The Fundamental Principles of Christianity in the Light of Modern Thinking* By REV. JOHN M. MACINNIS, B. D. VI. THE GATEWAY INTO THE GLORY.—Luke 24:26.
T HE glory of Christ is that He is the Saviour of men. The gateway into that glory is the cross. Not any particular theory of the cross but the fact of the cross. Even so profane a man as Bernard Shaw in his own irreverent way rec ognized this fact. In his introduction to “Major Barbara” he irreverently says, “The central superstition of Christianity is the salvation of the world by the gibbet.” This grates upon the feeliiigs of the Christian heart, but with all its irreverence we cannot miss the fact that it recognizes that the cross is cen tral in the New Testament conception of salvation. That is more than can be said for a great deal of inodern preaching and theology. However, we are glad to note that there is a very definite movement back to this center, and leaders in thought are rec ognizing in a new way that the cross is central in the redemption of the world. Rev. Richard Roberts speak ing for this new tendency says, “In the cross, God began the world over again, lifted it out of the side tracks into which it had drifted, and put it; on those lines of development which He had ordained for it from the very first.” This is what Prof. James Den ney means when he says, “Jesus not only was something in the world, but He did something. He did something that made a fundamental difference and put us under an infinite obligation H-He died for our sins.” A candid study of the New Testament forces these men to recognize this fact. Jesus ♦A ddress delivered a t th e M ontrose Bible C onference, M ontrose, P a. C opyright, 1913, by Jo h n M. M aclnnis.
put the cross at the heart of things when He instituted the Lord’s Sup per. By it He virtually said “show forth my death as the central thing in my program of redemption.” It is meant to turn our eyes towards the consum mation, while at the same time it most emphatically reminds us that the gate way into the glory of consummation is the cross on which He made atone ment for sin. This is strictly in keep ing with Christ’s teaching throughout His ministry. He made it very clear that He came to seek and to save the lost and that in order to do this He must suffer death. This was a stum bling block to His disciples. Never theless, Jesus insisted on putting the cross at the forefront to the very last. Whatever men may think, to Jesus the cross was central, fundamental and essential in the salvation of the world. The church of the Acts unhesitat- ingly gave this central place to the cross in its life and preaching. They proclaimed through the crucified Christ remission of sins and justifica tion and new life. They stated the simple fact, but made no attempt to give a philosophy of it. If they had a theory of the death of Christ they did not attempt to elaborate it in these teachings. They made the plain state ment that “He was made sin for us” and everything indicates that the fact was very real to them. However, as in the case of other great central truths in Christianity men very early in "the history of the Church began to reason concerning the significance and meanings of this mysterious death. Irenaeus, Clement
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