'Bulletin of
COLUMBIA THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY

DECATUR, GEORGIA

Vol. XXXV

December, 1942

No. 3

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Entered as second-class matter. May 9, 1928, at the post office at Decatur, Ga.. under the Act of August 24, 1912.

PUBLISHED QUARTERLY AT DECATUR, GEORGIA

OUR TASK

OUR TASK

(Address delivered by Dr. Manford George Gutzke,
Professor of English Bible and Religious Education, at
the opening exercises of Columbia Theological Seminary,
September 17, 1942.)

On this occasion our hearts and minds are charged
with the significance of the year's work which lies before
us. The meaning of our being here is largely derived
from the wider implications of our whole lifework, as
each of us is committed to that, respectively. Yet there
is a distinct sense in which the program involved in at-
tending Columbia Seminary in 1942-43 presents a specific
challenge, with attendant heavy responsibility bearing
directly upon each member of the student body and
faculty. It will be the purpose of these remarks to de-
scribe this import of what we face, and to make some
observations by way of interpretation, that we may grasp
more fully the nature of our immediate task.

A recent development in military strategy is the con-
cept of a "Task-Force." In the older organization of
armed forces, the procedure was to assemble the men
according to the particular type of service they were
fitted and trained to perform. Thus were mobilized the
infantry, the cavalry, the artillery, the marines, the navy,
etc. The whole military and naval might was then avail-
able for duty at the call of the Commander-in-Chief,
who employed the various branches of the service as his
own strategy and tactics might require. In the present
war the emphasis has been laid on the particular objec-
tives to be achieved in the course of the campaign. Thus
the destruction of Poland, the occupation of Denmark,
Norway, and Holland, the turning of the Maginot Line,
etc., were each undertaken as a distinct project. J^rom
this approach, each objective is conceived as a "task."
A careful survey of the nature of the task is taken as the
basis for the assembling, equipping and training of the
"task-force," which operates as a sort of tailor-made
striking-force, aimed at one specific objective.

This concept has particular aptness for our meditation
upon our work here. It would be quite inadequate to
describe our purpose as being designed to get an edu-
cation, to learn to preach, or to prepare for a profession.
Nor will it suffice to say that we are here to study
Hebrew and Greek, the Bible, Church History, Theology,
Religious Education, as subjects. All that is indicated
by such description is actually implied, but the real
meaning of our curriculum is much more specific. The
implications are quite different when we state our pur-
pose in some such fashion:

"To prepare for the ministry of the Gospel in the
Presbyterian Church, U. S."

It is this ministry that is conceived as our "Task." Thus
our work here becomes the preparation of the Task-
Force" of the Southern Presbyterian Church.

OUR TASK IS AN ASSIGNMENT

We are here as men who have been entrusted with the
Gospel of Jesus Christ by God Himself. Each of us has
heard His call. We are here because we have followed
His guidance, not so much to come here, as to come
here en route "in His Will." We see ourselves as humble

units in the great project of Redemption which the living
God has undertaken through His Son to the glory of
His Name and the benefit of His creatures. The Gospel
did not originate as our idea, and Salvation was not
designed by us as our work. But the preaching and
teaching of the Gospel is our Task, committed to our
performance "in the Lord."

We are entrusted by our Church. Each of us is here
under some presbyterial trust, which lays upon us spe-
cific responsibility. We have not been released from
routine duty, that we might experiment, explore, or
examine, as curiosity, personal interest, or speculation
might suggest. The Church is joined in vital combat
with the forces of darkness, and eternal values are at
stake in the destinies of immortal souls. There is no
lull, no armistice, no "breather-spell," in that global war,
being waged for the salvation of souls by the Captain
of the Lord's Host, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
The Church as His Body is altogether involved in the
conflict that means life or death, eternally. There is no
more sacred trust committed to man than is laid upon
us here. The equipment here provided, the fields of
service awaiting our coming, the privilege of the ministry
throughout our denomination, bear their own testimony
to our hearts. To accept the opportunity of being here
at the Seminary is to undertake the responsibility of
serving within the scope of the expectations of those
who authorize and support this work. No man has the
right to exploit Seminary privileges to his own ends, nor
to interpret his responsibility to suit his own interests.
The Southern Presbyterian Church launched this project
for the training of men who should serve in the ministry
of the Gospel throughout the bounds of our General
Assembly. No man is compelled to be here. But coming
here, everyone of us is bound to construe our individual
and collective responsibility within the perspective of the
intent of our Church.

We are entrusted by the public at large. We are the
heirs of a legacy of good will, a residue of respect, which
the American people extend to "the cloth." The im-
munity from the many exacting demands, and from the
usual unsympathetic treatment meted out to the average
man, is ours, not because of personal individual worth,
however considerable that may be, but because of our
office in the community. The people look upon us as
ministers of the Gospel, they treat us as ministers of the
Gospel, and they expect us to be just that, viz., ministers
of the Gospel of Christ. This trust from the public has
been practically manifested in the current policy of
deferment of ministers in the Selective Service Draft
administration. We are free to continue our Seminary
work, not so much because we are exempt from armed
service, as because we are entrusted, assigned to spiritual
service. We must avoid misunderstanding this deferment
as a concession. It is rather a sober commission, which
can only be rightly understood as an assignment in trust
from our fellow citizens.

OUR TASK IS SPECIFIC

The Gospel content is new to every man. The Apostle
Paul expresses this to the Corinthians when he writes,
"Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered
into the heart of man, the things which God hath pre-

pared for them that love Him. But God hath revealed
them unto us by His Spirit." We are to minister this
specific message. It is truth that is not innate. Nor is
it obvious, so that it could be ascertained by research in
human history, or by analysis of human experience. It
must be acquired. It is not natural as being of this
world; nor is it what any man might think in the course
of reflection. It is Spiritual, as being of different sort.
It is revealed, as to its origin. Hence it must be learned,
just as one would learn Chinese or Russian. When we
keep in mind that the essence of our Gospel is a Promise
couched in the form of a Covenant, which implicates God
as the active, voluntary agent in the Salvation project
we can readily see how necessary it is that we should
make plain and clear to those who hear us, just what
God has said He would do.

The Gospel sources are strange and unfamiliar to man
The Scriptures came to us in their original languages of
Hebrew and Greek. No one can doubt that the more
exact as well as the richer meanings of the utterances of
Scripture are to be grasped only when these languages
are mastered, or at least understood. The accumulated
testimony of successive generations of Christians derived
in experience and manifested in history, is available only
to those who study the records and the events in Church
History. It falls to the lot of the ministry to study and
to grasp the significance of all such sources for a full
understanding of the Gospel. And such study involves a
discipline in intellectual activity that is exacting and
specific.

The Gospel meaning is profound. While the personal
and spiritual import of accepting Christ is so simply set
forth that even a child may intelligently receive the
Savior, the intellectualization of the meaning of Salva-
tion challenges the most profound thought. The logical
formulations demand competent, trained, sincere, pre-
pared minds. There is such necessity for discrimination
in selection, for judgment in the interpretation of mean-
ing, and for faithfulness and integrity in purpose, while
seeking the philosophical significance of the subject mat-
ter of revelation, that only a rigorous mental and spirit-
ual discipline can possibly suffice. We need only recall
the tragic shipwreck that many have made in this mat-
ter of interpretation to realize how preeminently im-
portant it is that a man who would preach and teach the
Gospel should be grounded in the basic truth of the
Salvation in Christ. It is this matter of securing a sound
and solid intellectual grasp of the Gospel, so that heart
and head are integrated in clear convictions, that is one
of our principal objectives in the course of our Seminary
curriculum.

We are bent on achieving the spread of the Gospel in
the world today and tomorrow. We have noted that the
Gospel has eternal, unchangeable, spiritual significance
that must be learned. The world of today and tomorrow
lies before us as a vague, troubled, turbulent sea in-
volving factors and producing situations which likewise
challenge observation, study, and understanding. The
propagation of the Gospel into the hearts of men becomes
a problem of navigation for which a high calibre of sea-
manship is required. Just any port, any conclusion will
not suit us. To arrive at our aim presents a task of
specific character for which we need specific trainmg
that we may work with adequate efficiency.

OUR TASK IS IMPORTANT

Our immediate assignment is to prepare. The nature
of that preparation is largely determined by the nature
of the work which the minister wiU be called upon to
do The problems which confront the minister are diffi-
cult His mission is to win and to lead men to a changed
point of view, and to a different manner of living. Peo-
ple tend to become established in the mould into which
they were born, and where they matured. They become
"sot in their ways." They usually have their minds
made up. It would be a considerable task to teach the
meaning of the Gospel to those who were willing and
ready to learn, but the minister as a rule has to work
in a field that is already occupied. Such conditions
present delicate problems of policy and procedure, for
which the minister needs competent preparation.

The demands made upon the minister are heavy. The
varied implications of his public position draw heavily
upon his time and energy. The details of supervision
or of administration in the Church organization claim
his attention. The personal problems of his flock call
for understanding, sympathy, wisdom and concern. The
intellectual requirements of his pulpit and teaching func-
tions are increasing yet more and more. In addition to
all this, the minister has duties in the presbytery, the
synod, and the General Assembly. There are mooted
questions he should study, proposed projects about which
he should be informed, policy and procedure he should
understand. When allowance is then made for the nor-
mal complement of personal, home, and family respon-
sibilities, the work load of the minister may be gauged
as being of overwhelming proportions. The most careful
preparation is an obvious requirement for effectual min-

1S The responsibility resting upon the minister is greatest
of all He is involved with men in personal, intimate
matters, where his interest can be easily misunderstood.
He deals with matters pertaining to the soul, with spirit-
ual welfare and eternal destiny at stake. He is called
to share in the hardest experiences of grief, sorrow
shame, trouble, anxiety, and at all times he is expected
to give comfort, strength, assurance, kindness and com-
passion. He must be ready to become "all things to all
men " and at the same time be "partaker of no man s
sins " Even the public realizes this burden of responsi-
bility in the deference it shows and the privileges it
willingly extends to the minister.

The period of Seminary training is all too short and
the scope of our curriculum too limited to provide a
complete preparation for such important work. But we
gather here with the sober ambition to do what we can
m the time we have, that we may become workmen that
need not be ashamed.

OUR TASK NEEDS TO BE PLANNED

The exacting nature of the work of the ministry is
well known to those who have served in that capacity,
and to laymen who have considered the needs of men ui
^ritual affairs. The church at large realizes the neces-
Sy of careful, adequate preparation. Out of such com-
prehension the project of this Seminary was conceived
and committed for development and realization to *he
hands of responsible competent persons who comprise
Su? Boarf of Directors and Faculty. In the wisdom and
purpose of such men our program here has been deliber-

s

ately and intelligently planned to achieve the maximum
consequence in the usefulness of those who study here.

Certain requirements are included in the curriculum
for very practical reasons. Such features have been
designed to meet known needs, and are prescribed for
that very purpose. The significance of many aspects of
the Seminary program will not be fully obvious to the
student, and often not apparent to an observer. Their
relative fitness can only be construed in terms of the
work that is to be done in the subsequent ministry of
these servants of the Lord. Likewise, there are regula-
tions in procedure which do not have their whole bear-
ing within the scope of the Seminary schedule. They
will be better understood as devices planned by the
Faculty to prepare men for situations in which certain
patterns of conduct are indispensable for effectiveness.
What may seem irksome now in view of the relative in-
significance of the issue at stake, has probably been
inserted into the routine because of its known value for
efficiency in the more important days that are ahead.

OUR TASK DEMANDS AN
"ALL-OUT" EFFORT

It is because these things are so, that on this campus
we could not escape, even if we would, the atmosphere
of "dedicated sacrifice." We are men "under authority."
Every man here lives "in responsibility." We all have
our limitations, some of which will doubtless become
obvious soon enough, so that humbleness of mind will
be most becoming in any estimation of ourselves, but
the fact remains that we are here individually because of
some personal response to what we understood to be
the Will of God for us. The soberness of that responsi-
bility needs no exaggeration to be felt as overwhelming.
When we have done our very best our all we shall
yet be but "unprofitable servants." The very best we
can do will yet be all too little toward the achievement
of the task committed to us. "Our sufficiency is of
God." The Lord alone can give us the victory. But
from us, from the Seminary as a whole and from each
one of us personally, may be expected faithfulness out
of hearts that have been wholly consecrated m willing
obedience.

Then let us conceive our life here to be, as it were, a
period of training of spiritual "commandos." There is no
conceivable form of self-interest or of self-indulgence
that can or will be justified. In a recent issue of a
national magazine appeared an article which described
the rigorous training of "commando" troops. The ac-
count was most impressive in the emphasis upon the
exacting nature of the demands made upon these picked
men Personal habits were placed under the strictest
supervision, so that men would be discarded as unfit
simply because they did not take the hint to forego
personal pleasure in any habit that might jeopardize the
success of any project and endanger the lives of their
comrades. "They do such to obtain a corruptible crown,
but we an incorruptible." We are here to learn to be-
come efficient and reliable. Our lives, too, have been
volunteered. There is no group of service-men any-
where that have more incentive or more purpose to
become fit for service than we have right here. Let us
take up our program of preparation with the grim de-
termination to make our lives count in the service of
Him, "who loved us and gave Himself for us."