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Collected Writings of John Murray #3
Collected Writings of John Murray, Volume 3: Life, Sermons and Reviews
A biographical account of Murray's life and long teaching career (by Iain H. Murray) is followed by the first published collection of his sermons, including some of his communion addresses, and many reviews.
390 pages, Library Binding
First published October 1, 1982
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About the author
John Murray
33 books73 followersJohn Murray was a Scottish-born Calvinist theologian who taught at Princeton Seminary and then left to help found Westminster Theological Seminary, where he taught for many years.
Murray was born in the croft of Badbea, near Bonar Bridge, in Sutherland county, Scotland. Following service in the British Army in the First World War (during which he lost an eye, serving in the famous Black Watch regiment) he studied at the University of Glasgow. Following his acceptance as a theological student of the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland he pursued further studies at Princeton Theological Seminary under J. Gresham Machen and Geerhardus Vos, but broke with the Free Presbyterian Church in 1930 over that Church's treatment of the Chesley, Ontario congregation. He taught at Princeton for a year and then lectured in systematic theology at Westminster Theological Seminary to generations of students from 1930 to 1966, and was an early trustee of the Banner of Truth Trust. Besides the material in the four-volume Collected Writings, his primary published works are a commentary on the Epistle to the Romans (previously included in the New International Commentary on the New Testament series but now superseded by Douglas J. Moo's commentary), Redemption Accomplished and Applied, Principles of Conduct, The Imputation of Adam's Sin, Baptism, and Divorce.
Murray preached at Chesley and Lochalsh from time to time until his retirement from Westminster Theological Seminary in 1968. He married Valerie Knowlton 7 December 1967 and retired to Scotland where he was connected with the Free Church of Scotland. Writing after a communion season at Lochalsh, Murray said, “I think I feel most at home here and at Chesley of all the places I visit.” There had been some consideration that upon leaving the seminary, Murray might take a pastorate in the newly formed Presbyterian Reformed Church, but the infirmity of his aged sisters at the home place necessitated his return to Ross-shire, Scotland.
Murray was born in the croft of Badbea, near Bonar Bridge, in Sutherland county, Scotland. Following service in the British Army in the First World War (during which he lost an eye, serving in the famous Black Watch regiment) he studied at the University of Glasgow. Following his acceptance as a theological student of the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland he pursued further studies at Princeton Theological Seminary under J. Gresham Machen and Geerhardus Vos, but broke with the Free Presbyterian Church in 1930 over that Church's treatment of the Chesley, Ontario congregation. He taught at Princeton for a year and then lectured in systematic theology at Westminster Theological Seminary to generations of students from 1930 to 1966, and was an early trustee of the Banner of Truth Trust. Besides the material in the four-volume Collected Writings, his primary published works are a commentary on the Epistle to the Romans (previously included in the New International Commentary on the New Testament series but now superseded by Douglas J. Moo's commentary), Redemption Accomplished and Applied, Principles of Conduct, The Imputation of Adam's Sin, Baptism, and Divorce.
Murray preached at Chesley and Lochalsh from time to time until his retirement from Westminster Theological Seminary in 1968. He married Valerie Knowlton 7 December 1967 and retired to Scotland where he was connected with the Free Church of Scotland. Writing after a communion season at Lochalsh, Murray said, “I think I feel most at home here and at Chesley of all the places I visit.” There had been some consideration that upon leaving the seminary, Murray might take a pastorate in the newly formed Presbyterian Reformed Church, but the infirmity of his aged sisters at the home place necessitated his return to Ross-shire, Scotland.
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May 27, 2025
the biographical section and his sermons were especially edifying. The more I read Murray, the more I want to read Murray.
July 1, 2024
VOLUME THREE OF THE SERIES: CONTAINING A BIOGRAPHY OF MURRAY, AND SERMONS AND
BOOK REVIEWS
John Murray (1898-1975) was a Scottish-born Calvinist theologian who taught at Princeton Seminary and helped found Westminster Theological Seminary, where he taught Systematic Theology for thirty years until his retirement in 1966.
Iain H. Murray’s Preface to this 1982 collection states, “John Murray and I did not belong to the same family and therefore when, in 1973 we were discussing the publication of his Collected Writings, to my proposal that it should include a biography he replied: ‘… If I supplied a skeleton, perhaps you yourself could write the biographical account.’ … Sadly… nothing … was provided by our late friend who health deteriorated so rapidly before his death on May 8, 1975… To those who remember John as a friend and a servant of Christ it will be a very inadequate account. Six years after his death there are many across the world who do not cease to miss him deeply. But my hope is that for those who did not know him… these pages will provide at least some idea of who he was.”
Iain Murray says of John Murray’s military service in the First World War, “While leading a section of man, as a lance corporal, and in the act of firing his rifle … the sight of his right eye had been irretrievably destroyed by shrapnel… Soon he was in England in a hospital where, a few days later, his eye was removed… On December 10, 1918,he was discharged, ‘being no longer physically fit for war service’… A small pension was subsequently paid. The glass eye which John Murray wore so closely resembled the original that even those who knew him well tended to forget that his sight was limited to one eye. It was a considerable handicap for one whose next ten years were to be given to almost unremitting study.” (Pg. 14)
He records, “Without question John Murray’s years at Princeton [Theological Seminary] exercised a formative influence upon his whole life and thought… Murray found the theology of the Westminster Confession in living embodiment, and taught from the original languages of the Scriptures with a freshness and an exactness of exegesis which was new to him… At Princeton, then, Murray’s commitment to the Reformed Faith was not changed, but it became, in a new way, rooted in the Bible itself.” (Pg. 28-29) However, after Murray spent three years in Scotland, “It was a changed Princeton Seminary to which John Murray returned in September 1929… Each year support weakened for the conviction that liberalism and Christianity represent two different religions, and those who, like [J. Gresham] Machen, continued to speak for that conviction were branded as uncharitable and isolationist.” (Pg. 38)
He continues, “[In 1929] The reorganization of Princeton Seminary was carried through and among members of the new board were two who had signed and supported the liberalism of the Auburn Affirmation… following the General Assembly decision of 1929, three of the Seminary’s leading professors, Oswald T. Allis, Robert Dick Wilson, and Machen himself had resigned, followed by the your Cornelius Van Til… In July 1929 these three senior professors, supported by an influential number of Presbyterian ministers, had determined to commence another Seminary which would continue to supply men for the ministry of their church and stand by the Faith which the old Princeton had so long proclaimed… Thus it was that on September 25, 1929, in Philadelphia, Westminster Theological Seminary began its history.” (Pg. 39)
He notes that in Murray’s writings, “he dealt with ‘Modern Dispensationalism’ in … decisive terms. Dispensationalism, as revealed in the notes of the Scofield Bible, ‘discovers in the several dispensations of God’s redemptive revelation distinct and even contrary principles of divine procedure and thus destroys the unity of God’s dealing with fallen mankind.’ ‘It is,’ he declared, ‘’heterodox from the standpoint of the Reformed Faith.’” (Pg. 59)
In the 1930s, “a far more critical issue was the question whether living a ‘surrendered life’ demanded abstinence from alcoholic drinks. It was part of the mores of the fundamentalist ethos that such a repudiation was a required part of Christian holiness. John Murray led the opposition to this viewpoint within the Seminary… he was in no way opposed to the personal act of Christians in denying themselves the use of alcohol, nor was he ever complacent about the fearful abuse of liquor … but he was vehement in his assertion that for the Church to demand abstinence, in the name of Christian holiness, was to set up a standard other than the Word of God. In other words, a broad, vital principle concerning the sufficiency of Scripture was at stake.” (Pg. 67)
Of Murray’s style as a professor, he notes, “Murray’s method was to begin with prayer (which he always took himself), and then to occupy most, if not all, of the remaining time with what amounted to a dictation of his lecture… The truth is that to take Murray’s lectures down with exactness required a considerable degree of proficiency. Knowledge of Greek and Hebrew was assumed, and so was a good English vocabulary, for students soon learned that their professor chose words very deliberately… Usually his only pause in a lecture was to write a particularly difficult word on the blackboard… The Professor was undeterred by the fact that his teaching method was out-of-fashion… Students were in theological seminaries, primarily, to receive truth, not to discuss and debate it; still less to originate ideas of their own… the immediate need of a theological student is to learn and to grasp an authoritative presentation of historic Christianity.” (Pg. 91-92) Later, he adds, “It remains to be said on the subject of John Murray’s influence that it reached its widest scope, and most enduring form, in his published writings.” (Pg. 135)
He recounts, “Apart from John Murray himself, no one else in Philadelphia considered that the termination of his work at Westminster Seminary was desirable in 1964… But the fact is that he had looked forward to retirement in the mid-sixties… [in] the anticipation he had long entertained of being more fully engaged in preaching and pastoral labor. That, after all, was his first love, and with the passing years his enjoyment of those labors increased rather than decreased.” (Pg. 138) However, he adds, “In the estimation of some hearers, John Murray as a preacher was not always lively and popular. Perhaps the truth is that he was so much accustomed to speaking to candidates for the ministry that possibly he expected too much of the normal type of hearer.” (Pg. 140)
In a sermon on Job, Murray said, “One of the grossest distortions of the sovereignty of God in his decree and providence is that of passive quiescence, fatalistic inactivity and stoical indifference… The faith in God’s providence that is true and the hope in God’s faithfulness that is well grounded have as their complement the strictest adherence to and perseverance in the way of divine commandment… Obedience enlists our utmost diligence and constant application. And the way of Godliness is just this, that when the rod of God strikes most hardly and mysteriously the saint of God cleaves most closely to the revealed will of God.” (Pg. 166)
In another sermon, he explains, “It is with Scripture that Paul is dealing [in 2 Tim 3:16] and it is of the written text that he speaks when he says it is God-breathed. And since Scripture is a fixed body of writings… it is of that whole, and of all its inter-related and component parts, that Paul speaks. Scripture … is not merely of the revelatory processes in deeds and words lying back of Scripture that the apostle is speaking. And therefore Scripture itself is accorded all the sanction and sanctity that belong to the out-spoken word of God. It is God’s self-revelation and the declaration of his will unto his church that is now committed to writing.” (Pg. 259)
In a review of an Amillennial book by Floyd Hamilton, Murray notes, “We are more than amazed when Mr. Hamilton says, ‘The doctrine of election itself… would inevitably indicate that the forces of Satan will continue to exist in the world throughout the inter-adventual period. The belief that all will become righteous would seem to contradict the plain teaching of election, that some are saved and others lost.’ The doctrine of election is not in the least contradicted by the belief that for a period in this world’s history the population of the world will be preponderantly elect. Even if during such a period ever person living on the earth were elect---a belief postmillenarians do not necessarily entertain---the doctrine of election would not in the least be disturbed thereby. It would simply mean that all living in that period were embraced in the election of grace.” (Pg. 305-306)
The volumes in this series will be virtual “must reading” for anyone seriously studying contemporary Evangelical Reformed theology.
BOOK REVIEWS
John Murray (1898-1975) was a Scottish-born Calvinist theologian who taught at Princeton Seminary and helped found Westminster Theological Seminary, where he taught Systematic Theology for thirty years until his retirement in 1966.
Iain H. Murray’s Preface to this 1982 collection states, “John Murray and I did not belong to the same family and therefore when, in 1973 we were discussing the publication of his Collected Writings, to my proposal that it should include a biography he replied: ‘… If I supplied a skeleton, perhaps you yourself could write the biographical account.’ … Sadly… nothing … was provided by our late friend who health deteriorated so rapidly before his death on May 8, 1975… To those who remember John as a friend and a servant of Christ it will be a very inadequate account. Six years after his death there are many across the world who do not cease to miss him deeply. But my hope is that for those who did not know him… these pages will provide at least some idea of who he was.”
Iain Murray says of John Murray’s military service in the First World War, “While leading a section of man, as a lance corporal, and in the act of firing his rifle … the sight of his right eye had been irretrievably destroyed by shrapnel… Soon he was in England in a hospital where, a few days later, his eye was removed… On December 10, 1918,he was discharged, ‘being no longer physically fit for war service’… A small pension was subsequently paid. The glass eye which John Murray wore so closely resembled the original that even those who knew him well tended to forget that his sight was limited to one eye. It was a considerable handicap for one whose next ten years were to be given to almost unremitting study.” (Pg. 14)
He records, “Without question John Murray’s years at Princeton [Theological Seminary] exercised a formative influence upon his whole life and thought… Murray found the theology of the Westminster Confession in living embodiment, and taught from the original languages of the Scriptures with a freshness and an exactness of exegesis which was new to him… At Princeton, then, Murray’s commitment to the Reformed Faith was not changed, but it became, in a new way, rooted in the Bible itself.” (Pg. 28-29) However, after Murray spent three years in Scotland, “It was a changed Princeton Seminary to which John Murray returned in September 1929… Each year support weakened for the conviction that liberalism and Christianity represent two different religions, and those who, like [J. Gresham] Machen, continued to speak for that conviction were branded as uncharitable and isolationist.” (Pg. 38)
He continues, “[In 1929] The reorganization of Princeton Seminary was carried through and among members of the new board were two who had signed and supported the liberalism of the Auburn Affirmation… following the General Assembly decision of 1929, three of the Seminary’s leading professors, Oswald T. Allis, Robert Dick Wilson, and Machen himself had resigned, followed by the your Cornelius Van Til… In July 1929 these three senior professors, supported by an influential number of Presbyterian ministers, had determined to commence another Seminary which would continue to supply men for the ministry of their church and stand by the Faith which the old Princeton had so long proclaimed… Thus it was that on September 25, 1929, in Philadelphia, Westminster Theological Seminary began its history.” (Pg. 39)
He notes that in Murray’s writings, “he dealt with ‘Modern Dispensationalism’ in … decisive terms. Dispensationalism, as revealed in the notes of the Scofield Bible, ‘discovers in the several dispensations of God’s redemptive revelation distinct and even contrary principles of divine procedure and thus destroys the unity of God’s dealing with fallen mankind.’ ‘It is,’ he declared, ‘’heterodox from the standpoint of the Reformed Faith.’” (Pg. 59)
In the 1930s, “a far more critical issue was the question whether living a ‘surrendered life’ demanded abstinence from alcoholic drinks. It was part of the mores of the fundamentalist ethos that such a repudiation was a required part of Christian holiness. John Murray led the opposition to this viewpoint within the Seminary… he was in no way opposed to the personal act of Christians in denying themselves the use of alcohol, nor was he ever complacent about the fearful abuse of liquor … but he was vehement in his assertion that for the Church to demand abstinence, in the name of Christian holiness, was to set up a standard other than the Word of God. In other words, a broad, vital principle concerning the sufficiency of Scripture was at stake.” (Pg. 67)
Of Murray’s style as a professor, he notes, “Murray’s method was to begin with prayer (which he always took himself), and then to occupy most, if not all, of the remaining time with what amounted to a dictation of his lecture… The truth is that to take Murray’s lectures down with exactness required a considerable degree of proficiency. Knowledge of Greek and Hebrew was assumed, and so was a good English vocabulary, for students soon learned that their professor chose words very deliberately… Usually his only pause in a lecture was to write a particularly difficult word on the blackboard… The Professor was undeterred by the fact that his teaching method was out-of-fashion… Students were in theological seminaries, primarily, to receive truth, not to discuss and debate it; still less to originate ideas of their own… the immediate need of a theological student is to learn and to grasp an authoritative presentation of historic Christianity.” (Pg. 91-92) Later, he adds, “It remains to be said on the subject of John Murray’s influence that it reached its widest scope, and most enduring form, in his published writings.” (Pg. 135)
He recounts, “Apart from John Murray himself, no one else in Philadelphia considered that the termination of his work at Westminster Seminary was desirable in 1964… But the fact is that he had looked forward to retirement in the mid-sixties… [in] the anticipation he had long entertained of being more fully engaged in preaching and pastoral labor. That, after all, was his first love, and with the passing years his enjoyment of those labors increased rather than decreased.” (Pg. 138) However, he adds, “In the estimation of some hearers, John Murray as a preacher was not always lively and popular. Perhaps the truth is that he was so much accustomed to speaking to candidates for the ministry that possibly he expected too much of the normal type of hearer.” (Pg. 140)
In a sermon on Job, Murray said, “One of the grossest distortions of the sovereignty of God in his decree and providence is that of passive quiescence, fatalistic inactivity and stoical indifference… The faith in God’s providence that is true and the hope in God’s faithfulness that is well grounded have as their complement the strictest adherence to and perseverance in the way of divine commandment… Obedience enlists our utmost diligence and constant application. And the way of Godliness is just this, that when the rod of God strikes most hardly and mysteriously the saint of God cleaves most closely to the revealed will of God.” (Pg. 166)
In another sermon, he explains, “It is with Scripture that Paul is dealing [in 2 Tim 3:16] and it is of the written text that he speaks when he says it is God-breathed. And since Scripture is a fixed body of writings… it is of that whole, and of all its inter-related and component parts, that Paul speaks. Scripture … is not merely of the revelatory processes in deeds and words lying back of Scripture that the apostle is speaking. And therefore Scripture itself is accorded all the sanction and sanctity that belong to the out-spoken word of God. It is God’s self-revelation and the declaration of his will unto his church that is now committed to writing.” (Pg. 259)
In a review of an Amillennial book by Floyd Hamilton, Murray notes, “We are more than amazed when Mr. Hamilton says, ‘The doctrine of election itself… would inevitably indicate that the forces of Satan will continue to exist in the world throughout the inter-adventual period. The belief that all will become righteous would seem to contradict the plain teaching of election, that some are saved and others lost.’ The doctrine of election is not in the least contradicted by the belief that for a period in this world’s history the population of the world will be preponderantly elect. Even if during such a period ever person living on the earth were elect---a belief postmillenarians do not necessarily entertain---the doctrine of election would not in the least be disturbed thereby. It would simply mean that all living in that period were embraced in the election of grace.” (Pg. 305-306)
The volumes in this series will be virtual “must reading” for anyone seriously studying contemporary Evangelical Reformed theology.
March 31, 2020
I’ve only just finished Dr. Iain Murray’s biography of Professor John Murray which is contained in this third volume of Prof. Murray’s collected writings. John Murray was a fascinating man. A Reformed Theologian of unparalleled class. His approach to systematic theology was one based on scripture and not necessarily a system or tradition. His life of piety and practice is an inspiration as evidence by his deep pastoral care, love for God’s word and the preaching of it, desire to see the kingdom advance, and his love for Psalm singing. If you desire to be encouraged by a life of devotion to Jesus Christ, you can do no better than this biography. From page 156, a note written inside JM’a Greek NT:
O Lord, all that I do desire
is still before Thine eye,
And of my heart the secret groans
Not hidden see from thee.
O Lord, all that I do desire
is still before Thine eye,
And of my heart the secret groans
Not hidden see from thee.
June 21, 2025
This book is divided into three sections: Murray’s biography, sermons and communion addresses/book reviews.
Murray’s biography is enriching and encouraging. Seeing the life of such a faithful leader is good in casting a higher standard for the life of the believer although Murray would say to look unto Christ as that standard. I truly got lost in the pages.
Murray’s sermons were also encouraging, although I have found the most gold when reading his scholarly work rather than sermons (which I cannot say for everyone).
The rest of the book seemed to be more of a reference as far as book reviews, although Murray’s reviews were in debt and truthful to the books strengths and weaknesses.
Murray’s biography is enriching and encouraging. Seeing the life of such a faithful leader is good in casting a higher standard for the life of the believer although Murray would say to look unto Christ as that standard. I truly got lost in the pages.
Murray’s sermons were also encouraging, although I have found the most gold when reading his scholarly work rather than sermons (which I cannot say for everyone).
The rest of the book seemed to be more of a reference as far as book reviews, although Murray’s reviews were in debt and truthful to the books strengths and weaknesses.
July 6, 2017
This volume is comprised of three parts: 1. The Life of John Murray by Iain Murray. 2. Sermons, and 3. Reviews. To Murray's biography, I give 5 stars, to the sermons three, and to the reviews three.
Some of the reviews are worthwhile, but I do wish the reviews of Volumes 3 and 4 would have been grouped together into a single separate volume. If the "Studies in Theology" from volume 4 replaced the reviews, this would be a most excellent book.
Some of the reviews are worthwhile, but I do wish the reviews of Volumes 3 and 4 would have been grouped together into a single separate volume. If the "Studies in Theology" from volume 4 replaced the reviews, this would be a most excellent book.
August 5, 2025
Read Murray’s biography. Inspiring, but a bit hagiographical (are all Banner of Truth bios like this?).
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews