Introduction
We love love, and love being loving. We love that we are more loving than other people, and we love telling other people how they can be more loving like us. If everyone in the world loved like we love and were so full love than the world would be overcome by love and would be full of love…because in the end, love is all you need.
What is the best way to win the world over? It is obviously by being loving which is illustrated by being the nicest, most emotional person in the room like Jesus was. This is often how the Christian gospel is presented, if not in word, certainly in action and disposition.
For all of our talk about love, we really don’t have a damn clue what talking about…And the reason we really don’t have a damn clue what we are talking about is because we don’t really understand the Cross of Christ, and what was actually accomplished on it. Often evangelicals will celebrate the Cross, this is well and good – the Cross should be celebrated, but in order for it to be truly celebrated one needs to understand what was accomplished there.
Given everything that Machen has said thus far, regarding Liberalisms differing view of God, their differing view of man, their differing view of the Book which contains the gospel and their differing view regarding the Person and work of Christ which the Book sets forth. It should come as no surprise to us that liberalism sets forth an entirely different way of salvation.
To restate, or perhaps to reaffirm, or maybe to reassert what’s already been said at sundry times and diverse manners in previous episodes: liberalism is not Christianity. Liberalism offers no good news. Liberalism differs not just at the periphery but at the very core of Christianity.
Apart from a proper understanding of the Cross of Christ, and what Jesus alone accomplished there, Christianity makes entirely no sense whatsoever. Not only that, it has nothing whatsoever to offer the world. As Machen writes,
“According to Christian belief, Jesus is our Savior, not by virtue of what He said, not even by virtue of what He was, but by what He did.”
Of course, who He was determined what He accomplished…which Machen would certainly assert. Nevertheless, His point stands. Jesus is our Savior by what He did, through His cross and through His resurrection. Jesus died for my sins. That is history. He loved me and gave Himself for me. That is doctrine. The fact of the matter is that Christianity knows nothing of an atonement that is not a vicarious atonement because there is no other kind. This is the plain teaching of the Bible.
There is no need to complicate things…in fact, those who complicate things usually do so with the intent of making dirty water clear as mud. That is, they go out of their way to make the simple gospel complicated in order to alleviate the guilt that they feel from that simple gospel.
Therefore, it has to become very mysterious, and all very spiritual and stuff, that only the super spiritual can understand…which is usually just a pious ruse to sound like a holy roller, without actually dealing with the teachings of Christianity…Or with regards to salvation, it’s a way of letting everyone know that you’re saved by virtue of how mysterious and spiritual you are and not because of what Jesus did – who can really know those things anyway?
Machen elaborates,
“On the contrary, though it involves mysteries, it is itself so simple that a child can understand it. ‘We deserved eternal death, but the Lord Jesus, because He loved us, died instead of us on the cross’ – surely there is nothing so very intricate about that. It is not the Bible doctrine of the atonement which is difficult to understand – what are really incomprehensible are the elaborate modern efforts to get rid of the Bible doctrine in the interests of human pride.”
Therefore, when we come to the doctrine of salvation it’s as though all roads have been leading to this intersection. That is, everything comes to a head, here. If the liberal holds a different view of doctrine, a different view of God and man, a different view of the Bible, and a different view of Christ then you can’t possibly hold to a Christian view of salvation.
Which means, regardless of how pious and sincere our liberal’s friends may sound, they aren’t saved. That’s why all of this matters so much – again, we’re arguing over the foundation that’s holding up the entire building.
Salvation
Christianity deals with the dreadful reality and removal of guilt…we begin with the Biblical presupposition that man is dead in His trespasses and sins and he is utterly unable to save himself from the dreadful wrath of God. God is holy and just and sin is rebellion against the Almighty.
The wages for sin is death, and the debt owe to God is infinite. This is not to say that every unrepentant sinner will merit the same eternal punishment, however, it is to say that they all will receive eternal punishment. Not because all are equally depraved, but because of the nature of the One whom unregenerate man has sinned against.
Once we understand sin in relation to God, then we begin to understand why sin is rebellion against God and alienation from God, with which comes the acquisition of a debt that man can never pay. Hence the beauty of Paul’s words to the Colossian church,
“And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.” Colossians 2:13-15
The reason why the Cross, an instrument of torture, is so magnificent to Christians, is because Jesus died there in our place as our substitute. Anytime, anyone even considers the Cross, they should immediately think to themselves, “That’s what my sin deserved and because Jesus paid my debt I will never have too.” This is the nature of vicarious atonement – Jesus died in my place. Without the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus we would all still be dead in our sin and the most pitiable of all people.
Liberalism differs in every respect. However, when it comes to the doctrine of salvation we see a clear t-bone in the road. The idea of a bloody vicarious atonement is an abomination to them because it forces them to come to terms with why God put Christ on the cross in the first place, namely, because of their sin.
Therefore, liberals, of all generations have never tired of pouring out all of their vials of
contempt and hatred on the cross. Not because of the glorious truth that it declares about our gracious and merciful God, but rather because it is clear and conclusive evidence in time and space that, not only are they not God, but that they deserve His wrath. What we need is not exhortation, but gospel.
That fact that man would have to repent and believe in Jesus, and Jesus alone in order to receive the forgiveness of sins and eternal life seems so, close-minded, shall we say, foolishness and a stumbling block? Liberals have always railed against Christianity being too narrow, too exclusive, but the real problem isn’t narrowness of exclusivity per se…it’s just that it excludes them and their man-centeredness.
“What struck the early observers of Christianity most forcibly was not merely that salvation was offered by means of the Christian gospel, but that all other means were resolutely rejected. The early Christian missionaries demanded an absolutely exclusive devotion to Christ. Such exclusiveness ran directly counter to the prevailing syncretism of the Hellenistic age. In that day, many saviors were offered by many religions to the attention of men, but various pagan religions could live together in perfect harmony; when a man became a devotee of one god, he did not have to do with these ‘courtly polygamies of the soul’; it demanded an absolutely exclusive devotion; all other Saviors, it insisted, must be deserted for the one Lord.
Salvation, in other words, was not merely through Christ, but it was only through Christ. In that little word ‘only’ lay all the offense. Without that word there would have been no persecutions; the cultured men of the day would probably have been willing to give Jesus a place, and an honorable place, among the saviors of mankind. Without its exclusiveness, the Christian message would have seemed perfectly inoffensive to the men of that day. So modern liberalism, placing Jesus along side other benefactors of mankind, is perfectly inoffensive in the modern world. All men speak well of it. It is entirely inoffensive. But it is also entirely futile. The offense of the Cross is done away, but so is the glory and the power.” J. Gresham Machen
There is no glory and power in the Cross of Jesus Christ for the liberal, which is why it is an offense to them. They can’t deny it historically, so they have to try and explain it away…and make it more palatable to those who hate God…make it, well, not Christian.
They do this by saying that Jesus is the perfect example of sacrificial love…but this begs the obvious question, who was He sacrificing Himself for and why? And more than that, what did He accomplish in doing so? If His death is not a vicarious atonement, than how is that loving in anyway. In trying to make the gospel more loving, liberals have removed love from the equation altogether.
This idea that Jesus loves everyone exactly the way they are, and just wants everyone to be happy, (as defined by them) is not only stupid and unbiblical, its unloving because it’s affirming the very thing that Jesus came to die for…the very thing with which, if not repented of, will receive eternal damnation. Letting by-gones be by-gones, or you get your sin and I get mine, may sound pleasant, but in reality, is terribly unloving.
“The fundamental thing is that God Himself, and not another, makes the sacrifice for sin – God Himself in the person of the Son who assumed our nature and died for us, God Himself in the Person of the Father who spared not His own Son but offered Him up for us all. Salvation is as free for us as the air we breathe; God’s the dreadful cost, ours the gain. ‘God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.’ Such love is very different form the complacency found in the God of modern preaching; this love is love that did not count the cost; it is love that is love indeed.” J. Gresham Machen
Liberals avoid sin like a body positivity model avoids a salad…not realizing what they are giving up in the process – namely, the forgiveness of sin that they avoid like the plague. Not only, do they remove the possibility of being forgiven and made right with the Lord, but they also remove the blessed peace that comes from Calvary’s Cross.
The more and more liberals talk about love while denying sin, the more sin multiples…They can say that man is basically good until they turn blue in the face, but it won’t make man good. No matter how hard they try, liberals cannot remove the disease of sin…every attempt will simply be added to the ruins of Babel.
The cardinal liberal doctrine that the worlds evils can be overcome by the worlds goods
(assuming a standard for both), only ends in disaster, as evidenced by the ruins of every
empire…including our own, but maybe if we keep driving in the wrong direction maybe we’ll get there soon.
“This love and this love alone brings true joy to men. Joy is indeed being sought by the modern liberal Church. But it is being sought in ways that are false. How may communion with God be made joyful? Obviously, we are told, by emphasizing the comforting attributes of God – His long-suffering, His love. Let us, it is urged, regard Him not as a moody Despot, not as a sternly righteous Judge, but simply as a loving Father. Away with the horrors of the old theology! Let us worship a God in whom we can rejoice.” J. Gresham Machen
But there is no rejoicing in God apart from the sin-atoning death of Jesus. Through Christ the full penalty of our sins has been paid. Through Christ, we are clothed in His righteousness. Through Christ, we stand not only justified before the judgment seat of God, but we stand in Christ as adopted sons and daughters…as a new creation.
When the Christian hears the gospel, they rejoice that they have been delivered from the slavery of sin and death. When the liberal hears the gospel they complain that we should really care about making the world a better place by making it nicer and more loving and such, by caring about social justice like Jesus did.
What liberals fail to recognize is that the salvation of the world, and real cultural transformation begins one soul at a time who gives their life to Jesus because of who He is and what He accomplished through His vicarious atonement.
“Christianity will indeed accomplish many useful things in this world, but if it is accepted in order to accomplish those useful things it is not Christianity. Christianity will combat Bolshevism; but if it is accepted in order to combat Bolshevism, it is not Christianity: Christianity will produce a unified nation, in a slow but satisfactory way; but if it is accepted in order to produce a unified nation, it is not Christianity: Christianity will produce a healthy community, but if it is accepted in order produce a healthy community, it is not Christianity…”. J. Gresham Machen
Conclusion
At the core and center of liberalism lies man, with God as an afterthought. At the core and center of Christianity is a sovereign, perfect, holy God and man who exists for the sake of God. These two beliefs are diametrically opposed to one another and there can be no common ground, no neutrality.
Liberalism has absolutely nothing to offer man. The difference here between Christianity and liberalism is a difference that runs all the way down and all the way through. This is not a mere difference in theology, but rather this difference in theology can be felt in every area of life and we are just now beginning to experience the cultural tremors.
To jigger with the gospel in anyway, or to tamper with the Cross of Christ in anyway, or to
question the nature of the atonement in anyway, is not only unloving, its damnable.
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