For many in our church, J. Gresham Machen (1881-1937) needs no introduction. He was, after all, the founder of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, our previous denomination. In addition to that he was a professor of NT at Princeton Theological Seminary, a NT scholar, founder of Westminster Seminary, and a libertarian litigant on the issue of jay walking—which is to say that he thought it silly that crossing the street would be relegated by a law and not common sense. Practically speaking, if he came to a red light and there was no one around he would say go through it. Best known, though, Machen was a contrarian and controversialist especially when it came to the insidious liberalism that was sweeping across the church of his day. His most important work was related to that specific topic and is entitled simply, Christianity and Liberalism. The thesis of Machen’s book was shocking. He argued not that liberalism was something that should be allowed to exist in the church or that is was merely a difference of opinion between good and well meaning men. Rather, as the title suggests, liberalism was an entirely different religion from historic Christianity entirely. How could he make such a claim? Simply, the claim is rooted in the fact that liberalism is a religion that has nothing to do with the historic and objective facts of God and of Christ or with the Bible but rather is a sappy sentimental religion that is, at its core, man-centered and reduced to the opinion and emotions of men. In the words of Carl Trueman, “Liberalism on the other hand is founded upon the shifting emotions of sinful men.” How would Machen combat this tendency? The same way Luther and Calvin had done it before him; by insisting upon an historic religion, one rooted not in the fickleness of men, but in the rock solid objective facts revealed in the authoritative and inspired Word of God. “Anything less,” says Trueman, “made Christianity uncertain and Christian theology little more than those buts of the Bible’s teaching with which the individual feels comfortable. A matter, indeed, of taste and sentiment.”

Machen spoke to the errors and evils of his day, but like a prophet he saw what was coming down the road and thus speaks with remarkable prescience to our day.

This is precisely why we need to hear the message of this old book (first published 1923). Our day is a day when taste and sentiment have won the day in the church. Our day is a day marked by sappy, cliché laden, sentimentalized religion and worship, a religion and worship most pronounced not only in the liberal, mainline church of a generation ago, but in many quarters of the evangelical church. This is seen most clearly in that Christianity has become more about a way of life than a set of beliefs. To the contrary, historic Christianity has always insisted that our faith must first be something believed before it can be lived. This is why Machen’s book is so doctrinal as evidenced by the chapter titles, “Doctrine,” “God and Man,” “The Bible,” “Christ,” “Salvation,” and “The Church.” Machen spoke to the errors and evils of his day, but like a prophet he saw what was coming down the road and thus speaks with remarkable prescience to our day. It’s for that reason in the next few weeks we will give our attention over to Machen’s most famous work, Christianity and Liberalism. You may want to dust off your old copy and read along.