“To despise doctrine is to despise the Word of God.” – R. C. Sproul
“False teaching is easily identified by the fact that it is willingly received by all and is to everyone’s liking.” – John Calvin
“Holy Scripture is the highest authority for every believer, the standard of faith and the foundation for reform.” – John Wycliffe
Chapter Two of J. Gresham Machen’s book Christianity and Liberalism addresses the biblical doctrine of God and Man. Our view of God will determine our view of man. Likewise, our view of man will determine our view of God. Both theology (the study of God) and anthropology (the study of man) are mutually dependent.
“The crisis of modern humanity is found in the rupture between anthropology and theology, between the study of human beings and the study of God,” explains Dr. R. C. Sproul.
“When our story is told in isolation or divorced from the story of God, then it indeed becomes, as Shakespeare’s Macbeth noted, ‘a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.’ If we are considered without reference to God, we become a ‘useless passion’ as philosopher John Paul Sartre declared,”
A useless passion is human life characterized by intense emotions which accomplish nothing. It is a striving in futility because life, without God, or a limited God, results in meaninglessness.
Machen recognized that modern religious liberalism undermined the need for a knowledge, or conception, of God. The liberal argued that God does need to be known from Scripture. Mankind just needs to feel the presence of some so-called deity; in a preferably vague and general sense. It was this growing perspective in the Presbyterian church of Machen’s day that caused him great grief.
“Liberalism had erased the Creator-creature distinction that is so fundamental to true Christianity. It had instead produced a pantheistic God who is simply part of the “world process.” God was no longer a distinct being; His life was in our life and our life was in His life,” explains Old Testament scholar Dr. Jonathan Gibson.
“Modern liberalism, even when it is not consistently pantheistic, is at any rate pantheizing. It tends everywhere to break down the separateness between God and the world, and the sharp distinction between God and man,” stated Machen.
Machen stressed the importance of acknowledging the immanence but also the transcendence of Almighty God. God is holy (Isaiah 6:1-7) Machen understood and it was this truth that he believed the modern liberal church had rejected. This resulted in a misunderstanding of mankind’s lost condition and along with this a personal consciousness of sin. Man was now viewed as morally good and no longer radically depraved. As one church recently posted on its marquis, “God Thinks You’re Fabulous.” This was the perspective of the modern liberal church of Machen’s day, and also today’s postmodern liberal church.
What are the two foundational truths concerning God and man? How are believers in Christ to understand the gulf that exists between the two?
First, there is the Creator/Creature Distinction. This is revealed in Genesis 1-2. Man is not the Creator, God is. God is infinite, man is finite. God is eternal, man is temporary. God is unchangeable, man is in constant change or flux. God possesses life in Himself while man receives life, in all its forms, from God. God is immortal, while man is mortal.
Second, there is the Holy/Sinful Distinction. This is a serious and present reality but one which the modern liberal church dismisses with a cavalier attitude.
The only message that effectively and truthfully addresses this issue is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. God has justified, redeemed and reconciled sinners by grace alone, through faith alone by the person and work of Jesus Christ alone. This truthful message is the only hope for the fallen world and the compromising, liberal church.
Soli deo Gloria!
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