Ideas

Pulpit and Pew: An Appraisal

The Minister Looks At The Pew

Mixed feelings possess the minister in his appraisal of the pew, the source of his joy and distress. The virtues and excellencies of the congregation sustain his spirit; the defects and imperfections weigh down his soul. The pew displays the paradoxes of loyalty and indifference, knowledge and ignorance, humbleness and pride, generosity and covetousness, warmth and coldness, sincerity and hypocrisy, good and evil. The spiritual and the natural are both in evidence.

Surely one of the gratifying virtues in the life of a congregation is loyalty. Whether the church is at peace or beset with troubles, whether the church is prosperous or destitute, a band of devoted members exhibits resolute loyalty. Difficult situations beset the life of almost every congregation but are overcome by the steadfast and the unmovable. The minister, too, benefits from this virtue. Whether his gifts be many or few, whether his sermons be worthy of praise or blame, loyal support rejoices his heart.

Of inestimable value to church and minister is the inner circle of spiritual Christians found in every congregation. They hunger and thirst for the Word; they hold up the ministry in prayer; they serve generously with their tithes and time. Appreciative, not critical, tolerant—they form an oasis in what sometimes seems a barren land.

In spite of the presence of those who hunger for the Word, a shock early in the ministerial life is the awakening realization that the majority in the pew have no desire for a deeper knowledge of the Scriptures. Even some of the soundest evangelical congregations have little appetite for the meat of the Gospel. Nor may the preacher presuppose any diligent study on the part of the pew in preparation for the message. He must make the message light and airy to sustain interest. He knows that nominal Christians prefer vague generalities, enhanced by the eloquence of Athens, and have no taste for the soul-searching truths of Jerusalem.

Piety displays itself in many varieties before the eyes of the pastor. He beholds that ceremonial and ritual piety which does not go beyond the outward rites of the Church. He perceives with sadness that sabbatical piety which limits religion to the first day of the week. He views with alarm that negative piety which consists only of a series he observes the “holier than thou” piety which refuses to mingle with publicans and sinners. He deplores the noisy piety that glories only in the ostentatious and vain-glorious display of statistics and visible results.

In striking contrast to pseudo-piety, the minister discovers a proper piety that constantly grows in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ. He perceives that those who grow spiritually are those who cultivate the means of grace. Humbleness and consciousness of imperfection distinguish them from the proud and self-righteous. They bear injuries and provocation with meekness. Fruits of the Spirit become increasingly evident in their lives. Charity toward others is more than sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. They sincerely seek to give pre-eminence to Christ. For this genuine piety the minister praises God.

To his distress, the minister discovers that the loyalty of the pew often consists in a loyalty to the local church only. Local programs find warm-hearted support whereas the world-wide program of evangelization, initiated and commanded by the Head of the Church, finds only cold-hearted indifference. Indeed, if his efforts to inspire a world-wide vision are constantly defeated, the flaming ardor of the undershepherd is in danger of being quenched by the coldness of the flock.

Puzzling is the pew’s attitude that the battle for souls and the fight against evil should be waged by the minister alone. The notion prevails that the preacher alone must draw the sinner into the church and cleanse the community of evils. Military battles are not fought by the officers alone. Yet the battle against evil is a thousand times more important and difficult. Christ gave no statement, “the ministry is the salt of the earth.” Nor did He command, “Go ye, clergy, and make disciples of all nations.” Yet that is the prevailing impression on the part of the pew.

The pulpit must constantly guard against those who would secularize the Church by changing it into a social club. The pew may be motivated by a desire to attract the ungodly into the church. “See,” they say in effect, “we are not so narrow or unworldly as reputed. We have the same pleasures you enjoy.” However, the minister knows that the way for Christians to attract the unchurched is not by aping their pleasures but by proving that the Christians’ pleasures are infinitely superior. The Church should be known as the source of spiritual comforts and pleasures for which many in the world hunger and thirst. Would that the passion of the pew were to make the world spiritual rather than the church worldly!

Embarrassing to the minister are questions pertaining to stipend. He takes heart, however, in observing that even the secular press is sounding the alarm about the inadequate compensation of ministers. “The noblest profession of them all” is the estimation often heard, but the insincerity of that phrase on the lips of some is seen in their modest reimbursement of the “noblest,” in contrast with their compensation of other professional men, for instance, the lawyer or physician. Perhaps such reluctant supporters regard estates and bodies of greater value than souls. A Puritan divine made the telling comment that pastors should have tithes that they may have a fellow feeling of the people’s loss, and a fellow comfort in their increases. The Lord made adequate provision for the priest of the old dispensation; the church should do likewise for the minister of the new.

The empty pew, alas, cannot be overlooked. It confronts the vision of the minister constantly. It is a silent yet expressive witness of a preference for the radio and television above the pulpit. It attests to the increasing number of Sunday leaves of absence. The empty pew becomes vocal only at Easter and Christmas—with groans caused by unaccustomed loads. Like a tombstone the empty pew gives cemeterial atmosphere to the church. It witnesses of the dead.

Bitterness, wrath, envyings, strife, faction, and divisions pervade the church in the twentieth century as well as in the first century. These sins are engendered often by the union of petty spirits with small-mindedness. Until the world can say “How these Christians love one another” instead of “How these Christians dislike one another,” Christianity can make no deep impact on the life of the world. Jerome records the tradition that when the apostle John was old and feeble, he was carried by young men to the meetings. He could no longer say much, but he repeated the words, “Little children, love one another.” When asked why he constantly repeated the same words, he would reply, “Because this is the command of the Lord, and because enough is done if but this one thing be done.”

Would that the evaluation of the twentieth-century church were written by Him whose “eyes were as a flame of fire.” He would write of the labor, of the patience, of the zeal, of the tribulation, of the faithfulness, and of the charity evidenced in the life of the membership. Also He would write of the abatement of first love, of the avarice of modern Balaams, of the toleration of heresy, of the decline of good works, of the submission to seductive Jezebels, of the deadness, of the lukewarmness, and of the miserable poverty of those rich in material goods but poor in spirit.

A Layman Looks At The Pulpit

That the pew should look and listen to the pulpit with an appraising eye and an evaluating ear is only proper. What minister would desire an audience so docile and wooden as to take stolidly all that might be preached without a critical analysis of the message? At Berea, the Apostle Paul was stimulated by hearers who searched the Scriptures daily to see whether he was preaching the truth. An enlarged number of spiritual descendants of those Berean Christians would prove a blessing to both pew and pulpit.

It is Sunday morning and we sit in the sanctuary, quietly and restfully. The setting is of minor importance. Whether severe in simplicity or cathedrallike in beauty, no aesthetic or worshipful atmosphere can, of itself, supply the spiritual needs of mankind.

Who is sitting in the pews? Men and women, a cross section of the complex and cosmopolitan world of which we are a part. Some are in financial straits; others more fortunate. Some have social and educational advantages; others lack both. Here may be people with skin of varying color. None of these differences is of eternal import, for only two kinds of people occupy the pews this morning: those who have a saving relationship with Jesus Christ, and those who have not.

But can our complicated lives be so easily catalogued? Do not men and women have multiplied problems? Do not Christians represent varied stages of development in Christian faith and living? Do not these obvious variants in experience demand from the pulpit an erudite and all-encompassing concept of the Christian ministry and its message?

There are some in the pew today who feel that preaching has tended to complicate rather than to simplify the Gospel message. By dealing so much with the fringe results of sin in disordered lives, it has obscured the basic need of every human heart. Some hearers would call this an attempt to treat symptoms rather than the disease that causes the symptoms.

The layman needs biblical teaching, and the average layman wants it. He needs a dynamic for daily living, not simply an ethic a little loftier than his own highest aspirations. He needs as much to be told where he can get the power to do the thing he knows to be right, as to be told what to do.

Looking over the Sunday morning congregation, made up of only two kinds of people, the redeemed and the unredeemed, we are moved to reflection. Are not hundreds of sermons wasted, at least in part, because they are instructing non-Christians how to act like Christians?

Admittedly, to insist that all sermons be directed to those in need of conversion would be foolishness. Much of the minister’s work must, of necessity, center in developing Christians in their knowledge of Christian truth and in living as Christians should. But many a layman, as he thinks back to his own admission into church membership, knows that there was no conversion experience with Christ. In fact, it is only too likely that he responded to an impersonal invitation to “join the church,” nothing more.

Now, sitting quietly in the pew, what is the message he hears? What is the content of that message? What is the basis for the sermon? Whence comes its authoritative note, if any? Some who listen may be impressed by oratory, by impeccable pulpit manners, by obvious scholarship, by a clear familiarity with world affairs. But the average member of any congregation has a soul hunger for spiritual bread, that not even a glittering homiletical stone can satisfy.

It is axiomatic, and should not need emphasis, that human wisdom can never compensate for divine truths. When preaching is saturated with and centered in the simple affirmations of the Scriptures, carrying with them an authority, a power, and a transforming quality, men’s souls are fed. When this sacred source of wisdom is ignored, people go away hungry.

Preaching takes many forms, topical, doctrinal, expository, and so forth; all are needed. But preaching is real only when centered in the divine revelation that is the Word of God. Paul called Scripture the sword of the Spirit. It is still quick and powerful; it still convicts and convinces; it still lays bare the inmost secrets of the human heart; it still shows man both how to live and also how to die and live forever.

The pew serves no good purpose when it contributes to an excessive sense either of ministerial insecurity or of security. Some occupants of the pew criticize their pastor, no matter how well he preaches or how faithfully he serves them. Others would gush over the preacher if he got up and repeated a nursery rhyme in a pleasing tone with soft modulation.

Over against these two extremes is that great majority who sit and take whatever is given them, either rejoicing or suffering in silence. The consecrated layman, however, belongs neither in the scorner’s seat, nor in the gulley of the gushers, nor in the valley of affliction.

The layman has a right to expect certain things from the pulpit. We would suggest five.

Simplicity. The man in the pew is not trained technically in theological terms, nor should this be necessary. Even the most profound doctrines can be presented so that the layman can understand them. The simplicity of the Gospel message should never be forgotten.

Authority. The Christian message has a basis in authority, the authority of the Scriptures in which God has spoken by the Holy Spirit. Without such authority, something is lacking, and the pew is easily affected by the deficiency. The preacher needs the authority derived from God Himself and His revealed truth if he would speak to the hearts and lives of other men. The biblically based “Thus saith the Lord” still impresses the hearer more than the profoundest opinions of men.

Power. Power in preaching depends on the presence of the Holy Spirit, both in the preparation and in the delivery of the sermon. For such power—and in human terms it is something both intangible and inexplicable—there is no substitute. Human wisdom, oratorical flights, literary style, personal opinions, all will soon be forgotten. God’s presence in a sermon is imparted to its hearers and carried away in the heart. On such power from the Holy Spirit rests the hope for a repetition of the experience of the men on the Emmaus road: “Did not our hearts burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the Scriptures?”

Urgency. This urgency is not one of a possibly imminent world cataclysm. Nor is it an urgency having to do with physical, economic, or social wellbeing, important as these may be. The Christian ethic, as a matter of personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and as a way of life, is the most important decision with which man can be confronted. Until the issue between God and man is settled aright there can be no right solution of man’s problems with man. Jesus expressed the urgency of His own mission to this world in the arresting phrase “should not perish, but have everlasting life.” “Perishing” is a desperately serious matter, and finding the way to prevent it is certainly a matter of the greatest urgency. The second phase of the Christian faith—how to live as a Christian—is also a matter of urgency. In both matters the pew needs to capture this sense of urgency from the message of the pulpit.

Decision. A good salesman works for a decision. A good agent for Jesus Christ does the same. We laymen need to face up to the universal need for such a decision. Only too often we find ourselves confronted with an invitation to “join the church.” Such a step is a vitally important matter, but man’s first decision has to do with the acceptance of Jesus Christ—WhoHe is and what He did. Many of the problems in individual lives, and in the church, stem from the fact that only too often such a decision has never been made. There are many subsequent decisions the Christian must make; in fact, they must be made daily. When Christianity becomes a vital reality to the individual, such decisions inevitably follow.

Finally, the pew should look at the pulpit through eyes and from a heart that has prayed for the one standing there as a messenger of God. In a true sense, he stands as a dying man preaching to dying men. He needs and deserves the sympathetic understanding and prayerful support of those to whom he ministers.

The Church moves forward as pew and pulpit unite in one common faith and purpose: to know Christ and to make Him known.

***

The Christian And Political Responsibility

Differing from any other in the world, the American political scene reaches heights of asininity and of greatness, of fiction and fact, which can easily confound even the most astute.

Despite the defects of political controversy, every American should be thankful that, by and large, the charges and counter charges of political campaigns are projectiles of hot air, not lead, and should glory in the fact that he can vote.

In such an atmosphere Christians, along with all others, can be carried away easily by personalities, emotion, and distortion. In the face of these campaign pressures we need the sobering effect of clear judgment, a judgment possible only by looking at candidates and policies with Christian objectivity.

An increasing number of individuals refuse blindly to follow the dictates of a particular party. This is a wholesome trend. There is always a danger, even in a republic, of unwittingly absorbing the totalitarian philosophy of letting someone else do one’s thinking.

It should be axiomatic that a Christian should be a good citizen. Unfortunately, such is not always the case. One outstanding Christian recently metaphorically threw up his hands in disgust: “Why vote? There are but two alternatives—creeping socialism under different labels.” No doubt there is the danger that a large vote enables each party to claim a mandate from the people for compromise measures. But, in a democracy, where free speech is accorded each citizen, and where all can vote according to the dictates of their own wills, the government one ultimately lives under is the government of his own making or neglect.

Other Christians, with a wistful idealism, see the world through the thick lenses of an earth-bound pessimism. Because no particular candidate meets their idealistic concept, they may be inclined to stay away from the polls and in so doing, their idealism is dissipated into the thin air of wishful thinking.

What should a Christian do?

He should exercise his privilege of voting. The secret ballot is a privilege which millions are denied today, and for which many would make any sacrifice.

The Christian should also look both at candidates as individuals and at the policies they espouse. Let him admit realistically that in this world there are no perfect candidates, nor are there perfect governments.

What should the Christian look for? Is the candidate a man of moral rectitude? Does he look upon his office as deriving its authority from God, and his personal life and administrative acts as under constant divine scrutiny? In other words, a Christian should vote for the man who, in his judgment, will exercise, directly and indirectly, the greatest influence for righteousness at home and abroad.

A Christian should also evaluate the men by whom a candidate surrounds himself, again looking for moral principles and personal rectitude.

Furthermore, a Christian citizen should look at the policies espoused by a candidate and a party. Personal and group and sectional admission to the “federal feed trough” is an incentive for political affiliation which strikes the nadir of selfishness. The national good must take priority over personal and sectional advantage.

Finally, the Christian citizen owes it to himself and to his country to pray for divine guidance. The one vote cast according to God’s holy will, multiplied many times, is the strength of a democracy. Those ultimately elected are entitled also to the concern and consideration enjoined by the apostle Paul: “1 exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; for kings and for all that are in authority … For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour” (1 Tim. 2:1–3).

Church Membership And Spiritual Ambiguity

For the first time the United States shows a church membership exceeding 100 million. The latest compilation of the National Council of Churches’ Yearbook of American Churches discloses that the trend begun during World War II is continuing; church membership gains are outstripping population gains. Last year church membership increased 2.8%, population 1.8%. The total figure, 100,162,529, includes 58,448,000 Protestants and 33,369,000 Roman Catholics.

Does this fact that there are more people in the churches, and more professing Christians, signify the spiritual revival of the nation? Surely the United States today is the lifeline of much of the world’s evangelism and missionary effort. And there have been heartening evidences of new evangelical earnestness.

But it would be too much to say that the soul of the nation has undergone repentance and revival. The minister who said that “the world at its worst needs the Church at its best” did not understate the demands posed by our decade. What prospect is there, one university professor in the South has asked, that Christians will grow up as fast as the inventors of atomic energy work?

We need a demonstration of Christian superiority which is culture-wide, a display of the lordship of Christ which extends to every sphere of life on each day of the week. The early Christians were bent on a maximum experience. Their Christianity not only began at the altar of regeneration and repentance, but it did not end with formal church membership. Their mood was not simply receptive, but appropriative and productive. They were dedicated to an obedience to the risen Lord’s commands, not to a mere conformity to the best standards of society. The cross was for them something to live with and by, as well as something to live under. That is why they gave their contemporaries a demonstration of Christianity superior in awesomeness to any of the moral resources paganism could command.

The Tenuous Prospect Of World Peace

To a generation bristling with hope for world peace, the article by Lieutenant General William K. Harrison may seem like “a counsel of pessimism and despair.”

But it calls for sober reading, even by those who do not share in detail the distinguished general’s eschatological views. CHRISTIANITY TODAY, in the course of time, will present representative views of the way in which the climax of history is anticipated by evangelical Christians sincere in their differences. But the present article confronts us with a significant judgment upon the past and the present no less than upon the future.

General Harrison is one of the senior generals of the United States Army, and served as United Nations truce delegate at Panmunjom. In those tedious transactions with the Communist generals in Korea, he carried in his own heart an anguished world’s hope for the end of armed conflict.

That the general does not share the opinion, widespread even in ecclesiastical circles today, that the United Nations (or any other organization) is the world’s best hope for peace, is significant enough. That he should find that hope in Jesus Christ alone is a refreshing reflection of the biblical emphasis that peace, in national as in individual life, is the gift of God. This conviction may not be popular, especially in a generation whose hopes are sociological and anthropological, rather than theological, but that is all the more reason it needs to be voiced.

Solomon’s trust in horses, and ancient Israel’s trust in alliance with Egypt, may differ from the modern confidence in the atomic bomb and in the United Nations, but the difference is only one of degree, and not of kind. The common factor in both is the neglect of the Living God as the final arbiter of the destiny of nations and of the fortunes of war and peace.

Back To The Bottle The Day After Christmas

The editors of Life published a special “Christianity” issue a year ago. In many respects, the issue was one of the finest of its kind in contemporary journalism. Among its virtues was the absence, at this otherwise lucrative season for such commercials, of liquor advertising.

Like much of the religious interest in America, this sentimentality at Christmas has a sequel. A survey of fifteen leading publications shows that, during the six months January–June, 1956, Life carried more pages of liquor advertising than any of its competitors with the exception of one. During that period the New Yorker carried 221.81 pages, Life 127.80, Time 90.60, Newsweek 89.06, Esquire 79.26, Cue 75.31, Collier’s 68.50, U.S. News and World Report 59.25, Look 51.00, Ebony 50.64; Sports Illustrated 44.98, Holiday 42.91.

There is little virtue in putting Christ back into Christmas if He is ejected the morning after. That is like filling Santa’s pack bag with spirits made in Kentucky, and smuggling them in under the cover of the night.

Reformation Day And Protestant Tradition

The theme adopted by the National Council of Churches for the observance of Reformation Sunday, October 28, is “the continuity of the Christian Church in the Protestant tradition.” What a strategic opportunity to present three great Reformation principles unacceptable to the Roman Catholic Church: (1) Holy Scriptures as the sole normal authority for faith and life, (2) Justification by faith alone without any merits of good works, (3) the priesthood of all believers. The Protestant tradition bases doctrine and religious life entirely on the Scriptures.

Eutychus and His Kin: October 29, 1956

HALLOWEEN REFORMATION

Would you be interested in publishing my forthcoming pamphlet, Survival in a ‘Trick or Treat’ Raid? Halloween, it concludes, is not only here to stay, but will enjoy the same cancerous growth other American holidays have known.

First-aid is offered to stricken parents. Have you thought of sending your children out early to ring doorbells, so that their accumulated loot may be used for your free distribution?

Another suggestion for your readers: Wrapping candy corn in Gospel tracts can’t be the best way to bring a Christian witness at Halloween. Why not show old-fashioned Christian hospitality to charm the hoboes, clowns, and other rubber-faced baboons that appear for this junior shakedown?

Since writing this informative booklet I have been hearing more about “Reformation Day.” Apparently it was no accident that Martin Luther nailed up his ninety-five theses on the eve of All Saints’ Day. The indulgences Luther was attacking went on sale that day. Picture a priest posting anti-bingo placards on the eve of the annual parish carnival! Perhaps if we took Reformation Day more seriously we could awaken our neighbors from a misty reverence for Halloween as a ritual of the American Way of Life to a concern about the Gospel which is The Way of Life.

If Reformation Day only means staging successful rallies, however, the term should be used with apologies. Luther’s sense of timing was not that of an advertising executive but of a soldier. “Here I stand” … He challenged the lie with his life. His strong views are now discounted as products of his rude age. Modern ecclesiastical crusading moves in an atmosphere of sweetness and light. Martin Luther breathed the fire of love, which is quite different—love for deluded souls destroyed by a works religion, love for Jesus Christ in whose righteousness alone he was justified by grace. The Reformation was an onslaught of love on specific errors at the right time and place: The castle church door on All Saints’ eve.

Your humble scribe,

EUTYCHUS

DEUTERO-EUTYCHUS

Why not just sign Eutychus’s real name—Norman Vincent Peale?

A.D.E.

New York City

TRITO-EUTYCHUS

… You can’t keep it secret for long, so why don’t you say so now? Merv Rosell is your reticent scribe.…

D.T.

Los Angeles

HELLENIC INFLUENCE

… It reads to me as if you’ve hired Simeon Stylites on the side.…

A.R.

Wheaton, Ill.

GRAVITY IN THE PREACHER

Perhaps there is an element of peril in your feature “Preacher in the Red.” Through the years I have often called the attention of students and ministers to Brooks’ warning in his Yale Lectures … On page 58 he says: “Refrain from all joking about congregations, flocks, parish visits, the mishaps of the pulpit, or the makeshifts of the study. Such joking … takes the bloom off a young minister’s life.” Jowett wrote much the same.…

READER

Philadelphia, Pa.

• CHRISTIANITY TODAY endorses this counsel against pulpit entertainment. But it also finds virtue in the minister’s ability to laugh at himself when others discover that he shares their fallibility and discomposure.—ED.

UNEMBARRASSED PULPIT

… When a paper goes to laymen, it ought to stress the authority of the pulpit, not its fallibility.…

CONTRIBUTOR

Philadelphia, Pa.

FIFTY CENT WAGER

… The burden of proof rests on you: and the odds seem too long to make a $5 gamble the least bit attractive. 50c yes, but $5 no!

DONALD VISSCHER

Oxbow, N.Y.

THEOLOGIANS WANTED

I enclose my check … What we need today is a living, aggressive, Protestant, evangelical, theological magazine. Eliminate the preacher editors; maintain a staff of about a dozen theological men who know what they are talking about, one for each major field of Christian life.…

LEROY HENSEL

Cleveland, O.

BY WIRE

CONGRATULATIONS ON … A SPLENDID FIRST ISSUE

STANLEY HIGH

NEW YORK CITY

CONGRATULATIONS … TIMELY, NEWSWORTHY AND MEATY

GEORGE WILSON

MINNEAPOLIS

SPLENDID START … BE ASSURED OF CONTINUED PRAYERS IN THIS LARGE AND CRUCIAL MINISTRY

F.F.T.

PASADENA, CALIF.

CONGRATULATIONS, CHRISTIANITY TODAY … FIRST ISSUE HAS WARMTH, VITALITY AND DIGNITY … EXCELLENT START. KEEP IT UP.

WILLIAM BRUSSEAU

PASADENA, CALIF.

WESTMINSTER FILMS

FIRST MAIL BAG

Full of top-rate material for worthy use of one’s time … Some of the advertising seems a bit ‘Pathfinderish’ …

H.B.

Pasadena, Calif.

Faith is such a vital element in … mental survival stamina … You are dealing with the most decisive element in politics and diplomacy, as developments have shown.

EDWARD HUNTER

Port Washington, N.Y.

First issue is terrific. Just what we preachers need. It certainly meets a need in my study.

LAVERNE E. ROHRBAUGH

Biglerville, Pa.

Vol. 1, No. 1, arrived today and is two-thirds devoured now, with no complaints. I especially appreciate your Book of the Month department (so far).

K. MARTIN

Havelock, Ontario.

I quite approve the motive and attitude and plans of the magazine.

CHARLES ERNEST SCOTT

Philadelphia, Pa.

Long has evangelical Christianity needed a publication such as this.

PHIL JONES

Newberry, S.C.

Bible Text of the Month: Matthew 16:16

And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God (Matt. 16:16).

The majority of ministers face two problems in preparing sermons. The first is lack of time, because of the many demands made upon the average minister. The second is the scarcity of books for research. In this space each month CHRISTIANITY TODAY will provide the results of textual research to assist and to stimulate the busy minister in his preparation.

This is a simple but satisfactory Confession of Faith. We should always be ready to give an answer to those who would know what we believe on a matter so central as the person and nature of our Lord. A mistake on this point would involve all our religion in failure. If He is not to us the Christ, the Lord’s Anointed, and “the Son of the living God,” we know not Jesus aright.—C. H. SPURGEON.

We feel the force of it better in this and many passages of the Gospels, by using the Hebrew word Messiah. “Thou” is expressed in the Greek, and therefore emphatic.… The earliest disciples of Jesus, including Simon Peter, at once concluded that He was the Messiah (John 1:41, 49). But He proceeded to act so differently from what they had been reared to expect of the Messiah, that they would naturally become uncertain even as John felt in his prison. Again and again, however, some work or word would persuade them afresh.… We understand the importance of this confession when we hear a Jew of the present time announce his new-found conviction that Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah.—JOHN J. BROADUS.

As was to be expected from his impetuous character, and personal superiority, as well as from the future standing already assigned him in John 1:42, Peter assumes the part of a spokesman, and in a decided and solemn manner declares Jesus to be the Messiah, the Son of the living God. Both elements combined, the work and the person constituted then, as they always do, the sum of the Christian confession. Compare Matthew 26:63; John 11:27, 20:31; Philippians 2:11; 1 John 2:22 ff.—H. A. W. MEYER.

The Meaning Of “Christ”

The name Christ in Greek, Messiah in Hebrew, bearing as it does, the participial or adjective sense of anointed, was capable of being applied, and actually was applied, in the earlier parts of Scripture, to a variety of persons. Because the high priest was emphatically the anointed one at the first institution of the tabernacle worship, he is therefore called “the priest, the Christ” (Heb. hamschiach, Lev. 4:3). After the institution of the kingly office, and the setting apart of him who bore it by an act of consecration with oil, he became, in a peculiar sense, the Lord’s anointed, or the Christ of the Lord, as Saul is once and again designated by David (1 Sam. 12:3, 5). Hannah, however, at the close of her song of praise, has already given the word a loftier direction—not without respect, it may be, to the more immediate bearers of the royal dignity, but still more especially pointing to one who should gather into his person the highest powers and prerogatives associated with the chosen people, and give them a world-wide development; for she speaks of the Lord “exalting the horn of his Messiah” (anointed), so as, at the same time, to “judge the ends of the earth.” In Psalm 2, the Lord’s Christ is He who is God’s Son by way of eminence, and who receives the heritage of earth to its utmost bounds as His sure possession. In Daniel 9:25, 26, we find the term applies to the expected deliverer, without the article or any accompanying epithet, precisely as a proper name.—IMPERIAL BIBLE DICTIONARY.

The importance of this first express acknowledgement of Jesus as the Christ or the Messiah, even by His own chosen followers, arises from the fact that all his public actions hitherto implied a claim to that exalted character, and that in consequence the truth of this claim was essential to the proof, not only of His public mission but of His personal veracity. The claim itself had reference to the clear prediction of a Great Deliverer in the ancient prophecies, expressly called Messiah, or Anointed, both by David (Ps. 2:2) and by Daniel (9:25), and by implication so described in all the Scriptures which exhibit Him as filling the great theocratical offices of Prophet, Priest, and King, in which the previous incumbents only held His place till He should come, and to which they were set apart by unction, the appointed symbol of those spiritual gifts which fitted men for these high functions, and which He was to possess without measure. All this Jesus claimed, and all this Peter acknowledged Him to be, not only as a private individual when the truth was first suggested to him by his brother Andrew, but now as it were ex officio, in the name of all the twelve, and in response to an authoritative question from the Lord Himself.—J. A. ALEXANDER.

“Thou art the Christ,” the very person promised from the foundation of the world. Thou art “the Seed of the woman, in whom all nations are to be blessed”; the Shiloh that was to come, before that the sceptre should finally depart from Judah; “the Son of David, that shall reign over his kingdom for ever and ever.” Thou art He “of whom Moses and the prophets have written” so much, and in whom all that they have written shall be accomplished.—CHARLES SIMEON.

Christ was anointed with the oil of gladness above His fellows; i.e., above those who possessed with Him a fellowship or similarity of office, as types of Himself. Aaron was anointed High Priest; Saul was anointed King; Elisha was anointed Prophet; Melchisedec, King and Priest; Moses, Priest and Prophet; David, King and Prophet; yet none was ever anointed to the union and comprehension of all these offices together, but the Christ of God.—HORAE SOLITARIAE.

The Son Of The Living God

Jesus Christ is the Son of the living God and that means He is a person of the same substance and nature with God. As man begets his like, so God begets His like, and He is His only begotten Son.—THOMAS GOODWIN.

The term “Son of God” was understood by the Jews as of so high an import, that when Jesus claimed that title, he was considered as affecting an equality with Jehovah, and actually “making himself God.” In this sense Peter acknowledged him to be, not a mere man, but infinitely above all created beings, “Emmanuel, God with us,” even “God over all, blessed for evermore.”—CHARLES SIMEON.

Peter calls Christ, who was the Son of man, the “Son of the living God”; not in that or on that account whereon he is the Son of man, but because he is peculiarly, in respect of another nature than that wherein he is the Son of man, the Son of the living God. And if Peter had intended no more in this assertion but only that he was one among the many sons of God, how doth he answer that question, “But whom say ye that I am?” being exceptive to what others said, who yet affirmed that he was a prophet, one come out from God, and favored of Him. It is evident that it is something much more noble and divine that is here affirmed by Him, in this solemn confession of him on whom the church is built.—JOHN OWEN.

In this confession, the conglomeration, or gathering together so many articles in the Greek set afore every word, is as so many stars that call us to behold this eminency of His sonship and generation. This emphasis on every word in that small sentence, “Thou art that Christ; that Son of that God, that living God”; the like indigitation is never used but for some special intent, according to the nature of the matter spoken of. It is observed by some that the article o huios, the Son, is given to none but to this Son; lo, here it is also put to every word besides, when His sonship is solemnly proclaimed.—THOMAS GOODWIN.

God is said to be the living God, in contradistinction from idol deities, and as the author of life and its blessings. See John 6:69; Acts 8:37; 9:20; 1 John 4:15; 5:5 … Peter’s confession was full, clear, and explicit, bringing out the two-fold nature of Christ as born of man, and yet the Son of God, as both human and divine—a view so much in advance of the Jewish conception of the Messiah that our Lord declares it to have been communicated to him by a revelation from heaven.—JOHN J. OWEN.

Practical Application

Beg of Christ that He would anoint Himself king in our hearts, and prophet and priest in our hearts, to do what He did, to know His will as a prophet, to rule in us as a king, and to stir up prayers in us as a priest.—RICHARD SIBBES.

Jesus our hope, is Jehovah’s Messiah. He became Jesus, assuming human flesh, for the sake of His people; and as Jesus, or the Saviour, was anointed or became Christ, to complete their salvation. What wonderful love is implied under this term to poor sinners! He was, and is and ever will be the anointed one for their sakes. With what joy and celerity did Andrew run to meet his brother Peter, and with what a beautiful abruptness did he tell him: We have found the Messiah! The message was too welcome to be locked up; and doubtless Andrew, like most other young converts, would have been glad to communicate what he knew, and impart what he felt, to all the world.—HORAE SOLITARIAE.

Hence learn we to renounce all kings, priests, and prophets, in comparison of Christ; He is a priest to redeem, and a prophet to teach and reveal the mysteries of God, and He is the king to execute all God’s decrees.—THOMAS GOODWIN.

With Peter let us confess that Jesus is our Prophet, Priest, and King. Let us acknowledge Him: “Thou art my Prophet, my infallible teacher; Thou art my Priest, who has made atonement for me; Thou art my King, to whom I will render obedience.” It is such a confession that constitutes a Christian.

When the Apostles went about proclaiming this confession, what happened? Christians were placed in prison; some were burned at the stake; some were thrown to lions; and some were crucified. The forces of Satan in all their hellish power sought to destroy the young Church. But the Church prevailed because she proclaimed that Jesus was the Messiah, the Prophet, Priest, and King of God. During the dark ages the Church began to revise Peter’s confession, in effect. Man was cast in the role of mediator between God and man; and man’s loyalty was to man. The Reformation rediscovered the confession of Peter and proclaimed it with triumph in spite of persecution. The Church today needs to rediscover the centrality of this great confession. Such a refocusing may well kindle the revival fire so long awaited.

Those who would make this confession sincerely must receive supernatural assistance. Jesus said to Peter, “Flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father who is in heaven.” No man has eyes to see this truth, till the veil is removed from his heart, and his understanding is enlightened by the Spirit of God. The Apostle John declared in his first Epistle, “No man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Spirit.”

News Report: Conflict of the Gospel with Paganism, October 29, 1956

Ministers Favor Eisenhower 8 To 1

A poll by CHRISTIANITY TODAY of representative Protestant clergymen from all sections of the United States revealed a strong preference for Eisenhower over Stevenson in the November election for the Presidency.

Tabulation of 1,474 postcards from ministers, selected at random among all denominations, showed the following results:

► Eisenhower—85 per cent.

► Stevenson—11 per cent.

► Undecided—4 per cent.

The Eisenhower-Nixon ticket was marked on 1,248 cards, with Stevenson-Kefauver favored on 160. Those undecided numbered 61. Only five ministers expressed their preference for a Prohibition candidate.

In marking their cards, the clergymen were asked to show “why” by checking any or all of seven reasons. The count came out as follows:

1. Personal stature of the candidates. Eisenhower, 1,017; Stevenson, 75.

2. Nominee of my political party. Eisenhower, 158; Stevenson, 34.

3. Party platform. Eisenhower, 201; Stevenson, 55.

4. Religious views of candidates. Eisenhower, 555; Stevenson, 13.

5. Attitude toward corruption in government. Eisenhower, 432; Stevenson, 24.

6. Moral and spiritual emphasis. Eisenhower, 854; Stevenson, 22.

7. Stand on racial desegregation. Eisenhower, 230; Stevenson, 19.

The poll total showed that 1,117 of those preferring Eisenhower this year also voted for him in 1952. He was favored by 105 who did not vote in 1952 and 28 announced they would switch their 1952 vote from Stevenson to Eisenhower. Stevenson’s total showed 97 of the 160 voted for him in 1952, with 41 planning to switch from Eisenhower.

In the undecided group of 66, 36 voted for Eisenhower in 1952 and 14 for Stevenson. The remaining 16 did not vote.

A breakdown of some of the major states listed the following counts, with the first figure for Eisenhower and the second for Stevenson:

► Alabama, 14–3; Arizona, 10–0; Arkansas, 16–0; California, 83–12; Colorado, 18–2; Florida, 29–6; Georgia, 18–9; Illinois, 133–22; Indiana, 41–2; Iowa, 35–3; Kansas, 31–3; Kentucky, 14–5; Louisiana, 11–1; Maine, 13–1; Maryland, 21–4; Massachusetts, 24–4; Michigan, 61–1; Minnesota, 31–0; New Jersey, 31–3; New York, 43–9; North Carolina, 49–6; Ohio, 61–8; Oklahoma, 23–4; Pennsylvania, 74–1; Tennessee, 28–2; Texas, 34–1; Virginia, 25–14; Wisconsin, 44–2.

Several ministers said they did not believe in voting, because of non-resistance and other reasons. One said “I pray that God might supply His man.”

A majority of the clergymen answered, in a variety of ways, this question on the poll card: “What specific change for the better in American affairs do you desire from your candidate if elected?”

Here is a sampling of the reasons:

For Eisenhower

► “Clean government. Work even more ardently for peace.” … “Lifting of the moral and spiritual life of the American people as a whole.” … “Less centralized national government.” … “Foreign and domestic policies consistent with Christian principles.” … “More emphasis on spiritual things.” … “Much stronger stand against Communism at home and abroad.” … “Back to sane, sensible, Constitutional government.” … “Stronger stand against labor unions. Less foreign spending.”

For Stevenson

► “Segregated schools. Better farm program.” … “Recognizing and honoring God, especially the Sabbath.” … “Stabilized farm income and protection for small business.” … “Improved foreign relations. Tax burden off those less able to pay. Lifting of draft.” … “Stronger hold on moral issues by the President and those who support him in his work.” … “Restoration to a position of real leadership in world affairs.” … “Less interference in state affairs by the Federal Government.”

President Eisenhower is a Presbyterian. Stevenson is a Unitarian, recently affiliated with the Presbyterians.

Strangely Hushed

The death of an American missionary pilot, shot down while dropping Scripture leaflets over a Mexican village, has been strangely hushed.

Secular news agencies have had little to say about the story because of the blind alleys and blank walls encountered in trying to run down the facts.

As far as can be determined, this is what happened:

On September 21, over one month ago, Ancel Allen, a missionary pilot, was shot down and killed in the crash of a small borrowed plane as he flew over the village of San Sebastian, dropping copies of the Gospel of John to villagers.

Allen was seen as he made three very low runs over the town. At the end of the third run, a volley of rifle shots was heard and the plane crash-landed beyond the town.

Native villagers, the first to arrive at the scene, carried off the pilot’s wrist watch, rings and other valuables. There was much speculation that he survived the landing and was killed by fanatics who objected to the Protestant propaganda. Several bullet holes were in the plane and the body.

Official versions of the crash minimized the possibility that the plane was shot down and emphasized the probability that it was overloaded.

A native of Ogden, Indiana, and a World War II Air Force veteran with 17 years of flying experience back of him, Allen had arrived in Mexico with his wife six weeks before. They were independent missionaries.

Mrs. Allen claimed the body on the day after the crash and burial was held in the nearby city of Toluca.

Other missionary pilots have lost their lives in Mexico before, but none have been shot down. Observers interpret the incident as a possible renewing of efforts by fanatics to stem the tide of missionary activity in Mexico.

—J.H.R.

Life In One Paragraph

W. G. B—Jr., 45, who said he was “born” into the Christian ministry and later served congregations in Washington, D. C. before making a fortune in California insurance, tearfully told police that his beautiful secretary was kissing him when he killed her.

CHRISTIANITY TODAYsubscribes to Religious News and Evangelical Press services.

Jerusalem + Judea + Samaria

Oil For Troubled Waters

Henry Martyn, noted missionary to India and first translator of the New Testament into the Persian language, was traveling from the Persian Gulf to the city of Shiraz in 1811 to perfect his version.

He made the following entry in his diary:

“We arrived at the foot of the mountains, at a place where we seemed to have discovered one of nature’s ulcers. A strong, suffocating smell of naphtha announced something more than ordinarily foul in the neighborhood. We saw a river. What flowed in it, it seemed difficult to say, whether it were water or green oil.”

This “green oil” was to play a tremendous part in the political, economic and religious history of Iran (Persia) in the twentieth century. The presence of this bad-smelling naphtha in South Iran made it so necessary for the Allies to prevent the country from falling into Hitler’s hands during World War II. Nationalization of the oil industry in 1951 brought Iran before the eyes of the world and almost brought her to destruction. With this problem seemingly solved, an international group in South Iran is engaged in the production and distribution of the oil.

This year, another announcement captured the world’s interest. Drillers had struck oil in North Iran near the city of Qum, about 100 miles north of Teheran. Observers said the oil burst forth with a mighty roar, waking all the residents. For several weeks it was impossible to stop the guyser. Several oil lakes formed.

The new well, considered the largest in the world, can supply alone all the needs of Iran. More than ever, the envious eyes of neighbors have been turned toward the priceless treasures in the barren deserts of Iran.

An immediate effect of the discovery will be the change of Qum from just a shrine city to a booming oil town.

A large gilded dome covers the grave of one of the female descendants of Mohammed, and this place of pilgrimage for Shi’ite Moslems is visited every year by tens of thousands seeking healing and forgiveness. Qum also is the main center of theological training in Iran. Some 10,000 men are there preparing to become the preachers and teachers of Islam.

Shi’ite Moslems consider non-Moslems to be unclean. The religious people of Qum have been so devoted to their shrine that it has been very difficult for Christian missionaries to do any work in this “holy city.”

Now, however, the city will be overrun by oil men and a new opportunity may be given the Church to preach the Gospel of a Living Saviour in the city of a dead saint.

—W.M.M.

Garden Of Evangelism

A lovely Persian garden, located 10 miles from Teheran at the foot of the snow-capped Alborz Mountains, has been the ideal home for nine years of a summer school of evangelism.

Those who attend for three years and complete the nine-months course receive a diploma. Seventeen have graduated, but scores of others, unable to remain for the full course, have returned to their homes throughout Iran to serve Christ with greater devotion.

Five young men formed the latest graduating class. Two were Armenians, one was an Assyrian and two were sons of Moslem converts.

Christian workers assert:

“These little springs of spiritual life will be more important for the Kingdom of God than the great oil wells of Iran.”

Discovery Revealed

The discovery of what appears to be the first unopened royal tomb of the Hyksos period ever unearthed has been reported by Hebrew University archaeologists working in the area of the biblical town of Tel Hazor in northern Galilee.

The Hyksos, or “shepherd kings,” were the earliest invaders of Egypt, conquering it without a blow about 1685 B.C., according to Josephus, who also identified them as Israelites.

Hyksos and their people held sway over Egypt throughout the 15th–17th dynasties, approximately 511 years, until driven out by a rebellion. Some 240,000 of these desert people then migrated back to Judea, where they built Jerusalem.

Findings at the tomb have not been announced.

Digest …

► Site of Old Testament city of Gibeon found and water system excavated by seven American archaeologists.

Asia + Africa + Australasia

Buddhism Turns Worldly

After several months in office, the Ceylon government of Prime Minister Solomon W. R. D. Bandaranaike has calmed down from its extreme racialism.

The government, elected on a slogan of “Sinhalese Only,” set free a burst of Sinhalese nationalism which erupted into violence when the bill was debated and passed by Parliament.

“Sinhalese Only” was widely understood to mean that Sinhalese would be the official language, while Tamil and English would be relegated to a position of spoken vernaculars only. Friend and foe suspected the sincerity of Bandaranaike on the language problem, since he is one of the nation’s leading orators in English. The government recently has given discreet hints of fairer treatment for Tamil and English.

Bandaranaike came to power largely because he was supported by Buddhist priests, ayurvedic (native) physicians and village school teachers who knew only Sinhalese. The aim of the more active priests apparently is to turn Ceylon into a Buddhist state, in which government money will be used to promote Buddhist enterprises, with little or no money for Hinduism, Islam and Christianity. Buddhists however, strongly disapprove of any control by the government.

Ceylon’s burning question is this—can the present government keep the team of priests, village doctors and teachers moving forward after the carrot of “Sinhalese Only” has been removed? Trouble is anticipated.

Any revision of the status quo is an opportunity for a fresh proclamation of the Gospel. Never before have Christian pastors in Hindu areas of Ceylon had so little opposition to the preaching of the Gospel.

—W.R.H.

Scoffs From Clergy

Protestant clergymen in Hong Kong, who served for years as missionaries in China, scoffed at a statement reportedly made by Anglican Bishop K. H. Ting of Chekiang that he did “not know of a single Christian leader who was executed by the Chinese Communist government.”

Dr. Eugene L. Smith, vice president for foreign missions of the National Council of Churches, said recently in Washington that Bishop Ting made the statement to him at a meeting of the World Council of Churches’ central committee in Hungary last August.

Missionaries in Hong Kong said a number of Christian leaders were put to death in China as “counter-revolutionaries.” They charged this designation was employed by the Communists to “cover up” the fact that the Christians were executed for their religious activity.

A spokesman said “the Reds are putting on a smile campaign for the western world.”

“Some people are falling for it,” he said. “Meanwhile, Christianity is dying in China and being replaced by a new, political ‘thought-religion.’ ”

Slogan For Olympics

“You can’t win without Christ” will be the slogan for the Open Air Campaigners of Australia in their big evangelistic drive during the Olympic Games November 22 through December 8.

Said Chairman Harry McKeon:

“Melbourne will be flooded with visitors from the four corners of the earth—people from behind the Iron Curtain, people from behind the Bamboo Curtain—needy souls from lands where Gospel preaching is forbidden. These people, for several weeks, will be open to the message of salvation.”

Melbourne will be zoned and each day 12 Gospel vans will be taken by teams to various areas.

Several American organizations, including Gideons International, have provided great quantities of Bibles, Scripture portions and tracts for the campaign.

Digest …

► A shipload of Australian Methodists—360 of them—leave Sydney next June for an inspection tour of the church’s missions in the Pacific. Methodists working in the Fiji, Samoa and Tonga areas more than 100 years. Early missionaries ran risk of ending in the cooking pot.

► More than 1,300 Rhodesian Africans, members of religious group living in slum area at Port Elizabeth, ordered out of South Africa. Presence said “illegal.”

► Evangelical Fellowship of Ceylon, formed by laymen with support of women, takes Gospel to more than 400,000 with sound truck. Thousands of Scriptures distributed. Bible School for training of native evangelists recently started.

Britain And The Continent

New Drive By Old Church

The Synod of Waldensian Church, reported to be the oldest Protestant denomination in the world, has announced its interest in evangelization and cooperation.

A resolution was adopted in favor of periodical meetings with the Methodist Church in Italy to examine the work of evangelization and closer cooperation.

The Waldensian Church originated from the twelfth century revival movement led by Peter Valdo, a merchant in Lyons, France. It spread across southern France, Switzerland and the northwest of Italy.

Today the Waldensian Church is the strongest Protestant denomination in Italy, with about 30,000 members, 95 churches and 60 ministers. The church has a number of hospitals, children’s homes, old people’s homes and a theological school in Rome. Missions have been set up in the Argentine, United States and Switzerland.

Discussions have been taking place for some time concerning a possible union of the Waldensian and Methodist churches in Italy.

‘Let Us Stick To It’

The Church of England’s ban against the remarriage of divorced persons has been upheld by Dr. Geoffrey Francis Fisher, Archbishop of Canterbury.

He told the Convocation of Canterbury it had been the practice of the Church for 20 years not to remarry divorced persons in churches.

“If we all agree that for practical purposes that is the only policy the Church can follow, then let us stick to it,” the Anglican Primate said.

A plea that parish priests be given more discretion in the handling of problems arising from remarriage after divorce was made by Dr. John L. Wilson, Bishop of Birmingham.

National Effort

A united evangelistic campaign for England in 1960 has been approved by the Free Church Federal Council.

The Rev. F. P. Copland Simmons, ex-moderator, said the original plan was to confine the campaign to the north of England, but that it had been expanded to embrace the entire country.

He said the effort would be reminiscent of the Simultaneous Mission organized by the Council in 1901.

Also discussed by the Council at a recent meeting was the creation of a United Free Church of England. “If we do not unite now,” said the Rev. Tom Bevan of the Seaham Methodist Circuit, “the day is not too far distant when the Free Churches will lose their sense of mission and drift into the Church of England.”

Reaction of the Free Church press was not enthusiastic. The Methodist Recorder said, “If the Free Churches have no more vitality than to drift into the Anglican Church through mere flabbiness, or to save the miserable remnants of their quaking souls, they would not be worth having as a gift.”

‘Verge Of Treachery’

Dr. Eivind Berggrav, retired Bishop of Oslo and former Primate of the State Lutheran Church in Norway, has called for a halt to the growing contacts between western churches and the Russian Orthodox Church.

Bishop Berggrav charged that the Russian Church “subordinates itself to a godless State.” He contended that western churchmen who participate in official visits to the Russian Church and join in its worship services “place themselves on the verge of treachery to Christian justice and faith.”

Words With Power …

► “The freedom of man is under attack today by three forces—communism, socialism and materialism—and any one can enslave human reason. To many, freedom means largely self-indulgence.”—The Most Rev. Philip M. Hannan, auxiliary Bishop of Washington, D. C.

► “Communists exceed us by their zeal and strong convictions. Today’s Christian has light but no heat. The materialist has heat but no light.”—Dr. Joseph L. Hromadka, Czech Protestant theologian.

► “Science is one agent that in the last three centuries has been showing that virgin birth is possible.”—Dr. Edward McGrady, former chief of the biological division of the Atomic Energy Commission at Oak Ridge, Tenn., and now president of the University of the South at Sewanee, Tenn.

Church Climate Changes

Writing in his diocesan leaflet recently, Dr. William Greer, 54-year-old Bishop of Manchester, said:

“I am sometimes asked whether I see any signs of what is called a spiritual revival in England. I am sorry to say I do not; not after the manner in which the multitudes were turned from unbelief to faith in the days of John Wesley … What I do see is a slow but unmistakable return to the Church, or perhaps it would be better to say an increase in real church membership, since not a few of those I have in mind have never openly professed the Christian faith before.

“During the last few years, adult confirmations have substantially increased, and in most parishes congregations are noticeably larger.”

The change in the climate of British church life has been dated by most observers from the Billy Graham Greater London Crusade of 1954.

A new evangelistic spirit has been seen in all the churches. The Church of England recently set up a Commission on Evangelism, with the official backing of the Church Assembly.

Digest …

► Church of England and Church of Scotland (Presbyterian) representatives “made progress” in series of talks at Edinburgh on church unity. Fellowship discussions between two Churches instituted in 1932, suspended two years later and resumed in 1950.

► Two of four Protestant leaders, sentenced to life imprisonment by Bulgarian Communist Court in 1949, pardoned. Identified as the Rev. Vasil Ziapkov and the Rev. Nikola Mihailov.

► Church building in Soviet Zone of Germany at virtual standstill for lack of funds, reports Dr. Oskar Soehngen, vice president of Evangelical Union Church.

► Five-week advertising campaign to increase church attendance launched in Stockholm with large ads in all daily newspapers.

► Mothers in Polish village near Cracow boycott local school … no religious instruction.

► Bishop Otto Dibelius of Berlin, head of the Evangelical Church in Germany, invited to visit Communist China. Invitation extended by members of Chinese delegation at congress of East German Christian Democratic Union.

► Dr. John A. Mackay of Princeton, N. J., president of World Presbyterian Alliance, warns that “resurgent confessionalism” may develop in such a way as to “wreck” the ecumenical movement.

North And South America

Biggest News Story

The biggest religious news story today is that “prayer is at work in our nation,” United States District Judge Luther W. Youngdahl of Washington, D. C. asserted recently.

He said “hard-headed business men” and “political politicians” are making religion work in their every-day lives.

“Prayer is at work in the home, at the workbench, in the office, in the factory, and in our nation’s capital thousands are starting each day in the office with prayer.”

Many business and governmental leaders have come to see, he said, “that the real world crisis has a lot to do with human relations, and when you get to human relations you are on the thresh-hold of religion.

“Only a dedicated spirit to prayer and religious conviction in the lives of individual people will save this country and the world.”

Freedom Differences

Christianity faces an increasing threat from foreign “isms,” along with “creeping, insidious materialism,” Dr. Theodore F. Adams of Richmond, Va., president of the Baptist World Alliance, said in an address to 2,000 at the Festival of Faith, sponsored by the Greater Miami Council of Churches.

“If we win in the war of ideas, it will be by love, sacrifice and devotion to Christian principles,” he said.

Dr. Adams pointed out the difference between freedom of religion and freedom of worship. In Russia, he said, the public can worship in a limited number of churches, but had no freedom of religion.

“We live in a mixed-up world,” he said, “but Christ is the answer to all problems.”

$25,000,000 Budget

The 2,700,000-member United Lutheran Church in America is considering adoption of a record $25,000,000 budget, with recommendations to double its benevolent giving in 1958.

Delegates to the recent convention in Harrisburg, Pa., were asked to extend the continent-wide evangelism effort of the Church’s 4,400 congregations for the next two years with an additional budgetary cost of $135,000.

Opinion From Dulles

Clergymen should have more time to inform themselves on world problems, according to Secretary of State John Foster Dulles.

In an address to the 13th Biennial Congress of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of North and South America, he said:

“Moral principles are simple and can be easily stated, but applying these principles is immensely difficult. Those who guide us spiritually do not have the time to study these other (political) problems to determine the applicability of these principles to a given situation. It is easy to reach wrong judgments.”

Rodeo And Religion

The air was super-charged with respect for Roy Rogers and his wife, Dale Evans, at the state fair in Des Moines, Iowa, this year.

Never were so many thousands of people more silent and attentive as the popular parents encouraged families “to worship together, pray together, play together, and then stay together.”

Many children followed their sincere plea to attend Sunday School.

Digest …

► Radio stations in many parts of nation cancelling programs sponsored by evangelical groups. Dr. James DeForest Murch, president of National Religious Broadcasters, said action result of National Council of Churches’ statement opposing sale of air time. National Association of Evangelicals and NRB adopt resolution saying National Council “does not speak for all Christians of America.”

► Opening of mission field in Ethiopia approved by American Lutheran Church … General Commission of Chaplains to expand work among young adults in service.

► Protestant churches in America facing critical shortage of 25,000 ministers … Meditation and prayer room at United Nations headquarters being enlarged and beautified.

► Budget of $8,125,074 for 1957 adopted by Southern Baptist Foreign Mission Board … Churches in America and Canada burning at rate of more than 12 a day. Large percentage of fires accidental … Twenty-five ministers from Presbyterian Church, U. S. A., conduct October preaching mission in Alaska …

► Jalopy raids, parties and simple witnessing paying off with thousands of decisions from Colorado to Pennsylvania. Called “Youth Missions to Youth.”

► Dr. Henry F. Schuh, president of American Lutheran Church, calls upon members to stop shunning political office. “There are those Christians who fail to think of themselves as salt. They prefer to be saints and withdraw from the problems of the world and operation of government … Salt only serves its purpose when its characteristics are used.”

► “Wonderful results” reported in Louisville Crusade of Billy Graham. Overflow attendances nightly, with thousands of decisions.

► Organ, used in Republican National Convention, donated to Mrs. Eisenhower. She, in turn, presented to Fitzsimons General Hospital, where President was treated after heart attack … New York Board of Education adopts statement providing for teaching of moral and spiritual ideals in New York City public schools … Judges and lawyers join in special service to pray for God’s blessings on New York’s courts of justice.

► Week-long Bible reading marathon conducted in Euclid Church at Cleveland, Ohio, for dedication of new $220,000 building. “They now see it as a complete book rather than a few favored passages,” said the Rev. Fred K. Bernlohr.

► Navigators sending largest missionary group overseas this fall and early spring, reports director Lorne Sanny … British and Foreign Bible Society distribute 361,355 volumes of Scripture in 74 languages in Canada during year.

Book Briefs: October 29, 1956

Honest Criticism

The Triumph of Grace in the Theology of Karl Barth, by G. C. Berkouwer. Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1956. $4.95.

The Triumph of Grace is a readable book, a veritable triumph of clarity in style and thought. Dutch barbarisms—the misplaced “already,” the excessive use of “over against,” the Germanic adjectival phrases, such as “the in Christ historically realized rejection of the chaos” (p. 249)—are infrequent. The thought proceeds without confusion. One always knows precisely what Berkouwer means. The obscurities are all Barth’s.

The theme of the volume opens with the question as to whether or not Barth has seriously altered his earlier theological views. Has there been a break in his thought, or is it continuous? Has he been won to optimism after a period of war-weary pessimism? Has he become more orthodox?

Through several chapters Berkouwer argues that while there have been variations in emphasis, and even one or two retractions of unfortunate phraseology, the triumph of God’s grace is the single and continuous motif.

With chapter eight Berkouwer’s criticism begins. As his exposition is marked with great care, so too his criticism is scrupulously honest and restrained. Barth’s paradoxical and even unintelligible language tempts an author to see contradictions where none may be. Or, possibly the contradictions are really there. But Berkouwer never presses minor difficulties. There are, however, some major questions.

With full acknowledgment of the fact that Barth espouses many biblical themes and is usually a more sober judge of the same than others of the neo-orthodox school, Berkouwer clearly states the general principle that an emphasis on grace does not ipso facto insure a fully Scriptural theology. Marcionism, Romanism, and antinomianism have also spoken of grace. Therefore, with respect to Barth one must ask: What sort of triumph does he proclaim? What is the enemy over which the triumph occurs? What are the means of the triumph? Four chapters are used to answer these questions.

If Barth says that grace triumphs over sin, one must note that for Barth sin is not defined in terms of divine law. Sin is pride or autonomy; it is absurd and inexplicable; it is the “No” which is the reverse side of God’s “Yes.” Sin is a mystery, not because we cannot explain it, but because it is “ontologically impossible.” Sin in the nature of the case cannot be; man cannot be godless; sin is a violation of the inviolable grace of God. When this view is combined with the theme of triumph, a triumph already complete, Berkouwer naturally asks whether Barth has not made the preaching of the Gospel useless and the struggle against sin empty.

Then too, the completeness of the triumph, in the emphatic terms Barth uses, leads to universalism. Yet Barth rejects universalism. At the same time he asserts that every man is both elect and reprobate. But if every man is both, and if all synergism is radically denied, how can universalism be logically avoided? Barth objects to the Remonstrants, who made redemption universal but limited grace’s effectiveness by a human cooperation. Yet, concludes Berkouwer, Barth has adopted a position that differs from the Remonstrants more in words than in thought. Barth, says Berkouwer, stands at the crossroads: either he should accept universalism and the uselessness of the Gospel, or he should reconsider his position on sin and election.

An appendix of 10 pages is added on the “Problem of Interpretation.” It is in effect a criticism of Professor Cornelius Van Til. In the words of Balthasar, Van Til’s interpretation of Barth is “completely grotesque.” Berkouwer adds that Van Til neglects “an elementary requirement of scholarship” with his “unwarranted interpretation.” And worse, Van Til expounds orthodoxy in such a way that “I cannot recognize the features of the real Reformed orthodoxy.” This reviewer shares Berkouwer’s evaluation of Van Til’s critical abilities, but on the points under discussion he cannot see that Van Til’s departures from the Reformed faith are quite so serious as Berkouwer seems to believe.

GORDON H. CLARK

Graham In Asia

To the Far Corners, by George Burnham. Revell, Westwood, N.J., 1956. $2.00.

This new book by George Burnham, converted Chattanooga newsman, is a stirring close-up of Billy Graham in action on his recent trip through India, Thailand, the Philippines, China, Formosa, Japan and Korea. Burnham’s on the-spot report is vivid, colorful, informing and full of action. As the reader travels swiftly with Billy and his party around the world, he receives the indelible impression that divine providence prepared the way and sustained the evangelist everywhere, that the Holy Spirit moved in a New Testament pattern, and that the simple preaching of the Word of God produced the same notable results in Asia as in other lands.

Every chapter closes with direct quotations from Billy Graham’s diary. These reveal the dedication, spiritual drive, and mental alertness of the man. The reviewer was particularly impressed by the chapter, “Frightening Reaction,” which describes the threatening mob violence in the crowd of 40,000 people in Palamcottah, India, when one of the amplifiers failed. “Billy prayed, ‘Oh God, stop the noise; quiet the people now.’ Immediately a deathlike hush came on the crowd and it became the quietest, most reverent meeting we have had in India. It was like the breath of God had suddenly fallen” (p. 53). At the invitation 4,000 people surged forward when there were only 400 counselors to care for them.

The report of Billy’s interviews with Nehru of India, Madame and General Chiang Kai-shek, and Prime Minister Hatayoma of Japan, gives a better understanding of these leaders. Billy’s own reasons for his success, why he has not yet gone to Russia, why he thinks his ministry may be brief, and what he preaches are all given here.

F. D. WHITESELL

Intolerant

Religious Freedom in Spain, by J. D. Hughey, Jr. Broadman, Nashville, 1955. $3.00.

A discussion of religious freedom in Spain is in point precisely because it has been so frequently and significantly lacking in that country. The reason for opposition to religious freedom in Spain has not been an anti-religious feeling, but a strong concern for Catholic unity. This accounts for a kind of religious oppression in the name of religion.

Catholicism, with its claim to being the only church and the only authoritative teacher of truth, is in principle intolerant of all other religious institutions and teachings. It is successfully intolerant, however, only where it holds a large enough balance of political power to impose its own religious pattern on a people. In Spain the greatest measure of alliance between Catholic Church and State has been achieved, and it is here that Catholicism has obtained political preference to the prejudice of evangelical churches.

Dr. Hughey, Professor of Practical Theology at the Baptist Theological Seminary in Ruschlikon-Zurich, Switzerland, and for four years a missionary in Spain, gives a competent, thoroughly documented, and enlightening account of the changing fortunes of evangelical religion in this Catholic-dominated country. The origins of Catholic unity are traced to the reconquest of Spain from the Mohammedan Moors by Christians, a process which resulted in a fusion of religion and nationalism. Hughey traces developments through the rise of liberalism, the establishment of religious freedom in varying degrees, and periodic reaction, culminating in the current reaction under General Francisco Franco.

This story indicates that free-thinkers have been very active in the struggle for religious freedom, a fact which provides a Catholic argument against the granting of it. The enforcement of an official religion, however, will rather encourage irreligion. In any event, the Gospel of God cannot be bound, and even in Spain there is religious tolerance. This is no doubt the saving factor for Spain and even for Spanish Catholicism. Religious freedom, as Hughey observes, best serves a whole people, and best serves the cause of religion, including the Catholic.

GEORGE STOB

5,524 Greek Words

Greek-English Concordance to the New Testament, by J. B. Smith, Herald, Scot dale, Pennsylvania, 1955. $12.75.

The sub-title of this volume, “A Tabular and Statistical Greek-English Concordance Based on the King James Version with an English-Greek Index,” indicates rather clearly its functions and scope. As this description suggests, the volume, while basically a Greek concordance, has been prepared with the needs of English readers chiefly in view. The Index lists over 9,700 English translations of the 5,524 Greek words given in the Concordance, and by means of numbers which identify the tables where the Greek terms are found in the Concordance, makes it possible even for the reader of the New Testament who does not know any Greek to take advantage of the information supplied by the Concordance. That interest centers largely in the King James Version also appears from the fact that in the Concordance there is a tabulation of its various English renderings of the individual Greek words. The volume is also of value to the Greek scholar, however, because the tabular arrangement not only easily and quickly discloses the comprehensive use of a word, but also its frequency of usage and its distribution in the several books where it appears.

Most Greek scholars will regret the fact, however, that the Concordance has been based upon the Textus Receptus of the 16th century rather than upon a modern Greek Testament such as Nestle’s.

Students of the Bible who will make regular use of this Concordance will without doubt feel amply rewarded and will be grateful for the indefatigable labors of the author. No tool is more indispensable to the responsible and conscientious student of Scripture than a concordance. For concordances in general, and this one in particular, owe their origin to the conviction that sure results in the area of interpretation are possible only if linguistic usage is consulted. In the case of the study of the Bible the biblical usage is obviously of primary interest and pertinence. In this connection, moreover, it is often highly significant to distinguish the usage of one author from that of another and even the usage in one book from that of another of the same author. The question of the frequency of the usage of a particular word may also be meaningful as one considers the breadth of the basis provided for the consideration of the meaning of the term in any particular instance. The distinctive features of the Concordance of J. B. Smith, accordingly, add substantially to its usefulness as an aid to interpretation. Readers of the Greek New Testament as well as of the King James Version may use this volume to great advantage in acquiring a more exact knowledge of and even fresh insights into the meaning of Holy Scripture.

NED B. STONEHOUSE

Propitiation

The Apostolic Preaching of the Cross, by Leon Morris. Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, 1955. $3.50.

Central in Christian preaching both yesterday and today is the Cross. What is the message of the Cross? Modern biblical theology has raised questions which profoundly affect the preaching of the Cross. Does the biblical concept of the blood of Christ mean life shared or life sacrificed in death? Does the death of Christ effect only expiation of sin or does it also propitiate God? Can a God of love be also a God of wrath? Does reconciliation have to do only with man, or is there a sense in which God must be reconciled? Does justification involve a subjective element? If it is objective and forensic, can such a doctrine play an essential role in biblical theology?

The contemporary study of theology has suggested answers to these questions which deviate from the answers given by the Reformers and classical Protestant orthodoxy. Wrath is said to be unworthy of a loving God who has no need to be reconciled to men. Propitiation of deity is a pagan and therefore unchristian, or at best subchristian, concept. Christ’s death cannot be construed as sacrificial and propitiatory but as the outpouring of his life that men may share its blessings.

Here is a long-overdue study championing the traditional interpretation by the Vice-principal of Ridley College,

Melbourne, Australia. It is not, however, merely a remouthing of old shibboloths, but a fresh, competent linguistic and exegetical study which follows the method made familiar by Gerhard Kittel’s massive theological dictionary. Dr. Morris has already gained wide scholarly recognition in Great Britain by the publication of some of this material in The Expository Times, The Journal of Theological Studies, and The Evangelical Quarterly.

Of outstanding significance is the bearing of Morris’ study on the propitiatory character of Christ’s death. The exegetical conclusions of C. H. Dodd have so widely prevailed at this point that renditions of the K.J.V. and the A.V. at Romans 3:25 have been changed in the R.S.V. from “propitiation” to “expiation.” Probably the average layman is unaware that this change involved a basic divergence in the concept of God himself. Morris fully recognizes the merit of Dodd’s work in dissociating the biblical teaching from pagan ideas of “celestial bribery”; but he successfully demonstrates that Dodd has gone too far in eliminating any idea of propitiation. Morris employs the same technical, philological methodology as that used by Dodd in his influential The Bible and the Greeks. In fact, he demonstrates that Dodd’s conclusions are inadequate because his very methodology needs correction.

GEORGE E. LADD

Christian Existentialist

Kierkegaard Commentary, by T. H. Croxal. Harper, New York. $5.00.

Those interested in the thought of Soren Kierkegaard will find real help in Dr. Croxall’s book. He gives a lucid survey of the contents of Kierkegaard’s writings. The whole picture of the life and labor of the great “Christian Existentialist” stands out in bold relief in this work.

Croxall writes from the point of view of one who has deep sympathy with the object of his research. It is to be hoped that as thorough a study of Kierkegaard as that found in this book may soon be written by some one committed to the historic Christian faith. Something approaching this will soon be made available by the Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Company. In a book to be titled Modern Thinkers, the evaluation of Kierkegaard’s philosophy by Prof. S. U. Zuidema, of the Free University of Amsterdam, will be made available to English readers. Meanwhile, we are grateful for Croxall’s book.

CORNELIUS VAN TIL

Review of Current Religious Thought: October 29, 1956

America’s and Europe’s religious journals, Catholic and Protestant, are today full of fascinating contents. On the whole, they deal constructively with crucial issues that confront the contemporary religious and secular mind. Naturally, many articles are controversial. We would not expect it otherwise in a broken world like ours. Sharp disagreements among thinkers are often the cutting edge of newly emerging ideas. It is both sobering and healthy when our Christian faith is subjected to intense scrutiny by friend and foe. The latter frequently stab us more awake than the former. Did not Jesus warn that “the children of the world are often wiser than the children of the light”?

Just now desegregation of public schools is uppermost in the American mind. Passion is running high, while Asia and Africa and our European and Latin American friends are probing the depths and range of our moral integrity. While all over our land revivals are in full swing, riots also agitate many of our communities. Where the apostle Paul preached there were, to be sure, often revival and riot side by side. But the riot grew out of the revival, that is, out of the preaching of the whole Gospel for the whole man. Our American community riots, however, seem utterly unrelated to the Gospel and its dynamic. Instead they erupt out of attitudes and traditions rooted in our sinful past.

Life magazine (Oct. 1, 1956) presents an article on the race issue by Billy Graham. The famous evangelist clearly focuses the problem in the context of the Christian’s love of God and neighbor:

The Bible requires neighbor-love alongside the love for God, and neighbor-love strikes far deeper than what usually passes today as ‘an end of segregation’ and ‘community integration’. The Christian layman must speak out against the social ills of our times, but he must be careful to speak with the voice of the biblical prophets and apostles and not in the spirit of secular and socializing views.

We are happy to note that Graham unequivocally states that “the Bible speaks strongly against race discrimination.” Woefully he admits that Christians as a whole have not been exemplary in their racial attitudes. “Indeed, it is the tragedy of 20th century Christianity … that such secular influences as military desegregation, sports and television have done more to combat racial prejudice than many churches.” True neighbor-love, Graham stresses, “flows from the regenerate life alone.” Yes, if Christians live in the power and spirit of the Gospel! No, if Christians, despite their professions, are bound by social mores and traditions which they all too easily identify with a Gospel falsely understood! Graham pleads for a recovery of the dynamic of the Holy Spirit, “the power that turns the social patterns upside down.” But before that power can become manifest, must we not seriously repent of all that has gone into our tragic racial situation in the United States? For none of us, north and south, is without guilt in this matter. Would that genuine repentance would sweep through our land for this evil thing that began in slavery and ends in debauching race riots! Then God, who is no respecter of persons, might heal our hurt.

The Baptist Student (April, 1956), a Southern Baptist journal, through Roy Eckhardt cries “Down With This New Religion!” What is that new religion? Answer: success story religion, juke box religion, Hooray religion! “There is nothing in true Christian faith to promise success.” Following Christ more often means hardness, a rugged road of self-denial, or even martyrdom. God is not the ally of our sinful or even idealistic ventures. He is not a means to human ends but we are to be means to His eternal ends. Well spoken!

The conversation between Jew and Christian is today in full swing. Think of Joseph Klausner, Hans Joachim Schoeps, Sholom Asch or Martin Buber, profound Jewish thinkers of our day who reveal a rapport with the deepest religious thinking in Christendom. This conversation must continue on ever higher levels.

A Christian believer may learn much, for instance, from an article by Robert Gordis in Judaism (Summer, 1955) under the title “The Temptation of Job: Tradition versus Experience.” The writer sets into sharp relief the tremendous conflict that raged in Job’s soul between accepted tradition of the group and personal experience of the individual. Job dared to challenge his accuser friends steeped as they were in a venerated tradition in which suffering inevitably was the consequence of sin. In the end of the struggle, Job is chastened and his friends see the light of new truth, namely that suffering may be part of our human discipline or a divine warning, lest we become too secure in our religious imaginations. And withal the mystery of faith remains. “What cannot be comprehended through reason must be embraced in love.”

Katsumi Matsumura in an article in The Japan Christian Quarterly (April, 1956) searchingly writes about “Christianity and Modern Thought in Japan.” The land of the rising sun is afflicted by “surplus of thought” rather than “poverty of thought.” The author points out that “the principal tendencies of thought in Japan are Marxism, existentialism, and nihilism,” but none of these has taken root to any depth. Chronic poverty encourages both resignation and revolutionary tendencies. The lack of persevering in any one way of thinking in modern Japan Matsumura sees as “the chief reason for the loss of faith of the common people.”

The Christian missionary in Japan must grapple with these thought currents and heed the author’s warning against the effort to evangelize quickly. Jesus might have aimed at the rapid spread of His Gospel in His own day. Instead He dealt patiently both with the many and the few. He was never in a hurry.

An encouraging note is found in an editorial in the Texas Standard of recent date: “The editor does not believe that Southern Baptists should affiliate with the National Council of Churches, but he does believe that most denominational bodies affiliated with it are Christian bodies.” Thank you, Dr. James, for this sensible word.

This review of live spiritual and moral issues debated in the secular and religious press of the day is prepared sucessively for CHRISTIANITY TODAY by four evangelical scholars: the Rev. Phillip Hughes of England, Prof. William Mueller of the United States, Prof. G. C. Berkouwer of the Netherlands, and Prof. John H. Gerstner of the United States.—ED.

Cover Story

Biblical Authority in Evangelism

I had many doubts about the Bible. Now I see Scripture as a flame that melts away unbelief.

Billy Graham Evangelistic Association

It is a sultry day with a hot breeze spinning little dust whirls down the winding road by the Sea of Galilee.

There is an air of expectancy everywhere. We hear voices, raised to an excited pitch as friend calls a greeting to friend. Down every trail leading to Galilee little clusters of people make their way. Word has spread abroad that Jesus is returning to Galilee.

Thronging multitudes

Suddenly He and His little band of followers come over the brow of a little hill on the Capernaum road. Following close behind swarms a vast multitude of people from Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea and beyond Jordan.

Quickly the word passes from mouth to mouth, “Jesus is coming.” Crowds from Bethsaida and Capernaum soon appear and join the others. Together they follow the little band of thirteen men, simply dressed in flowing robes. As they reach the summit of the hill, where gentle winds afford relief from the heat, Jesus stops and motions for all to sit down and rest.

The authoritative teacher

The air is tense. It is a moment to be captured and held for eternity. The crowd hushes as Jesus mounts a large rock and sits down. Quiet falls upon the multitude, their faces turned expectantly toward Jesus. Then He moves His lips and begins to speak. What He was saying there, on that Mount of Beatitudes in faraway Palestine, was to illuminate the pages of history. The most profound, the most sublime words ever uttered were spoken there that day. In simple words, Jesus revealed to His dumfounded hearers the inner depth of God’s commandments and a new way of life!

No one who once heard Jesus could ever again be the same. What was the secret of this Master Teacher? How did He hold those crowds spellbound? “And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine: for he taught them as one having authority”(Matt. 7:28, 29). Is not this authoritative note part of the secret of the earthly ministry of Christ?

The prophets and revelation

The great prophets of the past had also spoken with authority. The impact of their preaching cannot be traced simply to an authoritative technique. Nor was their authoritative note based on confidence merely in the rightness of their own intentions and speculations. Their secret is traceable to nothing less than the confidence that they were the mediators of Divine revelation. Throughout the Old Testament we find Isaiah, Jeremiah, Hosea, and the other prophets continually using such expressions as “The word of the Lord came unto me” or “Thus saith the Lord.” The flaming prophets of old gained their authority from this: they were not simply speaking their own words, they were mouthpieces for God.

The authority of Jesus is more than a prophetic authority. The Christian Church rightly acknowledges that in Him alone the incarnate God entered history; the very words He spoke are the words of the one and only God-man. Yet the remarkable fact is that in His teachings Jesus continually referred to passages in the Old Testament as fully authoritative. His Messianic self-consciousness, His very authority as the Son of God, are combined with the highest regard for the Old Testament as the authoritative record of the will of God.

Even a casual study of Church history will reveal that the great giants of pulpit and pen, from Augustine to Wesley, relied heavily on Scripture for their authority. In this, they followed a sacred precedent hallowed by Christ and the apostles.

A word of confession

In 1949 I had been having a great many doubts concerning the Bible. I thought I saw apparent contradictions in Scripture. Some things I could not reconcile with my restricted concept of God. When I stood up to preach, the authoritative note so characteristic of all great preachers of the past was lacking. Like hundreds of other young seminary students, I was waging the intellectual battle of my life. The outcome could certainly affect my future ministry.

In August of that year I had been invited to Forest Home, Presbyterian conference center high in the mountains outside Los Angeles. I remember walking down a trail, tramping into the woods, and almost wrestling with God. I dueled with my doubts, and my soul seemed to be caught in the crossfire. Finally, in desperation, I surrendered my will to the living God revealed in Scripture. I knelt before the open Bible and said: “Lord, many things in this Book I do not understand. But Thou hast said, ‘The just shall live by faith.’ All I have received from Thee, I have taken by faith. Here and now, by faith, I accept the Bible as Thy word. I take it all. I take it without reservations. Where there are things I cannot understand, I will reserve judgment until I receive more light. If this pleases Thee, give me authority as I proclaim Thy word, and through that authority convict me of sin and turn sinners to the saviour.”

Preaching from the Bible

Within six weeks we started our Los Angeles crusade, which is now history. During that crusade I discovered the secret that changed my ministry. I stopped trying to prove that the Bible was true. I had settled. in my own mind that it was, and this faith was conveyed to the audience. Over and over again I found myself saying “The Bible says.” I felt as though I were merely a voice through which the Holy Spirit was speaking.

Authority created faith. Faith generated response, and hundreds of people were impelled to come to Christ. A crusade scheduled for three weeks lengthened into eight weeks, with hundreds of thousands of people in attendance. The people were not coming to hear great oratory, nor were they interested merely in my ideas. I found they were desperately hungry to hear what God had to say through His Holy Word. I felt as though I had a rapier in my hand and, through the power of the Bible, was slashing deeply into men’s consciences, leading them to surrender to God. Does not the Bible say of itself, “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” (Heb. 4:12)?

Fire in the pulpit

I found that the Bible became a flame in my hands. That flame melted away unbelief in the hearts of the people and moved them to decide for Christ. The Word became a hammer breaking up stony hearts and shaping them into the likeness of God. Did not God say, “I will make my words in thy mouth fire” (Jer. 5:14) and “Is not my word like as a fire? … and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?” (Jer. 23:29)?

I found that I could take a simple outline and put a number of pertinent Scripture quotations under each point, and God would use this mightily to cause men to make full commitment to Christ. I found that I did not have to rely upon cleverness, oratory, psychological manipulation of crowds, or apt illustrations or striking quotations from famous men. I began to rely more and more upon Scripture itself and God blessed.

Hunger for God’s Word

I am convinced, through my travels and experiences, that people all over the world are hungry to hear the Word of God. As the people came to a desert place to hear John the Baptist proclaim, “Thus saith the Lord,” so modern man in his confusions, frustrations, and bewilderments will come to hear the minister who preaches with authority.

I remember how in London many secular and religious journalists remarked on this very point as being perhaps the greatest secret of the meetings there in 1954. One of the thousands who came to commit their lives to Christ in that crusade was a brilliant young Communist. She was a student at the Royal Academy of Drama and Arts, and was already a successful young actress. She had joined the Young Communist League because the members were zealous and seemed to have the answers to the problems of life. Out of curiosity she and some of her fellow students came to our meetings at the Harringay Arena “to see the show.” She later testified how startled she was to hear not a lecture on sociology, politics, psychology, or philosophy, but the simple word of God quoted. This fascinated her and her companions. They came back several nights until the Word of God did its work of breaking open their hearts. They surrendered their lives to Christ.

The bugaboo of bibliolatry

I am not advocating bibliolatry. I am not suggesting that we should worship the Bible, any more than a soldier worships his sword or a surgeon worships his scalpel. I am, however, fervently urging a return to Bible-centered preaching, a Gospel presentation that says without apology and without ambiguity, “Thus saith the Lord.”

The world longs for authority, finality, and conclusiveness. It is weary of theological floundering and uncertainty. Belief exhilarates the human spirit; doubt depresses. Nothing is gained psychologically or spiritually by casting aspersions on the Bible. A generation that occupied itself with criticism of the Scriptures all too soon found itself questioning Divine revelation.

It is my conviction that if the preaching of the Gospel is to be authoritative, if it is to produce conviction of sin, if it is to challenge men and women to walk in newness of life, if it is to be attended by the Spirit’s power, then the Bible with its discerning, piercing, burning message must become the basis of our preaching.

From my experience in preaching across America, I am convinced that the average American is vulnerable to the Christian message if it is seasoned with authority and proclaimed as verily from God through His Word. Do we not have authority in other realms of life? Mathematics has its inviolable rules, formulas, and equations; if these are ignored, no provable answers can be found.

Music has its rules of harmony, progression, and time. The greatest music of the ages has been composed in accordance with these rules. To break the rules is to produce discord and “audio-bedlam.” The composer uses imagination and creative genius, to be sure, but his work must be done within the framework of the accepted forms of time, melody, and harmony. He must go by the book. To ignore the laws of music would be to make no music.

Every intelligent action takes place in a climate of authority.

Basis in divine authority

I use the phrase “The Bible says” because the Word of God is the authoritative basis of our faith. I do not continually distinguish between the authority of God and the authority of the Bible because I am confident that He has made His will known authoritatively in the Scriptures.

The world is not a little weary of our doubts and our conflicting opinions and views. But I have discovered that there is much common ground in the Bible—broad acres of it—upon which most churches can agree. Could anything be more basic than the acknowledgment of sin, the Atonement, man’s need of repentance and forgiveness, the prospect of immortality, and the dangers of spiritual neglect?

There need be no adulteration of truth nor compromise on the great Biblical doctrines. I think it was Goethe who said, after hearing a young minister, “When I go to hear a preacher preach, I may not agree with what he says, but I want him to believe it.” Even a vascillating unbeliever has not respect for the man who lacks the courage to preach what he believes.

Messengers and the message

Very little originality is permitted a Western Union messenger boy. His sole obligation is to carry the message he receives from the office to the person to whom it is addressed. He may not like to carry that message—it may contain bad news or distressing news for some person to whom he delivers it. But he dare not stop on the way, open the envelope and change the wording of the telegram. His duty is to take the message.

We Christian ministers have the Word of God. Our Commander said, “Go, take this message to a dying world!” Some messengers today neglect it, some tear up the message and substitute one of their own. Some delete part of it. Some tell the people that the Lord does not mean what He says. Others say that He really did not give the message, but that it was written by ordinary men who were all too prone to make mistakes.

Let us remember that we are sowing God’s seed. Some indeed may fall on beaten paths and some among thorns, but it is our business to keep on sowing. We are not to stop sowing because some of the soil looks unpromising.

We have our orders

We are holding a light, and we are to let it shine. Though it may seem but a twinkling candle in a world of blackness, it is our business to let it shine. We are blowing a trumpet. In the din and noise of battle the sound of our little trumpet may seem to be lost, but we must keep sounding the alarm to those in danger.

We are kindling a fire in this cold world full of hatred and selfishness. Our little blaze may seem to have no effect, but we must keep our fire burning. We are striking with a hammer. The blows may seem only to jar our hands as we strike, but we are to keep on hammering.

We are using a sword. The first or second thrust of our sword may be parried, and all our efforts to strike deep into the enemy Hank may seem hopeless. But we are to keep on wielding our sword.

We have bread for a hungry world. The people may seem to be feeding busily on other things, ignoring the Bread of Life, but we must keep on offering it to the souls of men.

We have water for parched souls. We must keep standing and crying out, “Ho, everyone. that thirsteth, come ye to the waters.”

Plea for Bible preaching

Give a new centrality to the Bible in your own preaching.

Jesus promised that much seed will find good soil and spring up and bear fruit.

The fire in your heart and on your lips can kindle a sacred flame in some cold hearts and win them to Christ. The hammer will break some hard hearts and make them yield to God in contrition. The sword will pierce the armor of sin and cut away self-satisfaction and pride, and open man’s heart to the Spirit of God. Some hungry men and women will take the Bread of Life and some thirsting souls will find the Water of Life.

Preach the Scriptures with authority! You will witness a climactic change in your ministry!

Billy Graham, D.D., is an internationally distinguished evangelist and author of Peace with God, The Secret of Happiness, and other books.

Cover Story

Changing Climate of European Theology

We have been placed by God in an extremely exciting time—an era charged with tension.

ArTono/Shutterstock

In the past thirty or forty years drastic changes have taken place in European theology. These theological changes are visible against a complex background; and to take account of their background is to be reminded again that theological development is interwoven with history. The theological climate of a given time is always profoundly influenced by historical events. In times of prosperity and calm, theology takes on an optimistic color; in other times catastrophe throws a shadow over theology. Theology, in the sense of believing reflection on the truth of the Christian faith, does not stand unmoved within the events of a given area. It is constantly taken up, in thesis and antithesis, in struggle and confrontation, into the situation of the times.

Temper of the times

In the nature of the case, there is always a real danger that a theologian may fit his theology to the mentality of a given era and thus capitulate to it. This has often occurred, as appears from the modernistic theology of the nineteenth century, which, under pressure of the natural science popular at the time, sacrificed decisive points of the ancient confession of the Church to the current Zeitgeist. When this happens, a time in history is no longer viewed in the light of the Word of God, but rather the Word of God is interpreted out of the presuppositions of a given epoch. Thus, the Gospel is assimilated to the mind of the time. And finally, it is no longer the Gospel, but the temper of the times that speaks with authority.

Post-evolutionary hypnosis

It is clear that theology in Europe today has arisen out of the crises of many catastrophic events that are still vividly alive in our memory. These events are concentrated around the two world wars and all that is intimately associated with them. I do not refer only to the problems that arose directly from them, such as the problem of the state, the question of the demonizing of life, and the problem of Israel, all of which have stirred up lively discussions in Europe during the past ten years. I refer primarily to the crisis in the optimistic, evolutionistic thought of the nineteenth century.

In the previous century we were hypnotized by the idea of the progress of humanity as it was spurred on by the development of the sciences. Fascinated by the optimistic notion of the imminent evolution of the Kingdom of God, we were blinded to actual threats to our existence that were even then arising. People gave up belief in the reality of demonic powers (as in the reality of angels), and they spoke seldom about the corruption of the human heart and the corresponding judgment of a holy God. What was formerly called corruption was then seen as the “not yet” of human development. The coming of the living Lord into history, paled in the light of the development of culture within history.

Secularizing of theology

The theology of the nineteenth century mirrored in many respects the optimism and evolutionism of the era. Books of dogmatics appeared in which eschatology was given only a passing notice and the message of the coming of Christ was scarcely heard. Correspondingly, the ancient dogmas of the church went through a profound crisis. Sharp critique was directed against the doctrines of the two natures of Christ, the confession of the Trinity, and redemption through the blood of Christ. In all of this we encounter what was actually a radical secularizing of theology; the scandal of the Gospel was disappearing. This development proceeded into the beginning of the twentieth century; even then, hearts were still full of faith in the promise of the future. The expectation was translated by voices who said that the new century would be the age of the soul or the century of the child. The developments of the century then past appeared to guarantee this future.

The waves of pessimism

These expectations were unfulfilled. Our century is the opposite of an age of peace. One sometimes wonders whether this hard and uncompassionate century has any room at all for the innocent child and whether in spite of the rise of the science of psychology—it is not precisely the soul of man that is lost. One wonders whether the proverb about the sickness of heart caused by deferred hope (Prov. 13:12) has not become a reality in our time.

A wave of pessimism rolled over Europe after the First World War. Spengler’s The Decline of the West reflected the bitter disappointment of Europe after the intense expectations of the nineteenth century. This disappointment is reflected in the literature as well as in the theology and philosophy of the postwar era. It was sensed increasingly that human development was not so obvious as had been imagined and that immense threats haunted the horizon of human existence in spite of and within its cultural and technical enrichment.

Recovery of the vertical

These threats, with the insecurities and fears they caused, were mirrored in theology. The break with the optimistic past was executed toward the end of the First World War. We think of the rise of dialectic theology with its onslaught against the optimism of the past and against the tendency to identify religio-socialistic ideals with the Kingdom of God. This movement called men to a respect for the majestic judgment of God, for His wrath (of which nineteenth-century theology knew scarcely anything), for the inescapable crises in the entire human situation—in culture, and in morality and religion as ways for man to get to God. Salvation for man was recognized as possible only through Divine forgiveness, only through the justification of the ungodly. The horizontal line of evolution gave way to the vertical line of God’s grace and judgment. This mode of thinking called attention so insistently once again to the eschata, the end, that we can justly speak of the eschatological theology of the twentieth century. In this the emphasis was laid on the unfathomable majesty, the unapproachable holiness of God, on His hiddenness, His grace and judgment. (In 1917 Rudolph Otto had written his celebrated The Idea of the Holy, which by 1925 had had its thirteenth printing.) The corollary of this was also set down, the nothingness of the creature in his lostness and rebellion against God. Eschatology—not now in the sense of a distant future event—became real and existential, a present actuality in the dynamic and in the tension of the coming of God into history.

Shift of perspective

This effected a profound shift in the thinking of theologians about the relationship between God and man. The distance between God and man came sharply into focus (“God is in heaven, and thou upon earth,” Eccles. 5:2), and the accent fell on the fact that only in recognizing this distance could the light of grace and the experience of comfort be captured. Man had been placed in the center of things by nineteenth-century theology; dialectic theology attacked this vehemently and set God in the center. Appeal was made for a theocentric theology. Schleiermacher, with his optimism, his Christology and his eschatology, was a favorite target of men such as Barth and Brunner. For Schleiermacher’s Christology did not recognize God in Christ and his eschatology had no place for a real coming of God into history.

This initial attack on nineteenth-century theology has proceeded in a line of development that, it seems to me, has been unbroken. The same questions put then are still acute. They are concentrated about the central questions of the Church’s confession and, in connection with it, about the nature of the last things. We see clearly that the struggle which began with eschatological questions still is centered there. More than ever, problems concerning the significance of the Kingdom of God are the order of the day. The extreme alternatives are still the view that would have the Kingdom as our task and the eschatological view that sees it exclusively as a future act of God. For us, the consciousness that the New Testament knows nothing of such a dilemma and, on the contrary, warns us against one-sidedness, becomes ever clearer as we observe the theological struggles or Europe.

A stubborn resistance

This remarkable development in theology does not mean that the influence of the theology of the last century is completely broken and that it has permanently disappeared from the stage. The resistance to the Church’s confession was too stubborn to be drowned so quickly. It should not surprise us that we still encounter attacks on the apostolic confession, with its virgin birth, resurrection, and ascension statements, nor that the fierce critique of the Christological confession of Chalcedon is carried through into the twentieth century.

In this connection it is important to note the strong influence of the German New Testament scholar, Rudolph Bultmann. Bultmann was part of the dialectic circle at first, but later came into sharp conflict with Barth in regard to the foundations of theology. The most striking element of Bultmann’s theology is that, with his program of “demythologizing” of the New Testament, he continues the critical line of the liberal nineteenth-century theology. This is manifest in his teaching that the New Testament has come to us clothed in the mythical view of the world common to the time of the New Testament, a view which has become impossible for modern man to accept. The Incarnation, the virgin birth, the resurrection and the return of Christ on the clouds of heaven are all inextricable parts of this mythical world picture. Modern man cannot accept the naive New Testament world picture, and therefore, cannot accept these mythical forms in which the New Testament presents the Gospel. It was Bultmann’s conviction that theology must make it clear to modern man that Christianity did not stand or fall with its Biblical, mythical setting and that theology must not put an unnecessary stumbling block before modern man by maintaining the antiquated mythical setting of the Gospel.

Dispute over basic concerns

In all this, we are not dealing with a struggle that was played off as a competition within the quiet libraries of theologians. It hit the Church in its vitals of faith. The Church could not observe this development from a balcony; she was brought into it with her entire confession and with her preaching. We see more and more that the struggle around orthodoxy, which took such fierce form in the nineteenth century, is not a thing that belongs only to the past. In the overwhelming flood of theological literature of the postwar era of the forties and fifties, we can see the struggle increasing in intensity. In Europe (we limit ourselves to this continent, although the same tensions are observable in other areas of the world) the struggle still centers around the same basic questions raised by the modernism that has influenced theology for a century now. In this struggle, as observed in Bultmann’s theology, the foundations of the whole Christian faith, and therewith the absoluteness of Christianity, are affected; and the Church of Jesus Christ is directly involved.

As we are impressed with this fact, we realize that our strategy cannot be that of a retreat to an intellectual no man’s land where we can withhold ourselves from genuine scholarly involvement. It is this approach which, if pursued, could do such a journal as CHRISTIANITY TODAY great harm. We would then be giving the impression that we are afraid of scholarship and, moreover, that we have reason to fear it. This is the position of fear. We must take the position of honest scholarship which is bound by the Word of God and which does not retreat with the Word but rather enters the struggle with faith, unafraid.

We have been placed by God in an extremely exciting time, an era charged with tension. The struggle is being played off on almost every theological field, in the Biblical as well as the dogmatic arena. If we insist on carrying on the battle, it is not because we are bound by conservatism. On the contrary, when we see the Biblical studies of our own day, we are impressed with the fact that there are treasures in the Gospel we have not yet touched. We carry on the battle because we realize that the Word of God has riches we have not yet grasped. We need think only of the great theological word book of the New Testament now being published in Germany (Theologisches Wortenbuch zum Neuen Testament, G. Kittel, ed.), which is having an enormous influence on European theological study, to see evidence that the Word of God is powerful through all heterodoxy. If I see it correctly, there is a special calling for true Christian theology implicit in today’s theological climate. We can be faithful to this calling only as we are seized by the Gospel of Christ and are willing to give ourselves wholly to an understanding of and obedience to the Scriptures.

Love and dogmatic debate

Naturally, there is danger of sterility and intellectualism, as there always has been in orthodoxy. But there is also another possibility. I think of John, the apostle of love. He lived in a time when a hard battle had to be fought for the reality of Christ come in the flesh. As he pursued the battle, he was the apostle of love; but in and from love he waged a hard and moving fight, not hesitating in his situation to point up the temptation and threat of the Antichrist. Evidently the strength of love did not disqualify the beloved apostle for pitched battle. I see in this the program for “orthodoxy,” or, if you will, for CHRISTIANITY TODAY, in the changed and still changing theological climate of our time. Orthodoxy has often been accused of being loveless and conservative for conservatism’s sake, possessed with an antiquated mentality without consciousness or feeling for the changed times. Whatever justice this charge may at times have had, it will be our continued calling to come to a unity of life, without unbearable tension between faith and science, and without conflict between love and orthodoxy.

The earnestness of life

In the midst of the continuing battle over the confession of Jesus Christ, the Trinity, redemption through the blood of Christ (and, in the background, the authority of the Scriptures), we shall have to understand that, in all the changed and changing times, there is one question which shall never be relegated to the sidelines. It is the question that, when Christ first asked it, stirred up a crisis: “Whom do men say that I the Son of Man am? … But whom say ye that I am?” We may not allow ourselves to forget that after Peter confessed His Lord, the Lord gave a benediction. In our theological reflection too, we must remember this benediction. In theology, we do not deal with an intellectual joust, but with the very earnestness of life itself. It is in this earnestness that we must make our theological decision as to the offense of the cross, an offense that remains the same in every changed situation.

Natural understanding, regardless of the time, seeks other ways than the way of the Cross. Hence, in all changes of climate, there is also a prevailing continuity. The calling of the Church and of theology is to enter the struggle in order to serve with the Gospel, the Gospel that is not according to man. If we in common responsibility use the phrase CHRISTIANITY TODAY it must not be as an empty motto; but as a program and a perspective, a task that, without fear, we willingly take on. We shall not think too highly of our own strength or of our own thinking. We shall be comforted and led by the Word of God that is applicable here: “Cast thy bread upon the waters; for thou shalt find it after many days.”

G. C. Berkouwer, Ph.D., is Professor of Systematic Theology at the Free University of Amsterdam and author of Studies in Dogmatics, The Triumph of Grace in the Theology of Karl Barth, etc.

Theology

The Gospel of Matthew

An eye-witness received special grace and guidance from the Holy Spirit to give a faithful account of information received from other sources.

The Gospel of Matthew is a treasure house stored with a wealth of sermon material. Yet for many preachers the door to this treasury has been locked by Higher Critical scholars. But such was not the intent of those scholars. Their purpose was to clarify the teachings of the various books of the Bible, and Higher Criticism is indeed invaluable as an aid in the sphere of Biblical introduction, where it has a legitimate and important function. But as a result of the use of what sometimes proves to be only a critic’s imagination, the tendency has been to confuse rather than to clarify the text for the preacher.

What is in the mind of the present-day preacher as he takes a text from Matthew’s Gospel? One steeped in the lore of Higher Criticism immediately faces a number of questions. Is the text a translation from a document originally written in Aramaic? Does it come from Mark or from the hypothetical document Q? Or is its source some other unknown document? Or does it come from oral tradition? Does it show church or Hellenistic influence? Is it the work of the first or the second century? Is it the work of the original author, a redactor, or an editor? Is it legend, tradition, or history?

Caught in the maze of such questions; the preacher does not go to his pulpit and declare of the text, “Thus saith the Lord.” Indeed, to avoid insincerity he may turn away from the Bible as the source of sermon material and tum instead to current events, modem literature, social problems, or church programs.

But today something is happening in the realm of scholarship. Now one may dare to question long-venerated hypotheses without being accused of obscurantism. A prominent New Testament scholar, Dr. Vincent Taylor, in writing about a number of hypotheses under question says, “The celebrated Q Hypothesis is a case in point. In recent years it has been assailed by several scholars, including Abbot B. C. Butler, of Downside, in his Originality of St. Matthew (1951), and Dr. Austin Farrer, of Oxford, in A Study in St. Mark (1951). Its substance has been replaced by several Roman Catholic scholars of first rank, who prefer to think that the original sayings-source was an Aramaic Matthew used in the later Gospels” (The Expository Times, September, 1955). Other scholars, such as Professor J. H. Ropes, have questioned the very existence of the Q document.

As every scholar knows, the hypothetical Q document has entered into the warp and woof of almost every New Testament Introduction. The abandonment of this hypothesis will have the effect of making them obsolete. In the light of the recent assault on the Q hypothesis one may echo what Professor A. M. Hunter wrote concerning the “Proto-Luke Hypothesis,” “So twenty-five years after its propounding, this hypothesis remains hypothetical.”

A working hypothesis

A working hypothesis for the study of the Gospel of Matthew is this: The Gospel of Matthew was written by an eye-witness who received special grace and guidance from the Holy Spirit to give a faithful account of the things heard and seen and of information received from other sources.

The history of Higher Criticism reveals one discarded hypothesis after another. This is due to speculation in the absence of objective evidence. Generally, certain hypotheses have been adopted because they have been accepted by distinguished scholars. But, generation after generation, the subjective reasoning of scholars has been proved erroneous. Although desiring to give credit for constructive work, one cannot help questioning whether the influence of Higher Criticism on the study of the Bible is out of proportion to the lasting contributions it has made to the science of exegesis.

Uniqueness of Matthew

It is no accident that the Gospel of Matthew stands at the beginning of the New Testament, for Matthew forms the connecting link between the Old Testament and the New. More than any other Gospel, it concerns itself with Old Testament prophecy. There are over sixty references to the old dispensation. Frequently one finds such expressions as “that it might be fulfilled” and “thus it is written by the prophet.” This is in contrast to the absence of such expressions in Mark and Luke.

The Jewish constituency was foremost in the mind of the author of the Gospel of Matthew. This is seen incidentally in that he presupposes the reader will know the geography of Palestine and its customs, manners, and ceremonies. For instance, in the matter of washing the hands before eating bread, Matthew takes for granted that the readers are acquainted with that custom (Matt. 15: 1,2); but Mark feels that he should explain to his readers that this was the tradition among the Jews (Mark 7:3). Even more from the general content of the Gospel, we can sense that Matthew had Jewish readers in view. He wanted the Jews to see that Jesus was the long-promised Messiah who had come to establish the kingdom of heaven upon earth. But, alas, as Matthew so vividly portrays, the Jews would not recognize Jesus as the Saviour of Israel.

The conflict between the true conception of the Messiah and His kingdom and the false conception held by contemporary Judaism might be termed the plot of the Gospel. With increasing crescendo the Jewish leaders are warned and also denounced for their false views. This emphasis begins in the third chapter with John the Baptist warning the Pharisees and Sadducees that the axe was laid at the root of the tree and denouncing them as a generation of vipers. In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus warns against the false righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees. He distinguishes between the true meaning of the Old Testament teachings and the false accretions of the elders. In the eighth chapter Christ prophesies that “the children of the Kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness.” This is followed by such expressions as “O generation of vipers” (12:34), “ye hypocrites” (15:7), “blind leaders of the blind” (15: 14). A dramatic climax is reached with the denunciation of the scribes and Pharisees in chapter 23.

The increasing enmity of the religious leaders may be gathered from these statements: “This man blasphemeth” (9:3); “Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners?” (9: 11); “He casteth out devils through the prince of devils” (9:34); “Behold a man gluttonous, and a wine bibber” (11:19); “By what authority doest thou these things?” (21:23); “He is guilty of death” (26:66). This enmity is climaxed by the terrible cry, “Let Him be crucified.”

Though the apostle wrote with the Jews in mind, the note of universality is not missing. Matthew alone presents the story of the Magi, the first representatives of the Gentiles. He records the wonderful faith of the Roman centurion and the prophecy in connection with it: “Many shall come from the east and the west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven.” No doubt with sad heart he records another prophecy of Jesus: “The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.” The great ecumenical reach of the Gospel is seen in the recording of the Great Commission: “Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations” (ASV).

The following is a broad outline of the Gospel: (1) Introduction, chapters 1, 2; (2) Christ’s entrance into his public ministry, chapters 3-4: 12; (3) Galilean ministry, chapters 5: 12-18: 35; (4) Judea and Jerusalem, chapters 19, 20; (5) Passion Week, chapters 21-27; (6) Resurrection and Ascension, chapter 28.

Tools for exposition

For the study of each book of the Bible a minister should have at least three or four good commentaries. Because of its clear exegesis and homiletical aids the commentary by Dr. John A. Broadus, Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew, although first published in 1886, is still superior. A good example of the lexico-grammatical method of exegesis is H. A. W. Meyer, Handbook to the Gospel of Matthew (1875). One must be on guard against some of his conclusions; nevertheless his commentary is valuable. He is prone to assign needlessly a role to legend, e.g., the story of the Magi. Another standard work is Alfred Plummer’s An Exegetical Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew (1909). Plummer does not give a verse-by-verse exposition. Rather, he treats each incident of discourse as a unit which is helpful.

Other commentaries of value are those of Calvin, Simeon, and Lenski. Calvin has rightly been called the prince of exegetes, and all later commentaries benefit from his work. In 1820 a work by Charles Simeon appeared under the title Expository Outlines on the Whole Bible. This work has recently been reprinted. The preacher who desires practical helps and outlines will find this book of great aid. Another recommended work is by a Lutheran scholar, R. C. Lenski, Interpretation of St. Matthew’s Gospel (1931).

The Church has been enriched with the labours of learned men in the field of exposition. Neglect of the fruits of their work can only impoverish the pulpit. A diligent use of the commentaries suggested above will enable the preacher to be like the householder described in Matthew 13: 52, “who bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old.”

J. Marcellus Kik is associate editor of Christianity Today.

Ideas

Why ‘Christianity Today’?

The vision that has animated this magazine from the beginning.

CHRISTIANITY TODAY has its origin in a deepfelt desire to express historical Christianity to the present generation. Neglected, slighted, misrepresented—evangelical Christianity needs a clear voice, to speak with conviction and love, and to state its true position and its relevance to the world crisis. A generation has grown up unaware of the basic truths of the Christian faith taught in the Scriptures and expressed in the creeds of the historic evangelical churches.

Theological Liberalism has failed to meet the moral and spiritual needs of the people. Neither the man on the street nor the intellectual is today much attracted by its preaching and theology. All too frequently, it finds itself adrift in speculation that neither solves the problem of the individual nor of the society of which he is a part.

For the preacher, an unending source of wisdom and power lies in a return to truly biblical preaching. For the layman, this same Book will prove to be light on the pathway of life, the record of the One Who alone meets our needs for now and for eternity.

Christianity Today is confident that the answer to the theological confusion existing in the world is found in Christ and the Scriptures. There is evidence that more and more people are rediscovering the Word of God as their source of authority and power. Many of these searchers for the truth are unaware of the existence of an increasing group of evangelical scholars throughout the world. Through the pages of Christianity Today these men will expound and defend the basic truths of the Christian faith in terms of reverent scholarship and of practical application to the needs of the present generation.

Those who direct the editorial policy of Christianity Today unreservedly accept the complete reliability and authority of the written Word of God. It is their conviction that the Scriptures teach the doctrine of plenary inspiration. This doctrine has been misrepresented and misunderstood. To state the biblical concept of inspiration will be one of the aims of this magazine.

The content of historic Christianity will be presented and defended. Among the distinctive doctrines to be stressed are those of God, Christ, man, salvation, and the last things. The best modern scholarship recognizes the bearing of doctrine on moral and spiritual life. This emphasis will find encouragement in the pages of Christianity Today.

True ecumenicity will be fostered by setting forth the New Testament teaching of the unity of believers in Jesus Christ. External organic unity is not likely to succeed unless the unity engendered by the Holy Spirit prevails. A unity that endures must have as its spiritual basis a like faith, an authentic hope, and the renewing power of Christian love.

National stability and survival depend upon enduring spiritual and moral qualities. Revival as the answer to national problems may seem to be an oversimplified solution to a distressingly complex situation. Nevertheless statesmen as well as theologians realize that the basic solution to the world crisis is theological. Christianity Today will stress the impact of evangelism on life and will encourage it.

Christianity Today will apply the biblical revelation to the contemporary social crisis, by presenting the implications of the total Gospel message for every area of life. This, Fundamentalism has often failed to do. Christian laymen. are becoming increasingly aware that the answer to the many problems of political, industrial, and social life is a theological one. They are looking to the Christian Church for guidance, and they are looking for a demonstration of the fact that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is a transforming and vital force. We have the conviction that consecrated and gifted evangelical scholarship can provide concrete proof and strategic answers.

Christianity Today takes cognizance of the dissolving effect of modern scientific theory upon religion. To counteract this tendency, it will set forth the unity of the Divine revelation in nature and Scripture.

Three years in a theological seminary is not sufficient to prepare a student fully for the ministry. Christianity Today will seek to supplement seminary training with sermonic helps, pastoral advice, and book reviews, by leading ministers and scholars.

The interpretation of the news becomes more and more important in the present world situation. Correspondents conversant with local conditions have been enlisted in the United States and abroad. Through their reports Christianity Today will seek to provide its readers with a comprehensive and relevant view of religious movements and life throughout the world.

While affirming the great emphases of the historic creeds, this magazine will seek to avoid controversial denominational differences. It does not intend to concern itself with personalities or with purely internal problems and conflicts of the various denominations. If significant enough, these will be objectively reported.

Into an era of unparalleled problems and opportunities for the Church comes Christianity Today with the firm conviction that the historic evangelical faith is vital for the life of the Church and of the nations. We believe that the Gospel is still the power of God unto salvation for all who believe; that the basic needs of the social order must meet their solution first in the redemption of the individual; that the church and the individual Christian do have a vital responsibility to be both salt and light in a decaying and darkening world.

Believing that a great host of true Christians, whose faith has been impaired, are today earnestly seeking for a faith to live by and a message to proclaim, Christianity Today dedicates itself to the presentation of the reasonableness and effectiveness of the Christian evangel. This we undertake with sincere Christian love for those who may differ with us, and with whom we may be compelled to differ, and with the assurance in our hearts that God's Holy Spirit alone can activate any vital witness for Him.

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