Thursday, 08 December 1938 11:03 Written by Various Authors

(From Christian Beacon Vol. III – No. 44, Thursday, December 8, 1938)

Faculty Maintains Highest Scholarship

SERVE AT GREAT SACRIFICE

The members of the faculty and teaching staff of Faith Theological Seminary, at the request of the Beacon, have issued the following statements relative to their relationship to Faith Seminary and the need of the Christian world today.

Faith Seminary has no buildings, no endowments, or legacies. At the invitation of the session of the First Independent Church, of Wilmington, Delaware, the seminary is meeting in the church buildings. Five houses on 14th Street are rented for dormitory facilities.

The faculty is headed by the Rev. Allan A. MacRae, Ph.D., whom the late Dr. Robert Dick Wilson selected as his successor.

Allan A. MacRae, Ph.D.,

Professor of Old Testament

Three of the central features of the witness of Faith Theological Seminary may be mentioned here. The first of these is evangelism. We seek to instill in our students a burning passion to present the glorious Gospel of our Lord to those who are lost. The seminary expects its students to give constant attention to this. Not only after they graduate, but also while they are students, they desire to lead souls into the kingdom of our Lord. Christ died on the cross, “that whosoever believeth on him might not perish but might have everlasting life.” Our part is to make His offer of salvation known.

A second feature is the emphasis on holy living. We believe in the separated life. Too frequently the lives of professing Christians are indistinguishable from those of unbelievers. It is not to this that God calls His people, but rather to shine as lights in an age of darkness and carnality. The Word of God gives no Christian any liberty to give aid and comfort to “the demon Rum.”

A third feature of outstanding importance is the emphasis on premillennialism. God calls His people to be watching for signs of His appearing. We do not know when our Lord shall come from Heaven to begin His reign of universal peace and righteousness upon the earth, but it may be very soon. The people of the earth are blindly looking for leadership in these days of uncertainty and dread. At Faith Seminary the clear teachings of the Word of God regarding the only hope of the world - the premillennial return of Christ in glory - are studied and believed.

Rev. R. Laird Harris

Instructor in Old Testament and Systematic Theology

The late Dr. Machen in the exegesis of 1 Corinthians 2:6-8 always insisted that Paul here corrects the impression that the Gospel of Christ is foolish or irrational. Rather, he said, Paul teaches that the Gospel is the true wisdom because it is the wisdom of God.

I am impressed with this fact about Faith Seminary, that it presents the true scholarship, for it makes every effort to be Biblical in its approach in all the departments. The twentieth century has seen a tremendous increase in higher learning in this country. The number of state-supported institutions of higher learning has increased more than fourfold, and the enrollment in such schools has increased almost tenfold in this century. The world is seeking wisdom as never before. Unfortunately this increase in secular study from neglecting the Bible has come to attack it, and even in many formerly Christian colleges and seminaries the Word of God is openly denied. The so called wisdom of man has been tremendously increased. Men who have studied the Bible in seminaries have lately counted it the mark of scholarship to divide and criticize and impugn the sacred record. In the minds of many sincere Christians, therefore, scholarship has become synonymous with unbelief. Not so at Faith Seminary. Here the true wisdom - the wisdom of God - is faithfully and carefully taught by patient examination of the Word of God.

Surely in a day when so much false "wisdom" is abroad, it behooves fundamentalist Christians to magnify the wisdom of God. Careful exegesis of the Bible in the original languages, with comparison of the whole context and cross references, has brought us blessings here at Faith Seminary far beyond all human treasures of wisdom or knowledge. If America is to be saved from the darkening apostasy, we must have more such fundamentalist seminaries, and those we have must be made stronger in the proclamation of “Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.”

Rev. Alfred W. Eppard

Instructor in New Testament

It is a fact of great importance that Faith Theological Seminary rests upon the Bible as the Word of God. The Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, is accepted as a body of truth which our God has revealed. The department of New Testament shares this mighty conviction that the Bible is the Word of God, the only infallible rule of faith and life.

The training of young men for the ministry of the true Gospel is imperative today. Such a training must include the highest Christian scholarship, along with a vigorous spiritual life and testimony. True Christian scholarship underlies great evangelical preaching. It is therefore highly necessary for one who endeavors to preach the Gospel to his fellows to have this special preparation in the Seminary.

Christian scholarship is significant in the study of the message of the New Testament writings. That message is the story of Jesus and His love. It is important that this divine message be told in at straight and full and plain way. The Lord Jesus is the grand theme of this message, for He is the One who is freely offered in the Gospel. "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved."

Christian scholarship is greatly used for the defense of the faith which was once delivered unto the saints." The Gospel presented in the New Testament books is a thoroughly reasonable thing. There is the necessary emphasis which must be placed upon Christian Apologetics. It is extremely important that in this day our defense of the Christian faith be directed against the opponents within the visible Church as well as against the opponents outside.

Christian scholarship is necessary for the building up of the body of Christ - His Church.

Sound doctrinal preaching is the need of the hour! The Lord’s people need to be built up in the things of Christ. Those who have accepted the Lord Jesus as the object of faith should continually receive a sound exposition of the Word, which gives them a true picture of the wonderful Christ of the Bible.

The sound training of young men for the ministry of reconciliation is carried on at Faith Seminary. This ministry is founded upon the blessed Book that the Spirit has given, and this witness is true. The New Testament presents the person and work of our Lord Jesus Christ in a glorious way. In this training for the presentation of such a blessed Gospel, there is the consecration of our intellectual powers to the service of Christ and, above all, the true devotion of the heart to the Christ of the Cross.

George H. Seville, D.D.

Instructor in Greek and Homiletics

At the present time, the demand for men of keen mental ability and thorough scholarship, as well as of deep spirituality, is insistent on the mission field. There has always been a need for such men in certain branches of the work, but now this type of missionary is needed not only for educational and literary work, but also for evangelism.

Faith Theological Seminary is training men for the foreign field, as well as for the work in the homeland. Of its first class graduates, one is working in Manchukuo and another in Peru. Some of those who are in the Seminary now are preparing to go as missionaries, if the Lord tarries.

The need for highly trained workers is shown by a glance at changing conditions on the field. For example, Dr. Arthur Taylor, of the China Inland Mission, visited his former field after a lapse of nearly thirteen years, and wrote in the annual Report his impressions of the changes in China.

“In the earlier days it was the common people who heard the Gospel. We almost came to think that in China the upper classes, the literati, would never be reached. Thank God, that has proved not to be the case, and this visit to China revealed that the missionaries are reaching all classes, high and low, rich and poor, with the story of God’s love.”

Dr. Taylor’s further words lay even greater stress upon the definite need existing for men with the training given in Faith Seminary. He writes: "If one were asked about new openings in China, such as did not present themselves in the same way in earlier days, one would immediately single out the fact that the student class presents to the C. I. M. and other Protestant missions a challenge and an opportunity for a work of importance that cannot be overestimated. In a single one of China’s leading cities there are at least 30,000 students, while in all the large cities we find a big student population.

. . . If China’s students are to be reached with the Gospel, then men and women specially called and equipped for this work ought to be sent out to do it. In the city of Kaifeng we saw great things being attempted amongst them, and great things being accomplished. But it is a special work and calls for men and women specially equipped, those who will give themselves wholly to it, who understand the student mind and the student outlook. These students of China are the men and women of tomorrow, those to whom the country will look for its leadership."

Faith Seminary has caught the vision of the fields white already unto harvest, and is training laborers for those whitened fields - laborers who will be fitted to the task and faithful to the Lord of the harvest, so that they "may have boldness, and not be ashamed before him at his coming."

Harold S. Laird, D.D.

Lecturer in Practice Preaching

In the midst of this second year of Faith Theological Seminary I find myself impressed more deeply than ever with the real consecration of the student body of the institution. Whenever a student chooses to come to Faith for his theological training, the very fact that he makes this institution his choice, rather than one of the older denominational seminaries, indicates at once the fact that he seeks not the favor of men, but the favor of God. He is not entering the Gospel ministry as a mere profession, but rather as a definite calling. This is evidenced by the fact that he is not looking to men, but to God alone for a field of labor.

We believe these students have chosen Faith because of its sound and scholarly training. In addition to this, they have been drawn to Faith because it’s uncompromising stand against all forms and shapes of Modernism. We are persuaded that true scholarship is of great importance to the minister of the Gospel in these days, but there is something of even greater importance to the Christian minister than scholarship; namely, a whole-hearted consecration to the Lord Jesus Christ, the true and only Head of the Church.

Gordon A. Curtis, Mus.B.

Lecturer in Public Speaking

Is there a need for such an institution as Faith Seminary in these "perilous times"?

Sixteen years ago, Dr. Harry Emerson Fosdick challenged the Church with this statement: "Today there are two parties in the churches. They are in active controversy now, and every day their consciousness of difference becomes more sharp and clear. The crux of the problem lies at this point: Scripture versus the New Knowledge.

The defenders of ancient theologies have an incalculable advantage over the modernists. They know exactly what they think. Their formulas have been wrought out and written down for a long time. They can state with embarrassing exactitude their precise opinions on the great facts of Biblical history. They confidently present them in clearly visualized mental formulas which, when they are credible to their hearers, give to their appeal penetration and power.

“Turn now to our liberal preaching. How much of it is intellectually chaotic and obscure. We have liberated ourselves from older ways of thinking. The church moves out into a new generation, with new ways of thinking and new outlooks upon the universe. Ideas never dreamed of before, such as scientific law and evolution, become the common property of well-instructed minds. Then men begin to have trouble with the old formula. Then comes a period of theological discord and controversy with all the trouble centering in the formula. The way out leads inevitably through liberalism” (Modern Use of the Bible, pp. I83-185).

The cleavage in the Church has come. Though many have been lured by Dr. Fosdick to seek “the

way out through liberalism," thank God others still hear the voice of the Lord saying, "Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein."

While some of the great denominations, like the Presbyterian, are closing down their seminaries, such as Auburn Seminary, and sending its prospective preachers to sit at the feet of Dr. Fosdick, Faith Seminary is training and sending forth prophets who believe and know and fearlessly proclaim the infallible, unbreakable, unshakable Word of God, "whose speech and whose preaching is not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power"!

H. McAllister Griffiths, D.D.

Instructor in Church History and Bible Survey

The chief thing that constantly impresses me about Faith Seminary is the quality of the students.

They are no ordinary group of average men. Of course, they differ in background and temperament, and have been given different abilities by God. But they are men who have come to Faith against the tide; against the pull of this age and every influence which might have deterred weal men. These men know their Lord. They have courage born of love for Him. It is through such men that God has been pleased to work mightily in generations past. He can do it again and, if He still tarries, I firmly believe that He will. It is a continual joy to me to come into contact with these keen young minds, joined to hearts dedicated to God’s service alone. They are a group of happy men, spiritual, without self-righteousness; mentally alert, yet with minds yielded in glad obedience to God as He speaks in His Word. Working through them, who can set limits to the gracious power of God?