According to worldly wisdom, [Machen’s] struggle in the massive mainline northern Presbyterian church was quixotic, but he never manifested a savior complex or fancied himself to be an Old Testament-type prophet, though their examples clearly inspired him.

J. Gresham Machen died 88 years and two days ago. His Westminster Seminary colleague, Dr. R. B. Kuiper, gave a Philadelphia radio talk nine days after Machen’s untimely death. We’ll look at an interesting section of that talk, the full transcript of which can be read here.

Machen—a son of privilege, of a patrician family, with a world-class education—could have maintained what one of his mentors called a “condition of low visibility”¹ in the courts of the church and in the halls of Christian education. However, because of his love for Christ and his church, he chose the hard road of faithfulness to the Bible and the Reformed faith. His convictions were too hard-won to be quickly abandoned.²

Shall we call Dr. Machen a martyr? I am not at all certain that he considered himself worthy of that name. He did not have a martyr complex. He did not invite martyrdom, nor did he boast of it. He was far too sane to do any such thing. There was nothing of the fanatic about him. And yet, without the slightest hesitation I give him a place among the martyrs of the Christian Church. What abuse has not been heaped upon him! I seriously question whether any religious leader of our day was more maligned than he. To him applies the beatitude: “Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you and say all manner of evil against you falsely for My sake.” What heroism of faith he manifested in the defense and proclamation of the Reformed Faith!

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