Pete Buttigieg stated that salvation “has to do with how I make myself useful” to marginalized and oppressed people. Now, it may seem like I am making much of this little phrase. I am not. This is the Old Liberalism that has mascaraed as Christianity since the late 18th Century. And oh, by the way, it’s the same Liberalism that can be seen advancing godless causes in America every time you turn on the television or look at the news.
Here is what is stated in the book I am recommending today about this very idea while Model T Fords were still being produced.
According to modern liberalism, faith is essentially the same as “making Christ Master” in one’s life; at least it is by making Christ Master in the life that the welfare of men is sought. But that simply means that salvation is thought to be obtained by our own obedience to the commands of Christ. Such teaching is just a subliminated form of legalism. Not the sacrifice of Christ, on this view, but our own obeidence to God’s law, is the ground of hope. – J. Greshem Machen, Christianity and Liberalism
First published in 1923 J. Greshem Machen really stirred up trouble for himself when he defended orthodox Christianity over and against the liberalism of his day with his book Christianity and Liberalism. He was one of the first to really begin punching hard in the fight against Liberalism in the United States. Liberal Theology did not believe the whole Bible to be God’s Word, did not believe in the miracles of the Bible, did not believe in the Resurrection and many other things considered orthodox. It became prominent in the late 18th Century and grew in Europe and in the United States. The greatest early Liberal theologian was Friedrich Schleiermacher. (If you are interested in learning about the movement this is a good place to start.) And the reach of this movement was deep, much deeper than many people realize. In my own denomination, the Southern Baptist Convention, Crawford Howell Toy was fired from his post at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary because of his adherence to it. And, the SBC did not rid itself of this until the Conservative Resurgence, and this was not until around the 1980s.
Machen was working against this plague in the Presbyterian Church far quicker than those in the SBC. J. Greshem Machen was part of Westminster Theological Seminary’s creation in 1929. The desire of the founders of Westminster was that pure orthodox Christianity be taught. He was also responsible for organizing the Independent Board of Foreign Missions, so that missionaries who actually taught God’s Word would be sent out into the mission field. There was a rather large hullaballoo and the mission board was dissolved and Machen was suspended from ministry. This led to the founding of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. This book, Christianity and Liberalism was written six years before the creation of Westminster Theological Seminary.
The main idea of this book is that Liberalism is not Christianity. They are two very different religions altogether. Christianity holds to God’s Word, the real Christ that is presented in God’s Word and His finished work accomplished in history. Liberalism is something else altogether.
The chief modern rival of Christianity is “liberalism.” An examination of the teachings of liberalism in comparison with those of Christianity will show that at every point the two movements are in direct opposition.” – J. Greshem Machen
R. Dwain Minor
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