Truth Magazine

By Leslie Diestelkamp

When Joshua challenged the people to “Choose you this day whom you will serve,” he punctuated that challenge with a strong declaration of his own determination when he said, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” Judging from the response of the people (see Josh. 24:15,16) they obviously recognized that Joshua had the leadership capability to not only lead their armies in battle, but to also lead his own household in devotion to God.

In an altogether different circumstance, we read of a “great woman” who prevailed upon her husband to assist a prophet of God. Wherein her husband did not recognize and appreciate the need, she did not hesitate to plead for cooperation with the servant of the Lord. Her zeal for spiritual matters was such that the very expression “that Shunammite” came to mean devotion to God (see 2 Kings 4:8-25).

Today, even in these modern times, fathers and mothers to that of Joshua an the Shunammite woman. We cannot relinquish our responsibility to the government, the school or even the church. Success in the family cannot be attributed to others, and likewise, failure cannot be blamed upon them.

In leading the family in religious activities, and in producing proper religious attitudes in the whole family, certain very deliberate and definite steps must be taken and some principles must be pursued steadfastly and aggressively.

1. Spiritual values must predominate in the activities of the home. The Bible must be respected. Children must learn to read it, and parents must read it with the children. Their questions should be answered and their inquisitive minds should be encouraged to search for its truth.

2. The Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ must be honored in every family circumstance. Their names must be held in reverence and the parents must demonstrate love for God and for the Savior.

3. Children must learn from the parents to have due respect for the church. (Too many times about all the children hear their parents say about the church is criticism. They hear mothers and fathers say, “The church is unfriendly” or “I don’t like the way they do things,” etc. (And then those same parents wonder why their children do not want to “go to church.”)

4. Attendance at services of the church, and active participation in those activities should be regular and steadfast. Under the best conditions, attendance will become almost habitual. Under ideal circumstances the question, “Are we going today” will not even be asked (when the church is assembling).

Hard Questions

When I am discussing these matters, some parent is sure to ask, “What shall I do if Junior refuses to go to services?” Well, that depends. If Junior is yet a lad, he should be given no choice. But if Junior is almost a man, I do not know how to answer the question. I am sure there must be much prayer, much reasoning with him, patient perseverance and genuine devotion. If he is a reasonable young man, it will probably be wise to confess to him the mistakes you have made and to try to help him see the better judgment you are now expressing.

But we must remember that once a twig is bent it may be very difficult to straighten it. This is not written as a mere criticism of those who have failed, but it is intended as a constructive suggestion to those who still have opportunity. Undoubtedly the only real cure for rebellion is to prevent it. By that I mean, bend that twig in the proper way to begin with — do not let it get bent in the wrong way.

It has always been true that we cannot force religion upon anyone. There is no way you can force your children to love God or to obey His Word. Success is accomplished, not by force, but by teaching, by example, by guiding, by leading. And success is assured when parents begin to train and guide that tender plant even the very first day you take it home from the hospital. If you wait one week the child may be a spoiled baby and become a spoiled brat! If you wait a year you have imposed a much more difficult task upon yourself. If you wait five years, you have probably lost the fight already.

Character is formed and life-long attitudes are developed very early in life. A few exceptional people voluntarily make a radical change in their character and their attitude in later life, but most people become and remain basically what they have been trained to be in childhood (as far as character and attitude is concerned).

I would like to make a fervent appeal to parents, especially to young parents. You are naturally careful that you do not neglect your children in physical things, because you love them and even because you know that child neglect is a violation of the law of the land. But, with even much greater care you should make sure you do-not neglect the spiritual welfare of your children because you love them so much and because you know that such neglect is a violation of the law of Christ (Eph. 6:4).

If your baby is old enough to be taken to the doctor’s office it is old enough to be taken to church services. Do not fail to take it then, and take it every time the church meets through all those formative years. You say you have a headache, a stomach ache, a toothache? Go anyway, and take the child! For your own good, and for his good, go, and never excuse yourself from going if you can possibly go, for the child will remember your excuses and imitate them. If you will go, and go joyfully, and if you will go regularly through those impressionable years, and then if you will practice the same fidelity in daily life, your child will not refuse to go in later life. “When he is old he will not depart from it” (Prov. 22:6).

Truth Magazine XXII: 39, pp. 631-632
October 5, 1978

By Earl Robertson

In the parable of the sower, Jesus said, “The seed is the word of God” (Luke 8:11). In this parable, Jesus was teaching some essentials of the kingdom of God, and they could be illustrated with no greater force than with the elementary lesson of seed sown and its results. God’s order has always been harvest after seed sowing; and seed produces after its kind (Gen. 1:12; Gal. 6:6-10). This rule of God does not change. Corn seed produces corn; wheat seed produces wheat. This unvarying rule was understood by the people of Jesus’ day, He could, therefore, apply it in his teaching the disciples about a harvest of souls the kingdom of God.

The great commission given by Jesus stresses this same fact (Matt. 28:18-20; Mk. 16:15, 16). Every case of conversion in the book of Acts also shows the necessity of the seed (word of God) being sown in the hearts of people before their conversion to Christ. Some have the idea that Christians are made without the gospel being preached, but such is not true. The power to deliver sinners from darkness is the gospel (Col. 1:13; Rom. 1:16; 1 Cor. 1:21). You cannot make Christians without sowing the seed! Jesus further said, “Come . . , learn of me” (Matt. 11:28-30). The same is taught in John 6:4345. God does not operate directly upon sinners in converting them; but rather, He uses His word-the seed-in the accomplishing of it.

The seed produces after its kind! The word of God only is the medium used by God to make Christians. No other cause will effect such an accomplishment. The words of men have never been able to make saints out of sinners. The doctrines of men in Jesus’ day only made the religion of men vain. It can do no better today. The disciplines, manuals, articles of faith, confessions, and catechisms, have men as their authors and do not have within them the power to unerringly guide one soul out of darkness and lead that one to the Lamb of God! The word of God and only the word of God makes Christians. The word of God will make only a Christian-and there are no kinds of Christians-no human adjectives attached to the noun Christian either! Are you what you are because of the word of God and only the word of God?

Truth Magazine XXII: 38, p. 619
September 28, 1978

By S. Leonard Tyler

If one is to be positive about his religious safety without selfish bigotry or self-justification, he must be established in the truth of God as revealed in the Bible. When one hears God’s word, believes its message, and obeys its commands, he can safely trust in its promises-be saved from past sins (Rom. 6:17-18). But what about the church? Is there any sure, positive way by which one can be absolutely confident in his faith? I believe that one can be sure, confident and secure in his faith regarding the church just as he can be regarding the forgiveness of his sins. And it is with this positive approach that one can distinguish the Lord’s church from a denomination. Let us ask:

What is the Church of Christ?

The Bible being God’s Divine standard of measurement by which man is to be guided in all things, we must now go to it for our understanding of the church of Christ. What is the church of Christ? “Church of Christ” is a prepositional phrase of possession meaning “church belonging to Christ” or “Christ’s church.” The expression identifies Christ as the possessor of the church (1 Pet. 2:9). “Church” is a called-out people. The Greek word ekklesia is a compound word: “Ekklesia, from ek, out of, klesis, a calling” (Vine’s New Testament Words, p. 83).

The church is “the people belonging to Christ,” called out of the world by the gospel into a saved relationship and into fellowship with God, Christ, the Holy Spirit and all saints (2 Thess. 2:14; Eph. 1:13; Acts 19:1-5; 1 Cor. 1:9; 1 John 1:3-7). These are Christ’s redeemed ones, purchased by His own blood (Acts 20:28), and possessed to serve and glorify God world without end (1 Cor. 6:20; 7:21-24; Eph. 3:10-11, 21).

Therefore, true, obedient believers in Christ are the church of Christ in both the universal and local sense of the term. (1) The universal church circumscribes all true, obedient believers in the world. (2) The local church circumscribes all true obedient believers choosing to meet, worship, and work together under Christ’s directions in any given locality. This is the way the word “church” is used in the New Testament when referring to Christians in the collectivity, unless it refers to a group of local churches as in Romans 16:16 and Revelation 1:11.

The church is autonomous under Christ (Col. 1:18; 2:18-23). A plurality of elders in each local church superintend “the flock of God which is among you” (i Tim. 3:1-7; Titus 1:5-14i 1 Pet. 5:2-4), deacons serve (1 Tim. 3:8-13; Phil l:l), and all the saints work together with God (2 Cor. 5.1) under Christ’s headship (Eph. 1:22-23: 4:15). This is God’s arrangement, organization, or entity in which Christians function in the aggregate (1 Tim. 3:15). Brother Guy N. Woods aptly expressed it: “The church, with its elders to oversee it, the deacons to serve, and the evangelist to proclaim the word is an independent entity and answerable only to Christ” (Teacher’s Annual Lesson Commentary on Bible School Lessons, 1946, p. 337). Thus the church of Christ is not a denomination nor any part of one. It is the Lords people or church, called by the Lord through the gospel, sustained, judged, and saved by Jesus Christ as His word teaches (1 Cor. 15:1-3; 2 Tim. 3:16-17; Acts 17:30-31; John 12:48).

What Is A Denomination?

“A denomination is a group of persons adhering to a particular creed under a distinctive name. Baptists, Methodists, and Presbyterians are separate Christian denominations” (Funk and Wagnalls Encyclopedic College Dictionary, p. 1136).

“Denominate . . . made up of units of a designated kind . . . Denomination: (1) The act of denominating: specif., the process of embodying and fixing concepts and classes in language; naming . . . (2) A sect or school having united by a common faith and form of worship and discipline; as, the Baptist denomination” (Funk and Wagnalls New Standard Dictionary of the English Language).

Thus a denomination is characterized by its: (1) Name, (2) Creed, (3) Organization, (4) Worship, and (5) Work. The organization consists of a number of congregations of the “same class or kind” with a centralized headquarters binding them together. The ecclesiastical headquarters is the representative authorizing agency, approving, or disapproving, planning and supervising the whole society (within the bounds of their accepted constitution). Each segment or congregation of the denomination submits willingly but must submit to be accepted as a part of the denomination. A sect, faction, or division exists with more or less oral understanding. The more highly the society is developed, the more definite and positive is the creed, discipline, articles of faith or dogma and organization holding them together. However, these terms are used indiscriminately at times to emphasize peculiarities.

Is The Church A Denomination?

It is a sad commentary upon the Lord and His teaching when those claiming to be “men of faith” cannot distinguish the glorious church of our Blessed Lord from a denomination. In 1965, I was receiving the Winnetka Avenue Church of Christ bulletin, 7054 Winnetka Ave., Canoga Park, California 91306. Brother Roy E. Cogdill edited the bulletin at the time and wrote an excellent series of eleven articles under the title, “Denominationalizing The Church.” Brother Edward Fudge was working with the church that summer at 1212 West Six Avenue, Pine Bluff, Arkansas, while I was away in meetings. In Volume 3, Number 20, Brother Fudge circled denominationalizing and penciled in the margin, “We are already a denomination according to Webster’s meaning of the word. Since the word is not found in the Bible, Webster’s definition should be sufficient.” Notice the “we,” clearly not a reference to some alien body, and the ‘already,” not just a trend or development pointing toward some possible danger in the future. But he said in A Journey Toward Jesus (1977) on page 33, “Until recently there was no such thing as a Christian Church denomination, though it was developing for a long time, but now there officially is, and those in it use the name `Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).’ ” Why then did he say in the bulletin notation that the church of Christ is already, according to Webster’s meaning of “denomination,” a denomination? We discussed this notation and several other subjects in a good way but with persistent differences. (A Journey Toward Jesus by Bruce Edwards and Edward Fudge is the best approach to preparing one for a full reception of denominational philosophy and concepts that I have ever read). In short, certain self-styled “men of faith” regard the church in our day as a denomination in fact-a denomination lacking the honesty, openness; and integrity to openly admit or officially declare the fact.

The church could be properly denominated with other religious groups as the same “class and kind,” if all religious groups are considered. The church is in the category of religion. But that is like identifying God with idols as was done at Athens (Acts 17). Paul hastened to distinguish between the true and living God in contrast to their dead, false, idol gods. The gospel is considered in like manner (Gal. 1:6-9). But Paul proclaims the gospel of Christ to be incomparable with a perverted or another gospel and denounced with an “accursed” any man or angel who taught the false doctrine. The gospel is God’s power unto salvation (Rom. 1:16-17).

Thus the church of our Lord being the true body of obedient believers, designed in God’s eternal mind, established by Jesus Christ and directed by His word, is to reflect the manifold wisdom of God and give Him glory upon the earth (Eph. 3:10-11, 21; Matt. 16:18; 1 Cor 3:11). The church is the fulness of Christ in whom “all fulness dwells” (Col. 1:19), and “in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily” (Col. 2:9). Thus to share in the blessings of God, one must be in Christ (Rom. 8:1; Eph. 1:3), who is the fulness of God (John 5:23). Likewise, to enjoy the blessings of Christ one must be in the church-the church is the fulness of Christ (Eph. 1:23). Therefore, the Lord’s church stands as a Divine Establishment in contrast to human denominations. It was established by Divine appointment and is preserved by Divine Directions, laws.

Think of it from this standpoint. “A denomination is a religious organization larger than the local church and smaller than the universal church.” This is an old and limited definition, but expresses an identifying fact. No denomination with all her constituent societies claims to have all the saved in it. They maintain that there are saved people in all denominations. Thus, each denomination is smaller than the universal church -which includes all the saved in all the world. On the other hand, a denomination is composed of all the churches-congregations of the “same class and kind -and is not a single local church. This makes it larger than any local church. The New Testament use of the word “church” circumscribes all the saved in the world, the universal church, or else it is the saved choosing to meet, worship, and work together under Christ’s directions in a given location, the local church. So, according to their own contention, the denomination is not the church in any sense of the word as used in the New Testament. It is either too big or too small. It just does not fit God’s requirements for His church. (Observe Foy E. Wallace, Jr., Bulwarks of the Faith, Part One, “Roman Catholicism,” p. 207, 208.)

Signs of Changing

There are definite and characteristic attitudes and doctrines identifying the denominations. This is selfevident; if such did not exist, there could be no distinct, differing denominations. Thus any person leaning toward, in sympathy with, or fellowshipping those practicing such peculiar and characteristic doctrines is certainly turning in that direction. They become easy victims to the proselytizing influences and teachings. Their minds are unsettled, mixed-up, without firm convictions. When they reject the Bible as a true, understandable standard upon which to build, they are “tossed to and fro” with every wind and diverse doctrine.

Doctrines and Concepts Which Point Toward Denominationalism Reject the Bible as the Standard

(1) When man rejects the Bible as an unalterable, standard of measurement in matters of religion, regardless of the reasoning, he is left without a positive standard of measurement. This, to me, is the basic reason for denominationalism. Who can repudiate it and be saved eternally? Understanding, believing, and accepting the New Testament (facts and commands as well as the promises) is imperative to reconciliation with God in Christ (Eph. 2:16; Col. 1:19-23; 2 Cor. 5:18-21).

This very fact – the acceptance of the Bible as an unalterable standard and infallible guide – gave reason for the restoration movement. It is here that “the Campbells” yielded such a wonderful and weighty influence during the 19th century. Their logical and positive approach to the Bible as God’s complete and understandable will touched the hearts of thousands. Their systematic study of the Bible aided many in understanding God’s word. According to most religious leaders, the Bible could be understood only by the “spiritually” endowed, not by the common man. The Roman Catholic Church expressed this view thusly:

But is the meaning of the Holy Scripture not clear in itself, and easy to be understood by every one?

“No; for the Holy Scripture is a Divine and mysterious book, `in which,’ as St. Peter says, speaking of the Epistles of St. Paul, `are certain things hard to be understood, which the unlearned and unstable wrest to their own destruction’ (2 Pet. 111:16). . . .

“(27) Is it not, then, true that the Bible alone is the only Rule of Faith? Or, in other words: Is not every private individual to search the Bible, and nothing but the Bible, until he finds out what he has to believe?

“No; for not the Bible alone, but the Bible and Tradition, both infallibly interpreted by the Church, are the right Rule of Faith.” (A Full Cathechism of The Catholic Religion, Translated From The German of The Rev. Joseph DeHarbe, S.J., by the Rev. John Fander. . . Revised, Enlarged, and Edited by The Right Rev. P. N. Lynch, D.D., Bishop of Charleston, 1891, New York: and has the Imprimatur stamp, pp. 75, 76).

It also states plainly, “Application. In matters of faith never trust your own judgment, but always humbly submit to the decisions of Holy Church; for when you believe what the Church teaches, you believe the Word of God” (p. 77, ibid.). Thus the common man cannot read the Bible and understand it according to Catholic doctrine.

John Calvin propagated the same view in holding to the “Adamic sin” and the necessity of “enabling grace” to give one faith in order to be saved. Against this, Mr. Garrison tells of Sandeman who, back in the latter part of the 18th century, taught “that God had not only revealed his truth in terms intelligible to man and provided the means of salvation through Christ, but had also furnished in Scripture adequate evidence of the truth of his revelation, so that the natural man, just as he is, with all his sins, can weigh the evidence and accept the truth. That acceptance is faith. Saving faith, said Sandeman, is an act of man’s reason, and it differs from any other act of belief only in being belief of a saving fact.” (An American Religious Movement by Winfred Ernest Garrison, 1945, p. 23).

The Campbells’ concept of the Bible as a real revelation from God, verbally given to be intelligently understood, opened up the way for a systematic study of the Bible. They found that the teachings of the Holy Scriptures could be ascertained not only through “express word” or (A) “Express Precept,” as they put it, but also by (B) “Approved Precedent” and (C) Necessary Inference. Any doctrine to be of God must be proved by a Scriptural passage or tests. Thus the motto: “We speak where the Bible speaks and are silent where the Bible is silent.” This not only expresses a positive speaking but also a restricted speaking. It meant then and must mean now: to be of any value, their speaking (even knowledge) began where the Bible began, circumscribed everything within its pages and stopped where it stopped. Where the totality of Bible knowledge is learned on any specific subject, one has “the faith” on that subject.

John Locke in 1689 pleaded for the Bible but suggested only that which was “declared, in express words, to be necessary to salvation.” And, according to Mr. Garrison, Mr. Repertius Meldenius stated that same principle when he said, “In essentials, unity; in nonessentials, liberty; in all things, charity” (An American Religious Movement by Winfred Ernest Garrison, pp. 16, 17). This view left out too much the Bible taught-untaught. And in “non-essentials, liberty” filled the hearts of the people and “in all things, charity” allowed the opinions, reasonings, doctrines and commandments of men to become the standard. Such attitudes will lead to the same consequence today.

“The Campbells” plea was essentially different. It was for all the Bible; the totality of Scriptural teaching ascertained was the totality of faith, the binding pattern, by which all were to live (Jude 3). Will not the honest, sincere “man of faith” diligently seek, believe, practice and teach this! It is sad to recall that in later years when Alexander Campbell weakened in this positive and logical understanding of the Bible, and the simplicity of God’s Divine arrangement, disaster followed. The results speak for themselves-the Christian Church with all her constituent societies standard as a monument. This should leave a message with us. Let us seek and accept all the Bible teaches, believe it, practice it, and teach it. Then and only then-trust in God’s grace and mercy.

Truth Magazine XXII: 39, pp. 633-635
October 5, 1978

By Melvin Curry

The term modernism is misleading. Modernism is as ancient as it is modern; and the first century church had its share of trouble with modernism. Second Peter describes a group of modernists who deny the Lord who bought them, ridicule the promise of the Second Coming, and in defiance of the supernatural affirm the uniformitarian cliche, “All things continue as they were from the beginning” (1:4).

When Paul attacks “the wisdom of the world” in First Corinthians 1:18-25, he speaks to the basic problem of modernism. Modernists are not in fact wiser than other people; they simply rely on human wisdom as opposed to God’s revelation in Scripture. The modernism of the twentieth century is a product of the Age of Reason. It is an attempt to fuse Biblical teaching with modern philosophical and scientific learning.(1) In the process, however, the Bible is made to conform to the new learning.

Wick Broomall observes that “the great divide between historic, conservative Christianity and what is known as Liberalism is found in the concept of Biblical inspiration.”(2) Modernists deny that the Biblical writers produced an inspired book free from error. Human reason and experience become the test of what in the Bible is inspired and what is in error. But modernists, as James D. Bales remarks, “make the attack from within religious bodies instead of flying under their true colors as enemies of the Bible.”(3)

All men, in so far as they act consistent with their basic presuppositions, reason in a circle.(4) Edward J. Young quotes J. R. Rushdoony on this point: “In other words, all reasoning moves in terms of its basic presuppositions, either God or autonomous man, interpreting all reality in terms of the presuppositions.”(5)

This is true both with liberal and conservative approaches to the Scriptures. Liberalism boasts about being free from dogmatic presuppositions-“the documents must be allowed to tell their own story.” Herbert F. Hahn writes:

This is not to say that the work of a liberal critic was no more objective than that of a conservative theologian. There is a great difference between a dogma assumed to be true from the start and a hypothesis to be tested in the light of the facts. The liberal critics would have been the first to agree that the evolutionary view of the Old Testament history could be maintained only as the result, not the presupposition, of a critical examination of the relevant evidence. But the conception of historical development seemed to them as inevitable deduction from the evidence of successive changes in the religious institutions of Israel. The only historical reconstruction possible on the basis of the sources was one which showed an evolutionary growth.(6)

There is a vast difference, however, in postulating naturalistic evolution instead of divine revelation as “an inevitable deduction from the evidence of successive changes in the religious institutions of Israel.” Are these changes attributable to God or to autonomous man? Or, must autonomous man be given the advantage irrespective of the evidence? These questions must be answered honestly by those who seek to know the truth.

When it comes to the matter of revelation and inspiration, these terms are always defined and described on the basis of the individual writer’s presuppositions. For instance, Arthur S. Peake, a typical liberal theologian, gives the following description of inspiration:

If the devout and serious reader finds in Carlyle or Ruskin, in Tennyson or Browning, a richer nourishment than he can gain from many a page of the Old Testament and some pages of the New, why should he not boldly say that the modern writer has experienced a deeper and fuller inspiration?(7)

According to Peake, inspiration is not determined by the supernatural influence exerted on the writers by the Spirit of God, “by virtue of which their writings are given Divine trustworthiness.”(8) For him, inspiration is determined by the favorable effect the author’s writing has on the reader. Here naturalism stands out in bold relief against supernaturalism. The determining factor is human rather than divine.

The modernistic theology of the nineteenth century was extremely optimistic in its outlook. The ideas of the inherent goodness of man and the inevitability of progress were incorporated into an evolutionary concept of the religion of Israel. The books of the Bible were subjected to a destructive criticism based on anti-supernatural presuppositions. Hahn describes this critical approach as follows:

It required an entirely different approach to the Bible to expound it according to its original intention and meaning-a different conception of the nature of the Bible which would permit more objective principles of exposition. Such a new conception became possible when the tendency generated by humanistic studies to regard all ancient literature as the product of human culture had removed the old distinction between sacred and profane writings.(9)

The results were horrifying to those who believe that the Bible is in truth the very word of God. For instance, a quotation from George Adam Smith will demonstrate the practical effect of this religio-historical criticism:

We who have reached middle life can remember what time and anxiety the pastors of our boyhood used to expend upon the double and sometimes contradictory stories of David’s life; for instance, the two very different accounts of his first introduction to Saul. Their attempts to reconcile these involved-even when one thought that they succeeded-so much intricate explanation as to distract them from the clear presentation of the moral issues, which it was their first duty as preachers to present and enforce to their people. But they did not succeed. The stories are irreconcilable. What an advantage, then, has the preacher of today who can frankly say: “These are two different traditions of the same event,” and confine himself to the rich material of moral issues of the one or the other!(10)

The issue became increasingly clear: if believing the Bible contains historical contradictions has an advantage over believing that the accounts of David’s life do not contradict each other, cannot the same thing be said with reference to the moral framework of the Bible. One is left, therefore, to pick and choose which moral precepts are right and good and which commandments are based on faulty human judgment. No wonder relativism in ethics has become so prevalent today. It is impossible to establish absolute moral standards from a book that is considered to be a collection of “profane writings.”

Modernists rely heavily on three methods of literary criticism in evaluating the authorship and date of the books of the Bible: the documentary hypothesis, form criticism, and redaction criticism. Each of these methods will be discussed briefly.

The documentary hypothesis affirms that Moses did not really write the five books attributed to him, called the Pentateuch. Moses may have been an historical personage, however, and some of his laws are no doubt incorporated into the books that bear his name. The theory holds that there are four main literary sources of the Pentateuch, namely, J, E, D, and P. It is often called the Graf-Wellhausen theory because these scholars arranged the JEDP order of the sources.

As early as the time of Benedict Spinoza certain facts in the Pentateuch raised questions: Why is Moses often spoken of in the third person? and, How does one account for the death of Moses in Deuteronomy, if Moses is the author? Serious problems began to appear to various scholars, such as Jean Astruc, who noted the two different names for God, Elohim and Yahweh, the striking repetitions of the same events, e.g., as detected when one reads the accounts of creation and the flood, and unresolved inconsistencies and anachronisms in the text of the Pentateuch. Thus, on the basis of the two divine names Astruc suggested that Moses had used two older sources, E and J, the latter supplementing the former. Other scholars increased the number of documents to four: P (for the priestly materials found especially in Leviticus), E, J, and D (for the Deuteronomic materials), then Wellhausen reversed the order to JEDP.

According to the documentary hypothesis an unknown writer in Judah around 950 B.C. (dates vary from scholar to scholar) collected isolated myths and stories and presented them chronologically within a religious setting. The J symbol not only stands for the name Jahweh but also for its Judahite source. Sometime before 750 B.C. another writer, independent of J, made a similar collection in Northern Israel, called the E document. The symbol E. also designates it the Ephraimite source. After the fall of the Northern Kingdom, a writer in Judah compiled a harmony of JE around 700 B.C. The D document is associated with the discovery of the Book of the Law in the Temple area during Josiah’s reign (621 B.C.), written to give support to the king’s reforms. An editor working around 550 B.C. combined JE with D, and sometime between 500-400 B.C. a group of priestly scribes wrote the P document. Another editor combined JED with P and re-edited the whole, thus the Pentateuch was completed in its present form by 400 B.C.

Each document, of course, has its own peculiarities, and Wellhausen arranged them to fit the framework of Hegelian philosophy, using the prophetic movement as a central hub. The development was from natural religion (JE) to ethical monotheism and universalism (D) to the counter dialectic of emerging ethical law (P and Ezekiel). Scholars have modified Wellhausen’s approach but basically it still stands accepted among liberal Old Testament scholars. More recently isolated documents have been suggested, such as the Holiness Code (H), the Lay source (L) of Eissfeldt, the Kenite source (K) of Robert H. Pfeiffer.

Form criticism attempts to uncover the units of oral tradition which lie behind the written traditions recorded in Scripture. This oral tradition began as brief hero tales, then developed into extensive legends, and finally into story-cycles. Many centuries later these story-cycles were written down in permanent form. Form criticism is applied to the writings both of the Old Testament and the New. Hahn’s description is as follows:

Accordingly, the prophetic writings were to be regarded as compilations of small units-some stemming from the prophets themselves, ethers contributed by their disciples-rather than as “books” written entirely by the reputed authors.(11)

Martin Dibelius was a German New Testament scholar who is acclaimed as the originator of the form criticism school in New Testament studies. His form-critical approach aimed at getting behind the literary documents to the independent units of oral tradition, and he conceived the New Testament writers to be compilers instead of authors. Dibelius looked for the historical “situation in life” (Sitz im Leben) of the early church from which traditions about Jesus were embellished with extra materials. These situations in the life of the early church called for authoritative pronouncements to justify such things as the abandonment of the Sabbath, the exclusion of divorced persons from membership, and the acceptance of Gentiles in the church, and grew out of both the Palestinian and the Hellenistic communities. Each unit of tradition was self-contained, brief, sometimes narrative in form, and often centered around sayings of Jesus. He divided the units of oral tradition into (1) paradigms or pronouncement sayings of Jesus, each with its own particular point; (2) narrative tales and miracle stories, such as the feeding of the five thousand or the walking on the sea, after non-Christian models; (3) legends or hero tales about Jesus and those around him, like the story of Jesus in Jerusalem at twelve years of age; and (4) myths (though few in number) wherein the supernatural breaks through the barriers of time and space as it did at the transfiguration of Jesus.

The form-critical approach intensified the problem of the quest for the historical Jesus and pointed ultimately to the need for radaction criticism to explain the theological and confessional interests of the gospel authors, who are supposed to have created the Gospels in their present form. Redaction criticism took up where form criticism left off and in a sense reversed its basic principle, assuming the gospel writers to be creative authors instead of mere compilers of oral tradition. Rather than examine the “situation in life” of oral tradition, it searches for the situation in which the Gospels took their present form. Documentary criticism had viewed Matthew, Mark, and Luke as Synoptic Gospels, dependent on two principle sources (the materials in Mark and the so-called Q document), and considered the first three Gospels to have no literary connection with John’s Gospel. Redaction criticism, however, has less of the Synoptics versus John in its approach. It seeks to answer such questions as, Why the abrupt ending of Mark? Why did Matthew and Luke begin the life of Jesus with different materials in the infancy narratives? or even, Why three Synoptics and John? The method attempts to show that Matthew and Luke purposefully altered the material of Mark and centers on the theology of each Gospel. Redaction criticism is supposed to demonstrate how the literary journey from tradition to Gospel is completed.

Now it is time to draw a conclusion from our survey. When modernists disregard the integrity of the books of the Bible, the historic foundation of Christianity crumbles. Christ’s death was prophesied in the Old Testament and His vicarious sacrifice is portrayed as an historical event in the New Testament. Edward J. Young points out:

As a preparation for this sacrifice God sent His servants the prophets through whom He announced to the sinful world the coming of the Redeemer. The prophets, therefore, are not to be regarded merely as religious geniuses or leaders. To consider them as such and nothing more, is completely to misunderstand them. Nor were their messages of human origination. For prophecy, despite all come by the will of men, but holy men spake as they were borne along by the Holy Ghost.(12)

In the words of Amos, “Surely the Lord Jehovah will do nothing except he reveal his secret unto his servants and prophets. The lion has roared; who will not fear? The Lord Jehovah hath spoken; who can but prophecy?”

Truth Magazine XXII: 40, pp. 646-649
October 12, 1978

1. Bernard Ramm, “Liberalism,” Baker’s Dictionary of Theology, p. 322.

2. Wick Broomall, Biblical Criticism (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1957), p. 13.

3. James D. Bales, “Modernism,” What is Wrong? Edited by Thomas L. Campbell (Fort Worth: Campbell-Caskey Publishing Co., 1950), p. 21.

4. Edward J. Young, The Study of Old Testament Theology Today (London: James Clarke and Co., 1958), p. 26.

5. Ibid., quoting J.R. Rushdoony.

6. Herbert F. Hahn, Old Testament in Modern Research (Philadelphia: Muhlenberg Press, 1954), p. 10.

7. Arthur S. Peake, The Bible: Its Origin, Significance, and Abiding Worth( New York: Charles Scribner’s, 1922), p. 402.

8. Benjamin B. Warfield, The Inspiration and Authority of the Bible, ed. Samual G. Craig (Philadelphia: The Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Co., 1948), p. 173.

9.

10. George Adam Smith, Modern Criticism and the Preaching of the Old Testament (New York: A.C. Armstrong and Son, 1901), pp. 78, 79.

11. Old Testament in Modern Research, p. 134.

12. Edward J. Young, My Servants the Prophets (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1952), pp. 191, 192.