Hudsonville
Protestant Reformed Church
5101 Beechtree,
Hudsonville, MI 49426
Pastor:
Rev. Barry Gritters
Phone: (616) 669-5380
Web: www.HudsonvillePRC.org
Vol. 7, No. 26
Contents:
Modern Postmillennialism
A Promise of Salvation (3)
What
About Laying On of Hands?
In the previous article we wrote about
modern postmillennialism, an integral part of the Christian Reconstructionist movement. This type of postmillennialism is very different
from the older postmillennialism of the Puritans and far more dangerous. Our difficulties with this type of
postmillennialism are the subject of this article.
First, then, this type of
postmillennialism devalues the preaching of the gospel.
Action in politics and economics, etc., is at least equally important as the gospel
for the coming of the kingdom. So, too, the
victory of the kingdom is not so much in the salvation of men through the gospel, as in
Christians taking dominion over the whole of society.
Second, this postmillennialism also
devalues and trivializes the church. Believing
that the kingdom is something beyond and greater than the church, the church is no longer
viewed as the chief object, next to Christ Himself, of the Christian’s affection (Ps.
122:6; Eph. 1:17-23). Nor is the gathering
and preservation of the church the main goal of the Christian’s life and work (Ps.
122:9; Col. 1:21-29). For many, the church is
only a training ground for Christian involvement in politics, economics and other areas of
social life.
This trivializing of the church leads:
(1) to a great disinterest in matters of church government, worship, and doctrine; and (2)
to a kind of ecumenicalism – a willingness to join with those whose teaching may be
completely unbiblical. After all, the main
thing is not the church, but the kingdom, something beyond and greater than the church.
Those who hold to this form of
postmillennialism, therefore, often accuse the church of failing in her calling from very
early on in her history, for though the church has faithfully preached the gospel and
sought the salvation of sinners, she has not taken dominion over all of society. In this, they say, she has failed miserably.
Third, this type of postmillennialism
undermines a faithful Christian witness. With
its emphasis on the necessity of political action and involvement in various areas of
social endeavor, the witness of the ordinary Christian as he lives his life honestly and
faithfully in his own God-given place is undervalued.
The most important thing is not being a good witness, even in digging ditches, in
order to be used by God for the salvation of others, but to be involved politically and in
other ways.
Fourth, this type of postmillennialism
represents in many cases a new type of legalism with its emphasis on the law. Those who expect the kingdom to be realized by the
bringing of all men under the dominion of law, really think that the law will do what the
gospel fails to do. They forget the weakness
of the law (Rom. 8:3).
Finally, this type of
postmillennialism, with its emphasis on a millennial kingdom that will have its primary
realization in this world, tends to become a
religion that “minds earthly things” (Phil. 3:19). This one finds among the adherents of this view
denials of the resurrection of the body, of heaven as a real place and as the final home
of believers, even of the ascension of Christ to heaven, which is, of course, the
guarantee of all the believer’s heavenly hopes. Rev.
Ronald Hanko
Without any specific question, a reader
asks that I work out two passages from the prophecy of Jeremiah. It is well to quote the two passages first of all.
“Hear the word of the Lord, O ye
nations, and declare it in the isles afar off, and say, He that scattered Israel will
gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd doth his flock” Jer. 31:10.
“Behold, I will gather them out
of all countries, whither I have driven them in mine anger, and in my fury, and in great
wrath; and I will bring them again unto this place, and I will cause them to dwell safely:
and they shall be my people, and I will be their God: and I will give them one heart, and
one way, that they may fear me for ever, for the good of them, and of their children after
them: and I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from
them, to do them good; but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart
from me. Yea, I will rejoice over them to do
them good, and I will plant them in this land assuredly with my whole heart and with my
whole soul. For thus saith the Lord; Like as
I have brought all this great evil upon this people, so will I bring upon them all the
good that I have promised them” Jer. 32:37-42.
I have discussed this passage in two
previous issues. The reader is urged to go
back to these two issues and read what I already wrote about this important and beautiful
part of God’s Word.
I concentrated, in previous articles,
on the fact that God was speaking here, through Jeremiah, to His people in Judah, just
prior to the captivity. The promise of a
return, therefore, was to Judah first of all.
But the question must still be
answered: Does this passage have any new dispensational reference? May we apply it to the church of the new
dispensation as well as to Judah in the old dispensation?
There are those who would answer: No! They make a distinction between the nation of
Israel as the kingdom people and the people of God in the new dispensation that is the
church. They limit the promises of the OT to
the kingdom people, and refuse to apply them to the church.
They are the pre-mils, and the result of their work is an OT for the Jew and a NT
for the Gentile.
We do not want to chop up Scripture in
this way. This passage clearly applies, as I
intimated in the last article, to the new dispensation as well as to Judah. There are several indications of this in the
passage itself.
1) Already in 31:2, this word of
Jeremiah is addressed to the nations and to the isles afar off. Now it is true that part of the reason why God
wants all the nations to know what He is about to do for His people is to show them that
He is faithful to His covenant and that He does not forget what He has promised to
Abraham. The nations must also know that God
takes care of Israel. They, after all, mocked
when Judah went into captivity.
But another reason why all the nations
must know this faithfulness of God is because they will participate in these blessings
when Japheth comes to dwell in the tents of Shem. These
promises are for them.
2) The many promises which God makes to
Israel upon their restoration are clearly promises bound up with salvation granted also to
the Gentiles. God will give them one heart,
one way so that they may fear God. God will
rejoice over them to do them good, and put His fear in their hearts. God will see to it that they shall not depart from
Him again. All these promises apply to the
whole church in both the old and the new dispensations.
3) The description of the covenant in
32:38 (“They shall be my people, and I will be their God”) is exactly the same
covenantal promise as is given to God’s people in the new dispensation (II Cor. 6:16)
and has its perfect fulfillment at the end of time (Rev. 21:3). One great covenant typically fulfilled at the time
of the return from captivity, fulfilled in principle in the new dispensation, perfectly
realized at Christ’s coming.
4)
The covenant is said in this passage to be “everlasting.” This is the language God uses in 32:40: “I
will make an everlasting covenant with them….”
It is obvious that something everlasting is not something that belongs only to the
old dispensation and ceases to exist with the dawn of the new.
Always God maintains His covenant with His people. They sin against Him. They break His covenant by their sin. They transgress His holy ordinances. But God remains faithful and maintains His cause that the riches of His sovereign grace may be manifested.
God preserves His people.
He chastises them to purify them and correct them.
He causes them to pass through judgment.
But His love never wavers. All is for
their salvation. And finally He takes them
into the heavenly Canaan forever, without sin, He is their God and they are His people. Prof. Herman Hanko
One
of our readers writes as follows: “I don’t like people in the church I attend
praying for me, since if you ask for prayer, they lay hands on you and I worry in case I
get a transferring of Spirit from them. Is
there anything in the Bible about this?”
Apart
from the question of laying on of hands, we would suggest that any church a person attends
where he or she is afraid of the Spirit that works in the other members, is not a suitable
church to be attending. Though I doubt very
much that there is any possibility of a “transferring of the Spirit” by the
laying on of hands in such a case, the thought of having the Spirit that works on the
other members of the church ought to be a joy, not an occasion of fear to believers.
As
far as the laying on of hands is concerned, we believe that such behavior as in the case
described is both inappropriate and unbiblical. Perhaps
our correspondent realizes this and for this reason is afraid of what might happen as a
result of it. Unbiblical behavior never brings God’s blessing.
Scripture
does, of course, speak of laying on of hands. However,
this is something that was done only when church
office-bearers were being ordained (Acts 6:6; 9:17; 13:3; I Tim. 4:14; 5:22; II Tim 1:6)
and when, in apostolic times, apostolic gifts were being conferred (Acts 8:17-18; 19:6;
28:8).
In
the former case, the laying on of hands, as Acts 13:3 and I Timothy 4:14 show, was done by
other ordained men and symbolized the gift of
the Holy Spirit Who would assist and bless the man called to be an elder or deacon or
pastor or missionary in Christ’s church. It
had nothing to do, as such, with prayer, but was rather a testimony to the presence and
grace of the Holy Spirit. It was very much
similar to the ceremony of anointing with oil that was used so often in the Old Testament.
The
laying on of hands, therefore, is still appropriate in the church, but only when men are
being ordained to office. But it ought to be
done then according to the pattern laid down in Scripture, that is, by other ordained men,
particularly those described in Scripture as “the Presbytery,” that is, the
elders. There are no examples in Scripture
of ordinary believers laying hands on others for any reason.
In
the second case, the laying on of hands was done only
by the Apostles, and conferred special and miraculous gifts, gifts that are called in
II Corinthians 12:12, “the signs of the Apostles.” We have written in more detail on this subject
(please write and ask for these issues if you do not have them), and are convinced that
these gifts belonged to the time of the Apostles and ended with the death of the Apostles. There is, therefore no occasion for this kind of
laying on of hands today.
We
believe, too, that the office of Apostle was unique in the church, and that there are no
such men around today. The qualifications for
Apostleship simply cannot be met today, for qualifications included that a man had seen
the risen Lord and been personally appointed by Him.
Since there are no Apostles, there are not qualified to lay hands on others in
order to give the special gifts of the Spirit, though many claim to be able to do so.
The sad thing about all this is that the majority of those who identify themselves as Christians are not even interested in learning what the Bible says on such matters. They are determined to go their own way, while claiming to serve and honor God. Rev. Ronald Hanko