Liberalism is itself in great danger of being chewed up and spit out by the new ultra-intolerant leftists of our day, who are not “liberal” in any sense of the word. They are creating their own dogma (doctrines), which everyone must get in line with—or else. The new leftists are every day creating new “sins” and new rules, and they loudly proclaim their own “tests of who is in and who is out.”

In his 1923 book Christianity & Liberalism, J. Gresham Machen asserts that liberalism is another religion unto itself, far removed from the biblical Christianity from which it came. We think he makes some good points. In Chapter Two of his book, he takes the liberalism (of his day) to task concerning their public hostility toward doctrine—when, in fact, they had simply created new doctrines that comport with what Machen points out is essentially a new religion. Liberals in Machen’s days didn’t want a test that shows who, as Brian McLaren says, “is in and who is not.” They wanted Jesus to be merely a good moral teacher or a wise sage like Confucius. Liberals kept the name “Christian” for this new religion while stripping from it the biblical historic faith through redefinition and sleight of hand. As Machen often pointed out in his book, the biblical writers didn’t merely record events like Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection but gave particular meaning to those events. The mere recording of those events would be history. The meaning of the events—that Jesus died, was buried, and raised to pay for the sins of the world, and on that basis, people can be saved and enjoy peace with God—is doctrine.

As Machen builds his case, he establishes something that most seem to miss regarding Who Jesus Christ was and is. Machen writes:

In particular, it [Scripture] contains the loftiest possible presentation of Jesus’ own Person. That presentation appears in the strange note of authority which pervades the whole discourse; it appears in the recurrent words, “But I say unto you.” Jesus plainly puts His own words on an equality with what He certainly regarded as the divine words of Scripture; He claimed the right to legislate for the Kingdom of God. Let it not be objected that this note of authority involves merely a prophetic consciousness in Jesus, a mere right to speak in God’s name as God’s Spirit might lead. For what prophet ever spoke in this way? The prophets said, “Thus saith the Lord,” but Jesus said, “I say.”¹

For those who missed it, the first time through, Machen points out that as Jesus spoke those five little words, “But I say unto you,” He “puts His own words on an equality” to the word of God—Scripture. To make sure the readers understood the depth of the importance of this Machen wrote, “He claimed the right to legislate for the Kingdom of God.” As Machen points out, this isn’t a simple passing on a divine word from above, a “Thus Saith the Lord,” but something equal in authority to the original Scripture when He uttered, “I say.”

As Machen notes, the same thing occurs in Mathew 7:23-25:

Jesus here represents Himself as seated on the judgment-seat of all the earth, separating whom He will forever from the bliss that is involved in being present with Him. Could anything be further removed than such a Jesus from the humble teacher of righteousness appealed to by modern liberalism?²

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