INTRODUCTION TO WORLDVIEW PREACHERS
Gresham Machen (1881-1937)
DESCRIPTION OF MACHEN’S AND KELLER’S WORLDVIEWS
Machen’s Central Commitment
20 For Machen's view of the importance of the gospel both in the Bible and in his doctrine, see Christianity and Liberalism. For examples of Machen's assertion of the gospel as the center of Christianity, see Machen, “The Mission of the Church,” 231; "The Christian View of Missions." In summary, all three of Machen's books hold the gospel of redemption as central to the Bible and to Christianity.
Machen's commitment to the centrality of the gospel is witnessed both in his articulation and defense of Christianity.
Machen’s Commitment Expressed
Machen considered "the atoning blood of Christ" the central message of the Bible.53 For Machen, the heart of the gospel was the penal vicarious view of the atonement. These two elements, history and doctrine, were central to Machen's understanding of the gospel and thus of Christianity. Machen's three-part series on Christian scholarship highlights his view of the intellectual nature of Christianity.
In Machen's time, the "apparent ignorance" of the gospel had led pulpits to place counsel over information.
The Commitment’s Implications for Machen
But if "gospel" means. good news', many common conceptions of the gospel vanish at once. In summary, all three books of Machen express the gospel with elements of history and doctrine. This section summarizes the above three books to demonstrate the gospel as Machen's foundation for life.
This foundation is revealed in how Machen applies the gospel to certain areas of the Christian life. In Christianity and liberalism, Machen proclaims the central role of the gospel and his. implications when he writes: “The same message [i.e. the gospel] with its consequences has been the very heart and soul of the Christian movement throughout the centuries". emphasis mine).80. First, in his chapter on doctrine, Machen argues that the gospel is the foundation of Christian morality.
This kind of transformation was not possible through the social gospel.85 Mankind's only hope was the saving message of the gospel with its implications for the Christian life.86. Although Machen stated that the gospel was a message of salvation to believe in, he still believed that the message had implications for the Christian life. As for Machen, he held that the central message of the Bible was the gospel, with implications drawn from that center.
Christianity and Culture,” Machen emphasizes the centrality of the gospel to all academic and cultural disciplines as he writes. In summary, Machen's three books present the implications of the gospel for the Christian life.
Machen’s Commitment Contrasted with Modernism
120 "The truth is that in large parts of the modern Church, Jesus is no longer the object of faith, but has simply become an example of faith." Ibid., 98. The non-Christian powers made use of Christian terminology and attempted to dominate the organization of the church. 124. As with What is Faith?, a number of Machen's articles contrast the intellectual nature of the gospel with the anti-intellectualism of.
126 "Modernism considers itself independent of science, while Christianity must seek to justify its place, despite all the intellectual labor it entails, in the realm of facts." Machen, "The Parting of the Ways," 219. 128For an in-depth look at Machen's attack on the naturalism of modernism, see "The Witness of Paul," "The Parting of the Ways," and "Christianity in Conflict. " . In all three written works, Machen articulates the gospel as the center or core of the Bible and Christianity.
For Machen, the central doctrines of the Bible were the transcendence of God, the sinfulness of man, and the redemption of God in Christ. He writes: “In fact, not less time, but more time, should be devoted to the defense of the gospel. These books were chosen because of their presentation of Keller's articulation and defense of the Christian faith.138.
The first book, The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism, was published in February 2008 and is intended as a rational defense of the Christian faith. This book and DVD series highlight the centrality of the gospel and its function as a worldview.
Keller’s Central Commitment
Keller writes when he speaks of God as a "dramatist" who enters into the play of human history. In the Christian view, the ultimate proof of the existence of God is Jesus Christ himself. If God exists, the characters in his game must hope that he has brought some information about himself into the game.
He wrote himself into the play as the main character in the story, when Jesus was born in a manger and rose from the dead. resurrection' and 'The dance of God'. These final chapters articulate the gospel as the Christian worldview. In the introduction to The Prodigal God, Keller declares that the gospel is "the Christian message" and "the heart of the Christian faith." the gospel as the storyline of the Bible.150 He writes: 'Jesus'.
Christians to "increasingly place the gospel at the center of everything," "see, think, and feel."154 He clearly articulates the centrality of the gospel when he writes: but the A to Z of the Christian life."155 By this means Keller that the gospel is not just the beginning or the elementary. Keller, “The Centrality of the Gospel,” Redeemer Presbyterian Church (June 2001) [on-line]; accessed April 4, 2012; Available from. Keller uses worldview terminology in describing the ability of the gospel to change the "fundamental orientation" of the human heart.158 In speaking of this ability to change the orientation of the heart, Keller makes clear his belief that the gospel has the power to uproot and replace other worldviews. .
He explains this belief further when he writes: “Faith in the gospel restructures our motivations, our self-understanding and identity, and our view of the world. For Keller, the gospel penetrates every aspect of Christianity and must therefore become "more and more central to everything" in the Christian's life.160.
Keller’s Commitment Expressed
He first expresses the gospel as a message consisting of the historical events of the life and work of Jesus. 173 Keller points out that since the work of salvation was done by God through Christ, the gospel is therefore. He articulates the gospel of redemption as a message of Christ's atoning death on the cross and God's grace in saving sinners.
First, Keller expresses the gospel of Christ's death on the cross for sinners as a substitutionary nature. Keller writes, "Our true elder brother paid our debt on the cross for us."177 When he writes, he expresses the precious value of the gospel. In addition to the message of Christ's sacrificial death on the cross, Keller also expresses the gospel as a message of God's grace in Christ.
Since the gospel is about the work of God in Christ, it is a message of grace. By taking this parable and relating it to the entire erasure of the Bible, Keller places the gospel as the central story of the Bible. In this quote Keller explains the gospel as a historical story ("God entered into history") consisting of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus for the salvation of man and the world.
188 Keller explains how the gospel makes people holy in God's sight by saying, "We are justified, right with God, by faith alone by the work of Christ alone. In summary, all three books of Keller express the gospel as the historical events of Jesus, together with the grace of God by saving sinners.
The Commitment’s Implications for Keller
Keller explains that the grace of the gospel allows believers to absorb the sins committed against them by extending forgiveness and not seeking retribution. The gospel provides the believer with the means necessary to live the Christian life. The story of the gospel gives an insight into moral obligations and our belief in the reality of justice, so Christians do what they can to restore and redistribute justice.
The story of the gospel makes sense of our indelible religiosity, so Christians do evangelism, which points the way to forgiveness and reconciliation with God through Jesus. The gospel makes sense of our deep relational character, therefore Christians work sacrificially to strengthen human communities around them as well as the Christian community, the church. In The Prodigal God, Keller explains the gospel as the foundation by which the believer's life is changed in relation "to God, self, others, the world, work, sin, and virtue."197 All of the Christian.
Faith in the gospel restructures our motivations, our self-understanding, our identity, and our view of the world.”199 This quote demonstrates Keller's view that progressive sanctification occurs as the believer embraces the gospel by faith and grows in a deeper. We can only change permanently when we take the gospel deeper into our understanding and into our hearts. The very purpose of Keller's book Gospel in Life is to explain how the gospel affects all of life: “[We will look at how the gospel changes our hearts (sessions 2 and 3), changes our society (sessions 4 and 5), and changes, how we live in the world (sessions 6 and 7).«204 For Keller, the gospel serves as motivation for all areas of life.
Keller begins his discussion of the centrality of the gospel to the Christian life by establishing the relationship between justification and sanctification.206 This. Faith in the gospel restructures our motivations, our self-understanding and identity, and our view of the world.
Keller’s Commitment Contrasted with Competing
WORLDVIEW PREACHERS COMPARED
CONCLUSION
SERMONS OF J. GRESHAM MACHEN
