Machen's Unpopular Position

By Brad Isbell - Posted at Presbycast Pravda

Published August 21, 2024

Working through a landmark Machen article, part 14

Now Machen says the quiet part out loud; now we come to doctrines disputed then and now—not “things about which men are agreed…apt to be the things that are least worth holding,” but “the really important things…things about which men will fight.”1 The very mission and function of the church were at stake in 1935. Then as now, embroiling the church in politics and societal reconstruction was popular…and had popular support from academics (Machen’s audience here), denominational bureaucrats, politicians, and pewsitters. Whether it was the New Deal, Prohibition, Great Society, Compassionate Conservatism, Build Back Better, or the “reconquistas” of the various Christian Nationalisms of today, the urge was (and is) “Don’t just church there, do something!” The great doctrine of the spirituality of the church often conflicts with the spirit of any given age.

Machen was a New Testament scholar of the highest order, and he was pretty sure he understood the Great Commission and the teachings of Peter and Paul on the mission of the church and its relation to politics and government. Thus he said: ...

Continue here.

See also:

• What the Church Should Do...and Be - Presbycast Pravda (substack.com)
• The Responsibility of the Church in Our New Age - J. Gresham Machen Bibliography (readmachen.com)