Cover Story

Understanding Calvary

Harold John Ockenga

And they understood none of these things: and this saying was hid from them, neither knew they the things which were spoken (Luke 18:34).

I have a wonderful text. It opens up the counsels of the Trinity, the mysteries of redemption and the glories of heaven. Would I had the tongue of an angel to declare it. It is the truth of redemption by the cross. It, not the virgin birth, not the miracles of Christ, not the second coming of the Lord, is the very center of the Christian message (1 Cor. 1:23; 2:2).

Calvary was plainly foretold by Jesus, repeatedly and understandably. Yet the apostles did not grasp what he said. A strange incomprehensibility rested upon these disciples so that they could not understand plain language. Luke 9:31 says of Moses and Elias, “Who appeared in glory, and spake of his decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem”; Luke 9:51 says, “When the time was come that he should be received up, he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem”; and now we have this plain statement of Luke 18:31–34. Matthew is just as plain in his record of the statements of Jesus concerning the inevitability of Calvary (Matt. 16:21; 17:12b; 17:22, 23: 20:18, 19). In spite of these clear statements, the disciples did not understand.

Calvary was foreseen and foretold by the prophets. No doubt is left by the writers of the Old Testament concerning the suffering servant of the Lord, the Messiah. Every sacrifice according to the law looked forward to this; the precepts concerning blood anticipated this; the Passover and the Day of Atonement forshadowed this; Psalm 22 and Psalm 69 described the sufferings of the Messiah; Isaiah 52:12 to 53:11 delineated these sufferings; Daniel 9:26 and Zachariah 13:6, 7 referred to it; yet no one in the time of Jesus understood the Old Testament prophecies concerning the suffering servant in the Messianic sense. Only at a later time did some of the Jewish rabbis teach that there would be a suffering Messiah (Messiah ben Joseph) and a triumphant Messiah (Messiah ben Judah). Not even the prophets themselves understood what they wrote (1 Pet. 1:10). The fact that the prophets searched to ascertain the meaning of their own prophecies which the Spirit revealed unto them is evidence that it was given to them by revelation. But this in itself is a proof that they did not understand Calvary.

Calvary was foreordained of God, and yet our text says that the meaning of Calvary was hid from the apostles. Did God deliberately hide it from them? If so, why? Was the hiding of this due to their own blindness because of sin, or was it a blindness sent from God? It was hid from them for several reasons: First, that God’s eternal plan might be fulfilled, namely, to make Christ Jesus our substitute in the satisfaction of the law. From eternity God the Father decreed the death of Jesus on the cross. He was the lamb slain from before the foundation of the world. Second, it was hid that men through wicked hands might slay the Prince of Life. Peter declared that if they had known the identity of Jesus, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. Their decision was an independent one, but it was embraced in the plan of God. Third, it was hid from them that God might turn their evil actions to good. God’s love matched man’s sin. The fall of the Jews was to be the riches of the nations, and it was embraced for this purpose.

Why They Couldn’t Understand Calvary

Luke declares that this was “hid from them.” A veil was over their eyes so that they could not understand. It is strange about our capacity to understand. This capacity changes with different ages. What you could not grasp as a child, or as a youth, you now may understand. At one time you did not understand the value of music and you refused to have any part of it, but now you understand and regret your decision. At one time you did not understand the value of financial thrift and resultant security; now you understand and regret your prodigality of youth. Once you did not understand fidelity in human relationships, but now you understand and possibly with deep regret.

When the Lord told his disciples of his impending suffering, crucifixion and death, understanding was hidden from them. Peter cried, “Far be it from thee, Lord.” He could not believe that Christ would be delivered up, mocked, shamefully treated, scourged and killed. For this reason he attempted to defend Christ in the garden of Gethsemane for he did not understand the inevitability of Calvary.

Calvary was hidden from those who put him to death. For this reason Christ prayed, “Forgive them for they know not what they do.” Pilate asked him, “Art Thou a king?” and when he condemned him to be scourged and crucified, he did so in ignorance. The Pharisees cried, “Come down from the cross,” but they did not understand why he could not come down. The soldiers and the thief mocked him and ridiculed him because they did not understand the meaning of his claims.

Only God the Father and Christ understood what was occurring on Calvary, with the possible exception of Mary of Bethany, who broke her alabaster box against the day of his burying and also of the penitent thief who caught a glimpse of heaven when he was on the cross and asked to be remembered.

The understanding of Calvary was granted to the apostles through the postresurrection interpretation by Christ and through Pentecost. As the resurrected Christ explained the necessity of his sufferings from the law, the Psalms and the prophets, their eyes were opened and their hearts burned within them. When the Holy Ghost came upon them at Pentecost and they were guided into the fullness of truth, all the strands of truth fell together into an harmonious whole. From that time on the apostles were in unanimous agreement on the necessity of the death and resurrection of Christ which constituted the Gospel.

Calvary can be understood and known only by regenerate persons (1 Cor. 2:14). Because of this, men do not understand Calvary today. For God to die on a cross seems ridiculous to the unregenerate. Natural reason cannot comprehend this. It wants to earn salvation. But these things are hidden from the wise and prudent and revealed unto babes. The human mind must be renewed in regeneration by the Holy Spirit if it is to understand Calvary. With such regeneration the problems concerning the cross vanish from the human mind. Students who are filled with questions concerning the goodness of God, predestination and freedom, the problem of human suffering, the dual nature of Christ, the understanding of the Trinity find that when their central question is answered, many of their other questions disappear. In my own Christian counseling I listen to the problem or the question that an inquirer has and then I turn the conversation to Calvary and the knowledge of salvation. Once this question is settled, it is easy to face other questions. When a person is regenerate, the mystery is no longer hidden but open.

How Believers Understand Calvary

Calvary must be understood in the framework of theology. There is a Divine reason for the cross. The cross must be understood in the light of God’s justice. The Bible declares that God spared not his own Son but delivered him up for us all (Rom. 8:32), that Christ Jesus “abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances … that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby” (Eph. 2:15, 16), and that “God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself” (2 Cor. 5:19). Justice had to be satisfied and God reconciled. What this meant is beyond description and understanding of man. Holiness is an attribute of God. Holiness in motion against sin is wrath. This wrath of God was expended upon Christ on Calvary.

Mercy is an attribute of God. Because God loved, he was moved with compassion and mercy so that he gave his son, he sacrificed himself, and he suffered an indescribable anguish in the place of those he loved. Love found a way which could not be found by justice or by wisdom.

Wisdom is an attribute of God. Wisdom dictated that justice and mercy, holiness and goodness should both be satisfied and it found a way for them to meet in the cross (Psa. 85:10). There was no other way for such reconciliation, atonement and mediation than Calvary. If there had been, Jesus’ prayer in Gethsemane, “If it be possible, let this cup pass from me,” would have been answered by the removal of Calvary. When Jesus cried, “it is finished,” all the demands of the attributes of God which had been affected by sin were satisfied.

Believers give to the cross a great significance in experience. This experience is threefold. First, the cross is the way of salvation. It is the only way to come to God, the only means of salvation, the only bridge from sinful man to holy God. Thus, it is emphasized in the law, the Psalms, the prophets, the Gospels and the epistles. It is the essence of the Gospel which is presented throughout the entire Bible.

The second way of experiencing the cross is for sanctification or victory of Christian life. The believer accepts the cross as the means of his dying to the old man. He takes his position with Christ as crucified to the old nature and the motions of sin. By faith he reckons himself to be dead. Once the believer so accepts the cross, he may then be united with Christ in resurrection life. By the Spirit he is quickened and seated with Christ in heavenly places. Thus, the resurrected, glorified, reigning Christ may release the Spirit in the life of the crucified and resurrected believer, producing all the fruit of the Spirit which makes the believer like unto Christ.

The third meaning of the cross in Christian experience is as a way of service or of living. The principle was set down by the Lord Jesus when He said, “Except a com of wheat fall to the ground and die, it abideth alone, but if it die it bringeth forth much fruit.” The cross must become a constant way of life. The believer must voluntarily accept his position of self-denial, sacrifice and service for Christ’s sake. Insofar as he does this, he shall bear fruit, for “he that loses his life for my sake shall find it.” Only as the believer voluntarily follows the pattern laid down by Christ in his acceptance of crucifixion, is he able to effectively serve the Lord.

What Can Never Be Known Of Calvary

Though there is much that the believer understands about Calvary, there is much he will never understand. Christians will never know the depths of suffering which Christ Jesus endured on the cross. We know that he tasted death (Heb. 2:14), and what a death it was. No believer will ever die the kind of death that Jesus died upon the cross. We know that he endured the curse of the broken law (Gal. 3:13) and that that curse will never rest upon the believer. We know that he carried the wrath of God which was holiness in motion against the sin of humanity held back and dammed up through the ages and then released to overwhelm Christ Jesus on the cross (Rom. 3:25, 26). It was this that overwhelmed Christ and broke his heart. No believer will ever be able to understand the depths of such suffering through which Christ passed.

We can never know the full mystery of what occurred on Calvary. Remembering that Jesus was the pre-existing Son of God whose goings were from old, even from everlasting, that he was with the Father from eternity, that he was the creator of the world, we cannot help but wonder what happened when he cried, “My God, why hast Thou forsaken me?” What happened in the Trinity at that moment? What happened in the two natures of Christ when he suffered the wrath of God in our place? How did God die on the cross? How did he take death into himself? If he had not done these things, how could the atonement have been made efficacious for the believers? When will the human mind ever understand this, and where shall we ever find language to express this? This mystery can never be known and will always cause us to fall down and worship before the Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world.

We shall never know the fulness of redemption wrought by Jesus on the cross. This is suggested to us in the Scripture, and we may apprehend more of it when we get to heaven, but we certainly cannot know it now. What is included in “being able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge” (Eph. 3:18, 19)? In Calvary God exhausted himself, and it is impossible for a finite being to fully comprehend this action of an infinite being.

Witness Of The Disciples

But let’s ask these same disciples who did not understand when Jesus told them of Calvary what they now understand about it.

How about you, Peter? What do you understand about Calvary?

“I saw them take him away from Caiaphas’ hall when I was offended because he did not accept my defense of him by force. It seems incredible, impossible that I did not stand with him in that hour, but I did not understand. But now I know. I know that it was the Prince of Life they crucified. They ‘denied the Holy One and the just, and desired a murderer to be granted … and killed the Prince of Life, whom God hath raised up from the dead.’ I know that we are redeemed with his precious blood as of a lamb without blemish and without spot who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world. I know that he his own self bare our sins in his body on the tree, that we, being dead to sin, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes we are healed. I know that Christ hath once suffered for sin, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but quickened by the Spirit. I know that Calvary was the means to life.”

And how about you, John? You were very close to Christ. What do you think of Calvary now?

“I stood with Jesus through it all: through the trial in Caiaphas’ hall, through the suffering on the Gabbatha and through the agony of the cross. It was all so dark and confusing that I did not understand. Then, on the resurrection day, when he appeared to us and explained it, saying that it behooved Christ to suffer, and rise from the dead the third day: that repentance and remission of sin should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem, I began to understand. Now I know that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin and that the evidence of love is not that we love him but that he loved us and gave himself as a propitiation on our behalf. Now I look forward to the day when I shall stand with that throng, a glimpse of which I was granted, and shall cry, ‘Worthy art Thou to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by Thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation.’ ”

How about you, Paul. Do you understand the cross?

“Once I did not. Once I hated the Nazarene and I persecuted his followers for worshipping him as God because this was blasphemy. Once I stood by and watched men stone Stephen to death. Once I was crucifying the Son of God afresh. But one day I saw him: saw him in glory, saw him as he revealed himself to me with his wounds as I traveled on the road to Damascus. Now I know. I do not know him any longer after the flesh, but after the spirit. Now I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. Now, God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. For now I know that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, and has committed unto us the Gospel of reconciliation.”

My friend, do you understand Calvary? Is Calvary a mystery to you? Are your eyes veiled? If you have seen him with the eyes of faith as he was crucified for you, the veil has been taken away and you understand. If not, pray at this season that you may have your eyes opened, that you may see the necessity of Calvary, that you may see what God has suffered for you, that you may understand the cross.

Harold John Ockenga is pastor of the famed Park Street Church in Boston, where he has ministered since 1936. After receiving the A.B. degree from Taylor University in 1927, he attended Princeton and Westminister seminaries, and holds a Th.B. from Westminster, A.M. and Ph.D. from University of Pittsburgh and numerous honorary degrees. He is author of Protestant Preaching in Lent, The Church in God and other works. He is presently chairman of the board of Christianity Today.

Cover Story

Propitiation

Roger Nicole

Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary defines “to propitiate” as “to appease and render favorable.” This word or its derivatives appears only three times in the King James version:

Romans 3:25, “… whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood …”

1 John 2:2, “He is the propitiation for our sins …”

1 John 4:10, “… God sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”

The equivalent Greek word hilasmos and its cognates, however, appear some eight times in the New Testament and as often as 221 times in the Septuagint.

Pagan Use Of Terms

These words are not found exclusively in sacred literature but are fairly common in both classical and Hellenistic Greek. When used as religious terms in a heathen context, they are ordinarily charged with various unfortunate connotations, due to the pagan conception of the nature of the gods and of their relationship to man. We may mention the following:

1. The gods were viewed as very whimsical and temperamental beings who easily took offense and whose favor had to be curried by special gifts and sacrifices. Their good will could be bought by a “process of celestial bribery”, as Leon Morris terms it (Expository Times, LXII [May 1951], 227).

2. This appeasement was seldom conceived in a moral context. The need for satisfaction was not grounded in ethical considerations but rather in the arbitrary whims and tantrums of the gods.

3. There was little if any correlation between the gravity of the offense committed and the importance or value of the propitiatory offering.

4. In some instances the transaction was morally objectionable, occasionally revolting, as in the case of human sacrifices or of sacred prostitution.

It may be a matter of some surprise that the Septuagint translators and the New Testament authors could have seen fit to use words so heavily freighted with unfavorable connotations and apply them to the lofty conceptions of the Hebrew-Christian revelation. In this connection it may be well to remember that the sacred writers and translators had to use a mortgaged vocabulary, which they had to redeem and elevate in order to proclaim the sublime truths of the divine message. The words “God”, “faith”, “salvation”, “cross” and many others are examples of this very general process of regeneration of the language, by which common and even base words were instilled with new life and nobility in the pages of Holy Writ.

A Profound Difference

The profound difference between the biblical and the pagan usages of propitiation was emphasized by C. H. Dodd in a noted article in the Journal of Theological Studies (XXXII [1931], 352–360). He called special attention to the fact that in the biblical context God is often the subject of the action, the very one who provides the means of restoring the sinner to favor. In this Dodd’s conclusions, while not startlingly original, may scarcely be called in question. However, Dodd went so far in this direction as to set forth the thesis that in the biblical language the idea of “pacifying the displeasure of the Deity” is absent and that the translations “expiate”, “cleanse”, “forgive” should be substituted for “propitiate”. The last-named word would thus be eliminated from the English Bible.

Relevant Observations

A detailed discussion of C. H. Dodd’s position may be found elsewhere (cf. Leon Morris, op. cit. and The Apostolic Preaching of the Cross, 1955, pp. 125–185; also R. Nicole, “C. H. Dodd and the Doctrine of Propitiation,” The Westminster Theological Journal, XVII [May, 1955], 117–157). We must confine ourselves here to the following observations.

1. While certain modifications in the circumstantial connotations of the words may well be assumed, it is very difficult to believe that the essential meaning of appeasement could have been systematically banished in Scripture. If such had been the intention of the Septuagint translators and of the New Testament writers one can scarcely see why they would have failed to choose other terms, terms which would have expressed rather than obscured their thought. The view that they could use hilasmos and its cognates without meaning propitiation is just as unlikely as the surmise that modern writers would use “propitiation” when they wish to avoid any connotation of appeasement!

2. While certain scholars have endorsed C. H. Dodd’s conclusions, many others can be listed in support of the traditional position. In the very recent English translation of Bauer’s monumental Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament (1957), the meaning of “propitiation” predominates (cf. pp. 275, 376).

3. The substitute renderings “expiate”, “purify”, are less specific than “propitiate”, “placate”. Yet sooner or later the question must arise: “Who demands expiation or purification, and why?” If the answer be “God does, in the exercise of His righteousness,” we are back to the traditional view, entirely consonant with the carefully avoided term “propitiation”. If the answer be “Man does, for the satisfaction of his own moral needs,” we are faced with a view of salvation which is so greatly at variance with the biblical conception on so many points that one is truly surprised to see its upholders attempt to harmonize their position with Scripture or to try to explain away the implications of just one term like propitiation.

4. The thoughts of the demands of divine justice and of the wrath of God against sin and the sinners are extremely prevalent in Scripture. According to Leon Morris, the latter concept is met in over 580 occurrences in the Old Testament alone (The Apostolic Preaching of the Cross, p. 131). While in the New Testament this theme may be less frequently brought to the fore, when this is done, it is in terms perhaps even more emphatic than in the Old Testament. This will be at once apparent if one reflects upon the statements of Jesus on the misery of the lost in the other world. To attempt to by-pass this great mass of evidence is to do manifest injustice to the divine revelation. Furthermore, by undercutting God’s justice, holiness and utter abhorrence of sin, one undermines and brings into jeopardy the whole moral nature of God. Yea, even the love of God, far from being enhanced in this process, becomes degraded to a sentimental complacency, unworthy of any being with true moral fibre.

5. It is important to emphasize at this point that opponents frequently, and upholders occasionally, misconstrue the Christian idea of propitiation. This is the case when propitiation is conceived as a turning of God’s wrath into love, rather than the provision of his love in order that his wrath may be averted in full consistency with his moral nature. This is the case when propitiation is caricatured as in intervention of the compassionate Christ to shield the helpless sinner against the vengeful blows of God the Father, who, as a bloodthirsty tyrant, delights in the suffering and destruction of his creature. Conceivably, some occasional insufficiently guarded language on the part of conservative preachers and writers may have tended to accredit such lamentably inaccurate misapprehensions. It behooves the evangelical believer, however, to react with utmost vigor against such distortions, and to proclaim in its unsullied beauty the biblical doctrine of propitiation as the gracious provision made by God himself whereby the effects of his righteous anger against sin may be averted and the sinner may receive the blessings of his paternal love without infringement on his holiness and moral government. In this concept, far from having a disparagement of God’s love, we may perceive the very triumph of it: love of the Father, who gave his son for the redemption of man (John 3:16); love of the Son, who shed his precious blood for the remission of sins (Matt. 26:28, Rom. 5:8); love of the Holy Spirit, through whom the priceless offering was made (Heb. 9:14), and who applies its benefits to the redeemed. To borrow a phrase from an able Roman Catholic exponent of substitutionary atonement, the propitiatory sacrifice of Jesus Christ is “the invention and the triumph of the infinite love” of the triune God (cf. A. Medebielle, “Expiation.” L. Pirot, ed. Supplement au Dictionnaire de la Bible, III, 259).

Roger Nicole holds the Licence d’enseignement es Lettres Classiques (M.A.) from the Sorbonne (Paris) and a Th.D. degree from Gordon Divinity School. He is former president of Evangelical Theological Society. Since 1945 he has been Professor of Theology at Gordon Divinity School. He is presently preparing a volume on the doctrine of the atonement.

We Quote:

MADAME CHIANG KAI-SHEK

First Lady of Free China

The meaning of the Resurrection is Faith Triumphant, the Pledge Redeemed, The Cross Vindicated. Without Resurrection the Church would have died with the dispersal of the disciples there and then after the Crucifixion. With Resurrection the Christian Church marches forward toward Victory. This is what we see when we look forward from Calvary. What we took to be the shadow of death haunting our Lord from Bethlehem to Calvary proves to be, in the end, the Light of Life.—In an Easter message of hope to Chinese Christians in Formosa.

F. W. DILLISTONE

Dean of Liverpool Cathedral

Here is the Light which integrates all other lights.… Here is the Word which fulfils all other words.… He is the image of the God Who had never been seen by mortal eye. He is the Word of the God Whose actual voice had never been heard by mortal ear.—In Christianity and Communication, p. 47.

Cover Story

Twentieth-Century Scientists and the Resurrection of Christ

Wilbur M. Smith

Today no first-rate scientist believes in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, according to H. L. Mencken, late literary critic and often blasphemous commentator on the Christian faith. Doubtless many people in our country really suppose this to be the case. How rarely indeed is a leading contemporary scientist identified with any clear declaration of his Christian belief! As teachers and ministers know, even many young people firm in their faith in Christ are asking, “Do any great scientists of our day believe the verities of the Christian revelation?”

Importance Of Scientific Faith

The reason that the faith of scientists in relation to the cardinal Christian truths is so pre-eminently important—more so even than that of historians, economists or legislators—is that the world today is more and more controlled by pure and applied science, for in this realm great discoveries are taking place. Men cannot deny that scientists are pursuing truth in their specialized investigations, and that they are, as it were, attempting to ascertain facts. Although scientists themselves are, in the main, men of humble spirit, seldom claiming even semi-omniscience, the general public tends to confer on them a final authority in any field in which they express an opinion. If, then, our contemporary scientists, who in these past few years have brought forth a new and revolutionary understanding of nature and whose investigations the Western powers are underwriting with billions of dollars, are known to be men who reject the basic truths gathered around the person of Christ, as set forth in the New Testament, the common people are encouraged to relax their confidence in the supernatural elements of the Christian faith.

The only way to determine what modern scientists actually believe is to let them express their views over their own names. Common opinion, guesses, the writings of one man here and another man there, will not give us an accurate statistical analysis of the faith of our scientists.

I secured the names of those who have attained in the biological and physical sciences a reputation justifying their inclusion in the current volume of Who’s Who in America. Since the last edition of American Men of Science lists 44,000 men of professional standing working in the physical sciences, and 25,000 in the biological sciences, it was impossible for one person to address an inquiry to 69,000 men and women. Recognizing that some outstanding scientists do not appear in the current volume of Who’s Who in America, I addressed my inquiry not only to those persons included in that volume but also to members of the National Academy of Sciences listed in the preceding volume of Who’s Who but not in the current one.

An Unmistakable Inquiry

The subject of the resurrection of Christ was chosen for the inquiry because of its definiteness and also its pre-eminent importance in relation to other Christian doctrines. A man’s views on the subject of immortality of the soul would not in any way reveal his relationship to the Christian faith. To ask if one believes in the inspiration of the Scriptures is at once to raise the question, what is meant by inspiration—and one has little reason to expect a scientist to define the term. A question regarding belief in the deity of Christ would be too indefinite, since some would doubtless reply in the affirmative, acknowledging the deity of Christ—and of every man. The bodily resurrection of Christ—whether or not one believes in it—is set forth in the New Testament as a specific historical event, taking place at a certain time in a certain place; it involves a specific individual and the phenomenon of an objective reality that could be touched and seen (Luke 24:39,40; cf. 1 John 1:1–3).

The names of those working in the biological and physical sciences listed in the 1956–1957 volume of Who’s Who number 606. I did not write to Unitarians or Universalists, whose replies would certainly be in the negative; likewise the three Mormons, two agnostics, one liberal and one member of the Ethical Culture Society. Scientists of Jewish faith, insofar as this could be determined from their names and place of education (there were 37), were excluded. Excluding the 62 members of these groups, letters were sent to 544 scientists (with stamped, self-addressed return envelopes). Notices came that seven of the men had died since the current Who’s Who was published; five had moved, with forwarding addresses unknown; eleven were out of town. This left 521 men from whom replies could be expected.

Preliminary Observations

The examination of Who’s Who in America disclosed three rather surprising facts. First, not one individual out of these six hundred men and women indicated an affiliation with the Christian Science Church. Second, although a large number of Jews surely are laboring in these fields, not one indicates in his biographical summary that he is of the Hebrew faith. Is there no leading Jewish scientist in this company, we must ask, who wishes to be identified as a faithful attendant at the synagogue and as a believer in the Old Testament Scriptures? Finally, although 144 of these men and women indicated membership in some Protestant church, only twelve gave affiliation with the Roman Catholic Church. This paucity of Roman Catholics in the front ranks of modern science has been frequently discussed by others and is recognized as a problem by Catholic writers today.

Before revealing the results of the survey made for CHRISTIANITY TODAY, it may be well to speak briefly of a poll of younger scientists reported in Fortune (June, 1954) in the article on “The Young Scientist.” One hundred and four of the leading young men of science in America were sent questionnaires covering a number of subjects, including personal religious convictions. The statistics indicate that although 5 per cent of the parents of these men were of the Roman Catholic faith, none of the present generation wishes to be so identified; although 29 per cent of the parents were more or less inclined to the Jewish faith, only 9 per cent of the sons are so disposed today; 53 per cent of the parents had Protestant convictions, but only 23 per cent of their sons would claim the same. Most striking of all, while only 8 per cent of the parents were said to be agnostics or atheists, 45 per cent of the sons so declared themselves.

Four Out Of Five Waver

Of the 521 potential replies to my inquiry, 228 replies have been received (a few continue to arrive daily). They include 36 affirmations of faith in the resurrection and 192 non-affirmations. This latter group falls into three classes: 142 of these scientists state definitely that they do not believe in the resurrection of Christ; 28 indicate that they do not wish to express an opinion; and 23 say that they do not know whether or not Christ rose from the dead. The ratio then is about four non-affirmations to one affirmation. In other words, only one out of five of the leading scientists in these fields believes in the bodily resurrection of Christ.

Unbelief In The Churches

The most surprising aspect is the acknowledged lack of faith in the resurrection of Christ on the part of scientists who claim membership in some Protestant evangelical denomination. Of the 521 scientists, 144 indicated affiliation with some Protestant church. From these 144, 88 replies have thus far been received; 7 say they do not know if Christ rose from the dead; 12 do not wish to give an opinion; 41 do not believe; and 28 do believe in the resurrection—or one out of three. The following table presents an analysis of these figures by denominations.

In view of the extreme liberal views of many Congregationalists and the infiltration of modernism in the Methodist Church, the majority of denials from men in these denominations was no surprise. But it was somewhat astonishing to find as many Episcopalians denying the resurrection as professing to believe it and more Baptists and Presbyterians rejecting it than affirming it. One cannot help but wonder how men can unite with churches whose creeds or historic confessions bear clear testimony to the bodily resurrection of Christ, while they disbelieve what their sacred traditions affirm. Undoubtedly this means that many clergymen are receiving into their churches members who do not embrace the essentials of the Christian faith, and also, in turn, that many of the clergy themselves do not believe in the resurrection.

The Command To Witness

The New Testament repeatedly enjoins Christians to bear witness that Christ rose from the dead. In referring to his death and resurrection, Jesus reminded his disciples, “Ye are witnesses of these things” (Luke 24:48). To this truth of our Lord’s resurrection the Apostle Peter witnessed on the Day of Pentecost, “This Jesus did God raise up, whereof we all are witnesses” (Acts 2:32). Again and again when the apostles were brought before the Sanhedrin, and when Paul stood before various rulers of his day, they gave glad and emphatic testimony to the historic reality of the resurrection (Acts 3:15, 5:32; 10:39; 26:23). The Apostle Paul assured men of salvation if they confessed with their mouth the Lord Jesus and believed in their heart “that God raised him from the dead” (Rom. 10:9).

No matter how many more believers are hidden in this group of American scientists, it is profoundly disturbing that only 36 scientists of a total of 521 leaders in the biological and physical sciences are willing to be counted in this year of our Lord 1957 as gladly affirming their faith in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

A well-known scientist who repudiated the doctrine of Christ’s resurrection wrote boldly: “I have no hesitation in telling you my own position in regard to the ‘basic New Testament truth’ of the ‘bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ,’ for I have no interest in concealing my belief.” If this is the way unbelievers feel, so much more ought believers to be bold in proclaiming their faith. The Christian Church today needs a great surge of testimony to the resurrection, for without this the Church of our day of unbelief will appear beggarly alongside the early Church, of which we read: “With great power gave the apostles their witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all” (Acts 4:33).

Confronted with this appalling mass of unbelief by highly trained men devoting their lives to the exploration of natural phenomena, a Christian believer must have a heavy heart. Yet there is no reason for a believer to waver in his own faith because of it.

Relevant Observations

In the first place, the replies give no evidence that the scientists who deny the resurrection have carefully examined the New Testament historical records which describe the event. Most of these men frankly confess that they have not given the subject serious consideration. Even those who profess to be Christians and active members of Protestant churches, yet disbelieve Christ’s resurrection, do not indicate that they have ever studied the evidence for the historicity of this event.

A second significant observation, and a corollary of the first, is that not one of these men offers any theory to explain away the New Testament confidence in the resurrection. One physicist did imply that he could believe there was a resuscitation of life, but of course this is not resurrection, as he himself admitted, and he did not couple the remark with a denial of Jesus’ death on the cross. Not one unbelieving scientist felt constrained to give a rational explanation of the Christian faith in the resurrection.

The third interesting fact is that the greater number, about 60 per cent, expressed themselves almost reverently in referring to Jesus Christ. I shall quote from two letters:

“I have only a modest familiarity with the story of the life of Jesus as it has come down to us. To me his message of brotherly love is of paramount importance. That this message should have come from a human conceived and nurtured in the natural way gives me courage to attempt in some small measure to follow his example. Whatever one may believe about immortality, we can be certain of one thing, Jesus lives on in the minds of men. He still has a tremendous influence on their actions.”

“To my mind the subtle and profound emotional meaning of the Bible story is not destroyed by questioning its literal truth. We are surely still actively participating in the personality and teaching of Christ; so he is in a real sense resurrected in each of us. To me this has much more religious meaning than the truth or falsity of the stories and myths that have been built up around his name.… I stand in awe of the wonder of the infinite. Awe and worship are allied.”

Teaching And Miracles Linked

When a man says that the teachings of Jesus set forth, even for men of the twentieth century, the highest code known to humanity, it must be emphasized that these very teachings of Jesus include much more than the laws of ethical conduct. Over and over again our Lord taught that he would rise from the dead (Matt. 16:21, 17:23), and his enemies did not forget this as the hour of his trial approached (compare John 2:19–22 with Matt. 26:61,62; 27:40). On one occasion when such a prediction was made, we read, “There arose a division again among the Jews because of these words” (John 10:17,18).

No respectable hermeneutical principle exists whereby the ethical teachings of Jesus can be separated from his teachings concerning himself—his deity, his vicarious death, his resurrection, his ascension and future return. If he claimed he would rise from the dead, and did not, either he was tragically self-deceived, in which case the trustworthiness of the remainder of his teachings is suspect, or he knew that he would not arise, but attempted to secure disciples by claiming that he would, in which case he was a deceiver of others—and in all the replies to my inquiry, no modern scientist has ventured to call Jesus a deceiver! How one wishes that this fine group of men, daily pondering evidence with such great care, would seriously consider the witness of Christ’s teachings to his resurrection and contemplate the consequences of rejecting either.

Worldly Wisdom And Unbelief

The New Testament provides no basis for any expectation that the majority of the intellectual leaders of any age will be believers in the great truths of the Christian faith. Indeed, our Lord himself asked, “When the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8). The New Testament tells us that, in regard to spiritual things, the mind of unregenerate man is “darkened” (Rom. 1:21; Eph. 4:18). In the second chapter of First Corinthians Paul develops the theme that the natural man receiveth not the things of God. A condition of world-wide deception and apostasy at the end of this age is frequently set forth in the Pauline Epistles (2 Thess. 2:10–12; 1 Tim. 4:1–3; 2 Tim. 4:3,4).

In 1899 Professor A. H. Strong (Christ in Creation, p. 7) echoed what many intellectual leaders at the turn of the century were saying: “All nature is a series of symbols setting forth the hidden truth of God.… The world is virtually the thought of Christ made intelligible by the constant will of Christ. Nature is the omnipresent Christ manifesting God to creatures.” Today the idealistic and personalistic moods no longer dominate science. Men are not proclaiming nuclear fission as a revelation of God to modern science. Men are not being drawn nearer to God by this increased mastery of natural phenomena. No longer can we say, as did Frederick Leete in his interesting work, Christianity in Science (New York, 1928, p. 186): “Is it not a striking tribute to Christianity that the countries named as being the centers and mediums of scientific advancement are precisely those in which Christianity is most completely domiciled, and where its influence is at its maximum? It is possible to go further and to maintain the thesis that the degree of scientific progress made by each particular nation compares almost exactly with the type and grade of its religious development.”

Men Of Science Who Believe

While acknowledgments of faith in the resurrection among scientists were comparatively few, their communications nonetheless bear a priceless and powerful testimony to this supernatural event of nineteen centuries ago. Although it is not possible to quote each of these letters, I shall refer to four or five, to reflect something of this faith implicit in the minds and hearts of some men in the forefront of contemporary science.

An extended positive reply came from Dr. Howard H. M. Bowman, Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania, 1917; Professor of Biology at Toledo (Ohio) University since 1919 and Director of the Pre-Medical Division there since 1947; author of a number of books and member of many scientific societies. A member of the Episcopal Church, Dr. Bowman is an Anglo-Catholic.

He remarks, refreshingly: “Our two priests are devoted and self-sacrificing pastors, and I know of no one in the parish who holds anything but the central orthodox beliefs, and I think all of us firmly believe in every article of the Nicene and Apostles’ Creed. As a biologist, I cannot explain this mystery, nor would I attempt to do so. I have complete faith in the testimony of the biblical witnesses as set forth in the New Testament.”

From the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, Dr. Harold M. Morse writes: “I do so believe, as did John von Newmann, my colleague who died about ten days ago.”

The Director of the Alabama Museum of Natural History at University, Alabama, Dr. Walter B. Jones, responded in part, “Of course I believe in the bodily resurrection of Christ. I am an elder in the First Presbyterian Church here in Tuscaloosa.”

Note must also be made of the clear affirmation of the Nobel prizeman Victor F. Hess, Ph.D. (University of Vienna), former Professor of Physics at the Universities of Vienna and Innsbruck, Austria, Professor of Physics at Fordham University since 1938 and Research Associate of Carnegie Institute of Washington since 1940. Recipient of the Nobel Prize in physics in 1936 for the discovery of cosmic rays, he is author of a number of books in this particular field of science. One of the greatest physiologists of our generation is Dr. A. C. Ivy, of the Department of Chemical Science of the University of Illinois (Chicago Campus), who served as head of the Division of Physiology and Pharmacology at Northwestern University from 1926–1946 and then as Professor of Physiology in Chicago Professional Colleges, 1946–1953. President of the American Physiological Society from 1939–1949 and author of many scientific articles, his words are wholesome:

“I believe in the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ. As you say, this is a ‘personal matter,’ but I am not ashamed to let the world know what I believe, and that I can intellectually defend my belief.… I cannot prove this belief as I can prove certain scientific facts in my library which one hundred years ago were almost as mysterious as the resurrection of Jesus Christ. On the basis of historical evidence of existing biological knowledge, the scientist who is true to the philosophy of science can doubt the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ, but he cannot deny it. Because to do so means that he can prove that it did not occur. I can only say that present-day biological science cannot resurrect a body that has been dead and entombed for three days. To deny the resurrection of Jesus Christ on the basis of what biology now knows is to manifest an unscientific attitude according to my philosophy of the true scientific attitude.”

A Call To Christian Colors

Whatever a poll of scientists, or of any other vocational group, might reveal, the voluminous literature of unbelief requires the Christian Church to defend the resurrection of Jesus Christ against every foe, every contrary theory and every respectable argument.

We may give God thanks that no weapon has ever been forged, and that none ever will be, to destroy rational confidence in the historical records of this epochal and predicted event. The resurrection of Christ is the very citadel of the Christian faith. This is the doctrine that turned the world upside down in the first century, that lifted Christianity preeminently above Judaism and the pagan religions of the Mediterranean world. If this goes, so must almost everything else that is vital and unique in the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ: “If Christ be not risen, then is your faith vain” (1 Cor. 15:17). Who can repudiate the resurrection and at the same time profess confidence in the absolute authority of Christ’s teachings? Virtually everyone who has abandoned belief in the resurrection has simultaneously disavowed Christ’s virgin birth. If Christ did not rise from the dead, there is no seal upon the divine acceptance of his vicarious atonement as adequate for our salvation.

Let Christian ministers become aware of a divinely given responsibility for so schooling their congregations in the great unshakable facts relating to Christ’s resurrection, and so training their Sunday School teachers and workers among high school and college students, that they stand ready to meet every argument against this truth. Multitudes of Christian people who accept the resurrection are unable to give a reason for that hope which is within them. The Apostle Paul says that we are to “advance” the Gospel, to push on into the unoccupied territorities where the Gospel is not believed.

Someone should prepare a message directed especially to our contemporary scientists, clearly and logically setting forth the evidences for the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, beginning with a brief examination of the dependability of the New Testament documents. I believe that many scientists do not accept Christ’s resurrection as fact because they have never seriously considered the evidence. Christians may well say to these, and to others, “Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you that God should raise the dead?” (Acts 26:8).

Preacher In The Red

A SWEET VOICED DOCTOR

I had accepted an invitation to conduct an evangelistic meeting in a town on the Western edge of our Assembly. The Director of Music of the High School was an elder in the church and a brother of the pastor. Together they had prepared a rather elaborate musical program for the opening service. Besides a violin ensemble, there was an anthem, a quartet, a duet and a very sweet bass solo by a big handsome doctor of the town.

The friendly young pastor then proceeded to give me an over-eulogistic introduction. I felt impelled to make some response. I said, “This is the sweetest musical introduction to a meeting I have ever experienced. You are certainly fortunate in having such talent in your church. While the doctor was singing, I kept thinking how I’d like to have such a doctor for my own private physician.”

Hand went to mouth in an ill-concealed snicker over the congregation. As I stopped in wondering confusion, the pastor said, “Mr. Gray, he is a veterinarian!”—W. BRISTOW GRAY, Brownwood, Texas.

For each report by a minister of the Gospel of an embarrassing moment in his life, CHRISTIANITY TODAY will pay $5 (upon publication). To be acceptable, anecdotes must narrate factually a personal experience, and must be previously unpublished. Contributions should not exceed 250 words, should be typed double-spaced, and bear the writer’s name and address. Upon acceptance, such contributions become the property of CHRISTIANITY TODAY. Address letters to: Preacher in the Red, CHRISTIANITY TODAY,. Suite 1014 Washington Building, Washington, D.C.

Wilbur M. Smith has been editor of Peloubet’s Select Sunday School Notes on the International Sunday School Lesson since 1945 and is author of a dozen books. Formerly a member of the faculty of Moody Bible Institute, he is now Professor of English Bible at Fuller Theological Seminary.

Theology

Review of Current Religious Thought: April 01, 1957

Philip Edgcumbe Hughes

The question of the relationship between the Church and the State remains a perennial problem for the Christian. Four hundred years ago at the time of the Reformation the principle in England was that of one State, one Church, so that every Englishman was regarded as a member both of the State and of the Church. One thing that history has taught us is that everybody cannot be forced into the same ecclesiastical mould and that between fellow-Christians there must be room for conscientious differences of judgment and practice where forms of worship are concerned. Failure to recognize this on the part of the authorities in England led to the hazardous sailing of the Pilgrim Fathers for the New World in the search of that freedom. Subsequently, as toleration gained ground, the Free Churches came into being—free, that is, or independent of official connection with the State-while the Church of England continues to this day to maintain its historic bonds with this Protestant realm of England.

The Rev. Edward Rogers, a Methodist minister, writing in the January issue of The London Quarterly and Holborn Review on the subject of “Christians and the Modern State,” speaks of industrialization, urbanization, centralization and secularization as the four distinctive features of the modern State, and asserts that the Christian, “simply because he is a Christian, confronts the State in two inseparably related ways,” as one who, “whatever the social or political order, … must seek to live by faith and love. The political order,” he says, “may be corrupt or cruel, the economic order unjust and the moral code of society debased. Nevertheless, he will be generous and just, truthful and honest, kind and forbearing.”

We are reminded that political liberty is “a rare and precious thing, hardly won and easily lost” and that it “demands and depends upon men and women of integrity and charity, ready to acknowledge that they are their brother’s keepers.” It is, in fact, the believing Christian who is “the preserver of sound values in a society that would otherwise decay.” Mr. Rogers points to loneliness and a slackening of the social ties that strengthen life as resulting from living in the modern State. These deficiencies, it is true, are made good by church life, which offers “fellowship and shared responsibilities.” Saying this, however, he makes the following very salutary comment on what has come to be known as the social gospel: “What went wrong with the ‘social gospel’ in the generation immediately past was that it put ‘social’ first, and a diluted gospel second. Men and women of noble intention strove to implement the Sermon on the Mount while pushing into the background the Cross and the Resurrection—and found that their fine phrases and benevolent exhortations splashed ineffectively on the rocks of sin.”

Who will not agree with his conclusion that the doctrine of the sovereignty of God is “a doctrine desperately needed to check the blasphemous and destructive doctrine of the absolute sovereignty of the State”; for the State “is the servant of God, not the master of men?”

The dualistic doctrine that the care of the State extends only to the body and the care of the Church only to the soul is described as “entirely unchristian” in an article on “Church and State” in the January–March number of The Church Quarterly Review by C. H. Glasson, who, appropriately enough, is a lay member of the Church of England and also a civil servant. He affirms that the Church “will continue to assert that it is different in kind from other voluntary organizations,” and that it “will not even consent to reserve its gospel for its members, as Freemasons do the oddities they indulge in.”

Regarding the function of the Church of England as the “established” church of the realm, Mr. Glasson is of the opinion that its disestablishment would weaken both itself and also the Free Churches. He imagines that there are few Christians who would be glad to see the sovereign profess no religion or the proceedings of Parliament open without a prayer—with the exception of the Roman Church, which, he pointedly observes, is “the one nonconformist body which might have cause for satisfaction.”

In a consideration of the politics of the Church of Rome. He draws our attention to the fact that in the Roman Missal there are prayers whose design is the undoing of the work of the Reformation; that in it the English are spoken of as having been “the dowry of the blessed virgin Mary and subjects of Peter,” and that among the Bidding Prayers for Good Friday there is the distinctly political note, under the heading “For the Emperor,” explaining that this prayer is “omitted, the Holy Roman Empire being vacant.”

Mr. Glasson warns—that the Roman Church is far from having abandoned its political objectives. “In this country [England],” he says, “it plays the role of a minority, biding its time. If it were as strong in England as our Church now is, the State would be forced to define more or less regularly its relationship to it. The State would, ultimately, have not merely to define relationships with its own subjects in their church but with a foreign power.” And that, he adds, is “from the national point of view, the most significant difference between the Roman Church and our own.” Past history shows that English Roman Catholics have been relieved of their duty of loyalty under papal direction. But we are rightly admonished that these are political issues which by no means belong only to the dead past. Evidence of this is provided by citing the well known Roman Catholic writer and apologist Jacques Maritain, who “can still defend the old thesis of the Elizabethan Jesuits that excommunication of a Prince by Rome relieves the subject of all duty of obedience, and that a Pope is indeed a temporal sovereign because if he were not he could not avoid being a subject.”

The political aims and ambitions of the Roman Catholic Church are no less total and arrogant than are those of Communism. The Church-State connection in England is designed to ensure, amongst other things, a Protestant succession to the throne and security from a relapse into a state of subjection to the absolute tyranny of a foreign potentate claiming unrestricted authority over the souls and bodies of men. These ends are thoroughly desirable, but it must always be remembered that the only effective safeguard against the domination of darkness, whether civil or ecclesiastical or both, is the promotion of that vital evangelical religion whereby men’s hearts and minds are enlightened and liberated by obedience to the Word of God which liveth and abideth for ever.

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

Books

Book Briefs: April 1, 1957

Liberal Leader

The Living of These Days, by Harry Emerson Fosdick. Harper and Brothers, New York. $4.00.

Harry Emerson Fosdick’s friends have prevailed on him to write his autobiography, and he has done so under the title, The Living of These Days. It is part of a prayer, taken from his hymn, God of Grace and God of Glory: “Grant us wisdom, grant us courage, For the living of these days.” The title is apt, for not only was Fosdick strongly influenced by the events of the last seven or eight decades, he also exerted a considerable influence on that period of human history. To this reviewer, who is not a great many years younger than Fosdick, the reading of this biography seemed like a review of the history of his generation.

No one who has heard or read Fosdick needs to be told that his style is superb. This does not indicate one that is flowery and certainly not one that is wordy. Fosdick’s style excels in precision, simplicity, directness, forcefulness and ruggedness. His humor is as wholesome as it is natural. One of the most pleasing features of this volume is the author’s humility. To cite but one of numerous instances, concerning his teaching of homiletics at Union Seminary, he says, “I hope that I helped the students, but I am unable to express how much they helped me” (p. 119). Another laudable characteristic of the book is its candor.

Harry Emerson Fosdick received his formal education at Colgate University and Union Theological Seminary of New York. He has been pastor of the First Baptist Church of Montclair, New Jersey, and the First Presbyterian and Riverside churches of New York City. He has served Union Seminary as part-time professor of homiletics and practical theology. He has preached and lectured in several lands and has written some twenty-six books.

The aforesaid salient facts derive most of their significance from his theological pilgrimage. He informs his readers that he began as a fundamentalist. However, as a young man he found fundamentalism incompatible with intellectual honesty. His problem was how to retain Christianity without committing intellectual suicide. Theological liberalism, or modernism, proved to be the answer. He accepted many of the conclusions of the so-called higher biblical criticism and rejected the doctrine of the verbal inspiration of Holy Scripture. He felt that the doctrines of historic Christianity were but the temporary, and hence changeable, framework for abiding truth. That formula he applied to certain explicit teachings of the Bible as well as to teachings deduced by the church from the Bible. He denied such supernatural events as the virgin birth of Jesus and his bodily resurrection. He deprecated the orthodox formulations of such dogmas as the Trinity, the deity of Christ and the satisfaction of divine penal justice by Christ’s death on the cross. He came to base his theology, not on the Bible as the infallibly inspired Word of God, but, after the manner of Schleiermacher and Ritschl, on religious experience. He taught his students to base their preaching on the Bible as the record of the religious experience of certain saints of antiquity rather than the authoritative Word of God. Withal he fell under the spell of the social gospel of Walter Rauschenbusch. The fundamentalist-modernist controversy in the Presbyterian Church U.S.A. of the nineteen-twenties centered about his teaching. When a general assembly asked him to subscribe to the system of doctrine contained in the confessions of that denomination and to its principles of church government, he declined in the interest of honesty to do so. He wanted the membership of his churches to be inclusive, not only in the sense of embracing all races and strata of society, but also in the sense of “a liberal fellowship ready for an adventure into unrestricted interdenominationalism” (p. 183). To be sure, after the Second World War he saw, with others, that modernism was in need of several adjustments. For instance, it had been too optimistic about human nature and hence about the future of the human race, it had stressed the divine immanence out of due proportion to the divine transcendence and it had accommodated itself too much to the prevailing culture instead of challenging that culture. But Fosdick did not cease to be a modernist. Even the neo-orthodoxy of Karl Barth and Emil Brunner, particularly in its early expressions, was not nearly liberal enough for him. Now that Brunner has mellowed in his attitude toward liberalism, Fosdick is hoping for a synthesis of liberalism and neo-orthodoxy.

What struck the reviewer perhaps more than anything else in his perusal of this autobiography was the author’s slighting of orthodox scholarship. He denounces fundamentalism scathingly for its “obscurantism,” and in so doing he takes to task especially William Jennings Bryan. Now Bryan, sincere Christian layman that he no doubt was, did not rate as a theologian. That there are fundamentalists who cling tenaciously to foolish notions is beyond dispute. For instance, the notions that the human authors of the Bible were mere robots, that each and every statement in the Bible must be interpreted literally and that man was created in the physical image of God do indeed fall under the head of obscurantism. But pray, what orthodox theologian of any note holds to such nonsense? This reviewer cannot suppress the question whether Fosdick has ever made a serious study of Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion, of such protestant confessions, to name but two, as those of Augsburg and Westminster and of the works of contemporaries as B. B. Warfield and Herman Bavinck. And why does he completely ignore the man who proved to be not only the most militant but also the most scholarly defender of orthodoxy in that Presbyterian conflict in which Fosdick himself was so deeply involved—J. G. Machen? Here seems to be a most serious lacuna in Fosdick’s education. Or is it possible that he would brush aside as unscientific the noblest literary products of orthodoxy? But that would be so preposterous as to be well-nigh unbelievable, for their authors excelled in erudition and it may be said without in the least belittling Fosdick that in point of theological scholarship he does not deserve to stoop down and unloose the latchet of the shoes of any one of them. To refer again to Machen, even the most extreme liberals being his judges, he was a scholar to be reckoned with. In A Preface to Morals Walter Lippmann stated that Machen’s Christianity and Liberalism was more convincing than the reasoning of his modernist opponents, and H. L. Mencken in his characteristic way eulogized Machen shortly after his death in 1937 by saying that he was to Bryan what the Matterhorn is to a wart.

This reviewer intends no insinuation that this biography is wholly devoid of good ideas. We must all assent to the improvements Fosdick advocates on the older liberalism. But even here Fosdick does not give historic orthodoxy the credit due it for those ideas. A few examples follow. Says Fosdick: “Static orthodoxies are a menace to the Christian cause” (p. 230). But orthodoxy has always said that. One of its tenets is the progressive guidance of the church by the Holy Spirit into the truth. Therefore it ever seeks to bring forth new things as well as old out of the treasure of the Word of God. Such a conservative church as the Christian Reformed has in recent decades drawn up a tentative formulation of the doctrine of common grace, and the Presbyterian Church in 1788 amended its Westminster Confession of Faith to eliminate Erastianism. Baptist Roger Williams, no doubt, deserves some credit for that change. Fosdick insists that the preacher must deal with social problems. While it is true, on the one hand, that orthodoxy rejects the modernist brand of social gospel and, on the other, that dispensationalists would preach an exclusively individualistic gospel, many conservatives have long insisted that the social implications of the Gospel must be stressed in the pulpit. Professor Louis Berkhof of Calvin Seminary did that in a lecture on The Church and Social Problems, delivered in 1913. The undersigned did likewise in an article, The Christian Pulpit and Social Problems, published in the Westminster Theological Journal. Fosdick declares: “Faith and reason are not antithetical opposites” (p. 258). But what orthodox theologian of any stature ever thought they were? Paraphrasing a saying of George A. Buttrick to the effect that “there is only one thing worse than a devil and that is an educated devil,” Fosdick comments: “That emphasis is a newcomer in America” (p. 271). But this reviewer had it impressed on his soul by the advocates of Christian day schools when he was yet a mere boy. Fosdick has come to the conclusion: “Neo-orthodoxy is right in stressing the necessity and primacy of God’s self-revelation, if we are to know him” (p. 256). But why credit neo-orthodoxy with a truth which has been obvious to orthodoxy for ages? Fosdick agrees thoroughly with Brunner “that man’s wickedness is a dreadful, desperate fact, and that man, left to his own unaided devices in a materialistic universe empty of the saving grace of God, is doomed” (p. 252). But that is the very essence of historic orthodoxy—provided, of course, the term “grace of God” be taken in the Augustinian sense, not the Pelagian. In short, in later years Fosdick has moved in the direction of orthodoxy, yet he keeps insisting that he is a modernist. No doubt, basically he still is.

As good a way as any of stating the point at issue between Fosdick’s modernism and historic orthodoxy is this: the latter acknowledges God’s infallible Word as the test of truth; the latter makes experience the norm. Of course, it does not follow that Fosdick casts the Bible overboard; according to him it is itself the record, albeit a fallible one, of the religious experience of great saints of old. But in seeking solutions for such problems as that of God and immortality Fosdick does not rely on any authoritative statements of Scripture but turns to human experience. For that reason he cannot but flounder about, much as a vessel without rudder or compass. Small wonder that his attitude toward war has changed so radically. Nor is it altogether strange that in spite of his high regard for Jesus of Nazareth he rejects his teaching of hell. If truths are divorced from their formulations, they become vague indeed. Besides, many truths simply cannot be experienced. At best theology of experience will lead to probabilities, never to certainties. Fosdick himself so much as grants that and even more when he writes: “Concerning every human experience theories of explanation and interpretation are essential, but however confidently they may be held, their probable insufficiency must be assumed and their displacement by more adequate ways of thinking positively hoped for” (p. 230).

Is modernism Christianity? Fosdick is sure that it is Christianity at its best and he defines it thus: “For me the essence of Christianity is incarnate in the personality of the Master, and it means basic faith in God, in the divinity revealed in Christ, in personality’s sacredness and possibilities, and in the fundamental principles of life’s conduct which Jesus of Nazareth exhibited” (p. 269). But that definition is quite inadequate. For one thing, it makes the incarnate Son of God a Christian, which he certainly was not. A Christian is a sinner saved by grace; a sinner who, conscious of his need of salvation and realizing that he cannot save himself, abandons himself to the Christ crucified; and a sinner who loves the Lord who bought him with his blood and lovingly serves that Lord. Such is the Christian, and Christianity is first of all God’s solution for the problem of sin—its guilt and penalty as well as its power and pollution.

In his early work, The Theology of Crisis, Brunner vigorously denounced modernism as “a religion which has nothing in common with Christianity except a few words” (p. 261). But Brunner was not then and is not now an exponent of the historic Christian faith. In 1924, the very year in which Fosdick delivered at Yale the Lyman Beecher Lectures on Preaching under the title The Modern Use of the Bible, Machen wrote his Christianity and Liberalism. The point of that book was that Modernism is not Christianity. Five years later Lippmann observed that Machen had not been refuted. That still holds true today. This reviewer thinks his argument irrefutable.

Christianity is based squarely on the Bible as the Word of the living God. Modernism is based on religious experience. Christianity is history, doctrine and life—all three; and they stand and fall together. In that history such supernatural events as Jesus’ virgin birth and bodily resurrection loom large. Modernism denies them. But the apostle Paul said, “If Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain and your faith is also vain” (1 Corinthians 15:14). At the heart of Christian doctrine lies the Pauline teaching that, being justified by Christ’s blood, believers will be saved from wrath through him (Romans 5:9). Modernism preaches another gospel. In his sermon Shall the Fundamentalists Win? Fosdick spoke with disgust of those who believe “that the blood of our Lord, shed in a substitutionary death, placates an alien Deity and makes possible welcome for the returning sinner” (quoted in Christianity and Liberalism, p. 120). The Christian ethic is rooted in Christian doctrine, notably in the doctrine of the atonement. Paul has enjoined Christians to glorify God in their body and their spirit because they are “bought with a price” (1 Corinthians 6:20). That price was the precious blood of Christ. The ethic of modernism disdains blood-theology. Inspired Paul being the judge, modernism is not Christianity.

R. B. KUIPER

Full Commitment

Christian: Commit Yourself: By Paul S. Rees. Revell, $2.00.

Paul Rees is pastor of the First Covenant Church of Minneapolis. The influence of his Christian ministry, however, has extended far beyond the confines of his own parish; it has been felt throughout the entire nation. His books on stewardship, evangelism and the Holy Spirit have blessed many lives.

The 10 messages in this volume are all directed toward securing from the listeners a full commitment to Christ and his cause. Decisions at depth constitute the major thrust of each soul-probing sermon. Thus, the paramount aim of this preacher is to recapture the dedication, devotion and discipline that gave such irrepressible fervor and undaunted daring to the early Christian movement. Following the announcement of each subject, Dr. Rees stipulates the kind of commitment he seeks from the particular message. For example, in the sermon on “The Supreme Surrender” he begins by summarizing the commitment he desires: “I will seek to know and do the will of God in every area of my life.” After announcing the subject “The Badge of Royalty” the commitment sought is “I will accept responsibilities for service in my church.”

Dr. Rees quotes General Omar Bradley as saying, “The most completely committed person I have met is a convinced Communist.” Recognizing the challenging truth in a statement of this kind, Dr. Rees has dedicated himself to the holy task of activating and mobilizing Christian people to a more drastic and ardent commitment to Christ and his cause in this world.

The Christian minister will find here new illustrations and perhaps new insights expressed in new ways. The new Christian who reads this book will be able to learn more about the nature of the deeper Christian life and the clarification of many of his own embryonic thoughts.

JOHN R. RICHARDSON

Render To Caesar

The State in the New Testament, by Oscar Cullman. Scribners, New York. $2.50.

That the New Testament has something to say about the State will come as a surprise to many people. Secularists have assumed that politics have nothing to do with piety; sectarians have imagined that piety may be divorced from politics. But the New Testament has much to teach us on this subject. We are indebted to Cullman for his careful exposition of the Christian view of the State.

In the various chapters of this book the author discusses, “Jesus and the Resistance Movement of the Zealots,” “Jesus’ Condemnation by the Roman State,” “Paul and the State,” “The State in the Johannine Apocalypse.” There is also an excursus dealing with “the powers that be” mentioned in Romans 13, viewing the State as the effective agent of invisible (angelic) powers.

According to Cullman, the attitude of the New Testament to the State is one of “neither denial nor affirmation.”

The State is to be accepted rather than denied since it has been ordered of God for our own good. The State is intended of God to be his servant in the administration of justice, and that is why Jesus refused to go along with the Zealots who renounced the State unreservedly and sought to overthrow it.

Nevertheless, the State is not final. There are some things that are not Caesar’s. The totalitarian claims of the State must be resisted. For this reason Jesus refused to agree with the Sadducees whose religious indifference gave the Romans unlimited submission.

Some have regarded the question of the political world order within the framework of the sovereign Lordship of Christ (cf. “The Declaration of Faith Concerning Church and Nation” approved by the Presbyterian Church in Canada, 1955).

Cullman’s emphasis is on the eschatological. In the New Testament witness concerning the State he finds a unity rooted in the tension between present and future. Ordered of God for the present, the State must be recognized by the Christian citizen. Yet in the end, it will pass away. The State is not a final institution with divine authority; therefore the disciple of the Lord will ever be ready to warn and resist when the State transgresses its limits. Only the Christ of the cross, the coming King, is Lord of all.

We have seen the State threaten the Church by political tyranny (Communism), and ecclesiastical forces seek to dominate the State by pretensions to power (Romanism). It has also been disturbing to note the indifference of many professing Christians to political problems and the attitude of the worldling that Christianity is irrelevant to the situations of our time. Most welcome, therefore, is this volume by Cullman. While one may not always agree with the author, no one can fail to profit from his serious and stimulating exposition of the New Testament on the subject of the State.

MARIO D. GANGI

Able Commentary

I and II Thessalouians, by William Hendriksen. Baker, Grand Rapids, 1955. $4.50.

This able commentary, one of a series called New Testament Commentary (upon which the author is at present engaged), covers in a semi-popular fashion Paul’s two letters to the church at Thessalonica.

Dr. Hendriksen is fully abreast with modern scholarship in the realm of New Testament literature and exegesis. However, there is no parade of learning in these pages. The difficult problems of interpretation are usually relegated to footnotes (which do not average one a page). A selected bibliography lists the major works on these epistles, and a more extended bibliography adequately covers the larger literature on this subject.

The book is definitely evangelical and conservative in viewpoint, The Pauline authorship is defended with adequate scholarship. All the arguments against Paul’s authorship are fairly stated and persuasively answered. No one can accuse our author of obscurantism.

One of the most valuable features of this commentary is found in the extended prior to Christ’s parousia. Although there is no precise treatment of the various eschatological views as such, the author’s interpretation naturally leads to a millennial conclusion. This is what we would expect from the author of More Than Conquerors.

In general the reviewer agrees with the theological and eschatological views presented in this excellent commentary. The flaws are few and hard to find. We found a Greek preposition misspelled and incorrectly accented (p. 21). On the same page another Greek preposition is incorrectly accented. A participle appears without accent (p. 48). The Greek word parousia is accented incorrectly (p. 76). A smooth breathing is omitted (p. 135). A present participle is called an aorist participle (p. 142). A Greek infinitive is incorrectly accented (p. 168). The English word “personal” is misspelled (p. 137). “Of repent” should be “to repent” (p. 185). “So that” is always spelled as one word except in two places (pp. 68, 103).

Conservative scholarship cannot be entirely satisfied with the republication of learned and evangelical works that were produced by orthodox scholars of the nineteenth century or earlier. It is good to see an increasing number of conservative books on biblical and theological subjects appearing in our day. We feel confident that Dr. Hendriksen’s contribution to this swelling list of evangelical literature will do much to restore confidence in the orthodox position concerning the New Testament literature. A more useful commentary on Paul’s letters to the church at Thessalonica could hardly be found.

WICK BROOMALL

Reliable Introduction

Second Thoughts on the Dead Sea Scrolls, by F. F. Bruce. Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, 1956. $2.50.

This is just the book to give to the layman who wishes a trustworthy introduction to the now famous Dead Sea Scrolls. The interest which these scrolls has aroused in the public mind is nothing short of remarkable. It is probably no exaggeration to say that they are the most significant archeological discovery of the last thirty years. Inasmuch as this is so, many of the books (and the number of such books is rapidly growing) which discuss the scrolls may tend to overemphasize their importance for the study of the beginnings of Christianity. It cannot be denied that much that has been written on the subject borders on the nonsensical.

If there is any one word which can characterize the present work it is the word “sane.” Professor Bruce gives a remarkably clear and valuable survey of the whole field, and in all his discussion seeks to abide by the facts. He goes as far as the facts allow and no farther. He makes it clear that he is acquainted with the various interpretations of disputed points which have been advanced, but he himself is not interested in pressing them. He is fair in his discussions, and seeks to withhold judgment when judgment must be withheld. For this reason primarily that his work is dependable.

The book is written in a pleasing style, and is well adapted to the layman who is not acquainted with the various technical questions which a proper study of the scrolls involves. One who reads through this work carefully will have a good understanding of the principal points in debate in connection with the scrolls, and he will be prepared for further study. To produce such a book is no easy task, and it is this reviewer’s opinion that the author has done his job in a first-rate fashion.

The principal point at which we are constrained to disagree with the author is in his evaluation of the importance of the Isaiah manuscript with respect to the question of the origin of the prophecy. Professor Bruce thinks that this newly discovered manuscript proves nothing that was not already known. For our part we believe that the manuscript is of unique significance. It makes clear that the book of Isaiah existed in its present form as early as the second century before Christ. Thus it stands as a monumental NO to the views of Bernhard Duhm, the influential German scholar who held that the prophecy did not receive its present form until the first century B.C. This is not a minor point, but one of tremendous importance. For, if there is a first and a second Isaiah, as the overwhelming majority of modern biblical critics affirm, then the witness of the New Testament to the authorship of the prophecy is clearly in error. The Dead Sea manuscript supports the New Testament, and it also renders more difficult attempts to explain the origin of the book of Isaiah on any view other than that of the Bible itself, namely, that Isaiah was himself the author of the entire prophecy.

If the reader wishes a clearly written, accurate, informative introduction to the study of the Dead Sea Scrolls, this is the book to obtain.

EDWARD J. YOUNG.

Far East News: April 01, 1957

Philippine Outlook

Religious issues may play a big role in the November election of a president in the Philippine Republic, a country officially dedicated to the Order of the Sacred Heart a few months before the airplane crash in which President Ramon Magsaysay was killed.

Presidential aspirant Claro M. Recto is opposed by Catholics and backed by Protestant leaders.

The former Vice President, Carlos P. Garcia, who assumed duties of the high office shortly after the crash, is a graduate of Silliman University, a Presbyterian institution in Manila. He is a Catholic, however, as was his predecessor.

Secretary of Education Hernandez, strongly Catholic, also perished in the crash, which took 24 lives. Undersecretary of Education Martin Aguilar Jr., a logical choice for the vacant position, is a Protestant, and church observers are intensely interested in seeing who will get the key post.

President Magsaysay was a popular figure among both Catholics and Protestants. Nearly a half-million persons swarmed around Malacanan Palace when the body of the 49-year-old chief executive was brought from the Cebu Island mountainside.

“His fight against communism as one of democracy’s staunchest champions …,” said Philippine Ambassador to the United States, Carlos P. Romulo.

‘The Only Weapon’

Thirty missionaries, representing 24 different mission groups, agreed on the following statement of faith before issuing invitations to all missionaries in Japan for the 1959 Protestant Centennial Conference:

“We believe in the Bible as the fully inspired, infallible Word of God, the only rule of faith and practice.”

Words Of Warning

Christians in China who are permitted to communicate with the West are members of “show case” churches maintained by communists for propaganda purposes, Ambassador Hollington K. Tong of Nationalist China said recently.

The ambassador, speaking at a dinner commemorating the 155th anniversary of First Baptist Church in Washington, D. C., said most Christian groups in China continue to feel severe persecution.

Despite such reports, however, according to Japan Harvest, a 13-man Protestant Japanese delegation is making plans to visit Red China in April and May. The Rev. J. Asano, Japan Biblical Seminary professor and pastor of The Mitake Kyodan Church, will be the delegation leader.

The delegation will be in Red China for communism’s biggest holiday, the May Day Celebration.

Worth Quoting

“This is the day of the larger church, handsome buildings, plush furniture and costly appointments. I’m not against these things. I love them. I break the Tenth Commandment every time I go into one of those spacious ministers’ studies in our new churches. Then I have to remember how easy it is to insulate yourself from your neighbor, especially if he is on the poorer side of town. If we forget him and his work, we are judging ourselves and our ministry by the price tag.”—Rev. Homer R. Lane, Toronto, Canada.

“It is not a struggle merely of economic theories or forms of government or military power. The issue is the true nature of man. Either man is the creature whom the Psalmist describe as ‘a little lower than the angels’ crowned with glory and honor, holding ‘dominion over the works’ of his Creator; or man is a soulless animated machine to be enslaved, used and consumed by the state for its own glorification.…”—President Eisenhower.

Digest …

Zondervan Publishing House takes over book publishing business of Sword of the Lord Foundation April 1.… Over 50% of Milwaukee TV viewers watch premiere of “Martin Luther.”

$140,000 fund raised to restore historic Calvin Auditorium in Geneva, Switzerland.… Two leading Christian schools in Seoul, Korea—Chosun University and Severence Union Medical College—merge as Yonsei University. First president, Dr. L. George Paik.

Middle East News: April 01, 1957

Massive Radio Effort

Plans for the construction in the Near East of a 100,000-watt radio transmitter to beam programs to the Arabic-speaking world have been approved by the Near East Committee of the National Council of Churches.

To be built at a cost of $250,000, the station will be supported by cooperative Protestant foreign mission boards. With the exception of the Vatican radio, which equals the new station’s planned power, this reportedly will be the largest and most powerful venture in radio by any religious group.

The radio will be as powerful as the 100,000-watt Voice of America transmitters in the area. Like these, it will be short-wave, which carries much farther than medium and long-wave signals. Most home radios in Africa and the East—405,000 were licensed last year in Egypt alone—are equipped to receive short wave.

Exact location of the transmitter has not been determined.

Radio jamming by Russia, recently intensified in the area, will be a problem, but church engineers are optimistic after studying transmitting conditions in the Middle East.

The station’s programs will be educational and cultural as well as religious.

Dr. W. Burton Martin, executive secretary of the NCC’s RAVEMCCO (Radio, Audio-Visual Education, Mass Communications Committee), said programming will call for an eight-hour day, seven-day-a-week schedule. Included will be a family breakfast program, and programs for industrial workers, farmers and homemakers.

Bible study and daily devotions will be features in the schedule, but music, drama and light entertainment will have significant roles.

“Its influence will be invaluable in bringing the Christian message to new millions, while operating in the public interest,” said Dr. Martin.

Some American observers said they were not enthusiastic about the church putting on public service programs. Others expressed hope that evangelical voices, long familiar to world audiences as bearers of the Gospel, will not he bypassed.

Africa News: April 01, 1957

Doors Open Wider

Christian denominational mission leaders, once fearful of the path the new state of Ghana will take, now feel that self-government may mean wider open doors—with the stigma of “foreign imperialism” removed.

Prime Minister Kwame Nkrumah said his country will continue to welcome missionaries. “We owe a lot to missionaries,” he stated.

The Prime Minister said his people were becoming Western in their outlook and had no intention of joining the Afro-Asian bloc of leftist countries.

In the flush of their first taste of political freedom, the jubilant people of Africa’s newest nation did not forget to thank God and the missionaries who brought the message. At the official Independence Week mass church service in the capital city, Accra, the Rev. Christian G. Baeta, chairman of the Christian Council of Ghana, told thousands of worshippers:

“Ghana’s independence enables her to do battle for God. We would dedicate ourselves and our new nation, all that we are and have, to the service of Almighty God, the giver of all. The Lord hath done great things for us, whereof we are glad.”

Dr. Baeta, who is senior lecturer in theology at the School of Divinity, University of Ghana, paid tribute to the work of missionaries:

“Particularly would we remember with humble thanksgiving that noble army of missionaries of the Gospel who, in selfless devotion, penetrated the deepest recesses of our land and of the lives of its people, bringing in the light of God, the light by which we now live.”

In an interview with the African Challenge (140,000 circulation), Dr. Baeta stressed the need for Christian instruction in the young nation:

“The ordinary religious instruction given is very primitive. We teach people basic Bible stories, but little instruction is given on how to carry Christianity into practical life. Nobody else will give moral instruction so vital to a young nation. It remains for Christians to do this through literature.”

—W.H.F.

Threat By Church

The Capetown Presbyterian Church of South Africa intimated recently that it will resort to civil disobedience if proposed legislation is enacted giving the government control over church services attended by both Europeans and Africans.

In a statement read from pulpits in all churches of the denomination at Capetown, the presbytery declared that to bow to government control of multi-racial worship services would be to “disregard our Lord’s own words—‘my house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations.’ ”

The statement added:

“In the event, therefore, of the bill becoming law, it would be our solemn duty, while not unmindful of our obligations towards and respect of civil power, to take our stand on the words of Calvin: ‘We are subject to men who rule over us but subject only in the Lord. If they command anything against him, let us not pay least regard to it nor be moved by all the dignity they possess as magistrates—dignity to which no injury is done when it is subordinated to the special and truly supreme power of God.”

The proposed new law is incorporated in a section of the Native Laws Amendment Bill. It will require permission from the Minister of Native Affairs, Dr. H. F. Verwoerd, for multi-racial services in churches or other institutions established since 1938. The bill also has been opposed by the Anglican, Roman Catholic, Methodist and Baptist churches and other religious groups.

Europe News: April 01, 1957

State Church Exit

The traditional State Church is on its way out in Europe, according to the president of the Baptist Union of Sweden.

Dr. Gunnar Westin, former dean of the theological faculty at Uppsala University, made the statement recently on a visit to Washington, D. C.

“A strong doctrine of Church and State separation is developing throughout Europe,” he said.

Dr. Westin, a member of the Baptist World Alliance executive committee, came to the United States last fall for a four-month lecture engagement at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, Kentucky. He also has lectured at other theological schools and will conclude the visit with lectures at Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, the first week in April.

The Baptist leader said the State Church system which developed in Europe immediately following the Reformation was based on the theory that “government is responsible for the souls of its people.” It also grew out of the doctrine that church unity is essential to political unity, he said.

The Lutheran Church is the State Church of Sweden and other Scandinavian countries.

Study In Contrast

The United States has delivered $700,000,000 worth of equipment to the new German army, including 1,100 tanks and 1,000 military planes.

The Pocket Testament League is sending 50,000 copies of the Gospel of John.

‘Pact With Devil’

Communist newspapers in Germany’s East Zone accused Berlin’s Bishop Otto Dibelius of “entering into a pact with the devil” when he recently co-signed with the West German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer as agreement providing for establishment of chaplaincy services for the new West German Army.

The pact will go into effect after approval by the synod of the Evangelical Church in Germany and the Bundestag, lower house of the West German Parliament.

Bishop Dibelius is chairman of the EKD Council. Roman Catholic chaplaincy for the new army has already been established under a Vatican-West German concordat.

The Soviet Zone press denounced the arrangement as an “un-Christian misuse of the Church” and “provocation of peace-loving forces within and outside the church.” It said that Christianity must not be “misused as a moral cement for a NATO army” and warned East German members of the EKD Synod that they could not “in good conscience” approve the treaty.

Ruling In Italy

Italy’s new Constitutional Court has ruled that public religious gatherings may be held without previous notice to the police.

The decision marked a victory for evangelical groups who had long sought to have the police regulation set aside.

In its ruling the court declared unconstitutional an article of the 1931 Public Security Law specifying that the police must be notified three days in advance of any religious assembly outside a recognized house of worship.

Some Italian and Protestant missionaries have run into trouble in recent years over interpretations of the law.

The Lost Chord of Evangelism

Christianity in the World Today

Dr. Billy Graham, in an address prepared for delivery April 3 at the 15th annual convention of the National Association of Evangelicals in Buffalo, New York, illustrates a major point on “the lost sincere compassion for sinners” with these words:

“Where are the tears for the lost? Where is our concern for men that are confused, frustrated, lost, sinful and destined for hell? At the moment, our New York campaign has been challenged by some extremists on two points.

“First, as to its sponsorship, I would like to make myself quite clear. I intend to go anywhere, sponsored by anybody, to preach the Gospel of Christ, if there are no strings attached to my message. I am sponsored by civic clubs, universities, ministerial associations and councils of churches all over the world. I intend to continue. Not one person in New York has even suggested or hinted as to what my message should be. It will be precisely the same message that I have preached all over the world. The centrality of my message will be Christ and Him crucified.

“Second, we have been challenged on what happens to the converts when the crusade is over. Apparently these brethren who make these statements have no faith in the Holy Spirit. The work of regeneration is the work of the Holy Spirit. The work of follow up is the work of the Holy Spirit. The same Holy Spirit that convicted them of sin and regenerated them is able to follow them. No group of ministers in any large city anywhere in the world agree on what constitutes a sound church. We do all we can in follow up, but ultimately they’re in the hands of the Holy Spirit. He is more than able. We have overwhelming evidence of how miraculously the Holy Spirit has led thousands who have come forward in the meetings to surrender their hearts to Christ.”

Other key points of Dr. Graham’s address, entitled “The Lost Chord of Evangelism,” are as follows:

“The lost sensibility to the majesty of God.

“We handle holy things too glibly and professionally. We need to sense the majesty and holiness of God, as did Isaiah, Moses and Daniel. If we could get a glimpse of God today we would fall on our faces, as did Peter, James and John at the transfiguration and as Paul did on the Damascus Road.

“The lost sense of God’s presence.

“Samson ‘wist not’ that the Lord had departed from him. Many of us have lost the sense of God’s presence and anointing. We no longer minister in the powers of the Holy Spirit. Our message has lost that certain something that is necessary for spiritual power.

“The lost sensitivity to personal ethics.

“The Christian should be the most ethical person in our society. His income tax returns should be the most honest. The Christian minister should lean over backwards in his honesty, truthfulness and personal decorum. In the complexities of the present-day world, it is easy to get careless.

“The lost simplicity of our love one to another.

“The one badge of Christian discipleship is not orthodoxy, but love. There is far more emphasis on love and unity among God’s people in the New Testament than there is on orthodoxy, as important as it is.

“The lost significance of the scope of the Church.

“We evangelicals sometimes set ourselves up as judges of another man’s relationship to God. We often think that a person is not a Christian unless he pronounces our shibboleths and cliches exactly the way we do. I have found born again Christians in the strangest places, under the oddest circumstances, who do not know our particular evangelical language. But their spirit witnesses to my spirit that they are truly sons of God. There is a great swing all over the world, within the Church, toward a more conservative theological position. The old terms, fundamentalism and liberalism, are now passe. The situation has radically changed, since the days of Machen, Riley and other defenders of the faith a generation ago.

“The lost separation from the world.

“There is danger among evangelicals of compromising with the mode of the day. The lines of separation from the world are no longer drawn. Our attitudes are becoming infected with the spirit of the times. We are in danger of surrendering to false standards. While we must not be legalistic, we must be separated from the world. Worldliness is not a few designated things, such as dancing, movies and drinking, but is a spirit that is invading our homes and our lives today through many other mediums. We need to issue a new call for separation, not only from the world, but unto God.”

The NAE, representing over 40 denominations and associations, announced plans for a united prayer effort on the evening of April 3 in behalf of Dr. Graham’s New York crusade. Cards displayed at the convention, state by state, carried the pledges of scores of churches to unite their midweek prayer services with the concentrated effort. The prayer session at Buffalo is to last through midnight.

“Demonstrating Oneness in Christ” was the tide of another major convention address, prepared for delivery by Dr. Paul P. Petticord, president of Western Evangelical Seminary, Portland, Oregon, and president of NAE.

Highlights are as follows:

“Evangelicals demonstrate oneness in Christ.

“In this our day we have on the one hand the martyrs who cannot compromise the evangelical Christian doctrine and on the other those who liberalize Christian truth by rationalizing themselves into a philosophical position that says, ‘I must retain my existence, regardless,’ or ‘I am better alive than dead.’

This sounds logical but it does not come from the lips of evangelical Christians … Since when are we so valuable to this modern generation that the entire Christian philosophy should be reversed from ‘He that loseth his life for my sake shall find it’ to ‘I shall gain my life through expediency’?

“Evangelicals lift a voice against this type of thinking which depends upon temporal values and social recognition rather than the security of the cross. They are very much aware that this type of philosophy had crept into the church, especially among the ministry, until one might say that one of the chief motives of the modern minister is ‘to get along.’ I call this ‘the sin of expediency.’ Rather than to insist upon a minister being called to deliver God’s message in judgment as well as love, mercy and peace, many ministers feel it is more important to preach only the ethical idealisms and to leave out the most important part of the Gospel, the plan of redemption. Kindred to this position is the attitude that a minister must not make negative statements concerning the basic sinful nature of man. To this, evangelicals must say that one must discern the evils of the day and follow the instruction of the Scriptures to call men to repentance and to warn them of the results of sin and the judgment of God.

“Evangelicals demonstrate oneness in organizational cooperation.

“To be a crusading movement means that evangelicals must have not only a spirit of discernment but also a vision of what God would have his children do in facing the evils of the day. Now this necessitates a struggle against certain forces that would oppose the message of evangelical Christianity. It is because of this opposition that evangelicals are sometimes labeled as divisive, intolerant conservatives. I think any student of the Scripture is convinced that Christ had many who opposed him because he discerned the evils of his day and was willing to lift his voice against sin and unbelief in a positive presentment of himself as the only Saviour who could free men from sin. The evangelical testimony has this same type of witness. It is not belligerent, caustic, arrogant or pretentious, but it is an expression of deepest sincerity.

“Evangelicals demonstrate ecumenicity.

“Wherever the unification of peoples has been imposed under terms of force or regimentation, culturally, politically, socially, educationally, morally or religiously, great new rifts soon open where least expected, dividing along natural ‘fault’ lines. The infinite variety of differences in man seems to challenge conformity. Yet the ideal of achieving the proper relationship of the many into a unified endeavor continues to challenge men everywhere. However, there is a Divine plan. We believe in the spiritual unity of believers in our Lord Jesus Christ.…

“In the doctrinal Lordship of Christ is the only true ecumenicity. It means first, a spiritual Kingdom or society, uniting ‘in one Spirit,’ every ‘born again’ person everywhere. But it means also a living expression of ‘love to God’ which is ‘loving others as oneself.’ A Christian is vitally concerned about and interested in the spiritual and social well-being of his fellow man. It is ever his passionate desire to make available to all people the blessing he himself enjoys in Christ. Wherever men have become Christians, the darkness and oppression of sin and greed have been lifted.

“Evangelical oneness, which is Christ’s kingdom, is a morally transformed body of individuals, each one of whom has experienced, in himself, the life of Christ. Evangelicals unite their strength to live out the principles of Christ, its Lord, in the midst of daily life. This is the demonstration of evangelical ecumenicity.

“Evangelicals demonstrate oneness in purpose.

“The evangelical Christian gives more than mental assent to truth and he is one who refuses to ameliorate or compromise by administrative or ecclesiastical manifestation the clear witness concerning salvation in Christ.… The chief purpose of the evangelical is to spread the message of redemption from sin through Christ. Because of this fact, convinced evangelicals are bound to go into all the world and preach the Gospel.”

Dr. Petticord said evangelical Christianity, as a crusading movement, should have an outreach for the immediate future in a united purpose of successful witness in the following seven fields of service ministry:

(1) A ministry of encouraging evangelical fellowship, (2) encouraging social and material benefits for mankind, (3) expressing a united evangelical voice before government, (4) encouraging evangelical broadcasters, (5) encouraging evangelical home missions expansion, (6) calling evangelicals to manifest the oneness of Pentecost and (7) calling all evangelicals to prayer.

“He added:

“Evangelical Christianity does not depend upon worldly political power or organization to survive one kind of culture or another. Roman and Grecian culture died and Christianity was virile. Barbarism overran Europe and still evangelical Christianity survived. It is through the power of prayer that men are able to survive and perpetuate their faith.

“It is an ‘other worldly’ allegiance depending upon a King of a spiritual kingdom that is the culture in which virile Christianity grows. So if the Lord tarries and if the old world order succumbs and a new order arises, evangelical Christianity, though under other banners, will survive.

“The power of Christianity has never depended upon numerical superiority nor does the evangelical Christianity today. Through the power of prayer, its influence is multiplied like the loaves and the fishes in the hands of Christ and the multitudes are fed.

“To this end, the National Association of Evangelicals calls evangelicals everywhere to prayer, imploring men and women to set aside everything else to do that which is most important. This is to intercede before God, understanding that it is ‘by my spirit saith the Lord’ that the Kingdom of God may come in the hearts of men, and that evangelical Christianity will become increasingly virile through importune prayer, and that our differences will be minimized in the reaffirmation of the great objectives of our common faith.

“Evangelicals are today demonstrating a greater oneness in Christ than ever before. May God grant that the witness will be clear, unequivocal and certain so that all men may know by the Holy Spirit that Christ is the way, the truth and the life and that no man can come unto the Father but by him.…”

Short, Short Story

Ohio state senators were on the floor discussing the addition of a prayer and meditation room at the Capitol in Columbus.

“More people are praying today than ever before,” said Senator Lowell Fess, who introduced the measure.

“How are you going to keep the lobbyists out of the prayer room?” asked Senator Arthur Blake.

“They will need it more than we will,” replied Senator Fess.

Intercreedal Program

The National Council of Churches has invited Roman Catholics and Jews to join in producing a weekly, nationwide television program to promote spiritual values without reference to specific religious beliefs.

The invitation was extended by the Board of Managers of the National Council of Churches’ Broadcasting and Film Commission at its annual meeting in New York City. The board acted on a proposal made by the Rev. S. Franklin Mack, the commission’s executive director.

According to the officials, the program will be aimed chiefly at the “unchurched and the indifferent.”

The three groups now share in turn a weekly half-hour program on the National Broadcasting Company. At present, the Sunday program is called “Frontiers of Faith” by the Protestants and Jews and “The Catholic Hour” by the Catholics.

A 1957 budget of $1,170,930 was adopted by the Board of Managers.

Rose Bowl Service

Dr. Norman C. Hunt, one of Great Britain’s outstanding educational and religious leaders, will address the ninth annual Easter Sunrise service on April 21 in the Rose Bowl at Pasadena, California.

Dr. Hunt, professor of the Department of Industry and Commerce at the University of Edinburgh, has written publications on personnel management and industrial relations that are highly regarded by business leaders. He spent three months in the United States at the invitation of the American government to survey facilitites for university education pertaining to business.

He is president-elect of the Inter-Varsity Fellowship of Great Britain, serves on the Scottish councils of a number of missionary societies and has been active in the Christian Endeavor movement.

Dr. Carl F. H. Henry, editor of CHRISTIANITY TODAY, will interpret the significance of the service to the Bowl and radio audience.

Scheduled to begin at 6 a.m., the hour-long service will include musical numbers by the Pacific Bible College Choir, the Congress Hall Band of the Salvation Army and the Westmont College male quartet. Hundreds of other volunteer workers will be engaged in various duties to make possible the service.

Missionary Privileges

H. R. Bill 872, which would permit missionaries to make purchases at armed services commissaries outside the United States, is almost certain to get an adverse report from the Defense Department.

Spokesmen for the Defense Department have indicated that such legislation would run into serious difficulties in a number of countries because of duty-exemption agreements with post exchanges. The officials pointed out, however, that present regulations make it possible for area commanders to extend the privileges to missionaries wherever possible.

Questions also have arisen as to whether such legislation could place the government in the position of assuming expenses which otherwise would be the responsibility of the churches or mission boards. In this case, the bill would clash with the principle of church and state separation.

Meanwhile, missionaries in a number of countries face tremendous financial difficulties because of official exchange rates. The Bolivian government recently, with U. S. support, established one official exchange. There had been two official rates, plus a free market. While one rate was as high as 13,000 bolivianos to the dollar, certain exports were traded as low as 190 bolivianos to the dollar. Under the new rate the American dollar brings about 7,500 bolivianos.

One mission reported that the buying of some essential items had to be stopped because “it is altogether impossible to pay the fantastic prices.”

‘Religion’ Ruling

The House Judiciary Committee has reversed itself and restored the word “religion” to the list of discriminations which a proposed Federal Civil Rights Commission would he empowered to investigate.

Earlier, the committee had dropped “religion” in an effort to make the bill less controversial. A bi-partisian group of Congressmen indicated, however, they would fight for an amendment to have it restored on the floor unless the committee reconsidered its decision.

Representative Lester Holtzman (D-N. Y.), a spokesman for the group, said the United States was settled “primarily as a refuge for the Pilgrim Fathers who suffered as a result of their religious beliefs and set out to find a new homeland where they could worship as they pleased.”

He said America “should not give mere lip service” to its ideal of religious freedom but “take concrete action in ensuring the protection of the exercise of these inalienable rights.”

34-Year-Old Broadcast Terminated

The 104-year-old First Methodist Church of Los Angeles, California, has asked the Federal Communications Commission to order a public hearing on the action of Radio Station KFAC in terminating a religious program that has been broadcasting every Sunday morning for 34 years.

A number of churches have received broadcast termination notices since the Broadcasting and Film Commission of the National Council of Churches adopted an advisory policy against the sale of time for religious programs, but practically all such churches were members of denominations not affiliated with the NCC. The denomination of First Methodist in L.A. is affiliated with the Council.

Asked to comment on the incident, the Rev. S. Franklin Mack, executive director of the NCC Broadcast and Film Commission, said, “we are not involved in the matter.”

The “Mother Church of Southern California Methodism” pioneered in broadcasting its Sunday morning service to shut-ins in 1923, when radio was in its infancy.

In a formal complaint to the FCC, Dr. J. Richard Sneed, minister of the church, said the Los Angeles Broadcasting Company, proprietors of the station, had informed him that “the First Methodist Church services on Sunday morning are completely incompatible with our program format.”

“We are gradually eliminating all religious programs and replacing them with musical programs,” the station said in advising the church that it would no longer be permitted to purchase time between 11 and 12 o’clock on Sunday morning and that no other time would be made available.

The church said it had been paying the regular commercial rate.

Dr. Sneed, in his petition to the FCC, declared:

“If your honorable Commission does not take immediate steps to investigate and review this entire problem, the broadcast of church services and other religious programs will be sacrificed completely to unadulterated commercialism.”

The church pointed out that prior to 1951 it had for 28 years purchased time for the broadcast of both its morning and evening services over KFAC. In 1951 the station asked the church to discontinue broadcast of its evening services and “at that time represented and warranted that KFAC would not disturb the continued broadcast of morning services.”

The church also informed the FCC that KFAC, in its application for regular three-year renewal of license in 1956, represented to the Commission that 1.9 per cent of its broadcast time was being devoted to religious services, whereas the station now proposes to eliminate all such broadcasts.

“America,” the church asserted, “is basically a religious-minded country,” and it is in the public interest that “all religious denominations” be permitted a fair amount of broadcast time.

The church asked that the FCC order a public hearing in the Los Angeles area to determine if the station meets its obligations as a broadcast licensee.

The bill, which the House Judiciary Committee is preparing, would set up a bi-partisian commission to investigate all cases in which there is discrimination because of “race, color, religion or national origin.”

Protest Withdrawn

The Action Committee for freedom of Religious Expression has withdrawn its request to the Federal Communications Commission for a public hearing on Chicago television station WGN-TV’s application for a license to operate a new and more powerful transmitter.

The committee, formed to protest the cancellation by WGN-TV of a premiere telecast last December of the film “Martin Luther,” said the petition to the FCC was withdrawn in view of a scheduled showing of the movie by Station WBKB in Chicago.

“It now appears that the film will be telecast … April 23 at 10 p.m.,” the committee said. “The immediate goal of the Action Committee, which was to make this important film available to the people of Chicago, therefore, will have been achieved.”

The committee, which includes representatives of the National Council of Churches, major Lutheran bodies in the United States, and other Protestant groups, called the scheduled April 23 showing of the film “a substantial contribution to the cause of freedom … the threat to the freedom of religious expression represented by the action of WGN-TV in yielding to sectarian censorship demands has been repudiated by the broadcasting industry.”

Dr. Charles J. Anderson, midwest executive director of the National Association of Evangelicals, dissented from the committee’s decision to withdraw its petition.

He said:

“The issue is whether a medium of public information may submit freely to sectarian censorshop without censure from the public agency to which is entrusted the responsibility to see that it operates in the public interest.”

The Action Committee’s statement to the FCC noted that “any dereliction upon the part of WGN-TV cannot be cured by the deed of WBKB.”

Dr. John W. Harms, chairman of the committee, said his group will continue on a permanent basis to exercise “vigilance” against “sectarian censorship.”

Vatican Relations

“I don’t know!”

Vice President Richard M. Nixon made this reply when asked if he anticipated the eventual resumption of relations between the United States and the Vatican.

‘Therapy’ Appeal

The liquor industry, in a new bit of strategy, is planning to advertise liquor as a therapy for old people, claiming that it keeps them “spry and alert.”

“Liquor executives are scheming this new approach, believing it will boost consumption among adults over 40 enormously,” said Sen. Thomas C. Desmond, chairman of New York State’s committee on the problems of the aging.

None of the ads, presumably, will be placed in The Bowery, a New York area filled with “spry and alert” men of distinction who grew old long before their time.

The question was put to him after he had been received in private audience by Pope Pius XII.

“Personally,” said Mr. Nixon, “I can only hope for the continuation of the same good personal relations so far existing between the United States and the Holy See.” He said the topic was not discussed during his talk with the Pope.

Presidents Roosevelt and Truman maintained a personal envoy to Pope Pius, but the relationship ended when the envoy, Myron C. Taylor, resigned in January, 1950. President Truman’s nomination of General Mark Clark in 1952 to be U. S. Ambassador to the Vatican aroused so much opposition that General Clark asked his name be withdrawn.

Mr. Nixon, who is a Quaker, was received by the Pope after arriving in Rome from Libya, one of the nations in his African tour. The Vice President spent 25 minutes with the Pope, discussing problems of Africa, Asia and the “cold war.”

He also said he also had talked to the Pope about Palestine and the Holy Places but declined to reveal what was said. He remarked that “the Pope is very well informed and, at the same time, very concerned about the general situation in the Middle East.”

The Vice President delivered a personal message to Pope Pius from President Eisenhower.

Mrs. Nixon, a Methodist, joined her husband a few minutes before the Pope received the rest of the Vice Presidential party and newsmen in his library.

Church Merger

With 41 of 66 presbyteries on record, the vote of United Presbyterians at press time was 717 to 481 in favor of merger with the Presbyterian Church, U. S. A.

The voting is expected to be completed well before the General Assembly meeting in June.

In the vote of presbyteries, 29 favored the merger with 12 opposed, but the official count will be votes cast by the minister and one elder of each church. The issue will be decided by a simple majority.

A number of ministers opposed to the merger are not instructing church members for or against in the matter. There have been cases of elders voting for merger and ministers voting against it.

The General Assembly may study the results closely if the minority vote is large enough for possible disruptive pressure.

The Presbyterian Church, U. S. A., vote for merger was overwhelming.

The Men Speak

A proposal to ordain women as ruling elders and deacons in the Presbyterian Church, U. S. (Southern), approved by the denomination’s 1956 General Assembly, has been rejected by the presbyteries.

Dr. E. C. Scott, the church’s stated clerk, reported that 43 of the 85 presbyteries had voted against the proposal and 40 in favor, with no word from two presbyteries.

Approval by a majority of the presbyteries with subsequent favorable action by the General Assembly is required.

Delegates to the General Assembly, which met last June, voted 234 to 226 in favor of the proposal.

Code For Parents

A six-point code for parents of teenagers has been adopted by parents who are members of six churches in Manhasset, New York.

Titled “Principles for Parents,” it pledges them to chaperon parties held in their homes, not to serve alcoholic beverages to anyone else’s children and to discourage youngsters from going to homes where such beverages will be served.

The code also calls on parents to prevent party crashing, to make sure they know where their children are going and when they will return, to insist that their children respect the rights and property of others and the community and to bar unlawful driving after dark on junior drivers’ permits.

‘Discrimination’

An Eastern Orthodox clergyman has charged that New York City’s Committee on Slum Clearance is guilty of discrimination in excluding his church from plans for a $228,000,000 redevelopment of the Lincoln Square area.

The committee has denied the charge made by the Rev. Gregory R. P. Adair, pastor of the Cathedral of Our Saviour. Mr. Adair told a protest meeting held at his church that he intended to “call the bluff” of the committee.

The protest meeting was arranged by Americans United, a branch of Protestants and Other American United for Separation of Church and State.

Americans United is opposing the proposed resale by the city of properties within the area to St. Matthew’s Roman Catholic Church and to Fordham University, a Catholic school.

A taxpayers’ suit to bar the city from proceeding with the Lincoln Square Redevelopment Project was dismissed as “premature” by the State Supreme Court in February on the grounds that the Board of Estimate had not yet given final authorization for the plans.

Plaintiffs had maintained that the planned sale of 300,000 square feet of cleared slum land to Fordham University at $5 a square foot and the erection of a Catholic church and school on the property struck at Church-State separation.

Mr. Adair said provision had been made in the area for the Catholic institutions, which he asserted will benefit from markdowns subsidized by public funds, but that his request to be included had been rejected by the committee.

William S. Lebwohl, slum clearance director, said that Mr. Adair’s request came too late. He also went on record as saying that when the area is put up for resale, after the city acquires it, Mr. Adair’s church can bid for one of the plots against proposed sponsors, who have been negotiating construction details with the committee for more than a year.

Said Mr. Adair:

“I believe Mr. Moses [Robert Moses, chairman of the committee] will find some technicality for disqualifying us if we bid against St. Matthew’s Roman Catholic Church, Fordham University or any of the other sponsors he has virtually selected.”

The Presbyterian Church of the Good Shepherd, also in the project area, is to remain undisturbed. St. Cyprian’s Protestant Episcopal Church is slated for demolition and is not included in the redevelopment plan.

Off To Adventure

Sunday School and television have united in a planned curriculum for the first time.

The first national religious TV series produced expressly for children had its premiere on New York Station WPIX-TV in March.

Sponsored by the National Council of Churches, the series, called “Off to Adventure,” will tie in with the 1957 Protestant Sunday School theme—“the Indian American.”

The quarter-hour film programs show work done for Indian Americans by American Baptists, the Presbyterian Church, U. S. A., the United Church of Canada, the Protestant Episcopal Church and the American Bible Society.

An estimated 200 stations are expected to carry the program by June. The New York premiere, on Sunday, March 17, was telecast at noon. Other telecast times around the nation will be decided by sponsoring church groups.

Tax Exemptions

Sixteen bills proposing income tax exemptions for tuition payments to private and parochial schools are pending in Congress.

The newest, introduced by Rep. Paul Fino (R-N. Y.) would provide tax exemption for the full tuition payment. Others would give full or partial exemption for college tuition only. One would classify all tuition payments to private elementary and secondary schools as charitable contributions.

The House Ways and Means Committee, to which all the measures have been referred, is expected to appoint a subcommittee to study the problem.

Religious Mail Rates

Postmaster General Arthur E. Summerfield has asked Congress for an increase in second and third class postage rates, but he urged that the present subsidized rates for mail of religious and non-profit organizations be left unchanged.

The rate for religious and non-profit periodicals entered as second class matter is one and one-half cent a pound. Other periodicals now pay two and one-half cents a pound. The Postmaster General asked for a zone rate schedule on second class that will raise these rates 60 per cent over a four-year period.

Religious and non-profit groups now mail circulars, bulletins and other bulk mail at one cent each. Other postal users pay one and one-half cents for mailings larger than 200 pieces and two cents on other third class matter.

This would be raised to two cents and two and one-half cents, respectively, under the proposed legislation.

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