The Holy Spirit in Preaching

Preaching is more than lecturing. It is more than exhortation. It brings Christ home to the hearts of men and confronts them with his living grace and power. It is not only that Christ is discussed—it is too easy to discuss people in their absence—but that he is proclaimed; even that he proclaims himself by taking over the personality of the preacher and speaking through him.

John the Baptist was such a “voice.” Pilate also, in his way, was nearer to proclamation than many preachers. He stood before the mob with Jesus at his side and proclaimed “Behold the Man!” There were two factors in his proclamation: (1) he proclaimed Jesus in his presence; (2) he proclaimed him, not to the winds, but to the people present. In his hour of crisis, Pilate was both “Christ-conscious” and “people-conscious.” Both are necessary for effectual preaching. Soliloquy will not do, however spiritual and “Christ-conscious” the speaker may be, for it is not directed toward men and their needs. Nor will “discussion” do, however aware the preacher may be of the human situation. Christian preaching must bring God down to men—to particular men.

How often on the radio we hear a sort of religious recital, as if a man said, “I am speaking: you may listen or not, but I will speak. It is fine to have an audience, but I can speak without one, for I get great pleasure from my own speaking.” How vain! Preaching must have direction—from and to. It should make men sit up and face Christ, as corporate prayer should make them kneel down and worship him. For the true preacher is saying, “Christ is here and is speaking to you. You had better hear him now, for you will have to later!”

It is all very well to compare preaching to Pilate’s presentation of Christ to the people, but they are not the same. No, but in true preaching Christ is just as present as he was then. It is often lamented that the Holy Spirit is the least understood Person of the Trinity, but surely we see why this is so; for the Holy Spirit comes not to speak of himself, but to glorify Christ. Where preachers are intent on glorifying Christ (and only crucified men can do so!), the Spirit is there with all his aid. All true showing forth of Christ is by the Holy Spirit. We are, therefore, to consider how the Holy Spirit manifests Christ in preaching.

Christ And Scripture

Christ is proclaimed in his Word and by his Word. The first qualification of the preacher, therefore, is that he acknowledge the Bible to be the Word of God, and that he understands that it was Christ by his Spirit who caused to be written “in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.” There is no use saying that the Bible “contains” the Word of God if in our modern understanding of the word we mean to infer that it does so inter alia. “All Scripture is God-breathed and is profitable …”; its truth is therefore not partial and intermittent, but complete and permanent.

A prevailing wind of doctrine fails to see this because it confuses revelation and inspiration with illumination. Revelation is what God has made known to us once and for all by the inspiration of his chosen writers; illumination is the work of the Spirit in bringing the truth of the “closed Book” to light. The art treasures of London’s National Gallery remain intrinsically the same during the hours of darkness when they cannot be seen. We remain as essentially alive during the hours of unconsciousness in sleep as when we are awake. It is because we are alive that we can awake. It is surely a plain error of fact to say that the Bible “becomes alive” in the divine-human encounter, when what we mean is that it awakes and shines forth its light and truth into the dark mind of man. The revelation of Christ in the Holy Scriptures is a work of God established long before we were born, and owes nothing to us, nor can it be subtracted from or added to by us. It is the “word of the Lord which liveth and abideth for ever.”

The Spirit’s Illumination

But revelation and inspiration without illumination are useless; for man is by nature dark and cannot see the truth in the Word of God until he is enlightened. Why is it that one man preaching can bring spiritual light to bear on the sacred page and make the Book live, while another makes it seem the dullest book on earth? Because the Holy Spirit who was active in revelation and inspiration is present and active or is not present and active in illumination. The difference between a good and a poor preacher is not one of natural gift. That “gift” is necessary, we agree, but not necessarily natural gift. Some preachers can make people listen to them, but the test of a true preacher is whether he can make men listen to Christ, and that not with a little temporary interest but with lasting effect. What we hear by natural gift, of language, logic, passion, and powers of persuasion, may stir profoundly, but all this may be done equally well on the secular rostrum or in the theater. A true preacher may have a natural gift and aptitude for peaching. God is not foolish or perverse in his choices, but since God loves to do a hard thing, he may well choose men of no natural gift to do his work and add to them the spiritual gift of utterance. Who shall distinguish between natural and spiritual gift in preachers who have been used of God? The endowment of power and anointing of the Spirit sounds so “natural”! In this matter the need of the naturally eloquent is just as great as the need of the naturally tongue-tied.

Unfortunately, these things are too little understood by listeners to sermons, who are often quite unable to distinguish between the soulish-and the spiritual, not to say between the spiritist and the spiritual, in preaching; whereas the writer to the Hebrews tells us that the Word of God in action “pierces to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit.” Many who for the first time come under the sound of Holy Ghost preaching are mortally offended because while they may consider themselves expert sermon-tasters, having much experience of eloquent preaching, they have never been exposed to the white light of the Spirit. The atmosphere of the theater and the concert hall is so native to modern man that when it is produced in church he is pleased to believe that it is right and that the Holy Spirit is there. But while the Holy Spirit in former revivals produced overpowering experiences and created deep emotional sensations in many, that is not his essential work, but to convince of sin, righteousness, and judgment to come, and to be a savor of life unto life and death unto death.

The Spirit’s Power

How can a man ensure the presence and action of the Holy Spirit in his preaching? The Word must become flesh again; the preacher must become the vehicle of the Holy Spirit, his mind inspired and his heart inflamed by the truth he preaches. This will depend not primarily on what he preaches or how he prepares, but on what he is in himself. As his physical presence cannot be hid, no more can his spiritual condition be hid from the discerning. This is terrifying. In a vestry in Aberdeen these words used to confront the preacher ere he mounted the pulpit stairs: “No man can glorify Christ and himself at the same time.” If the Holy Spirit is to speak through the preacher and the preaching he must have clear passage—not through a void, but through a mind and personality laid open in all its delicate and intricate parts to the operation of the Spirit, to the end that his total powers may be willingly and intelligently bent to the present purpose of God.

What are the requisites of such dedication? A man must know Christ personally as his Saviour and Lord. He must also be sure of his call to the ministry, as sure as he is of his conversion; for God will never anoint a man for service to which he has not called him. We are sometimes dismayed when a man steps down from the ministry to follow a lesser calling, but is it not a good thing when he realizes that he had intruded into holy things without divine authority? When a man knows that he knows Christ and is called by him to minister his Word, he must believe the truth and accept the authority of that Word, for himself, and for those to whom he is sent. It is here that what he is and what he believes, however privately, is exposed to the discerning. Men may have private and secret reservations concerning the Word of God, and these not only as to Genesis and science, literalism and infallibility, but with cardinal doctrines, such as holiness or hell. These may never be aired in public, and so the preacher may gain a reputation for evangelical orthodoxy, but there is no converting or edifying power in his preaching. No one is very different for it, nothing much happens. Why not? Because while a man may hide from men, and from himself, what he doubts or disbelieves, he cannot hide it from God, and God will not give his Holy Spirit to those who doubt and disbelieve.

The Spirit’s Sword

There can be no doubt that the underlying secret of fruitfulness in preaching is in one’s attitude to the Word of God. The Word of God is the sword of the Spirit, but when men sheath it in the scabbard of their own limited conceptions and beliefs, it is powerless to do its two-edged work of saving and judging. To listen to and sense the multifarious quibbles, qualifications and guarded cautions with which a preacher hedges his utterances is to understand why the Spirit of God is not let loose among the people. The man does not believe. He strangles the Word he is supposed to be declaring even in preaching it; for it is faith, not un-faith, that brings God down to men. Yet preachers seem so proud of their unfaith. Is it because we think we have the Almighty in a corner bowing to our superior intelligence? Surely it must be because we think we can add something vital or subtract something superfluous, that we hedge with so many reservations and provisos. Think of an eminent scholar and eloquent preacher using nine weaker words apparently to avoid saying that Jesus bore our sins.

How should we think that we are personally involved in the content of the Word of God? We are only errand boys, trusted to be faithful and to deliver what is sent. To tamper with a parcel is grave misconduct on the part of a messenger, and has serious consequences: That we are more than errand boys is a lie of the devil and of our own conceit, for the only living preachers are “dead” ones, who know that they are no more than a “voice” sent to deliver what has been given them, without personal interference.

But there are further considerations. The prophets of old were called not only or always to be “preachers” for a lifetime, but to deliver specific messages (cf. 2 Chron. 20:14). The man who knows Christ and is called to be a prophet may yet find the Holy Ghost “desert” him because he is preaching out of turn or without specific commission. He may be preaching in the wrong place, or from the wrong motive, or the wrong message. He may be powerless for no other reason than that he is not in God’s appointment. He may have left his God-given post for personal or domestic reasons, to please his wife or educate his children or to escape persecutors. Though none of these are trivial reasons, if they do not please God he certainly cannot bless disobedience and has promised that “if ye forsake him, he will forsake you.”

The Sermon Itself

What of the sermon itself? What kind of sermon does God bless? It is not a question of whether it is carefully prepared or not, or written or not, but whether it is the Word of God for the occasion and for the people gathered to hear it. In this connection, although the same sermon may be preached many times because it is a God-given burden on the heart of the preacher, it is doubtful if the same manuscript is adequate to very different occasions. A man may fashion his utterance into an expression which he cannot improve (happy man!) and into which he cannot subsequently read new, deeper or truer insights, but if so, is he not in a dangerous state of “perfection”? It is surely not unworthy of each occasion he preaches the same sermon that he revise it! A well-known preacher nonchalantly stuffed two sermons into his pocket as he set out for a village church, not sure which he would preach and apparently not very exercised about it either. It was not surprising that discerning folk who came from afar to hear him preach were bitterly disappointed at his lack of conviction. We must get the Word for the day and for the occasion. This is not too much for our hearers to ask of us.

Walking In Fellowship

But the Word may be right, and the occasion also, and yet the sermon flat. Is there no end of the considerations that govern effective preaching? They are not few, but this above all—that the preacher be walking in close fellowship with the Lord, all known sin confessed and forsaken, forgiven and cleansed. For each message he must go down again into personal death, and probably into spiritual agony, ere he come up with a living word for his hearers. God will only give his unction to those who do his work in his way.

Unction may not be experienced before the service or even before the sermon begins: it may be quarter, half or more delivered before it seems to grip. It may not seem to grip at all. We must beware subjective judgments on our own work. If we know that all is well as we essay to preach, then we are to go through with it faithfully and leave it with God. Before we begin there may be a burden, or not; there may be coldness of heart that strikes fear into us; there may be accusings of the evil one, or the congregation may be restless, or some disconcerting face may catch our eye, or it may suddenly seem that the Word is inappropriate—the devil has a thousand ways of putting God’s servants off.

But if the preacher knows that he is the man for the moment and has the word for the people, if he has sunk himself into Christ for the message, its preparation, and its delivery, and has also prepared the hearts of his hearers by previous private prayer, he may expect the living Word of God to come forth. And he must believe that it will come forth and that it is coming forth, and must thereafter go home in this steadfast assurance and leave it with God.

No man who fulfils these conditions, however hard or unrewarding or discouraging his task, can ultimately fail. He must succeed, for God is faithful. But the important things are these: He must be sure that the Holy Spirit gave the Word and that only the Holy Spirit can preach it. For the Spirit is not a Preacher, but the Preacher. If we want an audience to applaud us, let us rely on all the tricks we know; but if we want fruit from our preaching, holy and lasting, let us rely on the Holy Spirit.

Paul Harvey was still in knickers and not yet 16 when he made his first radio announcements. After World War II, in which he served as Director of News and Information for the Office of War Information in Michigan and Indiana, his rise to radio fame was meteoric. One station alone received 10,000 requests for his obituary of President Roosevelt, which started, “A great tree has fallen.…” Monday through Friday he is heard over the American Broadcasting Company at 12 noon, CST.

- More from William Still

Cover Story

Christians and the Economic Order

Norman C. Hunt

The Christian Church is under fire from many quarters. The criticisms are legion. A common charge is that Christianity is “out of date” and “irrelevant” to the practical problems of the day, to the so-called “real” issues like war, poverty, color, privilege, totalitarianism and so on. On such issues the Church, it is claimed, is either silent or inconclusive; if she speaks at all, it is with no note of authority or conviction.

Many of these criticisms are mere rationalizations, excuses for indifference towards Christ and his Church. Nonetheless, some are justified. All too often Christians, and perhaps especially evangelicals, have failed to work out the implications of their faith for the urgent, practical problems of daily life. They have been understandably wary of anything which savors of a mere “social gospel,” and anxious to make clear the biblical revelation that man needs not reformation but regeneration. In this the position of the evangelical is unassailable. As George Whitefield, when asked why he so often preached on the text “Ye must be born again,” replied, “Why, simply because ye must be born again.” Ours is a personal Gospel; apart from personal faith in Christ there is no salvation and no true Christianity. Nevertheless this personal Gospel does have social implications and if our witness is to be effective in this sophisticated twentieth century the challenge of these social implications must be faced with courage and a thoughtfulness that is both prayerful and crystal-clear.

Inevitable Involvement

The challenge is inescapable because our involvement in society is inescapable; we are in the world although we are not of it. As Christians we cannot contract out of our social responsibilities, for we are dependent upon our fellows for maintenance of life itself. Moreover, we should not even if we could, for our economic and social activities have their beginnings in the creative work of God. It is of course true that, like the rest of creation, the economic order is subject to the fall and spoiled by sin, which expresses itself so clearly in exploitation and misuse of economic resources, sharp practice, industrial unrest and bad human relations.

In this situation the Gospel is the only answer. However much men may criticize it because of our failure as Christians to realize and live out its fullness, the Gospel is relevant to the economic crisis of our time. After all, the Bible has a great deal to say about our life and responsibilities in society. Writing to the Colossians, Paul has a word for workers and employers: “Servants, obey in all things your masters … not with eyeservice as menpleasers, but in singleness of heart, fearing God; and whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men”; and again, “Masters, give unto your servants that which is just and equal; knowing that ye also have a Master in heaven.” Can anyone deny the vital relevance of such principles of action to the critical problems of labor relations, wages and motivation that bedevil the economic scene today?

Indeed, Paul’s epistles are never exclusively doctrinal; they invariably move on to practical questions of social relationships. The great burden upon the soul of James is that faith may make itself manifest in works of social as well as personal righteousness. Peter’s epistles, written to Christians some of whom were dispossessed slaves suffering under a totalitarian government, are intensely practical and vividly relevant to the social crisis of our own time. In an earlier age Isaiah, Amos and Micah were equally practical. The message of the Old Testament as of the New issues not only in personal salvation but also in social righteousness.

The supreme word for the Christian must be that of the Master himself. In reply to the lawyer’s question as to which was the great commandment, Jesus said, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” Here is a clear principle governing relationship of the Christian to social and economic activities of the community; he must engage in nothing which cannot be done to the glory of God; all his work must be dedicated to the fulfillment of God’s purpose in the world; and his attitude to his fellows, employer, employees, suppliers, customers and all the rest, must be governed by the love of Christ.

The Taint Of Sin

What, in practical terms, are the social implications of the Gospel? First, there is responsibility upon every Christian constantly to seek to relate his faith to the great social, economic and political problems of the day. He must avoid that dualism which, as one historian has put it, empties “religion of its social content and society of its soul.” There are two great dangers here. The liberal tends to argue and act as though the Kingdom of God can be brought in by social reform. He neglects or minimizes two great biblical truths: the sinfulness of man and the second advent of Christ. His solution is often some form of collectivism. On the other hand the evangelical too often makes the truth of the second advent an excuse for inaction in regard to social reform and gives uncritical support to free enterprise capitalism without challenging its imperfections and injustices. Since man is sinful it follows that all forms of human society must be imperfect and marred by sin; the Kingdom can only be fully established by the King, and will be at his coming. It can only do harm to the cause of Christianity to identify it completely with any existing order of society. All are the product of human history and human philosophy and contain features which cannot measure up to Christian standards.

Capitalism Versus Collectivism

That is not to say that capitalism is inconsistent with Christianity. That charge can rather be leveled against collectivism which in all its forms does violence to individual liberty and is unbiblical in its attitude to human sin and self-interest. In an imperfect world it is folly to try to operate a system which is predicated upon a false view of human nature. Collectivism is just such a system. It is based on an unbiblical concept of man. It minimizes or disregards his fallen nature and depends upon motivation which cannot work effectively in a free society made up of sinful men and women. It is hardly surprising, therefore, that attempts to make it work frequently end in loss of human liberty and, ultimately, terrors of totalitarianism.

The Christian, however, cannot simply say that capitalism is Christian and collectivism un-Christian and leave it at that. He must be prepared to admit and seek to remedy manifest imperfections of the system. The best evangelicals have done this down through the centuries. Although the Reformation released springs of individualism which were so essential to development of free enterprise capitalism, Luther denounced with the same vigor that he used against Rome the view that prevails so widely today, that the world of business can be divorced from authority of laws of God. Calvin proclaimed a message which sought not only salvation of the individual but also penetration of the whole of society with the influence of the Christian religion. The Reformed church at Geneva made a great effort to organize an economic order worthy of the Gospel it preached. Calvin’s Institutes declare that no Christian “holds his gifts to himself, or for his private use, but shares them among his fellow members, nor does he derive benefit save from those things which proceed from the common profit of the body as a whole.”

Among the Puritans, to whom our free enterprise economies owe so much, Richard Baxter insisted that the Christian was committed by his faith to certain ethical standards which were just as binding in the sphere of economic activity as in private life. He must do business in the spirit of one conducting a public service; he must not “get another’s goods or labor for less than it is worth” or indulge in “extortion, working upon men’s ignorance, error or necessity.”

Challenge To Social Evils

Many specific social evils have been challenged by stalwart evangelicals. As the late Archbishop William Temple wrote, “the abolition of the slave trade and of slavery itself were political projects; but they were carried through by evangelicals in the fervor of their evangelical faith.” Like Wilberforce and Buxton, the evangelicals who pioneered the abolition of slavery, Shaftesbury, Sadler and Oastler, all evangelicals, were leaders in the campaigns against the social evils of nineteenth-century capitalism. Their work gave Britain much of its legislation for protection of workers, especially women and children, against exploitation in mines and factories. These men and many others such as Barnardo, Muller and Booth, were convinced that the Gospel was not only concerned with the life of the individual but also that of society. They refused to allow their Christianity to be divorced from social problems of their day. Moreover they knew what is too often forgotten nowadays, that social reform without the Gospel of Christ is ineffective, self-frustrating and dangerous. Just as faith without works is dead, so are works without faith.

The clear duty of the Christian in society, then, is to uphold loyally and steadfastly those biblical principles by which all economic and social activity must be judged. He must never allow his faith to be isolated from his conduct as employer, employee or citizen. This is both difficult and costly, but it is essential if his Christian witness is to make sense to the man in the street. Indeed the Christian’s concern with social problems should always be conceived as extension of his witness for Christ and not as an end in itself.

Biblical View Of Vocation

One important aspect of this is the question of Christian vocation in daily work. The distinction often made between those who are in so-called “fulltime service” and those who are not is invalid. Nor is there justification for the view that a layman’s Christian service must be confined to spare-time activities, with his daily work merely providing necessary finance. Every Christian should be in fulltime service, all day and every day, but this does not necessarily mean he has to be a minister or missionary and give up his secular job. Writing to the Corinthians, some of whom were chafing at the apparent limitations of their daily work and were eager to enjoy what seemed to them a wider sphere of service in itinerant preaching, Paul said, “Let everyone abide in the same calling wherein he was called.” Clearly we must not use this as excuse to neglect the claims of the ministry or mission field; the needs there are urgent and those who are called of God must go, but it does mean that Christians must look upon their daily work as a “calling” in which they are to make their witness and which they are not to leave unless clearly called to something else. Evangelicals have a great tradition here for the concept of “calling” was at the very heart of Puritan teaching. God does not call men to withdraw themselves from the world, Puritans taught, but rather to engage in labor for his glory. Wrote Richard Steele, “God doth call every man and woman … to serve Him in some peculiar employment in this world, both for their own and the common good … and let him be never so active out of his sphere, he will be at a great loss, if he do not keep his own vineyard and mind his own business.”

Opportunity For Witness

This attitude to work is sorely needed in the world today. What desperate need there is for Christian politicians, doctors, teachers, business men, foremen, workers and trade unionists. One of the great problems in British labor relations at the present time is that a small number of communists are active in factories and trade unions, exerting an influence out of all proportion to their numerical strength. They are able to do so only because of apathy of the great bulk of trade union members. How different things would be if the many Christians in those same factories and trade unions were ready to take office and bring their Christian influence to bear in this workaday sphere.

Opportunities for Christian witness in journalism and authorship, in national and local government, in business and professions are so obvious and yet neglected. Many people today are outside the reach of church and the minister but are accessible to those who work alongside them in office and factory, who do the same job but in a different way and with more joyous spirit because they have found something more purposeful in life than mere money-making and material security. Many mission fields are closing to professional missionaries, but they remain open to engineers, chemists, architects—the men who do ordinary jobs with extraordinary purpose. This attitude to work as extension of Christian witness is costly; it does not permit slacking or shoddy workmanship, or coming in late because one has been to prayer meeting the night before. The Christian must be a first-rate worker because he is a Christian not in spite of it. As Macaulay put it, “The Methodist revival improved the quality of West of England cloth.”

Christian Stewardship

Finally, the Christian must work out the implications of his faith in terms of stewardship. If it is important that he should be prayerfully responsible in the way in which he earns his income, it is equally important in the way he spends it. This too is in the evangelical tradition. It was the great Puritan Richard Baxter who wrote, “Every penny which is laid out … must be done as by God’s own appointment.” In a free enterprise economy the consumer is sovereign; the way in which he utilizes his income is the prime determinant of the way in which scarce, God-given economic resources are used for production and consumption. Thus the principle of Christian stewardship involves the Christian inevitably in the working of the economic order. He cannot, he must not, live unto himself; he is personally responsible for the effects his economic activities as well as his words have upon others. Although his citizenship is in heaven, he must live and witness in the world of men. For the man in Christ, “all things are become new”; there is no deadly dualism of secular and sacred but a life that is both whole and holy.

END

Dr. Paul S. James is Pastor of The Baptist Tabernacle in Adanta, Georgia.

- More from Norman C. Hunt

Cover Story

Secret of Power: Revive the Prayer Meeting

Alan Redpath

One day a few months ago I opened my mail to find enclosed in a letter from a member of my church an old letter of Dwight L. Moody’s written to his grandfather. Dated Baltimore, October 27, 1878, Moody’s letter was encouraging Mr. Aitchison, sexton, prayer meeting leader, Bible teacher and later senior elder of the old Chicago Avenue Church, to seek through intensive and united prayer fresh blessing from the Holy Spirit both personally and in the work of the church. That letter, quoted below, reveals the great evangelist’s confidence that definite, believing prayer is the means to power.

My prayer is that you may be full of the Holy Spirit. Why should we not lay hold of Matthew 5:6? Surely there is a promise for us and why should we not make it real and enter into its fullness? Acts 1:8 comes to my soul over and over again and it is a mighty blessing to my soul and I trust it will be to you.

Now do you not think it will be a good thing to get all who are hungry for the same blessing together once a week in prayer? I would not give it out in the meetings, but get hold of them one at a time and if you do not get but a few you will find it a great help to you. I hope you will not rest until you get the full blessing. God has a mighty blessing for you and he can use you to do a great work.

I do want to see that church made a power in Chicago for good.

My heart thrilled because Mr. Moody’s burden almost 80 years ago for the church he founded and which now bears his name was also the present longing of my heart.

Our Great Danger

We live in days when our churches are in great danger of substituting busyness, activity, committee meetings, even evangelistic services, for men and women on their knees in travail before God. In so many cases Christian people do not recognize the fact that witness to Christ is inseparably connected with communion with Christ and prayer to God in his name. The result is that in many churches today the midweek prayer meeting has been discontinued altogether. In others it is just another church service where the members sing some hymns, offer a few trite prayers for the success of the church services, then the pastor makes announcements and delivers a small talk.

Prayer Is Warfare

Prayer is not mere prattle, it is warfare; real prayer engages in battle. That kind of prayer God answers: prayer grounded in the Word, founded on the promises and rooted in God’s past dealings. Prayer is not primarily a means of getting something done; it is a concern for the glory of God.

Every week we receive a number of requests for prayer. Is it, however, a reflection upon the general standard of our praying that virtually all of these requests center around physical needs? Seldom do we get a request to pray for a real spiritual issue, a revelation of the will of God, the glory of God in a life, the breaking through of the power of God in hearts. Our prayers are usually asking God to bless the work or to keep us plodding along.

Was prayerlessness on our part the reason that there was a lack of conviction of sinners in our services? I asked myself, were we seeking to do by program planning and committee procedure what could be accomplished only by sacrificial prayer? By that I mean praying which refuses to let go until God blesses. The disciples waited and the power came; we do not wait and the power does not come.

Among the problems that faced us constantly were lack of reality in our personal lives, lack of effectiveness in our witness, lack of effort in our prayers. What we needed were prayer warriors, a few humble, ordinary souls anointed with the fullness of God’s Spirit. That is the ministry through which God convicts of sin, transforms lives and promotes revival.

Even when we prayed, could it be that we were living and acting in such a manner that it was impossible for God to answer our prayers? We can be so aware of sin in the life of the unbeliever, or of breakdown and failure in the life of our brother or sister in Christ, when the Holy Spirit of God is trying to speak to our own hearts and convince us of the sin in our own souls. The secret of every discord in Christian homes and communities and churches is that we seek our own way and our own glory. Obedience and humility are the only attitudes through which God can hear and answer prayer. We cannot in sincerity bring our requests in the name of the Lord Jesus unless we are living so that it is possible for God in righteousness to hear and answer us. If sacrificial living and self-denial cease, then prayer becomes meaningless and righteous conduct impossible.

Some people come to church, even to prayer meeting, carrying the resentment of years, the bitterness of a lifetime, and when they ask God for blessing they wonder why their prayers are not answered. A condition of restored fellowship with Christ is a forgiving spirit and without that there can be no fellowship in prayer with one another. What separations develop, what resentments arise out of injuries and slights, real or imagined! What an appalling revelation of how we love ourselves and how important we think we are!

During the major part of my ministry at Moody Church thus far the emphasis in my preaching has been upon this need for holy living, because it is my deep conviction that only through holiness in the lives of Christians can the unsaved be challenged to come to Christ.

Times Of Refreshing

When individual lives were cleansed and principles of prayer practiced, we noticed increasing burden for prayer spreading throughout our church. We made innovations in our scheduled prayer meetings, the executive committee leading out by setting aside alternate meetings especially for prayer. We created separate prayer meetings for young people and adults and added other periods such as all-night prayer meetings and cottage prayer meetings in an attempt to enlist all the people in some kind of public prayer.

The first of our all-night prayer meetings on New Year’s Eve 1953–54 proved to be such a great time of refreshing and blessing we have had several more. Sometimes we take an hour or two of waiting upon God for special requests following a midweek service. At a night of prayer for foreign missions in connection with one of our missionary conferences the Lord drew very near to us and we were confident that our missionaries felt the impact. We shall never forget the hour spent in praying for revival in the church; truly heaven seemed to open on us and our hearts were melted—there were few dry eyes in that meeting.

Our next step was organizing groups in the homes of our people for prayer and testimony. The need for fellowship, Bible study and prayer among our scattered members was quite sufficient reason for setting up 27 districts for monthly or bi-monthly cottage meetings. Most of the groups started studying the Gospel of John, using a set of guide questions for analysis and personal application. We found this method stimulated helpful discussion and greater participation in study of the Word. A large percentage of time was devoted to ministry of intercession, and virtually all who attended took part in prayer, especially for a gracious visitation of the Holy Spirit upon all the life and ministry of the church. In many ways we witnessed the increasing impact of such prayer.

Charting A New Course

D. L. Moody suggested that Mr. Aitchison seek out one by one those whom he felt shared this burden with him and call them to prayer. I had half a mind to do that very thing, but then I remembered that we met for prayer for revival every Friday morning at seven. That was a difficult time for prayer meeting, of course—very inconvenient; it meant getting up and leaving home very early. For some people it was impossible, but the ten to twenty who came found a family-like spirit of oneness.

In January 1956 we put into operation a new plan for midweek prayer service—a supper fellowship at 5:30, prayer meeting at 6:30 and Bible study at 7:30. The response was most encouraging and the unhurried season of prayer paved the way for an evening of real blessing. By having a smaller group and a smaller room than the 7:30 service, we could hear each other’s prayers and those present felt more freedom in prayer.

However, the young people who came seemed to feel a hesitancy in praying before older people, and the next step was a separate meeting for those under 40. This proved the principle that “you can multiply by dividing,” because within a few months both groups were as large as the original group. “After a single month, the prayer meeting has become an almost indispensable part of our work week,” one young person wrote, “and we can only wonder why we hadn’t done it sooner!”

Praying To God’S Glory

But real prayer is more than just meeting together. The Lord said, “When you pray, do it not to be seen of men.” That applies to public prayer also. Unfortunately, it is all too easy for one or two people to ruin a prayer meeting and deprive others of blessings they might otherwise receive. A prayer meeting is no time for fancy phraseology, unnatural tone of voice, needless repetitions and long drawn-out prayers. Simplicity is a necessary ingredient of prayer and testimony in public gatherings. Above all, we should be thoughtful how we use the name of Deity; it is too sacred to be repeated without veneration or put in terms of human affection. We found that these principles of public prayer had to be emphasized at the beginning of each meeting and sometimes enforced.

When our praying is for his glory and our hearts are drawn together in love to God, in love to Jesus Christ and in love to each other, there is a triumphant note of victory in the church that drives out discord and brings liberty in work and worship. I find in my diary a few months back this entry: “The presence of the Lord has been very manifest today. It has been great encouragement to find our prayer meeting attended by many more people … How constantly we have to be taught that the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”

“Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled,” was D. L. Moody’s conviction and the promise he claimed. Is it yours and mine?

Let us keep our chins up and our knees down—we are on the victory side!

END

The Rev. A. Dallimore, B.Th., is pastor of the Cottam Baptist Church, Cottam, Ontario, Canada. He was for some years editor of The Union Baptist and writes a monthly column for its successor, The Fellowship Baptist. He is a graduate of Central Baptist Seminary of Toronto, and for some years has been doing research on the life of Whitefield in preparation for a new biography to be called, George Whitefield and the Eighteenth Century Revival.

- More from Alan Redpath

Review of Current Religious Thought: August 19, 1957

William A. Mueller

In recent days we have heard a good deal about the revival of the fundamentalist-modernist controversy. Both CHRISTIANITY TODAY and Christian Century have had editorials on this matter. It would be unfortunate if a destructive type of controversy would develop out of this endeavour. Please let us define our terms, beware of over- or understatements of the opponent’s views, and may we have the grace to recognize those as brothers beloved who acknowledge in word and deed Jesus Christ to be Lord and Saviour. That all is not well even among the critical scholars is attested by a discerning article, “The Current Plight of Biblical Scholarship,” by Prof. C. C. McCown (Journal of Biblical Literature, Vol. LXXV, March 1956). But has agreement been reached with regard to the Greek New Testament? McCown speaks of “the dubious predicament of the ‘science’ of biblical exegesis today, a predicament shared with all culture.” He calls for “imagination, original and creative scholarship in the face of danger of failure and defeat.” He writes:

“For 75 years scholars (like ourselves!) have been presenting their most brilliant ideas to the annual meetings and printing them in the Journal of the Society of Biblical Literature. But, not only between the Continent and America, but within the American groups, differences are sharper than ever, partly because of the altered tone of society in general, but partly, perhaps largely, because of the failure of our scholarship to attain assured and agreed results. Our very right to freedom of thought, criticism and expression is under attack in many quarters. Biblical scholarship is most directly involved in the anti-intellectual and anti-liberal movements of the present moment, as well as from those who doubt the value of both history and religion” (p. 13).

Surely, these are serious admissions of failure on the part of a leading critical New Testament scholar. He even goes so far as to say “current ecumenicity highlights, rather than subdues, the contrasts” among students of the Bible. Scholars entertain different conceptions of criticism, principles, methods and results of biblical studies. We ask: is it pertinent to inquire whether or not much of the present plight of so-called higher and literary critical scholarship may be due to a faulty starting point? In other words, scholars since Schleiermacher have not been as objective as they claimed to be. Did not the astute Schleiermacher smuggle Spinoza into Christian theology? Ferdinand Christian Baur, eminent church historian though he was, sees nothing but a nasty struggle in apostolic history.

David Friedrich Strauss, to whom Professor Bultmann seems to be beholden in many ways, radically denied the supernatural element in the Gospel. He defined the faith of the early Church in Jesus Christ as Lord as a myth that crystallized out of the pious wishes of the first Christians. And Strauss, be it remembered, ended finally in gross materialism! Bruno Bauer, left-wing Hegelian, interpreted Christianity as the religion of abstraction. To him Christianity estranges man from kin and kindred, family and people, a charge heard in our day by followers of Nietzsche and Alfred Rosenberg. F. Ch. Baur spiritualizes the fourth gospel, while Strauss sees in it the most sensual gospel.

On the one hand, excessive emphasis on rationality and the historical approach, on the other hand contempt of history and historical facts. One need only read Albert Schweitzer’s The Quest of the Historical Jesus in order to be reminded by that “liberal of a higher order” of the vagaries, distortions and evasions of much of nineteenth-century critical scholarship. And has not Harry Emerson Fosdick in our day admitted the serious flaws of modernism in his sermon “Beyond Modernism” published in the fall of 1935?

But neo-evangelicals have their troubles too. Witness the present controversy between Gordon H. Clark of Butler University and the men around Professor Van Til of Westminster Theological Seminary. We commend to our readers Professor Clark’s article, “The Bible as Truth,” in Bibliotheca Sacra, Vol. 114, April 1957. Clark realizes that theories of truth are notoriously intricate, yet we must somehow achieve a decent biblical epistemology. And Clark is convinced that “truth is characteristic of propositions only.” However, “the thesis that the Bible is literally true does not imply that the Bible is true literally. Figures of speech occur in the Bible and they are not true literally. They are true figuratively. But they are literally true.” Moreover, Clark argues, if God should speak a truth, but speak it so that no one could possibly hear, that truth would not be a revelation. Clark finds it incredible that conservative theologians deny that the Bible, apart from questions and commands, consists of true statements that men can know.

Clark combats the assertion of “The Text of a Complaint,” written by Westminster Theological Seminary teachers, of the absolute qualitative distinction between God’s knowledge of himself and man’s knowledge of God. Clark does not for a moment deny that human knowledge of God is and always will be limited. That is so because men are creatures. The fall has darkened men’s understanding. But, even though men need the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit, men have some understanding of sin and God. There must be some point of similarity between God’s knowledge and our own knowledge of God, otherwise men could never receive anything that God would impart to them in his revelation. “If there could be a truth inexpressible in logical, grammatical form, the word truth as applied to it would have no more in common with the usual meaning of truth than the Dog Star has in common with Fido” (p. 167).

Needless to say that Clark’s position with regard to biblical epistemology has its difficulties as any other theory of knowledge. But it points up the fact that the neo-evangelicals are seriously talking to each other.

Erich Dinkier in “Principles of Biblical Interpretation” (Journal of Religious Thought, Autumn-Winter 1955/56) advocates a synthesis of the older historico-critical method and Karl Barth’s neo-biblicist approach. He writes:

“The historian’s task or question: How did it happen? What are the facts? was not corrected and supplemented by the questions the texts themselves were raising, the questions, How do you decide with regard to Jesus Christ, the proclaimed Son of God? How do you understand your own life before God and in the midst of this world after having encountered the risen Christ, the living Lord, and the Gospel? Disregarding these questions does not result in objectivity but in restricting our insight in falling short of understanding the inner forces and even the very core of the text. All this is done on the basis of a highly subjective conception of objectivity” (p. 26).

In other words, Christian scholars must be “open to self-criticism.” This ought to be true no matter which theological position we espouse.

- More from William A. Mueller

Books

Book Briefs: August 19,1957

Biblical Criticism

Paul Before the Areopagus and other New Testament Studies, by N. B. Stonehouse, Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, 1957. $3.50.

Since 1938 Dr. Stonehouse has been Professor of New Testament, Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia. During the last fifteen years his scholarly New Testament studies have found expression in formal addresses and in print. He has now collected and published seven of these studies in one volume.

Here is the list of subjects discussed: The Aeropagus Address; Who Crucified Jesus? Repentance, Baptism and the Gift of the Holy Spirit; The Elders and the Living-Beings in the Apocalypse; Rudolph Bultmann’s Jesus; Martin Dihelius and the Relation of History and Faith; and Luther and the New Testament Canon.

The author’s strength lies in his comprehensive understanding of the history of biblical criticism and interpretation; a deep conviction that the Bible, if permitted to speak its own message, is self-authenticating; scientific methods and principles of biblical exegesis; and a clear and dignified English style.

Each of the seven messages deals with controversial matters. Here are two examples. Men like Bultmann and Dibelius have contended that Paul’s message before the Areopagus is unchristian: that it contradicts Paul himself in the rest of Acts and his Epistles and also early Christianity as a whole. A second example concerns itself with Jesus’ crucifixion. In 1942 Solomon Zeitlin published a book in which he absolved the Jews from all responsibility in the death of Jesus, claiming that Jesus, like the Jews often in history, was the victim of a ruthless pagan political system.

Dr. Stonehouse shows that these conclusions are not based on facts.

Our author is disturbed by the skepticism and unscientific methods used by some critics in reconstructing biblical history and in re-evaluating the apostolic testimony and proclamation regarding Jesus Christ, resulting in a distrust if not repudiation of the Gospel. He works ably and effectively in defending the New Testament against unfair criticism.

With some justification critics will accuse Dr. Stonehouse of being as one-sided and as blind in facing all facts as he accuses them of being. They must also admit that he makes it necessary for them to be more careful and accurate in handling biblical truth.

These chapters will give helpful information and excellent training to those who are interested in essential and constructive biblical criticism.

WM. W. ADAMS

Expository Approach

Preaching from Great Bible Chapters, by Kyle M. Yates. Broadman, Nashville, 1957. $2.50.

Kyle M. Yates is an eminent Old Testament scholar of conservative and evangelical persuasion. He served on the Revision Committee which prepared the Revised Standard Version of the Old Testament in 1952. After service both in the pastorate and on the faculty of the Southern Baptist Seminary at Louisville, he is presently the “Distinguished Professor of the Bible” at Baylor University.

Preaching from Great Bible Chapters is the third volume of its kind to come from this author’s pen, being preceded by Preaching from the Prophets and Preaching from the Psalms. Yates has selected thirteen prominent chapters from both Old and New Testaments for detailed discussion, among them Psalm 23, Psalm 51, Isaiah 53, Matthew 5, Luke 15, Romans 8, and 1 Corinthians 13. His love for preachers induced him to prepare these studies in the hope and with the prayer that they “will inspire and provide material for at least thirteen good expository sermons.” He is quick to add that he has written equally for the layman in the interests of his fuller understanding of these portions of the Scriptures and his spiritual growth.

As indicated in the above quotation, Yates’ approach is expository. He takes the entire chapter, divides it into major sections on the basis of expressed themes or subjects, and then examines the parts in detail. In this way he provides a thorough analysis, yet always in relation to a central idea, thus giving coherence and structure to the exposition. True to the best expository tradition he is never satisfied to drop his pen after setting forth the contents of a passage, but carefully elucidates its relevance to the life of modern man. Underlying each study is a mastery of the original languages which makes for precision, thoroughness and poignancy. The book has deep spiritual and evangelistic overtones which are the outgrowth of a profound reverence for the Word of God and its basic teachings. It is not a volume of expository sermons, but an aid to the effective preaching of such sermons providing germinal ideas which can be further developed and implemented with illustrative materials. The form of presentation enhances its value for the layman’s devotional reading.

It is refreshing to find an Old Testament scholar of Yates’ stature who unequivocally affirms his faith in the Word of God, who perceives in Isaiah 53 a valid prophetic vision of Calvary and who insists upon the substitionary doctrine implicit in this passage. He does, however, infer his acceptance of the Deutero-Isaiah theory (pp. 116, 119). And at times this reviewer sensed a diluted doctrine of the divine sovereignty. Nevertheless, we commend the author on a noble purpose well achieved.

RICHARD ALLEN BODEY

Moral Principles

Religion in Action, by Jerome Davis, Philosophical Library, New York. $4.75.

This is another book which deals with the matter of the application of morality to practical living. It is written by Jerome Davis, “Author, Educator, Interpreter of Foreign Affairs.” In the preface the author notes that among all the forces operating in our changing world, the most “revolutionary in their potentialities are the moral and spiritual forces available to every human personality.” These, it is said, “must be applied to life,” and that is what this book aims to do. The book is “the culmination of nearly fifty years of study and activity and the conviction that religion and action cannot be separated.”

Jerome Davis seems to have gathered together all the loose ends of “fifty years of study and activity” into this one volume. He treats every conceivable subject relating to human living—from food distribution and consumption and the way parents ought to deal with their children, to communism, the labor movement, racial prejudice and the importance of a religious institution to the life of the community. In no part is the treatment thorough or intensive. It is in the nature of running observation, with free use of quotation, incident, biographical detail. And the treatment is disparate, unorganized, and without clear focus.

Davis believes in God and has high regard for Jesus Christ and the wisdom of the New Testament. For the rest it is difficult to know whether he has any other religious presuppositions than those of a moral God, a moral man, and a moral order that needs attention from moral man who acts under the stimulus and guidance of a moral God. Here is an example of the case for religion in the community, whether that of the “church or synagogue.” A wealthy atheist tried to establish a community without a church. To it gravitated the agnostics, atheists and criminal elements. Families not too religious wanted a church or synagogue to which they could turn, if only for the sake of their children, or perhaps for the social activities of church life. Not finding either, but only saloons and gambling places, the people moved away. Finally the wealthy real estate owner decided, “even though he did not believe in God, that he simply must have a church or a synagogue in the community if he wished to sell his lots advantageously. So in the end he donated land for a church” (pp. 219, 220).

Davis’ discussion of the application of moral principles to everyday living would have been more effective if his treatment were more sharply delineated and his objectives more clearly defined. And it would have been immensely more helpful if he really had a religion (instead of a body of common sense moral counsels) to apply to life.

GEORGE STOB

More Than Bombs

Atoms for the World, by Laura Fermi, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago. $3.75.

This book is for those who like their reading laced with the unusual and for those interested in the social impact of science. Written by the widow of the atomic physicist, Enrico Fermi, it is an account of the first International Conference on the Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy held at Geneva in 1955. While a vast literature of a technical sort has been written for and about this venture, this is the only lay description in book form intended for an audience “whose interest is probably half way between that of the delegates and that of the uninterested public.”

Two years ago, seventy-three nations met in this unique event, held under the direction of the United Nations. It was intended to provide a place for discussion and publicity of the possible uses of atomic energy for peaceful pursuits. It was intended, too, to provide those social contacts between the scientists of diverse nations so necessary for the advancement of science. In both the success was remarkable—particularly so because of the friendly participation of the Communist bloc. The writer, realizing that so worthwhile an event deserved popular description, has excelled in her task, painting admirably and with keen feeling the details, discussions, ideals and ideas behind such a technical venture. We are taken from laboratory to display and lecture to conversation but also from frustration to fulfillment and from the individual to the community of nations; all with delightful and informative ease.

Today, the initial success is manifest in another similar conference planned in the same city for next year. It is also shown in recent ratification by the governments of a number of countries (including Russia and the United States) of the statute creating an international agency on the peaceful uses of atomic energy. Certainly one may question possible outworkings of the latter plan and one may be somewhat skeptical of the dreams of universal peace through science implicit behind both the conference and the agency. One recalls Max Born, the famous German theoretical physicist, recently writing, “In 1921 I believed … the unambiguous language of science to be a step towards a better understanding between human beings. In 1951 I believed none of [this].… Although physicists understood one another well enough across all national frontiers they had contributed nothing to a better understanding of nations, but had helped in inventing and applying the most horrible weapon of destruction” (Physics in My Generation). But with all this, our book does describe the inception of something new—an attempt to use the atom on the international scene for more than bombs. It may foretell greater social participation by the scientific community. It cannot demonstrate that international politics, and even applied science, will not continue to be used for the greed of the few rather than the good of the many.

THOMAS H. LEITH

Natural Development

Principalities and Powers, by G. B. Caird. Oxford University Press, London, $2.40.

Interest in biblical theology is on the increase today. This volume, a study in Pauline theology, is an investigation of that Apostle’s teaching concerning principalities and powers. It reproduces the Chancellor’s Lectures for 1954 delivered at Queen’s University, Ontario, by the Professor of New Testament Language and Literature at McGill University.

True to the task of biblical theology the first three chapters trace the history of Jewish beliefs which contributed to Paul’s demonology. The fourth and final chapter seeks to show in what manner Paul envisaged the Cross as the victory over principalities and powers. Among other things the author concludes that principalities and powers include the powers of state, that the history of the Law which was given and guarded by angels resembles that of Satan himself, and that the victory of the Cross is through revelation, identification and obedience.

While the book is fairly complete as far as the analysis of Pauline teaching is concerned, it leaves much to be desired theologically. In his introduction the author claims that his responsibility is mainly descriptive, which responsibility he has discharged well; but his denial that the consideration of such questions as Does evil exist? Are there personal powers of evil? What is meant by “personal”? are a part of his task is open to serious question. Biblical theology is concerned not only with what was written but also with the thought in the mind of the writer which, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, produced what was written. Certainly the answers to such questions which the author disclaims as part of his task are essential to the unveiling of Pauline thought in these areas.

In spite of this disavowal of responsibility the author in the course of his discussion does answer some of these questions, and it is these answers which make the work theologically inadequate. For instance, he denies the personal character of Satan. Too, and more basic, the author considers Paul’s ideas a result of natural development from his Jewish and Hellenistic background which ideas are set forth entirely in mythological language. This does not leave much room for Paul’s thought and writing to be moulded by revelation, nor does it predicate real substantial existence of these spirit beings which assume such a large place in Pauline theology.

CHARLES C. RYRIE

Teen-Age Problems

For Teen-Agers Only, by Frank Howard Richardson, M. D., Tupper and Love, New York, 1957. $2.95.

The market is being flooded with books having to do with the psychological approach to the various age groups, so much so that in many instances the psychiatrist’s couch has been substituted for the mourners’ bench.

When a physician who is a recognized authority in the field of child psychology is also a Christian it is fortunate that he is further gifted with the ability to write. For Teen-Agers Only is a book Christian parents can safely put in the hands of their own children faced with mounting teen-age problems, for it is sane, wholesome and frank.

One of the problems of young people today is that of “going steady,” with all of the emotional as well as physiological factors which may be involved. In this book Dr. Richardson, using hypothetical cases and names and a dialogue method, keeps the interest of the reader and makes one feel as though he were participating in the discussions.

Heartily recommended.

L. NELSON BELL

Competent Guide

Commentary on the Gospel of Mark, by Joseph Addison Alexander. Zondervan, Grand Rapids. $5.95.

Joseph Addison Alexander, son of the illustrious Archibald Alexander, who organized Princeton Theological Seminary in 1812, taught in the same seminary almost continuously from 1830 to 1860, the year of his death. His long teaching career covered most of the departments of the theological discipline. He was a man of consummate scholarship, a linguist, even from his childhood, of extraordinary ability and a teacher and preacher of exceptional parts. His massive erudition, which made him conversant with the Bible in its entirety, was constructively used in the defense and exposition of Holy Scripture.

Alexander’s commentaries on Isaiah and the Psalms, previously reviewed in CHRISTIANITY TODAY, have perhaps contributed more to the author’s fame as an exegete than the present commentary under review. It will be evident, however, that the reader will find in the present work, written in clear and crisp English which make reading a pleasure, those features of Alexander’s abilities which have made his writings the joy of the Bible-believer and the envy of the liberal.

The reader will not find in these pages a constant parade of names representing this or that view or opinion, as is customary in some commentaries; but, as a blessed compensation, he will soon feel that he is in the hands of a competent guide who is able to lead him through this Gospel with a stronger and more intelligent faith than that with which he began.

In Alexander you know you have an expositor who believes the Bible to be the word of God. His view of inspiration is high (e. g., pp. 136, 184, 308). He never finds mistakes and contradictions in the Gospels (e. g., pp. 86, 171, 209, 332, 393, 438). He constantly, though not obtrusively, defends Mark’s historicity and trustworthiness against the then current schools of “neologists” and “German sceptics.” If one has grown tired of the sultry commentaries by modern writers who think of Mark as little more than a bad copyist and a worse historian, Alexander will come as a refreshing and reviving breeze from the past.

The conservative Christian will rarely find a place in this excellent commentary where he will disagree with the learned author. In hardly one place has the reviewer placed a question mark in the margin of his copy to indicate dissent. Alexander is always eminently fair; his conclusions, based upon a judicious spirit of unquestioned sincerity, are always reasonably valid.

It is little wonder, then, that Zondervan Publishing House feels justified in reprinting this “classic commentary” in its “Classical Commentary Library.” Resurrected just before its centennial anniversary (1958), this commentary will be a delight to a new generation of Christians who, not knowing the author in the flesh, will surely feel that they know the spirit of this prince of American exegetes.

WICK BROOMALL

Devotional Study

The Story of the Cross, by Leon Morris. Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, 1957. $2.00.

A devotional study of Matthew’s inspired record of the events of the last half of Passion Week (Matt. 26–28) forms the content of this volume by Leon Morris, Vice-Principal of Ridley College, Melbourne. The material, with the exception of the final chapter on the resurrection, was given as a Lenten series in 1956.

Avowedly designed and presented to a general Christian audience, the book is simple and popular in content and in tone. At the same time it reflects an extensive substratum of solid exegetical scholarship and wide research in the pertinent literature.

Perhaps it is expecting too much of a book which covers such well-plowed ground to unearth any startlingly new or refreshingly different insights, but the persistent impression of this work is—good but prosaic. For a devotional volume it is almost coldly analytical in its approach and too didactic in its method.

The meaning of the sacrificial death of the Lord Jesus Christ and the reality of his bodily resurrection are clearly stated. With these doctrines no orthodox Christian would find fault. But many would dispute Morris’ sacramentarian view of ritual baptism as a means of grace which is essential for entrance into the Church.

JOHN A. WITMER

Far East News: August 19, 1957

New Patterns

Climaxing 75 years of some of the most fruitful work in the history of modern missions, the Korea Mission of the Northern Presbyterian Church will dissolve itself as an administrative body in 1959 or 1960. The agreement was worked out between the Presbyterian Church in Korea, the Mission and the Board of Foreign Missions (Presbyterian U.S.A.), and adopted by the Mission at its annual meeting this summer. The “mission” as such will be gone but the missionary will be as indispensable as ever.

This “euthanasia of the mission,” as it has been called, opens a new pattern of integrated missionary approach to the uncompleted task of winning Korea for Christ. Missionary and Korean colleagues alike will be under the direction of the Korean church’s judicatories.

Mission leaders pointed out that the dissolution of the mission will be no emergency or revolutionary step, but rather the accomplishment of the goal set by the missionary pioneers who acknowledged that the mission they organized was like a scaffolding which should be removed as the building—the church—rose to completion.

Today, two out of every three of Korea’s 1,288,000 Protestants are Presbyterian, and over half a million of these belong to the Presbyterian Church in Korea. (Two smaller bodies, the Koryu Presbyterian Church and the Presbyterian Church in the R.O.K., are not affected by the agreement.) The church has been self-governing and independent of the mission since its organization in 1907, and the work of the missionaries within the presbyteries has been directed by the presbyteries. Since 1945 the schools and institutions of the mission have been under boards of directors controlled by the church. Since 1956 the work budget has been in the hands of a joint church-mission conference.

The new agreement simply adds two further steps to what has already been accomplished in the transfer of authority from the foreign mission to the younger church. The mission will disappear and the assignment of missionaries and the preparation even of special budgets will now be made by the Korean church through its proposed Department of Cooperative Work, which, however, will include missionary representation. American personnel will be organized as a Missionary Fellowship to oversee matters of missionary health, furloughs, language study and residence. Direct liaison between the Korean church and the Northern Presbyterian Church will be maintained through the latter’s field representative, Dr. Edward N. Adams.

Fears that the dissolution of the mission means the end of the missionary, and that church control of foreign aid means abandonment of the Korea Mission’s historic “Nevius policy” of self-support, self-propagation and self-government in the younger church, were met by a statement of three governing principles. The first, “the principle of the giving of life,” underlines the continuing importance of the missionary. “In the relationship between churches in different lands,” it states, “the most important element is the giving of life.… The giving of funds is secondary. The reversal of this order can be fraught with spiritual danger to both the giving and the receiving church.”

The second, “the principle of stewardship,” emphasizes self-support. “A Christian church must support financially its own governing body, its own officers, offices and ecclesiastical activities to remain a spiritual, vital and independent church. Only after this is done can a church receive aid for its institutions and projects from sister churches without danger to its own moral integrity and independence of action.”

The third, “the principle of administration of aid,” outlines the balance in partnership which characterizes missions in the day of the rise of the younger churches. “A sovereign, independent church has the right to decide for itself when aid from sister churches is no longer needed. As long as that aid is continued, however, personnel from the sister church shall participate on the church committee which assigns work and disposes funds provided by that sister church.”

The two other missions which are working in cooperation with the Presbyterian Church in Korea—the Southern Presbyterian and the Australian Presbyterian—are taking somewhat similar but less radical steps toward closer integration with the Korean church.

—S.H.M.

Army Promotion

General Sun Yup Paik, a hero of the Korean War and commanding officer of the First R. O. K. Army, accepted Christ and was baptized last year by Dr. Kyung Chik Han of Seoul’s Yong Nak Presbyterian Church. He was promoted recently to the post of Army Chief of Staff.

Vatican Ambassador

The first Philippine ambassador to the Vatican has recently been appointed by President P. Garcia.

For several years Catholic groups have been urging such a selection. They found the late President Magsaysay sympathetic to their idea and the creation of the Vatican embassy was approved by Congress last year. Due to strong opposition the law was not acted upon until this year.

Dr. Jose Ma. Delgado, medical practitioner and prominent Catholic lay leader, was named for the post. His appointment was hailed in Catholic circles and many believe that his designation may soon lead to the appointment of a Filipino cardinal. Reports from Rome for the past two years give speculation to the probability that the Pope might name a cardinal from the East. If the pontiff names a Filipino cardinal, it may be Msgr. Rufino J. Santos, Archbishop of Manila.

Protestant leaders in the Philippines view the Vatican appointment as another indication of the strength of the Catholic hierarchy in the Philippines.

—E.C.

Near East News: August 19, 1957

W.M.M

Lives Of Service

Iranian government officials and the people have shown unusual appreciation for the work of Dr. Rolla E. Hoffman and his wife, Dr. Adelaide Kibbe Hoffman, who are finishing their missionary service for the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A.

Dr. Hoffman went to Iran in 1915. He treated multitudes of sick people in Meshed, Eastern Iran and in 1947 transferred his work to Resht, near the Caspian Sea. Mrs. Hoffman began her missionary career at Meshed in 1929 and has spent 20 years in Resht, ministering to women and children. She is greatly beloved.

The Iranian governor general of the province arranged a farewell meeting in the city hall. A number of leading citizens were invited. The governor praised Dr. Hoffman as a “man of God” and lauded his years of selfless service to the people of Iran. He said photographs of the occasion would be placed in all the hospitals of Resht as a memorial to the Hoffmans.

An old and highly respected citizen of Resht, a Moslem by faith, expressed his appreciation in these words, “Dr. Hoffman has fully revealed in his life and work the spirit and teaching of Jesus Christ.”

—W.M.M.

- More from W.M.M

Europe News: August 19, 1957

A City Divided

The following special report on Berlin was written forCHRISTIANITY TODAYby Dr. Harold B. Kuhn, Professor of Philosophy of Religion at Asbury Theological Seminary. Now on leave, he has divided his time between the United States and Europe for the last nine years.

This city, surrounded by the Soviet Zone of Germany, is a focal point in the struggle between East and West. As a city divided, its two halves seem somehow to sum up that struggle. In the relationship between the two parts, one sees reflected the tug-of-war between the forces of the free world and those of the Soviet Union, the stakes being control of Western Europe and ultimately the rest of the free West.

The “Greater Berlin” of a generation ago exists only as a memory, or else as a dream of the future. Berlin has always been a collection of villages and its status as a first-class city is a relatively new one. Now the outer settlements have been incorporated in the Soviet Zone of Occupation (ironically called “The German Democratic Republic”). West Berlin contains 12 out of the remaining 20 boroughs and 2.2 million people.

Left a shambles at the close of World War II, Berlin lacked the materials needed for rapid rebuilding. The coming of the blockade of 1948–49 and of the “cold war” arrested the reconstruction of West Berlin, which had been begun on a modest scale. The hardening of the zonal division of Germany and of the partition of Berlin, which the exceedingly vital currency reform of early 1948 precipitated, created in West Berlin a new sense of solidarity with the West. General Lucius Clay was a hero in those days, no less than Mayor Ernst Reuter.

Today the two halves of Berlin reflect respectively the differing standards of living of the Communist world and the free world. On the one hand, West Berlin is being rebuilt on a scale which is surprising when measured against her difficulties. Shop windows are full of first-line merchandise. New shopping areas are springing up, rivaling the long-famous Kurfurstendamm. Parks and recreation areas are being built with remarkable speed.

In East Berlin, however, there is little general rebuilding. While Stalinallee (Stalin Avenue) is rebuilt as a show-place, elsewhere each tries to hold on to what he had. In the rather outdated apartments of Stalinallee are “family collectives” for “reliable people’s democrats”—i.e., Communist party activists.

The East Berlin government faces the West with increasing toughness of outlook and method. To the regime of Ulbricht, Grotewohl and Pieck, everything is charged with political meaning. Every association and every movement is measured by the possible impact which it may have upon the political strength of the satellite government. Bishop Otto Dibelius has just expressed to this writer and his wife the view that, with the events in Hungary and Poland, the East Berlin government is pressed by the Kremlin to assume the role of the “most reliable satellite.” The Soviet masters have been abruptly shaken in other parts of their empire and seem determined to firm up the rim of their holdings.

Sheer cynicism seems to guide Red Boss Walter Ulbricht. Himself a creature of the Stalin era at its worst, he has just hastened to approve Khrushchev’s expulsion of Stalinists from their deputy pre-mierships. The constant parade of slogans in East Berlin likewise reflects an utter disregard for truth and fact.

From this vantage point, one sees the day-and-night struggle of Communism for the minds and souls of men. This struggle is waged with special vigor for the loyalties of the youth. Just now the most vicious attack at this point is that posed by the Jugendweihe or Youth Consecration. This is a secular version of religious confirmation and is urged upon all teen-agers as a patriotic duty. The church, both Protestant and Catholic, has responded with a clear assertion that no youth could receive both church confirmation and “Youth Consecration.” This writer has good reason to believe that even in the strongly industrialized areas the Reds’ “Consecration” ceremony is affecting but a small minority, while in many smaller towns no youth has participated in it.

The pressures, exerted in the name of patriotism, are fierce as they are brought to bear upon the youth in the cities. The entire ritual leading up to this ceremony is so offensive to the Christian conscience that it is small wonder that both Protestant and Catholic leaders have declared that the one who submits to it commits sin against the Christian faith.

Another point of struggle has been the question of whether the German Protestant church should furnish a chaplains corps for the new West German army. This has been a bitterly contested point in both West and East Germany. The opposition has felt that to provide chaplains is to give church consent to a remilitarized Germany. The viewpoint of such leaders as Bishop Dibelius has been that since the West German army is a fact, its men deserve moral and spiritual care.

It is significant that in the Lutheran church the percentage of ministers voting for a chaplains corps was higher in East Germany than in the West. This has perplexed and angered the East German government so greatly that it constitutes a major point of friction with the church.

At this moment the church plays a role which is umpire among the institutions of East Germany. She is the only effective link between the two halves of the divided country. Despite overpowering difficulties and an ever-changing pattern of harassments, the church manages to maintain some of her contacts and to keep open the traffic of ideas.

Again, the church is the only effective agency of opposition to the tyranny of the East Berlin government. Her leaders are frequently subjected to restrictions upon travel back and forth, and are compelled to struggle daily against heartbreaking problems. Yet they maintain a calm dignity as an opposing force.

Dr. Otto Dibelius, Bishop of Berlin and Brandenburg, stands in an especially significant place in this respect, since his area of responsibility includes the whole of Berlin and the administrative province of the Communist government that surrounds it. He has shared with the writer some of the difficulties with which his office is beset. Yet amid these he maintains the standard that “we must obey God rather than man” with a calm dignity born of faith.

No one who is well informed will predict an easy triumph of the church in this struggle. To the contrary, the situation promises that the East German church may live in the crucible of testing for some time. Yet she stands as a sentinel in the dark night of communist rule, awaiting with hope the dawn of a more felicitous day.

Ireland News: August 19, 1957

S. W. M

Sub-Christian

The Rev. Wesley McKinney, president of the Irish Methodist Church, informed the recent conference that the prevailing climate of opinion in Ireland is, at best, sub-Christian.

“The dominant religion of the greater part of Ireland,” he said, “is authoritarian and obscurantist. The ethical standards accepted are often denials of Christian truth and love.”

He added:

“The supreme task of Methodism everywhere is to make disciples and to spread Scriptural holiness throughout the land.”

The Methodist Church in Ireland, like other religious bodies, is not divided by the political border.

Speakers at the Portstewart Convention in the North of Ireland included Dr. Alan Redpath, pastor of Moody Church, Chicago, and Dr. William Fitch, pastor of Knox Church, Toronto. This Convention is the largest of the “daughter” meetings of Keswick Convention scheduled for the middle of July.—S.W.M.

- More from S. W. M

South America News: August 19, 1957

W.D.B.

Argentina Progress

A young Scotsman, John F. Thomson, preached a sermon in Spanish from the pulpit of the American Methodist Church at Buenos Aires in 1867. He probably did not realize that he was making history.

Ninety years later evangelicals from many different denominations and missions gathered on the anniversary to praise God for all that had been accomplished.

Evangelical forces in Argentina are much smaller than those in the sister republic, Brazil, but they are making themselves felt in the life of the nation. They number about 500,000 out of a population of nearly 20 million. The largest work, numerically, is probably that of the Plymouth Brethren, known in Argentina as “Free Brethren.” More than 200 assemblies are spread over the country. The Southern Baptists come second and the Methodists third. Many other groups are at work, among them some very vigorous Pentecostal churches.

Several restrictions imposed on Protestants by the Peron regime have been lifted by the present government. It is now possible to hold street meetings in many Argentine cities and the Gospel is once more preached by radio. The “Index of Non-Catholic Cults,” a Peron creation which put all evangelicals under police supervision, is dead and is to be abolished this year.

On the other hand 12 new Roman Catholic bishoprics have been created with the object of “strengthening those who are struggling against Protestantism, Communism and Secularism.”

—A.C.

Colombia Picture

Things looked brighter for Protestants in Colombia after the executive committee of the Evangelical Confederation obtained a friendly interview with a special commision named by the government to discuss and define the question of religious liberty.

The conversations were carried on in a spirit of sympathy and understanding. As a first step toward establishment of rights for the evangelical minority, the government spokesmen promised to restudy the directives on the subject issued by the ousted Rojas Pinilla regime.

At Barranca Bermeja, however, the Four-Square Gospel Church, largest Protestant congregation in Colombia, was again closed by order of government officials only two weeks after it had opened its doors for the first time in over a year.

Although the church boasts a membership of over 1,000 and is located in a bustling oil-refinery town, its right to existence is denied by government officials who claim that the terms of Colombia’s Concordat with the Vatican prohibits the gathering to worship in non-Roman Catholic churches when these gatherings are located in “mission territory”—large tracts of land, comprising three-fourths of the nation, turned over exclusively to the church of Rome for development.

To spearhead its “campaign against Communism and Protestantism in Latin America,” according to Vision magazine, the Vatican has decided to establish in Bogota a central episcopal office (CELAM) similar to the National Catholic Welfare Conference office in Washington, which will develop a common strategy and coordinate the activities of the bishops, the religious orders and the Latin American lay organizations.

“In Vatican circles, the progress of Protestantism in Latin America is considered to be alarming,” explains Vision, “and this is attributed to the acquisitive power of the dollar. Well-equipped Protestant schools, the widespread distribution of pamphlets and Protestant reading matter, the powerful Protestant missions and the possibility that future directors of these missions may study and be trained in Latin America itself, are the principal factors which contribute to the spread of Protestantism in Mexico, Central and South America.”

One major purpose of the new CELAM office will be to establish contact with Catholic populations abroad in an effort to bring into Latin America more priests and missionaries.

—W. D. R.

- More from W.D.B.

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