Christ

Any view of Christ that sees him as less than infinite is infinitely less than the real thing. If your view of Christ is not as infinite, then there is an infinite gulf between your view and the view of the real thing. There are many opinions out there about who Jesus is.

Muslims believe Jesus was a prophet. Liberalism has a Jesus. In fact, if you walk down the street and ask a stranger what they know about Jesus, you'll hear lots of different answers. But what matters, our standard of truth, is whether that Jesus is the Jesus of the Bible.

Hi, I'm Nathan W. Bingham, and I'm glad you're with us today for Renewing Your Mind. We must contend for the truth of who Jesus is. That's what Jay Gresham Machen did with the release of his book, Christianity and Liberalism, a hundred years ago this year. To mark that milestone and the theological significance of Machen's book, this week Stephen Nichols is unpacking Christianity and Liberalism, chapter by chapter. Here's Dr. Nichols as Machen compares the Christ of Liberalism with the Christ of Christianity. Well, we were talking about the book that contains the message of the gospel. That message of salvation is in a person.

It's in Jesus Christ. As Machen unfolds this chapter, we have a comparison once again between the Christ of Liberalism and the Christ of Christianity. As Machen uses this expression, it was an expression of Harry Emerson Fosdick's that Jesus is the fairest flower of humanity. Jesus is the fairest flower of humanity.

That's the liberal view. It's a high view of who Jesus is, to be sure, but it is short of the biblical view of Christ as the God-man. And as the fairest flower of humanity in liberalism, Jesus is but an example of faith. So we don't put our faith in Jesus. We have the faith of Jesus. We aspire to attain to that level of faith that Jesus had. His whole life he lived trusting in God and living by faith, and that is an example for us to follow. An example of faith.

Machen will come along and say, read Paul. Read Paul, and you will see that Jesus is no way an example of faith. He is the object of our faith. It is faith in Jesus Christ that saves us. In fact, Paul wants to make sure we're not just talking about an act of faith. We're talking about the object of our faith.

That is where the power of salvation is contained. So we go from example of faith to object of faith, which of course then highlights Jesus' death. So in liberalism, Jesus is an example who is showing us a selflessness. He's an example of not being selfish. By putting down his life for others is a selfless act, a selfless example. But in Christianity, he's not simply selfless. He's sinless. The perfection of Jesus Christ.

He's not simply the fairest flower. He's not sort of different from us by degrees. He is different from us by kind because he is sinless. He who knew no sin, Christ who was without sin, became sin for us, took upon himself our sin. But he was sinless, and as sinless, he was spotless and pure. He was the pure white lamb pointing back to the Old Testament sacrificial system, who then was a substitute on our behalf. So what was Christ doing on the cross? He wasn't dying merely to show an example of selflessness.

He was dying in our place as a substitute. Now, just one text among many that can help us see this is Galatians chapter 3 verse 14. Here Paul is talking about the curse of the law.

He introduces this up in verse 10 of chapter 3. Those who rely on the works of the law are actually under a curse. Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law and do them. Now, does this bring to mind a story from Jesus and the gospels? Maybe the story of the rich young ruler who came to Christ rather confident in his keeping of the law and recognized after he had an engagement with Christ that he was not keeping the law.

And so cursed is everyone under the law. Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law. For, quoting the Old Testament now, the righteous shall live by faith. Paul uses this Old Testament quote here in Galatians. He also uses it over in Romans chapter 1. Very crucial quote for Paul. Very crucial doctrinal hinge for the whole Bible and for the gospel. But the law is not of faith, rather the one who does them shall live by them. And then here's verse 13.

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. For it is written, Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree. Now, if you go back to see the context of that Old Testament quote, you will see that in the context of that quote, that is the most heinous death that one could die of in the Old Testament. And that great care has to be taken for the burial of someone who is hanged on a tree because that has now defiled the earth itself where that event occurred.

Go back and look at the context of this. Then we move into the Roman context and we know that this is the most shameful death preserved and reserved for the most heinous of criminals, death on a cross. So here we have this shameful death in the Roman context.

We have this utterly unclean act in the Old Testament context. And it underscores what Jesus endured on our behalf. That Jesus who was sinless, who was pure, who was the third member of that pure fellowship within the triune Godhead of utter holiness, of being transcendent of this world and of sin, that Jesus took upon himself the curse. We were under the curse. You can almost picture it as Paul's writing this.

You can see the imagery. It's like you're literally standing under a curse. And Jesus comes along and he pushes us aside, and he stands under the curse in our place. The key here is for us. Just a little preposition.

For us. That is the doctrine of the substitutionary atonement of Christ, that he took our place, died in our place. So one of my favorite phrases in all of theological literature is that phrase in the Nicene Creed, that Christ is the God-man for us and for our salvation.

That this is the person of Christ and the work of Christ for us on our behalf and for our salvation to accomplish our redemption. This is not in liberalism. Liberalism is hung up on the example theory of the atonement.

And all of this is from Machen. We can come along and offer another summary of all of this. In liberalism, the key is imitation. And in Christianity, the key is imputation. That absolutely defining and essential doctrine to an orthodox understanding of the gospel. In liberalism, it's all about imitating Jesus and just simply following the pattern Jesus has left for us. And you see how that puts a little bit of the burden on you to step up?

Certainly you're not just alone groping in the darkness. You've got an example you can follow. So Jesus plays a role. But it's really on you to keep up. It's really on you to follow him.

And imputation, it's not on you at all. In fact, it is not about you at all. It is Christ's righteousness that is imputed to you. So essentially what we are saying here is this is not the Christ of the Bible. And because it's not the Christ of the Bible, this is not the gospel. This is not a gospel that has the power to save. Now, having said that, let's explore three things that Machen does in this chapter.

He sets it up very clearly. You've got to grasp fundamentally this distinction. But having said that, we want to elaborate on a few things.

One is, and it seems like I'm talking out of both sides of my mouth here, but I'm not. It is proper in one aspect to speak of Christ as an example for us. We can't just simply say, because liberals have landed on the example theory of the atonement, that therefore we should never speak of Christ as an example.

Here's what Machen says. Nevertheless, Jesus, as a matter of fact, is a brother to us as well as a Savior, an elder brother whose steps we may follow. The imitation of Jesus has a fundamental place in Christian life.

So, I'll say it again. The imitation of Jesus has a fundamental place in the Christian life. It is perfectly correct, Machen goes on to say, to represent Him as our supreme and only perfect example. It's perfectly legitimate to speak of Jesus as an example. So, how do we square that with what I was just saying?

Well, let's flip a few pages and see that Machen will add this. Liberalism regards Him as an example and guide, Christianity as a Savior. Liberalism makes Him an example for faith, Christianity the object of faith.

So, the issue is this. What is Jesus Christ doing on the cross? And what is Christ capable of doing on the cross? In liberalism, all He is doing and all He is capable of doing is providing an example. That's the problem. That's the fundamental problem with the view.

That is patently false. And it's interesting, because liberalism doesn't see Him as God, the only thing Jesus can do is provide an example. All His death, the only merit and worth of His death, if He is not the God-man, is simply as an example. So, it's not just that liberalism believes that His death is an example.

Liberalism only has the capacity to believe that His death is an example. So, that's the problem. So, against that is the substitutionary view of the atonement.

And I like that better. You can call it the example theory, but it's not the substitution theory. It's the substitutionary view of the atonement, because this is the biblical view of Christ's death. So, it is okay to speak of Christ as an example, but not in this fundamental and ultimate way.

And that's what liberalism is doing. So, that's the first thing we can sort of talk about. The other thing we can talk about is miracles, and Machen is going to spend quite a bit of time on miracles in this chapter regarding Christ. And he does that for a lot of reasons, but one of the reasons is, the biblical authors, in fact, they come along and tell us this, that these miracles are attestations of Jesus as the messenger and the message that Jesus delivered. The miracles served a purpose. In fact, this is true throughout the Bible.

We see this as the biblical pattern. Miracles were there to verify and authenticate the messenger, and to verify and authenticate the message. We see this back in Exodus in the plagues, that the miracles of the plagues that occurred were there to vindicate Moses as God's prophet. And the message that Moses was delivering to Pharaoh, namely, let my people go. And that becomes the biblical pattern, and so it is with Jesus that these signs testify to who He is and to His message. But what was happening in liberalism was the rejection of these miracles.

Well, let's see what Dr. Machen has to say about this. He says, the issue is not individual miracles, even so important as a miracle as the virgin birth. It really concerns all miracles.

Now, let me tell you what he's trying to say here. We have to approach this as the life of Christ. And as we approach this as the life of Christ, what we see is a story from the very beginning of the incarnation to the ascension. And at each point along that narrative, at those key moments, there is a miracle to attest to the event that is happening. So at His birth, the beginning of the incarnation, there is a testament to the miracle of the virgin birth.

It's the beginning. Then we go to the beginning of His public ministry. Contrary to those intertestamental books, contrary to those extra canonical books, we don't find Jesus on the playground turning little piles of clay into doves. We don't actually find very much doing about Jesus's life. Very little is recorded of Jesus's life until He begins that public ministry.

And when He begins that public ministry, what do we have? At the very beginning of it, we have a miracle as Jesus turns the water into wine. And then the death and the burial, the payment of the penalty for sin, and what miracle do we have but the resurrection. The ultimate miracle. The exclamation point, as it were, on who Jesus is, and this exclamation point on His pronouncement from the cross.

It is finished. The miracle of the resurrection. So what we see is the package, if you will, of the incarnate Christ being punctuated at these moments of what we call redemptive history, these key era-shaping moments. We see miracles.

That's what Machen's talking about. Let's take it as a whole. And the question concerning all miracles is simply the question of the acceptance or the rejection of the Savior that the New Testament presents. So see, He's either a Savior or He's just an example. And what's going to mean the difference is, do you believe the biblical record, a biblical record that is punctuated by these miracles? Reject the miracles.

Okay, so this is the liberal view. Reject the miracles. And you have in Jesus the fairest flower of humanity, who made such an impression upon His followers that after His death, they could not believe that He had perished, but experienced hallucinations in which they thought they saw Him risen from the dead. Those are actually theories put forth by German biblical scholars who are differentiating between the Jesus of history and the Jesus of faith.

And their argument was that these poor disciples were so distraught now that Jesus was killed at the hands of the Romans that they actually hallucinated seeing Him risen. If you reject the miracles, that's actually what you're left with. That's how you account for these gospel texts. But accept the miracles, right?

Accept the miracles, and you have a Savior who came voluntarily into this world for our salvation, suffered for our sins upon the cross, rose again from the dead by the power of God, and ever lives to make intercession for us. The difference between these two views is the difference between two totally diverse religions. The difference between these two views, and specifically here we're talking about what do we do with the biblical record.

The difference between these two views of rejecting the biblical record or accepting the biblical record is not going to result in forms within Christianity that you can choose that are more palatable to you. They're two different things. They're two different things, and one is liberalism and one is Christianity. And this has been the overarching thesis. Liberalism is not Christianity.

Well, we've looked at what do we mean by example and what do we not mean by example. We've looked at the issue of miracles. There's one last piece in this chapter that Machen deals with, and that is Jesus as the God-man.

Machen makes the point that as you read the biblical narrative, you come away with two conclusions. Jesus is truly human. He gets tired. He gets hungry.

Oh, we can back up. He was born. He was born as an infant, as the gospel narrative says, in swaddling clothes, a helpless infant.

I think it was Spurgeon. You know, both Luther and Spurgeon loved the paradox of the incarnation. And in Luther's hymns and in some poems of Spurgeon, they both tried to capture that paradox.

But it was Spurgeon who says, an infant and infinite. But his birth is the beginning of the proof of his humanity. Jesus didn't come and hover six inches off the ground. He's truly human, and he got weak, and he got tired, and he got hungry, and he got thirsty. And then here is the ultimate demonstration of his humanity. He died.

He really died. And he was really put into a tomb. So Jesus is truly human. Yet at the same time, Jesus is truly God. And so we see this in the way he claims to be equal with the Father. Equal with the Father in such a way that that first century audience knew exactly what he meant. And they knew exactly the blasphemy that they thought he was declaring. And so the moment he declares that equality with the Father, what do they do?

They look around for the biggest stone they can find, because now he is deserving of being stoned to death for blaspheming by claiming equality with the Father. And we have the string of I Am statements in the Gospel of John, clear declarations of the deity of Jesus Christ. You read the Gospels, and you come away with this very clear view that Jesus is truly God, truly man, truly human, truly divine, two natures and one person. This is articulated in the Nicene Creed and then articulated in the Chalcedonian Creed, centuries later in the church, 325, 451.

But those creeds are adding nothing to the text of Scripture. What they are simply doing is summarizing the wide swaths of biblical teaching on who Jesus is as the God-man and putting it in that succinct formula of what we call the hypostatic union, two natures and one person. At one point, Machen is going to say that no matter how high your view of Christ is, any view of Christ that sees him as less than infinite is infinitely less than the real thing.

No matter how high your view is of Christ, he could be the fairest of the fairest flowers of humanity. No matter how high that view is, if your view of Christ is not as infinite, then there is an infinite gulf between your view and the view of the real thing. And we have to talk about this, the person of Christ.

In fact, we have to do far more than talk about it. We have to insist upon it because it is the person of Christ that is behind the work of Christ. And what this chapter establishes for us is that Jesus is the God-man, and what this chapter does is tee up for us this chapter that is to come next, and that is the doctrine of salvation.

We've looked at it. Who is God? Who is man? What is the Bible? Who is Christ? There is a wrong answer to all these things, and there's a right answer. And Machen wants us to see that we must know and contend and defend these right answers, especially this answer of who Jesus Christ is.

No matter how high your view of Christ is, if he's not the God-man, the Christ of the Bible, he isn't the Savior of sinners. You're listening to Renewing Your Mind, and today you heard a message from Stephen Nichols teaching on J. Gresham Machen's helpful book, Christianity and Liberalism. This is a milestone year, 100 years since that book was first published, so we'd like to send you a special 100th anniversary edition as our thanks for your donation of any amount. You can give your gift at renewingyourmind.org, and when you do, not only will we send you the book, we'll also send you Dr. Nichols' complete walkthrough of it. This series is 12 messages, so call us today at 800-435-4343, or visit renewingyourmind.org. If we get Jesus wrong, we get the gospel wrong as well, so Friday we'll see what the Bible's doctrine of salvation is and how liberalism undermines it, so be sure to join us tomorrow here on Renewing Your Mind. Copyright © 2020, New Thinking Allowed Foundation