Christianity And Liberalism - Christian Institute

Christianity and Liberalism“In this brilliant defence of Christian truthMachen argued that liberalism was really a newreligion and not Christianity at all.”FRANCIS SCHAEFFERGresham Machen’s bookChristianity and Liberalism hasbeen called “one of the mostimportant books of all times”.1Machen contrasts the true Christian Faith withthe false claims of ‘liberal Christianity’. He showshow liberals wrap up worldly thinking in Christianlanguage. He demonstrates that Liberalism isnot simply one form of Christianity, but anotherreligion altogether.Gresham Machen (1881-1937) was aPresbyterian minister in the USA and publishedhis classic work in 1923, which remains in print.Sadly the Liberalism he opposed in the professingChurch a century ago is still rampant today.Machen warns us that the mostdangerous threat to the Gospelcomes from within theChurch. We need to heedthis now more than ever.“It is no wonder, then, that liberalism is totally differentfrom Christianity, for the foundation is different. Christianityis founded upon the Bible. It bases upon the Bible both itsthinking and its life. Liberalism on the other hand isfounded upon the shifting emotions of sinful men.”J. Gresham Machen

The glory of God and the sinfulness of manBefore the Gospel can beunderstood, argues Machen,“something must be known (1)about God and (2) about man”.But on both points “modernliberalism is directly opposedto Christianity”.2Machen contends that:“The very basis of the religionof Jesus was a triumphantbelief in the real existence of apersonal God.”3 Yet Liberalismhas a tendency to pantheism,which sees all of life somehowas part of God. It ignores “theawful transcendence of God.From beginning to end theBible is concerned to set forththe awful gulf that separatesthe creature from the Creator.It is true, indeed, that accordingto the Bible God is immanentin the world. Not a sparrowfalls to the ground withoutHim. But he is immanent inthe world not because He isidentified with the world, butbecause He is the free Creatorand Upholder of it. Betweenthe creature and the Creator agreat gulf is fixed.”4Liberalism denies the realityof human sin, believing thatpeople are basically good: ‘manat his best is one with God’.Machen says: “According tothe Bible, man is a sinner underthe just condemnation of God;according to modern liberalism,there is really no such thingas sin. At the very root of themodern liberal movement isthe loss of the consciousnessof sin.”5In response, Machen callson all Christians to do theirpart in proclaiming the lawof God by their lives, whileremembering that convictionof sin comes only from theSpirit of God.Doctrine explains what Christ’s work meansLiberals promote experience as the basis ofreligion and downplay Christian doctrine. Machenexplains why doctrine is essential: “We shallnever have vital contact with Jesus if we attend toHis person and neglect the message; for it is themessage which makes Him ours.”6The meaning of the death and resurrection ofJesus Christ has been at the heart of Christiandoctrine since the first days of the Church.Machen begins his book by calling for an honestlook at the Cross and the Resurrection as factsof history, and why the Bible records them.He shows why the message of Christ must bebelieved personally, saying that liberals cannotreally trust in Christ “without believing themessage”.7

The Bible is theWord of GodMachen explains: “According to theChristian view, the Bible contains anaccount of a revelation from God to man,which is found nowhere else.”8Whereas Scripture is the supremeauthority in Christianity, “The realauthority, for liberalism, can only be ‘theChristian consciousness’ or ‘Christianexperience’.”9The Bible explains the central eventin history, when “the eternal Son wasoffered as a sacrifice for the sins ofmen”.10 And the doctrine of the plenaryinspiration of the Bible means “theaccount itself is true, the writers havingbeen so preserved from error, despite afull maintenance of their habits of thoughtand expression, that the resulting Book isthe ‘infallible rule of faith and practice’”.11Machen points to the life-giving powerof the Word: “The Reformation of thesixteenth century was founded upon theauthority of the Bible, yet it set the worldaflame. The Bible, to the Christian is nota burdensome law, but the very MagnaCharta of Christian liberty.”“It is no wonder, then, that liberalismis totally different from Christianity, forthe foundation is different. Christianityis founded upon the Bible. It bases uponthe Bible both its thinking and its life.Liberalism on the other hand is foundedupon the shifting emotions of sinfulmen.”12Sea of GalileeThe Jesus of theNew TestamentIn Matthew 22:42 Jesus asks his hearers:“What do you think about the Christ”?Machen lays bare two conflicting answers:“Liberalism regards Him as an Exampleand Guide; Christianity, as a Saviour:liberalism makes Him an example for faith;Christianity, the object of faith.”13The whole New Testament presentsJesus as a supernatural Person in whomwe must place our trust. Yet Liberalismtreats Jesus simply as the first Christian.Machen responds: “The truth is that ifJesus be merely an example, He is nota worthy example; for He claimed to befar more.”14 See the miracles of the NewTestament (e.g. Mark 2:9-11), which pointto Christ dealing with sin: “Without themiracles we should have a teacher; withthe miracles we have a Saviour.”15Machen says, “the witness of the NewTestament is everywhere the same; theNew Testament everywhere presents Onewho was both God and man”.16Modern critical methods have soughtto eliminate the supernatural from Jesus’life, but, “The Jesus of the New Testamenthas at least one advantage over the Jesusof modern reconstruction – He is real. Heis not a manufactured figure suitable as apoint of support for ethical maxims, but agenuine Person whom a man can love.”17

Salvation is an act of GodMachen shows that Liberalism “differs fromChristianity in its account of the gospel itself it presents an entirely different account of theway of salvation. Liberalism finds salvation (sofar as it is willing to speak at all of ‘salvation’) inman; Christianity finds it in an act of God”.18The modern view does not acceptthe vicarious sacrifice of Christ and hisresurrection as events in history withimplications for today. Liberals talk aboutthe Cross of Jesus merely as an example ofself-sacrifice and redefine sin to diminish itsoffensiveness to God.In contrast, Machen outlines “the liberty ofthe gospel” which “depends upon the gift ofGod by which the Christian life is begun –a gift which involves justification, orthe removal of the guilt of sin and theestablishment of a right relation between thebeliever and God, and regeneration or the newbirth, which makes of the Christian man a newcreature”.19THE CROSS REVEALS THE LOVE OF GODMachen wrote: “the modern objection to the doctrine of the atonement on the ground that thatdoctrine is contrary to the love of God, is based upon the most abysmal misunderstanding of thedoctrine itself. The modern liberal teachers persist in speaking of the sacrifice of Christ as though it werea sacrifice made by some one other than God. They speak of it as though it meant that God waits coldlyuntil a price is paid to Him before He forgives sin. As a matter of fact, it means nothing of the kind Thefundamental thing is that God Himself, and not another, makes the sacrifice for sin – God Himself in theperson of the Son who assumed our nature and died for us, God Himself in the Person of the Father whospared not His own Son but offered Him up for us all.”20Liberalism is the enemy withinChristians belong to the bodyof Christ, the Church. Thisis “the brotherhood of theredeemed”, which far surpasses“the brotherhood of man” sobeloved of liberal teachers.21But Machen charges theChurch with being “unfaithfulto her Lord by admitting greatcompanies of non-Christianpersons, not only into hermembership, but into herteaching agencies.”22He goes on to issue aheartfelt warning againstLiberalism: “The greatestmenace to the ChristianChurch today comes not fromthe enemies outside, but fromthe enemies within; it comesfrom the presence within theChurch of a type of faith andpractice that is anti-Christianto the core.”23So every true Christianmust speak out against thefalse religion of Liberalism; yetmany do not. Machen warns: “Itis strange how in the interestsof an utterly false kindness tomen, Christians are sometimeswilling to relinquish theirloyalty to the crucified Lord.”24

The threat of LiberalismGresham Machenuncovers that unbelief isat the root of Liberalismand so identifies that“Christianity is beingattacked from within by amovement which is antiChristian to the core.”25This may not beimmediately obviousbecause Liberalismemploys a Christianvocabulary, but in fact“traditional language isbeing strained to becomethe expression of totallyalien ideas”.26Machen shows thatLiberalism actually: 1)denies the supernaturalnature of Christianity; 2)rejects the Bible as theinerrant Word of God; 3)focuses on this world andrefuses to contemplateeternity.A century after Machenpenned Christianity andLiberalism, the liberalthreat to the Church ismore widespread. TheLiberalism of Machen’sday rejected Christiandoctrine, but retainedChristian teaching onhow people should live(ethics). However, sincethe sexual revolution ofthe 1960s, liberals nowreject Christian ethics aswell. And these liberalnotions are now taughtwithin some evangelicalchurches.CommongraceMachen commends thedoctrine of common grace,which “restrains the worstmanifestations of evil” inthe world.He shows that our faith“involves no withdrawalfrom the battle of thisworld; our Lord Himself,with His stupendousmission, lived in themidst of life’s throng andpress”.27Christianity is a supernatural religionAt the heart of modern Liberalism is a denialof the supernatural. So liberals reject thefundamental beliefs of Christianity, includingthe deity of Christ. As Machen says: “Theconception of Jesus as a supernatural Personruns all through the New Testament.”28The Bible teaches that God’s redemptionplan also transcends anything in this world: “Atthe very centre of Christianity are the words, ‘Yemust be born again.’ These words are despisedtoday. They involve supernaturalism, and themodern man is opposed to supernaturalismin the experience of the individual as much asin the realm of history. A cardinal doctrine ofmodern liberalism is that the world’s evil maybe overcome by the world’s good; no help isthought to be needed from outside the world.”29Machen explains that: “A supernatural eventis one that takes place by the immediate, asdistinguished from the mediate, power of God In the events called natural, God uses means,whereas in the events called supernatural Heuses no means, but puts forth His creativepower a miracle is a work of creation just astruly as the mysterious act which produced theworld.”30