Book Briefs: July 22, 1957

Tillich Soteriology

Systematic Theology, Vol. 2, by Paul Tillich, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1957. $4.50.

This is decidedly the most readable book that Paul Tillich has yet published, due partly to the subject matter—the fall, sin, Christ and salvation—and partly to the fact that Tillich has found helpers who thoroughly understand and appreciate his views and who have ironed out his attempts to express himself in English. Tillich came to America at the age of 47 in 1933 and in spite of twenty-five years here does not have the same mastery of English as he does of his native language.

In his explanation of the fall Tillich speaks of man as first existing as essential being in the mind of God in a state of “dreaming innocence.” He denies that there ever was any state of conscious innocence or any golden age. As man exerted himself to come into existence he sinned—expressed unbelief, exerted pride and concupiscence—became estranged or separated from God and fell. In this fall he changed from the condition of essential being to that of existential being.

Tillich claims that man-kind is responsible for the fall even though it occurred before man came into consciousness. He draws an analogy from childhood to support his point and says, “the child upon growing into maturity affirms the state of estrangement in acts of freedom which imply responsibility and guilt” (p. 44). Such an explanation however, clearly fails to answer Rheinhold Niebuhr’s implication in The Theology of Paul Tillich that responsibility cannot be predicated of a fall which did not happen in history, nor his charge that this makes sin an ontological necessity in contrast to the Biblical view which makes it an historically responsible act (pp. 219, 222).

This second volume contains a full explanation of Tillich’s exegesis of Genesis 3 and shows how he forces the biblical account of the fall into the mould of his ontological system by what we can call half-way demythologization and which he calls “deliteralization” (p. 152).

From his view of original sin and a prehistorical fall Tillich proceeds on to a description of sin. He sees it as entailing unbelief, pride and concupiscence and adds to this the idea that certain polar tensions, present but always conquered in God—namely freedom and destiny, dynamics and form, individualization and participation—are in conflict in man. In spite of all this, plus a goodly admixture of the Kierkegaardian concept of Angst, Tillich fails to express the biblical view of sin in that he overlooks that it is, as the Westminster Shorter Catechism states, “Any want of conformity unto or transgression of the law of God.” For Tillich there cannot be any law as a revelation of the character of God because eternal verities and absolute truth are excluded by his definition of God as The Infinite and The Absolute. He has accepted the same definition of God as Mansel and Hamilton (Cf. Chas. Hodge, Systematic Theology, Vol. I, pp. 346–365) and must therefore insist that the Ten Commandments, and the words, commands and deeds of Jesus are only of relative value and do not hold for us. Any absolute, even absolute truth, would make God relative (Cf. Vol. I, p. 134).

Evil receives a necessary ontological existence in Tillich insofar as God is made dynamic by Non-Being (The Courage to Be, p. 179) and becomes an unavoidable necessity for creation insofar as it occurs in the state of “dreaming innocence” in the transition of man from potentiality to actuality (p. 44).

In his ontological view Tillich maintains the creation itself fell with man—he makes no clear distinction between material being and spiritual being insofar as both partake of the power of being—and sees the creation therefore as falling with man under the curse of sin. “Creation is good in its essential character. If actualized it falls into universal estrangement” (p. 44). The doctrine of creation and fall coincide (Cf. Vol. I, p. 255). Creation, including man and the material, is good as potential essential being, but is fallen and evil as actualized existential being.

At one point Tillich drops into the complete pantheism of Hegel and Schleiermacher as he writes concerning creation that “… God is eternally creative, that through himself he creates the world and through the world himself” (p. 147).

It is to be carefully noted that in this volume, as in volume I, Tillich never speaks of Christ as one who is divine and God in his own right, but rather as one who attained the place of “the Christ,” one who becomes “the Christ” by an act of absolute surrender which was consummated in the Cross, followed by a victory which was signified in the kerygma of the resurrection. The resurrection of Christ is not physical (p. 155), nor spiritual (p. 156), nor merely psychological (p. 156) but is an ecstatic experience by the early Christians of the concrete picture of Jesus of Nazareth, in which he became united in their minds with the reality of the New Birth in such way that he had, for them, the character of a spiritual presence (p. 157).

It is regrettable that in this volume—and surely it should have appeared under his discussion of the person of Christ—there is no clear statement of what Tillich means by his term “God-Manhood.”

The references to “God-Manhood” are not listed anywhere in the index and yet the term is found in this volume on such pages as p. 124, 127, 146, 159, and 169. Carefully studied, and looked upon metaphysically, the concept means that essential being in the mind of God (and man only existed potentially there, cf. p. 33) was taken into union with the second principle in God or the Logos (a principle and not a person) and then became united with a common man, Jesus of Nazareth, to form “Jesus who is the Christ.” Tillich rejects the Virgin Birth as an historical fact in the life of Jesus (p. 160). Looked at physically the concept “God-man” means that Jesus became “Jesus who is the Christ” by surrendering everything of self and becoming absolutely transparent to the Logos or the divine.

References to the two natures of Christ are entirely missing in the index, though the subject is dwelt upon at length on pages 42 f. and 147–48. On page 147 Tillich confines the term “divine nature” to his concept of God as beyond essence and existence and denies implicitly that Christ could have such a nature in that it is “that which makes God into God.” He therefore considers that it is questionable that the term can be applied to Christ in any meaningful way.

When he comes to the doctrine of salvation Tillich insists that God is reconciled concerning sin, from eternity past, apart from the Cross of Christ. He states that “the message of Christianity is that God … is eternally reconciled” (p. 169). “He does not need to be reconciled to man, but he asks man to be reconciled to him” (p. 93). Tillich insists that Christ is only the “ultimate criterion” or norm of every healing and saving process, and that it cannot be insisted that there is no saving power apart from him Cp. 167–8). So far as Tillich’s theory of the appearance of the New Being under the conditions of existence is concerned, any other man could have been the Savior of mankind if he had completely surrendered himself and all he was to God and had become absolutely transparent to the divine.

R. ALLAN KILLEN

Sermonic Substance

God Has the Answer, by H. Orton Wiley, Beacon Hill Press. $1.50.

If more preachers waited until they reached the high plateau of spiritual maturity attained by this author before attempting to publish their sermons far less paper, printer’s ink and people’s time and money would be wasted on trivial books. Whether or not this volume of eight sermons deserves to be called a great book, the discerning reader will recognize that the spiritual vigor and godly enthusiasm of the author could only belong to one who has long walked in intimate fellowship with God.

In the preface Dr. Wiley admits of a love for the study of Bible symbolism and of having from the beginning of his ministry cultivated the expository method of preaching. That he has gone a long way in attaining these noble objectives is quite evident. If more ministers could be prevailed upon to follow the example of this man of God far fewer church people would “be tossed to and fro, and carried about by every wind of doctrine.” These are not light sermons that lend themselves readily to the use of men not given to solid study. Rather—here is sermonic substance in abundance for the use of careful and conscientious students ever in search of better materials with which to enrich the spiritual diet of their flocks.

While the author indulges in the use of a few too many scholastic words and phrases common to the pedagogue and often emphasizes the view of sanctification peculiar to his own denomination these practices detract but slightly from the underlying value of the sermons. The happy combination of practical with scientific knowledge in the study and application of biblical symbolism furnishes the reader with a profusion of fresh truth for use in expository preaching and teaching. This book deserves wide distribution and study especially among ministers.

ERIC EDWIN PAULSON

True Perspective

The Typology of Scripture by Patrick Fairbairn. Zondervan, Grand Rapids, 1956.

He who deals at length with types and symbols without becoming an extremist is an exception to the rule. Patrick Fairbairn is the exception. Like the geologist who walks the Grand Canyon floor, he studies his subject at close range, but like the same scientist flying high above the Arizona wonder, he sees parts in their relationship to the whole and achieves true perspective.

There were typology students before Fairbairn’s day, and there have been many since, but his work stands out head and shoulders above that of all others. It rests upon sound interpretative principles and reasoned theological conclusions. The comparatively recent hermeneutical handbooks of Ramm and Berkhoff touch upon the Old Testament shadows which become living realities in the new dispensation, yet they no more than skim the surface. Fairbairn’s study has depth and possesses enduring qualities.

A type, says Fairbairn, necessitates a “resemblance in form or spirit” with “what answers to it under the Gospel,” but not just any similarity. The resemblance must be one designed of God “to prepare for the better things of the Gospel” (p. 46).

The author enunciates principles, analyzes individual passages and places them in the total setting of Scripture, and defends his exegesis against that of alternative interpretations. The student of Scripture who would understand the ceremonial institutions of the Old Testament or biblical prophecy, in whatever aspect, must not be a stranger to this Zondervan reprint.

BURTON L. GODDARD

World And Life View

The Basic Ideas of Calvinism, by H. Henry Meeter. Grand Rapids International, Grand Rapids. Fourth edition revised. $1.50 and $3.50.

Ordinarily, these days, you can learn a lot about a book just by noting its publisher and its friends. This book comes out of Grand Rapids. That usually means a point of view faithful to the historic reformed tradition. And this book is highly praised by such men as Louis Berkhof, H. H. Kuyper, H. J. Kuiper, J. R. Richardson and F. E. Mayer. To these, this reviewer can be expected to add very little.

Any book with a title such as this, however, needs defining, for Calvinism means many things to many people. Dr. Meeter does not set out to analyze Calvin’s own writings, nor is he interested in the pure theology of the Reformer. His interest is to present the social and political—especially the political—implications of Calvinism as it today is recognized as a world and life view. He writes much in the spirit of Dakin’s Calvinism.

This book is actually a treatise in political science. Three-fourths of it is devoted to Calvinism and culture, to the calvinistic view of the State, of civil liberty, of international law, of war. The first part lays the groundwork for the author’s principal concern by treating very briefly, but well, of Calvinism’s fundamental principle (the Sovereignty of God), its main theological points, its view of Revelation. Then, using Calvinism’s doctrine of Common Grace as a springboard, he launches into the political realm. As a matter of fact, the author confesses his disinterest in Calvinism as a religion, declaring that readers who want information along this line should turn to other authors.

If there is anything wrong with this book, it is at the point of the author’s understanding of Calvin’s doctrine of Common Grace. His view of this doctrine looms large in importance because, after all, the book is about human behavior, or the effect of Common Grace in human relations. Meeter believes that a Calvinist must view the natural man as totally depraved, with every constructive or beneficial work the result of common grace.

He understands this Common Grace as a sort of superimposed (not native) endowment which acts altogether as a restraining influence, by preventing his normal, altogether evil tendencies from dominating. This is an altogether negative approach to man’s constructive behavior which results from Meeter’s understanding of the doctrine of total depravity, an understanding which fails to take into account Calvin’s pointed references to the image of God as marred but not wholly destroyed in man. The distinction is important. Meeter’s view (that the imago dei is wholly destroyed) necessarily colors his writing. Were he altogether consistent, he would say that there can be no native love between a human father and son except by Common Grace, which acts as a restraining influence to control the parent’s natural inclination to strangle the boy.

But it is a good book.

G. AIKEN TAYLOR

New Translation

The Authentic New Testament, edited and translated from the Greek by Hugh J. Schonfield. Maps and Illustrations by J. F. Horrabin. Dennis Dobson, London, 1956. 25s.

Recent archaeological discoveries in the neighbourhood of the Dead Sea have aroused considerable interest among all who are concerned with Christian origins. Mr. Schonfield wants us to treat the documents of the New Testament with the same breathless excitement.

To enable us to do this he has produced a new translation in which, as he says in his preface, one can “approach these records as if they had recently been recovered from a cave in Palestine or from beneath the sands of Egypt” and thus “look at everything freshly and ask oneself, and try to answer, all kinds of exciting questions.”

Our translator, therefore, as an accomplished Rabbinic and Semitic scholar, has paid full attention to the essentially Jewish background to these writings and, taking into consideration the individual styles and viewpoints of the different authors, has endeavoured to give, in our own modern idiom, what he calls an “authentic New Testament,” i. e. one which should strike people today in much the same way as it struck its first readers many centuries ago. By “authentic” he does not mean to assert that his version is the only correct one, but that it does, as far as possible in a translation, give an accurate reflexion of the period in which the documents were written.

This involves the purging out of all “ecclesiastical bias” and the avoidance of all words and phrases which have, in the course of time, come to acquire a more or less stereotyped, technical meaning, a meaning which may be somewhat different from that of the original one. Thus he speaks of “immersion” not “baptism”, of “envoys” not “apostles”, of “exoneration” not “justification” and of “the community” not “the church”. This is salutary, but it is questionable whether, at this late date, such words as these can be entirely divested of the ideas and associations which have gathered around them with the growth of Christian thought and experience. This raises the whole question as to how far the Scriptures can be read without bias, and to what extent we are to be expected to project ourselves into the ideas and outlook of the latter part of the first century of our era before we can really understand them.

Mr. Schonfield speaks as a scholar and a Jew. He is concerned to show that Christianity fits closely into its Jewish environment and that there is much common ground between the two movements. This is an approach for which we may be grateful, for it represents a very different attitude to the New Testament on the part of Jewish people from that which has been in vogue all down the centuries (an attitude for which the Christian Church itself is largely to blame). We therefore welcome Mr. Schonfield’s version as an instance of the drawing together of Jews and Christians for the mutual enrichment of both parties. We are grateful too for the superb way in which this version has been set out. Chapter and verse divisions have been replaced by more intelligible paragraphing.

The individual books, each provided with a brief introduction, are rearranged with Acts following immediately after Luke’s Gospel and the Johannine literature placed together at the end, to give only two examples. The four letters or fragments of letters believed by some to lie behind our 1 and 2 Corinthians are clearly indicated here. But your reviewer is not too happy about the dating of some of the books which seems to be based on ideas of 19th century liberalism.

The translation itself however is extremely well done. It ought to fulfill the author’s earnest desire “to persuade some, no matter what their creed or convictions may be, that the New Testament is well worth reading.”

But there is more to it than that. At the close of his general introduction Mr. Schonfield quotes the words of the Christian scholar, George Sale, who, in presenting his English version of the Mohammedan scriptures, wrote: “I have endeavoured to do the original impartial justice; not having, to the best of my knowledge, represented it, in any one instance, either better or worse than it really is.” Which reminds us that the really authentic New Testament is not any “ecclesiastical” version, nor even the version of H. J. Schonfield, but that which “is written, not with ink, but with the Spirit of the Living God; not in tables of stone, but in the fleshly tables of the heart.”

L. E. H. STEPHENS-HODGE

Christian Reformed

“… I Will Build My Church”, by Thea B. Van Halsema. Grand Rapids International Publications, $2.95.

It was while she was serving on the Program Committee for the Christian Reformed Centennial of this year that Mrs. Van Halsema, known already to readers for her articles for young people, became interested in preparing this volume. With her background as daughter of Dr. Clarence Bouma; her training at Grand Rapids Christian High School, Calvin College and Western Reserve University; her experience with people as a social service case worker; her interest in children as a mother of four; and her present concern for the church as the wife of one of its ministers—it is doubted that anyone could be better fitted for this task.

“… I Will Build My Church” was written to present to the young people of the Christian Reformed Church a picture of their own church and a picture of the Church of Christ as God has been building it ever since Calvary. It was written to thrill them with their past and inspire them for a greater future.

In addition to significant historical material the author presents details that provide human interest for the young reader. In a few bold strokes the historical figures become flesh and blood. Our respect for the hardy Christians who founded the church and weathered the early years is heightened with Mrs. Van Halsema’s presentation. She frankly admits failings of the church and at the same time helps those of us who are on the outside to understand such things as its exclusiveness in the past, while encouraging us with its declared purpose to reach out more to those also who are neighbors. The book concludes in this vein:

“Speak, says God to the church called Christian Reformed. Speak for me to the people of America. Go on speaking far away in Africa and the Orient, but speak now also to the neighbors whose homes are next to your own. And while you speak and work, hold fast to the truth, which is my Word.

“So I will be with you and bless you, and make you to be a blessing. Through you also I will build my church.”

Young people outside the Christian Reformed Church should read the section that deals with general church history. It would provide an excellent introduction for those to whom Augustine, Luther and Calvin are but names. The rest of the book, too, would be splendid for the young person’s general education and insight into the beliefs and history of another communion, However, some parts are necessarily pretty well peppered with dates and details which limit its appeal largely to readers within the Christian Reformed Church.

This is a fine piece of book manship, greatly enhanced by the virile and striking black and white drawings by the successful young illustrator and author, Dirk Gringhuis.

NORMA R. ELLIS

Christian Martyr

Nicholas Ridley, by Jasper Ridley. Longmans, London. 25s.

What possible interest can the life-story of an English bishop of the 16th century have for readers of CHRISTIANITY TODAY in the U. S. A.? Never were the lessons it teaches more relevant than they are today.

It is a classic illustration of the danger to the Gospel when the church departs from the Bible; of the inevitable reformation which is needed when Holy Scripture is restored; of the vital importance of ensuring that the outward expression of worship should be consistent with scriptural doctrine. Ridley’s story is well told by a descendant who betrays no enthusiasm for his ancestor though he arouses it in his readers. Ridley’s progress from being a practising Roman Catholic to that of a convinced Protestant begins with his introduction to the Bible which he seized and devoured (he learned by heart all the Epistles in Erasmus’ Greek Testament). He was led first to reject the papal supremacy, then slowly and perhaps reluctantly to accept the reformed doctrines and finally to abandon the ritual and practices associated with Roman teaching. The new teaching was given the people in the English Prayer Book and later enshrined in the Articles.

But suddenly the progress of the Reformation was arrested by the death of Edward VI and the accession of Mary. Everything went into reverse. It was not enough that the new doctrines and practices be banned and the old restored; the Reformers must denounce the new faith and declare their allegiance to the old. It was a tremendous test for Ridley and his fellows. The alternatives were, as he put it, “Turn or burn.” He decided to bum, but not before he had proved in open debate the superiority both of his scholarship over that of his enemies and of the scriptural doctrines over those of Rome. At the stake he told the people that he was more honoured at the prospect of martyrdom in Christ’s quarrel than ever he had been by his elevation to the Sees of Rochester and London, or by his selection as Bishop of Durham. Through the clumsiness of his executioners his death was far more horrible than it need have been. In his agony he cried “I cannot burn,” but as his fellow-sufferer Latimer assured him he lit a candle which by God’s grace should never be put out. It is because it is in danger of being put out today that the lessons of the book should be read, marked and learned.

T. G. MOHAN

- More from R. Allan Killen

Theology

Bible Book of the Month: Second Epistle to the Corinthians

Philip Edgecumbh Hughes

St. Paul’s Second Epistle to the Corinthians may without exaggeration be described as one of the richest of all the writings of the New Testament. Its pervading theme of the complete sufficiency of God’s grace in the face of trials and afflictions of every kind is one that is peculiarly appropriate for our own times. And yet it is a strangely neglected epistle. The reason for this neglect is difficult to ascertain, unless it may be that the human mind has a subconscious and quite illogical tendency to rate what is known as a second epistle as being of only secondary importance. In point of fact, there would be some justification for speaking of I Corinthians as the second epistle (and II Corinthians as the third), since it is evident from 1 Corinthians 5:9 that St. Paul had written a still earlier letter to the Corinthians which is now lost. Be that as it may, II Corinthians is certainly not inferior to I Corinthians in the splendour of its perspectives of divine truth. Its “rediscovery” today could hardly fail to be an ennobling and fortifying experience for the church of Christ.

Structure Of Epistle

The opening salutation (in which St. Paul associates the name of Timothy with his own) shows that this epistle was written not only to the church at Corinth, but to all the Christians in the province of Achaia in Southern Greece. The epistle falls into three main sections: (1) chapters 1 to 7, in which the Apostle provides an explanation of his relations with the Corinthians, a defence of his own personal integrity in these relations and an appeal to them to reciprocate the confidence and the love which he entertains towards them; (2) chapters 8 and 9, in which he exhorts the Corinthians to give liberally for the relief of the poverty-stricken Christians at Jerusalem and makes arrangements for them to have their collection in readiness when he comes to receive it and to convey it to their fellow-believers in the mother-church; (3) chapters 10 to 13, in which St. Paul vindicates his apostolic authority with a view to silencing the slanders uttered against him by certain ill-disposed persons.

Wealth Of Contents

But to summarize the structure of the epistle in this manner is to fail to give any adequate idea of the wealth of its contents. Chapters 3 to 6, for example, set before us a succession of noble themes, memorably presented. There is, to begin with, the impressive comparison of the glory of the law ministered by Moses with the surpassing and abiding glory of the new covenant ministered by Christ (3:1–4:6). This leads to the reminder that the Christian has the treasure of the knowledge of God’s glory in the frail earthen vessel of the human frame, together with the assurance that, however much the outward man may suffer and decay, the inward man is renewed day by day and that the weight of affliction borne in this brief pilgrimage is immeasurably surpassed by the eternal weight of glory which is the Christian’s inheritance (4:7–18).

St. Paul then passes on to speak of the death of the body and the intermediate state. This present mortal body is like a temporary tent, which is dissolved at death. Even though to be absent from the body (as the result of death) means a period of “nakedness” and incompletion, yet it also means, for the Christian, to be at home with Christ. And when Christ comes again all Christians, whether still in the body or not, will be clothed upon with the permanent abode of the resurrection body. Man will not enter the heavenly state as a disembodied spirit but in the full splendour of his redeemed humanity; for Christ saves the whole man, body as well as soul (5:1–10). There follows one of the great classical passages concerning God’s soverign grace in reconciling man to himself through Christ’s atoning and substitutionary death. The passage concludes with what is perhaps the most perfect brief statement in the New Testament of the theology of our redemption, namely, that “God made Christ, who knew no sin, to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him” (5:14–21).

6:4–10 is another memorable section, admired for its beauty by Augustine, Erasmus and many others, which describes the serene and transcendent spirit of the faithful follower of Christ in the midst of trials and afflictions of every kind—“as sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things”. Could there be a more sublime paradox than that of the new man in Christ? Mention may also be made in this connection of the Apostle’s enumeration in the eleventh chapter (verses 16–33) of some of the many severe hardships and persecutions he had suffered in the course of his missionary labours. He, if anybody, knew what it meant to be “always delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifested in our mortal flesh” (4:11).

Theme

What is the theme which pervades the whole of this remarkable epistle? It is perfectly stated in the never-to-be-forgotten words of the glorified Lord to his servant: “My grace is sufficient for thee: for my power is made perfect in weakness”; and in the Apostle’s exultant response: “Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest upon me; wherefore I take pleasure in weaknesses, in injuries, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong” (12:9–10). Alas, how little do we know of this dynamic apostolic spirit today! Human weakness and divine power have not changed; but we have allowed the comforts and securities offered by twentieth-century civilization and the complacencies of denominational allegiance to bind us to this earth, with the result that we are at home here and now, and are puzzled to think (if we ever do think about it) how it will be possible for us to be at home with the Lord hereafter (cf. 5:8).

Unity

Something must be said about the unity of II Corinthians. Many scholars in modern times have propounded the view that one or more sections of the epistle as we now have it cannot have belonged to the original document, and must therefore, as the result of some later accident or mistake, have been inserted from elsewhere. The last four chapters especially have been said to be incompatible in tone and content with the earlier chapters, and the hypothesis has been advanced that they are a part of the “painful letter” to which the Apostle refers in 2:4 and 7:8. This “painful” or “severe” letter, it is supposed, must have been written after I Corinthians, since the latter is regarded, by those who advance this hypothesis, as unfitted for such a description. 2 Corinthians 10–13, then, would be a fragment from that letter which in some way not known to us became attached to our epistle. Various other passages have also been the subject of similar conjectures.

Such theories, however, are without the support of a single shred of external evidence. No early writer, no ancient manuscript and no breath of tradition betrays any indication that II Corinthians ever existed in a form other than that in which we now possess it. And, besides, it is difficult to see why our present I Corinthians should not be the “painful letter” mentioned in 2:4 and 7:8. Consider for a moment the extremely painful matters about which St. Paul writes in that epistle: serious divisions and factions in the church at Corinth, the pride with which its members had become “puffed up,” their condonation even of a case of incest in their midst, their willingness to institute legal proceedings against one another before unbelievers, their abuse of the Lord’s Supper, the grave disorderliness of their public worship and the denial by some in their midst even of Christ’s resurrection from the dead. Tertullian was not without some justification in saying that I Corinthians was written “not with ink, but with gall” (De Pudicitia XIV).

Then, too, it must be remembered that St. Paul was writing a letter, not composing a literary essay or a logical treatise. The epistolary form is essentially spontaneous and flexible. In a letter, especially from an apostle to a church which he had founded, there is nothing either surprising or inappropriate in changes of subject matter, of style or even of mood. There is room for doctrinal instruction, ethical admonition, praise and gratitude, reproof and censure. And it must not be forgotten that it was Paul, one of the great personalities of history, who was writing, or rather dictating, this letter—Paul who lived so devotedly and felt so deeply that it was nothing unusual for him to break off from a particular theme and to embark on a profound and enriching digression. Indeed, it may be asserted that perhaps the noblest part of this epistle is an extended “digression,” namely, from 2:14 to 7:4. In 2:13 he is recounting how he traveled anxiously from Troas to Macedonia, hoping to meet Titus there with news from Corinth; but this subject is interrupted—and thank God that it is!—by a thought concerning the manner in which God causes the believer to triumph in Christ through all adversities, and it leads on to a sequence of great and glorious themes which have been an inspiration to countless saints who have suffered for Christ’s sake during the succeeding centuries.

The account of his coming to Macedonia and meeting with Titus is resumed only at 7:5. These events took place, as far as we are able to ascertain from the evidence available, in the autumn of 57 A.D., and immediately upon receiving Titus’s report on the manner in which his earlier epistle had been received St. Paul wrote II Corinthians and sent it to Corinth by the hand of Titus and two other brethren (8:16–24), intending to follow them himself after an interval (9:4, 12:14, 13:1, cf. Acts 20:2). The Pauline authorship of II Corinthians is not open to serious dispute.

Tools For Exposition

Of the commentaries which have been written on II Corinthians we shall mention only five, all of which will be of great value to the student of Holy Scripture: the Homilies of John Chrysostom (fourth century), the commentary of John Calvin (sixteenth century), and, in more recent times, those of Charles Hodge (1835, but recently republished), James Denney (1894, Expositor’s Bible), and, on the Greek text, Alfred Plummer (1915, International Critical Commentary).

PHILIP EDGECUMBE HUGHES

- More from Philip Edgecumbh Hughes

Theology

The New Birth-an Imperative

L. Nelson Bell

When Jesus uses the word “must”, we would be utterly foolish to disregard or try to explain away that which he says.

Speaking to Nicodemus, an educated Jewish leader, he astonished this man by telling him his only hope of entering the kingdom of God depended on his being born again.

Strange to say, some try to explain away our Lord’s words, asserting that the new birth is an archaic term, long associated with an outmoded theological concept, scientifically ridiculous and in no way related to the needs of modern man and incompatible with the advanced scholarship on which today’s religious approach is predicated.

Others may explain away the significance of a spiritual re-birth by interpreting it in terms of human progress and achievement, leaving out its supernatural source and effect on the individual.

As one layman to other laymen: are we wise to do anything less than study what Jesus said and what the Bible teaches about this important subject? If Jesus said “must” shall we say anything else? At least three things should be done: define our terms; ascertain man’s present condition; see what the Bible has to say about these things.

What is meant by “being born again”? Our Lord made it plain to Nicodemus that the new birth is a spiritual, not a physical, experience. He says (John 3:6), “That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” In other words, being born again is a work of the Holy Spirit in the heart of the individual. This work of the Spirit compares to the blowing of the winds, invisible to the eye but none the less real.

John speaks of man’s regeneration in these words: “Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:13).

To further clarify the meaning of regeneration our Lord links this work of the Holy Spirit in man’s heart with his own death on the cross and man’s acceptance of his salvation by faith. This he embodies in the best known verse in all the Scriptures, John 3:16.

But why should man be born again; what is his present condition that such an experience should be necessary? The Bible speaks of us as being “dead in trespasses and sins”. We hate to admit the situation but unregenerate man is spiritually dead and conversion to and faith in Jesus Christ means life from the dead.

For a long time we have tried to fool ourselves into thinking that the evil we see in the world is the result of unfortunate social conditions, psychological maladjustments, economic needs, ignorance, etc. All these things play their part in the tragedies of the social order but underneath all of this there is evil inherent in the human heart.

This can be demonstrated by a simple comparison of men and women possessing every advantage the world has to offer and those unfortunates to whom most of the good things of life have been denied—in the hearts of all lurk the innate tendency to hate, lie, steal, lust, kill, etc., fully corroborating the words of the Bible that “ALL have sinned.”

It is sin that brought death into the world. It is sin that brought spiritual death with separation from God. Therefore, the first step in the new birth is a realization of our actual condition—that we are spiritually dead.

What does the Bible say about the new birth? As a matter of fact, one finds many references in varied terms so that we cannot miss the meaning.

Matthew tells us, “Except ye be converted, and become as a little child, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven” (18:3).

Jesus said: “He that believeth on me hath everlasting life” (John 6:47).

Paul explains this transformation in these words,” … who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit” (Rom. 8:4). And 2 Corinthians 5:17 reads, “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold all things are become new.”

There are so many other references—scores of them—that I will only mention certain phrases: “Of his own will he begat us”; “Being born again not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth forever”; “Partakers of the divine nature”; “Born of him”; “Born of God”.

The most amazing effect of being born again is that there is a complete change. Our natures change because we become partakers of the divine nature; our destinies change because fellowship with God is reestablished; our desires and preferences change because we see and evaluate this world with something of God’s perspective; our attitudes change because we have the love of God in our hearts.

The new birth may be sudden and dramatic like Paul’s experience on the Damascus Road; or, it may be a quiet event, the time and hour never known to the one experiencing it, as was probably the case of Timothy.

I have a friend whose name only a few years ago was on the front page of every paper in America, one of our great war heroes. This man was a hellion (if you know what I mean), profane, immoral, a hard drinker, with a broken home and an evil reputation.

One day he came to the end of his rope. In desperation he turned to a casual friend, a true Christian, and in that friend’s home he confessed his sins and cried out to God for forgiveness. He arose from his knees a new creature in Christ—born again—and since that time he has been a living demonstration of the transformation Christ can and will bring to the heart surrendered to him in repentance and faith.

I know another man, reared in a Christian family, who from before his birth was dedicated to God and who in his youth and young manhood was surrounded by the blessings of a Christian home and the prayers of godly parents. When the transition from death to life took place he cannot tell, but he knows he has been born again because of the witness of the Holy Spirit in his heart.

Every individual has a personal responsibility to God. A godly heritage is a great blessing but ultimately we must make our own decision for or against Christ. “God has no grandchildren!” This is not a trite saying but the expression of a profound truth. To be born into the kingdom of God involves a personal experience with Christ whereby, through the help of the Holy Spirit, we accept him as our Savior from the guilt and penalty of sin and make him the Lord of our lives.

As new drags and remedies and operative techniques become known and publicized there come an avalanche of appeals for relief from those suffering from the diseases for which these new medicines or procedures are designed. How much more do men need to know of the cure for sin which God in his infinite love has provided through his Son!

We cannot explain the new birth in scientific terms; we may be unable to express it in words of human wisdom or with a philosophical approach, but it is something which can be demonstrated and which is being demonstrated in the hearts and lives of thousands.

After all, there is no argument against a transformed life.

WORLD NEWS

Christianity in the World Today

One of the largest crowds in Billy Graham’s New York Crusade turned out the night he delivered a special address to the thousands who had made decisions there to live for Christ.

An estimated 19,000 jammed Madison Square Garden for the sermon on “How to Live A Christian Life.”

Mr. Graham began by asking, “Who is a Christian?” Before answering, he described some people who are not Christians. He said:

“A person is not a Christian because his parents were Godly people. Christian parents are wonderful, but they can’t make the decision for a child. He must do it himself. A person is not a Christian just because he is sincere. My mother thought she was giving me cough medicine once, but she had poured out some poison. She was sincere, but she was sincerely wrong.

“A person isn’t a Christian just because he follows his conscience. His conscience may be dead. You aren’t a Christian because of your feelings. Feelings change.

“Then who is a Christian? I’ll tell you. A Christian is a-person in whom Christ dwells. The Scripture says, ‘Christ in you, the hope of glory.’

“A Christian is a person who believes that his sins have been forgiven through the shed blood of Jesus Christ. The devil will try to make you doubt this. How can you know your sins have been forgiven? Because God said so, and God can’t lie.

“A period of adjustment follows the decision to live for Christ. Your life has been changed. Christian growth must begin unless you are to remain a spiritual baby. Some people never grow spiritually and many of our churches are filled with babies. These people are among the most miserable on earth, because they don’t feel at home with Christ and they don’t feel at home with the world. They want both, and it doesn’t work.

“How does a Christian grow? I am going to list five ways. There are others, but these are five of the most important.

“First, a Christian grows when he prays. When you were a baby, you had to learn to walk. You learn to pray the same way. God doesn’t expect your words to be perfect. When I heard my son, Franklin, say ‘da-da’ for the first time, the words were more beautiful than any ever used by Churchill. I am going to be a little worried, however, if he is still saying ‘da-da’ when he is 12 years old.

“It’s a shame that our churches are practically empty for Wednesday night prayer meetings. The person who waits to pray until he feels like it, will never pray. The devil will see to that. The Bible says you are to pray without ceasing. This means that you can be in a spirit of prayer while driving the car, walking down the street, working in the office or wherever you may be.

“Every Christian should have a quiet time alone with God every day. Your spiritual life will never be much without it.

“Prayers should be filled with praise to God, with thanksgiving for all the wonderful things he has done. Self-examination should be in your prayers, as you confess shortcomings. God is interested in hearing your personal requests, no matter how small. You should seek guidance in prayer. An important thing to remember is that you should pray that God’s will be done and not your will. People make mistakes. God doesn’t.

“Second, a Christian grows when he reads the Bible. This should happen every day, without fail. The Word of God cleanses the heart. Many people don’t read the Bible because they don’t understand it all. I want to tell these people that they will never understand all the Bible. I passed a big milestone in my own Christian life one day when I knelt before God and confessed there were many things in the Bible I didn’t understand, but that I was going to accept it all as the inspired Word of God, by faith. From that moment, the Word became a living fire in my soul.

“Turn off the television set and read the Bible. Begin in the New Testament if you’re a new Christian. It’s easier to understand. Don’t read to see how many chapters you can cover. It’s better to read two or three verses and meditate upon them.

“Make sure you have a Bible with big print. One of the devil’s biggest tricks is to have Bibles with small print, so people won’t read them. In addition to the King James Version, I would recommend the Phillips Translation.

“Third, a Christian grows when he leads a disciplined life. Your bodies, minds and tongues should be disciplined. Practice self-control. The Holy Spirit will give you the strength to become Christian soldiers.

“Many temptations will come to do battle with such discipline, but in Christ you can resist. The Bible says, ‘There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man, but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.’

“The tempter will flee when you answer with a verse of scripture. It’s impossible to argue or rationalize with the devil. Jesus, the Son of God, answered temptation by saying, ‘It is written.…’

“A little boy expressed it very well one day when he said, ‘Everytime temptation knocks, I just send Jesus to the door.’

“Fourth, a Christian grows by being faithful in his church. Going to church is not optional; it’s necessary. God says we are not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together.

“Lots of people today don’t go to church because it is too hot. In the winter they don’t go because it is too cold. I’m afraid I don’t know the ideal church temperature.

“Many figure that the preacher is doing a fine job if he doesn’t go five minutes beyond 12. But if that happens, they are ready to get another one. It may surprise some of you to know that you don’t go to church just to hear a preacher. You go to worship God.

“Get into a good church where the Bible is preached and Christ is exalted. Get to work for God. Join a Bible studycell in your church. The communists borrowed this method from the early church and their godless doctrine spread like wildlfire.

“Five, a Christian grows through service. Be a soul winner. There’s a difference between a witness and a soul winner. A soul winner is filled with the Spirit of God. He visits the sick. He gives to the poor. He loves his enemies. He is kind to his neighbors. Anyone can walk up to another on the street and bark, ‘Brother, are you saved?’ It takes more than that.

“We have a lot of witnesses today but very few soul winners.”

Wall Street Rally

12,000 persons, from financiers to clerks, jammed Wall and Nassau Streets for four blocks in all directions to hear Billy Graham speak on sin, business and money from the steps of the Federal Hall Memorial.

The evangelist told the crowd that “you can make millions of dollars and not find God, if you are separated by sin from Him who is the source of all peace and happiness.”

Immigration Bill

The National Association of Evangelicals has voiced objections to Senate Bill 2410, introduced by Senator John F. Kennedy (D.-Mass.)—providing for an annual redistribution of unused quotas.

Such a provision means that quotas from such countries as England, Ireland and Germany, which are seldom filled, could be assigned to regional pools. This would give emigrants from Europe, Asia, Africa and Oceania a second chance of coming to the U. S.

Dr. Clyde W. Taylor, NAE Secretary of Public Affairs, said the bill “provides for a shift of quotas from the unused ones for western and northern Europe, that have provided our main cultural emphasis, to southern and eastern Europe, that are Roman Catholic and decidedly of minority cultural emphasis. Moreover, its philosophy is that we have a moral obligation to help handle population surpluses.”

The bill was praised by Msgr. Edward E. Swanstrom, executive director of Catholic Relief Services. He said “it is particularly gratifying to know that Senator Kennedy and his colleagues have drafted a bill which the senator says ‘is a strong bill and one which no member of the Senate need feel any hesitancy in supporting.’ ”

The Walter-McCarran Act, passed in 1952, provides that the annual quota for any one of the 85 major quota areas shall equal one-sixth of one per cent of the number of inhabitants of the United States, based on the 1920 census. The House Un-American Activities Committee claimed recently, said the NAE, that the Communist Party has created over 180 organizations for the purpose of bringing “grass roots” pressure on Congress to destroy the Walter-McCarran Act.

Worth Quoting

“Of all the panaceas ever set forth in the world to remedy the ills of the human race, there is only one that is effective. That is the gospel of God’s saving grace. This is no over-simplification of a complex problem. It is the one and only basis upon which the superstructure of any temple of peace can be erected. If there is one question upon which we can pronounce dogmatically it is this, that until man has first made peace with God he will never be at peace for any length of time with his fellow-men.”—

JAMES H. HUNTER, author.

People: Words And Events

Editor Dies—Dr James Richard Joy, 93, editor of The Christian Advocate from 1915 to 1936, died July 1 at Manhattan General Hospital. Since 1936 he had been librarian of the Methodist Historical Society. From 1891 to 1904 he was on the editorial staff of the Methodist Book Concern.

Medal of Honor—The Pentagon indicates it will switch its “non-combat” stand and approve a Senate resolution to award the Congressional Medal of Honor posthumously to four chaplains who lost their lives in the sinking of the troopship Dorchester during World War II. The chaplains perished on Feb. 3, 1943, after giving their life preservers to servicemen on the transport. They were The Rex. George L. Fox, Gilman, Vt. (Methodist); The Rev. Clark V. Poling, Schnectady, N. Y. (Reformed Church in America); The Rev. John P. Washington, Newark, N. J. (Roman Catholic) and Rabbi Alexander D. Goode, York, Pa.

Poll on Parsonages—Most clergymen are not in favor of having parsonages right next to churches, according to a survey made by the Southern California-Arizona Methodist Conference. “There is a tendency to encroach upon the privacy of the home life of the parsonage family” when it is next door, said a majority. They expressed a preference for at least three bedrooms with rugs, draperies or curtains supplied. At least one bedroom should have twin beds and all should have “good” mattresses. One full-length mirror is “helpful.” Of the 217 clergymen polled, 174 voted for two or more bathrooms.

Teen-Agers Pray—About 3,000 teenagers, delegates to the 13th annual convention of Youth for Christ International, spent a night in prayer at Winona Lake, Indiana, for Billy Graham’s New York Crusade.… Madison Square Garden officials said Graham has outlasted and outdrawn all previous attractions in the arena’s 30-year history. In seven weeks the Crusade attracted 824,300. The previous record was made in 1947 by the Ringling Brothers, Barnum and Bailey Circus, which ran for 40 days with a total audience of 785,813.

Children’s Center—Dr. Daniel Poling, editor of “The Christian Herald,” has donated his house and 400 acres of property at Deering, N. H., for use as a children’s center.

Good News—Churchmen received good news when the U. S. Supreme Court ruled that “obscenity is not within the area of constitutionally protected speech or press.” The high court upheld four laws—an 1872 Federal law making it criminal to send obscene matter through the mails, a California law against writing, publishing, selling or exhibiting obscene matter and a Newark ordinance banning “strip tease” acts in theaters.

Chaplain of Year—Secretary of the Army Wilbur M. Brucker presented the Army Chaplain of the Year award to Chaplain (Major) Arthur E. Mills (Advent Christian) of Aurora, Ill. Chaplain Mills, who has twice won the Silver Star for gallantry in action, is now post chaplain at Fort Monroe, Va.

Business Men Go—Evangelist Tommy Hicks challenged the delegates to the fifth annual convention of the Full Gospel Business Men’s Fellowship International: “In the mission fields, the doors are closing to preachers and missionaries, but they are open to businessmen. Businessmen are doing something they have never done before—leaving their businesses for short periods and going out to the ends of the earth to witness to the untold dying millions, and paying their own expenses to do it.” 175 responded at two meetings when Hicks challenged them to go.

Conservative Debate—The possible addition of the word “premillennial” to the doctrinal statement caused considerable debate at the June annual Fellowship of Conservative Baptists. No vote was taken.

Digest—Church construction set a new record for the month of June, amounting to $73,000,000.… Evon Hedley, Toronto, appointed executive director of Youth for Christ International to succeed Dr. Ted W. Engstrom, new president of YFC.… G. Keith Hargett named director of film distribution for Moody Bible Institute. He gave famous “Sermons from Science” demonstrations for six years.

3 Hours In Queue

Alejandro Clifford, a journalist from Cordoba, Argentina, made a special trip to New York City recently and attended one of the Billy Graham Crusade meetings. He stood in a line outside Madison Square Garden for three hours. These are the things he heard and felt:

It was pouring rain. I did not know what to do or where to go on Sunday in New York. The great city seemed a far from cheerful place at 3 p.m. to this South American journalist with his one suit of clothes and one pair of shoes.

I decided to make for Madison Square Garden, which was quite close to my hotel, and to stand in the line for the Billy Graham meeting, if there should be a line at such an early hour. To my surprise, people were queueing up, and more and more kept arriving.

Though I had a press card which entitled me to a good seat, I decided to stay in the line. I wanted to know what sort of people were being reached by the New York campaign. Were they, as some said, people who do not need reaching? I was soon able to answer that question and several others. The line of folk waiting at 3:30 for the opening of the doors of the Garden at 6, was a crosssection of the world. I saw people of all ages, races, social conditions. Vigorous youth, the crippled, the blind. And suddenly my own little section of the queue became very interesting as people got friendly and began to talk.

I was wedged in tightly between two middle-aged colored women. The one on my left leaned over me and addressing the one on my right asked: “What church do you belong to, lady?” After a short pause there was a shamefaced reply: “No church.” A shocked “That’s not good!” from my left, was followed by an explanation from my right: “When I was a little girl I went to Sunday School and church, but I have been nowhere for many years. I’m coming every night to hear Billy, because I know his message is the truth, and I want to find Christ.”

The well dressed lady in front of me turned and said: “I am Swedish. When I was a girl, I used to go to the Lutheran Church, but in the States I have never been anywhere. Now I have become a Christian, thanks to Billy Graham.”

Four policemen were sheltered from the rain just a couple of yards from where I was standing. They were discussing baseball but soon switched over to a discussion of Billy Graham. Some of the remarks were far from complimentary. One of the policemen, a young, earnest looking fellow, asked his mates if they had taken the trouble to listen to Billy, then added: “I never bothered to listen to the guy until last night. I can tell you I never heard anything like it in my life. You’d better listen before you talk.” And with that they separated.

A stoutish overdressed woman in her early thirties, who was standing just behind me asked: “Can anyone tell me where I can find the story of the little man who climbed a tree because he wanted to see Jesus?” At once several Bibles were pulled out, and the man who was standing beside her showed her the passage in Luke. Zacchaeus was merely an excuse to start a conversation, for the woman continued: “I do wish I could understand this question of being born again. I listened to Billy’s sermon on John 3:16 last night. I went home and memorized the verse, but I can’t understand how one can obtain eternal life or be born again.”

The man with the Bible got busy and gave her a very clear explanation of the way of salvation. Then suddenly the woman said: “I am Jewish. Do you think the Lord Jesus Christ would receive a Jewess?” The man read several passages, Isaiah 53 among them. A German woman who was standing quite close to the Jewess, patted her on the back and handed her a couple of tracts written specially for Jews. As she did so she said: “Take these, Madam. I am a German, and I feel that by doing humble work and serving the Jews, I can atone in a small way for the terrible manner in which my nation treated them. And then, it gives me a chance to talk to them about my Saviour, their Messiah.”

And so it went on. The people were so interesting! The young colored schoolmaster, now employed by United Nations, who had just lost his teaching job because he insisted on reading the Bible to his students; the young man with the long hair who wanted to argue about the age of the earth, but did not wish to discuss sin; the smiling Oriental who did not seem to understand much English but who certainly showed that he was on the Lord’s side.

When the doors opened, I went in. Billy spoke very simply, but with power, on the Second Coming of Christ. And when the invitation was given, I felt the tears running down my cheeks as I saw that my Jewish friend of the queue was one of the first to go forward.

People can tell me whatever they like now about the sort of folk Billy Graham reaches or doesn’t reach. It won’t worry me. I know the truth. I stood for nearly three hours in the queue.

Brother Team

The Rev. B. O. Baker, pastor in Fort Worth for the last 10 years, and his brother, Dick, who worked with Howard Butt as associates in Billy Graham’s New York Crusade, have formed a new evangelistic team.

All campaigns will be conducted through church sponsorship.

Both are graduates of Baylor University and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

During the 10 years the Rev. B. O. Baker was pastor of Birchman Avenue Baptist Church in Fort Worth, the annual budget increased from $28,000 to $110,000, property value from some $50,000 to $350,000 and membership from 500 to 1,800. He will do the speaking for the team.

Dick Baker will be the music director. He was founder and director during college days of the Baylor Religious Hour Choir. Some of the songs he has written include Longing for Jesus, Keep Looking Up and Lord, Send Revival.

Brewer Suggestions

Brewers are reportedly weeping into their beer because their product failed to show an increase in sales last year. American Brewer has rushed forward with some suggestions to change the trend:

“Make the serving of beer predominate at all industry events. We are producers and salesmen of beer. We must also be consumers.

“Each employee is a potential salesman, and all must be encouraged to not only drink beer but promote its usage among families and friends. Could not brewery unions, which have a big stake in our industry, cooperate in this direction?”

School Decision

The following special article was written forCHRISTIANITY TODAYby Peter de Visser, publisher of Grand Rapids (Mich.) International Publications.

The Christian Reformed Church, at the June Centennial Synod in Grand Rapids, Michigan, started off its second century with a strong reaffirmation of support to Christian education. The Synod voted, 88 to 22, to continue its ownership and operation of Calvin College and Seminary, rather than to turn the denominational schools over to private society operation. The Synod backed up its decision by approving relocation of the schools to a new and expanded campus, authorizing the construction of five buildings—one for the seminary, two dormitories, a power and heating plant and a physical education building to cost a total of $3,500,000 and to constitute the first units of the new 166-acre campus at Knollcrest, southeast of Grand Rapids.

A minority report of the Board of Trustees’ long-range planning committee had suggested that the college ought eventually to be turned over to a private educational society. The decisions to retain control, to remain in Grand Rapids and to expand on a new and larger campus, settled for the time being the efforts of some to have the college and seminary moved to Chicago, New York or Los Angeles and of others to curtail the the college to the upper two years and establish regional junior colleges in various sections of the U. S. and Canada. Part of the funds for the new three-quarter-million-dollar seminary building are already on hand, as funds for this project as a Centennial Memorial were raised at a special Centennial Thank-offering April 7, which brought in about $300,000. The college and seminary combined now have nearly 2,000 students.

A move toward eventual organization of regional synods, to meet on alternate years, was taken with appointment of a committee to draw up a specific plan of reorganization, to be presented to a future synod. At present the general synod meets each year.

Backing for increased missionary activity, both at home and abroad, was embodied in several actions. The Board of Foreign Missions was authorized to lend personnel assistance to the Reformed Church of Korea. Similar assistance was offered to the Reformed Churches of Australia and New Zealand, composed chiefly of recent Dutch immigrants to those countries. Encouragement also was given to cooperation with the Church of Christ of the Sudan in moves to establish a theological seminary in Nigeria.

In keeping with its Centennial thrust of increased activity in church extension, the Synod authorized opening of 10 new fields by its committee on home missions. The spurring of community evangelism has been one of the main features of the church’s anniversary program.

The Synod passed on for guidance to its 500 component congregations a set of resolutions condemning racial discrimination and segregation. No specific action was taken regarding the contents of the resolutions, but it was deemed desirable to circulate them to the congregations for their study and guidance in local situations.

The Synod voted to grant women the right to particpate and to vote in congregational meetings, at the discretion of local church consistories. Some churches of the denomination have allowed woman suffrage for many years.

Conversations looking toward closer co-operation were approved on request from the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, and one faction of the Protestant Reformed Church. Three delegates were appointed to attend the Reformed Ecumenical Synod in South Africa in 1958.

A resolution affirming continued opposition to appointment of any Presidential envoy to the Vatican was approved.

Adopted was a budget of more than $4 million, including more than $1 million each for foreign missions, home missions and Calvin College and Seminary. Financial assessments for the coming year were set at $16 per family for evangelism and $16 per family for foreign missions, also $14 per family for the support of Calvin College and Seminary. A new dormitory at the denomination’s Indian Mission School at Rehoboth, New Mexico was approved, to cost $80,000.

The Centennial Synod marked the climax of the denomination’s observance of the one-hundredth anniversary of its founding by Dutch immigrants in western Michigan in 1857. Fraternal delegates were present with greetings from the Reformed churches of Australia, Ceylon, Japan, South Africa and the Netherlands. A repeat performance of the Centennial pageant, “Upon This Rock”, was given for the synodical delegates.

The church’s Centennial Committee was asked to continue another year, with a view to establishing a denominational information agency to assist in the task of church outreach. The committee has done an extensive job in publicizing the work and message of the Christian Reformed Church during its centennial year.

Today the Christian Reformed Church has congregations in 28 states of the U. S., in Alaska and in all of the Canadian provinces. In recent years the Canadian membership has mushroomed because of the large influx of immigrants from Reformed churches of the Netherlands, so that now there are nearly 125 churches in Canada. And while the quarter-million membership of the Christian Reformed Church is still predominantly of Dutch ancestry and background, many nationalities are now represented on the church rolls.

Germany

Matter Of Judgment

Bishop Harms Lilje of Hanover, Germany, president of the Lutheran World Federation, asked people in the free world not to pass judgment upon the leaders of Christian churches behind the Iron Curtain who may be forced to make compromises with their communist governments.

“From my own experience under the Nazis, I know that the lines are not always clearly drawn,” the bishop said.

Bishop Lilje said “we will not be fooled” by any communist propaganda which might be voiced by delegates from Iron Curtain countries who attend the Lutheran World Assembly at Minneapolis, August 15–27. Delegates from eight Communist-ruled countries are expected to attend the sessions.

The bishop made his comment in response to statements by five refugee Protestant clergymen who testified recently before the Senate Internal Security sub-committee. The refugees asserted that delegates to the Lutheran meeting from Communist countries are appointees of the Red governments and may seek to spread false propaganda about freedom of religion. The clergymen who testified to the Senate subcommittee were accompanied by Dr. Carl McIntire, president of the fundamentalist International Council of Christian Churches.

“If there is a man who is just a servant of the other system (atheism) and who does not really care for Christianity, we would soon find him out,” Bishop Lilje declared.

Meanwhile, he urged that the representatives of Lutheran Churches in Communist areas be greeted with cordiality and he said he hoped the press would refrain from asking them questions “which are bound to be embarrassing to them.”

He said that great difficulty had been encountered in seeking permission for delegates to attend from the church in East Germany. He added he believed it would be helpful both to the Assembly and the church in the Eastern Zone if they can attend.

“It does something to a man to be able to breathe, if only for a few days, the air of freedom that we take so much for granted,” he declared.

Bishop Lilje said that the Lutheran Church in Germany has taken the position that “the shepherd must remain with his flock.”

“We have told our pastors that even if others flee to the West, they must stay and minister to those who remain,” he said.

“They have a hard duty to perform,” he observed, “and I don’t think it is up to us to judge them.

“We know that the communist governments are against religion and believe that in 50 years or so it will die out and not exist any longer, but our job is to give a constructive Christian testimony, not to argue politics.”

Bishop Lilje said that he hoped delegates would be present from Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Rumania, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia and East Germany.

Africa

Islamic Way

While Nigeria jubilated over the victories of her 70 delegates to the London Constitutional Conference, Alhadji Ahmadu, Prime Minister of the Northern Region, made it clear that Christian ideas of modern democracy would not set aside the traditional Islamic way of life in the North.

With Londoners agog at the Nigerian costumes (silk top hats with ostrich feathers and a minister’s gown with 20-foot-long train), the delegates and their advisers hammered out plans for regional self government this year for those who want it (the West and East). In 1959 full national independence within the British Commonwealth will make Nigeria the largest independent country in Africa and the fourth in the Commonwealth.

In a London radio interview about his people’s rush to nationhood, swarthy, six-footer Alhadji Ahmadu stated that the Northern Region’s Moslem feudal system would not be scrapped under the new “democracy.” He said “we have foundations on which we have been building the modern civilization.

“The Islamic faith forbids the participation of women in elections. No matter what happens in the other regions, as long as I am in office we shall oppose votes for women because of our religion.”

Anxious about their future in a predominantly Moslem region (Northern Nigeria and Saudi Arabia are reported to be the only two areas in the world where pure Islamic law is practiced), Conference delegates representing Christians and pagans in Nigeria’s “Middle Belt” (6 million population) are seeking the formation of a Middle Belt State, which southern politicians also favor as a way of trimming the North’s political bloc.

The British government has promised to appoint a commission to investigate the desirability of setting up new states in all three regions to protect minority groups.

This in contrast to the policy followed in smaller Ghana (4½ million), where Dr. Nkruman, the Prime Minister, declared: “The government is not prepared to create constituencies representing special religious, racial or tribal interests.”

Meanwhile, the steady advance of Islam in West Africa is arousing churchmen. A motion deploring inroads being made into Christian affairs by Islam was passed at the annual Synod meeting of the Anglican Church in Lagos, Nigeria.

Delegates claimed Moslems were “demoralizing Christians in their beliefs” through subtle tactics such as exchanging seasonal gifts and observing harvest ceremonies. To combat the Moslem advance, the Synod adopted a program of teaching about Christianity and Islam.

Pointing up the increasing power of Islam even in the “Christian South” of Nigeria, Christian candidates for a chieftancy title in the town of Iwo were reported hiding their religious identity by dropping baptismal names in order to gain popularity in the election.

In a newspaper interview, Maulvi Naseem Saif, chief Ahmadiyya missionary for West Africa, replied to protests of the Church.

“We are speeding up our own activities,” he stated. “We want to see that in our own lifetime this great country becomes Moslem, and by that I mean the whole population joins Islam. We are confident.”

Mission leaders, aware for the last decade that the advance of Islam has been outstripping Christianity in West Africa, are alarmed at the apathy of African Christians. The Rev. J. S. Trimingham, commissioned by the Methodists and Anglicans to make a survey of Islam and the Church in West Africa, reported “the increasing stagnation of the West African Church. The churches are concerned with internal organization and not with evangelism among non-Christians.… Fervor to evangelize their fellows has waned or died.”

The Sudan Interior Mission, largest Christian agency working in the Moslem areas of Nigeria, is tackling the problem by encouraging their churches to evangelize Moslem neighbors with literature.

If African Christians are stung into action, Maulvi Saifi’s threat may prove to have a healthy effect.

—W. H. F.

- More from L. Nelson Bell

Dare We Renew the Controversy?

Carl F. H. Henry

The Evangelical Responsibility

A higher spirit to quicken and to fulfill the theological fortunes of this century will require more than the displacement of modernism, more than the revision of neo-orthodoxy, more than the revival of fundamentalism. Recovery of apostolic perspective and dedication of the evangelical movement to biblical realities are foundational to this hope.

Exalt Biblical Theology

Evangelical theology has nothing to fear, and much to gain, from aligning itself earnestly with the current plea for a return to biblical theology. To measure this moving front of creative theology sympathetically, to understand its concern and courage and to name its weaknesses without depreciating its strength will best preserve relevant theological interaction with the contemporary debate.

The evangelical movement must make its very own the passionate concern for the reality of special divine revelation, for a theology of the Word of God, for attentive hearing of the witness of the Bible, for a return to biblical theology.

Positive Preaching

Rededication to positive and triumphant preaching is the evangelical pulpit’s great need. The note of Christ’s lordship over this dark century, of the victory of Christianity, has been obscured. If it be evangelical, preaching must enforce the living communication of the changeless realities of divine redemption. The minister whose pulpit does not become the life-giving center of his community fails in his major mission. Perspective on Christianity’s current gains and final triumph will avoid a myopic and melancholy discipleship. The Christian pulpit must present the invisible and exalted Head of the body of Christ; linked to him this earthly colony of heaven moves to inevitable vindication and glory. The perplexing problems of our perverse social orders find their hopeful solution only in this regenerative union. Out of its spiritual power must spring the incentives to creative cultural contributions.

Enlarge Christian Living

The evangelical fellowship needs a fresh and pervading conception of the Christian life. Too long fundamentalists have swiftly referred the question, “What distinguishes Christian living?” to personal abstinence from dubious social externals. The Christian conscience, of course, will always need to justify outward behavior, in home, in vocation and in leisure. But Christian ethics probes deeper. It bares the invisible zone of personality wherein lurk pride, covetousness and hatred.

Unfortunately, fundamentalism minimized the exemplary Jesus in the sphere of personal ethics. The theme of Christ’s oneness with God was developed so exclusively in terms of his deity that the import of his dependence upon God for all human nature was lost. The manhood of Jesus is essentially one with ours; its uniqueness is in the zone of sinlessness, not of humanness. His uncompromised devotion and dependence upon God, his sustained relationship of mutual love, embodied the ideal pattern of human life in perfect fellowship with God. In view of his unbroken union with God, his humanity holds a central significance for all humanity.

In this light, a new importance attaches to the Nazarene’s learning of the Father’s will in the course of obedient dependence. His struggle with temptation to magnificent victory over all the assaults of evil, his exemplary trust, his unwavering reliance on God even in the darkest hours, his interior calm of soul, the well-spring of love that flowed from his being—in all these experiences Christ models for us an ideal spiritual relationship with God. In Jesus of Nazareth, God is fully resident; in God, Jesus is fully at home. He lives out the “rest in God” that actualizes the “abiding” to which we are called.

Another way in which evangelicals need to move beyond the fundamentalist ethic is in comprehending the whole of the moral law in fuller exposition of love for God and neighbor, and in the larger experience of the Holy Spirit in New Testament terms of ethical virtue. Often quite legalistically, and with an absoluteness beyond New Testament authority, fundamentalism’s doctrine of surrender, of rededication, has merely proscripted worldly practices, from which the believer was discouraged. Unemphasized, however, are the fruit of the Spirit and those many virtues which differentiate dedicated living in terms of biblical Christianity.

Social Concern

We need a new concern for the individual in the entirety of his Christian experience. He is a member of all life’s communities, of faith, of the family, of labor, of the state, of culture. Christianity is by no means the social gospel of modernism, but is nonetheless vibrant with social implications as a religion of redemptive transformation. To express and continue the vitality of the gospel message, marriage and the home, labor and economics, politics and the state, culture and the arts, in fact, every sphere of life, must evidence the lordship of Christ.

Obviously, the social application of Christian theology is no easy task. For one thing, fundamentalism fails to elaborate principles and programs of Christian social action because it fails to recognize the relevance of the gospel to the sociocultural sphere. Modernism defines Christian social imperatives in secular terms and uses the Church to reorganize unregenerate humanity. Its social sensitivity gave modernism no license to neglect the imperative of personal regeneration. Evangelistic and missionary priorities, on the other hand, gave fundamentalism no license to conceal the imperative of Christian social ethics. Despite the perils, no evasion of responsibility for meaningfully relating the gospel to the pressing problems of modern life is tolerable.

The divine life is a “being in love,” a social or a family fellowship in which personality expresses the outgoing, creative relationships of redemption. A worker by God’s creation, man sees vocation as a divinely entrusted stewardship by which to demonstrate love to God and service to man. As divinely ordained, the state declares God’s intention and the dignity of man’s responsibility for preserving justice and repressing iniquity in a sinful order. This world challenges man to interpret literature, art, music, and other media in reference to eternal order and values.

Approach To Science

Evangelical confidence in the ontological significance of reason makes possible a positive, courageous approach to science. For more than a century and a half modern philosophy has regrettably minimized the role of reason. Kant disjoined it from the spiritual world. Darwin naturalized and constricted it within the physical world. Dewey allowed it only a pragmatic or an instrumental role. These speculations took a heavy toll in Christian circles. A segment of evangelical Christianity nonetheless maintained its insistence upon the Logos as integral to the Godhead, the universe as a rational-purposive order, and man’s finite reason is related to the image of God.

Yet for more than a generation the evangelical attitude in scientific matters has been largely defensive. Evolutionary thought is met only obliquely. American fundamentalism often neglected scrutinizing its own position in the light of recent historical and scientific research. It even failed to buttress its convictions with rigorous theological supports.

Yet modernism, despite its eager pursuit of such revision, achieved no true correlation of Christianity and science. While modernism adjusted Christianity swiftly to the prevailing climate of technical conviction, its scientific respect was gained by a costly neglect of Christianity’s import to science.

Today a new mood pervades the scientific sphere. That mood may not fully validate the evangelical view of nature, but it does at least deflate the presuppositions on which the older liberalism built its bias against the miraculous. The evangelical movement is now given a strategic opportunity to transcend its hesitant attitude toward scientific endeavor, and to stress the realities of a rational, purposive universe that coheres in the Logos as the agent in creation, preservation, redemption, sanctification and judgment.

The ramifications of revelation and reason are wider, however, than science, for they embrace all the disciplines of learning. The evangelical attitude toward education itself is involved. The day has vanished when all the levels of learning, from primary to university, were in the service of God. Christianity cannot long thrive in an atmosphere in which mass education is allowed to repress and impugn Christian confidence and conviction. Christianity must not withdraw from the sphere of education, but must infuse it with new spirit and life. Christianity need evade neither truth nor fact, for it offers an adequate view of the universe in which we are driven daily to decision and duty. In answer to the present secular perspective in public education, shall evangelicals establish private Christian schools? Or shall they rather work for eternal verities within the present public school order or perhaps even pursue both courses? One fact is certain: evangelical neglect of education will imply the irrelevance of historic Christianity to the pressing problems of the contemporary academic world.

Doctrine Of The Church

The evangelical movement needs also the sustained study of the New Testament doctrine of the Church and a greater concern for the unity of regenerate believers. Its program for reflecting the unity of the body of Christ in contemporary history is inadequate in several regards.

Evangelical discussions of the unity of the Church are shaped to protest the ecumenical framework as a compromise to be avoided. Ecumenical Christianity blesses a cooperation broader than the New Testament fellowship; it needs to be reminded that not all union is sacred—that the more inclusive the union, the greater the danger of compromising and secularizing its Christian integrity. By contrast, the evangelical movement easily restricts cooperation more narrowly than does the Bible. It must learn that not all separation is expressive of Christian unity. The principle of separation itself may acquire an objectionable form and content, related more to divisive temper than to theological fidelity. In the face of the inclusive church movement, the evangelical spirit reacts too much toward independency. Through refusal to cooperate with believers whose theological conservatism and dedication to Christ are beyond question, evangelical Christianity is in danger of divisiveness and disruptiveness.

Sound Doctrine And New Life

Evangelical insistence that the unity of the body of Christ requires a basic doctrinal agreement and a regenerate membership is sound. The ecumenical temperament encourages the breakdown of denominational barriers at too great a price whenever it minimizes doctrinal positions. Interdenominationalism in our century has sprung from a peculiar assortment of motives. Fundamentalists stimulated denominational desertion through discontent with theologically inclusive programs ventured by liberal leadership in the established denominations. Such was not in actuality an antithesis to denominationalism, since denominational tenets were not called into question. Indeed, most evangelicals prefer to support New Testament programs within their own denominational lines, allowing interdenominational cooperation to spring from multidenominational dedication to common evangelical priorities. The compromise of priorities in denominational circles, however, led to interdenominationalism at the expense of denominationalism and quickened the sense of an extradenominational unity based on common doctrine and faith.

The liberal interdenominational urge had a different motivation, namely, a virtual depreciation of denominationalism as unworthy sectarianism insofar as any fixed creedal positions are affirmed. This exaltation of the experiential unity of the Church through the disparagement of doctrinal soundness is the great peril of ecumenical ecclesiology today. Its constant danger is the elevation of the concern for unity above the concern for truth.

Precision In Beliefs

Evangelical emphasis on an indispensable doctrinal basis for Church unity needs, however, to be defined with greater precision. Such concern accounts for evangelical uneasiness over the creedal vagrancy of the World Council of Churches whose nebulous emphasis is only on “Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.” Since the evangelical movement includes churches that are both creedal and noncreedal in heritage, a specific creedal unity has not been elaborated, although common theological tenets are listed. This evangelical listing of a doctrinal minimum raises difficulties for creedal churches, inasmuch as they consider no article of faith dispensable. To Reformed churchmen, evangelical formulas often appear open to objectionable development. They prefer a strict creedal fellowship, a restriction that excludes progress toward the unity of diverse evangelical elements. The evangelical failure to fully elaborate essential doctrines has resulted in fragmentation by granting priority to secondary emphases (in such matters as eschatology). Evangelical Christianity has been slow to establish study conferences in biblical doctrine, to encourage mutual growth and understanding. Ironically, study sessions on theological issues are now often associated with movements whose doctrinal depth and concern are widely questioned. The significance of Christian doctrine, its dispensability or indispensability, its definition as witness or revelation, the elements identified respectively as core and periphery—these are issues on which evangelical Christianity must be vocal.

Fellowship Of Disciples

Evangelical Christianity too frequently limits the term “evangelical” to those identified with a limited number of movements. This needlessly stresses a sense of Christian minority and discourages cooperation and communication with unenlisted evangelicals. But the tensions of American church history in this turbulent century cannot be automatically superimposed upon all world evangelical communities. Ecumenical leadership in the Federal Council of Churches and its successor, the National Council of Churches, failed to reflect the viewpoint of that considerable genuinely evangelical segment of its constituency. In the World Council of Churches, leaders on the Continent also have often found themselves theologically far to the right of American spokesmen, and have found American evangelicals in the World Council disappointingly unvocal. Long before the establishment of organizations like the World Evangelical Fellowship, many European churches have approached the World Council in quest of an enlarging evangelical fellowship. Evangelical world alternatives to inclusive movements arose after most large historic denominations were already enlisted in the World Council. Does evangelical loyalty within these committed denominations necessarily depend upon public repudiation of the World Council, and upon entrance instead into minority movements quite withdrawn from the stream of influential theological discussion? Even the National Association of Evangelicals in the United States must accept the absence of Southern Baptists and Missouri Lutherans, whose antipathy for theological inclusivism keeps these denominations also outside the National Council. The question that obviously remains, of course, is whether an evangelical who prefers identification with the broader movements can justify his participation, if he knows his own spiritual heritage, except in the capacity of a New Testament witness? Must not a silent evangelical in this climate always ask himself whether the silence which once perhaps was golden, now, through a dulling of love for truth and neighbor, has become as sounding brass or tinkling cymbal. Indeed, must not the evangelical always and everywhere address this question to himself in whatever association he is placed?

Lack of evangelical communication across the lines of inclusive and exclusive movements is not wholly due to the exclusivists. Ecumenical enthusiasts have encouraged neither fellowship nor conversation with exclusivist evangelicals. This coldness contributed needlessly to the fundamentalist suspicion of all outside their own constituency, and did little to mitigate the incivility that some fundamentalists reserved for such individuals. The unity of the believing Church re quires communication between evangelicals on a basis of mutual tolerance and respect.

Concern For Unity

Unfortunately for the evangelical cause, the concern for the unity of the Church is now largely associated in the public mind with the inclusive vision. The failure of evangelicals to hear what the Spirit says in the New Testament to the churches has created the void now being filled by inclusivist conceptions of unity. The evangelical church needs with new earnestness to seek unity in its fragmenting environment, needs to reflect to the disunited world and to the disunited nations the sacred unity of the body of Christ.

Although evangelicals have criticized the broad basis of ecumenical merger and unity, they have achieved in their own ranks few mergers on the theological-spiritual level. Without conceding that denominationalism is evil or that health increases in proportion to the reduction of denominations, may there not be evidence that evangelical Christianity is over denominationalized? If doctrinal agreement enhances the deepest unity of believers, may we not expect progress in the elimination of unnecessary divisions by emphasizing the spiritual unity of the Church? Evangelical Christianity, if it takes seriously its own emphasis on the unity of the body, must show visible gains in demonstrating unity in church life.

Contemporary Christianity would gain if the discussion of ecclesiastical tolerance were set in a New Testament context. The scriptural respect for individual liberty in matters of religious belief must not obscure definite requirements for indentification with the body of Christian believers. The New Testament upholds specific doctrinal affirmations as indispensable to genuine Christian confession. In this biblical setting, divisiveness is depicted primarily as a theological question, not (as is usually the case today) as a matter of ecclesiastical attitude and relationship. The modernist tendency to link Christian love, tolerance and liberty with theological inclusivism is therefore discredited. Modernist pleas for religious tolerance and the caustic indictments of fundamentalist bigotry often were basically a strategic device for evading the question of doctrinal fidelity. This flaunting of tolerance, however, was discredited when inclusivist leaders suppressed or excluded evangelicals not sympathetic to the inclusive policy. The “tolerance plea” swiftly dismissed as divisive what was not clearly so in fact. Divisiveness meant disapproval of the inclusive policy, tolerance meant approval. But the New Testament does not support the view that devotion to Christian liberty and progress and to the peace and unity of Christ’s Church is measured by the devaluation of doctrine in deference to an inclusive fellowship. From the biblical point of view, doctrinal belief is a Christian imperative, not a matter of indifference.

Whenever it professes a genuine regard for the scriptural point of view, the inclusive movement is driven to soul-searching in respect to doctrinal latitude and its own propaganda for organic church union. Within the World Council, in contrast with the National Council, exists a forum from which this ambiguity can be challenged. Evangelicals in this movement, if they bear an evangelical witness, must constantly call the Commission on Faith and Order to judge the theological and ecclesiastical question from the standpoint of Scripture.

The fact must not be ignored, however, that different evangelical conceptions of the visible Church are prevalent. Although historically the Christian churches have all insisted upon a minimal theological assent for admission to membership, Reformed churches share Calvin’s view that even in the Church wheat and tares—professing and believing Christians—will dwell together until their final separation in the judgment. Baptist churches have traditionally placed greater emphasis on a regenerate membership and on a pure church. Even the disciplinary procedure of the more broadly conceived Reformed churches, however, considers church members flouting or indifferent to creedal standards as guilty as grave sin. Christian churches in the past stressed both a minimal requirement for membership and a maximal indulgence for avoidance of discipline or exclusion. But modernist leaders asserted the inevitability of doctrinal change. Heresy trials became an oddity in contemporary church history, not because of an absence of heresy, but because of the lack of zeal to prosecute heretics.

We dare not own any other authority over life and deed but the living God. We dare not own any other God than the righteous and merciful God revealed in Jesus Christ. We dare not own another Christ but Jesus of Nazareth, the Word become flesh who now by the Spirit is the exalted head of the body of believers. We dare not own any other Spirit than the Spirit who has breathed out Scripture through chosen men, that doubt may vanish about what God is saying to the Church and to the world. We dare not own any other Scripture than this Book. Let other men proclaim another god, another Christ, another spirit, another book or word—that is their privilege and their peril. But if once again the spiritual life of our world is to rise above the rubble of paganism into which it is now decaying, it will be only through the dynamic of revelation, regeneration, and redemption, through the sacred message which once brought hope. We have a task to do, a task of apostolic awesomeness; let us rise to the doing. The hour for rescue is distressingly late.

END

The Word Of God

Holy book!

Torch of God!

Light from off the Everlasting Throne!

Towering shaft of Infinity,

Around whose foot men rear

Their little spires of thought.

Inconceivable monument of the ages,

Binding man to God.

Without thy piercing, healing light,

Man is but a darker shadow

Flitting to and fro

In the impenetrable blackness

Of an eternal

Void.

JOE CARSON SMITH

This article concludes the abridgment of lectures on “Evangelical Responsibility in Contemporary Theology” delivered by Editor Carl F. H. Henry at Northern Baptist Theological Seminary and Calvin College. The lectures will be published in full by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company in August in their series of Pathway Books.

- More from Carl F. H. Henry

Billy Graham and the Pope’s Legions

The Editors

There is little doubt but that America is gradually becoming a Roman Catholic country. This is not surprising, however, for the strategies of Rome give her considerable earthly advantage. Her claims are impressive: the bishops in communion with the See of Peter form a divinely constituted, perpetual, inerrant, teaching Church. Rome is a continuation of Christ’s incarnation. The Holy Spirit is the soul of the Church. Rome is the only power which has defeated secularism and modernism. She is at home in all lands. She is the Church of the catacombs, the Church of the Fathers, the Church of the great councils, the Church of the Middle Ages—in short, the Church of all ages. If any Christian effort will endure to the end of time, and thus merit the devotion of men everywhere, it is the Church of Rome.

An expert from the American Institute of Management recently examined the management excellence of the Roman Church. He concluded, in a 26-page report, that the Church was eighty-eight percent efficient [Time, January 30, 1956], Rome is disciplined and determined; her wealth cannot be assessed. She adapts her strategy to every situation. When her interests are at stake, she is cruel. When they are not, she is gentle. The Inquisition is valid against Protestants but not against children of the Vatican. When the Church speaks, debate is out of order, for the good is what the Church approves.

Rome’s confidence was illustrated several years ago when I had coffee with a learned Jesuit at Harvard Square. As I quizzed him about the future of the Roman Church in America, he looked at me with flashing Irish eyes and thundered, “Today, tomorrow, or a century from now, it makes no difference. We are patient. We will subdue the earth to the greater glory of God.”

Life magazine recently reviewed one phase of Roman Catholic power in America. The leading story of the May 27th issue was devoted to the 75th year of the Knights of Columbus. The pictures, many in full color, depicted the kind of pomp and circumstance which goes into Roman strategy. The legions of Rome are awesome. More than one million practicing Catholics make up the ranks of the Knights of Columbus. They are fraternally pledged to the ideal of bringing America under papal rule. They are powerful, wealthy, loyal. Little wonder that the Pope affectionately describes the Knights as “the right lay arm of the Catholic Church in America.”

It is significant, however, that the same issue of Life ran a story about Billy Graham. The contrast between the Knights of Columbus and Billy Graham pretty well sums up the contrast between Roman Catholic and orthodox Protestant intentions. The reader sees a young man in a business suit. He is holding an open Bible. In passion and love he pleads with sinners to repent. The pictures are in black and white, not color. There are no uniforms, no banners, no legions. The Garden is filled with people from all walks of life, people whose hearts are as hungry as their minds are curious. Before Billy Graham has finished, hundreds leave their seats to unite with the person of Jesus Christ. Even priests of Rome find their way to the mourner’s bench. The suasions of Rome are no match for the gospel. The tens of thousands which have responded in the Garden and to the televised broadcasts from the Garden give living evidence to the power of a message devoid of pomp and ceremony.

The Protestant Church is not very healthy. It is divided and weak. Its clergy dispute about matters which are elementary to the Christian faith. Scholarship is neglected in the colleges and seminaries. Rome, of course, interprets this as nothing but the logical conclusion to the Reformation. The ecumenical movement, on the other hand, says that the illness can be cured by devising new forms of visible unity. Rome is wrong in her diagnosis and the ecumenical movement is wrong in its therapy. The Protestant Church is sick for one reason: the gospel of Jesus Christ is not being preached with power and conviction.

We have no intention of making an idol of Billy Graham, but the fact remains that this young evangelist is a symbol of what God can do through a humble life. When Billy Graham stands behind the sacred desk, he makes it clear that he is mediating the Word of God. He is not discussing personality integration or the power of mind over body. This was strikingly reviewed in the June 25, 1954, issue of U.S. News and World Report. Scotland was astonished at the power of Billy Graham. Many were puzzled to explain the phenomenon. U.S. News editors cleared up the matter. “The people want to know the truth. They want it declared with authority and conviction, dogmatically and without apology. They prefer half an hour, or even three-quarters, of this kind of preaching to the ten minutes of platitudes which all too often is given from church pulpits.” This is excellently taken. There would be no sickness in the church if priests and ministers would bind their consciences by the Word of God.

Another symbol of this same power is the distinguished dean of American radio evangelists, Charles E. Fuller. For over a third of a century he has preached a compassionate gospel to those who labor in hard and distant places. His weekly listening audience is estimated at twenty million. He seldom refers to himself. With a tear in his voice and compassion in his heart he beseeches men everywhere to be reconciled with God. God blesses his ministry because his ministry is true to the Word of God.

The Pope must look to his legions because he can no longer look to the gospel. Let me illustrate this. Father Kelly recently warned Roman Catholics not to listen to Billy Graham [Time, May 6th]. The priest’s contention was that Graham evades “Catholic distinctives.” His converts, thus, are only “half saved.” This is an interesting complaint, for it betrays the distance which Rome has come from the simplicity of the gospel. The Apostle Paul could cry, “Believe on the Lord Jesus and you will be saved.” And so can Billy Graham. But Father Kelly cannot. He must cry, “Believe on the Lord Jesus, plus the necessity of baptism, plus the mediatorial work of Mary, plus the centrality of the mass, plus the unity of the Church, and you will be saved—providing, of course, you improve grace throughout your life by performing good works, and then only after a frightful bout with the flames of purgatory.”

The Roman Catholic Church will continue to grow. She will infiltrate government, education, and labor. But let us not fear. Rome has her limits. The Lord says to worldly wisdom, as he says to the tides of the sea, “Thus far shall you go, and no farther.” Rome can coerce the film industry to use priests and Christopher medals in movie plots; she can lobby senators with effective cunning; she can rule over the treasuries of the world. But these are strategies of worldly wisdom. They have nothing to do with the gospel.

This is effectively pointed out by the late Donald M. Baillie [The Theology of the Sacraments, page 96]. He cites Karl Barth’s admission that “The mass in its conception, content and construction is a religious masterpiece. It is the high water mark in the development of the history of religion and admits of no rival.” He then adds the shrewd conclusion of Barth, “Religion with its masterpieces is one thing, Christian faith is another.” This is the sum of the matter. Rome is a genius in worldly wisdom. But worldly wisdom is one thing, the gospel is another.

If we honor the Word of God, we have no reason to fear Roman Catholicism. God is sovereign. His Word will not return void. The ministry of Billy Graham is witness to the biblical truth that it is “Not by might, not by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of hosts” (Zechariah 4:6 RSV). We sing with Martin Luther,

And tho’ this world with devils filled

Should threaten to undo us;

We will not fear, for God hath willed

His truth to triumph thro’ us.

The Prince of darkness grim, we tremble

Not for him; his rage we can endure,

For lo! his doom is sure,

One little word shall fell him.

The Pope will continue to look to his legions. But let us look to the power of the gospel. Whenever the counsels of worldly wisdom become too efficient, God seeks out a man of faith—an Abraham, a Gideon, a David. And he uses this man of faith to confront an entire culture with the claims of Jesus Christ. God destroys the proud in their own folly. One sermon preached in the power of the Holy Spirit can undo in a day what worldly wisdom has taken a century to build.

The Pentagon’S Responsibility For Servicemen Abroad

The Girard case has focused the attention of America on the predicament of our service men when accused of crimes while stationed abroad.

The Formosa riots likewise illustrated that America has no one policy for dealing with such cases, in some countries retaining jurisdiction and rights of prosecution of servicemen while in others recognizing the rights of the local governments and courts.

Unfortunately little that has been said about the situation in Japan, Taiwan (Formosa), Germany or elsewhere, has dealt with the basic problem of the behavior of our troops overseas.

The average American soldier is a decent boy, thrust into new and often frustrating surroundings and at the same time confronted with temptations in their rawest form.

There are serious attempts to condition servicemen for the situations they will encounter overseas. Many officers add their influence to that of the chaplains to maintain the moral and spiritual standards important for the soldier as an individual and for him as a representative abroad. That such conditioning and safeguards often prove insufficient is known by the Pentagon, by American civilians living or traveling abroad and by many of the people living in the lands where servicemen are stationed.

Frankly, we feel that far more can and should be done to prevent incidents and to keep Americans from becoming increasingly unpopular in areas where they are quartered.

First of all, not all men who volunteer or are inducted into the services are suitable to send abroad for garrison duty. Some of them are obvious liabilities from the very start and some procedure should be devised to eliminate them from foreign service.

In the second place, we believe far more should be done to indoctrinate those sent abroad, not only as to the reason they are being sent but also the objectives in that area. Most important, these men should be made to understand clearly that as long as they are on foreign soil they are representatives of America and will be required so to act.

Finally, the strictest possible discipline should be enforced on those who get into trouble. Nothing does more to harm relations with those America wants to help than to see American men guilty of illegal or immoral acts go unpunished and often unnoticed.

We have before us a long letter telling of multiplied incidents in Formosa which built up a seething resentment which finally boiled over in riots. This letter tells of Chinese injured by drunken Americans; of others injured by speeding American vehicles; of the use of money to entice and at times debauch young women from good homes; and most of all, of wrongs reported to authorities which went unheeded and without redress.

Part of the difficulty comes from failing to look at incidents through the eyes of local custom and opinion. For instance, a “peeping Tom” would be frightened away in China, or he might be caught and beaten, but to kill him is as drastic punishment as would be the shooting of a speeding motorist in America.

Even a verdict of “guilty” with a suspended sentence would have in some measure appeased an aroused populace. A quickly rendered acquittal was regarded as a grave affront to the Chinese and also as a flagrant miscarriage of justice. The same ends could have been accomplished by taking due regard to local customs.

All of which leads to the conviction that, living in a small world as we do, and wielding the world-wide influence and power which we do, America will be wise completely to revise its policies with reference to its representatives abroad. The day has passed when we can do as we please—and the opportunity for drastic reforms may be very short.

END

- More from Billy Graham

Books

Eutychus and His Kin: July 22, 1957

The Editors

TOURISTS AND PILGRIMS

All men are strangers and travelers. Our fathers were pilgrims; we are tourists. The difference is more vast than the breadth of the continent spanned by generations of pioneers. The tourist, to be sure, sees a distinction. It adds relish to his feeling of superiority as he squeals around the curves of some historic trail in the foothills of the Rockies. An unusual and imaginative tourist may even speculate, while picking his teeth in an air-conditioned “chuck-wagon,” as to how his day’s drive compares with the best performance of a Connestoga “schooner.”

Yet the fondness of tourists for playing at being pioneers suggests a difference of another order, one that cannot be measured by the horsepower superiority of the high compression engine. Our curious interest in the voyage of the incredible little replica of the Mayflower is, in part, a tribute to the pilgrim spirit.

The pilgrims traveled with purpose. Between decks in that crowded vessel was a seriousness that our generation can only imitate in the convulsive hysteria of war.

Lack of seriousness is the tourist’s mark. Flipping wisecracks and cigarette butts, he squanders money to pass time. The wonders of an electronic age provide him with gambling devices in the majesty of the desert and comic books on the mountain top. His use of leisure projects in three dimensions the emptiness of his heart.

Every pilgrim seeks a city, a country, a home. The tourist is only leaving his home, or rather losing his home in aimless compulsive wandering. It was not the disappearance of the American frontier that made his travels pointless. Nor will new frontiers on Mars help him. He seeks no frontier for he has lost himself. In his vacuum of faith he needs to hear the call to the heavenly city; to become a pilgrim; to go out—and come home!

EUTYCHUS

THE WELFARE STATE

In CHRISTIANITY TODAY for June 24, 1957, Dr. Joseph M. Dawson writes “… that the state … has the responsibility of extending Christian love to those aspects of public life which affect for good or ill the welfare of one’s neighbors.”

We believe in extending Christian love, but we do not believe it can be done by the state. It can and should be done by individuals. Where the extension of Christian love requires the expenditure of money it can only be done by those who use their own funds. It cannot be done by officials who first have to seize the property of others before they can spend money in an effort to help the needy. Love to the latter cannot be based on taking by force the property of the former.

The state has no function forcibly to seize the property of some of its citizens in order to confer benefits upon other citizens. To do so is violating the Commandments against coveting and stealing.

We believe in relieving suffering and ministering to the needy, but it can be done in Christian love only by individuals in voluntary associations such as the churches and privately-operated charitable organizations. These certainly include hospitals, orphanages, schools, homes for elderly people, and assistance for the unfortunate and the handicapped.

Dr. Dawson declares “… governmental extension of love might cover social security, retirement benefits, assistance to the unemployed, aged and disabled, housing, soil conservation, agricultural subsidies, free education and many other benefits.”

Government can confer such benefits only by seizing the property of others. Since that is stealing, the state has no moral right to do it. Such activities should be carried on by individual Christians in private association through their churches and organizations. Certainly it would not exclude the cooperation of non-Christians in friendly help for needy people.

Dr. Dawson continues: “We conclude with the assertion that the rule of the people means the recognition of human rights—the right of the ignorant to education, the right of slaves to freedom, the right of the employed to fair wages, the right of the child to be well born, the right of all men to justice.”

We believe in the right of all, not merely the slaves, to be free.

The ignorant have a right to such education as they themselves can achieve together with such help as their parents, relatives or friends may be able and willing to extend to them. They do not have a right to education at the unwilling expense of members of the community whose property may be forcibly taken for that purpose.

We believe in the right of the employed to fair wages. The only way to determine “fair wages” is the free market wherein, without government intervention or privilege of any kind, one is paid for his time or his goods, what ever his fellows are willing to bid for them in the open market. That is the only possible way of determining “fair wages” short of government intervention in the realm of wage and price fixing which leads on inevitably to a centrally-managed economy, with great rigidity, lack of capacity for adjustments to changing conditions, subordination of the individual to the authority of the state, and eventually to slavery and totalitarianism.

The child, as a human personality created in the image of God, should be well born, but the state cannot contribute to that end by seizing the property of others. To do so will bring about conditions more unfavorable to children than exists under freedom with the powers of the state strictly limited. The highest degrees of culture and well-being for children, mothers, and the population in general have been developed where the powers of government have been limited, and the most freedom for the development of initiative, self-reliance and independent action have existed. Those states which have tried to do the most in planning elaborate programs of welfare for their citizens have achieved the least welfare for them.

People prosper best under a system which gives them the right to life, liberty, property, the pursuit of happiness, and to achieve all the material, cultural and spiritual well-being of which they are capable. They do not have a right to demand that government give them the property of others. We believe history proves the soundness of this view.

When the state confers benefits upon some at the expense of others, the latter are discouraged and cease to put forth maximum effort, while the former soon learn to believe that real effort on their part is unnecessary. Production inevitably declines, resulting in a lower scale of living for all. This is not only theory and experience; it is history. Why there should be reluctance to accept it and act upon it must indicate, it seems to us, a great lack of fundamental understanding of the issue involved.

HOWARD E. KERSHNER

Editor, Christian Economics

New York City

At the end of an otherwise excellent article, Dr. Joseph Dawson repeats the modern easy equating of “love” with material giving, that source of the subtle materialism that has invaded and caused disintegration of society.

Granted that love in the Christian sense eventuates in sharing and relieving want, Jesus’ great example of a “cup of cold water” as the price for entrance into heaven was based on his statement that the giver recognized him in the needy. That is, love is a spiritual quality that proceeds from personality to personality, as the Holy Ghost proceeds from Father and Son to us. It is not an impersonal quality that can be manufactured, bought, sold or given from material bounty. One cannot rightly speak, as Dr. Dawson does, of “governmental extension of love.”

The subtle shift of Christian love over to material giving (erroneously called “love”) enables one to rationalize a life of material gain, or a materialistic society, by conveniently believing one is acquiring the wherewithal to give ‘love.” It is most noticeable in children fed this kind of material “love” and starved of true love, by parents who neglect them to earn more money to give them “advantages.”

Perhaps I do Dr. Dawson an injustice. Directly before his discussion of the modern Welfare State, he seems to disagree strongly with the medieval attempt at a Welfare State. But it seems to me Dr. Dawson, while disliking a Welfare State under church auspices, nevertheless sees nothing wrong with the same state under modern secularism and separation of the state and church.

Further, Dr. Dawson should distinguish between the ideal and the practical working out in modern society today when he says: “Democracy recognizes that man’s personality is the highest value in the universe and society is to be organized in a manner to minister to his true life.” All Christians will surely agree with this ideal, but shall we lightly gloss over the evident de-humanization which follows in society, as today, when material advantages being confused with love, efficient production is sought at all cost, to the evident distintegration of families and man’s spiritual unity?

MARLAND W. ZIMMERMAN

St. Paul’s Episcopal Church

Delray Beach, Florida

REVIVE THE CONFLICT?

I began reading your article on, “Dare We Revive the Conflict?” and I find it very helpful.

GLENN W. SAMUELSON

Greenbelt Baptist Chapel

Greenbelt, Maryland

There are some good articles in your paper. I was particularly interested and disturbed by your editorial, “Dare We Revive the Conflict?” I never could quite understand why Dr. Fosdick was the whipping boy of the so-called fundamentalists unless it was because of his successful leadership in the liberal movement of the middle decades of the present century.

PRESTON W. PENNELL

Solon, Maine

I am very much interested in your “Dare We Revive the Modernist—Fundamentalist Conflict?” It would be difficult to find two editorials more diametrically opposed than yours and the one in the Christian Century for June 19, entitled “Fundamentalist Revival.”

ROY FIELDS

Central Christian Church

Springfield, Missouri

Editorials in re fundamentalist controversy (Christian Century, June 19; Christianity Today, June 24) have been read with interest. Both seem to me to carry qualities which might justify publication in both periodicals. Christian Century seems to “view with alarm” a resurgent Fundamentalism with a new front. Christianity Today seems to hear a death knell for a movement poisoned by its own venom. Why cannot a “Grahamized” Fundamentalism, a chastened Liberalism and a filtered Neo-Orthodoxy be mutually cognizant of certain needed checks and balances among them for the good of the “Whole Church?” None of these movements is sufficiendy divine to sit in judgment upon all the others or to constitute an ecclesiastical supreme court.

D. HOWARD HOUSEHOLDER

The Methodist Church

Wellston, Ohio

Concerning your editorial on the “Modernist-Fundamentalist Conflict”—rubbish! Your article reveals a startling lack of responsible scholarship, particularly in your understanding of Fosdick’s point of view. You are fighting a battle that ended several years ago. Very few responsible Protestants are defending the dead horse of “liberalism” that you are kicking.

C. H. REID

Columbia Cong. Church

Seattle, Washington

In your editorials concerning the fundamentalist-liberalist controversy … you give the impression that both groups must be placed within the pale of Christianity. Then you show how the liberals have undergone some wonderful introspection and are reforming. You also point out that the fundamentalists have degenerated and are in dire need of a modern reformation.

Wouldn’t it have been better to have ruled the liberals outside the realm of Christianity because of their rejection of the blood-sacrifice of Christ than to make odious and perhaps biased comparisons between the two groups? While admitting that fundamentalists are in need of a good reformation of gigantic proportions, we ought at the same time admit that all evangelicals holding the “fundamentals” are really fundamentalists—whether they like the name or not.

ROLF PARELIUS

Roxbury, Massachusetts

I would take exception to the uncertain sound of your “Modernist-Fundamentalist Conflict.” … In its second paragraph you appear to lay the blame for the existence of unchurched multitudes equally on Liberals and Fundamentalists. The fact is that there would have been no occasion for Fundamentalism as a special issue, nor for Fundamentalist churches as separate entities if the traditional churches had kept the faith. This they did not do.

GORDON HOLDCROFT

Victoria, B. C.

APPRECIATION

The magazine is the finest of its kind that I know. The articles have all been excellent and the book reviews superb. May the Lord make it a blessing to pastors and evangelists, and may he give you wisdom and guidance in the important work of editing it.

J. NARVER GORTNER

Berkeley, Calif.

Your excellent surveys, whether of Christianity throughout the world, religious literature and current religious thought appeal to me.… If I had no time to read anything else, I should feel obliged to continue my subscription not to miss any of them.…

J. M. T. WINTHER

Lutheran Bible Institute

Kobe, Japan

My first reaction was less than enthusiastic, but through fairly regular reading.… I have come to appreciate it as an organ of the evangelistic point of view. In good conscience, then, I must pay for the privilege of continuing to receive it, and enclose my check.…

STANDISH MACINTOSH

All Saints Parish

Oakville, Conn.

I consider CHRISTIANITY TODAY to excel in depth, solidness, vitality and interest;—it seems to me to have that “instinct for the jugular.”

IRVING L. JENSEN

William Jennings Bryan University

Dayton, Tenn.

- More from The Editors

Cover Story

Calvin and Religious Education

G. Aiken Taylor

Almost everyone knows that Calvinism stands for an informed faith as well as a reformed one: that it has always represented that approach to Christianity which places the highest premium upon spiritual learning, whether ministerial or lay. Calvinism has won a just reputation for being as concerned with the state of the mind as with the state of the heart; with the need to understand the Gospel as well as to accept the Gospel. Indeed, because Calvinism’s interest in knowledge has been so pronounced, its critics often accuse it of being altogether bookish: a theological system without a heart.

But most people do not know that Calvinism’s admitted love of learning is the natural by-product of its understanding of the fundamental way God deals with men. By that I mean that when Calvinism preoccupies itself with theology, shows its distaste for doctrinal error and preaches its high regard for the Bible, it is only demonstrating its basic view of religion and of the way human beings become children of God. John Calvin was not only a systematic theologian; he also was a prime educator. And Calvinism’s love of learning does not reflect the reformer’s systematic theology as such. It rather reflects the reformer’s theory of religious education.

The Modern Debate

I have the feeling that John Calvin would have taken a keen interest in the modern debate in religious education. He was intelligently aware of the basic importance of having a correct answer to the question, “How does one appropriate religious values?” His own answer to this question may be deduced from what he had to say about the means of grace. And it is an answer which has lost none of its significance in the four hundred years since the reformer first required everyone to attend regular classes in catechetical instruction.

Two broad lines of investigation are being followed today in the continuing search for an effective theory of religious education. One of these is the line of method, the other the line of content. According to one viewpoint—the most modern and perhaps the most popular—“religious education” is just another phrase describing classroom procedures and techniques, this time within a church. According to this view the problem is essentially one of guidance and of participation. It deals with select and preferred behavior patterns. And, as one becomes qualified to teach algebra by earning credits in college courses in education, so one is qualified to teach religion by mastering child-guidance techniques. Method is valued above content in the education process. In the teaching of religion, the aim is to induce imitation by example, to habituate by practice.

Religious education in the modern mood further aims to “bring something out of” people rather than to “put something into” people. It believes that human beings become children of God and are nurtured in Christian experience by a program of appropriate activities carried on within environments suitable to those values which the pupils should be induced to appreciate and persuaded to apply. Virtue, in other words, is behavior to be cultivated rather than a quality to be acquired.

Devoid Of Essentials

But Calvin, following the evangelical tradition, believed that man begins devoid of certain essentials. Religious education, for him, described the process whereby human beings were given something they did not previously have. As he saw it, virtue was not something to be drawn out but something to be bestowed. He was not interested in imitation but in animation by the sovereign power of the Holy Spirit. He believed that what man needed must be given him and, further, that it must come from God. Religious education was the process of providing the occasion for—of cooperating with—the work of the Holy Spirit. Thus, for Calvin, the success of the educational process depended altogether upon grace, and the teacher stood, in relation to his pupil, simply as one who could apply the means of grace and seek to induce a response to grace.

Now Calvin’s prime emphasis was upon content. That is to say, he acted on the assumption that the educational process called for imparting knowledge. To the extent that he gave his attention to method it was almost entirely to the ways and means of applying content. His interest in content was for the best of reasons: he believed he had at his disposal the means of grace, a content which, when applied, animated the human heart in response to the work of the Holy Spirit. This content, of course, was the Word of God. He believed that God’s revelation—his Word—had, within itself, a dynamic quality. He noticed that this Word did things to people when they heard it. He concluded that this Word was a channel … an instrumentality … a means … of grace!

Calvin’s chief preoccupation in religious education, therefore, was to teach the Word of God. He would have taken a dim view of any procedure designed to beget children of God, in which the prime ingredient was not the Word of God. People became children of God by learning and understanding the Word of God. A Christian is not one who has adopted an intellectual proposition, but one in whom the Holy Spirit has planted and brought to fruition saving grace by means of the Word which is the prime channel of grace.

Importance Of Appropriation

Such a view of the Word of God is a far cry from the bibliolatry of which Calvin has often been accused. His interest in the Bible was not in the words of Scripture, not in the intellectual concepts within Scripture, not in the ethical principles deducible from Scripture—in themselves—but in the effect of the Word which was Scripture. The Word of God which we have—which is in Scripture, but which, to all practical purposes, must also be identified with Scripture—produces an evident and observable effect when it is preached and taught to people. Calvin pounced on this as the obvious substitute for the Roman sacramental graces. He recognized that we are called on to cooperate with the Holy Spirit’s purpose to reach human hearts for Christ by providing the means of grace, which is the Word.

This view of the aim of religious education is far removed from the other. This is based on a belief that people are converted by means of the Gospel and nurtured by means of the Word of God, and that both work in essentially the same way. Like the channel which is not a part of the river, or the electric wire which is not the power flowing through it, the message of salvation provides the means by which the Holy Spirit animates the heart.

Calvin went on to conclude that “doctrine” would be equal in effect to the Word itself as a means of grace, if it were sound doctrine. Obviously the Holy Spirit cannot work as effectively through imperfect means. Hence the reformer’s impatience with error. He put “sound” doctrine into a catechism and put the catechism into the minds of the youth of Geneva. And he doubted not that, as they gave evidence they understood this doctrine, they also were manifesting their effectual calling.

Sanctification In Life

Now I think it is clear why Calvinism speaks familiarly of “coming to a saving knowledge” of Christ. By this is meant, not that a Christian is saved because of his faith, but that a Christian is saved by his faith. To hear about Christ may bring about conversion because the knowledge of Christ provides the “connection” through which the Holy Spirit performs his saving work. Thus the Word of God effectuates salvation because “It has pleased God through the foolishness of preaching, to save them that believe.” And the Word effectuates sanctification in a similar manner.

Calvin knew that children of God need to develop their Christian piety as truly as they need to be converted in the first place. And the process of growth is of growth “in grace and in the knowledge of Jesus Christ.” Again, the prime means is the Word of God, in which Christ is presented and through which the Holy Spirit, who is our teacher, operates.

I think it should now be clear why Calvin held the Bible and sound doctrine in such high esteem. It should also be clear why the reformer stressed the teaching of doctrine by such methods as catechetical instruction in his program of religious education. It was a program centered in an appeal to the mind, yes. But Calvin appealed to the mind in order to reach the heart. He judged the success of his program by whether or not his pupils understood what they were taught. To some, despite his best efforts, the Word remained foolishness. But he noticed that others found it to be the power of God and the wisdom of God. Calvin preached, taught, persuaded, cajoled, explained and illustrated, seeking all the while for a glimmer of understanding. When it came, he believed the Holy Spirit had entered.

Whatever you may think of the reformer’s epistemology—for that is what this is—it would be hard to deduce a more coherent doctrine of the means of grace from Scripture. And however modern education may contribute its part to the original idea, with practical techniques, the heart of any realistic program of religious education still must be the Word of God. This is not only because accurate concepts must be available as guides to practical living; it is primarily because “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 the joints and marrow.”

END

G. Aiken Taylor is Minister of the First Presbyterian Church of Alexandria, Louisiana. He holds the Ph.D. degree from Duke University, where Calvin’s view of Christian education was one of his graduate interests. He is author of A Sober Faith and St. Luke’s Life of Jesus.

- More from John Calvin

Cover Story

Sin and the Saviour

Robert G. Lee

This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners (1 Tim. 1:15).

In the first Constitutional Convention four men—Roger Sherman, James Wilson, Gouverneur Morris, and James Madison—spoke a total of 637 times. Were I, with all wisdom and eloquence, to speak ten times 637 times on “Sin and the Sinner’s Saviour,” I could not describe the ruinous ravages of sin and the greatness of the sinner’s sinless Saviour.

What am I to believe about God? Man? Sin? Salvation? Life? Death? Hell? Heaven? The future life? The Bible answers. The Bible teaches that—

Sin Is A Reality

Listen! “Jews and Gentiles … are all under sin” (Rom. 3:9). “All have sinned” (Rom. 3:23). “By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin” (Rom. 5:12). “Let not sin reign in your mortal body” (Rom. 6:12). “God sending his own Son … [a sin offering], condemned sin in the flesh” (Rom. 8:3). “Sin hath reigned unto death” (Rom. 5:21). “Sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death” (Jas. 1:15).

These Bible statements show that sin was and is in the life of all men—except Jesus Christ, in whom was no sin. Every man must say, “I have sinned.” And unpardoned sin, ever a terror, disturbs hardened souls. Lady Macbeth dreams that she sees “the damned spot” of sin upon her hand and that she cannot get it washed off. King Macbeth, in his guilty imagination, thinks he sees the airy phantom of a dagger. Both confirm Shakespeare’s belief and your belief that conscience hath one thousand different tongues, that every tongue brings in a separate tale, and that every tale condemns you for your sin. And sin is in you as surely as in Adam, who ruined a whole race; or David, who said, “My sin is ever before me”; or Mary Magdalene, who had seven devils; or Peter, who denied Jesus; or Judas, who betrayed Jesus; or the rich young ruler, who would not give up earthly wealth for heavenly riches; or the swine herdsmen of Gadara, who asked Jesus to “depart out of their coasts”; or Saul of Tarsus, who “destroyed them which called on Jesus’ name” (Acts 9:21).

Ghastly great among life’s factors is the fact of sinplague and tragedy of the world, death’s-head set amidst life’s feast, quintessence of all horrors, cause of all world suffering. And we know that—

Sin Is Ruin

Though many relish sin with impenitent hardness of heart, still sin is the nightmare of the human race.

Though certain scientists tell us that sin is an upward stumble in man’s progress, still sin is the evil that subverted the constitutional order of man’s nature and destroyed the harmony of his powers.

Though some philosophers teach that sin is goodness in the making and that modern “prodigal sons” are only expressing themselves into a higher experience, still “the wages of sin is death.”

Though some tell us that sin is just a disagreeable hindrance to the smooth ongoing of the social machinery, still sin is no light discord but a thunderbolt that crashes life’s organ into splinters.

Though some psychologists say sin is egotistic abnormality, still sin is madness in the brain, poison in the heart, frenzy in the imagination, leprous pollution in the blood, blindness of eyes, deafness of ears, prostitution of tongues, palsy of feet, withering of hands—the black darkness that invests man’s whole being.

Though some theologians lighten man’s sense of the enormity of sin, still sin is the curse of all curses.

The only thing true about the teaching that makes sin “the backward pull of outworn good” is that it is a lie—because sin abuses the authority of God interposed in his law; abuses God’s justice as though he would not punish; abuses God’s power as though the sinner’s breath was not in God’s hand; abuses God’s wisdom as if God’s laws were not right and reasonable; abuses God’s omniscience as if he did not see all our ways; abuses God’s threatenings as if they were not to be feared; abuses God’s promises as if they were lies; abuses Christ as though he were a deceiver and a devil; abuses Christ’s death, blood, righteousness, salvation.

Whether we say sin is transgression, overstepping the divine boundary between good and evil—or iniquity, an act inherently wrong whether expressly forbidden or not—or error, departure from the right—or missing the mark, failure to meet the divine standard—or trespass, the intrusion of self-will into the sphere of divine authority—or lawlessness, which is spiritual anarchy—or unbelief, insult to divine veracity, still we know that sin, which originated with Satan (Isa. 14:12–14) and entered the world through Adam (Rom. 5:12), was, and is, universal, Christ alone excepted (Rom. 3:23 and 1 Pet. 2:22).

When sin reigns, deadly is your soul’s state. Sin, insidious like disease, ruins like rot. Sin darkens your understanding, defiles your conscience, ossifies your will, hardens your heart, disorders all the affection God wishes you to maintain. Sin puts your soul under the sentence of God. But from sin’s ruin you can get—

Relief

Sin incurs the penalties of spiritual and physical death. Where is relief to be found? In God’s forgiveness.

Sin is debt; God’s forgiveness and God’s acceptance of the crimson coin of Christ’s blood the payment for that debt.

Sin is a cloud; God’s forgiveness the sun which does away with the cloud.

Sin is strain; God’s forgiveness the fire which burns out the dross.

Sin is darkness; God’s forgiveness the light which dispels it.

Sin is a burden; God’s forgiveness the removal of it.

Sin is a corpse—the “body of death” (Rom. 7:24); God’s forgiveness the burial of that corpse in the depths of the sea.

Sin is poison; God’s forgiveness the antidote.

Sin is captivity; God’s forgiveness freedom.

Sin is a blotted and blurred record; God’s forgiveness the erasure of that record.

Sin is death; God’s forgiveness Christ’s meritorious life substituted for your forfeited life.

What relief to experience the truth that “where sin abounded grace doth much more abound; that as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 5:20–21), “set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins … that he (God) might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus” (Rom. 3:25–26). Think of the—

Sinner’s Saviour

You have no remedy for your sin except in the sacrificial death of Christ who “appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself” (Heb. 9:26) and to whom is given the only name “under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). And this remedy in Christ is available by faith, because through Christ “is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins; and by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses” (Acts 13:38–39).

“Christ died for our sins” (1 Cor. 15:3). “The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isa. 53:6). God “hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin: that we might be made the righteousness of God in him” (2 Cor. 5:21).

From sin’s death, how is the sinner, “dead in trespasses and sins,” made alive? From bondage so galling and servitude so severe, how is the captive made free? Jesus said, “He that heareth my word and believeth … is passed from death unto life” (John 5:24). That’s how. John said, “God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son” (1 John 5:11). That’s how. Paul said, “The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death” (Rom. 8:2). That’s how.

Jesus Christ, the everlasting source of human salvation, is your Saviour, through faith in him. He only, by a work consistent with the character of God, can break the power which holds you in chains, avert the punishment which threatens you, fortify with fresh sanctions the law which you have broken and, reconciling justice with mercy, open to you the fountains of grace. Through Christ the law is vindicated, the holiness of God is doubly honoured and mercy is offered to you because “Christ receiveth sinful men.”

The sinner’s Saviour received the wages of sin which he never earned that you might have eternal life which you never deserved. Christ went to the pit that you might sit on his throne; went into awful gloom that you might enter into glory; was sold that you might ransomed be; was unjustly judged that you might escape the severity of God’s judgments; was scourged that by his stripes you might be healed; became for you, on the cross, all that God must judge, that you, through faith in Christ, might become all that God cannot judge.

The sinner’s Saviour, the perfectly righteous One, was judged as unrighteous that you, the unrighteous one, through faith in him, might be judged as righteous.

The sinner’s Saviour stood before God with all your sins upon himself that you might stand before God with none of your sins upon yourself.

When the Squalus crew realized that they had taken their last dive and that they were lying helpless at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, two hundred and forty feet below the surface, they sent up smoke flares and a buoy. Would one of the sister ships find them, and if so could they be rescued? Their help must come from above. In agonizing silence they waited.

Soon after that fatal dive the submarine Sculpin set out in search. The red smudge was found, then the buoy. But twenty-four hours passed before actual rescue work could be started. A giant ten-ton diving bell dipped and rose again and again, each time taking several men alive from those awful depths, until all thirty-three men alive in the submarine had been rescued,

When that huge diving bell came down for the Squalus crew, not one sailor refused to be rescued, but all gladly accepted the way to safety.

When the Sculpin sent down the ten-ton diving bell, not one of the thirty-three men said, “I will think it over,” or “There are hypocrites on the Sculpin and I want nothing to do with them” or “I will wait for a more convenient season.” Not one said, “I am in good condition as I am” or “I will wait until I get married” or “There is too much to give up.” Not one said, “I am waiting for a loved one or friend” or “I do not understand the workings of the diving bell” or “Sometime I will” or “I don’t feel like being rescued” or “Tomorrow I will ask rescue.” Not one of them found fault with the Sculpin crew—as some find fault with the preacher. Not one of them said, “I can hold out” or “Next year will be soon enough.” All gladly accepted the way to safety.

Christ is ready to forgive—to save. Highest willingness has he. Will you be wise today to get rid of your sin? Would you continue as an impenitent sinner and “nourish your heart as in the day of slaughter?” Will you treasure up wrath “against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God?”

The day of wrath is not yet come. This day of grace is yours. God acquits—through Christ Jesus. God declares you free from guilt through your trust in Jesus “whom they hanged on a tree” (Acts 10:39), “who bare our sins in his own body … that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness” (1 Peter 2:24). Who, then, can condemn you? You are eternally safe—against the day of calamity coming, the day of judgment coming, the day of death coming, the day of Christ’s coming.

O young sinner, come to Jesus. God says, “They that seek me early shall find me” (Prov. 8:17). Quicker than a speeding wheel turns on its axle, quicker than swiftest wing ever moved in flight, come to Jesus. He says, “Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out” (John 6:37). And you who are older, who have long been dead in sin, come quickly out of your grave. The Lord Jesus calls you. Come! Come now! Come more quickly than ever wounded man cried for a doctor. Come more quickly than ever drowning man reached for a lifeboat. Come today, even while I speak. And Jesus will glorify his name in your salvation.

Robert G. Lee stands at the climax of a lifetime of service in the Southern Baptist Convention, which he served as president from 1948–51. Since 1927 he has been pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis, Tenn. and has won a national following as a pulpit orator. He is author of 23 books, many of them being volumes of his sermons.

- More from Robert G. Lee

Where There’s Smoke …

Joseph Martin Hopkins

Repeated scientific warnings against the harmful effects of cigarettes on the human body point to the strong probability that behind all this smoke there may be more than a little fire. That these warnings have been scornfully brushed aside by tobacco companies (for obvious mercenary reasons) is irrelevant. The cumulative testimony of unbiased research is too massive to be shrugged off by wishful thinkers.

As recently as March 22, 1957, the Associated Press reported the verdict of seven scientists, whose research was co-sponsored by the American Cancer Society and the American Heart Association, that “on a life-time basis, one of every 10 men who smoke over two packs a day will die of lung cancer,” as against the nonsmoker proportion of one in 275. Concluded the study group, “The sum total of scientific evidence establishes beyond reasonable doubt that cigarette smoking is a causative factor in the rapidly increasing incidence of epidermoid carcinoma (cancer) of the lung.”

The response of the tobacco industry was substantially what one might expect from a $5 billion-per-year business that pockets more than $170 million annual profit and pays its top executives yearly salaries in excess of $400,000. The report, tobocco officials stated, “apparently offers no original evidence” and relies heavily on statistics that have been “widely questioned by other scientists as to their significance.” Gabriel Courier has commented in Christian Herald, “The tobacco industry says it’s doubtful that cigarettes cause lung cancer. The classic and unnerving answer to that one is the Roy Norr gem—‘Who should have the benefit of the doubt—people, or cigarettes?’ ”

In first-century Ephesus, Demetrius and his fellow silversmiths stirred up a city-wide tumult over the inroads of Christianity upon their idol-making profits. With similar irresponsibility and avarice, the tobacco industry is diverting $33 million annually into an all-out advertising effort to combat the devastating findings of impartial medical research. But this vigorous propaganda campaign notwithstanding, an estimated 1.5 million smokers swore off cigarettes during an 18-month period beginning in the fall of 1953, according to the U. S. Census Bureau. This figure compares with that of 600,000 for the previous year.

Tobacco advertisers, eager to enlist new smoking recruits, would like the public to believe that “everybody does it.” But the U. S. Census Bureau reports a national total of only 38 million regular cigarette smokers—25 million men and 13 million women. The addition of 10 million pipe and cigar users and 8 million occasional smokers brings the grand total to 56 million—which means that there are well over 110 million nonsmokers in the nation.

Dr. Charles S. Cameron, Medical and Scientific Director of the American Cancer Society, has reported that during the period 1930–1948 “the death rate from lung cancer rose from 5.3 per 100,000 to 27.1—an increase of 411 per cent.” The ratio of men to women dying from lung cancer also has soared and is currently 8 to 1. Significantly, this alarming trend has been accompanied by a parallel upsurge in cigarette use. In 1914 the United States produced 3 billion cigarettes; in 1918, 46 billion; 1935, 140 billion; 1945, 332 billion; 1952, 395 billion.

Dr. Cameron, in an Atlantic Monthly article entitled “Lung Cancer and Smoking,” cited the Lombard-Doering investigation of 1928 as the first “properly controlled statistical (study) of a possible relationship between cigarette smoking and lung cancer.” Ten years later Professor Raymond Pearl of Johns Hopkins University, upon analyzing case histories of 6,813 men, concluded that a heavy smoker at age 30 has 46 chances out of 100 to attain the age of 60, while the nonsmoker has 66 chances. In 1950 four independent statistical studies revealed a high correlation between cigarette smoking and lung cancer, and during the next five years this conclusion was corroborated by more than fourteen similar investigations.

The most ambitious of these studies is the $500,000 American Cancer Society research, based on case histories of 187,000 men between the ages of 50 and 70. The initial report, after 18 months during which 4,854 members of the control group had died, indicated that (1) the death rate of men who had been regular smokers during a portion of their lives was 1½ times greater than that of nonsmokers; (2) the cancer (all kinds) death rate was 2½ times greater among heavy smokers (a pack or more a day) than among nonsmokers; (3) twice as many deaths due to heart disease occurred among heavy smokers as among nonsmokers; (4) deaths from lung cancer were five times as frequent for heavy smokers as for nonsmokers; and (5) death rates were significantly higher among light smokers (less than half a pack a day) than among nonsmokers.

After 32 months had elapsed, a second analysis confirmed the earlier findings. “In fact,” observed Dr. Cameron, “the findings indicated that the relationships between cigarette smoking and susceptibility to cancer of the lung are decidedly more striking than they appeared to be in the previous investigation.” Only 2 cases appeared among 32,460 nonsmokers (4.9 per 100,000) as against 152 deaths among the 107,978 men who “had smoked cigarettes regularly at some time” (145 per 100,000).

More recently, in December, 1956, a quartet of Massachusetts doctors revealed to the American Medical Association their discoveries concerning 40 patients, all heavy smokers, who had contracted an illness known as pulmonary emphysema—rupture of tiny air sacs in the lung. They noted that this malady is fairly common, often disabling and sometimes fatal, and expressed their judgment that “smoking may be even more hazardous than has been hitherto recognized.”

The foregoing widely publicized reports showing the relationship between cigarette smoking and lung cancer have caused many to forget other long-recognized adverse effects of smoking on health. If the nicotine contained in five cigarettes (or one cigar) were injected into the blood stream, the dosage would be fatal. But happily the lungs absorb only about 2 of the 18 milligrams of nicotine in each cigarette, and much of this harmful substance is eliminated via the kidneys. Nevertheless, medical authorities certify that smoking increases blood pressure, drugs the nervous system, reduces appetite, interferes with digestion, irritates the throat and larnyx, reduces wind and endurance and impairs mental and bodily efficiency. It is common knowledge that athletic coaches almost universally turn thumbs down on smoking for athletes engaging in sports events requiring top physical conditioning.

Thus the evidence, both old and new, is overwhelming that smoking is injurious to the smoker. Just how seriously should we take these scientific findings? Tobacco manufacturers, with their profit slip showing, are inclined to pooh-pooh them, as are many inveterate tobacco users. When a subjective smoke screen is permitted to obscure reason, objectivity becomes impossible. A Pittsburgh psychiatrist, commenting on the incipient dangers of tranquilizer drugs, declared, “Even if only one in 1,000 cases were affected, we should object to any move which might cause a death.” But the odds are that one of every 10 heavy smokers will contract lung cancer!

Why this emotional involvement with tobacco which blinds otherwise reasonable people to the clear fact that smoking is bad for them—and that therefore they should give it up? (That tobacco, as a narcotic, is habit-forming, is no excuse. It is all the more reason for releasing the will from its chains!) A reformer can get away with crusading against dope; and no one would raise a fuss if it were established that chewing gum, olive oil, or sassafras tea were physically harmful. But let somebody try to take away his tobacco—or his liquor—and immediately he’s fighting mad!

The time is over-ripe for Christian people to outgrow this infantilism. After all, if the body is the “temple of the Holy Spirit,” any practice that is found to be defiling or damaging to this sanctuary should be rejected. The rationalization that “everyone’s entitled to a few vices” is utterly indefensible ethically. Who, may I ask, has entitled us to any? Has not Christ called upon us to set perfection as our goal (Matt. 5:48) and, through the author of Hebrews, to lay aside every weight which inhibits us in running the Christian race (Heb. 12:1)?

I pose as no ascetic. Is it asceticism to repudiate the harmful while cultivating the beneficial? This, it seems to be, is not merely sound Christian morality, it is plain common sense.

I am not naïve enough to believe that every smoker upon reading this article will thereupon empty pocket and purse of cigarettes and resolve to abstain from tobacco henceforth and forevermore! Many, unwilling to accept either the evidence or its attending conclusions, will dismiss the whole thing as the ranting of a prejudiced abstainer. Well, I freely admit a prejudice against tobacco—just as I admit a prejudice against marijuana. If to oppose those elements in our society which militate against personal health and public welfare is prejudice, then by all means let us have more of the same!

Joseph Martin Hopkins is Associate Professor in the Department of Bible and Philosophy at Westminster College, New Wilmington, Pa., where he received the B.Mus. degree in 1940 (he has published 35 musical compositions). He holds the B.Th. from Pittsburgh-Xenia Theological Seminary and the Ph.D. from University of Pittsburgh.

- More from Joseph Martin Hopkins

Cover Story

Archaeology’s Role in Bible Study

James L. Kelso

Among the most fortunate Bible students today are those specializing in biblical archaeology, for they have a wealth of information on Bible times that is not available to the average minister. Indeed, biblical archaeology is so young a science that it has not yet produced popular writers to bring its vast store of knowledge to the Bible-reading public.

Life In Bible Times

Archaeology’s aim is to learn everything possible about life in Bible days. It is therefore interested first of all in geography, for history has its roots in the soil. Scientific geography was a very late comer to Bible study. It was not until 1838 that Edward Robinson gave us a good geography of Palestine; and it was 1878 before we had an accurate map of the land, and then it was only of western Palestine. Digging was done as early as the time of the American Civil War, but the father of all professional archaeologists, Flinders Petrie, did not excavate in Palestine until 1890, and then only a brief campaign. Although sporadic digs were conducted in the succeeding years, no accurate over-all detailed pattern of Palestinian archaeology was discovered until after the First World War. Then came a veritable flood of information, which revolutionized our knowledge of the Bible lands. Oddly enough, however, the period of Palestinian life on which the least digging has been done to date is that covering the earthly life of Christ. That is one reason why the Dead Sea scrolls are so invaluable. In striking contrast to the absence of work by New Testament scholars on the Palestine of Christ’s time is the early archaeological work on Paul by Sir William Ramsey. All students of the great apostle are deeply indebted to Ramsey.

Egypt and Mesopotamia also throw a wealth of light on the Old Testament. Egypt’s geographic closeness created a lasting commercial relationship, which shows up in the objects excavated in Palestine; but the Euphrates valley left the greater intellectual imprint. More recently nearby Syria and Anatolia are contributing their quota of information.

In the early days of work in Egypt and Mesopotamia, the literary findings were often incorrectly interpreted. There was such an anxiety to relate this material to the Bible that often both liberals and conservatives missed the true values.

Beyond The Reformation

Enough work has now been done in all phases of archaeological research so that the general pattern of Bible life stands out clearly for the first time, although much work must yet be done before the picture can be filled in completely. One naturally asks what is the over-all picture of Bible life that archaeology has dug up? Does it differ from the traditional view of the Reformation? And how does it evaluate the liberalism of pre-world-war dates? Also what new material does it furnish for Bible study? When we realize that the reformers had none of the tools of archaeological research except the linguistic ones, we are surprised to see how well they worked out the general interpretation of Scripture. Both liberals and conservatives still call Calvin a good commentator. But archaeology has uncovered a vast new world of information that was not available to the reformers, and our present need is for commentators with the faith of the reformers and the information of the archaeologists. Such scholars are a “must” for the future of Bible study.

Above Liberalism

Much of the strength behind liberalism was its early use of archaeology. In those days, however, archaeology was a young science; and in all young sciences “too big conclusions are drawn from too little evidence.” To the liberals, similarity to biblical material meant a copying by biblical writers. For example, the similarities of the Mosaic legislation to the Hammurabi code were stressed, but the differences were largely ignored. Today we know that a common Semitic law lay behind both but that each fitted into its own particular time and locale. Alt, Albright, Mendenhall and others have proved the unique nature of the Mosaic Covenant.

Another feature of liberalism was to deny the historicity of the patriarchs and to treat that section of the Bible as late historic fiction. Although we cannot yet date the patriarchs to exact years, they definitely belong in the Middle Bronze Age. Then and only then do we find the many unique features paralleled in those narratives.

Old Testament liberalism grew strong under the evolutionary theory of history. Israelite religion was considered as the natural culmination of Canaanite religion—a refinement to be true, but nevertheless of common origin. Today we know that the exact opposite is true. Mosaic monotheism is unique! Again and again Israel turned to Canaanite religion and again and again she tried to synthesize it with Jehovah worship, but the revealed religion of the Old Testament was always unique. Her champions were often small in number, but ultimately their faith prevailed until at last the Messianic heart of their message became incarnate in the person of Jesus, the Christ.

Essay And Biography

Today archaeology presents the following picture of the Bible. Genesis consists of two unequal sections: the first, and shorter, of highly condensed theological essays and a second longer one of theological biographies. In the Bible, history is written with a definite theological emphasis. As already stressed, the Abrahamic and succeeding narratives are definitely historic. The other books of the Pentateuch are likewise historical. Year by year archaeological research is demonstrating that a larger portion of the legal sections belong approximately to the Mosaic period; and at the same time a smaller percentage of material has any likelihood of coming from a late date. Note that the prophetic period of the Old Testament was the manufacturing age of Israel’s history, with modern assembly-line techniques in use and with the shifting of farm and factory population just as we have it today. But the Pentateuchal legislation has no laws dealing with Israel’s manufacturing age. The prophets, however, struggled constantly with this problem. Much work yet remains to be done on the Pentateuch but the general pattern seems fixed.

Support For Historicity

Joshua’s conquest is definitely demonstrated and can be dated shortly before 1200 B.C. Of the seven cities referred to in the narrative, which have been excavated, six have given a conclusive demonstration of the historicity of the Israelite conquest. Only Jericho fails to present a demonstration and even here circumstantial evidence favors historicity. The book of Judges is paralleled in the findings of excavations from that period. When David and Solomon came to power, their international contacts lend new check references and demonstrate their influence even outside of Palestine. The Mosaic period was the first great religio-culture climax and the David-Solomon period was the second. Religion was no longer simply a feature of farm and village. City culture must also be religious. The tribe lost its importance to the federal government, but Jehovah was still King of kings, and David was as subservient to him as was any commoner. With the divided kingdom and the prophetic period archaeological data becomes more voluminous both in Palestine and those lands which had contact with her. New light is also cast on the post-exilic period both in Palestine and Babylonia. The century preceding Alexander the Great still needs better delineation, but the Maccabaean period and the Herodian days are much better known than the years of the earthly ministry of Jesus, the Christ. With Paul we come into a superabundance of archaeological data and can reconstruct much of his labors.

The Dead Sea scrolls are most valuable aids for Gospel research, for they open up a new phase of Jewish life in the days of Jesus. Not only did Pharisee and Sadducee reject him but the Essenes did also. These three Old Testament sects all failed to recognize the Messiah. The uniqueness of Christianity stands out clearly as we compare it with the Essene creed and life. Indeed, Christianity is so phenomenally unique that it has always been hard to convince people of this uniqueness. It is a blessing that we have the Holy Spirit to demonstrate to us the uniqueness of Christ, the Trinity, the Church and the Bible. The Dead Sea scrolls, however, do give a wealth of minor cross-reference data for use in New Testament research. W. F. Albright, the world’s best archaeological authority in both the Old Testament and the New Testament, insists that there is now no longer any major reason why we need to date any New Testament book later than A.D. 80.

The Situation In Life

Now comes the big question. How does the Christian archaeologist study his Bible? In so far as is possible, he tries to reconstruct the total setting of the passage he is studying. That means geography and linguistics, customs and manners, people and things, commoners and scholars, sinners and saints, businessmen and politicians, art and literature, gods and God! If we use this method for the period of the Exodus, we find that the providence and grace of Jehovah shines out in vastly increased splendor. And all of this is in striking contrast to the impotence of both the Egyptian and the Canaanite religions which were the reliance of Pharaoh Rameses. The Ten Commandments are best appreciated against those contemporary religions. The church in the wilderness was still the same church where Christ worshipped in Jerusalem, although its full reality was not seen of men until after Pentecost. The old Canaanite saw much significance in Bible history which we may miss. Baal was the great Canaanite god of that land and in his hand alone was the power of water and the storm. But Israel went dry-shod through Jordan! More Canaanites were lost in the storm of Ajalon than died by Joshua’s arms! Samuel had a similar experience and Sisera was defeated by a cloudburst. Elijah, who later appeared with Christ on the Mount of Transfiguration, defeated the priests of Baal on Mt. Carmel.

We know now that Israel was a truly democratic people. The civilization of Palestine before and after Joshua presents a striking contrast. Before him there was the patrician and his serfs, fine houses, and slave quarters. After Joshua all people fit into a common pattern—all houses were small and everyone was poor. When wealth grew, however, democracy stayed on. Saul, the king, was restrained by the common people from fulfilling his vow on Jonathan. Even cruel Joab refused for a time to carry out David’s census and create a Federal army in place of the tribal militia. Under Rehoboam Israel invoked the referendum and recall and broke off from the Davidic dynasty. Naboth refused to sell to king Ahab, for it was the right of every Israelite to be a free man and to hold his old ancestral land. Democracy continued to be one of the major preachments of the prophets.

The place of customs and manners in the interpretation of a Bible book is well seen in Paul’s letters to the Corinthians. Here was one of the great manufacturing and shipping cities of New Testament times. Here were gathered rich manufacturers and their slave workers. Here Aphrodite was worshipped in one of the last major sanctuaries of the fertility cults. Now read Paul’s words on the resurrection and realize what consolation they would bring to the slave members of his congregation, to whom this present life offered no hope. Think of Paul’s hymn on love against the background of Aphrodite. Here too Paul won a striking legal decision for Christianity. His Jewish opposition tried to convince the Roman governor that Christianity was not related to Judaism and was therefore an illegal religion, but Gallio refused their plea and thus ruled that Christianity was a legal faith in the Empire.

Finally, what does archaeology do to the historic creed of the church universal? It makes it more unique than ever! Revelation alone can account for our faith. “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life.” But in all of history, century after century God was weaving ten thousand times ten thousand details into this pattern of revelation and preparing his Messianic pattern for the redemption of mankind through his Son, Jesus the Christ.

END

James L. Kelso is one of America’s best-informed biblical archaeologists. He has served as Professor of Old Testament at Pittsburgh-Xenia Seminary since 1923, and is author of The Ceramic Vocabulary of the Old Testament (1948) and of Excavations at New Testament Jericho and Khirbet en-Nitla (1955). In 1949–50 he was Director of the American Schools of Oriental Research in Jerusalem.

- More from James L. Kelso

The kingdom of God is near.

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