Required reading
Christianity and Liberalism by J. Gresham Machen (available from or free on the internet, - Read chapter IV, 'The Bible'.
Now Machen turns his attention to liberalism's view of Scripture.
Firstly, Machen demonstrates that liberalism is wrong to disconnect Christian experience from Scripture: 'Christian experience is rightly used when it helps to convince us that the events narrated in the New Testament actually did occur; but it can never enable us to be Christians whether the events occurred or not. It is a fair flower, and should be prized as a gift of God. But cut it from its root in the blessed Book, and it soon withers away and dies.'
Secondly, Machen demonstrates that liberalism is wrong to affirm that there are errors in the Bible when it comes to the message of the cross: 'A Bible that is full of error is certainly divine in the modern pantheizing sense of "divine," according to which God is just another name for the course of the world with all its imperfections and all its sin. But the God whom the Christian worships is a God of truth.'
On the point about Scriptural inerrancy Machen made a helpful clarification: 'There are many who believe that the Bible is right at the central point, in its account of the redeeming work of Christ, and yet believe that it contains many errors. Such men are not really liberals, but Christians; because they have accepted as true the message upon which Christianity depends.' Although such Christians do make me nervous by their obvious spiritual immaturity, Machen is right that we must accept them as brothers and sisters if they do not believe there is any error in the testimony of the cross.
Now it's your turn
Please post your own notes and thoughts in the comments section below.
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