J. Gresham Machen (1881–1937)

Summary: An exposition of the Bible’s teaching on what constitutes vibrant and saving Christian faith.

“Believe in Jesus!” “Saved by faith!” “I don’t have enough faith.” “We just have to have faith.”

The language of faith, even in our secular age, is bandied about a great deal. But are we all talking about the same thing? Sometimes, it seems like faith simply means some sense of the transcendent or a “religious sentiment of the heart.” At the other end of the spectrum, “faith” may be connected with affirmation of a particular set of doctrines–the faith. Faith is spoken in Hebrews 11:1 as the “substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” and yet in many minds faith is a vague feeling rather than substance and a hope in what one is pretty sure is not true.

It seems that this treatise by J. Gresham Machen, nearly 100 years old has never been so needed. He decries the fuzzy thinking, the lack of clear thinking, and the attack upon intellect in general and among Christians specifically in his own day. Nowhere is this so evident as in understanding the true nature of biblical faith, and this is what he sets out to address in this biblically grounded and carefully reasoned work.

He begins by observing that faith must have some object. For the Christian, this is the triune God. To believe in God (or any personal being), one most know the character of the one believed. This is both “doctrine,” and as it is understood becomes personal trust. All this is predicated on the idea that God has revealed God’s self. It also concerns our standing with God as sinners and how God, consistently revealed as loving Father, has addressed that standing through his Son, in whom there is redemption.

What then does faith involve? Faith combines knowledge of the truth with belief that the God may be trusted, and acceptance as undeserved gift what God has accomplished through his Son. As he sets forth these classic ideas, he engages the modernist challenge of his day with its “Fatherhood of God and brotherhood of man,” emphasizing humanitarian good works and imitating Christ as a good teacher. He speaks bitingly of the “Good American” character education of his day and argued that spiritual and moral education was not the work of schools but churches and comparable religious institutions. For those who think this is a way to Christianize society, he argues that this moralism inoculates people against a genuine awareness of sin and need of the saving work of Christ.

He continues to address modernist challenges in his chapter on faith and salvation, really a classic exposition of justification by faith, answering the question of how we may hope for right standing with God. He addresses the ever-present temptation to combine faith with our works as salvific. Rather, those saved by faith work, with work arising from, rather than contributing to their faith. In the final chapter he addresses “faith and hope” and the experience of “weak” faith. He emphasizes that while the object for all Christians is to grow in their confident faith in God, it is not the size of our faith, as if it were some spiritual force, but the gracious and powerful character off God that matters.

This is a rich work filled with practical examples as well as careful reasoning. While some of the controversies today are different (and some not so much), Machen’s insights are important to anyone committed to the task of making disciples: from communicating the gospel, through conversion, and in encouraging the life of faith. As with so many classic works, Banner of Truth has served the church well in the re-publication of this work, soon to be joined by two others, God Transcendent and The Christian View of Man.… (más)

WRITTEN ORIGINALY IN INSTALMENTS INTENDED FOR YOUTH.
B B Warfield who read them "greedily, at once" wrote that the author had done "a very difficult piece of work admirably and we are all proud have these lesson-helps emanate from Princeton"
From the Flyleaf: The writing of Machen was Characterized by clarity of thought, depth of scholarship, and an evident passion for the message of the Bible. The ground work of history and geography, biography and interpretations covered thoroughly..." It is a valuable guide for both new and mature students of the study of the New Testament. HIGHLY RECOMEND YOU READ IT!… (más)

O livro é uma obra concisa e didática para o ensino e compreensão dos conceitos essenciais da gramática grega do Novo Testamento. É destinado àqueles aos iniciantes no estudo do grego bíblico sem possuir conhecimento prévio ou que possuam conhecimento superficial sobre o idioma. Oferece variedade de exercícios e vocabulário grego-português e português-grego.

Top Highlights
“no aprendizado da leitura do Novo Testamento, o particípio é quase o ponto crucial de toda a matéria” (Page 8)

“Há cinco casos: nominativo, genitivo, dativo, acusativo, vocativo.” (Page 32)

“e todos os outros substantivos da segunda declinação, como ἄνθρωπος, têm os radicais terminados em ο” (Page 32)

“Em grego não há artigo indefinido. Assim, ἀδελφός significa irmão, ou um irmão. Entretanto, o grego tem artigo definido e, onde este não aparece, não deve ser inserido em Português. Assim, ἀδελφός não significa o irmão. No plural, o grego não tem artigo indefinido. Por isso ἄνθτρωποι apenas significa homens. Mas não significa os homens.” (Page 31)

“Os escritores do Novo Testamento empregaram a linguagem comum e viva da sua época.” (Page 14)… (más)