CONTROVERSY

'Every really great Christian utterance...is born in controversy. It is when men have felt compelled to take a stand against error that they have risen to the really great heights in the celebration of truth.'

J. Gresham Machen in John Piper, The Future of Justification, p.29.

JESUS

'The Jesus of the New Testament has at least one advantage over the Jesus of modern reconstruction - He is real. He is not a manufactured figure suitable as a point of support for ethical maxims, but a genuine Person whom a man can love. Men have loved Him through all the Christian centuries. And the strange thing is that despite all the efforts to remove Him from the pages of history, there are those who love Him still.'

J. Gresham Machen, Christianity and Liberalism, p.116.

LANGUAGE

'...language is truthful, not when the meaning attached to the words by the speaker, but when the meaning intended to be produced in the mind of the particular person addressed, is in accordance with the facts.'

J. Gresham Machen, Christianity and Liberalism, p.112.

MIRACLES

'The New Testament without the miracles would be far easier to believe. But the trouble is, it would not be worth believing.'

J. Gresham Machen, Christianity and Liberalism, p.103.

CHURCH

'The fundamental fault of the modern Church is that she is busily engaged in an absolutely impossible task - she is busily engaged in calling the righteous to repentance...Even our Lord did not call the righteous to repentance, and probably we shall be no more successful than he.'

J. Gresham Machen, Christianity and Liberalism, p.68.

CHRISTIANITY & LIBERALISM

'Here is found the most fundamental difference between liberalism and Christianity - liberalism is altogether in the imperative mood, while Christianity begins with a triumphant indicative; liberalism appeals to man's will, while Christianity announces, first, a gracious act of God.'

J. Gresham Machen, Christianity and Liberalism, p.47.

LIBERALISM

'The movement designated as "liberalism" is regarded as "liberal" only by its friends; to its opponents it seems to involve a narrow ignoring of many relevant facts.'

J. Gresham Machen, Christianity and Liberalism, p.2.

RELIGION

'The type of religion which rejoices in the pious sound of traditional phrases regardless of their meanings, or shrinks from "controversial" matters, will never stand amid the shocks of life.'

J. Gresham Machen, Christianity and Liberalism, p. 1.