J. Gresham MachenReseñas

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.

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!

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)

language course

Wow

First Machen book. A must read.... Way more relating to this book in this present age... Great truth, encouragement and even responses.

Very good, accessible addresses from 1935 on perennial questions that modern scholarship poses about Jesus and the scriptures, and that, today as much as ever, continually filter down to popular audiences.

In his speech, Machen was apparently very fond of the word “stupendous.”

Machen's classic defense of orthodox Christianity establishes the importance of scripural doctrine and contrasts the teachings of liberalism and orthodoxy on God and man, the Bbible, Christ, salvation, and the church. Though originally published nearly seventy years ago, the book maintains its relevance today.

Instructive.

For those who wish to better understand Christianity fundamentally as a system of doctrine rather than an ideal lifestyle; the difference between intellectualism and mysticism; the social gospel and the Biblical gospel; nature of conversion, particularly amongst those raised within Christian homes; the difference between good shepherds and false teachers; the deceptive tactics of wolves; the relationship between one's church to other denominations/ministries; and much more, this book is just for you, written by a mature, sound Christian thinker.

Chistianity and Liberalism
J. Gresham Machen
The main points of the christian faith are clearly exposed by Gresham Machen in order to refute liberalism. This work, though written in 1923, anticipates the controversies faced by christian churchs in recent time, as an effect of the development of liberals ideas. Christian ortodoxy, the author points, is chistianity plain and clear. Christian faith is not a mere way of life. It is a message based on facts and with an achievable meaning. The work great merit consist in explaining the christian message, pointing to the facts in with its based and giving its meaning.

It would appear that little has changed in the 90 years since this book was first published. Or, perhaps more accurately, the capitulation of large segments of the evangelical church to the relentless tide of what Machen termed "liberalism" has gone unchecked. Either way, the result is the same. Confessing churches have decreasing adherence to their confessions and much of what is labeled as "Christianity" bears little resemblance to the model of faith held up in the Bible.

Machen knows this territory well, being on the faculty of Princeton Seminary when the trustees went all in as the philosophy we know today as Modernity swept through society. As a result, he and several of his colleagues left Princeton to found a seminary and a denomination, Westminster Theological Seminary and the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. Their purpose was to continue to teach and uphold those things which had long been essential to the church and were clearly affirmed in its confessions, such as the Westminster and Belgic confessions. Today virtually every denomination that was considered mainline in his day has rolled over to the trends driving society, and the church is infinitely poorer and weaker for it.

I found much in this book that rings true, in part because I am a member of perhaps the last mainline denomination that hasn't gone completely off track. But some days it seems as if we are in a car going through a corner at high speed and with only three wheels on the ground. Rollover seems a heartbeat away. I highly recommend this book for anyone who is in church leadership and wonders about the threat to the church from the culture. It is a threat that feels more immediate today than when Machen wrote these words. Yet I also believe, with Machen, that the church itself will survive, for God has always preserved for himself a remnant of the faithful, to be his witnesses in an unbelieving world.

So, I dug into my Presby roots a little and decided that J. Gresham Machen was made of awesome.

It is fascinating to see how Machen makes his case that early 20th century theological liberalism and (proto-evangelical-coalition) traditional Christianity were essentially two different religions. But, more than that, it's amazing how prescient Machen seems; in 1923, he anticipated much of what has come to divide denominations today (which is fairly continuous with the early Fundamentalist/liberal skirmishes of the last century). I don't think one has to agree with his "two religions" thesis to find the book historically illuminating; and even with that argument, he's not polemical in the way one might expect. I think it's possible that the book could provide a basis for a quite interesting dialogue between theologically liberal and traditional Christians.

I thought he was right on target in identifying conception of God and view of human sin as the two primary points of division.

Science and the arts are gifts from God--and a means of advancing his Kingdom. Christianity is the proclamation of the historical fact that Jesus Christ rose from the dead.

A good introduction to the language in easy going manner and good strategies to get started

A "must read" book for all. The book clearly illustrates how evil forces infiltrate the church.

The purpose of the book is given in its opening line: to distinguish real Christianity--to present the religious issue of the day as clearly as possible (page 1) (C. S. Lewis would say "mere Christianity") from liberalism (aka modernism and naturalism); liberalism (modernism) is not Christianity but naturalism, the denial of the supernatural (and redemptive) power of God. Christian (beautiful) civilization will be lost (or regained if already lost) depending on which religion (Christianity or liberalism) the culture chooses. Christianity is founded upon doctrine ("facts with meaning") which doctrine (message) is given to Christians to believe, establish/clarify, witness, and defend; doctrine is the sine qua non of Christianity (chap 2). The rest of the book is given to explicating that doctrine.

Chapter 3 ("God and Man") explicates that "God is holy, and I am not." There is a great gulf between God and man (62), and man is under the just condemnation of God (64). Man needs to be redeemed by the facts of the gospel to be reconciled with (restored to communion with) God (62, 65, 70).

GREAT THEMES:
Revelation, science, philosophy, and experience all reinforce/augment/supplement each other 58
This book is like Mere Christianity
Christianity is diametrically opposed to liberalism/modernism/naturalism.
Separation 24, 110-"uncharitable" 48-52 blood ties
Salvation 2/15-16-great redemptive religion, 24-5, 25-6, 30 39-2, 42-43-44, 47-8, 62, 71-2, 75, 77, 78-dependence on word, 90-1
How man can come into communion with God 43, 69-70
Man as god: his experience (SENSES 18, 78, 79-emotions) or his pre-conceived ideas (77) and the final rule

HELPFUL DETAILS:Science (Mike E) 3
Tradition 4, 46-past advances
Pietism 9
Education 11-16 (esp 14-15), 46
Seminaries are big part of problem 17
Experience 18
Christianity is a life and a doctrine 19ff, 23 (see below)
Christianity has a precise meaning 20-1
Paul defended creed not person 22
Preaching of law would clean up the city! 24-keeping of law inseparably connected with faith
Facts is history; facts with meaning is doctrine 29
Already/not yet 31
HG Wells trips along lightly 31
Prophets say "Thus saith the Lord," Jesus said, "I say unto you" 36
Golden rule is only addressed to disciples 37
Importance of depending on what past generations have achieved 46
Christianity begins with indicative 47
All points of doctrine not equally important 48ff
Chiliasm 49
Living with unbelievers: love them 52
Knowledge of God antecedent to knowledge of Jesus 56
Which comes first: logic combined with observation leads to belief or belief confirmed by logic (religion and philosophy are connected) 57-8
Pew must live godly lives to reawaken...sin 66ff
There is a lost consciousness of sin 64ff
Fact of sin faced squarely 65
Develop every facility 66
Prove by acting upon 71-2
Bible is infallible rule of faith and practice 73-4

Christianity is a life and a doctrine 19ff, 23
(page 19) But, it will be said, Christianity is a life, not a doctrine. The assertion is often made, and it has an appearance of godliness. But it is radically false, and to detect its falsity one does not even need to be a Christian. For to say that "Christianity is a life" is to make an assertion in the sphere of history...
(page 23) Christianity for Paul was not only a life, but also a doctrine, and logically the doctrine came first.

Great reference book to study the New Testament writings, historical background and development of the christian church. It will enrich your understanding. Great for personal or group study. Fifty-two chapters end with: Topics for Study. Great for discussion and for Teacher/leader preperation for class/discussion group setting!

INDEX

Machen, J. Gresham, Christianity and Liberalism (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm.B. Eerdmans Publishing Co). 90209
"Machen's classic was written in the height of the battle for control over the Presbyterian Church USA (the most prominent of the "mainline denominations), and defines with brilliance the battle lines between liberal (so-called) Christianity and the orthodox faith. Moreover, it points out exactly what is at stake: the true faith, or a perverse shadow of that faith, a shadow based on subjectivism which elevates man's sovereignty over God's and ends in believing nothing at all.
"The one problem with this book (and it made good rhetorical sense at the time, but is somewhat misleading concerning the true nature of the struggle) is Machen's categories. Machen deals with theological conservatives and liberals (legitimate in terms of the Bible's own theological dichotomy between saved and lost), but misses the inescapable fact that there was a third faction at work (a fact which eventually resulted in his defrocking). That third faction was a great mushy evanjellyfish middle, a pietistic/mystical majority which was neither willing to accept the liberal position nor fight for the conservative one. As Machen rightly pointed out two years earlier in his address to incoming students at Princeton (and again, much later, in the last two years of the struggle), these were the Christians who said `"Peace, peace",' when there was no peace,' and elevated that `peace' over truth. As in all other endeavors, `peace at any price' resulted in defeat, and in the end, it was that great mushy middle which delivered the PCUSA to the left and off the cliff.
"But it wasn't them alone. To see the mistakes of the conservative side, I strongly recommend North's CROSSED FINGERS, the only definitive history of this fight.
"Yet at the end of the day, you must read Machen. This book is vital for Christians defending their churches and denominations against increasing liberal encroachment, and indeed more so by the day. A great read." -- Reader's Comment
"Still stands, after many years, as one of the strongest books ever written against liberalism. A complete and thorough critique." -- GCB