690 processes of history. It is God finishing what He has begun. I t is no t God vio lently destroying th e good, bu t God in a redeem ing purpose effectively making perm anent th e good and destroying the disintegrating influences of evil. As we m ight n atu ra lly expect, the story of the revelation of th is dynamic process is also progressive. There is nothing new about this. Standing as it does, unique in th e lite ra tu re of the world, it has always challenged though t ful students. When I was a mere boy I remember hearing Dr. A. T. Pierson say th a t one of the most helpful books he had in his lib rary was “The Progress of Doctrine in th e New T estam ent” by Bernard, and he urged every earnest stud en t of th e New Testament to get it and read it. The whole though t of th a t book th a t has been so potent in in fluencing th e th ink ing of many of our outstanding Bible teachers Is th a t of progressive revelation. The men who are now making so much of this “new idea” and alleging th a t those who differ from them in th e ir ideas of Christ and th e Bible hold and teach a doctrine of a static Christianity and revelation, must be unconsciously igno ran t of what men have been really thinking and teaching for years. The classic statem en t of the idea of .a progressive revelation is found in Hebrews 1:1-2: “ God, having of old tim e spoken unto th e fath ers in the prophets by divers portions and in di vers manners, h ath a t th e end of these days (i. e., consummation of th is pro cess) spoken unto us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things.” Here we have revelation presented as a pro gressive movement culm inating in Jesus Christ, who is the final word. A fter Him th ere is only a revealing of Trig things— a discovering of w hat H e is and w h at He means to life, th e world and th e ages. He has revealed th e m ind and will of God and th ere is no word for th e world beyond Him.
T H E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S The trouble w ith much th a t we see and h ear about development and pro gressive revelation is th a t it seems to assume th a t if revelation was a progress, therefore it m ust be historic ally u n tru e and unreliable. God did not tell Moses all He had to reveal, th erefo re what Moses was told is not tru e or reliable. We have a fu ller reve lation in th e P rophets and In Christ, th erefo re what was known before is not true. T hat is a Hegelian fallacy which has vitiated much of recent th ink ing on th e subject of progress and is like saying th a t th e acorn is not. tru e and cannot be depended upon because later it develops into an oak. The acorn is not th e whole story but it is th e story as far as it has been developed and is ju st as tru e and reliable as th e oak. The oak does not contradict th e acorn— it only declares its final m ean ings and possibilities. John does not contradict Moses bu t unveils the final meanings and matchless issues of the revelation made to Moses. The develop ment of th e Bible and Christianity, which afte r all is th e fund am en tal principle of progress in th e world and history, is not a changing which re sults from the experiments and blunders of men who are feeling th e ir way in the d ark and have to change because they were m istaken, bu t the changing th a t is th e n atu ra l resu lt of an unfold ing life and program th a t are in no way uncertain as to th e ir final issues. Chris tian ity and th e Bible are th e progress of a divine program , and men’s pro grams and activities are tru ly progres sive only as they are in line w ith and are th e expression of this divine pro gram . Much th a t is being w ritten and said in our day about a static religion and revelation is nothing bu t th e dust of a trag ic m isunderstanding or wilful ignorance on th e p art of men who ought to know better. The men who have experienced God in Christ and whose lives are fundamentally changed by th is
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