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The Christian View of Man
Man is made by God, in his image, for his glory. This truth, with all its implications, is the theme of Gresham Machen's popular presentation. It explains, for Christians and non-Christians alike, how the Bible serves as a mirror to show us who we are. In simple yet careful language, Machen deals with such subjects as creation, man as the image of God, the fall, sin, God's providence and care, and God's restoring grace.
254 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1937
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230 people want to read
About the author
J. Gresham Machen
101 books142 followersJohn Gresham Machen was an influential American Presbyterian theologian in the early 20th century. He was the Professor of New Testament at Princeton Seminary between 1915 and 1929, and led a conservative revolt against modernist theology at Princeton and formed Westminster Seminary as a more orthodox alternative. This split was irreconcilable, and Machen led others to form the Orthodox Presbyterian Church.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
June 7, 2021
Some really good stuff here.
I really valued the content on predestination, providence and original sin.
However, it was pretty philosophy heavy though, which isn’t always my jam. The first 9ish chapters were especially like this. Could have definitely done with more expository theology, but maybe that wasn’t the point.
Also, The Christian View of Man is quite a specific title considering the wide variety of topics. Regardless, it’s a good primer to some reformed theology.
“Here we stand on the brink of eternity. We are sinners. We deserve God’s wrath and curse. There is hope for us only in what God has told us in His Word. Let us listen to it while there is time.”
I really valued the content on predestination, providence and original sin.
However, it was pretty philosophy heavy though, which isn’t always my jam. The first 9ish chapters were especially like this. Could have definitely done with more expository theology, but maybe that wasn’t the point.
Also, The Christian View of Man is quite a specific title considering the wide variety of topics. Regardless, it’s a good primer to some reformed theology.
“Here we stand on the brink of eternity. We are sinners. We deserve God’s wrath and curse. There is hope for us only in what God has told us in His Word. Let us listen to it while there is time.”
April 22, 2020
Been a few years. Took my sister who's doing a year's worth of Bible college through it. Excellent book. I need to read more Machen.
June 7, 2024
Decided to revisit this again, definitely much harder without my brother kindly walking me through it during the 2020 lockdown. (i kid you not we read the entire thing out loud and alternated every paragraph because I sucked so bad at reading) I am very grateful to the Lord for giving me exactly what I needed so that I would know him.
It feels unfair to deduct stars because of MY limited reading comprehension, especially from a book that carries so my nostalgia but that's exactly what I am going to do today folks. Sorry.
"You cannot depend for your entrance into the kingdom of God upon anything that you have or anything that you are. You must be poor, and you must be a child. You must be utterly poor in order that you may enter in, and you must be as helpless as a little child. Your reliance cannot be on your own goodness, for you have none. It can only be upon the mysterious grace of God."
"Ah, my friends, how precious is that doctrine of the grace of God! It is not in accordance with human pride. It is not a doctrine that we should ever have evolved. But when it is revealed in God's Word, the hearts of the redeemed cry, Amen. Sinners saved by grace love to ascribe not some but all of the praise to God."
"I am afraid we shall just have to tell them that they cannot clamber over the wall into the Christian way. I am afraid we shall just have to point them to the little wicket gate, and tell them to seek their Saviour while yet He may be found, in order that He may rescue them from the day of wrath.
But is not that utterly hopeless? Is it not utterly hopeless to try to get the people of the twentieth century to take the law of God with any seriousness or to be the slightest bit frightened about their sins?
I answer, Certainly it is hopeless. Absolutely hopeless.
As hopeless as it is for a camel to try to pass through the eye of a needle.
But, you see, there is One who can do hopeless things.
That is, the Spirit of the living God.
Do not fear, you Christians. The Spirit of God has not lost His power. In His own good time, He will send His messengers even to a wicked and adulterous and careless generation. He will cause Mount Sinai to overhang and shoot forth flames; He will convict men of sin; He will break down men's pride; He will melt their stony hearts.
Then He will lead them to the Saviour of their souls."
It feels unfair to deduct stars because of MY limited reading comprehension, especially from a book that carries so my nostalgia but that's exactly what I am going to do today folks. Sorry.
"You cannot depend for your entrance into the kingdom of God upon anything that you have or anything that you are. You must be poor, and you must be a child. You must be utterly poor in order that you may enter in, and you must be as helpless as a little child. Your reliance cannot be on your own goodness, for you have none. It can only be upon the mysterious grace of God."
"Ah, my friends, how precious is that doctrine of the grace of God! It is not in accordance with human pride. It is not a doctrine that we should ever have evolved. But when it is revealed in God's Word, the hearts of the redeemed cry, Amen. Sinners saved by grace love to ascribe not some but all of the praise to God."
"I am afraid we shall just have to tell them that they cannot clamber over the wall into the Christian way. I am afraid we shall just have to point them to the little wicket gate, and tell them to seek their Saviour while yet He may be found, in order that He may rescue them from the day of wrath.
But is not that utterly hopeless? Is it not utterly hopeless to try to get the people of the twentieth century to take the law of God with any seriousness or to be the slightest bit frightened about their sins?
I answer, Certainly it is hopeless. Absolutely hopeless.
As hopeless as it is for a camel to try to pass through the eye of a needle.
But, you see, there is One who can do hopeless things.
That is, the Spirit of the living God.
Do not fear, you Christians. The Spirit of God has not lost His power. In His own good time, He will send His messengers even to a wicked and adulterous and careless generation. He will cause Mount Sinai to overhang and shoot forth flames; He will convict men of sin; He will break down men's pride; He will melt their stony hearts.
Then He will lead them to the Saviour of their souls."
June 30, 2024
A SECOND SERIES OF RADIO ADDRESSES ON THE REFORMED FAITH
John Gresham Machen 1881-1937) was a Presbyterian New Testament scholar who was Professor of New Testament at Princeton Seminary from 1906-1929, then led a conservative revolt against modernist theology at Princeton and formed Westminster Theological Seminary. He also led a group of conservatives out of the Northern Presbyterian Church to form the Orthodox Presbyterian Church.
The Author’s Preface to this 1937 book states, “This book constitutes the second part of a series of radio addresses which the author has been delivering over station WIP, under the auspices of Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia. The first part, Christian Faith in the Modern World, dealt with the authority of the Bible and with the Biblical Doctrine of God. The present volume deals with the Biblical doctrine of man, including the related subjects of the decrees of God and predestination… The book does not pretend in the slightest to be original. It is dependent throughout upon the masters of the Reformed Theology---particularly upon Charles Hodge, A.A. Hodge, B.B. Warfield, and Geerhardus Vos… Its several chapter proceed in logical sequence and seek to develop one central theme.” (Pg. 11)
In the first program, Machen says, “One point, at least, is clear—we cannot trust the Church. The visible Church, the Church as it now actually exists upon this earth, has fallen too often into error and sin… Well, then, is there anything at all to which we can appeal? Is there anything at all that remains constant when so many things change?... The world is in decadence, the visible Church is to a considerable extent apostate; but when God speaks we can trust Him, and His Word stands forever more… We can find the Word of God in the Bible…” (Pg. 13-14)
He observes, “But unbelievers will not accept the Bible record of Jesus as a whole. Very well, then, I will say to an unbelieving friend: ‘Here is a New Testament. Take it and choose any passage in it that you will in order to prove that your view of Jesus is right. You do not like my passages. Well, let us see what your passages say.’” (Pg. 18-19)
He states, “the choices of God’s will are always… determined by the ends which His infinite knowledge and His infinite wisdom place before Him. A denial of that view of the will… is sometimes represented a though it were in the interests of freedom… But a little reflection will show that the exact opposite is the case. If a man’s choices are not determined by the ends that he has in view, but simply by meaningless oscillations of his will, then they are determined by nothing but chance and the man becomes the mere plaything of something external to himself. That is particularly clear in the case of … God. If God’s choices were not determined by the holy ends he has in view… then His actions could only be regarded as dependent upon a blind meaningless chance… No, we must really hold to a sound determinism when we think of the will. The will of man is not free in the sense that it operates independently of the feelings and the intellect… What we call the will is just the whole person making choices.” (Pg. 28-29)
He explains, “I do take some things in the Bible literally and some things figuratively… But I have… a perfectly good way of deciding which things in the Bible I shall take literally and which things I shall take figuratively… You see, I hold that the Bible is essentially a plain book. Common sense is a wonderful help in reading it… I submit that if a man really reads with ordinary good sense and good will those utterances in the Bible where the Bible speaks of God as repenting of the things that He has done, and the like, he will have no difficulty whatever in seeing that those passages are mot emphatically not to be interpreted literally and that a literal interpretation of them is a very heinous exhibition of misunderstanding and bad taste.” (Pg. 32-33)
He argues, “If God does not know what His creatures, including man, will do, then a wild, unaccountable factor is introduced into the universe… Can we hold that although God does not know what the persons He has created will do, yet He can go on governing the rest of the universe in an orderly fashion? Surely we cannot hold that at all… God, moreover, on that view ceases to be God. He becomes a being who has to wait to see what His creatures will do; He becomes a God who has to change His plans to meet changing circumstances… He becomes a finite being… Also very unsatisfactory… [is that] while God does not determine or foreordain the actions of the persons whom He has created, but leaves their actions to the operation of their free will, yet He does know beforehand what their actions will be… this form of the theory does not really overcome the difficulty… the trouble is that if God really created these personal beings, knowing beforehand what, if created, they would do, He did really determine their actions. Their actions were certain before they did them.” (Pg. 37-38)
He points out, “Why is it that some men are saved? Is it because of anything they have done? Is it because they are less guilty in the sight of God than others? The whole Bible is concerned with denying that… According to the New Testament, as according to the Old Testament, those who … are destined to salvation, are chosen to form God’s people, not because of anything that they have done or would do, but simply because of the sovereignty of God’s good pleasure.” (Pg. 54-55) Later, he adds, “the doctrine of predestination … does not mean that God’s choice of some men for salvation is arbitrary or without good and sufficient reason---mysterious though the reason may be to us. It does not mean that God takes pleasure in the death of a sinner; it does not mean that the door of salvation is closed to anyone who will enter in… [But] the doctrine of predestination … is really the only solid ground of hope for this world and for the next… There is no … possibility of bread in the mighty working out of God’s eternal plan.” (Pg. 67)
He asserts, “in our day miracles have ceased. They have not ceased forever; but for the present day they have ceased. There is a good reason why they have ceased. But though miracles have ceased, certain other supernatural acts of God are wrought every day, when men and women are born again by the mysterious creative work of the Holy Spirit that the Bible calls the new birth.” (Pg. 113)
He states, “the real decision as to what view is to be held about the origin of the first man is not reached by a consideration of the evidence adduced by biologists or geologists… as a matter of fact the decision is reached on the basis of other kinds of evidence… Is there a God, Creator and Ruler of the world? Is He free to enter … the world that He has made?... If a negative answer is given to these questions, then no doubt the evolutionary view will be held regarding then origin of man. The biological and geological evidence obviously does not of itself justify such a view… On the other hand, to the person who does not share those naturalistic presuppositions, that leap from the actual evidence to the evolutionary hypothesis will seem to be a reckless leap indeed… Such a person will say with great confidence, not that man is a product of evolution but that God created man.” (Pg. 123-124)
He suggests, “The materialist explains that connection between physical processes in the brain and thought-processes in the mind by saying that only physical processes exist and that what we call the mind is only a very intricate form of physical process. The explanation is quite absurd, when you come to think of it. But why… cannot the connection between brain processes and mind processes be explained equally well just by saying that the mind makes use of the brain as its instrument?... No doubt the relation between the mind and the brain is a great mystery… But there are many mysterious things which yet must be accepted as facts. So with great confidence we can accept the teaching of the Bible … that man had a body and also has a soul, and that … both do most truly exist.” (Pg. 135-136)
He asks, “Does… the doctrine of the imputation of Adam’s sin to his posterity mean that the descendants of Adam, though themselves good, yet suffer the penalty of Adam’s sin? Does it mean that good people, because of what Adam did so long ago, are treated by God as though they were bad, suffering… many miseries in this life and the pains of hell forever? No, indeed, it does not mean that at all. On the contrary, every person who suffers the penalty of Adam’s sin is also himself bad. Indeed, badness is necessarily involved in that penalty itself.” (Pg. 217)
He explains, “[The doctrine of total depravity] does not mean that all men not Christians are at every moment just as bad as they possibly can be. On the contrary it is perfectly consonant with what is also plainly taught in Scripture---that the Spirit of God, by His common grace, restrains even unregenerate man from the full manifestation of the power of evil the dominates them… it means … that the corruption of fallen man affects all parts of man’s nature. His faculties remain, it is true; he is still a man, and as being still a man he is responsible. But all his faculties, all parts of his nature, are vitiated by the corruption into which he has fallen… The whole life of man… is corrupt… the Biblical doctrine of total depravity means that nothing that fallen and unregenerate men can do is really well-pleasing to God.” (Pg. 241-242)
Machen’s presentations of doctrine for a more “popular” audience (more so even than his sermons) are an excellent presentation of Reformed doctrines.
John Gresham Machen 1881-1937) was a Presbyterian New Testament scholar who was Professor of New Testament at Princeton Seminary from 1906-1929, then led a conservative revolt against modernist theology at Princeton and formed Westminster Theological Seminary. He also led a group of conservatives out of the Northern Presbyterian Church to form the Orthodox Presbyterian Church.
The Author’s Preface to this 1937 book states, “This book constitutes the second part of a series of radio addresses which the author has been delivering over station WIP, under the auspices of Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia. The first part, Christian Faith in the Modern World, dealt with the authority of the Bible and with the Biblical Doctrine of God. The present volume deals with the Biblical doctrine of man, including the related subjects of the decrees of God and predestination… The book does not pretend in the slightest to be original. It is dependent throughout upon the masters of the Reformed Theology---particularly upon Charles Hodge, A.A. Hodge, B.B. Warfield, and Geerhardus Vos… Its several chapter proceed in logical sequence and seek to develop one central theme.” (Pg. 11)
In the first program, Machen says, “One point, at least, is clear—we cannot trust the Church. The visible Church, the Church as it now actually exists upon this earth, has fallen too often into error and sin… Well, then, is there anything at all to which we can appeal? Is there anything at all that remains constant when so many things change?... The world is in decadence, the visible Church is to a considerable extent apostate; but when God speaks we can trust Him, and His Word stands forever more… We can find the Word of God in the Bible…” (Pg. 13-14)
He observes, “But unbelievers will not accept the Bible record of Jesus as a whole. Very well, then, I will say to an unbelieving friend: ‘Here is a New Testament. Take it and choose any passage in it that you will in order to prove that your view of Jesus is right. You do not like my passages. Well, let us see what your passages say.’” (Pg. 18-19)
He states, “the choices of God’s will are always… determined by the ends which His infinite knowledge and His infinite wisdom place before Him. A denial of that view of the will… is sometimes represented a though it were in the interests of freedom… But a little reflection will show that the exact opposite is the case. If a man’s choices are not determined by the ends that he has in view, but simply by meaningless oscillations of his will, then they are determined by nothing but chance and the man becomes the mere plaything of something external to himself. That is particularly clear in the case of … God. If God’s choices were not determined by the holy ends he has in view… then His actions could only be regarded as dependent upon a blind meaningless chance… No, we must really hold to a sound determinism when we think of the will. The will of man is not free in the sense that it operates independently of the feelings and the intellect… What we call the will is just the whole person making choices.” (Pg. 28-29)
He explains, “I do take some things in the Bible literally and some things figuratively… But I have… a perfectly good way of deciding which things in the Bible I shall take literally and which things I shall take figuratively… You see, I hold that the Bible is essentially a plain book. Common sense is a wonderful help in reading it… I submit that if a man really reads with ordinary good sense and good will those utterances in the Bible where the Bible speaks of God as repenting of the things that He has done, and the like, he will have no difficulty whatever in seeing that those passages are mot emphatically not to be interpreted literally and that a literal interpretation of them is a very heinous exhibition of misunderstanding and bad taste.” (Pg. 32-33)
He argues, “If God does not know what His creatures, including man, will do, then a wild, unaccountable factor is introduced into the universe… Can we hold that although God does not know what the persons He has created will do, yet He can go on governing the rest of the universe in an orderly fashion? Surely we cannot hold that at all… God, moreover, on that view ceases to be God. He becomes a being who has to wait to see what His creatures will do; He becomes a God who has to change His plans to meet changing circumstances… He becomes a finite being… Also very unsatisfactory… [is that] while God does not determine or foreordain the actions of the persons whom He has created, but leaves their actions to the operation of their free will, yet He does know beforehand what their actions will be… this form of the theory does not really overcome the difficulty… the trouble is that if God really created these personal beings, knowing beforehand what, if created, they would do, He did really determine their actions. Their actions were certain before they did them.” (Pg. 37-38)
He points out, “Why is it that some men are saved? Is it because of anything they have done? Is it because they are less guilty in the sight of God than others? The whole Bible is concerned with denying that… According to the New Testament, as according to the Old Testament, those who … are destined to salvation, are chosen to form God’s people, not because of anything that they have done or would do, but simply because of the sovereignty of God’s good pleasure.” (Pg. 54-55) Later, he adds, “the doctrine of predestination … does not mean that God’s choice of some men for salvation is arbitrary or without good and sufficient reason---mysterious though the reason may be to us. It does not mean that God takes pleasure in the death of a sinner; it does not mean that the door of salvation is closed to anyone who will enter in… [But] the doctrine of predestination … is really the only solid ground of hope for this world and for the next… There is no … possibility of bread in the mighty working out of God’s eternal plan.” (Pg. 67)
He asserts, “in our day miracles have ceased. They have not ceased forever; but for the present day they have ceased. There is a good reason why they have ceased. But though miracles have ceased, certain other supernatural acts of God are wrought every day, when men and women are born again by the mysterious creative work of the Holy Spirit that the Bible calls the new birth.” (Pg. 113)
He states, “the real decision as to what view is to be held about the origin of the first man is not reached by a consideration of the evidence adduced by biologists or geologists… as a matter of fact the decision is reached on the basis of other kinds of evidence… Is there a God, Creator and Ruler of the world? Is He free to enter … the world that He has made?... If a negative answer is given to these questions, then no doubt the evolutionary view will be held regarding then origin of man. The biological and geological evidence obviously does not of itself justify such a view… On the other hand, to the person who does not share those naturalistic presuppositions, that leap from the actual evidence to the evolutionary hypothesis will seem to be a reckless leap indeed… Such a person will say with great confidence, not that man is a product of evolution but that God created man.” (Pg. 123-124)
He suggests, “The materialist explains that connection between physical processes in the brain and thought-processes in the mind by saying that only physical processes exist and that what we call the mind is only a very intricate form of physical process. The explanation is quite absurd, when you come to think of it. But why… cannot the connection between brain processes and mind processes be explained equally well just by saying that the mind makes use of the brain as its instrument?... No doubt the relation between the mind and the brain is a great mystery… But there are many mysterious things which yet must be accepted as facts. So with great confidence we can accept the teaching of the Bible … that man had a body and also has a soul, and that … both do most truly exist.” (Pg. 135-136)
He asks, “Does… the doctrine of the imputation of Adam’s sin to his posterity mean that the descendants of Adam, though themselves good, yet suffer the penalty of Adam’s sin? Does it mean that good people, because of what Adam did so long ago, are treated by God as though they were bad, suffering… many miseries in this life and the pains of hell forever? No, indeed, it does not mean that at all. On the contrary, every person who suffers the penalty of Adam’s sin is also himself bad. Indeed, badness is necessarily involved in that penalty itself.” (Pg. 217)
He explains, “[The doctrine of total depravity] does not mean that all men not Christians are at every moment just as bad as they possibly can be. On the contrary it is perfectly consonant with what is also plainly taught in Scripture---that the Spirit of God, by His common grace, restrains even unregenerate man from the full manifestation of the power of evil the dominates them… it means … that the corruption of fallen man affects all parts of man’s nature. His faculties remain, it is true; he is still a man, and as being still a man he is responsible. But all his faculties, all parts of his nature, are vitiated by the corruption into which he has fallen… The whole life of man… is corrupt… the Biblical doctrine of total depravity means that nothing that fallen and unregenerate men can do is really well-pleasing to God.” (Pg. 241-242)
Machen’s presentations of doctrine for a more “popular” audience (more so even than his sermons) are an excellent presentation of Reformed doctrines.
September 24, 2023
A great read on fundamentals of the faith. Each chapter is short yet in-depth and informative. Machen does a good job explaining why a doctrine or truth matters and shouldn't be relegated to an academic subtly to be debated amongst scholars. He makes a good argument for the Reformed view and tackles the opposing argument. He also does a good job showing the domino effect of wrong doctrine, how it will affect your view of other aspects of Scripture of God and salvation. A good read and something worth having in your library. I will definitely read it again and it have on hand for reference in apologics. Even though it was written in 1937 sometimes it felt like it was written for today in 2023.
June 4, 2023
Machen can often be extremely ivory-towered in nature, but as this was transcripts from radio broadcasts this was a pretty easy read. He does a great job going through systematics and addressing issues such as Pelagianism and total depravity.
February 9, 2018
The first few chapters are excellent.
July 16, 2018
Machen's radio addresses, 1937. Excellent communication of biblical truths about humankind. So very timely, relevant, and fresh for today's readers, as well.
July 20, 2018
A good and useful read, although not as compelling as Christianity and Liberalism.
October 18, 2020
Doctrine of man shouldn’t start with the errors and failures of socialism. Set a bad tone and didn’t start with a good understanding of God or man. Honestly suffered through this entire book.
July 31, 2020
This is a book about the doctrine of man. It was written as radio broadcasts much like C.S. Lewis' Mere Christianity and in that sense has a similar feel in terms of its readability.
However, Machen goes much deeper into doctrine but still in a easy to understand way. He is unashamedly teaching the Reformed faith with many of his topics guided by the Westminster Shorter Catechism. This type of writing is what the church needs more of, solid biblical teaching explained in fairly simple terms in an engaging and interesting manner.
However, Machen goes much deeper into doctrine but still in a easy to understand way. He is unashamedly teaching the Reformed faith with many of his topics guided by the Westminster Shorter Catechism. This type of writing is what the church needs more of, solid biblical teaching explained in fairly simple terms in an engaging and interesting manner.
May 22, 2016
Based on a series of radio talks by Machen, this book clearly and concisely lays out the Biblical and Reformed view of man, from creation, through fall, and up to redemption. Machen communicates very clearly and effectively brings in opposing perspectives to counter. Even though this was originally published in 1937, the opponents' arguments have not changed, but, thankfully, neither has God's truth.
November 18, 2014
Simple book by the founder of Westminster Theological Seminary containing thoughts on fundamental topics including creation, man as the image of God, the fall, sin, and many others. Dealt with in simplicity and depth. Brought out details that I had never considered. Will definitely return to this book. Once was not enough.
October 19, 2012
A great little theology book!
March 6, 2014
Terrific little book which i come back to from time to time.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews