The Old and the New Theology by Editor

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jun 21, 1906

The Old and the New Theology

By Editor

WE do not often see a simple statement of the conclusions reached by liberal theologians in contrast with the beliefs of a quarter of a century or more ago. We were therefore interested in an editorial in the Congregationalist (Boston) of recent date which deals with this subject in a straight-forward manner. Of the changes which have come in the theology of Congregationalists this paper says:—

As to our belief in God—our fathers looked up to him as enthroned above all things, directing and guiding to a predetermined end the universe he had created. We realize him as the supreme pervading personality in all things, revealing himself in the universe evolving through him into perfection in which man, created in his image, shall perfectly reflect his righteousness, truth, and love. We use the phrases, the divine immanence, to express his relation to the universe, and the divine fatherhood, to express his relation to mankind.

As to our belief in Christ—our fathers looked up to him as the second person in the Trinity, seated at the right hand of the throne of God the Father, after having purchased the forgiveness of our sins and the remission of sentence of eternal death by his death on the cross and his resurrection from the tomb. We see in him who is the ideal man, the Father manifested to human apprehension, the unique revelation of God to man. . . .

Our fathers regarded man as created perfect in one human pair, who by wilful disobedience to a divine command corrupted and brought sentence of eternal death on the whole human race descended from them. Our fathers believed that Jesus Christ, coming as God in a human form begotten through the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary, by his sufferings and physical death inflicted on him by men, endured the equivalent of the punishment of sinners sentenced to eternal death, and delivered from it certain members of the human race foreordained to be saved.

We believe that Jesus Christ the Son of God, living, suffering, and dying as a man among men, revealed the self-sacrificing love of God for his children, who include all mankind, and that this manifestation, continued through the Spirit of God in and among men, is teaching sinners the nature of sin and the character of God, and is drawing all men unto him.

Our fathers believed that the Bible was the only written revelation by God, that all its words were dictated or inspired by him, and therefore to be received as absolute truth without admixture of error. We believe that the books of the Bible are the record of the revelation of God by writers under his guidance who sought faithfully to make known his will. The convincing evidence of its divine authority is in the response of our spiritual nature to its counsels, consolations, and commands. . . .

Our fathers believed that men could be saved only by believing on Jesus Christ before they died. The theological controversies of the last twenty-five years have resulted at least in toleration for Christians who express a reasonable hope that those who die without knowledge of Christ may not have closed their probation in this life. The tendency thus indicated has gone so far that some Congregationalists who believe, as all Christians do, in the final triumph of righteousness over sin, hold also that it is not an unwarrantable hope that this triumph may include the final redemption from sin of all the children of God. . . . These differences of view provoke less discussion than they would have done a generation ago, because attention is now directed not so much to the future life as to delivering mankind from present evils and the establishment of the kingdom of God in this present world.

These few short paragraphs declare how far the sons have departed from the doctrines believed and taught by their fathers. It is a great change to come in a brief quarter of a century. Instead of a personal God whose dwelling-place is in heaven, but who is everywhere present by his Spirit, the new theology has a "supreme pervading personality," an essence which is a personality in a scientific sense only. That recently invented phrase, "the divine immanence," designates that conception of God which is based upon scientific investigation rather than upon the revelation of God which is given in his Word. It is the trade-mark which science has selected for the god which it has given to the world. Those who use

it are the expounders and defenders of this religio-scientific cult—a system quite distinct from the primitive gospel.

Instead of Christ the divine Saviour, seated “on the right hand of the Majesty on high,” the new theology has an “ideal man, . . . the unique revelation of God to man.” Instead of the incarnate Son of God, “who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree,” the new theology has a revelation of self-sacrificing love as the means of dealing with sin and sinners.

Instead of an infallible Bible as “a sufficient rule of faith and practise,” the new theology has the writings of those who “sought faithfully to make known his [God’s] will,” and each one must decide for himself how far the writers succeeded in their efforts.

When King Hezekiah was brought face to face with death, he declared: “The grave can not praise thee, death can not celebrate thee: they that go down into the pit can not hope for thy truth;” but such theology is out of date now, and there is toleration for the belief in a future probation, and for that Universalism which looks for “the final redemption from sin of all the children of God,” “who include all mankind.”

And finally, instead of proclaiming the near second coming of our Lord as the central theme in the gospel of the kingdom, these advocates of the new theology are seeking through social settlements and various reform movements to establish the kingdom of God by changing the environment of men instead of changing their hearts. They make much of physical righteousness, and lay stress upon human methods for bettering mankind. When this kind of gospel is carried to its logical result, it makes each man his own savior, and dispenses with the one only divine Saviour.

There is one simple explanation for this complete departure from the original platform of gospel truth—evolution. During the present generation the evolutionary conception of Christianity has very largely superseded the Biblical revelation, and a system of human philosophy has been substituted for the saving gospel of Christ. Very few are the ministers of the orthodox churches who openly attempt to stem the tide of scientific infidelity which is sweeping over the world, and Satan’s gospel of making one’s self like the Most High by believing in the divinity of humanity is the theme in many pulpits.

There is surely need of a movement in the earth to maintain a pure gospel, a Biblical Christianity as opposed to that false science which really puts man in the place of God. There is need of a message to be proclaimed which shall say to all the people, “Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.” There is need of a mighty voice which shall cry, “All flesh is grass. . . . Behold, your God! Behold, the Lord Jehovah will come. . . . Behold, his reward is with him.” The message of “the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ” is the heaven-sent answer to all this modern perversion of the gospel. O that this message might be speedily given “in demonstration of the Spirit and of power”!