Machen in 5 Sayings: Courageous Scholar

J. Gresham Machen stood as a stalwart defender of Christian orthodoxy in the early 20th century. Today, Stephen Nichols explores key quotes that reveal the courage and scholarship that defined Machen’s lasting impact on the church.

Welcome back to another episode of 5 Minutes in Church History. On this episode, we are continuing our series of looking at some great figures in church history and five of their sayings. And for this week and next we’re going to be talking about J. Gresham Machen, that significant, theological, conservative heavyweight of the early 20th century. And we’re going to begin with a quote from Machen while he was serving in World War I with the YMCA on the Western front. Up until this time, Machen had been a very serious student. He’d gone to Johns Hopkins for his undergrad, majored in classics. He then went to study a little bit at the University of Chicago in international banking and finance, but he was just putting his toe in the water there. Wasn’t sure what to do, ended up at both Princeton Seminary and Princeton University, getting masters from each. Went to Germany to pursue doctoral studies. Went back to Princeton to serve as an instructor, but still not sure what to do with his life, and he ends up volunteering and serving in World War I.

He spends much of his time at a YMCA canteen. This would provide hot chocolate for soldiers, stamps for them to send letters back home, cash their checks for them, and send money orders back home, provide books, and also just care for them. Machen could speak French fluently. And so, he was brought in to help the wounded get triaged, and at times sent out from the Western Front. He would carry soldiers on stretchers. He would load them into ambulances. These were intense times. The Western Front was a horrific scene of carnage during World War I. Over 10 million were wounded and Machen cared for many of them.

At one point, he wrote a letter home, and he said this, “Out in the dressing station, when the shells were falling close around, I somehow gained the conviction that I was in God’s care, and he would not try me beyond my strength, that courage would keep pace with danger. In short, I understand the eighth chapter of Romans better.” Well, there it is, “God would not try me beyond my strength, courage would keep pace with danger.” This conflict that embroiled the entire world would be very crucial for Machen, as he did return to Princeton and himself became involved in his own conflict. Not one with bullets and shells, but a theological conflict, a fight literally for the soul of his denomination as well as the soul of many other denominations. And what did Machen learn in World War I? Well, he learned courage, and he learned that God would protect him, and that God is working all things together for good.

The second quote comes from one of my favorite books of Machen, but I have to confess, the first time I read it, it was not a favorite at all. It is his New Testament Greek for Beginners. And as I was a Bible college student learning Greek for the first time, getting drowned and verb paradigms and noun declension paradigms, I was not enjoying this book at all. In fact, I noticed on the title page of my copy of the book, I have a quote from my professor, “Slog through it.” Well, there you go, so much for enjoying a book. But Machen does say something very interesting. And early on in the lesson on prepositions, Machen says this, “Few things are more necessary for a correct understanding of the New Testament than a precise acquaintance with the common prepositions.” Now, you have to be a true grammar nerd to enjoy that quote, but I do. The necessity of a precise acquaintance with the common prepositions. Why this quote? Well, Machen was a scholar. This conflict that he was being called into would require courage, but it would also require a rational intellectual defense of his historic Christian orthodoxy. And what we see in Machen in the 1900s and the 10s and the 20s is that God was preparing him not only to have boldness, but also to be a scholar. And with that boldness, then speak to these challenges to the church. Well, we’re just getting started on “Machen in 5 Sayings.” We’ll be back next week on it. And I’m Steve Nichols and thanks for listening to 5 Minutes in Church History.