                             The
                   Standard
A Reformed         Bearer
Semi-Monthly
Magazine


                                                    In This Issue:

                   Meditation -- Rev. Rodney G. Miersma
                         But Our Eyes Are Upon Thee ......................................................... 146

                   Editorial -- Prof. David J. Engelsma
                         1998 BRF Family Holiday Conference ........................................... 148

                   Letters........................................................................................................ 150

                   Ministering to the Saints -- Prof. Robert D. Decker
                         The Elders and Discipline (3) ......................................................... 154

                   In His Fear -- Rev. Arie denHartog
                         Necessity of the Strict Preaching of the Law in the Church ..... 156

                   Search the Scriptures -- Rev. Mitchell C. Dick
                         "Behold These Glorifications!" ...................................................... 160

                   Taking Heed to the Doctrine -- Rev. Charles J. Terpstra
                         Christ Circumcised and Presented to the Lord ........................... 162

                   Go Ye Into All the World -- Rev. Allen J. Brummel
                         Hinduism ............................................................................................ 164

                   Book Reviews ........................................................................................... 166

                   News From Our Churches -- Mr. Benjamin Wigger ............................... 167





Vol. 74, No. 7
January 1, 1998


   Meditation                                                                                                                         Rev. Rodney Miersma



               But Our Eyes Are Upon Thee


                                     O  our God,  wilt  thou  not judge  them?  for  we  have  no might  against  this great
                              company that cometh against us; neither know we what to do: but our eyes are upon
                              thee.
                                                                                                                               II Chronicles 20:12
Another new year. The year be able to press on?  Or will we that the darkness of doubt and de-
              of  our  Lord  1997  is  now                        give  up?  If  the  church  of  Jesus                      spair  may  be  dispelled.  We  must
              history,  and  a  new  year,                        Christ will sustain a greater mea-                         look  upon  Jehovah,  finding  our
1998, has been ushered in.                                        sure of opposition as she fights the                       strength  and  courage in  Him. We
       We  know  what  took  place  in                            battle of faith, how will she be vic-                      can  do  that  by  following  the  ex-
the past year. However, tomorrow,                                 torious?  How will God govern all                          ample  of  Jehoshaphat,  king  of
the new year, the remaining years                                 things  for  her  well-being?  We                          Judah, when he and the people of
of our life are a mystery to us. Since                            know that the people of God will                           Judah were in a position in which
the future is a dark unknown, we                                  suffer more hardships as the  end                          they did not know what to do. This
are so inclined to ask many ques-                                 approaches,  and  the  devil  will                         account is found in II Chronicles 20,
tions. Will we enjoy health, or will                              work with greater determination to                         particularly verse 12.
we become sick and perhaps even                                   deceive the very elect of God--but                                   Judah  was  in  danger.  Three
die?  Will  we  have  prosperous                                  we do not know the details.                                mighty kingdoms, Moab, Ammon,
times, or will there be economic de-                                     Looking back is easy. Viewing                       and Mt. Seir, had joined hands to-
pression?                                                         all that one has come through, one                         gether  in  a  confederation  for  the
       Because  we  do  not  know  the                            can  say,  "Hitherto  hath  the  Lord                      purpose  of  taking  the  children  of
details of the future we are inclined                             helped us." However, looking for-                          God captive and spoiling the land.
to become afraid. If our portion is                               ward is not so easy. Through our                           Militarily speaking, the confederacy
going to be sickness, how will we                                 human  eyes  we  look  into  the  fu-                      had  every  advantage,  and  Judah
                                                                  ture  and  we  tend  to  despair.  Ev-                     had no chance. Further, Judah had
                                                                  erything looks like an obstacle over                       received the distressing news that
                                                                  which we will stumble.                                     the enemy was arrayed for battle.
Rev. Miersma is pastor of Immanuel                                       At this time, as well as always,                             Understandably, the children of
Protestant  Reformed  Church  of                                  we need the Word of God to direct                          Judah  were  afraid.  The  very
Lacombe, Alberta, Canada.                                         us, to shed light upon our path, so                        thought  of having to meet such a


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146/Standard Bearer/January 1, 1998


formidable  foe  brought  them  to         is  not  first  of  all  an  international    world that is becoming increasingly
their knees, upon which they cried         political war, but a spiritual battle         wicked?  We,  too,  cry  "We  know
unto the Lord, "We know not what           of faith against unbelief. Thus, the          not what to do."
to  do."  They  could  visualize  the      battle is in the heart.                           In  answer  to  the  question  of
battle before their eyes. The help-            That old adversary, Satan, goes           what  to  do  we  turn  again  to  the
less children and the sick would be        about  as  a  roaring  lion  seeking          example of Jehoshaphat. This scrip-
brutally killed, while all the able-       whom he may devour and destroy.               tural  history  is  more  than  just  a
bodied would be taken captive to           In fact, your and my enemy does               Bible story. It is God's message to
lead a life of slavery.                    not appear to be our enemy. What              us. What did Jehoshaphat do which
    Thus,  the  whole  congregation        he has to offer is pleasing to our            serves as our guide even today? He
stood before the temple: husbands,         flesh and very hard to resist. A life         gathered all the people before the
wives,  children,  little  babes,  old     of fun and pleasure, luxuries and             Lord and they bowed down as they
grandparents, the sick, and the un-        riches, appeals to our vanities.  The         looked  into  the  sanctuary  of  the
tried youth.                               old deceiver stands in the doorway            temple.  Although  they  did  not
    Their fear was a real fear.  A         of the theater, entertains us on our          know what to do, their eyes were
perplexing  question  vexed  their         televisions and videos, beckons us            upon Jehovah. This is always the
righteous souls. These were the en-        to join him in a multitude of places          answer  for  the  troubled  church.
emies  which  God  had  forbidden          for pleasure, so that we think less           She must look away  from herself
them to destroy. How could God             and less of church attendance and             and  focus her attention  upon her
first forbid the destruction of those      the  studying  of  God's  Word,               God.
enemies, and then bring them up            whether  that  be  at  home  or  with             Judah had good reason to lift
to  destroy  His  children?  Would         the fellow saints in Bible study so-          her eyes heavenward. Their king,
God really allow this confederacy          ciety. When we look for work he               Jehoshaphat, reviewed before them
to wipe out His church? After all,         tempts us with double wages if we             all the wonderful works which the
Israel was not as the other nations,       will only work on Sunday. His la-             Lord  had  performed  on  their  be-
for she was God's chosen posses-           bor  unions  will give  us job  secu-         half.  He  led  them  safely  out  of
sion and heirs to the promise. The         rity and better wages. Always we              Egypt and through the burning wil-
promise was that they were to have         must be on our guard.                         derness.  During  this  journey  He
the victory, that the seed of the ser-         As if that were not enough, the           protected  them  from  the  burning
pent would go down in defeat. Did          father  of  the  lie  points  to  the         sun by the pillar of cloud by day,
God  change?  Would  Christ  be            achievements  of  men  rather  than           and He guarded them by a pillar
born?  How  could  the  promised           to the glory of God. Man has sub-             of fire by night. The shoes on their
seed  be  born  if  the  church  were      dued the earth from the depths of             feet  did  not  wear  out;  they  were
trodden under foot and destroyed?          the sea to the outreaches of space.           fed and refreshed with bread from
    No doubt, as children of God,          No problem is so great that man in            heaven  and  water  from  the  rock.
you  and  I  have  similar  questions      his ingenuity cannot figure it out.           When the enemy came He sent the
as we begin this new year. We, too,        Philosopher of philosophers, Satan            angel  of  death  to  disquiet  them.
are and shall be surrounded by en-         has the answer to all our inquiries.          No, their God was not a man, but
emies as long as we live.                  His pleasing message is not to fol-           the living God, creator of heaven
    There are powers that threaten         low the narrow, strict, hard way of           and earth.
our natural, physical lives. Today         obeying the law, but to mold and                  In addition to listing all that Je-
there are wars and rumors of wars.         shape our own destiny, as we have             hovah had done for them, the king
The nations of the earth continue          the right to do what we please with           had  to  make  plain  to  the  people
to  struggle  for  the  psychological      our own life.                                 that God had not  so wonderfully
advantage  of  having  the  biggest,           Sounds  pleasing,  does  it  not?         preserved  them  because  of  their
the newest, and the most. The en-          So pleasing does it sound that we             own goodness. Their history clearly
vironment  is  becoming  more  and         are  ready  to  join  Satan  and  the         showed otherwise, in that they con-
more  polluted  with  toxins  invad-       world. In doing so we are ready to            stantly went awhoring after other
ing  our  water  and  air.  Abortion       abandon the preaching of regenera-            gods  from  which  Jehovah  had  to
abounds, with euthanasia gaining           tion  as God's  way  into His  king-          call them. The goodness was in the
momentum. What will life be like           dom.  We  are  ready  to  trade  our          Lord Himself, as that goodness was
for me and my children in the year         citizenship in the kingdom of ev-             represented in the presence of the
and years to come?                         erlasting life for that which is pass-        blood  of  Jesus  Christ  typically
    However, the real problem for          ing and temporary.                            manifested on the altar. On the ba-
the  church  of  Jesus  Christ  is  not        The knowledge that we are so              sis of that blood, Judah could very
that which will harm our physical          inclined puts fear into our hearts.           well look to Jehovah and trust in
lives. The battle which we will fight      How shall we be able to stand in a            His promises.

                                                                                                 January 1, 1998/Standard Bearer/147


    That is your and my calling to-        Thus, to Him we turn for guidance           their little ones and their children,
day. As members of the church to-          and courage as we face whatever             as they placed their burdens on the
day  we  have  an  even  clearer  un-      He sends us in the new year.                Lord, confessing that He is faithful
derstanding of Jehovah's faithful-             Knowing these things we con-            and has control of the battle from
ness. Christ no longer is simply a         fess three truths. Our first confes-        beginning to end? They were not
promise,  but  He  has  come  in  the      sion is that God knows all the fu-          destroyed  by  the  enemy.  Rather,
flesh and fulfilled the work of re-        ture because He is God. God does            the  enemy  fought  among  them-
demption.  We  have  the  privilege        not have to wait around for some-           selves and were killed by those of
to behold God's covenant faithful-         thing to happen before He can act.          their own number. Needless to say,
ness as it is revealed in the cross        Rather He is the sovereign deter-           Judah could not boast in this vic-
and as the benefits of that cross are      miner of all things.                        tory, for the battle was the Lord's.
given  to  us  through  the  working           Secondly,  we  confess  that  the            Before this God you and I also
of the Holy Spirit.                        whole purpose of God's control is           stand. Upon this God we must fix
    By  faith  we  now  see  Jehovah       centered in His people as they are          our  eyes.  When  we  grow  faint-
in the marvelous depths of forgiv-         in Jesus Christ. No matter what He          hearted,  discouraged,  and  know
ing  love  as  we  kneel  before  the      will in His wisdom do with us in            not what to do, we must remem-
cross and witness the suffering and        the  new  year,  we  firmly  believe        ber Judah. For, turning to Jehovah
death  of  the  Son  of  God  in  our      that it will be for our good.               in all our needs, we will have no
flesh.  Like  the  children  of  Judah,        Finally,  we  seek  our  strength       fear  for  the  new  year  and  for  all
we behold such power, such love,           from Him,  believing that He will           the years yet to come, but will have
such mercy that we are moved to            not  send  us  a  great  trial  without     peace in our hearts, knowing that
bow in humble adoration and con-           also giving us the necessary grace          we  shall  abide  forever  in  Christ,
fess  that  Jehovah  is  in  truth  the    to bear it.                                 whom we shall follow into glory.
only God and worthy of all praise.             What  happened  to  Judah  as                                                   u
                                           they  stood  before  the  Lord  with

  Editorial


               1998 BRF Family Holiday
                                           Conference

                                                     The fifth Family Holiday Conference sponsored by the Brit-
                                                            ish Reformed Fellowship (BRF) will be held this summer
                                                            in  Northern  Ireland,  God  willing.    The  site  will  be  the
                                                     lovely  Castlewellan  Castle  Christian  Conference  Center  in
                                                     Castlewellan, County Down.  The impressive Castle and its spa-
                                                     cious grounds are located five miles inland from Newcastle and
                                                     the  Irish  Sea  in  a  park  of  about  1,600  acres.    The  area  is  the
                                                     northern foothills of the majestic Mourne Mountains.
                                                          The theme of  the conference will be "The Doctrine of the
                                                     Last Things."  The speakers will again be Prof. Herman Hanko
                                                     and Prof. David Engelsma of the Protestant Reformed Seminary.
                                                     Mr. David Blunt, chairman of the BRF, will also take part.
                                                          The dates are Saturday, July 25--Saturday, August 1, 1998.
                                                          The BRF has drawn up an informative brochure describing
                                                     the conference.  What follows is taken from this brochure, com-
                Castlewellan Castle                  plete with British spelling.



148/Standard Bearer/January 1, 1998


Programme                                  10 bedded rooms.  As the number            There are also the majestic Mourne
    This conference will be of a re-       of single rooms is limited, it is sug-     Mountains  which  include  Slieve
laxed  nature  and  adequate  time         gested that any persons wishing to         Donard,  Northern  Ireland's  high-
will be available for recreation with      attend the conference and insisting        est  mountain,  and  the  artificial
family and friends.                        on  having  a  single  room,  should       lakes in the Silent Valley.
    Meetings  will  be  held  in  the      make their own arrangements for                Two full-day coach tours have
mornings and evenings in  one of           accommodation  outside  the  Con-          been arranged, which are particu-
the large conference rooms and, ex-        ference Centre.  There are a num-          larly designed for those not taking
cept  when  optional  tours  are  ar-      ber of hotels and guest houses in          part in the planned recreational ac-
ranged,  afternoons  will  be  free.       the surrounding area.  For more in-        tivities and games.  The first will
The bi-annual business meeting for         formation  contact  Newcastle  Tour-       be  to  Downpatrick,  Castleward,
members of the BRF will take place         ist Information Centre, Central Prom-      and  Saul.    The  second  will  be  to
during the Conference.                     enade,  Newcastle,  Co.  Down,  BT33       Belfast, Northern Ireland's capital
    Day visitors are most welcome          0AA  (Tel:    01396  722222).    All       city.    An  afternoon  trip  will  also
to attend but any meals requested          rooms have hand basins and ward-           be arranged to Newcastle and the
must be booked and paid for in ad-         robes,  all  beds  have  duvets,  and      Mourne Mountains.  In order to as-
vance.                                     there  are  showers  on  each  floor.      sist the organisation and adminis-
    The Conference theme is "The           Sheets will be provided.  The castle       tration of the coach tours, it is nec-
Doctrine of the Last Things."  "The        is situated in a large Forest Park,        essary this year that the bookings
Doctrine of the Last Things" incor-        providing  ample  space  for  camp-        for these are included with book-
porates the final consummation of          ers and caravaners.  Enquiries con-        ings for the Conference.
the  counsel  of  the  triune  God,        cerning  facilities  and  cost  should
which  along  the  way  of  sin  and       be made directly to the Forest Park        Cost
grace, death and the curse, as well        (Tel:  013967 78664).                          Full Board Rates
as  the  wonder  of  salvation  in                                                             Adults -- 145 [$240.70]
Christ,  is  finally  realized  in  the    Recreation                                          16-12 -- 95 [$157.70]
eternal  kingdom  and  everlasting             Facilities are provided for the                 11-8 -- 76 [$126.16]
covenant of God, where the taber-          usual outdoor sports, such as foot-                 7-4 -- 52 [$119.52]
nacle of God will be with men.  At         ball  and  volleyball,  as  well  as  a             3-1 -- 34 [$56.44]
the Conference the doctrine will be        nine-hole putting course.  There is                 Under 1 -- Free
presented  under  the  following           a Games Room with pool, table ten-             Students and those of reduced
headings:                                  nis, and darts equipment.  A large         circumstances  may  qualify  for  re-
1) The Idea of the World's End--the         lake covers 40 hectares (100 acres)        duction--please enquire for further
    place  and  importance  of             and  is  well  stocked  with  trout,       details.
    eschatology;                           making it a popular spot for fish-             Day Visitors
2) The Millennium--an exposition            ing.    The  safe  and  accessible  na-             Those who are not conference
    and defence of amillennialism;         ture of the waters has made it an          delegates are welcome to attend the
3) The  Signs  of  Christ's  Coming--       increasingly  popular  location  for       public  addresses  throughout  the
    near but not imminent;                 canoeing and other water sport ac-         week.
4) Christ's Return--its time, man-          tivities.    The  Forest  Park  offers         Coach Tours
    ner, and purpose;                      pleasant  and  interesting  opportu-       (Tue. 28th) County Down Country-
5) The  Great  Judgment  Day--the           nities for walking and the Centre              side -- 8 [$13.28] (children un-
    parties, standard, and parts in-       has lounges, a coffee bar, a library,          der 15--5 [$8.30])
    volved;                                and a souvenir shop.  Televisions          (Wed.  29 th )  Newcastle  and
6) Our  Calling  With  Respect  to         and  a  pay  phone  are  also  on  the         Mournes--free
    Christ's Coming and the End of         premises.                                  (Thu.  30th)  Belfast  Day  Trip--8
    the World.                                 Within easy reach of the Cen-              [$13.28] (children under 15--5
    Coach tours and day trips will         tre  is  the  seaside  resort  of              [$8.30])
be arranged to places of local in-         Newcastle (`Where the Mountains
terest and beauty.                         of Mourne sweep down to the sea'),         Travel
                                           the cathedral town of Downpatrick              By  Plane:    two  airports  serve
Accommodation                              (Town  and  immediate  locale,  in-        Northern Ireland; Belfast Interna-
    Castlewellan Castle is situated        cluding Saul, associated with Saint        tional  Airport  near  Antrim  and
30  miles  south  of  Belfast  and  5      Patrick, Ireland's patron saint) and       Belfast        City     Airport       near
miles  inland  from  the  sea  at          Castleward.  The house is a unique         Holywood.  By Sea:  frequent ferry
Newcastle.  Accommodation is in            mixture  of  Classical  and  Gothic        services operate between Stranraer
rooms  varying  in  sizes  from  2  to     styles  with  beautiful  gardens.          and  Belfast,  and  Cairnryan  and

                                                                                               January 1, 1998/Standard Bearer/149


Larne,  while  an  overnight  ferry        Larne and Belfast, and Belfast and          provided to the Conference Centre
connects Liverpool and Belfast.  By        Dublin, stopping at Newry.                  at set times for visitors travelling
Rail:  trains run regularly between            Corporate  transport  will  be          by air or sea.

      The BRF, sponsor of the conference, was founded           Singapore,  and  the  United  States.    By  means  of  the
in 1990 for the defense and propagation of the historic         conferences,  important  contacts  have  been  made  for
Reformed faith in the British Isles.  Its doctrinal basis       the BRF.  Men and women throughout the British Isles
is "the divine inspired, infallible, and inerrant Holy          who embrace the Reformed faith as the gospel are en-
Scriptures" as confessed in the "Three Forms of Unity"          abled to meet and help each other.  And, of course,
and in the Westminster Standards.                               the conferences are themselves occasions for instruc-
      The stated objectives of the Fellowship are three:        tion in the Word of God and for delightful fellowship.
1) "To promote a knowledge of the Reformed Faith                     The chief hope of the BRF is to attract interested
in the British Isles, as defined in the Doctrinal Basis.        persons from the British Isles.  The Standard Bearer has
2) "To organise meetings, conferences, preaching ser-           a number of readers and correspondents in the British
vices and other activities in order to further the Re-          Isles.  On behalf of the BRF, I extend an invitation to
formed Faith and to give practical expression to the            all these friends to attend the conference this summer.
unity enjoyed by Christians of Reformed persuasion.             This is the opportunity for a face-to-face meeting.  I
3) "To encourage the formation of groups in differ-             encourage them to inform their acquaintances of the
ent areas of the country who will seek to promote the           conference.
Reformed Faith on a local level."                                    Nevertheless, the BRF is sincere in its invitation to
      Although  it  is  separate  and  distinct  from  the      all others to attend, particularly the members of the
church in Ulster, the BRF has  a close working  rela-           Protestant Reformed Churches in the United States and
tionship  with  the  Covenant  Protestant  Reformed             Canada.  Those who have attended a BRF conference
Church in Northern Ireland.  Three men of the church            will enthusiastically attest to the warm welcome and
are members of the BRF  Committee, as is Rev. Ron               fellowship at the conference.
Hanko.    Through  missionary  Hanko,  as  well  as  the             The  number  of  rooms  in  the  Castle  is  limited.
speakers  at  the  BRF  conferences,  the  Protestant  Re-      Those who want to be assured of a place in the Con-
formed Churches in America sustain a strong interest            ference  Center  itself  should  register  ("book")  early.
in the BRF and its activities, particularly the confer-         First come, first served.
ences.                                                               In the United Kingdom, checks ("cheques") should
      The other six members of the BRF Committee are            be made payable to the British Reformed Fellowship
Reformed  and  Presbyterian  men  from  Scotland,  En-          and sent to:
gland, and Wales.                                                           The Booking Secretary, BRF
      The biennial family conferences have proved to be                     44 Rathmore Heights
a major work by the Fellowship, under the blessing of                       Ballymena, Co. Antrim
God.  This conference will be the fifth.  The first was                     Northern Ireland  BT43 6NQ.
held in  the north of Wales.   The subject was  "Mar-           Two stamped addressed envelopes should be included.
riage and Family."  The second was held in Northern                  In North America, registrations should be sent to:
Ireland.  The subject was "The Covenant of Grace."                          Mr. Bill Oomkes
The third was held in Scotland.  The subject was "The                       6299 Wing Ave., SE
Doctrine of Sovereign Grace."  The fourth was held in                       Grand Rapids, MI  49512.
the south of England.  The subject was "The Doctrine            Those desiring more information, registration forms,
of the Church."                                                 or a brochure on Castlewellan Castle and environs can
      Attendance at the conferences has grown steadily.         write Mr. Oomkes, or call him at (616) 698-6697.
In recent years, the conferences have drawn interested               May God bless the conference, that the Reformed
visitors from different parts of the world, including           faith may grow and prevail in the British Isles.   u
what  was  formerly  East  Germany,  Australia,                                                                         --DJE

     Letters

s     Theological Honesty                      Firstly, I presume that you only        edly still children of wrath.  There-
Regarding Infant Baptism                   attribute  the  qualities  of  election,    fore,  you  would  not  describe  all
Your  recent  editorial  on  cat- redemption,  and regeneration to children of believers in these terms,
      echism  (Standard  Bearer,  Sept.    the demonstrated spiritual seed of          right?  We agree that they are all
15, 1997) prompts me to write and          believers,  because  many  by  their        encompassed in the covenant and
query some of your assumptions.            behaviour in childhood are mark-            ought  to  receive  the  sign  of  that;

150/Standard Bearer/January 1, 1998


yet,  we  know  what  happened  to          are those, and those only, who are           kingdom great numbers of its citi-
Esau:  given the sign but not elect.        the children of the promise accord-          zens (Mark 10:14).
By  the  way,  can  you  prove  that        ing to election (Rom. 9:6ff.).  In the           The prayer after baptism in the
"hated"  does  not  simply  mean            Old  Testament,  when  God  prom-            Reformed form for baptism is in-
"loves less" as it does in Jesus' de-       ised His covenant and its blessings          deed objectionable, not only to all
mands  that  we  put  Him  before           to Abraham's seed, He referred to            Baptists  but  also  to  Reformed
family, etc.?                               those only of Abraham's physical             people who refuse to acknowledge
    Secondly, when you state that           offspring  who  were  in  Christ  by         that  membership  in  the  covenant
they are born again as infants you          election (Rom. 9:6ff.; Gal. 3:16, 29).       is determined by election.
presumably are referring again to           So  today,  when  God  promises  to
the elect children.  This is fine, ex-      save the children of believers, He             Almighty  God  and  merciful  Fa-
cept that I am sure a number only           refers to those only of our physical           ther,  we  thank  and  praise  Thee,
come to faith in late teens or early        offspring  who  are,  or  will  be,            that Thou hast forgiven us and our
adulthood after a long period of re-        united to Christ spiritually accord-           children all our sins, through the
bellion.                                    ing  to  election.    These--these              blood  of  Thy  beloved  Son  Jesus
                                                                                           Christ,  and  received  us  through
    Thirdly,  can  the  prayer  after       only--are our true children.                    Thy  Holy  Spirit  as  members  of
baptism in the Reformed form for                As  a  rule,  God  regenerates             Thine  only  begotten  Son,  and
baptism  truly  thank  God  that  He        these  (elect)  children,  who  are            adopted  us  to  be  Thy  children,
has "forgiven us and our children           given to godly parents and raised              and  sealed  and  confirmed  the
all our  sins  through  the  blood  of      in the fear of God, early in child-            same unto us by holy baptism....
Christ" when it is likely that one          hood.    Not  always,  as  you  point
or more of our children may per-            out, but as God's ordinary way of                This  simply  is  not  true  of  all
ish  outside  of  Christ?    The  only      working.  This is why these chil-            the physical children of believers.
valid  reason  I  can  see  for  infant     dren could, and were expected to,            But it is true of all the genuine chil-
baptism  is  the  fact  that  Abraham       obey  the  fifth  commandment  of            dren of believers, i.e., the spiritual
was commanded to give the sign              God's covenant-law from their ear-           children, the children of the prom-
to his seed.  But it does not assure        liest consciousness (Ex. 20:12; Eph.         ise, according to election.
any believing parent of anything!           6:1-3).    Unregenerated  children               You declare, with some vehe-
Do you not think there ought to be          cannot  honor  their  parents  for           mence,  that  infant  baptism  "does
more  theological  honesty  about           God's sake, in thankfulness for His          not assure any believing parent of
and at these sacraments?                    redemption  of  them  out  of  the           anything!"  On  the  contrary!    The
                 (Dr.) Julian M. Kennedy    Egypt of sin and death.                      baptism of our infants according to
      Royal Bournemouth Hospital                This  is  why  John  the  Baptist        God's command, in harmony with
             Bournemouth, England           jumped for joy at the presence of            infant circumcision under the old
                                            His  Lord  and  Savior,  when  John          covenant, assures us of everything.
                                            was  in  his  mother's  womb  (Luke          It  assures  us  that  God  has  not
Response:                                   1:41, 44).                                   changed, saving the children of the
    For a thorough answer to your               This is why Jesus said of "in-           godly under the old covenant but
vitally  important  questions  about        fants" being carried to Him in their         refusing  to  save  them  under  the
children in the covenant, I may re-         parents' arms that they must be al-          new covenant.  It assures us that
fer you to three, closely related se-       lowed to come to Him (in this way!           God  has  not  restricted  the  extent
ries of editorials that I have writ-        in the way of being  carried by their        of His covenant mercy in this age
ten on the subject.  They were "The         parents, as, e.g., infants are carried to    of the church's maturity, withhold-
Covenant of God and the Children            Christ by being presented for baptism!)      ing His mercy from the children of
of Believers" (six articles; vol. 66);      for His blessing.  And this is why           the  godly  today,  whereas  He  ex-
"The Approach to Covenant Chil-             He added, "for of such (infants) is          tended  it  to  the  children  of  the
dren"  (six  articles;  vol.  67);  and     the  kingdom  of  God  (made  up)"           godly previously.  It assures us that
"An  `Election  Theology'  of  Cov-         (Luke 18:15-17).  Infants of believ-         God  will  gather  His  church  from
enant" (six articles; vol. 67).  All of     ing  parents  are  in  His  kingdom.         our family.  It assures us that God
your  questions  are  addressed  in         They are in His kingdom already              will graciously save our true chil-
these articles.                             in their infancy.  They are in His           dren, every one.  It assures us that
    Very briefly here, the basis of         kingdom by election.  They are in            our efforts to rear our children in
infant baptism is God's continua-           His kingdom by redemption.  As a             the nurture and admonition of the
tion of His covenant  in the fami-          rule, they are in His kingdom by             Lord are not in vain (Eph. 6:4).  It
lies  of  believers  by  saving  their      regeneration.                                assures the covenant children, from
children (Gen. 17:7; Acts 2:39).  The           Jesus Christ is indignant with           their  youngest  years,  when  first
true, spiritual children of believers       all Baptists, who exclude from His           they hear the gospel with the faith

                                                                                               January 1, 1998/Standard Bearer/151


given them by the Spirit, that God             ful that you are raised in a family        standing,  the  implications  of  the
loves them, Christ died for them,              that is not troubled and broken by         editorial  are  these.    Be  sure  that
and  they  are  saved,  according  to          divorce,  but  dwelling  together  in      you  are  member  of  a  Reformed
His eternal election of grace.                 love and peace.  Thank God for this        church  that  teaches  the  truth  of
      I  agree  that  there  should  be        daily, and ask His blessing on your        marriage and backs it up with dis-
theological honesty regarding the              home.  Second, befriend the young          cipline.  All who are members of
sacrament of baptism.  All minis-              people  in  the  church  whose  par-       Reformed churches that permit the
ters should teach and all confess-             ents  are  divorced,  and  pray  for       Bert Zandstras and their new wives
ing Christians should believe and              them.  Third, make up your mind            to  be  members  are  guilty  before
practice  that  the  proper  adminis-          that the woman you marry will be           God  of  the  adultery  and
tration  of  the  sacrament  includes          your one and only wife as long as          unrighteousness of these sad cases.
the baptism of the infant children             she lives, come what may.  This is         Also, fight to keep the Protestant
of believers.                                  God's  clear,  authoritative,  un-         Reformed Churches free of the can-
      As for the meaning of "hatred"           changeable will for His institution        cer of divorce and remarriage.
in  Romans  9:13  ("Esau  have  I              of marriage in His world.  Fourth,                 Greetings to the Young Adults
hated"),  the  proof  that  the  word          following from this, marry wisely.         Class in South Holland.
means  `detest  and  will  to  damn,'          Marry in the Lord Jesus Christ, and                                            --Ed.
not `love less,' is the passage from           marry one who shows herself to be
which  Paul  is  quoting,  Malachi             the  kind  of  young  woman  with
1:3ff.    Try  reading  Malachi  1:3, 4        whom you can live happily, with            s       The Scandal and Children
while translating "hated" as `loved            your  children,  for  an  entire  life-
less.'    Incidentally,  your  assump-         time.  Do not make a mistake here!         Since renewing my subscription
                                                                                                  to  your  magazine,  I  have  told
tion that "hate" means `love less'             Do  not  marry  outside  the  faith.       our  people  of  your  doctrines;
in Luke 14:26 is mistaken.                     Even  within  the  church,  do  not        passed  out  your  literature  to  our
                                       --Ed.    marry  carelessly.    Some  young          churches; and given copies to some
                                               people in the church are more care-        Southern  Baptist  ministers  who
                                               ful in buying a used car than they         have come to the knowledge of the
s     The Implications of                      are in choosing their wife (or, hus-       excellency of grace.  I've often been
"The Sad Case of Bert Zandstra"                band, as the case may be).  Listen         asked  what  your  position  on  di-
for the Young People                           to your parents' advice.  Fifth, once      vorce and remarriage was; now I
I am writing in regard to the edi- you are married, work hard from                                can  tell  them!    Your  editorial
     torial,  "The  Sad  Case  of  Bert        day one of your marriage to                           on  the  issue  is  timely,  and
Zandstra" (Standard Bearer, Nov. 1,            make the marriage a godly,                              very  much  to  the  point
1997).    The  Young  Adults  Bible            good,  solid,  happy  one.            Some               ("The  Scandal  and  Si-
Study Class in the South Holland,              Some men in the church             young people          lence,"  Standard  Bearer,
IL PRC are discussing the article.             spend more time on their           in the church          Nov. 15, 1997).  As a re-
The article was very clear and defi-           golf game than they do          are more careful          tired  school  teacher,  I
nitely "sad" to read.  I would like            with  their  wife.    Then,         in buying             can vouch for what was
to know the implications of the ar-            they wonder why things              a used car            reported  relative  to  the
ticle for us young people who are              are  not  well  at  home.          than they are          children's reaction to this
not  married.    Also,  what  are  the         Sixth, if the time should          in choosing            "scandal."  I did a study
implications  for  us  of  the  accep-         come  that  you  and  your          their wife.          for  our  school  system  a
tance  of  the  Bert  Zandstras  by            wife  are  having  trouble                              few  years  ago.    At  that
many  of  the  other  Reformed                 (and every marriage has its                            time,  one-third  of  those  I
churches.                                      troubles), keep in mind that di-                    polled  were  in  single-parent
                           Nathan Haak         vorce is not an option for you.  You       homes, one-third in homes with a
                    South Holland, IL          are called to live with your wife,         step-parent, and one-third in what
                                               even  if,  to  use  the  language  of      otherwise  would  be  considered  a
Response:                                      Proverbs, she is a brawling woman.         "stable, two-parent family."  Sur-
      I am especially delighted to re-         Life is short; marriages are ended         prisingly, students from what we
ceive such a letter from one whom              by death; God will reward you for          considered  stable  family  settings
I baptized and whom I catechized               suffering  in  discipleship  of  Jesus     had a very difficult time adjusting
for many years.                                Christ.  Marriage is a calling.            in school after their parents were
      The  implications  for  young                As  regards  the  Reformed             engaged in disputes.  They worried
people such as yourself of the edi-            churches that now fall away from           that their parents, too, would end
torial on the mythical Bert Zandstra           the  truth  by  allowing  the  Bert        up in a divorce court.
are the following.  First, be thank-           Zandstras to be members in good                    The number one cause for stu-

152/Standard Bearer/January 1, 1998


dents'  low  academic  achievement          people whom children look to for             ing  comment.    He  said,  "Do  you
today  is  not  lack  of  educational       stability and love have gone their           realize that two of your five chil-
dollars,  well-trained  teachers,  or       separate ways, bringing an end to            dren will probably marry and di-
adequate teaching materials.  It is         happy  family  gatherings,  fellow-          vorce?"    This  was  his  experience
divorce  and  remarriage,  feuding,         ship, good examples, and the list            with  two  of  his  five  children.    I
fussing, fighting, screaming, etc., as      goes on.  The pain and sadness are           pray  that  his  prediction  will  be
well as single "parenthood" (mis-           greatest  for  children  who  are            wrong, for my children and yours.
nomer).    Our  children  cannot            young and still in the home at the           However,  if  we  let  the  tent  door
achieve in the ghettos of social ca-        time of the divorce, but it is also          open, and this camel of accepting
tastrophe.    Their  security,  social      true for adult children.  This pain          divorce and remarriage sticks his
support, love, and guidance are al-         and  sadness  does  not  get  better         nose in, I am afraid it will become
most nonexistent.  And you are cor-         with  time  either.    There  are  con-      the  norm  for  us  too.    I  pray  fer-
rect, no one dares to speak out as          stant, sad reminders that children           vently, that God will not permit it
our  social  fabric  disintegrates          of divorced parents must deal with.          to happen.
around us.                                      I  do  not  write  this  to  ask  for          Three  questions  that  I  would
     Thank  you  for  your  and  the        pity.  My reason for writing is this,        like to see the  Standard Bearer ad-
Protestant  Reformed  Churches'             that people will realize the devas-          dress in future articles.  1)  What
stand.  May God grant you His sov-          tation that divorce brings to chil-          should someone who is in a "bad"
ereign grace as you contend for the         dren and be strengthened in their            marriage do when he or she needs
faith once delivered to the saints.         biblical stand against divorce and           help?  Many times people in a bad
                    Stanley C. Phillips     remarriage.  This is especially im-          marriage feel trapped and see di-
                         Quitman, MS        portant for anyone who loves the             vorce as the only way out.  2)  How
                                            truth of God's covenant.  God uses           can  we  help  those  families  who
                                            covenant homes and parents who               have been abandoned and hurt by
s    The Pain of Divorce                    are  together to bring forth and rear        divorce?  3)  The November 15 edi-
for the Children                            covenant children.  Divorce and re-          torial spoke against divorce and re-
No one says anything about it; marriage are a threat to covenant marriage.  How about an article or
      it seems like no one cares.  This     children!  Do we love our children?          two encouraging godly marriages
was the sad comment made to me              We  do!    Do we  love the  truth  of        and the great blessing that we find
by  a  co-worker  as  he  was  telling      the covenant?  We do!  Do we see             in them?
me of the many in his church who            the  threat  and  ruin  that  divorce                                     Ken Elzinga
were  divorcing  and  remarrying.           and remarriage bring to covenant                                   Byron Center, MI
This comment illustrated the eerie          children and God's church? I pray
silence  in  many  churches  today          that we do!
that was discussed in the Novem-                Another  reason  for  writing  is        s     Uncompromising Articles
ber 15, 1997 editorial of the  Stan-        to speak to those who may be ex-
dard  Bearer,  "The  Scandal  and  Si-      periencing difficulty in their mar-          I am pastoring a small church on
                                                                                              Drummond Island.  I am not, nor
lence."  The silence truly is eerie,        riage  and  are  contemplating  di-          have I ever been, affiliated with the
and the results are sad and disas-          vorce.    Let  me  ask  you  this  one       Protestant Reformed Churches.  A
trous for the families and churches         question,  "Do  you  want  to  leave         Protestant Reformed visitor to one
involved.                                   your  children  with  a  lifetime  of        of our services gave me a subscrip-
     I  can  personally  attest  to  the    pain and sadness?"  Really?  Ask             tion to the  Standard Bearer.  I want
sadness of this comment, being the          anyone  whose  parents  have  di-            to tell you how much I appreciate
son  of  parents  who  divorced  13         vorced if it has really brought an           your publication.  The meditations
years  ago  and  have  since  remar-        end to the problems, or only com-            from  Romans  by  Rev.  Hoeksema
ried other spouses.  The pain and           pounded and prolonged them.  If              are excellent.  I also appreciate the
sadness  for  children  of  divorced        you don't have children, then con-           editorials concerning marriage, di-
parents go on long after the mom            sider  your  example  to  fellow  be-        vorce, and remarriage.  Praise the
and dad have gone their separate            lievers  and  your  witness  to  the         Lord for men who will still stand
ways.  It is hard to put into words         world.  I plead with you, don't do           for and proclaim the truth without
the great pain that divorce inflicts        it!    Get  help,  talk  to  your  family    compromise.  I will renew my sub-
on children.  I think it can best be        members, pastor, elders, but don't           scription and continue it as long as
described by saying this, that my           break up your marriage.                      you continue to publish uncompro-
father and mother are no longer to-             A man who professes to be a              mising articles as you are now.
gether  as  one.    They  have  now         Christian recently came to my work                                      Doug DeGood
taken in strangers whom they call           and noticed my pictures of my wife                           Drummond Island, MI
"husband"  or  "wife."    The  two          and five children.  He made a chill-

                                                                                                 January 1, 1998/Standard Bearer/153


  Ministering to the Saints                                                                 Prof. Robert Decker



       The Elders and Discipline (3)

Article 74 of the Church Or- The Church Order recognizes this censure," because the congregation
         der of the Protestant Reformed    calling too, as we shall see.             has  not  been  informed  by  the  el-
         Churches speaks of the last           Articles 76 and 77 carefully and      ders of the sinner's impenitence or
step required by Christ in Matthew         in detail lay out the procedure the       sin.    Or  this  suspension  is  called
18:15-17:  "If anyone, having been         elders of the church are to follow        excommunicatio minor.  It is called
admonished  in  love  concerning  a        in the application of Christian dis-      this in distinction from excommu-
secret sin by two or three persons,        cipline  to  the  impenitent.    Two      nication  itself,  which  is  called
does not  give heed ... the matter           kinds of people must be disciplined       excommunicatio  major.      Whatever
shall be reported to the consistory."      according  to  Article  76:  "Such  as    terminology we use, we should un-
This  article  also  stipulates  that      obstinately reject the admonition of      derstand that this first action of the
"public sins" must be reported to          the consistory, and likewise those        elders, suspension from the Lord's
the consistory.  It is possible that       who  have  committed  a  public  or       Supper, is essentially excommuni-
the  sin  is  so  public  that  the        otherwise gross sin...."  These must        cation itself.  And, if the sinner con-
consistory is aware of it even be-         be  "suspended  from  the  Lord's         tinues to reject the repeated admo-
fore  someone  reports  the  matter.       Supper."                                  nitions of the consistory, excommu-
In  any  case,  public  sins  are  the         Suspension  from  the  Lord's         nication will be applied.  This is a
business of the consistory, i.e., the      Supper implies several truths.  This      process  which  takes  place  over  a
elders of the church.                      suspension bars the sinner not only       relatively  lengthy  period  of  time,
    A public sin is an offense which       from  the  Lord's  Supper  lest  the      The reason for this is to be found
in its very nature affects the entire      table of the Lord be profaned, but        in one of the purposes of Christian
congregation.  The breach is struck,       also from all privileges of member-       discipline, viz., that the sinner may
not between two individuals in the         ship in the church of Christ.  Such       be saved in the way of repenting
congregation, but between the sin-         an impenitent sinner has no right         of his sin and being reconciled with
ner and the  rest of the congrega-         to present his child for baptism and      God and His people.  This repen-
tion.  The whole church is involved        no right to vote at a congregational      tance God accomplishes by means
and must act.  But the church must         meeting.  He is ineligible to serve       of  His  Word.    This  is  why  the
act through her elders.  The elders        in the special offices of the church:     consistory  must  patiently  labor
are responsible for the exercise of        minister, elder, or deacon.  Neither      with the sinner, bringing the Word
Christian discipline in the church         may he protest or appeal to the as-       of God to him repeatedly.
because they are called by Christ          semblies of the church concerning             Sometimes  it  happens  that
to  rule  and  govern  the  congrega-      any case other than his own disci-        there  is  disagreement  among  the
tion.  This in no way changes the          pline.    Furthermore,  suspension        elders and/or members of the con-
obligation  of  individual  members        from  the  Lord's  Supper  implies        gregation as to whether a sin has
of  the  congregation  to  admonish        that the impenitent is barred from        indeed been committed.  Or it hap-
the sinner in love.  The fact that a       the means of grace.  He is, because       pens that a report of sin comes to
case becomes the official work of          of his sin, removed from the com-         the  consistory  too  late  for the  el-
the elders never absolves the indi-        munion of the saints, refused the         ders to investigate thoroughly prior
vidual  believer  of  his  calling  to     means  of  grace  which  Christ  has      to  a  scheduled  celebration  of  the
pray for and admonish the sinner.          ordained only for the faithful.  In       Lord's Supper, or there may be sus-
                                           one  word,  suspension  from  the         picion that a sin has been commit-
                                           Lord's Supper implies that the im-        ted.  Two practices have been fol-
                                           penitent is deprived of his place in      lowed  by  Reformed  churches  in
Prof. Decker is professor of Practical     the congregation of God's people.         such cases.  The consistory may ap-
Theology in the Protestant Reformed            Suspension  from  the  Lord's         ply a temporary suspension of the
Seminary.                                  Supper is sometimes called "silent        person  from  the  Lord's  Supper,

154/Standard Bearer/January 1, 1998


giving it time to confirm its suspi-          the sinner by the consistory in offi-     narily the consistory seeks the ad-
cions; or the consistory may post-            cial visits.  There must be "repeated     vice of classis just once, and that is
pone  the  administration  of  the            admonitions"  brought  to  the  im-       before  making  the  second  public
Lord's  Supper  until  it  has  com-          penitent by the elders all through        announcement.  This advice of the
pleted its investigation.  The latter         the  process  of  discipline.    These    classis  is  important.    There  must
practice is to be preferred.                  public announcements do not pre-          be safeguards.  The consistory must
    Article  76  further  stipulates          clude, as we mentioned earlier, pri-      be certain it is doing the right thing
that  there  shall  be  "repeated  ad-        vate admonitions being brought to         and dealing with the sinner fairly.
monitions"  if  the  sinner  remains          the sinner by members of the con-             The classis, therefore, needs to
impenitent.  Article 77 explains the          gregation.  That always remains the       know whether a sin has been com-
entire process leading up to excom-           calling of the people of God.  These      mitted, whether there is evidence
munication  and  explains  of  what           public  announcements  are  called        of impenitence, whether the sinner
these "repeated admonitions" con-             by the article, "admonitions."  The       has  been  suspended  from  the
sist:                                         point  is  twofold:  the  announce-       Lord's  Supper,  whether  the  first
                                              ments are admonitions to the con-         admonition to the congregation has
    After  the  suspension  from  the         gregation itself on behalf of the sin-    been given, and whether the labor
  Lord's table, and subsequent ad-            ner, and the announcements are in-        of  the  consistory  is  sufficient.
  monitions, and before proceeding            directly admonitions to the sinner.       Classis must give its advice care-
  to excommunication, the obstinacy           He is admonished by having his sin        fully, for it is giving the consistory
  of  the  sinner  shall  be  publicly        and  impenitence  made  known  to         its approval for excommunication
  made known to the congregation;
  the  offense  explained,  together          the congregation.                         if the sinner remains impenitent.
  with the care bestowed upon him,                These  admonitions  must  in-             Proper procedure for this sec-
  in  reproof,  suspension  from  the         clude  the  following  elements:  a)      ond  announcement  must  be  fol-
  Lord's  Supper,  and  repeated  ad-         The offense must be explained. b)         lowed.  The consistory must make
  monition;  and  the  congregation           There  must  be  an  explanation  of      a formal decision to proceed with
  shall be exhorted to speak to him           the care bestowed on the sinner by        the  second  announcement.    This
  and to pray for him.  There shall           the  consistory.  c)  This  care  be-     decision  must  have  at  least  two
  be three such admonitions.  In the          stowed on the sinner must be ex-          grounds:    repeated  admonitions
  first the name of the sinner shall          plained in connection with the re-        have  been  brought  to  the  sinner,
  not be mentioned that he be some-
  what spared.  In the second, with           proof  of  his  sin,  his  suspension     and the latter in spite of these re-
  the advice of the classis, his name         from the Lord's table, and the re-        mains impenitent.  But the actual
  shall be mentioned.  In the third           peated admonitions made to him.           execution  of  this  decision  must
  the congregation shall be informed          This explanation should be detailed       have the approval of classis.
  that (unless he repent) he will be          enough to give the congregation a             With  the  third  announcement
  excluded  from  the  fellowship  of         clear  understanding  of  the  disci-     the consistory informs the congre-
  the church, so that his excommu-            plinary work being done by the el-        gation  that  the  sinner  will  be ex-
  nication, in case he remains obsti-         ders.   d)  An exhortation must be        communicated  on  a  given  date  if
  nate, may take place with the tacit         given to the congregation to speak        he shows no signs of repentance.
  approbation  of  the  church.    The
  interval between the admonitions            to the sinner and to pray for him.        This announcement is made so that
  shall  be  left  to  the  discretion  of        In the first public admonition        the  excommunication  may  take
  the consistory.                             the name of the sinner is not men-        place  "with  the  tacit  approbation
                                              tioned  "that  he  be  somewhat           of the church."  In this way the en-
After  the  impenitent  sinner  has           spared."                                  tire congregation participates in the
been  suspended  from  the  Lord's                The second public admonition          discipline of the sinner.  If a mem-
Supper,  there  are  to  be  three  an-       must include the name of the sin-         ber at this late date objects to the
nouncements made to the congre-               ner.  But this announcement may           excommunication, he would have
gation.  The biblical basis for these         not  be  made  without  the               to  appeal  to  classis,  and  the
three announcements, or "admoni-              consistory's seeking the advice of        consistory would have to postpone
tions" as  Article 77 calls them, is          the classis.  This advice is also men-    the excommunication until classis
to be found in part in Titus 3:10,            tioned in Article 76 in connection        has spoken.
"A man that is an heretic after the           with  excommunication.    Some                The  article  stipulates  that  the
first and second admonition reject."          think that classis' advice must be        interval  between  these  three  an-
    There are two points to note as           sought twice, once before the sec-        nouncements or admonitions "shall
to the character of these three an-           ond public admonition and again           be  left  to  the  discretion  of  the
nouncements.    They  do  not  pre-           before  announcing  the  excommu-         consistory."    There  are  two  ex-
clude private admonitions made to             nication.  While it is not wrong to       tremes  to  be  avoided  by  the
                                              do this, it is not necessary.  Ordi-      consistory.  The one is acting too

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hastily, and the other is acting too       him in the hope that the Holy Spirit       rupts the unity and witness of the
slowly.  On the one hand, the el-          will use these to bring the sinner         church.  The church of Jesus Christ
ders  must  exercise  patience  and        to repentance.  On the other hand,         must be kept pure so that no shame
give  the  sinner  repeated  admoni-       the elders must not allow the sin          is brought to the name of Christ.
tions  and  offer  many  prayers  for      to  fester  and  grow  so that  it dis-                                         u



  In His Fear                                                                               Rev. Arie denHartog




                                 The Necessity of the
  Strict Preaching of the Law in Church

From the time of the Reforma- ing that we are after all saved in the law. In doing this it denies the
      tion  the  truly  Reformed           part at least by the keeping of the        cross of Christ.  Many modern day
      church has been serious about        law. Also this position has its vari-      Protestants imagine that they will
preaching  the  law    of  God.  Re-       ants in the church. The Pharisees          get  to  heaven  finally  because  of
formed  churches have a  tradition         of Jesus' day were legalists. They         their own goodness.  There could
of  reading  the law of God each           insisted on meticulous keeping of          not be anything more contrary to
Lord's Day in the worship service.         the law. They added to the law as          the  gospel  of  grace.  This  is  the
This practice, however, has  often         given  in  the  Bible  many  of  their     pharisaism  hated  by  the  Lord  so
been  opposed.  It  has  been  aban-       own refinements. They were hypo-           profoundly. The gospel of salvation
doned by most Protestant churches.         crites.  They  boasted  in  their  out-    by grace alone has been almost en-
There  are  two  great  errors  that       ward observance of the law. But in         tirely lost in much of the modern-
arise  repeatedly  in  the  church.        fact in their hearts they hated God        day church.
There  is  the  error  of  antino-         and had little or no love for their            But the condemnation of salva-
mianism, which is the false teach-         neighbor.  Jesus condemns them for         tion by  works is not  the  same  as
ing  that  salvation  by  grace  alone     neglecting the weightier matters of        teaching  that    the  Christian  need
excludes all necessity of law-keep-        the law.                                   not  be  serious  about  keeping  the
ing  by  the  redeemed  Christian.             Prevalent  among  many  so-            law. The law of God is the rule of
Though not all the advocates of this       called  evangelicals  is  the  notion      gratitude for the redeemed Chris-
position would oppose all reference        that there is an inherent conflict be-     tian. He does not keep the law to
to the law in the life of the Chris-       tween  preaching  the  gospel  and         earn in any way his own salvation,
tian, they would certainly not want        emphasizing  the  importance  of           but rather to show his thankfulness
any great emphasis on the law in           keeping the law. God abhors both           to  God  for  God's    gracious  and
the preaching. Other advocates of          antinominianism  and  legalism.            wonderful  salvation.    The  law  of
this  position  would  insist  that  at    Both  errors  must  be  condemned.         God  must  be  strictly  preached  in
least  the  "thou  shalt nots"  of  the    Proper preaching of the law has by         the church because we need a rule
law do not need to be preached in          the grace and Spirit of God in the         for  a  life  of  gratitude.  We  need
the church.                                Christian's heart  a sanctifying  ef-      God's own absolutely perfect rule.
    The second error that comes up         fect on his whole life.                    Goodness before God is not deter-
again  and  again  in  the  church  is         There  is  perfect  harmony  be-       mined by the vain imagination of
that of legalism. This is the teach-       tween true preaching of the gospel         man but by the perfect law of God.
                                           of  grace,  and  strict  preaching  on     We need to be serious about keep-
                                           the law of God. We want to show            ing the law of God. Jesus says, "If
Rev. denHartog is pastor of Hope Prot-     this in this article.  Roman Catholi-      ye  love  me  keep  my  command-
estant Reformed Church in Redlands,        cism  continues  to  teach  that  our      ments."
California.                                salvation is in part by the works of           One of the greatest  statements

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regarding  the  necessity  of  strict      Lord's  Day  44  of  the  Heidelberg         shall do and teach them, the same
preaching of the law is given in the       Catechism especially for those who           shall  be  called  great  in  the  king-
Heidelberg  Catechism.  It  is  the        have never read it or do not have            dom of heaven."
practice  of  our  church  to  preach      access to a copy of the Heidelberg               There  are  many  preachers  of
regularly following the Heidelberg         Catechism.                                   our day who will in the great day
Catechism  as  a  guide.  The  Re-                                                      of  the  Lord's  judgment  be  con-
formed  confessions,  both  those            Q. 113 What doth the tenth com-            demned as least in the kingdom of
from the continental Reformers (the          mandment require of us?                    heaven  because  of  their  failure
Three  Forms  of  Unity)  and  those         A. That  even  the  smallest  incli-       faithfully to teach and preach the
from  the  British  Isles  (The              nation or thought, contrary to any         law of God in the church.  These
Westminister Confession and Cat-             of  God's  commandments,  never            will be condemned to eternal fires
                                             arise in our hearts; but that at all
echisms), stress the importance of           times  we  hate  all  sin  with  our       because  they  refused  to  warn
teaching serious observance of the           whole  heart,  and  delight  in  all       wicked, impenitent sinners  about
law. These confessions state the of-         righteousness.                             disobedience to God's holy law and
ficial Reformed church position re-          Q. 114 But  can  those  who  are           exhort and admonish Christians to
garding the place of the law in the          converted  to  God  perfectly  keep        be serious about keeping the  law
life of the Christian.                       these commandments?                        of God.
    Modernism has little use for se-         A. No:  but  even  the  holiest  of            In the passage  (Matt. 5) quoted
rious preaching on the law.  Mod-            men, while in this life, have only         above, Jesus teaches the difference
ernist preachers, according to their         a  small  beginning  of  this  obedi-      between His abolishing and fulfill-
                                             ence;  yet  so,  that  with  a  sincere
claims,  want to be only positive.           resolution they begin to live, not         ing  the law. Jesus did indeed on
They refuse to condemn sin which             only according to some, but all the        the cross fulfill the law of God. This
is so abhorrent to God. They  speak          commandments of God.                       is the gospel, the good news of our
only  of  the  love  of  God  and  sel-      Q. 115 Why will God then have              salvation. When we ourselves were
dom if ever of the justice and wrath         the ten commandments so strictly           wholly  incapable  of  keeping  the
of God. The prevailing teaching in           preached, since no man in this life        law of God, our Lord Jesus Christ,
the  modern  church  is  that  God           can keep them?                             through His perfect obedience and
loves all men no matter how they             A. First, that all our lifetime we         sacrifice  on  the  cross,  fully  satis-
live. This is construed to be based          may learn more and more to know            fied the rigorous demands of God's
                                             our  sinful  nature,  and  thus  be-
on God's grace for  all and a death          come the more earnest in seeking           holy law. He alone of all men per-
of  Christ  for  all  men.  So  modern       the  remission  of  sin,  and  righ-       fectly  kept  the  law  of  God.  Our
churches  tolerate  almost all sorts         teousness in Christ; likewise, that        Lord kept the law of God perfectly
of sin. After all, God will forgive          we constantly endeavor and pray            in behalf of all of His people, all
our  imperfections.  They  are  not          to God for the grace of the Holy           those  given  to Him  by  His heav-
that serious. No one is perfect. In          Spirit, that we may become more            enly Father. By doing this He ful-
the end God will overlook the sins           and more conformable to the im-            filled all righteousness on their be-
of virtually all men and all will be         age of God, till we  arrive at  the        half.
saved, with perhaps the exception            perfection proposed to us, in a life           Jesus, through His once and for
                                             to come.
of some of the most grossly wicked                                                      all atoning work, laid the founda-
in our society.                                There  is  no  better  passage  of       tion of our salvation. There is no
    I consider Lord's Day 44 of the        Scripture to turn to for the biblical        other foundation. Nothing can be
Heidelberg Catechism to be one of          basis  of  this  instruction  than  the      or  need  be  added  to  the  perfect
the  most  outstanding  of  all  the       teaching of our Lord Himself in the          righteousness of the cross. It is the
Lord's Days of this very beautiful         Sermon on the Mount.  In Matthew             only ground of our righteousness
and powerful confession of the Re-         5:17-19 our Lord says, "Think not            before God.  It is the only hope of
formed faith. Lord's Day 44 is first       that I am come to destroy the law,           our salvation. Our glorying is not
of all a discussion of the meaning         or the prophets: I am not come to            in our law-keeping but in the per-
of the tenth commandment, "Thou            destroy, but  to fulfil. For verily I        fect obedience and righteousness of
shalt  not  covet."  The  Heidelberg       say unto you, Till heaven and earth          Christ.
Catechism  shows  how  the  tenth          pass, one jot or one tittle shall in             However, our Lord Jesus em-
commandment is unique in that it           no wise pass from the law, till all          phasizes very strongly in the Ser-
speaks of matters of the heart. The        be  fulfilled.  Whosoever  therefore         mon on the Mount that in His ful-
tenth  commandment  reveals  the           shall break one of these least com-          filling the law at the cross He did
perfect and holy requirement of the        mandments,  and  shall  teach  men           not abolish it. That is,  He did not
whole of the law of God.                   so, he  shall be called least  in the        do away with the law so that it no
    Let me quote the whole signifi-        kingdom of heaven: but whosoever             longer stands. It is not true at all
cant  and  powerful  discussion  of                                                     that  Christians  redeemed  at  the

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cross need not  be concerned about           the good that I would I do not: but         moment of our life, delight in all
the law of God.  The law of God              the  evil  that  I  would  not,  that  I    righteousness.
will stand as the rule of gratitude          do.... O wretched man that I am!"                 There is no law of man that can
for  the  life  of  the  Christian  until    (Rom. 7:19, 24).  Because of God's          ever demand such perfection. Only
heaven and earth pass  away, until           commandment  against  coveting,             the  law  of  God  can  and  does  re-
all things be fulfilled.  Not one jot        Paul realized that he was accord-           quire such perfection.  Many, even
or one tittle shall pass away from           ing to his sinful nature carnal and         professing Christians, go through
the law until the end of the world.          sold  under  sin.    Yet  he  confesses     life imagining that mere outward
So absolutely perfect is the require-        that the law of God is good.                observance of the law is sufficient.
ment of the law of God for Chris-                Coveting in its broadest sense          They do not see the need of con-
tian living also today.                      refers to evil desire of every sort.        demning    the  evil    thoughts  and
        That Jesus Himself taught the        In Exodus God speaks of coveting            desires of their heart and mind and
strict  observance  of  the  law  is         our neighbor's  house, man servant,         the urgency of waging a constant
brought out in the instruction He            maid servant,  ox, and ass.  This is        spiritual  warfare  against  these.
gave after the passage of Matthew            the condemnation of all evil desire         This was exactly the hypocrisy of
5 quoted above. There He teaches             for the goods God has given to our          the  Pharisees  so  severely  con-
us that it is not good enough that           neighbor. It condemns materialism           demned by the Lord.
we only do not kill. We may also             in all its forms.  It condemns the              The Heidelberg Catechism then
not hate our brother. Hatred is the          love of money which is, according           asks  the  important  question
heart sin that is the root of murder         to the Bible, the root of all evil. It      whether there is any man who can
and is by God condemned as mur-              condemns greed, jealousy,  hatred,          keep this perfect law of God per-
der. There will be many going to             selfishness, and pride with respect         fectly. The emphatic answer to this
hell because of impenitent hatred            to earthly possessions. All these are       question is that even the most holy
in their hearts for their neighbor,          forms of  covetousness. The com-            men  have  in  this life  but a  small
even though they never actually in           mandment  in  Exodus  speaks  of            beginning of this new obedience.
an outward way killed their neigh-           coveting the neighbor's wife, which             Every  honest  Christian,  when
bor.                                         is adultery and leads to the great          he places his heart and mind and
        It is not good enough that we        evils  of  divorce  and  remarriage         not only his outward conduct un-
do  not  fall  into  the  gross  sin  of     condemned by the Bible.                     der  the  all  searching  light  of  the
open  adultery  and  fornication.                The  Heidelberg  Catechism              law of God, knows that he stands
Jesus says that whosoever looks af-          states  that  the  tenth  command-          condemned before God's law. Even
ter a woman with lust in his heart           ments  requires    "that  even  the         as a Christian he is far from per-
commits  adultery  with  her  in  his        smallest  inclination  or  thought,         fect.    He  agrees  with  the  Heidel-
heart. Who among men has never               contrary to any of God's command-           berg Catechism that even the most
had an unclean and unholy thought            ments,  never  arise  in  our  hearts;      holy men have but a small begin-
in  his heart?  Without  forgiveness         but that at all times we hate all sin       ning  of  the  new  obedience.    It  is
at the cross of Jesus Christ for these       with our whole heart, and delight           true that there is a vast difference
sins  of  our  hearts,  we  stand  con-      in  all  righteousness."  This  is  the     in holiness between one Christian
demned before God.                           perfection required in God's holy           and another. But who would dare
        The  Heidelberg  Catechism           and perfect law. This is what Jesus         to be so bold as to classify himself
teaches  that  the  tenth  command-          meant when He said, "Be ye there-           as  one  of  the  most  holy  men  on
ment, when it commands us not to             fore  perfect,  even  as  your  Father      earth? In fact, anyone who imag-
covet, requires spiritual perfection.        which  is  in  heaven  is  perfect"         ines that he has even for a day or
Coveting is after all  not something         (Matt.  5:48).  The  inspired  apostle      an hour or a moment kept all the
observable in one's outward con-             Peter  in  the  same  manner  says,         perfect demands of God's law is a
duct.  Only  God,  who  sees  and            "But as he which hath called you            liar and the truth is not in him (see
knows  the  heart,  can  judge  con-         is holy, so be ye holy in all manner        I John 1:9, 10).  The true child of
cerning  its    covetousness.    Paul        of conversation; because it is writ-        God grieves deeply  over his con-
says in Romans 7: 7,   "I had not            ten, be ye holy; for I am holy" (I          tinuing sinfulness.
known  sin,  but  by  the  law:  for  I      Pet. 1:15 and 16).                              The  Heidelberg  Catechism
had not known lust, except the law               The  law  of  God  reveals  the         however is not pessimistic or mor-
had said, Thou shalt not covet."  It         fearful, absolute, and infinite per-        bid regarding the Christian life. It
was especially after he considered           fection of God Himself.  Man can-           goes on to say that the Christian,
the demand of God's law that we              not dwell with this holy God ex-            by the grace and Spirit of God, be-
must  not  covet, and  after  he  had        cept he also be holy as God is.  We         gins to live not only according to
considered himself, his own heart,           are not yet perfect unless we with          some  but  according  to  all  of  the
that the apostle Paul cried out: "For        our whole heart constantly, every           commandments of God. Take note,

158/Standard Bearer/January 1, 1998


however,  of  the  fact  that  this  be-    our sinful nature. True growth in          the cross we receive daily also the
ginning  to  live  according  to  the       Christ involves first of all knowing       strength  that  we  need  to  fight
commandments of God is only by              more and more our sinful nature.           against and overcome our sin.
the  grace  and  Spirit  of  God.  We       This is absolutely necessary to keep           When the law of God sets be-
have no strength in ourselves to do         us from the pride and hypocrisy of         fore us the absolute perfection of
so. All our strength to keep the law        the  Pharisees  hated  by  the  Lord.      God and  we  realize our own im-
of God is of Christ alone--Christ            Notice  that  the  Heidelberg  Cat-        perfection, as Christians we begin
who  not  only  fully  satisfied  the       echism speaks of our sinful nature.        more  and  more  to  long  for  what
righteous demands of the law on             Our  sin  is  far  more  serious  than     the catechism speaks of as the per-
the  cross  (justification),  but  who      merely a matter of a few evil deeds        fection proposed  to us in  the  life
also  by  His  Holy  Spirit  works  in      we do every day, or a matter of a          to come. This is a true longing for
our  hearts  (sanctification).  Christ      slight imperfection. We have a cor-        heaven.
by His Spirit gives us the will and         rupt and sinful nature. Christ has             What  causes  you  to  long  for
the desire to live by God's law. He         given us a new heart by the won-           heaven,  dear  reader?  Many  of  us
gives us the intense longing to be          der  work  of  regeneration.  But  as      have  quite  an  enjoyable  life  on
perfect as God is perfect.                  long as we are in this life we still       earth. We have our nice cars and
    We  begin to keep the law ac-           have a corrupt and sinful nature.          our  beautiful  and  comfortable
cording to the principle of Christ              From this sinful nature proceed        homes. We enjoy our children and
in  us.  This  work  of  Christ  is  His    all kinds of evil thoughts and de-         grandchildren  and  just  love  to
wonderful  work  of  regeneration,          sires.  We  must  abhor  these             watch  them  as  they  are  growing
according to which He has created           thoughts and desires. We must flee         up.  We  have  exciting  vacations
in us a new heart. This principle is        from all things in life that stir up       planned long ahead of time. Why
a sincere resolution in our life to         such evil thoughts and desires. We         should  we  long  to go  to heaven?
keep not only some but all of the           may not be satisfied with mere out-        We are having too much fun here.
commandments of God. We cannot              ward  Christianity.  We  must  fight       The answer of the Word of God, I
be  satisfied  with  merely  keeping        against every evil inclination of our      believe, is that we long for heaven
some of God's commandments, and             mind and heart. We hate and ab-            because we are grieved about our
then congratulate ourselves, so to          hor all sin, not only in the world         continuing  sinfulness.  Nothing
speak, at the end of the day for do-        around us but also in our own sin-         more  than  that  causes  us  to long
ing so well. We must keep all the           ful nature.                                earnestly  for  heaven.  We  are
commandments of God, neglecting                 The strict preaching of the law        deeply grieved about our own con-
none of them. The law of God is a           teaches us our constant need of the        tinuing sinfulness  and  long to be
perfect whole. To break one com-            cross  of  Christ  Jesus.  The  perfect    delivered from the body of this sin
mandment is to break the whole of           sacrifice  of  Christ  once  accom-        (Rom. 7:25).  We long to be made
the perfect law  of God. We must            plished  on  the  cross  is  the  only     perfect as God our heavenly Father
keep also the tenth commandment             ground of our righteousness before         is  perfect.  This  will  finally  take
of God's law in all its perfect de-         God.  Our  law  works  cannot  con-        place only when Jesus comes again
mands or we have not kept the law           tribute anything to this righteous-        to take us to heaven.
of God.                                     ness.  But the cross of Christ is also         Christ  Jesus  has  obtained  ab-
    The  Heidelberg  Catechism              the power of our new life, our life        solute heavenly perfection for us.
teaches in Lord's Day 44 the whole          of gratitude to God, which is a life       In  heaven  we  will  dwell  in  the
perspective  of  Christian  living  in      lived by the law of God.                   presence of God and His Son Jesus
the light of the perfect law of God.            When  the  perfect  law  of  God       Christ  in  sinless  perfection.  This
We believe that this perspective is         teaches us how sinful we still are,        will be our great joy and glory in
that  of  genuine  Christian  living.       we are driven daily to the cross to        heaven.
Such a perspective is little known          seek the forgiving mercy of Christ.            We close with the words of the
in  modern-day  Christianity.    The        This is real and daily Christian liv-      apostle  Paul  in  Philippians  3:21:
strict preaching of the law of God          ing.  This  is  genuine  Christianity.     "For our conversation is in heaven;
in church is an aid  to sincere and         Without this there is only pharisa-        from whence also we look for the
true godliness and to the true fear         ical hypocrisy. We need the cross          Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: who
of God in our lives. God gave His           of Christ every day. We must ear-          shall change our vile body, that it
law  to  His  redeemed  people  for         nestly seek that cross each day for        may be fashioned like unto his glo-
that purpose.                               forgiveness. There is nothing like         rious body, according to the work-
    The strict preaching of the law         the  real    knowledge  of  our  con-      ing whereby He is able even to sub-
teaches us that we are still far from       tinual  sinfulness  that  drives  the      due all things unto Himself."    u
perfection. By the strict preaching         true  child  of  God  to  fall  on  his
of the law we learn more and more           knees before the cross of Christ.  At

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  Search the Scriptures                                                                            Rev. Mitchell Dick


    "Behold These Glorifications!"
                                               (John 12:20-33)


                                            of it in Old Testament's tunnel.  But     fied  with  the  Father  Himself  and
                                            now the end  of that, the  dawn of        with  the  glory  He  had  with  Him
                                            the gospel day.                           before the world was.  Father, un-
It was dark.  Very dark.  It was
   the darkness of sin.   The time
   of the power of  darkness....                Behold!  Strange light.  Strange:     changeable Light--glorified in the
    The  Devil's  darkness!    This         uncreated, divine, incarnate light.       Son's brilliance.  And, behold,  the
world's prince.  Dark ruler.  Chain-        Strange:  brilliant,  source  of  all     graced--the church glorified!
ing  men  to  darkness.    Confusing        light.    Brighter  than  a  thousand
darkness.  Death's darkness.                suns.    But  dimmed.    A  man.    A                  ***   ***   ***   ***
    For this was judgment.  Judg-           babe.  A manger.  Growing.  Learn-        Eye  hath  not  seen...but  it  is  re-
ment of the God who is light and            ing.    Tempted.    Suffering.  Dying     vealed.  Light revealed.  And the
in whom is no darkness at all.  Who         light....  Strange too: light of grace!     glorification of the light is revealed.
hates sin.  Who sends the darkness          We understand justice.  We live by        Many glorifications!
plague.  Dark deeds, dark heresies,         it and die by it.  Dog eat dog.  Sin-             Listen!  Look!
dark  rebellions  deserve  damning          ners sin and fight and die.  But light            "The hour is come, that the Son
darkness.                                   of grace?  Light not scorching but        of  man  should  be  glorified."    "I
    God  kills  darkness.    Justice,       saving sinners?  Light dying, aton-       have both glorified it, and will glo-
Godness, demand darkness' death.            ing, all but out, that we might live,     rify it again." "And I, if I be lifted
                                            and live in light?                        up from earth, will draw all men
             ***   ***   ***   ***              Behold!  Soon!   Glorification of     unto me."
    Behold!  There is light!  Speak-        the light!  Light going up honored                In the inspired John.  Search-
ing  in  the  darkness!    Last  public     and  exalted.    Light  at  the  right    ing by His light.   Behold these glo-
discourse of light....                        hand  of  God.    Jesus--light  glori-     rifications!
    Light.  Very Light!
    There had been light. The first
day!  Yes!  Out of the darkness of                          For Study, Meditation,
the face of the deep, light!  Light
too,  in  the  garden,  in  the  fellow-                            & Discussion
ship of God, Adam, and Eve.
    But this is the light of another
day.  It is the light after the night.      1. We would see Jesus!                    might see Jesus? How do we "see"
Out of sin's night...light!   The re-         (vv. 21, 22)                              Jesus today?  At least one pulpit, I
deeming light.  Jesus Christ!  Light            Certain  Greeks  were  among          am  told,  has  the  request  of  the
of mercy and grace.  This Godness           them that came up (to Jerusalem)          Greeks engraved on it.  Comment
of the same holy, just God, dark-           to  worship  at  the  Passover  feast.    on  the  relation  between  seeing
ness Killer.                                They requested of Philip: "Sir, we        Jesus and the preaching of the gos-
    Behold! New light!  Something           would see Jesus!"                         pel.
                                                Is there any indication in their
                                            conduct,  or  their  request,  or  in     2. Jesus announces His own
                                            Jesus'  response  to  their  request,     glorification (v. 23-32).
                                            that  these  Greeks  were  true  con-     What is this glorification of the Son
                                            verts?   Why  do  the  Greeks  go  to     of man?  How does the language
                                                                                      Jesus uses to express His glorifica-
Rev. Dick is pastor of Grace Protes-        Philip, and not directly to Jesus?
                                                                                      tion  suggest  the  pre-ordination  or
tant  Reformed  Church  in  Standale,           We would see Jesus too!  Why
                                                                                      divine appointment of His glorifi-
Michigan.                                   is this our urgent request: that we

160/Standard Bearer/January 1, 1998


cation?  Refer to other texts which         eternal" which the self-denying be-          fessions  of  the  church  is  this
teach this same thing: the ordina-          liever shall have (v. 25).  He men-          taught?  Why is it so important to
tion  of  the  glorification  of  Jesus.    tions  the  "honor"  that  the  Father       maintain the doctrine of reproba-
(Here's one:  Colossians 1:15-20.)          will give to believers (v. 26).  He          tion?
    Jesus' glorification will be only       speaks  of  drawing  all  unto  Him-                 When Jesus says "now" is the
in the way of His humiliation and           self (v. 32).                                judgment  of  the  world,  He  is
suffering, even unto death.  Explain            Recall  other  passages  which           speaking of the fact that His death
how Jesus teaches this by way of            speak  of  the  glorification  of  the       on the cross will be the condemna-
the analogy of a corn of wheat fall-        church.    Explain  what  "glorifica-        tion for certain ones, even an en-
ing into the ground and dying (v.           tion" for us is.  List several charac-       tire world of them (cf. vv. 32, 33).
24).  Explain how Jesus teaches this        teristics of this blessed state.             How is a world's judgment effected
in verses 32-34.                                A major point Jesus is making            and sealed through Jesus' death on
    At the time of this announce-           in this passage is that this glorifi-        the cross?
ment of His glorification Jesus ex-         cation, this salvation of the church,                When the world is judged, the
periences this humiliation and suf-         shall  be  universal--of  a  church  of       prince of this world is cast out (v.
fering.  "Now is my soul troubled,"         every  nation.    This  point  Jesus         31b).  Show from Scripture that the
Jesus says, as He wrestles with the         makes, I believe, in answer to the           reference  is  to  Satan's  being  cast
prospect  of  the  terrible  suffering      request of the Greeks to see Him             out.  To what does his being  cast
He must endure (v. 27).  This ter-          (vv.  20,  23).    The  church  will  in-    out refer?  How is the crucifixion
rible commotion of soul is like unto        clude Jews, and also Greeks!  Upon           of  Jesus  the  casting  out  of  Satan
that which the Savior would soon            the  corn  of  wheat's  dying,  there        (cf.  Gen.  3:15;  Matt.  12:29;  Luke
feel in the garden of Gethsemane            will be  "much  fruit  (v.  24).   "All      11:21,  22;  Rom.  16:20;  Col.  2:15;
(Matt. 26: 38, 39).   How  is this an-      men"  shall  be  drawn  to  Himself          Heb. 2: 14, 15; Rev. 20:1-3, 10)?
guish of soul possible for Jesus, Son       (v.32).  Recall other passages which                 Is there any sense in which the
of God?  Why is it necessary?               speak  of  the  "church  universal."         cross is the judgment of the Church
                                            Do  we  see  the  church  manifest           (cf. Is. 1:27)?
3. The announcement of the                  "universally" today?  Where?                         Compare the  preliminary  judg-
glorification of the Father                     The  church's  glorification  oc-        ment  of  the  world,  on  the  cross,
(vv. 28-30).                                curs only through her self-denial,           with the  final  judgment, when our
    To Jesus' request, "Father, glo-        service,  and  suffering.    Explain         Lord comes again (cf. Amos 5:18,
rify  thy  name,"  a  voice  from           what this is in light of verses 25,          20).
heaven replies ( v. 28): "I have both       26 and other passages.  Explain this
glorified  it,  and  will  glorify  it      in light of the gospel of salvation          6. Perspective (John 20:31).
again."                                     by  grace  alone.    In  this  suffering             Behold these glorifications!  Of
    What  do  these  words  mean?           how  is  the  church  like her  Lord?        Jesus, the Christ, the Son of God,
When  did  the  Father  glorify  His        What  are  some  important  differ-          of the Father, of the church!
name, and when shall He?                    ences between Jesus' suffering and                   They are revealed.  The Word
    What  is  the  relation  between        the church's suffering?                      of God, the gospel, is the message
the glorification of the Son and the                                                     of the exaltation of God and all that
glorification of the Father (cf. John       5. The glorification of Father,              is of God.
5:23; Hint: consider also: what is the      Son, and church occurs through                       But  still  there  is  this  present
Name of God?)?                              the judgment of the world (v. 31).           darkness.  The light of these glori-
    Why,  at  this  time  and  others           Is  this  the  same  "world"  of         fications  is  commonly  compre-
(e.g.,  Jesus'  baptism;  Mount  of         John  3:16,  the  world  God  "so            hended not.  How is it possible for
Transfiguration),  did  the  Father         loved"?  Is this the world for which         one  still  in  the  midst  of  sin  and
speak,  audibly,  to  Jesus?      What      Jesus does not pray (John 17:9)?  Is         death, not yet taken into and up to
does Jesus mean in verse 30 when            this  the  world  for  which  Jesus  is      the glory, to see and to rejoice in
He says that this voice from heaven         the propitiation (I John 2:2)?  Com-         the  present  and  future  glorifica-
was not because of, or on account           ment on the inspired John's use of           tions?  What will you see...today?
of,  Himself,  but  for  the  sake  of      the term "world."                            This year?   u
those to whom He was speaking?                  Even as the glorification of the
                                            Son, and the elect church in Him,
4. The announcement of the glo-             is ordained, so the  condemnation
rification of the church (vv. 24-32).       of the wicked, unbelieving, repro-
The  glorification  of  the  church  is     bate world is ordained.  This is the
described  in  various  ways  in  the       doctrine of reprobation.  Prove this
passage.  Jesus speaks of the "life         from Scripture.  Where in the con-

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  Taking Heed to the Doctrine                                                              Rev. Charles Terpstra



                                  Studies in the Life of Christ (1):
                    Christ Circumcised and
                       Presented to the Lord

                                            17:9ff.; Lev. 12:3).  Joseph and Mary      instituted this external sign, He did
                                            showed their faithful obedience to         so in connection with the covenant
At present in this rubric we
            are "taking heed to the doc-
            trine"  of  Christ  (Chris-     God's law by seeing to this circum-        He had made with Abraham and
tology). Rev. S. Key has been writ-         cision. Yet this act was much more         his seed (cf. Gen. 17). Circumcision
ing  on  this  subject  from  the  per-     than mere conformity to the law; it        was to be a concrete, visible token
spective  of  Reformed  dogmatics.          was a highly significant act, espe-        of the covenant between God and
As I join him in writing under this         cially in Jesus' case. First, it signi-    His people. But that covenant bond
rubric, I plan to present doctrinal         fied Christ's subjection to the law:       of  friendship  and  fellowship  be-
studies based on specific scriptural        "But when the fulness of time was          tween God and His own could not
passages. For the doctrine of Christ        come, God sent forth his Son, made         be established and realized except
we  will  consider  some  aspects  of       of a woman, made under the law"            through  the Seed of Abraham, the
His life and work from the perspec-         (Gal. 4:4). This subjection was not        Mediator of the covenant of grace,
tive  of  the  gospel  accounts.  I  be-    just out of respect for God and His        Jesus  Christ  (cf.  Heb.  8:6;  9:15;
lieve we will also find these bibli-        commandments. It belonged to the           12:24).  When  Abraham  and  his
cal  studies  to  be  rich  in  doctrine    heart of Christ's mission as the Sav-      seed  were  circumcised,  God  was
and will profit from "taking heed"          ior. He was the Second Adam, sent          already pointing them to that Son
to them.                                    to be responsible to keep the law          of the covenant (cf. Gal. 3:16). Ap-
    We  begin  with  a  look  at  the       in the place of His people, who had        propriately,  therefore,  when  that
very early life of Christ on earth,         broken that law in the first Adam.         Son is born, He is given the sign of
specifically the eighth and fortieth        He was  the Child of Israel, sent to       God's covenant. He is marked out
days  of  His  life.  Our  passage  of      fulfill the law for the sake  of the       as the One through whom God will
study is Luke 2:21-24, with consid-         rest of the  children of Israel (i.e.,     reconcile His people to Himself and
eration also given to the testimo-          the elect church), who had violated        establish with them His covenant
nies of Simeon and Anna concern-            that law throughout their history.         of peace.
ing  the  newborn  Christ  in  verses       As  He  Himself  said,  "Think  not            Third,  the  significance  of
25-38. You are encouraged to look           that I am come to destroy the law,         Christ's circumcision is to be found
up  and  read  this  passage  before        or the prophets: I am not come to          in the fact that it pointed specifi-
reading  on  (Go  ahead,  get  your         destroy, but to fulfill" (Matt. 5:17).     cally  to  His  saving,  covenantal
Bible!).                                    It  is  important  to  remember  that      work  as  Mediator.  Circumcision
                                            circumcision was a seal of the righ-       was a bloody sign. It involved the
Christ Circumcised and Named                teousness which is by faith (Rom.          cutting off and putting away of a
    According to Luke 2:21 Joseph           4:11).  This  righteousness  is  not       piece of the male foreskin. As such,
and Mary's son was circumcised on           ours, but Christ's. His circumcision       it pictured the sinner's justification
the eighth day. This was, of course,        verifies that He came  to obtain a         and  sanctification  through  the
the  mandate  of  the  Lord  (Gen.          perfect  righteousness  for  us            shedding of blood. He (as well as
                                            through His subjection to and obe-         she!) needed to be justified because
                                            dience of the law.                         of  his  (her)  guilty  unrigh-
                                                Second,  Christ's  circumcision        teousnesses. He needed to be sanc-
                                            was  significant  in  that  it  marked     tified because of the presence of his
Rev. Terpstra is pastor of the Protes-
                                            Him  as  a covenant  child,  indeed,       sinful  "flesh."    This  could  be  ac-
tant  Reformed  Church  of  Holland,
                                            as  the covenant Child. When God           complished only by the shedding
Michigan.

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of  blood,  i.e.,  Christ's  atoning       temple by bringing an offering for          Jesus was presented to the Lord in
blood.  When  Christ  received  this       her purification (which proves that         the temple on that fortieth day.
bloody sign, then, His saving work         also Mary was a sinner and needed               But that's not all. In addition,
of  justifying  and  sanctifying  His      Christ  for  her  Savior,  something        this presentation of Jesus involved
people through the shedding of His         she  herself  confessed,  cf.  Luke         His being redeemed. Luke does not
own blood was pictured. From His           1:46ff.). It was at this time that Jo-      mention this, but it was an impor-
circumcision we may know that He           seph and Mary also took Jesus with          tant part of the ceremony. Accord-
came to bear the sins of His people        them  in  order  to  present  Him  to       ing to Exodus 13:13, 15 and Num-
and "cut them away" by giving His          the Lord. They did this too in obe-         bers 18:16 the firstborn males in Is-
blood  on  the  cross.  It  is  through    dience  to  God's  law,  for  it  was       rael had to be redeemed, i.e., they
the work of the circumcised Child          written, "Every male that openeth           had  to  be  bought  back.  Because
of  the  covenant  that  we  are  for-     the  womb  shall  be  called  holy  to      they were the Lord's, the firstborn
given  and  cleansed,  and  in  that       the Lord" (v. 23).  The reference is        sons had to be purchased from God
way given the legal right and the          to  Exodus  13:2  where  God  said,         by  the  parents  at  a  cost  of  five
moral fitness to be God's covenant         "Sanctify unto me all the firstborn,        shekels.  It  was  this  redemption
children.                                  whatsoever  openeth  the  womb              which  Joseph  and  Mary  also  had
    Fourth,  the  circumcision  of         among the children of Israel, both          to make with regard to Jesus at the
Christ was significant because it in-      of  man  and  of  beast:  it  is  mine."    time  they  presented  Him  to  the
cluded  His  naming.  This  is  actu-      God gave this directive in connec-          Lord.  What we have, then, in this
ally  what  the  gospel  writer  Luke      tion with Israel's deliverance from         incident  in  Jesus'  life  is  the  Re-
focuses on. On this eighth day the         Egypt  through  the  slaying  of            deemer being redeemed! Was this
name  "Jesus"  was  given  to  this        Egypt's firstborn. God was declar-          a sign of His own purpose in com-
baby boy. This is what Joseph and          ing that while He was destroying            ing into the world? Absolutely! He
Mary had been instructed by God            the firstborn of the wicked, He was         came to redeem His people, to buy
through His angel to call their son        saving Israel as His own firstborn          them out of their sin and death and
(cf. Luke 1:31; Matt. 1:21). Also in       son (cf. Ex. 4:22; Hos. 11:1). By hav-      restore them to the freedom of cov-
this name is the gospel of our sal-        ing His people sanctify their first-        enant  family  life  with  God.  As
vation. For the name means "Jeho-          born, God was having them declare           Jesus said, He came to give His life
vah  saves,"  or  "Jehovah's  salva-       that  the  nation  as  a  whole  was        a  ransom  for  many  (Mark  10:45).
tion."    This  Child  is  none  other     God's firstborn.                            That was the price He would pay
than the revelation of Jehovah the             Because  He  was  Mary's  first-        for our redemption--His own life
Savior, the faithful covenant Lord         born son, Jesus was subject to this         on the cross.  It was for this work
come down to take on human na-             charge. But once again, what God            of  the  Messiah  that  the  remnant
ture  in  order  to  save  His  people     said  about  the  firstborn  of  Israel     were  looking,  and  it  was  of  this
from their sins! It is this which the      was fully realized in Mary's first-         work that Anna spoke according to
aged Simeon saw by faith and gave          born son Jesus. He was supremely            verse 38.
expression to in his beautiful Nunc        sanctified (holy) unto God. For He              But  what  a  sign  was  this  of
Dimittis:  "Lord, now lettest thou         was set apart for and consecrated           Jesus'  humiliation  too!  The  One
thy servant depart in peace, accord-       to the Lord God as the Savior who           who  would  buy  us  out  of  sin's
ing  to  thy  word:  For  mine  eyes       would  deliver  God's  true  Israel,        bondage and bring us into the glo-
have  seen  thy  salvation"  (vv.  29-     His elect firstborn, from the bond-         rious liberty of the children of God
30).  Is this also your spiritual vi-      age  of  sin  (typified  in  Egypt's        at  the  cost  of  His  own  life  was
sion of and confession concerning          bondage)  and  from  the  wrath  of         Himself bought back by his parents
Him?                                       God which he deserved (pictured             for  the  price  of  five  shekels!  Our
                                           in the angel of death that passed           precious Redeemer was purchased
Christ's Presentation to the Lord          through  Egypt  killing  her  first-        for a pittance! Ponder that. And re-
    The  second  thing  we  wish  to       born). Furthermore, Jesus was spe-          member that this humiliation was
examine in Luke 2:21-24 is Joseph          cially the Lord's. Concerning Him           necessary for Him to redeem us. It
and Mary's presentation of Christ          God said, "He is mine," both be-            was  precisely  through  His  lowli-
to the Lord in the temple. This took       cause Jesus was God's only begot-           ness  that  Jesus  paid  our  ransom
place  in  connection  with  Mary's        ten Son sent into the world by God,         and set us free. Wonderful Savior!
purification.  According  to  God's        and because only through Jesus did          Amazing  salvation!  Marvelous
law a woman who bore a man child           all  the  other  children  of  God  be-     mercy of God! Hallelujah!   u
was ceremonially unclean for a pe-         long to the Lord. We are the Lord's
riod of forty days (Lev. 12).  When        as His firstborn only because Jesus
this time was completed, she was           is the Lord's as His first Firstborn.
restored  to  the  worship  of  the        This  is  what  was  signified  when

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  Go Ye Into All the World                                                                        Rev. Allen Brummel



                                            Hinduism

                                               The great goal of the Hindu is          one.
Hinduism is of great impor- deliverance, emancipation, and lib- Karma
            tance due  to the fact that    erty.  From a negative point of view            Secondly, the idea of karma is
            approximately 700 million      that goal is to be loosed from some-        central  to  Hinduism .    Karma,
people,  or  14%  of  the  world's         thing  felt  to  be  undesirable--the        loosely  translated,  means  destiny
population, adhere to this religion.       cycle of rebirth and attachment to          or  fate  and  has  to  do  with  both
Over 82% of India is committed to          the material world.  On the posi-           good and bad occurrences.  To the
Hinduism, and more than one mil-           tive side the Hindu seeks a sense           Hindu, karma is an unchangeable
lion adherents are found in North          of calm and security, the power to          law.  A man is what he is with re-
America. 1     Hinduism  has  also         be  and  to  do.    Most  of  the  time,    spect to his place in life because of
spawned  three  other  movements           however, this salvation is spoken           his karma.  The Hindu explains ev-
which  have  become  world  reli-          of in negative terms--doing away             erything  in  life--suffering,  bless-
gions;  Jainism,  Buddhism,  and           with the material, evil, and grief.         ings,  sorrow,  joy,  high  caste,  low
Sikhism.  These facts prompt us to             In order to understand Hindu-           caste,  pauper,  priest,  poor,  rich
ask a few questions: What does it          ism  more  fully  we  must  examine         with the words: "It is karma."  If
mean to be a Hindu?  What does             three  basic  ideas:  pantheism,            one is poor or in a low caste, noth-
the Hindu believe?                         karma, and reincarnation.                   ing can or may be done to change
    In  the  Hindu  religion,  as  in                                                  that situation.    If something hap-
most  other  pagan  religions,  there      Pantheism                                   pens to an individual, it is karma.
is a great degree of latitude.  There          First,  the  Hindu  believes  that      Everything  in  life  is  due  to  un-
is a great divergence between the          his  soul  must  be  identified  with       changeable karma.  It is because of
traditionalists and those who rep-         god.  Each person is like a droplet         this conviction that Hindus refuse
resent  modern  thought.    Tradi-         of water out of the ocean of god,           to help out the poor, or even some-
tional  Hindus  would  insist  that        and the goal of life is to be reunited      one in need.  They would not dare
only one who is a native of India          to god.  The soul is everlasting, and       to give to the poor, lest they vio-
can be a Hindu; a Hindu cannot be          the soul is the true self, the atman.       late the karma of that individual.
a foreigner, a Christian, a Muslim,        The soul is united to god, and ev-          Likewise, they would not stop and
or a member of any other religious         ery religious practice of the  Hindu        help  someone  in  need,  perhaps
community.  According to the tra-          is directed toward  the realization         with  a  flat  tire,  because  to  do  so
ditional  Hindu,  a  Hindu  is  born,      of this oneness with god.  To know          would be to go against the karma
not made.  An American may hold            oneself is to know god.  To grasp           of those people.
the very same beliefs as his Indian        the full meaning and significance               Karma not only applies to this
friend, but he remains an outsider.        of this oneness is to realize the es-       present life, but also to the life to
There is only one path by which,           sence of Hinduism.  The  old and            come, as is expressed in the third
according to orthodox Hindus, one          oft-repeated  Hindu  phrase  which          basic belief of Hinduism--reincar-
may enter into the Hindu fold--let          expresses  this  is:  "God  and  I  are     nation.
him live a pious life, and then, af-       one."
ter many transmigrations, his soul             This notion of Hinduism goes
may at last be born into a Hindu           far beyond the teaching of the Bible             1  These  facts  are  taken  from  The
family.2                                   that God's people are the children          Compact Guide to World Religion, Dean
                                           of  God  and  that  their  lives  are  a    C. Halverson, general editor (Bethany
                                           reflection of God's life within them.       House: Minneapolis, 1996).
                                           The Christian believes that he is an
Rev. Brummel is pastor of the Protes-      image  bearer  of  God--the  Hindu               2  Less  orthodox  Hindus  have  re-
tant  Reformed  Church  in  Edgerton,      believes  that  he  and  his  god  are      ceived foreigners after certain ceremo-
                                                                                       nies and a change of name.
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164/Standard Bearer/January 1, 1998


Reincarnation                                  dus eat meat, the majority of them          and  all  selfhood  is  lost.    Move-
    Thirdly,  crucial  to  the  Hindu          are vegetarian, since reverence for         ments such as transcendental medi-
religion is the matter of reincarna-           the cow is extended to reverencing          tation  recommend  yoga  to  reach
tion.  Reincarnation simply means              all the animals.                            this goal.
that the soul of man, his atman, is                The  book  of  Hinduism  is  the            Rajan Rajbhandari from Nepal
in  a  constant  revolution  of  births        Bhagavad-Gita, a dialogue between           has exposed the strong Hindu be-
and rebirths.  The Hindu believes              the god Krishna, and Arjuna, a dis-         liefs which were present in The Star
not only that he will live forever,            ciple.  The  theme of the book is to        Wars Trilogy by George Lucas.  He
but also that he has already lived             teach  individuals    how  to  recog-       writes:  "Of the trilogy, The Empire
before.  If a man dies, he will live           nize men who know the truth and             Strikes Back seems to portray Hin-
again on the earth to reap the re-             are  illumined.    To  the  Bhagavad-       duism  in  the  fullest  sense."    He
ward  of  his  previous  acts.    This         Gita  must  also  be  added  another        finds evidence of Hinduism in the
wheel  of  life  explains  the  variety        book:  The four collections of the          concept of life being an illusion, the
of  personalities,  the  gap  between          holy Vedas and the Upanishads.  The         desire  of  identification  with  the
rich and poor, good and bad, wise              Vedas  are  full  of  knowledge  and        Force,  and  religious  cremation.
and foolish.  It produces a solution           advice concerning creation and the          Similar  concepts  are  increasingly
to  the  question  why  some  die              life of man--following the form of           being found in children's cartoons
young  and  why  others  live  to  be          the  Psalms  and  Proverbs  some-           and  video  games,  as  well  as
old.  All of this is due to the fact           what.  The Upanishads are mystical          through  the  filth  portrayed  on
that they were either good or bad              writings  consisting  of  108  poems        MTV. 4
in  their  previous  life.    It  is  their    which  search  for  meaning  in  life
karma.                                         and  the  universe and explain the          Bringing the Gospel to the Hindu
    Reincarnation  prepares  the               great ideas of identification, karma,           Once  we  have  established  an
Hindu for eventual union with god              and reincarnation.                          open communication with a Hindu,
in a state of immortal bliss.  This                The  Hindu  is  on  the  road  to       we must talk about the promise of
union  is  the  aim  and  purpose  of          hell.    He  denies  that  salvation  is    forgiveness  of  sins  through  Jesus
life, and through birth after birth            through the name of Jesus Christ,           Christ.  The Hindu religion has no
man is given the chance to merge               and his religion is self-seeking and        concept of forgiveness.  Evil deeds
eventually  into  the  soul  of  god.          meritorious and does not honor Je-          simply  accumulate  and  add  to
The soul of man always exists and              hovah as God alone.                         one's negative karma, thus making
will always be present in the world                                                        the prospect of escape to a higher
until it is merged with god who is             Hinduism in America                         life  hopeless.    The  elect  child  of
the soul of souls.3                                Acupuncture, vegetarian diets,          God in the bondage of Hinduism
                                               and  alternative  healing  attempts         will be troubled by this lack of for-
In General                                     are  not  as  innocent  as  they  may       giveness  and  the  hopeless  nature
    The Hindu believes that god is             seem. Thousands of Hindus from              of the religion.  There is no hope
one, but at the same time he con-              India  and  other  Hindu  countries         of salvation or comfort to be found
fesses  that  there  are  many  gods.          have emigrated to America bring-            in  an  inherently  meritorious  reli-
All gods are representations of the            ing many concepts of their religion         gion such as Hinduism.  The joy of
one true god.  The one true god is             with  them.    Hinduism  is  rapidly        the gospel is that Jesus Christ re-
Brahma, who has the power to cre-              influencing our culture, as is evi-         moves the burden of our sin and
ate.  Representatives of Brahma in-            dent in many different ways, some           guilt.  We do not need to pay our
clude  Krishna,  the  god  with  the           conscious and  some  more  uncon-           debt,  and  that  debt  is  not  trans-
power of preservation;  Shiva, the             sciously.                                   ferred to our next life.  Forgiveness,
god of destruction; Indra, the god                 Many  Americans  view  yoga             rest,  peace,  and  joy  are  found  in
of the firmament; Varuna, the all-             simply  as  a  discipline  which            Jesus Christ alone.
seeing god; Agni, the god of fire;             strengthens the body and provides
Soma,  the  personification  of  the           relaxation to the mind.  Businesses
juice of the soma plant.  There are            are employing these techniques in               3 Along with the  Compact Guide to
gods and goddesses galore.   Cer-              an attempt to reduce their medical          World Religions, another helpful source
tain  animals  are  seen  to  be  sym-         insurance  costs  and  improve  the         for  understanding  Hinduism  is:
bols  of  various  gods.    The  god           health of their employees.  In the          Eerdman's Handbook to the World's Reli-
Krishna, for example,  is worshiped            context  of  Hinduism,  yoga  and           gions,  (Eerdmans: Grand Rapids, 1993).
through the cow.  Feeding a cow is             meditation are the means by which               4 The article, "Star Wars and Hin-
an act of worship, as is the use even          a person strives for salvation.  Sal-       duism,"  was  published  in  the  HSC
of the cow's urine in various puri-            vation is achieved when the dual-           newsletter  and  is  posted  on  the
fication rites.  Although some Hin-            ism of self and Brahma is overcome          internet.

                                                                                                 January 1, 1998/Standard Bearer/165


    The fact that God is a personal           with Jehovah which is made pos-              sidering  the  truths  of  the  gospel.
God is also of highest importance.            sible by Jesus Christ.                       Christianity  is  often  associated
Sin hurts God!  Sin is a violation of             We must be aware of the fact             with materialism and the exploit-
God's holiness and righteousness.             that Hinduism is a very diverse re-          ing of others.  Regardless of all of
Brahma is impersonal.  Sin merely             ligion.  As is always the case, it is        these barriers, we rejoice in the sov-
increases  one's  bad  karma,  it has         more  important  to  listen  than  to        ereign power of God.  God knows
no  direct  effect  on  Brahma.    To         speak when first trying to under-            the heart, and therefore will either
"know"  Brahma  is  to  lose  your            stand a Hindu.  It is very difficult         harden  or  soften  the  individual.
identity as a distinct and separate           to reach Hindus because of the fact          God  is  able  to  break  down  these
individual.  To know God is to en-            that the religion is so closely tied         barriers  and  cause  His  elect  chil-
ter  into  fellowship  with  Him  as          to their culture.  Cultural pride and        dren to see true comfort and joy.
separate  individual  beings.    The          sensitivity  to  the  impact  on  their      We  witness  with  the  confidence
Hindu  religion  lacks  the  heart  of        family  will  keep  many  from  con-         that  God  will  use  our  humble
true religion:  Covenant fellowship                                                        means to accomplish His will.  u

  Book Reviews

                                              the  "strikingly  beautiful"  von            propounds erroneous doctrine.  In
                                              Kirschbaum.                                  five chapters, von Kirschbaum sets
                                                  Such was the open intimacy be-           forth the significance and place of
The  Question  of  Woman:    The  Col-        tween Barth and his assistant that           a woman in the church in the light
lected  Writings  of  Charlotte  von          officials  of  the  World  Council  of       of  Scripture.    Chapter  one  exam-
Kirschbaum.  Tr. John Shepherd.  Ed.          Churches were offended by Barth's            ines the woman's place in marriage
and with an Introduction by Eleanor           living  arrangements  with  von              in light especially of Ephesians 5.
Jackson.    Grand  Rapids,  MI/Cam-           Kirschbaum at the meeting of the             Chapter two discusses Christ's re-
bridge,  U.K.:    Eerdmans,  1996.    x  +
                                              WCC in Amsterdam in 1948.                    demption of the woman with spe-
202  pages.    $16  (paper).    [Reviewed
by the editor.]                                   There  are  two  astounding  as-         cific  application  to  marriage,  al-
                                              pects  to  the  open,  illicit  relation-    though  single  life  is  also  consid-
                                              ship between the renowned theo-              ered.  Chapter three deals with the
                                              logian and his co-worker.  The first         issue of the ordination of women
Those  who  read  Eberhard
    Busch's  biography  of  Karl
                                              is that Barth's wife tolerated the re-       as preachers.  Chapter four inves-
Barth,  Karl Barth:  His Life from
                                              lationship to the point that she was         tigates the biblical teaching about
Letters  and  Autobiographical
                                              willing to share Barth's arms with           Mary,  the  mother  of  Jesus.    The
Texts, had to wonder about the re-
                                              von Kirschbaum on the occasion of            excursus  attached  to  this  chapter
lationship  between  Barth  and  his
                                              a public ceremony honoring Barth             is a comprehensive description of
assistant  and  secretary,  Charlotte
                                              on his seventieth birthday and that          the  Roman  Catholic  dogmas  of
von  Kirschbaum.    The  young
                                              she  had  von  Kirschbaum  buried            Mary.  Chapter five is mainly a cri-
woman  moved  into  the  Barth
                                              with herself in the Barth grave as           tique  of  the  existentialist  thought
home,  spent  the  summer  months
                                              Barth desired.                               on woman of Simone de Beauvoir
alone with Barth in a chalet in the
                                                  The second is the silence of the         in her book,  The Second Sex.  An
countryside, and was his sole trav-
                                              neo-orthodox  and  evangelical               appendix returns to the issue of the
eling companion on various lecture
                                              scholars who are disciples of Barth.         ordination of women to the preach-
tours.    Busch  acknowledged  that
                                              Why does none speak out in con-              ing office in the church.
the relationship between Barth and
                                              demnation  of  career-long,  unre-               von  Kirschbaum  argues  that
von  Kirschbaum  brought  "un-
                                              pented adultery?  Does theological           gifted women should be permitted
speakably deep suffering" into the
                                              fame blot out gross violation of the         to  be  preachers  and  rulers in  the
Barth home, estranged some of his
                                              seventh commandment?  A church               church.  Basic to this position is her
children, and inflicted shame and
                                              that  exercised  the  discipline  re-        rejection of "any concept of office"
grief on Barth's hardworking, faith-
                                              quired  by  Christ  would  have  de-         in the New Testament.  As for the
ful wife, Nelly.
                                              posed Barth from office and excom-           opposition  to  women's  teaching
    In the long introduction to this
                                              municated  him,  and  von  Kirsch-           and ruling in I Timothy 2, this is
collection  of  von  Kirschbaum's
                                              baum, from the kingdom of heaven             explained away as a reaction to "a
writings,  the  editor,  who  is  sym-
                                              on the ground of gross public sin.           particular  tendency  toward  arro-
pathetic  to  von  Kirschbaum  and
                                                  If the first section of The Ques-        gance on the part of the women at
her  relationship  to  Barth,  admits
                                              tion of Woman is a testimony to a            Ephesus."    Opponents  of  women
that there was a "romantic involve-
                                              scandalous life, the second section          preachers are dismissed as  guilty
ment"  of  the  married  Barth  with

166/Standard Bearer/January 1, 1998


of "a legalistic use of isolated pas-        means  the  most  radical  of  femi-        good, even profound, things to say
sages"  and  of  "all  too  human            nists.  Indeed, she shames present          about the marriage of a man and a
`prejudices.'"                               feminists  in  the  Reformed                woman.   Barth too has a  moving
        This is not to suggest that there    churches.    She  readily  recognizes       description  of  marriage  in  the
is  nothing  worthwhile  in  von             that headship in Ephesians 5 is "a          Church Dogmatics.
Kirschbaum's  treatment  of  the             position  of  superiority"  to  which           This  strikes  an  orthodox  Re-
"question of woman."  As her col-            "governing" belongs.  She also ac-          formed  Christian  as  exceedingly
laboration with Barth indicates, she         knowledges that the submission of           odd, in view of their own continu-
was  an  able  theologian.    Her  de-       Ephesians 5 is due, not to sin but          ing subversion of Barth's marriage
scription  of  the  Roman  Catholic          to God's ordering of creation.              in life and deed.
doctrine of Mary is helpful, and her             Marriage,  she  contends  con-              No doubt, a neo-orthodox the-
analysis of this heresy is penetrat-         vincingly,  is  a  "bond"  that  in  its    ology  of  paradox  results  in  an
ing.                                         essence  is  "indestructible  and           equally  paradoxical  "Christian"
        von  Kirschbaum  is  by  no          therefore  indissoluble."    She  has       life.   u

  News From Our Churches                                                                       Mr. Benjamin Wigger


                                             turned  from Singapore, where he            for two weeks to the Philippines.
                                             had been busy for a month assist-               We also note, in passing, that
                                             ing Rev. Kortering with the Bible           the  same  responsibilities  fell  to
Mission Activities                           School  that  the  ERCS  has  estab-        Seminarian Nathan Brummel, who
                                             lished.  However, the professor did         spent the last few months in Hope
Rev. A. Brummel, pastor of the
        Edgerton, MN PRC, left for the       not get much time to relax, since           PRC  in  Redlands,  CA  on  part  of
Philippines Tuesday morning, De-             he and his wife were anticipating           his internship.
cember  2.    He  was  scheduled  to         leaving on December 11 for a visit              The Men's and Ladies' Societ-
meet Rev. A. denHartog, pastor of            to Northern Ireland to assist Rev.          ies  of  Edgerton  PRC  met  on  De-
the Hope PRC in Redlands, CA, in             Ron Hanko, especially in the work           cember  8  for  their annual  Christ-
Osaka, Japan.  Together from there,          in Wales.  God willing, Prof. Hanko         mas social.  Candidate Kleyn was
the Lord willing, they planned to            will travel first to South Wales and        scheduled to give a presentation on
travel to and visit two locations on         spend a long weekend there.  Then,          the  Evangelical  Presbyterian
the island of Mindanao, then pro-            after  the  Christmas  holidays,  he        Churches of Australia, and also in-
ceed to the island of Luzon for a            planned to travel to North Wales            form  the  society  members  about
conference on Calvinism in the city          and  spend  some  time  there.              our mission work in Northern Ire-
of Daet, and conclude with meet-             Among  other  things,  he  will  be         land and Wales.
ing contacts in Manila.  They will           speaking  and  preaching  about  15             The  consistory  of  the  Trinity
have a busy schedule of speaking             times  in  the  space  of  a couple of      PRC  in  Houston,  TX  has  recom-
and  preaching  for  several  groups         weeks.  Between the visits to North         mended to their congregation that
of people with whom we have been             and  South  Wales,  Prof.  and  Mrs.        they disband by the end of 1998 if
in  contact  for  quite  some  time.         Hanko hoped to spend some time              there is no significant growth in the
They  will  be  giving  lectures  and        in  Northern  Ireland  to  visit  with      congregation.  With sadness, but in
preaching in four locations, follow-         his son, his wife, and their family,        the  confidence  that  this  is  the
ing up on the visit of the Korterings        and  also  to  meet  with  the              Lord's will and is for the spiritual
earlier in 1997.  The men expect to          consistory of the Covenant PRC in           welfare  of  their  members,  the
return home  on Monday, Decem-               Northern Ireland and to preach for          consistory adopted this recommen-
ber 15.  This visit is on behalf of          the congregation there.                     dation.  Grounds for this decision
our Foreign Mission Committee, as                                                        were  the  decreasing  membership
mandated by Synod 1997.                      Congregational Activities                   and the lack of potential for an on-
        Prof.  H.  Hanko,  from  our                                                     going consistory.  How can we not
churches'  seminary,  recently  re-          Candidate Daniel Kleyn and his
                                                  wife Sharon were expected to           remember  these  members  in  our
                                             arrive  on  November  29  in                prayers as they look for God's lead-
                                             Edgerton,  MN.    Plans  called  for        ing in the coming months?
                                             him  to  fill  the  pulpit,  teach  cat-        At  a  November  11  congrega-
                                             echism,  and  lead  societies  in  our      tional meeting, the members of our
Mr. Wigger is an elder in the Protes-        PR congregation there, while their          Edgerton, MN PRC made decisions
tant Reformed  Church  of  Hudson-           pastor, Rev. A. Brummel, was gone           regarding money left to them in the
ville, Michigan.

                                                                                               January 1, 1998/Standard Bearer/167

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


estate of one of their late members.                 Minister Activities                                           Manor in Grand Rapids, MI.  We
A five-year financial proposal was                                                                                 remember him and all our emeriti
approved,  with  approximately                       Afew  weeks  ago,  emeritus
                                                               minister Rev. George Lubbers                        ministers in our prayers.
$102,000 being put in one fund and                   suffered another heart attack, and                                 Rev.  A.  denHartog  has  de-
$50,000  in  another.    The  smaller                a  bacterial infection  in  his  blood.                       clined the call he received from the
fund  will  pay  monthly  checks  to                 Presently  he  continues  to  make                            South Holland, IL PRC.
the church and will be paid out in                   good  progress  toward  recovery.
five years.  This will take the place                His  infection  has  cleared  up  and                         Food for Thought
of  their  subsidy  and  provide  the                he has even taken a few steps again                           "No one can possibly go forward
ability to give to other valid causes.               with  the  aid  of  a  walker.    It  is                      in the strength of the Lord until he
The larger will remain untouched                     hoped that, by the time you read                              has  first  learned  to  stand  still  in
until needs arise.                                   this, he will have moved to the as-                           his own helplessness."   u
                                                     sisted  living  section  of  Raybrook

                                                              ANNOUNCEMENTS

                                                                                                                         RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
      RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                  RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                    The  Adult  Bible  Society  of  Southwest
                                                              The Men's and Ladies' Society of First               PRC extends its heartfelt Christian sympathy
     The  council  and  congregation  of             PRC of Holland, MI express Christian sympa-                   to members Dirk and Beth Westra and family
Grandville  Protestant  Reformed  Church  ex-        thy to Henry VanderKolk in the death of his                   in the loss of her father,
press their Christian sympathy to Mr. James
VanderKolk  and  family  in  the  death  of  his     wife,                                                                        ALLEN FABER.
mother,                                                         LORRAINE VANDER KOLK.                                   May  they  find  comfort  in  these  words,
    MRS. LORRAINE VANDER KOLK.                                May  he  find  comfort  in  the  words  of           "And we know that all things work together for
                                                                                                                   good to them that love God" (Romans 8:28).
     May they find comfort in these words from       Philippians 1:21, "For to me to live is Christ,
                                                     and to die is gain."                                                                Rev. R. Cammenga, Pres.
Isaiah 54:10, "For the mountains shall depart,                          Cornelius Doezema, President                                              Jill Kamps, Sec'y.
and  the  hills  be  removed;  but  my  kindness
shall not depart form thee, neither shall the                                Nancy Bosman, Secretary
                                                                                                                                      SB INDEX
covenant of my peace be removed, saith the                                                                              A 600-page, 2-volume, subject/title/textual
Lord that hath mercy on thee."                                                                                     index to the 73 existing bound-volumes of the
                Rev. Audred Spriensma, Pres.                                                                       SB is almost ready for printing.  Per-copy costs
                    Cornelius R. Jonker, Clerk                WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                                  for a project like this are in the nature of the
                                                              On January 8, 1998,                                  case high.  (We do not expect our $49.00 price
                                                      MR. and MRS. FRED HUIZINGA                                   to cover all of our costs.)  But the index will
      RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                         will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary.                be a valuable tool for individuals, churches,
     The  consistory  and  congregation  of                   We thank our heavenly Father for them:               and schools which have a good number of the
Southeast PRC express their deepest sympa-           and for His love, care, and instruction given to              bound volumes in their library.  We plan to
thy to Mrs. Nell Phillips in the death of her        us through them.                                              print no more indexes than are needed to fill
sister,                                                       We pray that God will continue to bless              orders received by the end of February.  So,
              ANN VELDMAN.                           them and keep them in His care.  "For the                     don't miss out--write or call the business of-
                                                     Lord is good, his mercy is everlasting, and his
     May she find comfort in God's Word, "Be-                                                                      fice today.
                                                     truth  endureth  to  all  generations"  (Psalm                     Incidentally, we do have a limited num-
hold, I shew you a mystery:  We shall not all        100:5).                                                       ber of bound-volumes from 31 to 73.  For de-
sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a mo-                                                                       tails, enquire of the business office.
ment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last        c        Rick and Terri Huizinga
trump:  for the trumpet shall sound, and the         c        Jack and Melissa Huizinga
                                                                                                                                      REMINDER
dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall     c        Dan and Carol Huizinga
                                                                                                                        Don't forget the deadline for orders for
be changed" (I Corinthians 15:51, 52).               c        Doc and Jan Kuiper
                                                                                                                   the RFPA reprint  (Believers and Their Seed)
                   Rev. Dale Kuiper, President       c        Larry and Ruth Burgess
                                                                                                                   advertised by insert in the November 15 issue
                                  Tim Pipe, Clerk               22 grandchildren
                                                                                                                   of the  SB.  In order to take advantage of the
                                                                                         Grand Rapids, Michigan    introductory price, the card must be returned
                                                                                                                   by January 31.

168/Standard Bearer/January 1, 1998


