The Prophets of Not Too Long Ago: Have a Merry Machen Christmas!

It’s funny how the most timely and relevant words usually come from people who are dead. I’m thinking of Huxley’s prophetic Brave New World, Kuyper’s Lectures on Calvinism, as well as the essays of Reinhold Niebuhr, Herman Bavinck,  and a handful of others who lived across 1900 AD. It sometimes strikes us as odd that a person like Bavinck living over a hundred years ago was critiquing Darwin’s theory and its promotion in public schools much like today’s apologists (i.e. “He who takes into account the lesson of evolution quickly comes to the conclusion that the present-day system of education is one great error.”), or that a humanist, pacifist like Huxley envisioned the rise of the machines and the depreciation towards natural creation (“A love of nature keeps no factories busy”) and towards learning (“Old men in the bad old days used to renounce, retire, take to religion, spend their time reading, thinking – thinking!”).

But the fact is, they were right on.

In a time where the state is gaining incredible momentum in the pursuit of power over the lives of American individuals, in a time where the gospel itself is absent in weekly church services, and during an age when the last thing taught at Christian educational institutions is the sinfulness of man, the holiness of God, and the glory of Jesus Christ, the insight and wisdom of John Gresham Machen is desperately needed. Machen lived between two worlds, and in many ways served as a bridge between the specific movements under the broad emergence of Modernism; between “Old Princeton” and Westminster, between evidentialism and presuppositionalism, between the NPC and the OPC denominations, and so on.

Nothing is more timely and relevant than selections from the 1923 classic, Christianity and Liberalism. Do read this wisdom from a great contender for the faith, and I promise that you’ll find his words to be just as fitting for today as it was over 80 years ago.

“Presenting an issue sharply is indeed by no means a popular business at the present time.” 1

“After the apologist has abandoned his outer defenses to the enemy and withdrawn into some inner citadel, he will probably discover that the enemy pursues him even there.” 6

“The things that are sometimes thought to be hardest to defend are also the things that are most worth defending.” 8

“Indifferentism about doctrine makes no heroes of the faith.” 51

“The fundamental fault of the modern Church in that she is busily engaged in an absolutely impossible task – she is busily engaged in calling the righteous to repentance. Modern preachers are trying to bring men into the Church without requiring them to relinquish their pride; they are trying to help men avoid the conviction of sin.” 68

“The Church is the highest Christian answer to the social needs of man.” 159

“One thing is perfectly plain – whether or no liberals are Christians, it is at any rate perfectly clear that liberalism is not Christianity. And that being the case, it is highly undesirable that liberalism and Christianity should continue to be propagated within the bounds of the same organization. A separation between the two parties of the Church is the crying need of the hour.” 160

“We shall really get nowhere…unless we make a sincere effort to understand the other man’s point of view. But for another reason also the effort to sink doctrinal differences and unite the Church on a program of Christian service is unsatisfactory.” 162

“The separation of naturalistic liberalism from the evangelical churches would no doubt greatly diminish the size of the churches. But Gideon’s three hundred where more powerful than the thirty-two thousand with which the march against the Midianites began.” 170

“The present situation must not be ignored but faced. Christianity is being attacked from with by a movement which is anti-Christian to the core. What is the daily of Christian men at such a time? What is the duty, in particular, of Christian offices in the Church?

In the first place, they should encourage those who are engaging in the intellectual and spiritual struggle…not less time, but more time, should be devoted to the defense of the gospel. Indeed, truth cannot be stated clearly at all without being set over against error…in such times of crises, God has always saved the Church. But He has always saved it not by theological pacifists, but by sturdy contenders for the truth. In the second place, Christian officers in the Church should perform their duty in deciding upon the qualifications of candidates for the ministry.” 174-175

“In the third place, Christian officers in the Church should show their loyalty to Christ in their capacity as members of the individual congregations.” 175

“In the fourth place – the most important thing of all – there must be a renewal of Christian education…an outstanding fact of recent church history is the appalling growth of ignorance in the church…the growth of ignorance in the church is the logical and inevitable result of the false notion that Christianity is a life and not also a doctrine; if Christianity is not a doctrine then of course teaching is not necessary to Christianity…the fair and logical thing is to learn what Christianity is, not from its opponents, but from those who themselves are Christians.” 177

“Laymen, as well as ministers, should return, in these trying new days, with new earnestness, to the study of the Word of God. If the Word of God be heeded, the Christian battle will be fought both with love and with faithfulness.” 178

“Modern liberalism is like the legalism of the middle ages, with its dependence upon the merit of man. And another Reformation in God’s time will come. But meanwhile our souls are tried. We can only try to do our duty in humility and in sole reliance upon the Saviour who bought us with His blood. The future is in God’s hand, and we do not know the means that He will use in the accomplishment of His will. It may be that the present evangelical churches will face the facts, and regain their integrity while yet there is time. If that solution is to be adopted there is no time to lose, since the forces opposed to the gospel are now almost in control.” 179