       Schilder  from  his  office.    It  was     Doleantie Views, which sheds some very in-
                                            hard  to  believe  that  Christians         teresting light on this matter.
         333    333    333
                                            could actually do such a thing un-          3    There is a story carried on by the de-
    It was against this background                                                      scendants  of  Ten  Hoor  to  the  effect  that
                                            der circumstances like that; and all
that Schilder and Hoeksema met in                                                       shortly  before  Abraham  Kuyper  died  he
                                            sympathy went out to him for that.          was visited by J. H. Kok, the famous Dutch
1939 and developed an immediate             But there was another side to the           publisher, to whom he is reported to have
rapport.    Schilder,  after  all,  had     controversy in the doctrinal issue          said  as  they  discussed  the  state  of  the
grown up amid the results of what                                                       churches,  "Ten  Hoor  had  toch  gelijk,"  or,
                                            at stake.  The debate was over the
Kuyper had done, and he had wit-                                                        "Ten Hoor had it right after all."
                                            covenant  of  grace;  and  in  it
nessed firsthand the growing intel-                                                     4    Rev.  Hoeksema would often tell the
                                            Schilder  and  his  supporters  ap-
lectualism  which  was  enveloping                                                      story  of  how,  at  the  Synod  of  1924,  Ten
                                            peared to be taking a position re-          Hoor remarked, "I have studied common
the churches, as their pulpits were         markably  reminiscent  of  that  of         grace for forty years and, although I be-
being filled with philosophical dis-        Prof. W. Heyns.                             lieve there is such a thing, I still do not
courses rather than preaching from                                                      know  what  it  could  be."    Just  what  he
                                                With this Hoeksema was famil-
the Word.  As editor of  The Refor-                                                     meant by this it is hard to say, but it would
                                            iar,  for  he  had  studied  under          seem  to  imply  that  he  had  a  great  deal
mation (De Reformatie) he was writ-         Heyns even as he had under Ten              more  sympathy  for  Hoeksema's  position
ing against it, even as in his preach-      Hoor; and the difference he knew            than he dared say at that time.
ing he made a point of speaking to          well.  Ten Hoor, like Bavinck, had          5    As we mentioned in our last articles,
the people directly with the prom-                                                      we have been granted permission by the
                                            always sought to remain faithful to
ises  and  demands  of  Scripture.                                                      Eerdmans  Publishing  Co.  to  distribute  a
                                            the teachings of the confessions, in-       limited number of copies of this chapter to
And it was having its effect.  His          cluding the Canons of Dordt, while          those who request them by calling 616-345-
paper became the best read in the           the  views  of  Heyns  stood  out  in       4556,  by  writing  me  at  1355  Bretton  Dr.
land, and the services at which he                                                      Kalamazoo,  MI  49006,  or  by  e-mail,
                                            contrast--as can be seen still in a          Bwoudenberg@CompuServe.com.

                                                                                             September 1, 1997/Standard Bearer/477


with  them,  without  any  depen-           tional Covenant, although there are          ery  one  of  our  clergy  --  except
dence upon the works which man              what are usually called `conditions'         Hoeksema  himself.    Only  at  the
by himself can never fulfill.  It is        in it."11   All this has as its end "that    very end, as Schilder was about to
Soli Deo Gloria  throughout, just as        Covenant  salvation  can  be  given,         leave,  was  Hoeksema  recovered
Hoeksema  had  learned  from  Ten           not only to the elect, but to the non-       sufficiently to attend a special con-
Hoor and continued to develop and           elect."12   Step by step, rather than        ference set up to discuss the cov-
defend in all that he did.                  seeking  out  the  unity  of  God's          enant of grace.  Hoeksema actually
    It was exactly that which was           working as in the confessions and            was  able  to  read  a  paper,  and
missing  in  Heyns'  Manual  of  Re-        Scripture, Heyns was fragmenting             Schilder spoke.  But the hard ques-
formed Doctrine,6  opening as it does       these teachings so as to set the doc-        tions  were  not  met.    Rather,
with this drab and academic ques-           trines  of  Dordt  aside  and  make          Schilder simply assured everyone
tion,  "What  is  Reformed  Doc-            room for the works of man.13   This          that, having considered  our posi-
trine?--By  a  doctrine  of  faith  is       Hoeksema  had  seen,  and  the fact          tions,  he  could  assure  us  that  he
meant a compendium of the truths            that  it  was  included  in  the  three      did not share the views of Heyns,
concerning salvation which are re-          points  of  common  grace  in  1924          and  that  the  differences  between
vealed to us in the Holy Scriptures,        was what had made them particu-              his  views  and  ours  were  for  the
and which we have to know and               larly unacceptable to him.                   most part only a matter of termi-
believe as participants in the Cov-             But now the same sound was               nology  and  emphasis  due  to  our
enant  of  Grace,  since  this  knowl-      being  heard,  if  not  clearly  from        varied histories.  The meeting was
edge  is  indispensable  in  order  to      Klaas  Schilder  himself,  certainly         pleasant; and all parted as friends.
walk in the way of the Covenant,            from those who were with him.  It            But the real purpose of his coming
and  to  inherit  its  benefits."7   But    was  distinctly  disconcerting  to           had not been achieved.
the message is there.  Heyns' con-          Hoeksema,  who  did  not  want  to               Still  there  was  hope;  and
cern is with the works of man, not          believe it, as he carefully held fi-         Schilder's writings were followed
those of God, and everything is fo-         nal  judgment  in  abeyance  in  the         in  the  expectation  that  now  he
cused toward that.  Thus, when he           hope that something would come               would begin to draw out the simi-
comes to his treatment of the cov-          up to change this.  And something            larities he had found between our
enant, where Bavinck had sought             did, but in a way that made it even          views and his.  But nothing came.14
to establish a close unity between          more confusing.  A report was re-            In turn, it began to come out that
it and God's counsel, Heyns seeks           ceived  concerning  a  speech                what  Schilder  had  said  in  public
to  drive  a  wedge  between  them:         Schilder  had  given  at Kampen  in          was not always the same as he had
"The Covenant of Grace and that             which he stated that he no longer            expressed to individuals alone, as
of Redemption are not one and the           held  to  common  grace.   But  how          the  time,  when  in  the  midst  of  a
same,  but  two  Covenants,  differ-        could  that  be?    If  his  covenant        friendly but determined discussion,
ing essentially from one another."          views were as much like Heyns' as            he exclaimed, "I loathe your cov-
    His  intent  is  clear:    Heyns        they appeared to be, how could he            enant  view."15   But his influence
wants  a  separation  between  the          repudiate common grace?  And, if             had been felt; and voices were be-
elective  decrees  of  God  and  the        he  was  indeed  rejecting  common           ginning  to  be  heard  echoing  his
covenant of grace, so that the lat-         grace,  why  did  he  not  reject  the       thoughts  that  prominence  should
ter may be applied to each and ev-          views of Heyns as well?  The whole           not be given to election in our doc-
ery one of the "natural seed."8   So        thing did not come together; and             trinal positions, and place should
he proceeds, in the form of a con-          in  a  determined  effort  to  resolve       be  found  for  conditionality  in  all
tinuing  scholastic  disputation,  to       the  impasse,  Hoeksema  invited             aspects of Christian life.  In turn,
mark  out  various  aspects  of  the        Schilder to the United States once           from the Netherlands we were in-
covenant which are recognized as            again, confident that they would be          formed  that,  regardless  of  what
Reformed,  only  to  twist  them            able to sit down together and de-            Schilder had said, most of the Lib-
around to include the opposite as           termine where they actually stood            erated  ministers  were  quite  in
well.    He  acknowledges,  for  ex-        over against each other.                     agreement  with  Heyns  regarding
ample, that the covenant is "one-               Schilder came, but not with the          the covenant.
sided,"  but  in  such  a  way  that  it    results  Hoeksema  had  planned.                 Then  came  the  letter  of  Prof.
depends  on  man  accepting  it             For  the  first  time  in  his  life  his    Holwerda,  written  to  those  who
"believingly."9    He admits the cov-       strong physique was left totally in-         were  joining  our  churches  in
enant to be "unbreakable," but not          capacitated  by  a  massive  stroke.         Canada, instructing them never to
so that "it is impossible to break it,      Alone, therefore, Schilder traveled          accept  Hoeksema's  theology,  but
i.e., to break our personal covenant        the length and the breadth of our            instead, inasmuch as assurance had
relation."10   And so, "likewise it is      little denomination, holding exten-          been given that many of our min-
to  be  designated  as  an  Uncondi-        sive conversations with nearly ev-           isters  were  sympathetic  to  Liber-

478/Standard Bearer/September 1, 1997


ated thought, they should join our         stood.    Thus  the  "Declaration  of           9     Ibid. p. 128
churches and get their material cir-       Principles" was born, a direct state-           10    Ibid. p. 130
culated among us.  Next came Dr.           ment  of  the  fact  that  we  had  al-         11    Ibid. p. 131
C. Veenhof's brochure, "Appeal!,"          ways considered common grace to                 12    Ibid. p. 133
so filled with common grace that           be  contrary  to  the  confessions,             13    In all of which his arguments hold a
even those most sympathetic to the         along  with  all  views  of  the  cov-          close  parallel  to  the  approach  used  by
Liberated were embarrassed.  And           enant of grace in which it was im-              Arminius in his debate with Junius, where
finally it was  learned  that  a Rev.      plied.    Then  Schilder  began  to             he repeatedly would affirm accepted doc-
                                                                                           trines of the Reformed faith, only to con-
Hettinga  was  going  about  in  our       write,  pouring  out a  series of  ill-         tradict them completely by proceeding to
Canadian  churches  encouraging            tempered articles which have now                affirm the opposite as well.
members to leave us and form their         been published in the book,  Extra-             14    We may note that in the publisher's
own Liberated churches (in Liber-          Scriptural Binding  A New Danger.              preface to the book, Secession Theologians...,
ated  terms,  a  de  facto  declaration    This we appreciate, for it provides             Mr.  R.  Janssen  writes,  "Rev.  B.
that  we  were  a  "false  church").       us with one of the clearest indica-             Woudenberg has written several articles in
                                                                                           the  Standard Bearer  in which he repeatedly
Clearly  matters  were  not  being         tions  of  the  difference  between             stated  that  Schilder  was  not  inclined  to
treated  in  the  open,  but  under-       Hoeksema and Schilder which we                  give definite answers on the differences be-
neath.                                     are seeking to understand.    u                 tween Hoeksema and himself." My refer-
    So it was, when at the Synod                                                           ence, however, was to this period before
                                                                                           relationships had broken down and there
of  1950  a  request  came  from  the                                                      was still hope of working together, while
Mission Committee for a clear dec-         6    Heyns,  W.,  Manual  of  Reformed  Doc-    Schilder's writing did not come until this
laration as to our covenant view, it       trine,  William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.      was no longer so.
                                           Grand Rapids, 1926.
was  concluded  that  the  time  had                                                       15    Literally what Schilder said was,  "Ik
                                           7    Ibid. p. 123
come to lay out distinctly where we                                                        walg jullie verbonds beschouwing."
                                           8    Ibid. p. 124


  News From Our Churches                                                                          Mr. Benjamin Wigger

School Activities                          cating  our  covenant  children  and
A                                                                                          their congregation a trio consisting
     fter a year and a half of plan-       young people, and to pray for the               of  Rev.  K.  Koole,  Rev.  S.  Houck,
     ning,    East  Side  Christian        students  as  well,  that  the  lessons         and Candidate M. VanderWal.  The
School  emerges  at  2800  Michigan        learned may serve to prepare the                call  was  extended  to  Mr.
NE in Grand Rapids, MI.  This pre-         church of the future.                           VanderWal.
K--9th grade facility will open its              The  Hope  Foundation,  of  the
doors for the first time in Septem-        Hope  PR  Christian  School  in                 Mission Activities
ber  at  its  temporary  home,  the        Walker,  MI,  sponsored  their  Sec-
lower level of First PRC.                  ond Annual Perch Fishing Tourna-                Candidate Daniel Kleyn and his
                                                                                                 wife were laboring for several
    East  Side  School  Board  and         ment on Saturday, July 26, at South             weeks  in  the  Covenant  PRC  in
parents are excited with the group         Haven,  MI.    The  day  included               Ballymena, Northern Ireland, while
of educators that have committed           perch fishing from 7:00  A.M. until             Missionary R. Hanko and his fam-
themselves with their varied talents       12:00  noon;  lunch  of  hot  dogs,             ily  were  on  furlough.    Plans  also
to this effort.  The four teachers and     chips, and pop; and special prizes              called for Candidate Kleyn later to
one administrator who begin this           and awards.                                     devote  some  time  in  August  and
inaugural  year  at  East  Side  have                                                      September  helping  Rev.  Hanko
nearly 100 years of combined class-        Minister Activities                             with  mission  work  in  the  British
room  experience,  which  should                                                           Isles.
provide an enviable learning envi-         Candidate  James  Laning  re-
                                                 ceived  two  calls  to  serve  as               From our PRC in Hull, IA we
ronment.                                   pastor:    from  the  South  Holland,           learn  that  Rev.  Jai  Mahtani  was
    We take this opportunity to re-        IL PRC, and from the Hope PRC in                spending July 29 through August
mind each one of us to continue to         Walker,  MI.    We  can  now  report            15 in Ghana as he continues to look
pray for all those devoted to edu-         that  Mr.  Laning  has  accepted  the           into all aspects of his call to be mis-
                                           call extended from the Hope PRC.                sionary  to  Ghana.    Rev.  Mahtani
                                                The Covenant PRC in Wyckoff,               was told that "if he decides to take
                                           NJ has been blessed this summer                 the call to Ghana, Hull would give
Mr. Wigger is an elder in the Protes-      with  the  presence  of  Candidate              him time (through May '98) to fin-
tant Reformed  Church  of  Hudson-         Martin VanderWal and his family.                ish  graduate  school  studies  in
ville, Michigan.                           In July the consistory presented to             multicultural  missions  before  he

                                                                                                 September 1, 1997/Standard Bearer/479


        The
Standard
 Bearer                                                                                                           PERIODICAL
                                                                                                                  Postage Paid at
   P.O. Box 603                                                                                                   Grandville,
  Grandville, MI  49468-0603                                                                                      Michigan


leaves.    These  studies  serve  his        Canada  set  aside  a  Saturday  ear-            the Hudsonville, MI PRC is mak-
preparation for the labor and field          lier this summer to distribute their             ing Ezra study guides and sermon
if he were to take the call.  Also,          "Welcome" brochures and magnets                  tapes  available  for  the  upcoming
the brother minister and his wife            in mailboxes in the Mayfield neigh-              society season.  They may be used
are expecting their eighth child in          borhood.  Approximately 900 were                 together or separately, and are also
February of '98, and it would not            distributed.                                     helpful  for  one's  own  personal
be good for him to go before this                 The Evangelism Committee of                 study.  If interested, please contact
blessed time.  This will also give           the Grandville, MI PRC sponsored                 Hudsonville's Evangelism Commit-
the Hull Council and FMC the time            a  series  entitled,  "The  Reformed             tee or Rev. Gritters at 5101 Beech-
to arrange for and obtain the vol-           Faith on Civil Government."  This                tree St., Hudsonville, MI  49426.
unteers, as well as help with their          series  included  a  special  worship
preparation  for  the  labor  in             service the morning of July 6 and                            Food For Thought
Ghana."                                      a lecture at 8:00  P.M. on July 10 at                "Christ  and  we  will  never  be
        We  ask  you  to  remember  the      their church.                                    one until we and our sins are two."
Mahtanis in your prayers as they                  The Evangelism Committee of                                   -- C.H. Spurgeon u
continue to consider this awesome
and blessed call to be our mission-
ary.                                                                        ANNOUNCEMENTS

Congregational Activities
The  congregation  of  our                        RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                    CHANGES!!!
        Loveland,  CO PRC took time               The  council  and  congregation  of             As of July, 1997, the area code for
this summer, and maybe longer, to            Edgerton PRC express their Christian sym-        our  Randolph people has changed.  New
commit  a  proof  text  a  week  to          pathy to Miss Esther Bleyenburg and to           area code is  920.   And the address of
memory.    Each  week  there  was            Mr. and Mrs. Denny Bleyenburg and fam-           Immanuel Protestant Reformed Church in
listed on the bulletin one text and          ily in the loss of their mother/grandmother,     Lacombe, AB, Canada, as well as that of
what  it  proved  (e.g.,  Deut.  6:4,              MRS. CORA BLEYENBURG.                      its pastor, Rev. Rodney Miersma, is now:
"Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God                 May their comfort and confidence be                       1 Sunset Way
is one Lord," proving the oneness            in the Lord, as expressed by the psalmist             Rosedale Valley, AB  T4L 1X8
of  God).    It  was  even  suggested        in Psalm 121:1, 2,  "I will lift up mine eyes                     Canada.
that, as the list continued to grow,         unto  the  hills,  from  whence  cometh  my      Please make note of these changes.
individuals could set aside weekly           help.    My  help  cometh  from  the  LORD,
time  to  test  each  other--perhaps          which made heaven and earth."
even  scheduling  a  three-on-three                           Rev. Allen Brummel, Pres.
competition later to determine the                                    John Hilton, Clerk
over-all winners.                                                                                       TAPES AVAILABLE
        In  our  ongoing  futile  attempt         RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                  Tapes and Videos
to  keep  up  with  the  building                 The Ladies' Aid Society Ruth express                          of the
progress of our Immanuel PRC in              their  deepest  Christian  sympathy  to  our                 Summer Seminar
Lacombe, AB, Canada, we can re-              fellow member, Mrs. Johanna Bomers, in              "The Rock Whence We Are Hewn"
port that the last word we had was           the death of her daughter,                               by Rev. Ron Cammenga
that  the  carpenters  had  finished,                        HEIDI BAAS.                                  are available from
the  shingles  were  on,  the  electri-           "For if we believe that Jesus died and          Southwest Protestant Reformed
cians  and  plumbers  could  start           rose again, even so them also which sleep                 Evangelism Committee
with their work, and the stucco was          in Jesus will God bring with him.  Where-                   4875 Ivanrest Ave.
scheduled to go on.                          fore comfort one another with these words"                 Grandville, MI  49418
                                             (I Thessalonians 4:14, 18).                         Cost:  $12.00 for the set of 4 audio,
Evangelism Activities                                             Mr. Jim Laning (Pres.)            $24.00 for the set of 4 video.
The  Evangelism Committee of                                 Melva Mastbergen (Sec'y.)
        the First PRC in Edmonton, AB,
480/Standard Bearer/September 1, 1997


