THE CHURCH AND ITS THEOLOGIANS
Theology is popularly defined as the “interpretation of religious faith, practice, and experience.” In the church different people take part in it in different ways and degrees.
We arc thankful for good “pew theologians,” Aquila and Priscilla, tentmakers, heard the preaching of the eloquent Apollos, then “took him unto them, and expounded unto him the way of God more accurately” (Acts 18:26).
A student preacher told his friends: “Those folks in the church can’t analyze a rat but, boy. they can smell one!”
Doctrinal sensitivity is highly needed. But it takes a lot of study in depth and in extent. And it surely is better to do with less recreation and visiting than with less Bible study, also in society.
A salute to our pew theologians!
And to our theologians in the ministry! The better theologian the pastor is, the better preacher, teacher, witness he will be.
Then a high salute to our theological professors in whichever classification they serve: all drawing from the Bible. the same fount of truth and applying it to their particular branch of study; all specialists in the study of the Word.
So they train our future pastors especially. a tremendously important task. They also, by preaching and writing, guide the thought of the church.
They are. and ought to be, deeply concerned about the doctrinal soundness of the church as well as its healthy Christian living and its zeal to labor.
And the church is concerned about the soundness of its leaders. especially when they see many churches becoming liberal from the top down.
As the time comes on when “they will not endure sound doctrine” and as we realize that the church is “the pillar and ground of the truth,” the high challenge for us all is together “to contend earnestly for the faith.”
Surely, our “amateur” theologians must apply themselves to careful study of “sound words” of Bible truth. They must “have done with lesser things” as they faithfully “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord.” “Leave that to the scholars” may have in it some humility and a lot of sloth. Mental muscles which stretch also grow!
And our theologians who specialize have the duty and privilege of. as plainly as possible, leading the thinking of the church into the enlarging understanding of the infallible Word as also structured in our Bible-based creeds.
In our days of marvelous technical communications, may we communicate well in spiritual things each in his measure.
CORNEAL HOLTROP
THE WIND IN THE FOREST
Is there an injustice of tyranny so grievous and unbearable that a man may properly throw off its yoke by means of disobedience to law and the subversion of order in society? The answer of contemporary humanism is an unqualified—yes. Ecumenical Protestants have made revolution and the subversion of the Status Quo the evangelistic mission of the church.
Take the worst case. Suppose that the very power of Satan could be broken by the breakdown of lawful order in the land. Would it be a good bargain if every law that were uprooted (whether that law were considered “good or evil”) fell like a tree on the head of the Devil? It is reported that the answer of Sir Thomas Moore to that question was. “If the forest of laws were cut down, even to serve the best end—a wind would blow across the land against which no man could stand.” Every Christian must agree. That wind is sin; the fact that everyone of us hates not only God but our neighbor. Remove the restraint of the law with even the most benevolent design and the rebel heart will infallibly run riot.
The Christian is keenly conscious of the slender strand by which even his regenerate heart is held in check. He must. therefore, thank God for law. Praise God for even the unjust ruler. He is better than no rule at all. Praise God for the arbitrary magistrate. He is infinitely better than none at all. I shall bow before whatever magistrate there be because it pleases God in his grace to rule me by his hand (Heidelberg Catechism Q. 104). I shall plead with my fellow men to bow with me because it pleases God for his Son’s sake. his gospel’s sake, his elect’s sake. to restrain all men by the rule of law.
Whatever anyone may say about obeying God rather than men, injustice. oppression and/or tyranny are never Godly grounds for lawlessness. Law (being of God) is superior to people.
Salvation itself hangs on this truth. Without the perfect obedience of Christ there is no salvation in the cross. But. according to Hebrews 5;8. Christ “learned obedience by the things which he suffered.” Were any of the sufferings of Christ the result of the just and equal application of law? Quite the contrary. All that he suffered was injustice, oppression, and tyranny, but he never despised the law under which he suffered. Instead he bore injustice to leave “us an example that we should follow his steps” (1 Peter 2:21). That is the Christian’s calling, that he like Jesus bear injustice, committing himself to his God who judges righteously. All this because Jesus “knew all men” (John 2:23). and could feel better than any man the wind in the forest.
RONALD BROWN