j. Gresham Machen

Review: J. Gresham Machen

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Cover image of "J. Gresham Machen" by Ned B. Stonehouse

J. Gresham Machen: A Biographical Memoir, Ned B. Stonehouse. Banner of Truth Trust (ISBN: 9781848718746) 2019 (First published in 1954).

Summary: A biographical memoir chronicling Machen’s evangelical faith and scholarship, first at Princeton and then at Westminster.

J. Gresham Machen was arguably one of the most significant thinkers in twentieth century evangelicalism. He was an exacting scholar and staunch defender of an evangelical understanding of the Westminster Confession of the Presbyterian Church. Following in the steps of the Hodges and Warfield, he sought to defend the stance of Princeton as in its orthodox adherence to a Reformed and Evangelical faith and worked against measures that liberalized the seminary. Ultimately, his ministerial credentials were revoked and he led a group of scholars to form Westminster Theological Seminary, and subsequently, the Orthodox Presbyterian Church.

Ned B. Stonehouse was a student under Machen and one of the founding faculty, along with Machen, of Westminster. This “biographical memoir” has the character of an appreciative, though thorough, account of Machen’s life. He extensively cites Machen’s writing, including his extensive correspondence, especially with his mother. From this 600 page biography, I simply want to note some aspects of Machen’s life that were striking.

A godly family. His parents were devout yet created a culturally rich rather than stultifying environment. When Machen struggled both with intellectual doubts and uncertainties about calling, his father was unstinting in his personal and financial support, expressing confidence in his son’s judgement. Equally, his mother stood by him throughout his life, prayed constantly, and eagerly engaged even Machen’s scholarly works.

A faith tested in the wilderness. Following his studies at Princeton, he received a fellowship to study at the theological centers in Germany. While he reveled in the scholarship, he also wrestled with his faith in the face of the liberal scholarship he encountered from impressive theologians. Because of this, he delayed ordination and an appointment at Princeton, working as a lecturer while he pressed into the questions his time in Europe had raised, eventually coming back to a full embrace of the faith as expressed in the Westminster Confession. I believe it was this that made him so effective, first as a teacher, and then as an advocate as that liberal faith hit the American church.

A wise mentor. In William Armstrong, a Princeton professor under whom Machen studied and who recruited him. he was blessed with a mentor who patiently walked with Machen through his theological and vocational struggles. Armstrong remained supportive and encouraging while never dismissing Machen’s qualms. Likewise, he found ways for Machen to teach without needing to pursue ordination until he was ready.

A balance of grace and truth. Machen is known for being unafraid to challenge institutions that wavered theologically. Yet he was a man of great personal compassion. Stonehouse offers the example of his care for a converted alcoholic, at great personal cost, as well as his liberal generosity in care for others.

A careful scholar. His magnum opus was his work The Virgin Birth of Christ. Along with Christianity and Liberalism, a great work of public scholarship, both works remain in print to this day. Likewise, his New Testament Greek for Beginners served as a standard seminary text for many years. Most of his works are still in print.

A courageous advocate. Machen opposed Princeton’s board reorganization, which would (and did) weaken the theological stance of the seminary. Likewise, he challenged the theological drift within Presbyterian missions. It was this that led to revoking his ordination.

Ned Stonehouse’s biography of J. Gresham Machen leaves me wondering about our contemporary situation. The American church seems more fragmented than ever and theological orthodoxy less of a concern than ever. A reading of this work at very least ought serve as a reminder of what it means to be faithful in life and doctrine.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.

Review: What is Faith?

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Cover image of "What is Faith/" by J. Gresham Machen

What is Faith?, J. Gresham Machen. Banner of Truth (ISBN: 9781800403598), 2023 (First published in 1925).

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.