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THINGS UNSEEN: A Systematic Introduction to the Christian Faith and Reformed Theology
J. Gresham Machen with Foreword by Sinclair B. Ferguson and Afterword by Richard Gaffin
“The recovery of this work of J. Gresham Machen is not like finding a gold mine in the mountains, it is more like discovering a diamond mine. It is a true treasure—one of sparkling jewels and glorious truth. To mine this treasure is to find a deposit in heaven.” —R.C. Sproul, Founder, Ligonier Ministries
“With the exegetical skills of a renowned New Testament scholar, the passionate precision of a defender of the faith, and the sweet sympathy of a human being, Machen treats theology as urgent life-and-death communication. Some of his references might be dated (by nine decades or so), but the substance remains as relevant as ever. I can think of few teachers of the past who are more reliable and rewarding to read, and now we can read his insights across the whole span of Christian doctrine.” —Michael Horton, J. Gresham Machen Professor of Theology and Apologetics, Westminster Seminary California
“In C. S. Lewis like fashion, Gresham Machen’s radio broadcasts were of a caliber unimaginable in today’s world. These snapshot portraits of doctrine, delivered in exquisite prose designed to be heard as much as read, are simply breathtaking. An accessible compendium of theology that will prove to be the gold-standard for years to come. An outstanding achievement.” —Derek W. H. Thomas, Chancellor’s Professor of Systematic and Pastoral Theology, Reformed Theological Seminary
“J. Gresham Machen was a theological titan, a champion of the truth, a guardian of the gospel, and a contender for the faith. In a declining day of spiritual apostasy, he was mightily used by God to teach sound doctrine and refute those who contradicted it. His strong stance, even while others around him were crumbling, marks him as a man to whom we must give strictest consideration. I rejoice to see this long-awaited volume of Machen’s collected writings assembled together into one body of divinity. Blessed will be the reader who devours and absorbs these God-exalting truths.” —Steven J. Lawson, President, OnePassion Ministries
“It is not hyperbole to say that J. Gresham Machen is one of the most—some would say the most—significant Christian thinkers of the 20th century. His sobering apologetic against Protestant liberalism was a timely alarm, exposing liberalism’s illegitimate claim to the Christian religion. But now, thanks to Westminster Seminary Press, Machen’s voice is heard once again— yet this time Machen puts forward a positive presentation of the Christian faith. Things Unseen is saturated throughout with doctrinal truth as Machen, with urgency in his voice, calls sinners back to the Bible to hear the voice of God afresh and to receive the eternal life only God himself can give through Christ.” —Matthew Barrett, Associate Professor of Christian Theology, Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary
“These essays on the Reformed faith were forged long ago in the furnace of debate. They are, however, as fresh today, and as compelling, as they were when they were first delivered. Machen speaks with clarity, conviction, a matchless command of the subject, and with the wind of historic Christianity behind him.” —David Wells, Distinguished Senior Research Professor, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary
“J. Gresham Machen is one of a select band of Christian writers of whom it can truly be said that ‘he being dead, yet speaketh.’ This republication of some of his most important talks will be widely welcomed by those who appreciate his strong and learned defense of orthodoxy, and it will make his thought more accessible to a younger generation.” —Gerald Bray, Research Professor of Divinity, Beeson Divinity School
“Almost eighty years after his death, J. Gresham Machen’s voice still speaks with timeliness. In our day, when people question whether Christians and Muslims worship the same God, Dr. Machen’s cogent exposition of Scripture in these essays provides needed clarity.” —William Barker, Professor of Church History Emeritus, Westminster Theological Seminary
“Why am I regularly surprised at the way past authors speak powerfully to the present day? This is the way of all gifted authors: though they write in the past and thus in quite different circumstances, their writings have a timeless quality that more often than not makes them far more relevant than so much contemporary ephemera. Thus it is with these rich and lucid theological meditations of Gresham Machen: the 1930s were different in many ways than the present, but again and again his words address modern issues with such aplomb that they could have been written yesterday. Highly recommended.” —Michael A. G. Haykin, Professor of Church History and Biblical Spirituality and Director of the Andrew Fuller Center for Baptist Studies, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
“This powerful book on Christian theology fully displays what made Machen great. We see his relentless logic in the clarity of his thinking and the lucidity of his prose.” —Thomas Schreiner, James Buchanan Harrison Professor of New Testament Interpretation and Professor of Biblical Theology, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
"This volume is typical of the best of Machen’s thought: it gives clarity and profundity in its exposition of the great truths that must be faced by any enquiring mind, and therefore, it is absolutely contemporary and is a guide to us today.” —Douglas F. Kelly, Professor of Theology Emeritus, Reformed Theological Seminary
“J. Gresham Machen enjoys a richly deserved reputation for his unwavering commitment to the historic Christian faith. In the face of devastating attacks upon the foundations of Christian theology in the early decades of the 20th century, Machen stood in the breach and offered a trenchant case against liberalism in his classic work, Christianity and Liberalism. With the publication of this volume of Machen’s radio talks on Reformed theology, a new generation of believers will be introduced to Machen at his best. Readers will enjoy a rich feast of clear doctrinal instruction in the basic tenets of Reformed theology. But they will also witness a wonderful model of a Christian apologist who was always prepared to give a defense to anyone of the reason for the hope that is in us, ‘yet with gentleness and
respect’ (1 Pet 3:15).” —Cornelis Venema, President and Professor of Doctrinal Studies, Mid-America Reformed Seminary
CONTENTS
Foreword by Sinclair B. Ferguson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvii
Historical Preface by Stephen J. Nichols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxi
Introduction by Timothy J. Keller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxix
PART 1: The Christian Faith in the Modern World
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1. The Present Emergency and How to Meet It . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2. How May God Be Known? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
3. Has God Spoken? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
4. Is the Bible the Word of God? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
5. Do We Believe in Verbal Inspiration? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
6. Shall We Defend the Bible? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
7. The Bible versus Human Authority . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
8. Life Founded upon Truth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
9. God, the Creator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
10. The Triune God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
11. What Is the Deity of Christ? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
12. Does the Bible Teach the Deity of Christ? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
13. The Sermon on the Mount and the Deity of Christ . . . . . . . . . . . 99
14. What Jesus Said about Himself . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
15. The Supernatural Christ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
16. Did Christ Rise from the Dead? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
17. The Testimony of Paul to Christ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
18. The Holy Spirit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
PART 2: The Christian View of Man
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
19. The Living and True God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
20. The Decrees of God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
21. God’s Decrees and Man’s Freedom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
22. What Is Predestination? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
23. Does the Bible Teach Predestination? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
24. Objections to Predestination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
25. God’s Works of Creation and Providence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
26. God’s Works of Providence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
27. Miracles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
28. Did God Create Man? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
29. How Did God Create Man? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
30. God’s Image in Man . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
31. The Covenant of Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253
32. The Fall of Man . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
33. What Is Sin? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271
34. The Majesty of the Law of God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279
35. Is Mankind Lost in Sin? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289
36. The Consequences of the Fall of Man . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297
37. What Is Original Sin? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305
38. Sinners Saved by Grace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315
PART 3: The Final Broadcasts
39. The Progress of Christian Doctrine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327
40. The Creeds and Doctrinal Advance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335
41. God, Man, and Salvation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343
42. Christ as Prophet, Priest, and King . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351
43. What Is a Prophet? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359
44. Prophecy and the Gospel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367
45. The Teaching of Jesus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375
46. Prophet and Priest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383
47. Christ Our Redeemer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391
48. The Doctrine of the Atonement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 399
49. The Active Obedience of Christ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 407
50. The Bible’s View of the Atonement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 415
Afterword by Richard B. Gaffin, Jr. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 423
Indexes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 427
Notes and Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 445
JGM OPTS rhbs 5.19 MG70 7/13 BIST
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