June 1925
THE K I N G ’S B U S I N E S S
250
in our day, paganism in th e Corinthian Church sought to sub stitu te the Greek notion of the imm ortality of the soul fo r the Christian doctrine of the resurrection. But God had His w itness; the apostle P au l was not deceived; and in a g reat passage— th e most im po rtan t words, historically, perhaps, th a t have ever been penned— he reviewed the sheer factual basis of the Christian faith. “ How th a t C h rist died for our sins according to th e scriptures; and th a t he was buried, and th a t he rose again the th ird day according to th e scriptures.” There is the foundation of the Christian edifice. Paganism was gnawing away— not y et directly, hu t by ultim ate implication— a t th a t foundation in Corinth, as it has been doing so in one way or ano ther ever since, and p articu larly in the P resbyterian Church in the United States of America ju st a t th e present time. But P au l was there, and many of the five hundred w itnesses were still alive. The Gospel message was kept distinct, in the Pauline churches, from the wisdom of the world; the precious salt was still preserved. Gnostic Salt Then, in the second century, th ere came another deadly conflict. It was again a conflict no t w ith an enemy w ithout, hu t w ith an enemy w ithin. The Gnostics used the name of Christ; they tried to dom inate the Church; th ey appealed to th e Epistles of Paul. But despite th e ir use of Christian language they were, pagan th rough and through. Modern scholarship, on th is point, has tended to confirm the judg m ent of th e g reat orthodox w riters of th a t day; Gnosticism was a t bottom no mere variety of Christian belief, no mere heresy, h u t paganism masquerading in Christian dress. Many were deceived; the danger was very great. But it was not God’s will th a t th e Church should perish. Irenaeus was there, and T ertu llian w ith his vehement defence. The Church was saved—no t by those who cried “ Peace, peace, when th ere is no peace,” bu t by zealous contenders for the faith. Again, out o f a g reat danger, the precious salt, was preserved. Then came th e Middle Ages. Never in the interval, indeed, was God altogether w ithout His w itnesses; th e ligh t still shone from th e sacred page; bu t how dim, in th a t atmosphere, the light seemed to be! The Gospel m ight have seemed to he buried forever. Yet in God’s good time it came fo rth again w ith new power— the same Gospel th a t Augustine and P aul had proclaimed. W hat stronger proof could th ere he th a t th a t Gospel had come from God? Where in th e histo ry of religion is th e re any parallel for such a revival, after such an interval, and w ith such a purity of faithfulness to w hat had form erly been believed? A Gos pel th a t survived the Middle Ages will probably, it may well ■be hoped, never perish from the earth , b u t will be the Word of Life unto the end of the world. In L u th e r’s Day Yet in those early years of the sixteenth century how dark was th e time! When L u th er made his visit to Rome, w hat did he find—w hat did he find there in th e center of the Christian world? He found paganism b la tan t and trium phan t and unashamed; he found th e glories of ancient Greece come to life in the Italian renaissance; h u t w ith those glories, self-sufficiency and rebellion ag ain st God, and moral degradation of th e n atu ra l man. Apparently pagan ism had a t last won its age-long b attle; apparently it had made a clean sweep over th e people of God, apparently the Church had a t la st become quite indistinguishable from the world. But in the m idst of the geiferal w reck one th ing a t least was preserved. Many things were lost, hu t one th ing was still left— the medieval Church had never lost th e Word
of the sect of the Pharisees came into the .Church— false b reth ren privily brought in. They were not tru e Chris tians, because they tru sted in th e ir own works for salvation, and no man can he a Christian who does th a t. They were not even tru e adherents of the Old Covenant; for the Old Covenant, despite th e Law, was a p reparation for th e Sav iou r’s coming, and the Law was a schoolmaster unto Christ. Yet they were Christians in name, and they tried to dom in ate th e councils of the Church. It was a serious menace; for a moment it looked as though even Peter, tru e apostle though he was a t heart, were being deceived. His principles were righ t, hu t by his actions his principles, a t Antioch, for one fatal moment, were belied. But it was not God’s will th a t the Church should perish; and the man of the hour was there. There was one man who would not consider consequences where a g reat principle was a t stake, Who pu t all personal con siderations resolutely aside, and refused to become un faith ful to Christ th rough any fear of “ splitting the Church.” “When I saw th a t they walked not uprightly,” said Paul, “ according to the tru th of th e Gospel, I said unto P eter before them all . . .” Thus was th e precious sa lt preserved. Worldly Salt But from ano ther side also the Church was menaced by the blandishments of th e world; it was menaced no t only by a false Judaism , which really m eant opposition of m an’s self-righteousness to th e mysterious grace of God, hu t also by th e all-embracing paganism of th a t day. When the Pauline churches were planted in the cities of th e Graeco- Roman world, th e battle was not ended hu t only begun. Would the little spaTk of new life be k ep t alive? How could they possibly avoid being drawn away by the cu rren t of the time? The danger certainly was g reat; and when P aul left an in fan t church like th a t a t Thessalonica his h ea rt was full of dread. But God was faith fu l to His prom ise, and th e first word th a t came from th a t in fan t church was good. The wonder had actually been accomplished; th e converts were standing firm. But why were they living tru e Christian lives? T hat is the really im po rtan t question. And th e answer is plain.- They were living Christian lives because they were devoted to Christian tru th . “Ye tu rn ed to God,” says Paul, “ from idols to serve th e living and tru e God; and to w ait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from th e dead,- even Jesus, which delivered us from the w rath to come.” That was th e secret. Their Christian lives were founded upon Christian doctrine— upon theism ( “the living and tru e God” ), upon Christology ( “his Son . . . whom he raised from th e dead” ), and upon soteriology ( “which delivered us from th e w ràth to come” ). They k ep t the message in tact, and hence they lived the life. So it will always be. Lives apparently and superficially Christian can perhaps sometimes he lived by force of habit, w ithout being based upon Christian tru th ; hu t th a t will never do when Chris tia n living, as in pagan Thessalonica, goes against the grain. But in the case of the Thessalonian converts the message was kep t intact, and w ith it the Christian life. Thu s again was th e precious sa lt preserved. P ag an S alt But the conflict was not merely in th e sphere of conduct. More fundam entally it was in the sphere of thought. P ag anism, in Corinth was far too astu te to th ink th a t Christian life could be attacked when Christian doctrine remained. And so pagan practice was promoted by an appeal to pagan theo ry ; the enemy engaged in an attem p t to sublim ate or explain away the fundam ental things of the Christian faith. Somewhat a fte r the m anner of the Auburn. “Affirmationists”
Made with FlippingBook - Online magazine maker