Let us not deceive ourselves.
A Jewish teacher of the first century can never satisfy the longing of our souls.
Clothe Him with all the art of modern research,
throw upon Him the warm, deceptive calcium-light of modern sentimentality;
and despite it all common sense will come to its rights again,
and for our brief hour of self-deception-- as though we had been with Jesus
--will wreak upon us the revenge of hopeless disillusionment ...
Certainly we shall remain forever in the gloom if we attend merely to the character of Jesus and neglect the thing that He has done,
if we try to attend to the Person and neglect the message.
We may have joy for sadness and power for weakness;
but not by easy half-way measures,
not by avoidance of controversy,
not by trying to hold on to Jesus and yet reject the gospel.
A Jewish teacher of the first century can never satisfy the longing of our souls.
Clothe Him with all the art of modern research,
throw upon Him the warm, deceptive calcium-light of modern sentimentality;
and despite it all common sense will come to its rights again,
and for our brief hour of self-deception-- as though we had been with Jesus
--will wreak upon us the revenge of hopeless disillusionment ...
Certainly we shall remain forever in the gloom if we attend merely to the character of Jesus and neglect the thing that He has done,
if we try to attend to the Person and neglect the message.
We may have joy for sadness and power for weakness;
but not by easy half-way measures,
not by avoidance of controversy,
not by trying to hold on to Jesus and yet reject the gospel.
(Machen, J. Gresham. Christianity and Liberalism. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Pub., 2009. Print. 35, line breaks mine)
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