A Reformed
Semi-Monthly
Magazine


                                                                                 In This Issue:
                             Meditation - Rev. Cornelius Hanko
                                  The Trial of Abraham's Faith . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
                             Editorial - Prof. David  J. Engelsma
                                  A Defense of the Gospel of Grace against ECT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
                             Marking Zion's Bulwarks  - Prof. Herman C. Hanko
                                  Apollinaris and the Doctrine of Christ (2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
                             Search the Scriptures  - Rev. Mitchell C. Dick
                                  Peter, I, & the Eye of God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
                             Church and State - Mr. James Lanting
                                  Recent Developments in Church and State Law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
                             That They May Teach Them to Their Children - Prof. Russell Dykstra
                                  The Great Value of Reformed,
                                       Christian Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204
                             Contribution  - Martin  Swat?
                                  The Relation of the Deacons to the Consistory (3) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
                             A Word Fitly Spoken - Rev. Dale H. Kuiper
                                  Fullness (Fill) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .209
                             Contending for the Faith - Rev. Bernard J. Woudenberg
                                  "Neither a Supralapsarian nor an Infralapsarian" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
                             In His Fear - Rev. Daniel Kleyn
                                  The Difficult Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
                             News From Our Churches - Mr. Benjamin Wigger  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215



V W . I f ) ,   N U .   Y
February 1, i999


              The Trial of Abraham's Faith

                                                By faith Abraham, when he was tried,  offered  up Isaac: and he that had
                                                received the promises offered up his only begotten son,  of  whom it was
                                                said, That in  Isaac shall thy seed be called: accounting that God was
                                                able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received
                                                him in a figure.
                                                                                                                                      Hebrews  11:17-19

                                                                         Canaan to another. He waited                                      and His people, his tactics are cun-
I                                                                        long, even until all hope had van-                                ning and deceitful, and his purpose
         wonder if anyone was ever                                       ished, for the birth of a son, the                                is to cause us to fall into sin and
       tried to the extent that God                                      promised seed that would inherit                                  bring God's judgment on us.
      tried              his           friend-servant                    this land and out of whom the Sav-                                          Because of our sinful nature, tri-
Abraham.                 This patriarch was a                            ior would be born. But never had                                  als readily become for us severe
man of faith. God richly endowed                                         he been subjected to a trial like this                             temptations. And on occasion we
him with the gift of faith and the                                       one, when his son Isaac was a lad,                                fall, even deeply. It is only by the
necessary grace to walk in faith be-                                     possibly in his late teens.                                        grace of God that we can resist
fore His face. Scripture refers to                                              Genesis 22 says that "God did                               temptation.                 For that reason we
Him as "the friend of God." He                                           tempt Abraham." Trials and temp-                                  pray, as our Lord teaches us: "Lead
had experienced various trials ear-                                      tations are closely related; in fact,                             us not into temptation, but deliver
lier in his life. God had called him                                     the same word is employed for                                      us from evil."
out of Ur of the Chaldees to go to                                       both in Scripture. God never                                                In this particular instance God
a land that God would show him.                                          tempts in the evil sense of the                                    tries  -Abraham by demanding of
He was a stranger in the land of                                         word, but He does try His people.                                  him that he sacrifice his son Isaac.
Canaan, moving from one part of                                          When God tries us He is motivated                                  God tells Abraham that He is well
                                                                         by love, He does so in an open and                                 aware of the fact that he loves Isaac.
                                                                         sincere manner, often even warn-                                   Abraham even had a special rea-
                                                                         ing us, and His purpose is to seek                                 son to love this son. It was, after
                                                                         our welfare, that is, to strengthen                                all, his son, his only son  (Ishmael
Rev. Hanko is a minister emeritus in the                                 our faith. It is Satan who tempts.                                 had been sent away), a son of his
Protestant Reformed Churches.                                            His motive is hatred against God                                   old age. Besides he was the child



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194fitandard  Bearer/February 1,1999


6f the promise. God had promised        son, Isaac. He would not question         of the mountain while he and the
Abraham: "I will establish my cov-      God's right to demand this, for the       lad go up and worship, and come
enant between me and thee and thy       earth and its fullness belong to the      again to them.
seed after thee in their generations    Lord. Isaac also belongs to the               Little does Abraham realize
for an everlasting covenant, to be      Lord.    Abraham is also deeply           that he must go to mount Moriah
a God unto thee, and to thy seed        aware that he is a sinner who adds        because it would be near here that
after thee" (Gen.  17:7). God had       daily to his guilt by his sins, and       God Himself will offer up His own
even added: "In Isaac shall thy         therefore deserves divine wrath           Only Begotten, the Son He so
seed be called" (Gen.  21:12). Out      and punishment. Who is he to say          dearly loves, as a sacrifice and
of Isaac the promised Savior would      that God is unjust in His demand          atonement for the sins of all His
be born, so that all Abraham's hope     that Isaac be taken from him?             people.
of salvation centered in Isaac.             But never in all the past his-            Silently Abraham and the lad
    Yet God had said: Offer unto        tory had God ever demanded a hu-          climb the mountain together. Then
Me thy son, thine only son, Isaac,      man sacrifice. In fact, in later years    suddenly Isaac breaks the silence
whom thou  lovest.  Had God sud-        God showed that a human sacri-            by asking the all-important ques-
denly taken him by death, that          fice was an abomination to Him.           tion: "My father, behold, here is
would have been extremely pain-         Yet there is no doubt in Abraham's        the fire and the wood: but where
ful for Abraham. Or if he could         mind that God demands that he             is the lamb for the burnt offering?"
have acted on the spur of the mo-       must completely surrender Isaac           To which his father responds: "My
ment without giving much thought        unto the Lord.                            son, God will provide himself a
to all that it implied, that also           God has reminded Abraham              lamb for a burnt offering." This is
would have been extremely diffi-        that He is well aware of the fact         as much as to say, whatever lamb
cult. But God demanded that he          that Abraham loves his son and            the Lord may choose is the one that
make a three-day journey. He            that it is hard to surrender him to       shall be our sacrifice.
must take Isaac with him, and go        the Lord. God is aware that it is             We are not told what passed
to the land of Moriah, where God        especially hard to kill him with his      between father and son when they
would designate the mountain            own hand. Still worse, it is heart-       stood there together before the al-
upon which the offering was to be       rending to lay him on the altar as        tar on which the sacrifice would be
brought.                                a sacrifice, and then, as a corpse        brought. It is sufficient for us to
    We notice that Abraham does         smolders and burns, to bow down           know that when the altar was pre-
not hesitate to obey God's demand,      in worship, praise, and adoration.        pared and the wood was laid upon
be it with anguish in his soul. He      Yet God has spoken, and His ser-          it, Isaac was bound and laid upon
starts out early in the morning,        vant has but to obey.                     it, and Abraham was ready to make
takes Isaac and his two servants            Even more is involved. If             the greatest sacrifice he could pos-
with him, and also the wood and         Isaac, the child of the promise, dies,    sibly make.
fire for the burnt offering.            how can God's promise of salva-               According to the account in
    God has given him three days        tion through the coming Savior            Hebrews 11 Abraham does actually
to consider all that is implied in      ever be realized? God Himself had         offer up the son he loved. In his
fulfilling His demand. As he trav-      said that the covenant promise of         mind he is fully prepared to make
els day by day he turns the whole       a Seed centered in Isaac. All sal-        his son an offering to God. Noth-
matter over in his mind, and at         vation in time and eternity rested        ing remains but to carry out the
night he lies awake under the stars,    upon God's promise in Isaac.              deed. He stretches forth his hand
pondering all the implications in-          There is but one solution to the      and is about to plunge the knife
volved in obeying God's demand.         entire problem. His son must die.         into the heart of Isaac, light the fire,
    A sacrifice was not strange to      Abraham must obey God in offer-           and bow in worship before the
God's servant. He had built an al-      ing him as a sacrifice to the Lord.       Most High, his sovereign God.
tar wherever he dwelled. On that        He must surrender him willingly,              It was at that very last moment
altar he offered a lamb or some         in humble worship before his God.         that the Angel of Jehovah, the Old
clean animal as a sacrifice to God.     But God's  promises cannot fail!  God     Testament manifestation of the
It was a reminder of the coming of      can and will raise Isaac, the son of      Christ, intervenes. It is enough!
the Savior, in whose atoning blood      his love, even from the dead!             The voice from heaven assures
was the forgiveness of all his sins,        Truly by the grace of God faith       Abraham that this was sufficient
so that at the altar he could bow in    has triumphed!                            evidence that he did not withhold
worship, adoration, and thanksgiv-          Finally Abraham and Isaac,            his son from God.
ing before his God.                     along with the servants, reach the            We cannot help but pause to
    But now God requires of him         land of Moriah. Abraham instructs         consider that Christ Himself inter-
that he offer up his son, his only      his servants to remain at the foot        venes at this moment. He is God's

                                                                                       February 1,1999/Standard  Bearer/795


assurance to His servant that from                     whom there is no substitute, no                            pointed place where the temple
all eternity He has prepared His                       ram caught in the thicket. He sees                         would stand, the same area where
Son as the substitute, the perfect                     that God, as it were, plunges the                          God would offer up the only be-
sacrifice for Abraham's sins, for                      knife into the heart of His only be-                       gotten Son of His love, and the Son
Isaac's sins, and for the sins of all                  gotten as He commits Him to tor-                           would surrender Himself as a will-
His people. The Lord even gives a                      ments of hell in His holy justice.                         ing sacrifice for the sins of His
visible evidence of that by causing                         Here already in prophecy God                          people. "God was in Christ, rec-
at that very moment a ram to be                        reveals that, even as Isaac was re-                        onciling the world unto Himself,
caught by its horns in the thicket.                    ceived from the dead in a figure,                          not imputing their trespasses unto
Abraham need but release the ram                       so God would raise His Son from                            them."
and bring that as a sacrifice to God                   the dead as the firstfruit of all those                       It is Christ who declares of
in humble worship and adoration.                       who die in the Lord. Christ is the                         Himself in prophecy:
    Isaac is spared. In fact, as He-                   resurrection and the life. He that
brews assures us, it was for                           believeth in Him, though he were                              The  offering on the altar burned
Abraham as if God had raised him                       dead, yet shall he live.                                         Gives no delight to Thee;
from the dead, "from whence also                            Quite fittingly Abraham calls                            The hearing ear, the willing
he received him in a figure."                          this place Jehovah-jireh, that is,                                   heart,
    Abraham was given a glimpse                        "God foresees," or, as interpreted                               Thou gavest unto Me.
into the future, when God Himself                      at that time, "In the mount of the                             Then, 0 my God, I come, I come,
will set up the altar of the cross to                  Lord it shall be seen." From the                                 Thy  purpose to fulfill;
give the only begotten Son of His                      dawn of history this was the ap-                               Thy law is written in My heart,
love as a ransom for our sins. For                                                                                      `Tis joy  to do Thy will.    Cl





            A Defense of the Gospel of Grace
                                                        against EC1

                                                            ECT is a fellowship of promi-                         Christ, which, according to ECT, is
T                                                      nent Roman Catholics and evan-                             badly divided. ECT is definitely
       he editorial in the previous                    gelical Protestants including Rich-                        an ecumenical movement.                  The
       issue of the Standard Bearer                    ard John Neuhaus and Avery                                 spokesmen for ECT speak of
       (Jan. 15, 1999, "ECT in the                     Dulles among the Roman Catholics                           "ecumenicity in the trenches." By
Pitiless Light of the 1998 Bull on                     and James I. Packer and Charles                            this they refer to the uniting of the
Indulgences") showed that the re-                      Colson among the evangelicals.                             churches, not by the official con-
cent papal bull on indulgences ex-                          The purpose of this union of                          sultations of the rulers in the
poses ECT as evangelical capitula-                     Roman Catholics and evangelicals                           churches but by the people  them-
tion to Rome, sellout of the Refor-                    is threefold. First, they intend to                        selves. The evangelicals defend
mation, and apostasy to the false                      fight the culture war in North                             ECT by calling attention to the fact
church.                                                America together. ECT speaks of                            that members of evangelical
    T h e   i n f l u e n t i a l   m o v e m e n t    " c o - b e l l i g e r e n c y "   i n   t h e   w a r    churches are already involved in
known as  Evangelicals  and Catho-                     against abortion, sexual license and                       such "grass-roots" ecumenicity by
lics Together, or ECT, is a threat to                  perversity, and assisted suicide.                          their participation in Promise
the gospel of grace proclaimed in                           Second, they plan to cooper-                          Keepers and the Billy Graham Cru-
Holy Scripture and recovered by                        ate in the evangelizing of the lost.                       sades. ECT is building on such
the Reformation of the sixteenth                            Third, they want to manifest                          ecumenical activities on the part of
century.                                               the oneness of the church of Jesus                         the people.

196/Standard  Bearer/February  I,1999


Oneness in the Gospel                                    The threat of ECT calls for a                        207).
    The threat to the gospel of                      vigorous defense of the gospel of
grace is that ECT roots the fellow-                  grace by those-who have received                               Apostolic Scripture makes jus-
ship and cooperation of  evan-                       the love of the truth.                                 tification central to the gospel of
gelicals and Roman Catholics in                                                                             God. No one can deny that the
their oneness in the faith.                          The Centrality of Justification                        epistle to the Romans is the full
    The document in which ECT                            Even though the entire gospel                      presentation of the gospel in the
gave expression to its purpose, and                  is at stake in ECT, it is fitting that                 compass of one book. At the heart
burst onto the ecclesiastical scene,                 justification is on the foreground.                    of this presentation of the gospel
is called, "Evangelicals  & Catholics                It is on the foreground. The fram-                     is the theme expressed in  1:17:
Together: The Christian Mission                      ers of the ECT-document deliber-                       "therein is the righteousness of
in the Third Millennium." This                       ately made justification prominent.                    God revealed from faith to faith:
was published on March 29, 1994.                     Subsequent debate has focused on                       as it is written, the just shall live
The document states that the co-                     justification. The reason, of course,                  by faith." This theme-the very
operation of evangelicals and Ro-                    is that justification was the main                     heart of the gospel-the apostle
man Catholics is grounded in a                       gospel-truth that was proclaimed                       then develops in the rest of the let-
oneness in the faith, or gospel, of                  by the Reformation. It then occa-                      ter.
Jesus Christ: "The mission that we                   sioned the excommunication of the                              O r ,   c o n s i d e r   t h e   b o o k   o f
embrace together is the necessary                    Protestants by the Roman Catholic                      Galatians. That the apostle is con-
consequence of the faith that we af-                 Church. This truth has separated                       cerned to defend the one, true gos-
firm together." A little later, the                  Rome and Protestantism ever since.                     pel, he makes plain in  1:6ff. He
document states: "Evangelicals                           The allegation that the central-                   marvels that the Galatians are so
and Catholics are brothers and sis-                  ity of justification is merely a theo-                 soon removed from the grace of
ters in Christ."                                     logical quirk of Luther, Calvin, and                   Christ to "another gospel" (v. 6).
    A f f i r m a t i o n   b y   E C T   t h a t    the other Reformers is absurd. Ri-                     He warns that some "would per-
evangelicals and Roman Catholics                     chard John Neuhaus, who as an                          vert the gospel of Christ" (v. 7). He
are one in the faith compromises                     apostate Lutheran theologian                           curses all who "preach any other
the Reformation's biblical confes-                   knows better, tries this tactic in his                 gospel" (vv. 8, 9). He reminds the
sion of the "gospel of the glory and                 defense of ECT.                                        Galatians and us that he received
grace of God," as Luther described                                                                          the gospel that he preached from
the gospel in the  62*d of his 95 the-                 The arguments surrounding the                        Jesus Christ Himself (v. 12).
ses, Particularly, this affirmation                    sola  fide  (faith alone-DJE) formula                        And then, on behalf of the gos-
compromises the fundamental gos-                       are the preserve of a relatively                     pel, the apostle condemns a false
pel-truth of justification by faith                    small number of professional theo-                   teaching of jtrstification  and defends
alone.                                                 logians, mainly Lutheran and Cal-
                                                       vinist, in North America and                         the truth of  justification:
    As soon as the document,                           Western Europe. This does not
"Evangelicals  & Catholics To-                         mean the arguments are wrong; it                       Knowing that a man is not justi-
gether: The Christian Mission in                       does mean that they are not, and                       fied by the works of the law, but
the Third Millennium," has af-                         cannot be, at the center of the glo-                   by the faith of Jesus Christ, even
firmed that evangelicals and Ro-                       bal proclamation of the gospel and                     we have believed in Jesus Christ,
                                                                                                              that we might be justified by the
man Catholics are one in the faith,                    the Christian mission in the third                     faith of Christ, and not by the
it makes a confession about justifi-                   millennium.                                            works of the law: for by the
cation that is supposed to prove the                                                                          works of the law shall no flesh by
doctrinal agreement of evangelicals                    Luther's motif of righteousness be-
                                                       fore God . . . has been embraced by                    justified (2:16).
and Roman Catholics. But this cru-                     many Christians as the most pow-
cially important statement surren-                     erful construal of the gospel and                            The teaching of the apostles
ders the Reformation's biblical be-                    the most faithful to Paul's under-                   that justification is central to the
lief of justification to the Roman                     standing of salvation. But to de-                    gospel is squarely based on the
Catholic heresy regarding justifica-                   clare it to be the article by which                  ministry of Jesus Christ Himself.
tion. The truth of justification is                    the Church stands or falls in a                      Justification is the forgiveness of
lost.                                                  manner that excludes other ways                      sins, and the ministry of Jesus was,
    Because justification is central                   of saying the gospel is to turn it                   fundamentally, the forgiveness of
to the entire gospel, with the loss                    into a sectarian doctrine ("The
                                                       Catholic Difference," in                             sins of penitent, believing men and
of the Reformation's biblical con-                                                             Evan-
                                                       gelicals  & Catholics Together: To-                  women.
fession of justification by faith                      w a r d   a   C o m m o n   M i s s i o n ,   ed.            He  taught  this as His ministry
alone is lost the entire gospel of                     Charles Colson and Richard John                      in the parable of the  publican  and
grace.                                                 Neuhaus, Word, 1995, pp. 204,                        Pharisee in Luke  18:9ff.

                                                                                                                     February 1,1999/Standard  Bearer/l 97


    He  practiced  this ministry when        soever  sins ye retain, they are re-          Compromise of the Refor-
He said to the woman taken in                tained" (John  20:21-23).                mation's doctrine of justification,
adultery, "Neither do I condemn                  False teaching about justifica-      therefore, of which the evangelicals
thee..." (John  8:ll).                       tion is "another gospel that is no       in ECT are guilty, is radical apos-
    And He  mandated  this minis-            gospel."                                 tasy from the gospel of grace.
try-the forgiveness of sins-upon                 Teaching the truth about justi-           In light of this, it is necessary
His church when, after His resur-            fication is the proclamation of the      that we answer the question,
rection, He breathed the Holy                gospel of God and of Christ.             "What is the biblical teaching on
Spirit upon His apostles and said,               The Spirit of Jesus Christ led       justification as faithfully confessed
"Receive ye the Holy Ghost:                  the Reformation into the biblical        by the Reformation and by the true
Whose  soever   sins- ye remit, they         truth of justification, thus clarify-    church today?"  0
are remitted unto them; and whose            ing, developing, and correcting                                                       - D J E
                                             what had been taught before in the                                   (to be continued)
                                             church.





                           Apollinaris and the
                          Doctrine of Christ (2

                                             ideas about theological problems.        lution to the problem had to be
                                                 Incidentally, that is why we         sought elsewhere; if only he had
Apollinaris the Heretic
A                                            need each other in the church. It        said: "Yes, I see that. I see that
         pollinaris was not, I think,        is why no one can ever develop           what I proposed will not do. I shall
        a heretic when first he be-          theology "by himself." We need           abandon that position and continue
        gan to propound his views.           each other because only the church       to study in the confidence that the
A heretic is one who teaches doc-            as a whole is guided by the Spirit       church will come to an understand-
trines contrary to those which have          into the truth, never one individual     ing of the truth"-if he had said
been officially established by the           person.     And so the saints are        something like that, all would have
church as the truth of Scripture.            "checks" on each other, necessary        been well.
    This may sound somewhat                  correctors, together guardians of              But such humility is a rarity
strange, but it must be remembered           the truth who keep the truth run-        even in the church. We "discover"
that it has often happened in the            ning in the channel of Scripture.        our own solution to a difficult
hard work of developing the truth                But that is by the way.              problem, and our own solution be-
that one of the church's theolo-                 Apollinaris came up with a so-       comes a kind of "sacred cow" with
gians, in struggling with a difficult        lution to the problem of our Lord's      us, so that anyone who dares to at-
theological or exegetical problem,           humanity and divinity, and the re-       tack our view is considered by us
came up with a "solution" to the             lation between them, concepts            guilty of something profane. Ev-
problem which was wrong. This                which were not yet understood by         ery attack on our view is an attack
is not surprising, for all men ins the       the church. It was a wrong solu-         on us. Such is pride. This is what
church of Christ have imperfect              tion, and the church as a whole          often happens. It happened with
understanding. And any one of the            showed him unmistakably that he          Apollinaris. Sad.
saints can come up with wrong                was wrong. They demonstrated                   So insistent on his own posi-
                                             that his views could not be sus-         tion was he that when the church
                                             tained by Scripture.                     officially condemned his views, he
                                                 It was at that point that he be-     still clung to them, left the church
Prof. Hanko is professor  of  Church His-    came a heretic. If only he had had       of which he had been a part, and
tory and New Testament in  the Protes-       the grace and humility to admit          organized several congregations of
tant Reformed Seminary.                      that he had erred, and that the so-      h i s   f o l l o w e r s   i n   t h e   a r e a   o f
1 B&Standard Bearer/February 1,lBBB


Laodicea-for every heretic can                        applying reason to the problem                         later would go precisely in those
gain a following if he tries a bit.                   without paying a great deal of at-                     directions.
         We may hope that Apollinaris                 tention to what Scripture says.                            Apollinaris was more under
repented before he died, although                          One may never do that. Apart                      the influence of Alexandria than
there is no evidence of it.                           n o w   f r o m      t h e   p r o b l e m   o f       Antioch, which is not surprising
                                                      Apollinaris, the fact is that the doc-                 when one thinks of the fact that his
The Heresy of  Apollinaris                            trine of Christ teaches us that what                   good friend Athanasius was also
         What was his heresy?                         man can never do, God does. What                       from Alexandria.
         It seems to me that the prob-                never entered the heart of man is                          Here, once again, Apollinaris
lem with Apollinaris was that he                      God's perfect wisdom. God's                            had listened too much to Greek
had spent too much time with and                      works are great; and no work is                        philosophy. He taught that man
had thought too highly of pagan                       greater than the work of Immanuel,                     was composed of three parts: a
philosophy. He was something of                       God with us. Whatever else one is                      body; a lower or animal soul,
a rationalist. That was his down-                     going to say, that had better be his                   which is the power in man of the
fall.                                                 starting point.                                        baser emotions, instincts, thoughts,
         It did not seem rational to him                   Now it is rather interesting                      and desires; and a higher soul or
that our Lord Jesus Christ could be                   (and we may just as well introduce                     spirit, which was the power in man
wholly God and wholly man at the                      the whole matter here, although it                     of  hig_her  and nobler thoughts,
same time and still be just one Lord                  played a more important role in                        more powerful and significant
J e s u s   C h r i s t .    O n e   c a n n o t ,    later controversies) that there was                    ideas, etc.
Apollinaris argued, take two                          serious division in the church over                        Without getting too technical
wholes which remain two wholes                        this question `In an earlier article                   about all this, we can say that
and make of them one whole. That                      we pointed out that there were two                     Apollinaris taught that in our Lord
is, on the surface, nonsense. One                     seminaries of importance in the                        Jesus Christ, the "Logos," spoken
cannot (the figure is mine) take a                    church: one in Antioch of Syria and                    of in John l:l-14, who is truly God,
whole orange and a whole apple                        ,the other in Alexandria of Egypt.                     took the place of the human spirit
and unite them in such a way that                     And these two did not get along                        in a man. That is, the divine Logos
one has just one piece of fruit while                 very well. They were always at                         assumed the nature of a man, but
that piece of fruit remains both an                   odds with each other, sometimes                        did so by eliminating one part of
orange and an apple. It may be an                     in unseemly ways.                                      this man, the spirit, and taking its
orange so that the apple is gone.                          In keeping with a certain spirit                  place. So the Lord Jesus Christ was
It may be an apple so that the or-                    of competition between these two                       one Savior, but with a human body
ange is  go,ne. It may even become                    seminaries, they held different  so-                   and lower soul, and a divine higher
some kind of orange-apple, a third                    lutions~to  the question of how                        soul or spirit. Thus Christ was a
kind of fruit, neither orange nor                     Christ could be both God and man                       sort of mixture of human and di-
apple but a combination of both.                      at the same time. The seminary at                      vine, not wholly human, not really
But it cannot be one piece of fruit                   Antioch tended to emphasize the                        divine.
which in every respect is an or-                      notion that this was possible only                         That notion would never do. It
ange, and in every respect is also                    because Christ was two "persons."                      is possible that already in 362 a
an apple.                                             T h e   s e m i n a r y   i n   A l e x a n d r i a    synod in Alexandria condemned
         So our Lord Jesus Christ can-                wanted to solve,the  problem by go-                    his views. But surely several syn-
not be wholly God and wholly man                      `ing in the direction of some kind                     ods emphatically rejected what he
and still be one Lord Jesus Christ.                   of merger of the two natures of                        taught: two synods in Rome in 377
He may be wholly God without be-                      Christ so that the human and the                       and 382; one synod at Antioch, and
ing a man; or He may be wholly a                      divine nature were mixed together                      later synods condemned his follow-
man without being wholly God; or                      to form a third kind of nature.                        ers. Athanasius, his friend, Gre-
He may be some kind of God-man                             What I write here is quite a                      gory of Nazianzus, and Gregory of
- as indeed some proposed. But                        simplification of the views of these                   Nyssa (both of the latter, wonder-
to be both God and man at the                         two schools, because no one under-                     ful theologians in the early church)
same time and remain both is im-                      stood very clearly what such terms                     wrote against him. Yet, though he
possible.                                             as "person" and "nature" really                        was so often condemned, these
         So reasoned Apollinaris.                     meant; and it was quite necessary                      synods did not once mention him
         Now that is a rationalistic ap-              to understand these terms to come                      by name, nor did those who wrote
proach to the question. It is not an                  to an understanding of the truth.                      against his views. He somehow re-
attempt to solve the problem by                       But the fact is that these two semi-                   tained the respect of those who op-
studying the Scriptures. It is an                     naries tended to go in the direc-                      posed him even though he clung
attempt to solve the problem by                       tion which I described; and, in fact,                  tenaciously to his errors.

                                                                                                                  Februaty  1,7999/Standard  Beimr/laa


    He should have listened to               was this. Since our sins have cor-           Apollinaris died some time be-
them. But it was too much to ex-             rupted us in body, soul, and spirit,     fore 392. He is now long forgot-
pect.                                        we need to be saved in body, soul,       ten. His story is only one chapter
    One powerful argument was                and spirit. And, therefore, if Christ    in the long book of the struggle for
brought against his views, espe-             has saved us, He had to be like us       the truth. But it is an important
cially by Athanasius. It was so              in all things except our sin. He         chapter. It showed so clearly and
simple, yet so profound. It struck           too had to be a man with body,           for all to understand that our Lord
at the heart of the problem, and,            soul, and spirit. That is, He who        Jesus Christ, to save us poor sin-
more importantly, it took the prob-          was the eternal Son of God had to        ners, had to be like us in all things-
lem out of the arena of philosophi-          have a human body, and a human           except that He had no sin. Only
cal speculation and put it right             soul, and a human spirit. If that is     then could He be truly Immanuel,
where it ought to have been: in the          not true, our salvation is impos-        God with us, our Redeemer. Cl
arena of salvation. The objection            sible.




                Peter, I, & the Eye of God
                                                  (John 1 &I Zff.)

                                             ciples?"    To  this  Peter had an-      had said they would not deny and
    "I am not."                              swered "I am not." He was say-           forsake Jesus (Peter boasting the
                                             ing: I do not follow this Jesus, I do    most: Luke  22:33X  But there was
    The above are the disciple               not subscribe to His teachings, I do     no stopping the course of this sin.
Peter's words, recorded in John              not walk in the way in which He          Sin will do its denying thing.
18:17. With these words Peter did            leads others to walk.
not deny his existence. He had not               Worse yet!     Denying that he           Sin will say "I am not" of Jesus.
just staggered out of the local pub          was a disciple of Jesus was denial       "I am my own." "Jesus is not." "I
where, with his philosophy  club-            of Jesus Himself. Peter was saying       am." "I!"
pub buddies, and by syllogism and            of  Jesus: He is not!  Peter was de-
sophistry and scotch, he had come            claring that Jesus was not worth              Proud I....
to the conclusion that he was only           being a disciple of. He was assert-
a "figment of the imagination"  -            ing that no doubt there were oth-
or not even that, a "not!"                   ers more worthy to follow. Or he
    Worse. With the words "I am              was saying, I will be my own man,             "We are not." "God is not."
not" Peter was denying he was a              and follow no man, and Jesus,            "I never had sexual relations
disciple of the Lord Jesus.         After    whoever he is, had better follow         with.. . ."
the betrayal in Gethsemane, Peter            me....
and another disciple, probably                    Neither sophistry, nor scotch,           The denial has not stopped.
John, had followed from afar the             does that to a man. Sin does. Sin        Sin proceeds, apace, to deny Jesus,
band leading Jesus as He was taken           (that Denier from the beginning!)        and truth as it is only in Jesus. The
to the house or palace of the high           made Peter fulminate "I am not!"         I roves the earth. Wherever it goes
priest, Caiphas.      The damsel that        Sin compelled the heart and forked       it holds truth under in unrigh-
kept the door of the palace of the           the tongue of Peter to say, as the       teousness. Millions of kingdoms
high priest had asked, "Art not              other narratives in Matthew 26,          of denial. Millions of proud  1's.
thou also one of this man's  dis-            Mark 14, and Luke 22 attest, "I          Today.
                                             know him not," and even to swear              From the world whose Prince
                                             and curse to make his point. Jesus       is powerful to compel to deny
                                             had predicted this sin not many          comes denials, left and right, of
Rev, Dick is pastor of  Grace  Puotes-       hours before (cf. John  13:36-38,        God, and Christ, and all truth.
tant Reformed Church in Standale,            Luke  22:34). Peter and all the rest     From a worldly (not Christian  X
Michigan.

ZOO/Standard Bearer/February  I, 1999


Judaeo, or otherwise!) nation, for                    love for truth which loves to assert      is in heaven" (Matt.  10:33).
example, which even coined the                        truth, witness of Christ, give glory          But the God who cannot deny
phrase "one nation under God," we                     to the God of the gospel. There is        Himself is Love. And He has set
are hearing now that the  real  truth                 this zeal and courage in our living       His love upon us. And, though we
of certain things or relationships                    for truth which is not daunted by         deny Him, yet He in King of kings'
may be denied, even under oath.                       damsels, does not cower even be-          love will not be prevented from
Churches, as well, are continuing                     fore kings.                               loving us I's still.
to deny the Truth. We hear from                           But there we go again. Our                Behold, look at that look of
her leaders  (!> that there may be                    flesh is weak. The old man lies.          love! Behold! Don't you see?
one Jesus, but there are many                         Covenant children deny the cov-           There is Peter, having denied his
Christs. There may be one God,                        enant when they refuse to stand for       Master three times. He looks, and
but there are many ways to God.                       what is right on playgrounds, and         there is  that  look! It is the Savior's
There may be one doctrine, but it                     in the halls among friends. Young         look. "And the Lord turned, and
is unknowable, or open to many in-                    people deny the Lordship of Christ        looked upon Peter" (Luke  22:61a).
terpretations.        If there is truth               when yielding to lusts and not to         Jesus, perhaps at that moment be-
preached and lived by, it is truth                    the Lord, and when they postpone          ing-led from  Annas to Caiaphas,
ruled by lord tolerance. So the tol-                  for the sake of convenience confes-       or from Caiaphas to a prison where
erant church  (TC) is now wide                        sion of faith. Adult Christians, we       He would be held until the dawn,
open to other truths and to people                    deny our Lord by our complacent           Himself just spit upon, mocked,
of every doctrinal stripe and                         armchair Christianity. And we are         cruelly beaten, and unjustly sen-
pierced body part and life-style                      even adept at citing doctrines to         tenced by the darkness . . . perhaps
who are, despite being unbiblical                     justify our lethargy. "God is sov-        He Himself having heard Peter's
and ungodly, nevertheless  sincere.                   ereign, salvation is of grace, Chris-     cursing and swearing and denying
Homosexuals? The TC preaches                          tians have liberty!" Therefore, "I        . . . looks upon Peter! To love!
that there is a place in our arms                     am not" one of those who is so le-            Behold this eye of God! Not of
for them. Women? There are high                       galistic never to allow for some (or      contempt, not of wrath. But of love
places, even pulpits for them (Note:                  regular) opportunity for overindul-       and compassion and pity. Never a
we love them too, but  not  in high                   gence. "I am not . .." and do not         word, but a thousand words with
places!).     Romans (as in Roman                     need to be regularly at Bible Study.      that one look. An eye-sermon with
Catholics)? With them let's be                        "I am not" fervently praying for          the theme: forgiveness to proud
friends.       L e t   u s   t o g e t h e r   b e    the mission work of the church.. . .      deniers!     Sermon which broke
evangcatholicals! Let us forget silly                                                           Peter's heart, led him to go out and
squawks about our differences con-                        "I am not."                           weep bitterly and despair (finally)
cerning Mary, justification, and                                                                of self, and to sorrow the godly sor-
purgatory. Let us together get to                         "God is not." "Christ is not          row of true repentance. A look
the business of saving whales, rain                   worthy."                                  which led him to champion Christ's
forests, spotted owls, and people,                                                              cause, humbly, from then on.
and of establishing good econo-                           "I." Dirty I.. . .                        Behold this eye of love upon
mies, world peace, and the king-                                                                all His own. With that eye Jesus
dom of God. And in that order.                                                                  will look and go steadfastly to the
        And so we? We must not deny!                                                            cross, and be looking upon us, sur-
We deny Jesus. Denial of Jesus is                         God is. And God cannot and            veying all the sheep, while He lays
our sin. The denial of Peter, who                     will not deny Himself. That is why        down His life on our behalf. His
after all was  and is  Jesus' disciple,               Peter was not consumed. That is           eye, His sinner-favoring counte-
is our sin. He said "I am not" one                    why we are not consumed.                  nance is why on the cross Denial is
of Jesus' disciples. He said that in                      We might justly be. For God           denied its right to condemn, and
an extremely difficult and danger-                    knows, He sees, all the "I's," all the    its power to hold. God's eye, seen
ous moment (in the enemy camp,                        "I am nots," and all the proud,           in the eye of Christ looking upon
and he, having just drawn the                         fear-of-man, love-of-the-world, re-       us is why there is this Spirit sent
blood of one of them!). We do it                      fusing-to-stand-for-Christ natures        from heaven to liberate us from  I-
all the time. "I am not" of Jesus.                    and moments! If He were only to           tyranny, daily to lead us to repen-
"Jesus is not." "I am." "I." We                       remember wrath, and to behold             tance, and to dispense grace to
say.                                                  just our unclothed, Christ-denying        overcome our denials and denying
        True, we are in our heart of                  iniquities we would perish. For,          nature. His loving eye upon us is
hearts disciples. God has been gra-                   as Jesus says, "Whosoever shall           why we may look confidently for-
cious to put in us His truth, and                     deny me before men, him will I            ward to heaven where there will
His Spirit of truth. There is this                    also deny before my Father which          be no more denials.. . .

                                                                                                      Februafy 1, iaaa/Standard  Bearer/207


                                                        That will be profitable Bible     world? In our nation? In the
                                               study. Read. Weep. Be thankful             churches? What are situations at
    Denied Truth lately? We must               that God will not be denied in             school, work, home, church, or
admit that not another, but we are             showing the wonder of His re-              wherever which can be very tempt-
the presidents of deniers. Then be-            deeming covenant love. Be no               ing to us to deny the Christ?
hold in the Scriptures, behold by              more I. Deny yourself. Take up
faith that eye of God in Jesus                 your cross. Deny Christ not. Fol-          5. Purpose of God
Christ. Toward you. Convicting,                low Him. The joy, and goal of our              What did Jesus say was the
humbling, forgiving eye. Look of               life!                                      purpose for this trial of Peter (Luke
love.                                                                                     22:31)?
         --For Study, Meditation, &                                                           What purpose is there today
                                                                                          for our being tempted to deny our
         pi--= L-- ---K Discussion                                                        Lord?
                                                                                          6. Positively Speaking
                                                                                              We are not to deny Christ.
1. History                                     Explain what exactly it is that sin-       What does Revelation  2:10,13  teach
    a. From John and the other                 ners do when they deny Christ.             is the  opposite  of Christ-denial?
gospel accounts be able to "put to-                                                       How is  self-denial  important if we
gether" the narrative of Peter's de-           3. What sin?                               are to keep from denying Christ?
nial.                                                   What was the main sin behind
    b. Think of instances in your              Peter's denial (pride,  worldli-           7. Perspective: John  20:31
own life in which you have been                mindedness, etc.)? What is it that             In Peter's denial, in Christ's
led down the path of "denial."                 causes you, sometimes, to deny             looking upon him...what have you
How did you come out of it?                    Christ?                                    learned of the holiness of the
                                                                                          Christ? Of the love of the Christ?
2. Dictionary/Concordance                      4. Twentieth-Century Denial                How shall we all grow, as indi-
    Look up "deny" and "denial"                         What are ways Christ is and       viduals, families, and churches, in
in a dictionary, and in Scripture.             can be denied today-by others,             declaring and not denying Christ,
Think also of examples in Scripture            and by ourselves? How, for ex-             in a doing, and not a dawdling
of those who have denied the faith.            ample, is Christ being denied in the       Christianity?  0



                                Recent Developments
                           in Church and State Law

                                               renewals. One such FCC regula-             Campus in Clayton, Missouri. The
Lutheran Church  - Missouri                    tion requires license renewal appli-       AM station's format was religious
Synod Radio Station Escapes FCC                cants to satisfy equal employment          and non-commercial, while the FM
Affirmative Action Demands                     opportunity  (EEO) guidelines for-         station featured a classical music
The Federal Communications bidding discrimination because of format with a religious orientation
    Commission (FCC) regulates                 race, color, religion, national ori-       and some religious programming.
the licensure of radio stations and            gin, or sex. Moreover, stations are        Citing the stations' religious mis-
scrutinizes applications for license           specifically compelled to "adopt an        sion, the church insisted that most
                                               affirmative action EEO program             employees of the stations have
                                               targeted to minorities and women."         knowledge of essential Lutheran
                                                        The  .Lutheran  Church  - Mis-    doctrine.
Mr. Lanfing, a member                          souri Synod owns and operates an
                          of  Soufh Holland                                                   After review of the church's ra-
Profesfanf Reformed Church, is a  pracfic-     AM station and an FM station, both         dio renewal application, the FCC
ing afforney.                                  located on the Concordia Seminary          determined that the church's  hir-

ZOZ/Standard  Bearer/February  1.7999


ing practices were illegal. Admit-                       firms the right of a Christian orga-     found that "clinics purchase medi-
ting that FCC policies exempt reli-                      nization to practice hiring prefer-      cal and other supplies in interstate
gious broadcasters from the ban on                       ences for employees who embrace          commerce." Accordingly, because
religious discrimination, the FCC                        a knowledge of the organization's        abortion clinics are in these ways
nonetheless limited this exemption                       faith commitment.                        involved in "interstate commerce,"
to "employees reasonably con-                                                                     Congress has the raw legislative
nected to the espousal of religious                      Federal Appellate Court                  power to regulate such activities.
philosophy over the air." Thus the                       Affirms Convictions                              The protesters also argued that
FCC ruled that the exemption from                        of Abortion Protesters                   FACE discriminates against those
religious discrimination would not                                                                persons who are "ideologically or
apply to religious station employ-                       Several years ago Congress
                                                            adopted a new federal criminal        morally opposed to abortions."
ees such as receptionists, secretar-                     law primarily targeting abortion         The court disagreed, claiming that
ies, engineers, and business man-                        clinic protesters. The Freedom of        "pro-choice" protesters are also
agers, for whom knowledge of                             Access to Clinic Entrances Act           prosecuted for violating the stat-
Lutheran doctrine would presum-                          (FACE) provides criminal and civil       ute.
ably be "unnecessary." The FCC                           penalties for those convicted of ob-             The court also pointed out that
also found that the church had not                       structing ingress or egress to abor-     the protesters may nonetheless ex-
made sufficient efforts to recruit                       tion clinics. Eleven members of an       ercise their  3ree. speech rights by
minorities for these positions.                          anti-abortion group called the           displaying signs, distributing lit-
     The church appealed this re-                        Lambs of Christ physically block-        erature, and by "speaking conver-
markable FCC ruling to a federal                         aded all the entrances of a New          sationally anywhere or anytime
court of appeals, arguing that the                       York Planned Parenthood clinic.          they choose," activities which are
FCC imposed EEO regulations as                           They prevented access to the build-      quite different from blockading en-
a   w h o l e   i n t e r f e r e d   w i t h   t h e    ing by chaining themselves to the        trances to the clinics.
church's ability to prefer Lutherans                     doors or welding themselves to                   Finally, the convicted protest-
in hiring station employees. The                         large objects such as a car or pic-      ers argued they lacked the requi-
church also contended that the EEO                       nic table. Although they did not         site criminal intent since their sole
guidelines as applied to the reli-                       engage in any violence, they prac-       objective was "to save the lives of
gious radio station violated the Re-                     ticed "passive resistance" while be-     unborn children." The court dis-
ligious Freedom Restoration Act,                         ing removed by local law enforce-        agreed, holding that regardless of
the Free Exercise Clause, and other                      ment agencies.                           what the protesters' "ultimate pur-
constitutional guarantees.                                   The federal trial court con-         pose" may have been, they none-
     The federal court ruled in fa-                      victed all defendants of violating       theless blocked the clinic intending
vor of the Lutheran Church  - Mis-                       FACE, imposed sentences, and or-         to prevent abortions, and accord-
souri Synod, declaring unconstitu-                       dered restitution to the clinic for      ingly violated FACE.
tional the FCC's requirement that                        the property damage caused by
religiously formatted radio stations                     their activities. On appeal, the de-     U.S. Supreme Court Allows
must give preferential treatment to                      fendants argued that  l?ACE was          Wisconsin Tuition Voucher Plan
minorities in its hiring decisions as                    unconstitutional under the Com-          to Stand
opposed to hiring those persons                          merce Clause and the Free Speech         The school choices movement
with knowledge of Lutheran doc-                          Clause.                                          promoting tuition vouchers for
trine. Rejecting the FCC notion of                           Addressing the defendants'           private and parochial schools
requiring the religious station "to                      Commerce Clause argument, the            gained unprecedented momentum
make race-based hiring decisions"                        federal appellate court declared         recently when the U.S. Supreme;
while ignoring knowledge of reli-                        that Congress has the power to en-       Court refused to review Wiscon-
gious doctrine for most employees,                       act legislation "to prevent the in-      sin's controversial school voucher
the court ruled that unless the FCC                      hibition or diminution of interstate     program.           Early last summer,
had evidence that the church had                         commerce." But how are abortions         Wisconsin's top court had ruled
demonstrated actual racial prefer-                       related to "interstate commerce"?        t h a t   t h e   M i l w a u k e e   P a r e n t a l
ence in its hiring decisions, the gov-                   Reviewing the legislative history of     Choice Program  (MPCP) was con-
ernment claims of discrimination                         FACE, the court found  that- Con-        stitutional even though it made
must be dismissed.                                       gress had stated that "women             state money available to religious
      Commentators have suggested                        travel interstate to obtain reproduc-    schools, because the tuition reim-
that this is an important ruling, not                    tive health services" and that "doc-     bursement was payable to the par-
only for churches, but also for other                    tors travel state to state and often     ents, who then had the choice of
religious organizations as well.                         cover great distances to perform         selecting a public or private school.
This federal court decision reaf-                        abortions."    Moreover, the court       The controversial decision was  im-

                                                                                                           February 1,1999/Standard  Bearer/203


mediately appealed to the U.S. Su-               anyway, the Supreme Court jus-              schools and force inferior public
preme Court by voucher opponents                 tices are declining to embroil them-        schools competitively to improve
who insist that such vouchers                    selves in a growing national debate         their educational programs.
breach the constitutionally man-                 over the use of public funds by pri-            The U.S. Supreme Court's re-
dated separation of church and                   vate religious a n d   p a r o c h i a l    fusal to consider the Wisconsin
state.                                           schools.                                    voucher program will be inter-
     But, by an 8-l vote, the U.S. Su-               The experimental Milwaukee              preted as a partial victory for both
preme Court refused to review the                program currently would provide             sides, although it is clear that the
Wisconsin decision, thus lending its             up to $70 million for some 15,000           Wisconsin program will  now  serve
informal  "approvalll  to the Mil-               low-income students to attend pri-          as a prototype for other states con-
waukee voucher program. The su-                  vate schools, whether religious or          sidering similar tuition reimburse-
preme courts of four other states                secular. The detractors insist that         ment schemes. Still unanswered
are currently considering voucher                such schemes will divert sorely             also is the ongoing concern of pa-
programs similar to the Wisconsin                needed resources from public                rental schools regarding the nature
tuition reimbursement plan, and                  schools already in desperate finan-         and extent of government regula-
any or all of those decisions will               cial need.      Proponents argue            tions and intrusion that is inevita-
likely also be appealed to the high-             vouchers allow poor students the            bly linked to state funding of pri-
est court in the land. But for now,              opportunity to choose quality               vate organizations.  Q




          The Great Value of Reformed,
                    Christian Education (3)

                                                 ise and intend to see  Itheir] chil-        school is a vital aid to the parents
      olid,
S Reformed, Christian edu- dren . . .instructed and brought up in the monumental calling to in-
          cation is of inestimable value.        in the aforesaid [Reformed] doc-            struct their children "to the utmost
      Believing parents and grand-               trine, or help or cause them to be          of their power."
parents, and spiritually minded                  instructed therein, to the utmost of            Secondly, Christian education
students give thanks to God for the              [their] power."                             is so valuable because it provides
Christian instruction given in a Re-                 The Christian school is only a          the covenant child with a firm
formed school. Yet it is also true               help to parents. Schools must not           foundation on which to stand. The
that parents and children and the                try to do the whole job. The par-           foundation is the Reformed truth,
church as a whole are not always                 ents can better instruct in many im-        it is the Bible itself. The founda-
so conscious of the specific bless-              portant aspects of the covenant             tion is well established for the cov-
ings of the Christian school. It is              child's training, as for example,           enant child because he is taught the
good for teachers, parents, and stu-             teaching children to pray, instruc-         same things in home, school, and
dents alike to be reminded.                      tion on matters of sexuality, and           church. Ecclesiastes  4:12 speaks of
     First of all, the Christian school          training in everyday practical liv-         a threefold cord - "And if one pre-
is a tremendous gift from God to                 ing skills. On the other hand, par-         vail against him, two shall with-
assist believing parents in fulfill-             ents are not to think they have ful-        stand him; and a threefold cord is
ing their obligations. These obliga-             filled  their obligations by sending        not quickly broken." For the cov-
tions are summed up in the baptis-               their children to a Christian school.       enant child, the united, harmoni-
mal vow. Believing parents  "prom-               The school is a help to the parent,         ous teaching of the home, school,
                                                 not a replacement of the parent.            and church is a threefold cord. By
                                                     When teachers are truly  in loco        God's grace, the strength of that in-
Prof.  L&kstra  is professor of  Church  His-    parentis,  are rearing children, in-        struction will last throughout his
tory and New Testament in the Protes-            structing. in the light of the Bible,       entire life.
tant Reformed Seminary.                          and giving Christian nurture, the               Thirdly, Christian education

204/%andard  Bearer/Februafy  1,1999


prepares the covenant child to live      the church. In fact, life in school is    Here the covenant children learn
in this world as a friend-servant of     part of the communion of saints for       corporate responsibility as well.
God. He has received the necessary       the youth of the church.                      Finally, and most importantly,
training to function in the world.           This communal aspect of edu-          Reformed, Christian education ob-
He can earn a living-for the cause       cation has value academically be-         tains the goal of 2 Timothy  3:17-
of the kingdom of God. He can live       cause the classroom gives the stu-        "That the man of God may be per-
and work as a believer, properly         dents the opportunity to learn from       fect, throughly furnished unto all
representing God's cause. That be-       each other. Students who help             good works." This text summarizes
cause the child knows God; he            other students with the material          the goal of Christian education.
knows what God requires; he is           currently taught in class come to             What does this text mean?
equipped to seek God in all that         know the material far better them-            To be  perfect  means to be com-
he does.                                 selves. Class discussions make the        plete or mature. In all areas of life,
    Fourthly, Christian education is     facts and figures of the book or lec-     the covenant child receives Re-
of great value because it gives the      ture to come alive, and thus to be        formed, Christian instruction. The
child a Reformed world and life          remembered. Besides, students'            Reformed  doctrines  that he learns
view. A child so trained can think       questions open exciting areas of          in catechism and through the
biblically, that is, in a Reformed       learning and discussion that profit       preaching are applied to all areas
way. He has the right view of the        the whole class.                          of life in the Christian school. He
world. He correctly sees the world           In addition, communal educa-          is nurtured in that instruction. No
as a spiritual desert, as a battle-      tion develops the thinking pro-           aspect of his rearing has been ne-
field, as a world set against  God-      cesses because there will be inter-       glected. By God's grace, the cov-
not as a playground; not as a basi-      action in the classroom. In the           enant child matures physically,
cally good or harmless or friendly       classroom, students have the op-          mentally, and spiritually under
place. He has the right view of his-     portunity to formulate and express        such instruction.
tory as the unfolding of the coun-       their views. They hear and evalu-             He knows God and he knows
sel of God. He has the knowledge         ate the expressed thoughts of oth-        God's will. He is equipped to serve
of the principles needed to make         ers, beyond those of their own fam-       God. He is thoroughly furnished
right decisions.    .                    ily. Sometimes their own views are        unto all good works.
    Fifthly, much of the value of        challenged by other students. This            Such a believer is not set on
Christian education derives from         helps students think through is-          building a kingdom of God on
the fact that it is communal rather      sues. In such an atmosphere, their        earth. Rather his desire is to serve
than individualistic. Home school-       reasoning powers can develop,             God in whatever station and call-
ing misses this communal aspect.         while they avoid a narrow view on         ing God gives-as a husband and
The intent of this -article is not to    all issues.                               father, or as a wife and mother. He
assail home schooling. We are well           The benefit of the school is that     is equipped to serve God wherever
aware that some parents home             interaction can take place in a con-      God calls him to labor-on the
school their children out of neces-      trolled arena. Boundaries, as to the      farm, in the office, or on the scaf-
sity. However, the purpose of the        content and nature of the discus-         folding. She is supremely equipped
article is to demonstrate the ben-       sion, are determined by the Bible         to be a mother in Israel, rearing
efits of the Christian school. We        and the confessions. A trained            covenant children; he to serve as
ought to note that there are advan-      leader and guide-the Christian            an officebearer in the church. All
tages to the Christian school over       school teacher-can and must di-           are prepared to glorify God in all
home schooling, and this is one of       rect the discussion and put it into       their lives.
them.                                    the proper biblical perspective.              This is the goal of Christian
    That Christian education is              And, we might add, this com-          education: Equip the covenant
communal means that covenant             munal aspect of the Christian             child to praise God-now in this
children have the opportunity to         school is good preparation for life       life, but also in eternity. The bap-
interact with each other. This has       in the kingdom, for God deals with        tism form reminds us of that prepa-
great value socially, particularly in    His people covenantally, not  indi-       ration for eternity. The concluding
the sphere of the church. These          vidualistically. For the child this       prayer asks that God bless these
children are a part of the church.       means not only living as a member         covenant children "to the end that
They must deal with fellow saints        of a covenant family, but also be-        they may  eternally  praise and mag-
all their lives- the good and pleas-     ing part of the broader body of the       nify thee.. . the one only true God."
ant  interaction with people, as well    church. In a school, the students             This is the chief end of man, to
as the unpleasant confrontations         are part of the whole, and learn to       glorify God forever. This is the su-
and even sins of their fellow saints.    live and work together with other         preme value of Reformed, Chris-
School is preparation for living in      youthful saints for God's glory.          tian education.

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    What a difference this makes                      Rather, the greatest value of            It is our calling, our solemn
in the view one has of the child's            Christian education is recognized            duty, to provide such instruction
education! Christian education is             and demanded as in, "How are                 for our covenant children. It is not
not self-centered as in, "What do I           covenant children being equipped             an option. God commands it. May
get out of Christian education?"              to serve and glorify God?"                   the believers (both parents and
Nor is it focused on this world as                    This is the great value of  Re-      teachers) be encouraged to  perse-
in, "How will Christian education             formed, Christian education.                 vere as they recognize the great
help my child succeed?"                                                                    value of their labors.  0




                   The Relation of the Deacons
                               to the Consistory (3)

                                              believers.        Every believer is          In other words, in each of the three
      rom
F all this it is evident that prophet, priest, and king and func- aspects of the office, the one three-
      the church has never insisted           tions in that threefold office. In           fold office of Christ comes to mani-
      upon a sharp line of separa-            fact, that constitutes his whole call-       festation. No officebearer is, or can
tion among the offices. The reason            ing.                                         be, exclusively  .busy in the pecu-
is obvious. Basically the offices are                 In order to determine, there-        liar aspect of the office which he
one, not three. There are not three           fore, what is the relation of the dea-       represents. The very nature of the
offices, but a threefold or triple of-        cons to the consistory, we will have         office makes this impossible. Each
fice. Although we recognize three             to take our starting point in this           type of officebearers, in the exer-
offices as a manner of speaking, we           basic unity of the offices. This             cise of his own peculiar office, au-
must remember that they are but               unity has all the emphasis in Scrip-         tomatically becomes involved in
three aspects of what is basically            ture. According to Scripture the             the things that pertain to the other
one. This basic unity of the offices          priestly office is a royal office, with      offices.
is constantly emphasized in Scrip-            the prophetic calling to show forth              This already follows from the
ture. The offices are one in Adam.            God's praises (I Pet.  2:9). The             fact that all three types exercise
They are one in Christ. They are              people of God are a kingdom of               their office by one and the same
one in the apostles. The apostles             priests (Ex.  19:6). They that have          means, namely, by means of the
functioned in all three offices.              part in the first resurrection shall         Word of God. But, in the second
When finally distinction was made             be priests of God and of Christ and          place, it also follows from the fact
and deacons were appointed, it                shall reign with Him a thousand              that all have essentially the same
was done for practical reasons and            years (Rev.  20:6). Christ is a High         calling, namely, the spiritual well-
not because the apostles felt that it         Priest, not after the order of Aaron         being of the congregation. It is  un:
was not their work. They were too             who was only priest but after the            doubtedly for this reason that there
busy to take care of it all. Later,           order of Melchisedec, who was                is no essential difference between
no doubt also for practical reasons,          king as well as priest. Perhaps we           the requirements of the various
distinction is made between elders            may conclude, from what we read              officebearers, according to I Timo-
who teach and elders who rule. Fi-            of him, that he was prophet also.            thy 3. The very nature of the of-
nally, the offices are also one in the                It is because of this basic unity    fices, therefore, is such that al-
                                              of the offices that, although Scrip-         though we may distinguish be-
                                              ture speaks of three types of                tween the three aspects, they are,
                                              officebearers, each one represent-           nevertheless, basically one. Sepa-
Martin Swart was an elder for  rnany~years    ing a certain aspect of the one of-          rate them, and you no longer have
in the First Protestant Reformed Church       fice of Christ, these three are, nev-        a threefold or triple office, but three
of  Grand Rapids, MI. This article was        ertheless, so interrelated that all          separate offices, each one with es-
originally an essay that Mr. Swart pre-       three aspects, in turn, are again            sentially the same calling.
sented to the Men's Society  of  First        present in each one of the types.                Besides, this basic unity of the
Church.

206btandard  Bearer/Febnmy  1,1999


offices is demanded by the fact that       because of an absolute distinction       that when the deacons are added
the offices in the church are after        between the offices, then the min-       to the consistory they are thereby
all nothing but a concentration of         ister will have to be excluded also      made elders in addition to being
the office of believers. It is through     for the same reason. Membership          deacons and have a decisive vote
the offices that the believers exer-       in the consistory will then have to      in all matters, including discipline.
cise their threefold office in the         be limited to the elders. Certainly,     Yet he would limit the function of
church institute. Separate the of-         if the distinction among the offices     the deacon in the consistory, in
fices in the church, and you sepa-         does not require a line of separa-       matters strictly belonging to the of-
rate them in the believers. But this       tion in the case of ministers and        fice of elder, to an advisory capac-
is even more emphatically true if          elders, it can hardly be maintained      ity.  Now that is simply a contra-
we bear in mind that ultimately it         that this distinction does require it    diction.    VandenBerg  agrees that
is Christ who exercises the offices        in the case of the deacons.              when the deacons are added to the
in the church. The officebearers are           But in the second place, this        consistory they have a decisive
after all nothing but the organs           line of demarcation is not main-         vote in all matters and, at the same
through which Christ exercises His         tained with respect to the deacons       time, he would limit them in some
one threefold office. And where            either. For the Church Order not         matters. But aside from this, if it
the offices in Christ are one, though      only permits the deacons to be           is true that when the deacons are
threefold, it follows that also the        added to the consistory when the         added to the consistory they are
organs through which He exercises          consistory is small, but even de-        thereby made elders, how can they
His office, though threefold, are          mands this when the number of el-        possibly be denied the right to a
nevertheless one. The offices in           ders is three or less. Now certainly,    decisive vote in all matters, includ-
isolation in separate individuals          if it is wrong for a deacon to func-     ing those matters which strictly be-
could not present  aperfect type of        tion in the consistory because of the    long to the office of elders? If,
Christ.                                    distinction between the offices,         when the deacons are added to the
       Although, therefore, we speak       then it is wrong regardless of the       consistory,, they are thereby made
of three offices, yet they are but         size of the consistory. If therefore     elders, they not only have the right,
three aspects of what is basically         we do not want to bring the Church       but also the obligation to function
one. It is exactly in the consistory       Order into hopeless contradiction        in that capacity.
that the three unite. The confes-          with itself, we will have to main-           In the third place, if the dea-
sions are undoubtedly correct              tain that there is no principle ob-      cons are to be excluded from the
when they present the consistory           jection to including the deacons in      consistory because of the distinc-
as consisting of ministers, elders,        the consistory.                          tion between the offices, how then
and deacons. The-church is to be               The notion that we can escape        can the Church Order demand that
ruled by the one office of Christ,         this contradiction by limiting the       even in the largest churches such
and the deacons are an aspect of           function of the deacons in the           important matters as the calling of
that office. You cannot take one           consistory,  fin matters strictly be-    ministers,      the     e l e c t i o n   o f
aspect of that office and separate         longing to the office of elder, to an    officebearers, the release of minis-
it from the others. It is exactly be-      advisory capacity simply does not        ters when they desire to accept a
cause the distinction among the of-        hold. For in the first place, even       call, shall be acted upon in the com-
fices has been over-emphasized             though it be in an advisory capac-       bined meeting of ministers, elders,
that the unity has been lost sight         ity, the deacon then is nevertheless     and deacons. All these matters are
of.                                        busy in the work that strictly be-       a fundamental element in the gov-
       Yet, strange as it may seem, al-    longs to the elders. Being busy in       ernment of the church. It certainly
though it is maintained that the           the work that pertains to the elders,    is fundamental to church govern-
deacons are to be excluded from            even though it be in that advisory       ment that the offices be maintained
the consistory because of the dis-         capacity, he certainly does not          and that men be appointed to fill
tinction of the offices, and although      function in his capacity of deacon.      these offices. Yet in all these mat-
the Church Order seemingly ex-             It certainly does not belong to the      ters the deacons are on a level of
cludes them for the same reason,           office of deacon as such  I to serve     absolute equality with the minis-
the fact remains that this distinc-        the elders with advice. But if he        ters and the elders. So much is this
tion is not, and never has been,           does not function in the capacity        so that there is no officebearer in
consistently maintained. For, in the       of deacon, in what capacity does         office, but that he is there with the
first place, no such line of distinc-      he function, if not in the capacity      judgment and vote of the deacons.
tion is drawn between the office of        of elder?                                It undoubtedly happens in some
the minister and the office of the             The Rev.  VandenBerg, in the         cases that the vote of the deacons
elder. Certainly, if the deacons are       Stnndnrd  Bearer  article referred to    is the deciding factor.
to be excluded from the consistory         above, agrees with the Rev.  O~phoff         There are also other things in

                                                                                         February 1,1999/3andard  Bearer/Z07


which, though they are matters of         ter. If therefore the deacons are to      whether they be spiritually sick or
government, the deacons, neverthe-        be excluded from the consistory, it       physically, and to comfort the sor-
less, have an equal voice with the        certainly will have to be on some         rowing. It is for this reason that
elders. Even the regulation of mat-       other ground than that of the dis-        the synod of Dordt (1574) declared
ters pertaining to the work of be-        tinction among the offices. In fact,      it  to- be proper for the minister to
nevolence in general is a matter of       to separate the deacons from the          ask the deacons as well as the el-
government. The Rev.  VandenBerg          consistory because of the distinc-        ders to visit the sick and comfort
remarks  (Sfandard  Bearer,  Oct. 15,     tion of the offices would really lead     them with the Word, since this was
1959) that matters of doctrine, and       to the conclusion that there are but      in harmony with their office.
the government or administration          two offices in the church, the one            From all this it is evident that
of the church belong to the juris-        exercised by the minister and el-         although we may distinguish
diction of the elders. But, apart         ders and the other by the deacons.        among the three aspects of the of-
now from doctrine, it is exactly in           But there is more. The deacons        fice, we cannot separate them. The
these matters that the deacons do         represent the priestly aspect of the      distinctive offices are but three as-
take an active part. Even matters         office of Christ, and, therefore,         pects of what is basically one of-
of doctrine and discipline are not        have for their distinctive office the     fice. You cannot take one aspect
entirely excluded. In the matter of       ministry of the mercy of Christ.          of that office and separate it from
election of officebearers, the dea-       But if the deacons are to be ex-          the others.
cons certainly express judgment as        cluded from the consistory because            What is more, as has been
to the doctrinal soundness and            of the distinction of their office,       pointed out, this distinction among
qualification of the men considered       how is it to be explained that in         the offices is not, and never has
for office, and also as to their life     the exercise of that office they are      been, consistently maintained. For
and walk. They confirm that judg-         restricted to the care of the poor.       although the Church Order, on the
ment by their vote. Besides, there        It is undoubtedly due to this re-         one hand, seemingly excludes the
are the matters of church visitation      striction that the office of deacon       deacons from the consistory, it at
and mutual censure among the              has generally come to be looked           the same time, with the confes-
officebearers. In both these mat-         upon as inferior. In fact, if, while      sions,    recognizes       the    one
ters the deacons have the same say        the ministry of the minister and the      consistory, composed of ministers,
over the elders that the elders have      elders extends over the entire con-       elders, and deacons. The Church
over the deacons. It is evident,          gregation, the ministry of the dea-       Order does provide that, in the in-
therefore, that a sharp distinction       cons is limited to a few poor in the      terest of efficiency, separate meet-
among the offices is foreign to the       congregation, one can hardly es-          ings may be held by the elders.and
Church Order.                             cape that conclusion. But if the dis-     by the deacons. In other words,
    Finally, if the distinction           tinctive office of the deacons is the     the Church Order provides for a
among the offices requires a sepa-        ministry of the mercies of Christ,        limited measure of division of la-
ration between the office of dea-         then the exercise of that office cer-     bor in keeping with the peculiar
con and the office of elder, why          tainly includes far more than giv-        duties of the offices. But in the first
does not that same distinction re-        ing a little material aid to the poor     place, the introduction of this divi-
quire a separation between the of-        in the congregation. In fact, that is     sion of labor plan is a matter which
fice of minister and the office of        not even the most important ele-          is left for each church to decide en-
elder? Certainly, both the minis-         ment in the ministry of mercy.            tirely for itself. In the second place,
ter and the elder have their own          Ministering unto the spiritual            this division of labor may never be
distinctive office, the minister rep-     needs of the people of God is by          such that two agencies control the
resenting the prophetic aspect of         far the most important side of the        life of the congregation. In the
the office of Christ and the elders       office. But looking at it from that       third place, this division of labor
representing the kingly aspect. In        spiritual point of view, the minis-       is both limited and conditional. It
Scripture they are clearly. distin-       try of mercy does not merely con-         is limited by the fact that much of
guished as teaching elders and rul-       cern a few poor, but extends over         the labor in the congregation is to
ing elders. Yet, in spite of this dis-    the entire congregation. All God's        be done in the combined meetings.
tinction, the two are not separated.      people are poor and needy and             And it is conditioned by the size
The minister is not only busy in the      have need of the mercy of Christ.         of the congregation. Therefore, al-
ministry of the Word, but in the          It certainly belongs to the ministry      though providing for a limited
consistory and at the  classis and        of  mercy,-  to minister unto these       measure of division of labor, an ab-
synod functions in the capacity of        spiritual needs of the people of          solute separation of the offices is
elder as well. The elder not only         God, to nourish their hungry souls        foreign to the Church Order. It is
rules, but also ministers the Word        with the bread of life, to pray and       also in conflict with the very na-
and teaches, as well as the  minis-       intercede for them, to visit the sick,    ture of the offices. Q

POSjStandard  Bearer/February 1,7999


                                   Fullness (Fill)
The words fullness, fill, fill up, used scores of fulfilled the Scriptures (Matt. 26:54), prophecy
         time in both Testaments, indicate a certain               (Luke  21:22),  the Law  (Ram.  8:4), all righteous-
         measure or amount that has been determined                ness  (Matt.  3:15), all the good pleasure of God
by God in His eternal counsel. Because God works                   (II Thess.  1:ll).
all things according to the counsel of His own will,                   God's sovereign determination extends to the
these predetermined measures are all filled up at                  reprobate also. "God gave them over to a rep-
the appointed time. It may even be said that when                  robate mind, to do those things which are not
all things are filled up or fulfilled, then history is             convenient;           Being    filled     with      all
completed and Christ returns.                                      unrighteousness" (Rom.  1:29). They must "fill
    The God who has determined all these things is                 up their sins  alway: for the wrath is come upon
Himself the God of fullness. "Do not I fill heaven                 them to the uttermost"  (I Thess.  2:16). John sees
and earth?"  (Jer.  23:24). After Moses finished con-              in vision the seven last plagues in which "is filled
struction of the tabernacle, "the glory of the Lord                up the wrath of God" (Rev.  1~5:1,7).
filled the tabernacle"  (Ex.  40:34). "The earth is the                But especially is the salvation of the elect
Lord's and the fulness thereof; the world and they                 described in terms of fullness. The fullness of
that dwell therein"  (Ps.  24:l). In His presence "is              the Jews (Rom.  11:12) and the fullness of the
fulness of joy" (Ps.  16:ll). "The whole earth is  filled          Gentiles (Rom.  11:25) are brought in by Christ.
with his glory"  (Ps.  72:19). When we know the love               These all receive a full reward (II John  8), a full-
of Christ, "we are filled with all the fulness of God"             ness of blessing through the gospel  (Ram.  15:29),
(Eph.  3:19).                                                      a fullness of joy (John  15:11), and a fullness of
    It pleased the Father "that in Christ should all               righteousness  (Matt.  5:6). Stephen was a man
fulness dwell"  (Cal.  1:19), so that, through the in-             full of faith, power, and the Holy Ghost (Acts
carnation, "in him dwelleth all the fulness of the                 6:5,8).  Dorcas was a woman whose life was full
Godhead bodily" (Col.  2:9). Accordingly, Christ is                of good works (Acts  9:36).  The purpose of
"full of grace and truth" (John  1:14). "And of his                preaching is that the saints might come "to the
fulness have all we received, grace for grace" (John               measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ"
1:16).  Implied in the cup which Christ prayed might               (Eph.  4:13). As the saints walk in the way of
pass from Him (Mark  14:36) is a fullness of suffer-               good works which God has prepared for them
ing which the Father had ordained for Christ to en-                to perform, they "fill up that which is behind of
dure.                                                              the afflictions of Christ"  (Cal.  1:24).  God has
    Time is a measure, the fullness of which is or-                ordained that Christ and His body, the church,
dained by God. Christ was born of the virgin "when                 must suffer a certain amount. While on earth,
the fulness of the time was come" (Gal.  4:4). With                Christ filled His cup; now the church must fill
the birth and work of Christ, time is full, and "in                up her cup of affliction which is left behind for
the dispensation of the fulness of times Christ- gath-             her by Christ.
ers together in one all things in heaven and on                        The most amazing aspect to all these
earth," until time shall be no more. Jesus performed               fullnesses is that they shall all be reached simul-
His work according to a timetable set by God. When                 taneously! When the fullness of the Jews and of
His mother would rush Him, He replied, "Mine hour                  the Gentiles shall have been brought in, when
is not yet come" (John  2:4), and when His disciples               the world has filled up their sins to the brim,
would have Him go up to the feast He replied, "I                   when the suffering of the church has finally
go not up yet unto this feast, for my time is not yet              reached its pre-ordained measure, then the full-
full come" (John  7:8). In the fullness of time, Christ            ness of God's counsel shall be attained. And the
                                                                   end may come, and shall come! Then the church
                                                                   shall be taken to glory, as the fullness of Him
Rev. Kuiper is pastor  of  Southeast Protestant Reformed Church    that filleth all in all (Eph.  1:23), and God will be
in Grand Rapids, Michigan.                                         all in all.  Cl


                                                                                             Febmuy 1,7999/standard  Bearer/209


     Weither a Supralapsarian nor
                              an Infralapsarian"

                                               recalling an idea once expressed by                        one gains the impression that
And it came to pass by the way in the          Theodore Beza-he maintained                                Schilder had developed a certain
inn, that the LORD met him, and                that neither position can ever be                          disdain for systematic theological
sought to kill him. Zipporah took a            affirmed to the exclusion of the                           distinctions, particularly when it
sharp stone, and cut  off  the foreskin  of    other.  Klaas Dijk, in his definitive                      came to anything relating to the
her son, and cast it at his  feet,  and        study on this subject a few years                          doctrine of election, and even more
said, Surely a  bloodyhusband  art thou        later, put it as follows:                                  so when it reflected a supralap-
to me.
                       Exodus  4:24,25                                                                    sarian  viewpoint. When it came
                                                 With all of the effort to reconcile                      down to it, of course, Schilder in
S                                                these two positions, no one can es-
      childer, in the  24th chapter of                                                                    this book quotes mostly from noted
                                                 cape the fact that there is no con-                      supralapsarians-men like Theo-
      his little book,  Extra-ScripturaZ         tradiction between Infra and                             dore Beza and William  Twisse-
      Binding,  remarks, "I myself do            Supralapsarianism.  Everyone as-                         but never without making a point
not want to be either a supralap-                sumes one or the other of the two
sarian or an infralapsarian." One                considerations without rejecting                         of it in a rather condescending
wonders what he meant. As he cer-                the other, or denying the worth                          manner, as though to say to  Hoek-
tainly knew, the lapsarian contro-               of the other, which is to say, there                     sema that he didn't have a high re-
                                                 is no supralapsarian that does not                       gard for them himself, but would
versy had been a part of Reformed                recognize the usefulness of
theological history for a long time,                                                                      come down to his level and use the
                                                 infralapsarian terms; and there is                       words of men who thought as
having to do with the order of the               no infralapsarian that does not fi-
decrees in the counsel of God, or,                                                                        Hoeksema did in the hope that that
                                                 nally return to the supralapsarian
more particularly, whether among                 presentation.*                                           would make him listen.
                                                                                                              The reason for this may well
those decrees election is to be con-
sidered as above the fall or below             As Dijk saw it, both the  supra-                           have been in what had happened
it. Schilder seems to say that he              lapsarian and the infralapsarian                           in the Netherlands as a result of
                                                                                                          Kuyper's redefinition of the idea of
held to neither position. But, if so,          positions have their place in the to-
what then? Did he conceive of a                tality of Reformed theology, so that                       "common grace." For Kuyper's fol-
third possible order in the coun-              no one, when working in this area,                         lowers it was like a notice that they
sel? Or, did he believe that it had            can escape speaking as an  infra-                          were now free to leave the histori-
no particular order at all? Or, was            lapsarian on certain occasions, and                        cal limits of exegetical theology,
                                                                                                          and use the philosophical methods
it simply that he did not think God            as a supralapsarian at  others-
has revealed the order of His coun-            which was pretty much what Beza                            of men like Kant, which had be-
sel to us, and we should not in-               had said well before the whole con-                        come so popular in their day. In
quire into the matter?                         troversy began.                                            an amazingly short time, not only
     In all likelihood, what Schilder                Still, when it comes to this re-                     the seminary halls but also the pul-
actually was intending was to iden-            mark of Schilder, there would seem                         pits of the church were echoing dis-
tify himself with the position of              to have been more to it than that.                         courses which sounded more like
Herman Bavinck, when-as though                 All through the series of articles                         academic lectures than the power-
                                               which make up this little book, in                         ful proclamation of the Word of
                                               f a c t   g o i n g   b a c k   e v e n   f u r t h e r    1 Dijk, Klaas. 
                                               through the development of the                                                De strijd over Intra- en
                                                                                                          Supralapsarisme in de Gereformeeerde
Rev. Woudenberg is  a  minister emeritus       problem between the Liberated and                          Kerken van Nederland,  J.H. Kok,
in the Protestant Reformed Churches.           the Protestant Reformed Churches,                          Karnpen,  1912 p. 50.

210/5tandardBearer/Februaryl,  1999


God. Strange, and not infrequently       attention, as with dramatic descrip-       this church as it is manifest on the
strained, abstract theories were         tion he drew out for all to see that       earth, which does include their be-
propounded at length, based not          terrible tension which was created         ing confronted regularly with
uncommonly on the presumption            between Moses and his wife,                God's words of promise and de-
that the members of the church           Zipporah, over the demand of God           mand. Covenant children are to
were all elect, and should look for      that his covenant be kept through          be raised in homes where the pres-
confirmation of this in their ability    that painful sacrament of blood.           ence of God is known, and the re-
to master those theories which               And that, in effect, was at the        sponsibilities of living unto Him in
were being heard on every side.  _       heart of  all- Schilder's preaching.       prayer, obedience, and godly fear
    It was against this that Schilder    Essentially everywhere in Scripture        are expected and required every
had reacted, being convinced that        he saw this; and every sermon he           day. From childhood on, they are
what was happening was under-            preached was in its own way an             to be nurtured in God's Word by
mining the spiritual life of the         effort to draw out that tension            the parents in the home, teachers
church. And so, in the things he         which always exists between the            in the school, and pastors in the
wrote, and even more in the way          promises of the covenant and its           teaching and preaching of the
he preached, Schilder worked hard        demands. Every baptized person             Christian church, where they also
-and hard it was, if we can judge        is born to this, he thought, and           take part in Christian worship, and
from the phenomenal amount of            through baptism is made to stand           are called to participate in the or-
sweating and drinking. he is said        between those two spiritual forces         dinances and disciplines which the
to have done while in the  pulpit-       as they focus upon his life. The           church observes.
always in an effort to bring his lis-    promises are given him, but can be             These are the advantages spoke
teners away from this bland, ab-         lost, should he fail to keep the de-       of by Paul in Romans  9:4, 5, "the
stract way of thinking into the liv-     mands and so fall under the curse          adoption, and the glory, and the
ing tensions which he believed           which is also a part of the covenant.      covenants, and the giving of the
form the real content of Scripture.      With all the ability of the orator he      law, and the service of God, and
    Possibly few things illustrate       was, Schilder would lay this out           the promises; Whose are the fa-
this better than the never to be for-    each time in terms few could ever          thers, and of whom as concerning
gotten sermon Schilder preached at       forget.                                    the flesh Christ came, who is over
the Eastern Avenue Christian Re-             In fact, with Schilder, this is the    all, God blessed for ever. Amen."
formed Church in Grand Rapids at         essence of covenant-God's rhe-             And to which the epistle to the He-
the beginning of his visit in 1939.      torical confrontation of man with          brews refers in chapter  6:4,5 when
The occasion was tense, for the          promises and demands by which              it speaks of "those who were once
leaders of the Christian Reformed        only can one be led to redemption;         enlightened, and have tasted of the
Church had warned their people           and there is no more awesome               heavenly gift, and were made par-
against listening to him. But their      privilege one can have than to pos-        takers of the Holy Ghost, and have
warnings, it would appear, had the       sess a place in the church of God          tasted the good word of God, and
opposite effect; for, when the time      where these promises and demands           the powers of the world to come."
came for him to preach, that siz-        are laid before him again and              These are experiences which leave
able sanctuary was filled to over-       again. Being born and baptized in          impressions on the soul which can
flowing, with people seated every-       the church of God means that one           never be erased, as Solomon noted
where, down the aisles, in the           is to be raised in a Christian home,       in Proverbs  22:6, "Train up a child
foyer, and on the platform as well.      taught in a Christian school, and          in the way he should go: and when
And then Schilder announced for          placed before the preaching and            he is old, he will not depart from
his subject the strange account of       teaching of the church's ministry          it." They go with one all through
the circumcising of Moses' chil-         in such a way that he is made fully        life-with either positive or nega-
dren, found in Exodus  4:24,25:          conscious of the covenant's bless-         tive effects.
"And it came to pass by the way          ings, and the responsibility which             But, when all of this is said and
in the inn, that the  LORD  met him,     must be met if he is to remain             done, the heart of the covenant is
and sought to kill him.        Then      within them. This is the law of            more than that-as Schilder might
Zipporah took a sharp stone, and         God, and it constitutes the essence        well have come to understand had
cut off the foreskin of her son, and     of the covenant.                           he taken more time and given more
cast it at his feet, and said, Surely        In all of this, of course, there is    effort to interacting with Hoeksema
a bloody husband art thou to me."        a great deal which may be appre-           constructively when the opportu-
There, for at least one full hour,       ciated.    Beyond question, those          nity was there.
Dr. Schilder, in spite of his rather     who are born, baptized, and raised             To begin with, he might have
weak voice and often confusing           within the church of God are privi-        come to see that the covenant is
sentences, held his audience in rapt     leged to participate in the life of        more than just law. As it was, of

                                                                                         February 1,1999/Standard  Bearer/21 1


course, Schilder had lived his life           which finally caused the break be-                     with man, His taking man into a
in the middle of Kuyperian preoc-             tween him and Hoeksema, and be-                        living relationship of friendship
cupation with the importance of               tween the Liberated and Protestant                     with Him, can only be a matter of
law, arising perhaps from Kuyper's            Reformed Churches. It was sim-                         pure grace. Only He can bring it
view of sphere sovereignty, in                ply not something which could be                       to be, for it is literally life from the
which everyone was to be con-                 accepted as part of the teaching of                    dead (Rom  4:17): the pure grace,
cerned with his rights and respon-            the Protestant Reformed, as the                        spoken of by Jeremiah,  31:33, "But
sibilities; and apparently, as em-            Liberated insisted it must if we                       this shall be the covenant that I will
phatically as he rejected Kuyper's            were to continue working together.                     make with the house of Israel; Af-
philosophical ways, and especially                But finally, and above all, what                   ter those days, saith the LORD, I will
his view of presupposed regenera-             Schilder had missed, by confining                      put my law in their inward parts,
tion, he could give up the hold               the covenant to a rhetorical pro-                      and write it in their hearts; and will
which the idea of law had all about           nouncement of law, was the real                        be their God, and they shall be my
him.                                          nature of the covenant, the fact that                  people." It is not a conditional re-
    But not so with Hoeksema.                 it is not just a legal statement, but                  quirement man must meet, but that
Hoeksema was certainly aware of               life itself, an organic union between                  which God establishes with those
Kuyper's teachings; but his theo-             God and man, which lives and                           whom He chosen, His elect:
logical roots were more traditional;          grows from generation to genera-
and his own studies in Romans and             tion, uniting all of His elect people                      "After all, when the covenant of
Hebrews, both of which he had                 as they are joined together into one                     grace is separated from election,
preached through in close detail,             church. As Bavinck had once said,                        it ceases to be a covenant of grace
had brought him clearly to the con-           "The second peculiarity or remark-                       and becomes again a covenant of
clusion that, while the law has in-           able characteristic of the covenant                      works. Election implies that God
                                                                                                       grants man freely and out of grace
deed a real and important place in            of grace is that in all of its dispen-                   the salvation which man has for-
relationship to the covenant, it can-         sations it has an organic  charac-                       feited and which he can never
not be the covenant itself, as                ter."3 This the law cannot be, and                       again    a c h i e v e   i n     h i s   o w n
Schilder in essence claimed.                  cannot give. Law may serve the                           strength."4
    And so also, Schilder might               purpose of life, but by itself it kills,
have come to understand the con-              as Paul said in II Corinthians  3:6,                                       - - - - - -
sequence which would certainly                "Who also hath made us able min-                           Having known Hoeksema per-
come from making the covenant                 isters of the new testament (or                        sonally, and as a young man
conditional. It was nothing new.              "covenant," BW); not of the letter                     watched him through the course of
Herman Bavinck, the great Dutch               (the law, SW), but of the spirit: for                  this long and painful controversy,
theologian with whom Schilder so              the letter killeth, but the spirit                     I find it hard to believe that for him
often sought to identify himself,             giveth life." The covenant is not a                    there was any greater disappoint-
had said it quite clearly:                    dead "letter," but a living, func-                     ment than to find that Schilder
                                              tioning relationship, as Hoeksema                      and, through Schilder's influence,
  if . . . salvation is not the sheer gift    went on to point out, of friend-                       so many who had learned their the-
  of grace but in some way depends            ship-reaching back to a thought                        ology under Hoeksema, were not
  upon the conduct of men, then the           of the old seventeenth century                         really interested in dealing with
  covenant of grace is oonverted  into        Dutch theologian of the covenant,                      this whole matter of the covenant
  a covenant of works. Man must               Johannas Cocceius.                Hoeksema             theologically. From the time they
  then satisfy some condition in or-
  der to inherit eternal life. In this,       spent his life reflecting on this con-                 first met, Hoeksema had believed
  grace and works stand at oppo-              cept of friendship, and how it is                      that in Schilder he had found an
  site poles from each other and are          indeed the underlying principle of                     established theologian who was
  mutually exclusive. If salvation            the covenant, which should infect                      willing to interact with him seri-
  is by grace it is no longer by              the whole of our theology-a thor-                      ously about the deep truths of the
  works, or otherwise grace is no             oughly biblical and rich concept                       Reformed faith. And, after the
  longer grace.      And if it is by          which James related so graphically                     dark curtain of the Second World
  works, it is not by grace, or other-        to the covenant with Abraham in                        War finally lifted, he waited in ex-
  wise works are not works  (Ram.             James  2:23:       "Abraham believed                   pectation that this would be done.
  11:6).'                                     God, and it was imputed unto him                       But wait as he might, the most that
Undoubtedly Schilder had read                 for righteousness: and he was
this at some point, but apparently            called the Friend of God."                             2 Bavinck, Herman,  Our  Reasonable
ignored it, repressed it, or simply               I n   t h e   e n d   w h a t   S c h i l d e r    Faith,  W.B. Eerdmans, Grand Rapids,
                                                                                                     p. 272.
passed it by.        And it was that          missed was the fact that such an
                                              amazing reality as God's covenant                      3 Ibid. p. 276.
                                                                                                     4 Ibid.  p. 272.
212/3andard  Bearer/February I, 1999


ever came was this rhetorical  dia-              were willing to take their law  in-        acceptable; but for Hoeksema, such
tribe over words, long after any                 spired view of the covenant into           ignoring of theological problems
real possibility of constructive  dia-           our churches, they had no real  in-        was not. And I am sure that  in-
logue was past. The Liberated had                terest in interacting with us further.     wardly, as he read these articles,
made it quite clear that, unless we              Sadly, for many of our leaders and         Hoeksema must have wept. 0
                                                 those who followed them, this was




                                   The Difficult Life

                                                 Because strait is the gate, and nar-       gation put it this way. He said that
I                                                row is the way, which leadeth unto         living the Christian life is like driv-
     t is a fact that the Christian's            life, and few there be that find it."      ing a Model T Ford with a bent
     life on earth is difficult. Every               The text makes it clear that the       steering rod along a narrow road.
     true child of God knows this                Christian life is arduous by com-          Because of the defect in the steer-
from experience. And every true                  paring  that--life to a narrow gate        ing, the Model T constantly pulls
child of God knows this from the                 and a narrow way. The text is say-         to the right, toward the ditch. The
Scriptures.                                      ing that both the gate and the way         difficulty lies in keeping your
     God has not promised us an                  refer to the same thing, namely, the       hands firmly on the wheel and re-
easy life. The Scriptures do not                 difficult life of the child of God.        maining on that narrow road.
say: "In this world ye shall not have                The idea, first of all, is that the    That, he said, is the life of the
tribulation."      The Word of God               whole of the Christian life on this        Christian. How true!
does not promise: "All that will                 earth can be compared to an enter-              What is it that makes your life
live godly in Christ Jesus shall not             ing through a narrow gate. Every           as a Christian difficult?
suffer persecution." The very op-                day of his life on earth the child of           Many answers could be given.
posite is true (John  16:33 and II               God must strive to enter through           The struggles of life are unique to
Tim.  3:12). And it is not simply                the narrow gate. The emphasis is           each family, to each individual, to
the case that the difficulties of life           on the fact that the gate is nar-          each  age~group,  and to each com-
come along every now and then as                 row-so narrow, in fact, that one           munity in which we live. Every
small hurdles for us to cross, after             can barely squeeze through it.             child of God will most likely, ac-
which all is smooth and easy.                    There is no room to take along ex-         cording to the varying circum-
Rather, believers are told "that we              tras, not even a backpack. One             stances of his or her life, give a dif-
must through much tribulation en-                must strip himself of many things          ferent answer to the above ques-
ter into the kingdom of God" (Acts               in order to fit through this gate.         tion. Some are elderly and experi-
14:22). We can expect it. The life                   But our life in this world can         ence difficulties peculiar to the eld-
of the Christian in this world is the            also be compared to walking along          e r l y - s i c k n e s s ,   p a i n ,   l o s s   o f
difficult life.                                  a narrow way, or road. And again           memory, inability to do things as
     This is also the thought ex-                the point is the same-this road is         they used to. Some are parents and
pressed in a passage we used re-                 so narrow that it is hard to travel.       face the problems related to rais-
cently as the theme for family visi-             This is no highway. It is not even         ing children, especially as they are
tation in our congregation. The                  a low-maintenance gravel road in           called to raise them in a world that
passage is Matthew  7~13,  14. "En-              the country. It is a steep and wind-       increases in its wickedness and
ter ye in at the strait gate: for wide           ing pathway up a mountainside.             thus also in its power to tempt our
is the gate, and broad is the way,               As one climbs, his feet slip. He is        children and young people. Some
that leadeth to destruction, and                 hemmed in on all sides by trees            are young people and children who
many there be which go in thereat:               and by rocks. He can barely make           must deal with the trials and temp-
                                                 any progress along that way. And           tations that are peculiar to their age
                                                 at times it seems he travels all           and situation in life. And so the
Rev.  Kleyn is pastor  of  the Protestant Re-    alone.                                     way is narrow for all of God's chil-
formed Church  of  Edgerton,  Minnesota.             One elderly man in the congre-         dren.

                                                                                                     February 1,1999/standard  Bearer/213


    The way is narrow because of          be that find it," says the text. It is    serve a much better life than your
affliction. It is certainly true that     never easy to be with the few.            parents and grandparents. You
the wicked also experience afflic-        Much easier to be with the crowds         certainly don't have to live as they
tion, but very often it is more se-       - to do what they do, to go where         did. You certainly don't have to
vere and more frequent for the be-        they go, to be involved in the life       make the sacrifices they made.
liever. (See Psalm 73.) And it is         of ease and pleasure in which they        Make this world your home."
never easy to suffer. There is sick-      are involved.     Thus we are at-             How often is it not the case that
ness that threatens our very life or      tracted to the broad way. For who         we heed these tempting cries?
the lives of loved ones. There is         wants to be with the few? Who             Then it is no longer the kingdom
pain that must be endured every           wants to be among those who are           of heaven first, but "Me first!"
day. There is mental illness. There       despised? Who wants to be differ-         Self-indulgence becomes our mo-
is departure of loved ones from the       ent?                                      tive in life. And with that all sense
faith. There are unexpected events            Even though all these and nu-         of Christian stewardship is aban-
in life that alter all our plans and      merous other things make the way          doned.
purposes. There is death, some-           narrow, the main reason for the dif-          The faithful Christian says
times even of one who is still            ficult life has not yet been men-         "No!" to all that the world offers.
young and, as we would say, in the        tioned. What is it? It is our old         Self-denial is his motto, not  self-
prime of his or her life.                 sinful nature. It is on account of        indulgence. Deliberately he makes
    God sends these afflictions.          that sinful nature that we are at-        his choice for that which is diffi-
His purpose, as we all know, is al-       tracted to the broad way.                 cult.
ways good. Yet this does not alter            That broad way is the easy                Difficult though it may be,  the-
the fact that affliction makes the        way. It is the super highway of           Christian must enter daily through
Christian life difficult.                 fun and pleasure. The travelers on        the narrow gate and walk daily
    Then there is difficulty because      this road may take along whatever         along the narrow way. It is not
of persecution. This is unique to         they wish. They may live as they          easy. But it is crucially important.
the child of God. Those who live          please and do as they please. In          Important because of where these
godly lives in Christ Jesus shall suf-    fact, the signposts along this way        ways lead. The wide way leads to
fer persecution. The ungodly man          read: "Travel as you wish! Go as          destruction, to eternal destruction,
hates the child of God. He hates          fast as you like! No restrictions!"       to hell. The narrow way leads to
him because of how he lives. He               The broad way is the way of           life, to eternal life, to heaven. It is
hates him because of what he con-         the world. And the language of            a matter of life and death! Which
fesses.    He hates him especially        that world is this: "Live it up! En-      path are we on?
when he confesses, unashamedly,           joy this life to the full! If you want        We Christians sometimes want
that Jesus Christ is his Lord.            it, get it!  If  it makes you happy,      to be road-builders. We certainly
    Persecution comes in many             it's right! If it feels good, do it!      realize that the broad way is not
forms. For some Christians it is          This is the life you deserve!"            the way for us to travel. Yet on
severe, even requiring that they die              The pressure to travel the        the other hand we do not like the
for what they confess. For others         broad and easy way constantly             narrow way. We find it too restric-
this persecution is milder, coming        confronts the children of God. We         tive. We find it too strenuous. So
in the form of verbal attacks. In         see, hear, and read the signposts         we begin building a new way along
either case this is the persecution       of the broad road daily - from ev-        which to travel. We begin to con-
of a world that hates God and the         ery television show, from every ra-       struct a new road which incorpo-
people of God. The world will at-         dio station, and in every newspa-         rates a little (perhaps a lot) of the
tack, you can be sure of that. Es-        per. As we travel the narrow path-        broad way and a little of the nar-
pecially will they do so when we,         way of life, pressed in on all sides      row way. Then the line of clear
by God's grace, withstand their at-       by countless  ~obstacles  and restric-    distinction between the broad and
tempts to get us off the narrow and       tions, we notice the easy way and         narrow ways is lost. We want to
onto the broad way. In throngs            even give in, at times, to the tempt-     walk with at least one foot on the
they stand as spectators along the        ing voices of the ungodly.                broad path. We want to make our
sides of the narrow way. Cease-               We listen all too intently, for       motto, not self-denial, but self-in-
lessly they mock and deride the           example, to their seducing cries as       dulgence.
faithful believer, poking him with        they proclaim: "Wouldn't you pre-             Scripture, however, does not
sticks and hurling stones at him as       fer the easy way? Come join us.           speak of a third way. Always the
he struggles along.                       Enjoy the luxuries of life. Build a       Bible speaks in language that is
    Another reason for the  strait-       new house. Purchase a new car.            black and white. It is not both/
ness of the road is that the child of     Don't let the fact that you can't pay     and; it is either/or. God has not
God is among the few. "Few there          for it stop you. After all, you de-       designed a third way. God has not

214/3andardBearer/February  I,1999


placed the Christian on a way that               Left to ourselves we would rush           our ears to hear and heed the voice
is only semi-difficult. There is only            headlong onto the broad way that          of Christ. But there is also the
one way that leads to eternal life,              leads to destruction. But God takes       means of prayer. And the means
and that is the narrow way. The                  His children and places them on           of the reading and study of the
way of self denial. The way of af-               the narrow way. And not only              Scriptures personally and as fami-
fliction. The way of suffering. The              does He place us on it, He keeps          lies. And the means of fellowship,
way of persecution. The way of                   us there. His hand holds us back          not with those on the broad way,
the few. The way of the antithesis.              from fleeing for the life of ease and     but with those who are with us on
Christ said, "If any man will come               luxury and pleasure.                      the narrow way. They are our
after me, let him deny himself, and                  The means God uses to keep            friends to give us encouragement
take up his cross daily, and follow              His own on the narrow way are             as fellow pilgrims on the way to
me" (Luke  9:23).                                many.    Chief, of course, is the         eternal life.
        Yes, we are admonished to live           preaching. In order to have the                  Difficult though it may be, the
the difficult life. And so difficult             strength to remain on the narrow          Lord uses the narrow way with ev-
is that way that one cannot help                 way we need to shut our ears to           erything on it to bring us to the
but wonder why anyone at all trav-               the voices of the world and open          eternal blessedness of life in His
els it. The only reason is grace.                                                          kingdom.  0





Mission Activities                               ate one of the finest and definitely      farewell for the Eriks family. We
The Foreign Mission Committee most needed pages about true God also express our appreciation for
        of our churches has postponed            of the Bible and His Salvation plan       his labors this past half year and
their next scheduled trip to the                 (www.prca.org).  I am a member            may God graciously bless the work
Philippines until the first two                  of the . . . in New Jersey. I was born    of Garry as he completes his final
weeks of April. This was neces-                  in Poland and right now I partici-        semester in our seminary.
sary in order to get a second min-               pate in a mail list with many                    At their  a_nnual  congregational
ister to go with Rev. R. Moore, pas-             people in my old country. I would         meeting in early December, the
tor of the Hull, IA PRC, and it also             like to ask you for permission to         members of the South Holland, IL
gives the FMC and the delegation                 translate some of your material into      PRC approved three proposals
more time to prepare for the in-                 Polish and to make it available for       brought from their council. First
vestigating work they will be called             my Polish friends who seek for the        to remodel part of the balcony of
upon to do, which apparently will                Truth. Would this be possible?"           their sanctuary for audio/visual/
focus on contacts in a different part                Loveland's Evangelism Com-            choir use. Second, to transfer their
of the Philippines than the last del-            mittee evidently answered yes to          mission fund balance into their
egation visited back in October.                 that question, because their next         Evangelism Committee fund. And
        Speaking of that last trip to the        bulletin contained a follow-up to         third, to repair their organ.
Philippines in October reminds me                that request.    "Thank you very                 At a similar meeting in Decem-
that Rev. R. Smit, one of the del-               much for allowing me to use your          ber, the membership of the Byron
egates on the trip, was able to show             materials.    Every time I finish         Center, MI PRC decided to repaint
slides of that visit at a Christmas              translating a pamphlet (into Polish)      their sanctuary.
Social for the Adult Bible Society               I'll send it to you. I will do my                Winter weather has slowed
of the Edgerton, MN PRC.                         best to translate it as accurately as     down the progress of building on
                                                 possible."                                the       Georgetown            PRC in
Evangelism Activities                                                                      Hudsonville, MI. Carpenters con-
We pass along an interesting Congregation Activities                                       tinue to work on the inside ceiling
          correspondence received                It hardly seems possible, but the in the sanctuary, and by now per-
through the evangelism efforts of                  six-month internship of Seminar-        haps the remaining windows have
the Loveland, CO PRC: "I thank                   ian Garry Eriks is already finished.      been installed.
my Lord for allowing you to  cre-                It came to a close at the end of                 Progress also continues on the
                                                 1998. The congregation of the             sanctuary of the Bethel PRC in
                                                 Loveland, CO PRC, where Garry             Itasca, IL, with the latest informa-
M                                                served his internship, got together
     Y.  Wiggey is an elder in the Pyotestant                                              tion telling us that the installation
Reformed Church  of  Hudsonville, Michi-         after their New Year's Day worship        of siding is complete and dry-wall-
gan.                                             service for a time of fellowship and      ing is nearing completion, with

                                                                                                   Februafyl.  1999/standard  Bearer/215

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


much inside hardware also put in.             enant Christian High School in                  assume this waxing is done inside
    We trust that this past Christ-           Grand Rapids, MI. We were there                 a heated building.
mas season you were able to spend             recently to show our support for
some time celebrating the birth of            two of our nieces who sing in the               Minister Activities
our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ             choir, and we really enjoyed the                In a follow-up to our last "News,"
with the children of your church.             evening. Not only did they sing                   we are happy and thankful to re-
Many of our Sunday Schools pre-               some good spiritual songs, but they             port that Samuel Laning, infant son
sent their annual Christmas pro-              did it with a smile on their faces.             of Rev. and Mrs. James Laning,
grams sometime in December.                   It truly makes for an enjoyable                 came home in mid-December after
What a wonderful way to be re-                hour when the audience sees that                a hospital stay of approximately
minded of the promise, love, light,           those singing are really enjoying               two months. We can all testify, "By
and hope of Christmas. We want                themselves, and, more importantly,              thee have I been  holden  up from
to thank all the children for again           expressing the joy of their salva-              the womb" (Ps.  71:6a).
showing us adults how thankful we             tion in song.
should be to Him for His unspeak-                 Members of the three P.R.
able gift.                                    churches in the Chicago, IL area                            Food-For niol!gtit
                                              were encouraged recently to join                    "I confess the devil is mighty,
School Activities                             together for the annual school bus              but he will never be All-Mighty,
We also want to pass along our waxing at the DeJong Farm. We as my God and Savior is."
       thanks to the choir of Cov-                                                                             -Martin Luther  0



                  CONFERENCE                       RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
                on the Millennium                 The Men's Society of Hope PRC of
  Biblical Sanity Amid Millennial Madness"    Redlands, CA, expresses its heartfelt                           NOTICE!!
              February 5,  7:30  P.M. &       Christian sympathy to Clarence  DeVries             Classis West of the Protestant Re-
    February 6, 9:00 A.M. and 1l:OO A.M.      in the death of his wife,                       formed Churches will be hosted by the
                                                       MRS.  MARY DE VRIES,                   Hope Protestant Reformed Church in
                     Speakers:                who was taken home to her eternal rest          Redlands, California on Wednesday,
              Prof. David Engelsma            on November 26,1998.                            March 3, 1999 at  8:30  A.M., the Lord will-
       "Taking a Proper Perspective                May he be comforted by the words of        ing. All material for the classical agenda
         of this New Testament Age            Psalm 116:15,  "Precious in the sight of        is to be in the hands of the stated clerk
       and of the Return of Our Lord"         the Lord is the death of his saints."           thirty days before  classis convenes. An
                                                               Rev. Arie denHartog,  Pres.    Officebearers' Conference on "The Doc-
               Prof. Herman  Han/co                            Earl L. Grothman, Jr., Sec.    trine of Sovereign Predestination" is also
    "Taking Note of the Dominant Signs                                                        planned for Tuesday, March 2. All del-
                   of Our Times"                                NOTICE!!                      egates or visitors in need of lodging or
                                                   All students enrolled in the Protes-       transportation from the airport should no-
              Rev. Char/es  Terpstra          tant Reformed Seminary who will be in           tify the clerk of Redlands' consistory, Mr.
         "Taking Care to be Ready             need of financial assistance for the com-       Doug Pastoor, 172 Channing St.,
              for the New Millennium"         ing school year are asked to contact the        Redlands, CA 92373. Phone: (909) 792-
                                              Student Aid Committee secretary, Mr.            9392.
                   Hosted by the              Larry Meulenberg (Phone: 453-8466).                                       Rev. Steven Key,
              Evangelism Committee            This contact should be made before the                                            Stated Clerk
               First PRC of Holland           next scheduled meeting, February 22,
                     located at:              1999, D.V.
                  3641 1 041h Ave                                 Student Aid Committee
                Holland, Ml 49424                           Larry Meulenberg, Secretary

216/3tandard  Baarer/Februuary  I, 7999


