Machen: Chapter 4

The Bible 

In this chapter, Machen spends time explaining the “Christian message” and how this message is given to us through the Bible. He wants to dive into the question of, “What shall we think about this Book in which the message in contained?” (59). Machen answers this question throughout the chapter, and touches on a lot of important points that we should think about when we read this message. I plan on touching on two points that he makes that strike a personal connection for me.

At the beginning of this chapter, Machen touches on the fact that the Bible has revelations of ancient truths about God such as the fact that even the heavens worship the creator and His work. However, Machen also explains how the Bible is full of new revelations that help to explain how a human being, full of sin and worldly desires, can live in communion with God and have a strong relationship with Him. This relationship comes through the New Testament when Jesus the Messiah who had been prophesied for years before his arrival. This man came so that we could live in communion with God and have a personal relationship with Him. Machen states on page 60,

“For Christianity depends, not upon complex ideas, but upon the narration of an event. Without an event, the world, in Christian view, is all together dark, and humanity is love under the guilt of sin” (60).

Though I know the gospel story, I never really thought of Christianity as a religion based off of a “Narrative event”. Machen explains that though our salvation does is not completely based off of the truth of what happened in the gospel, but this event has a great impact on our lives today as we walk in faith with Christ by our side.

Later in this chapter, Machen explains something that brought about an “aha” moment for me. He says on page 65,

“The words of Jesus… can hardly contain all that we need to know about God and the way of salvation; for the meaning of Jesus’ redeeming work could hardly fully set forth before that work was done”.

This is a really interesting concept that I guess I knew in the back of my mind, but never really deeply considered until reading this part of Machen’s book. While Jesus speaks wisdom to His people in the New Testament, there is so much more than can be known about God. Machen goes on to explain that we learn to know and understand more and more of who God is through the gift of the Holy Spirit. This gift is important for us to use today as we continue to be in communion with God. Without God giving his son, and sacrificing Him at the cost of His children, the Holy Spirit would not exist. Without the Holy Spirit, we would not be able to have a relationship with God and continue to know and understand who He is.