Columbia Theological Seminary Bulletin, 22, number 4, July 1929

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Bulletin

of

Columbia Theological Seminary

Inaugural Address

Professor Hunter B. Blakely, Th.D.

Charge of the Board of Directors

President John T. Brantley, LL.D.

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Published Quarterly at Decatur, Georgia

Vol. XXII JULY, 1929 No. 4

Entered as Second Class Matter May 9. 1928, at the Postoffice at Decatur, Gergia,
Under the Act of August 24, 1912.

Import

of

Columbia theological
Seminary

to

The Tresbyteries

April 6, 1929

'There is no higher calling on earth
than that of the Christian Ministry."
Memorial Tablet, Campbell Hall.

Present Campus Conditions

Sixty-six regular candidates are enrolled. Nine
ministers are taking special courses. Seventy-
five is the largest enrollment in our history.
Thirty will finish in May. The outlook for en-
rollment next year is encouraging. The spirit on
the Campus is good. The students seem satis-
fied and happy.

The Faculty consists of the president, six pro-
fessors and one instructor. The courses offered
provide a comprehensive training. The cur-
riculum will be enriched and extended as means
permit.

You will find the faculty and students of the
Seminary ready to co-operate in every way with
the program of the Church, and to render any
service in our power.

Finance

Accounting A system of accounting has
been installed and is in charge of a competent
bookkeeper. The books are kept in the office
on the Campus. Information is at any time avail-
able concerning fixed assets, investments, in-
debtedness, net worth, income, and the current
accounts.

The Current Budget The budget for the
current year is $65,000. The estimated income,
$50,800. The income is estimated on a basis of
the income last year, and is as follows:

From the Churches:

Florida $2,500

Georgia 6,000

South Carolina 3,000

$16,500

Gifts from Individuals 8,000

Rents and Interest 25,000

Miscellaneous 1,300

$50,800
Receipts from the Churches The follow-
ing statement includes receipts through April
6th:

1928 1929

Alabama $ 153.50

Florida $ 2,473.02 2,136.53

Georgia 5,636.74 5,701.76

Mississippi 195.00

South Carolina 7,610.79 5,941.80

815,720.55 $14,128.59
Decrease under 1927-28 $1,691.96.

Service Scholarships One of the most
wholesome developments on our Campus during
the current year is the willingness by students
to render service for scholarship aid. Twenty-
five are serving in some capacity.

The Debt The amount of debt May 1st,
1928, was $204,981.99. There has been no added
debt for building or equipment. There will be
a deficit in the current accounts. At the last
meeting of the Board, an offer was made of $60,-

000 toward the debt, on condition that $75,000
be raised. The Board appointed a Committee to
secure this $75,000, and to raise an additional
$65,000 to wipe out the debt. If the debt is paid,
the Seminary will be able to meet its budget.

Future Policies

Build two faculty homes, when funds are
secured.

Liquidate the debt, if possible, during 1929.

Increase faculty and courses as funds are pro-
vided.

Build a supporting constituency of individuals.

Increase the funds for endowed scholarships.

Increase the general endowment as we have
the opportunity.

General

It is impossible to reduce the operating ex-
pense materially, without a radical curtailment.
In the meantime, we must appeal to the churches
for larger gifts through the budget, and make a
special appeal to individuals.

We request the churches to give, this year, the
full amount apportioned to the Seminary, and
not permit other appeals to encroach on the
funds which are so greatly needed for training
ministers. I would ask also that you recom-
mend to the Woman's Auxiliaries, that they give
the Seminary a place in their budget, or else give
a special contribution to help us over our transi-
tion and readjustment.

Respectfully Submitted,

R. T. Gillespie,

Decatur, Ga.

NEW TESTAMENT CHRISTIANITY

Inaugural Address of Professor Hunter B. Blakely, Th.D.,
Department of New Testament Literature and Exegesis.

Today is never yesterday. We draw from the past a rich
heritage, but we wish to stand upon our own feet. We are heirs of
the ages, but we would not stagnate in our own inheritance. Each
age must think for itself. Each generation of ministers, especially
if they are worthy of the high traditions of Presbyterianism, must
face for themselves the problems of Christianity and come to their
pulpits no mumblers of dead men's words but expositors of living
truths made vital by fresh discovery and new experience. The
church is not content to listen to representations of Hodge, Luther,
or Calvin, but wishes to know what the Bible speaks to you as a
living man. Luther and Calvin spoke to their age and with effect,
for they were mighty students of the Word of God ; but we must
speak our message to our age. We can draw deeply from our heri-
tage. There is very much to learn from expositors of past ages.
John Chrysostom will tell us more about the Bible than a score of
modern homiletical commentaries, but we are not to rest upon
those who have gone before. Upon their foundation we must
build. The best preacher in any age will be he, who, with the
learning of all ages at his command, will himself patiently and
carefully through tedious hours delve into the Book of books.

We are Christians, and Christianity is a historical religion.
Our central truths are deeply rooted in history. Christian faith is
based upon facts which took place at definite times and amid
certain historical circumstances. True, indeed, Christianity is the
religion of experience. Christianity never becomes the personal
experience of an individual until first it has become a matter of
experience to his soul, but Christian experience is definitely related
to Christian fact. Unless our facts are certain, our experiences
may be more or less delusions.

The central facts of Christianity are recorded in that book,
which we call the Bible. The Bible reaches its culmination in the
New Testament. Before the New Testament was written, obvious-
ly the Bible was an incomplete book. Its gaze was towards the
future, but in the fulness of time Christ came. He became the
center of Christianity. With Him Judaism ended and Christianity
began. A new era dawned in world history. The New Testament
is the record of the origin of Christianity. For the Christian, the
origin of Christianity is the greatest event in world history. What
was the nature of this origin? For some of us it makes all the
difference in the world what the facts of this origin really were.
We believe that the Christianity, which we profess today, is vitally
connected with the origin of our Christian faith. We are staking

our all upon the truth of certain facts, which we believe have
happened in the sphere of history. The record of these facts, so
vital to our Christian faith, is largely in the New Testament.

The New Testament was written in the first century : we live
in the twentieth. Between us stretches a period of nineteen hun-
dred years. Every autograph of the New Testament has perished.
No preacher can look upon the original manuscript of a New Testa-
ment writer. The New Testament is no worse than other books in
this respect. We believe that we have fairly accurate copies of the
great authors of the past, and yet between our earliest manuscript
of Greek authors, such as Euripides, Sophocles, Aeschylus,
Aristophanes, Thucydides, Plato, and the original manuscript
there is a period of from 1600 to 1200 years. Among Latin authors
such as Lucretius, Catallus, Horace, Terrance, Livy, Virgil the
case is scarcely better ; for between the earliest manuscript and the
original autograph there intervenes from 1600 to 350 years. Our
New Testament was written between 40 and 100 A.D. Our earliest
manuscripts come from 350 to 400 A.D., with a space from 250
to 300 years intervening. The earliest copies of the New Testa-
ment, when compared with other ancient writings, get remarkably
close to the original autographs. But men do not copy books with-
out mistakes. Errors came in with every copying of the New
Testament. Between our earliest manuscripts and the autograph
which came from the stenographer (amanuensis) of Paul or Luke,
there had arisen many mistakes of copyists. Were our New Testa-
ment no more valuable than most other books, doubtless we should
pass over most of these mistakes as of slight importance. But to
each of us our New Testament is the Book of books. We do not
wish to know what Paul or John might have said ; we wish to know
what they did say. We can never be content with probability as
to their words ; we wish for certainty.

Here arises the science of New Testament Textual Criticism.
The textual criticism of the New Testament proceeds exactly as
the textual criticism of any ancient document. The purpose of
textual criticism is by the exercise of knowledge and trained judg-
ment to restore the exact words of the original document which
has perished and now survives only in copies. The textual critic
of the New Testament is blessed with a vast array of ancient
copies, which become an embarrassment because of their number.
Take for instance the work of some ancient Greek author. Per-
haps it has survived the ravages of time in a dozen ancient copies.
It is a comparatively easy task to place these twelve copies over
against each other and weigh the evidence of the various readings.
When you have finished, the text may be very uncertain, but you
have at least the satisfaction, that you have exhausted your ma-
terial. But our New Testament has a marvelous wealth of ancient
manuscripts. The Greek manuscripts alone, which are valuable
for determining the actual words of the New Testament, run to the
enormous number of between four and five thousand, and besides
there is most valuable evidence found in the old translations into

Egyptian, Syrian, Latin, etc. These versions bring the total manu-
script evidence into other thousands.

No one scholar, however industrious, is able to cope with all
the mass of New Testament evidence. One must build upon the
labors of the other. Magnificent work has been done in the past.
The most decisive labors in this department were performed be-
fore 1888 by those great textual scholars, Tischendorf, Tregelles,
Westcott, Hort, and others. So well was this work done that Hort
could write in his introduction to the edition of the New Testament
published in 1881 by himself and Dr. Westcott, "that the amount
of what can in any sense be called substantial variation from the
original words can hardly form more than a thousandth part of the
entire text." God has been wonderf u ] ly good in making the text of
our New Testament so sure to us. But New Testament students
are not content to let the matter rest here. The work of Textual
Criticism has continued since the time of Westcott and Hort.
New manuscript evidence has been discovered, known manuscript
evidence which was not at that time available has been compiled,
and the world is waiting today for some scholar or group of schol-
ars to give the students of the New Testament a new edition of
Tischendorf's monumental compilation of textual evidence, which
will embody all more recent findings. Textual criticism is one of
the most exact of sciences. It works with almost mathematical
precision. Every minister ought to know at least the principles
of Textual Criticism. He ought to know enough to be able to
judge for himself exactly of what the New Testament books really
consisted as they came from the hands of their authors.

On the linguistic side, the study of the New Testament has
been progressing with the interest of a romance. The New Testa-
ment has a Jewish background ; its authors were for the most part
of the Hebrew race ; but the whole of it was written in Greek. Jesus
spoke for a native tongue the current Aramaic of Palestine, but
the record of what He said has come down to us only in Greek.

For a long time linguistic scholars were puzzled about the
Greek of the New Testament. It did not correspond with the
Greek of the classical period of Athens, nor was it even like the
literary Greek of the first century. During the close of the last
and the beginning of the present century it has been proved that
the language of the New Testament fits perfectly into the develop-
ment of the Greek language. During the last thirty years there
has been coming to light a vast lot of papyrus-writing from the
sands of Egypt. These papyri record the colloquial language,
which men were accustomed to use in business, in the home, and
on the street. These scraps from the waste baskets of long ago
give us the very language of the common man of the first century.
With ever increasing clearness the papyri are showing that the
writers of our New Testament were not, like the writers of many
other books in their age, attempting to imitate classic Greek and
writing in a dead, stilted style ; but the writers of our New Testa-
ment were writing in a language which was intelligible to the

common man. They were preaching for a verdict from the masses.
Marvelous was the preparation which God had made for His
preachers in the language given for the spread of the Gospel. This
Greek "Koine" in the first century became nearly a universal lan-
guage. Paul could pass from Antioch in Syria, to Ephesus in Asia
Minor, to Athens and Corinth in Greece, to Rome in Italy, and to
far off Spain, and it was unnecessary for him to spend months in
mastering a language, or to lose the power of the spoken word as
it passed on through an interpreter ; but Paul passed from city to
city, with the Greek "Koine" at his command. He could be under-
stood anywhere.

Recent scholarship in the field of New Testament language has
advanced much since the discovery of the non-literary papyri. The
grammar of the Greek New Testament has been rewritten by
such men as Radermacher in Germany, J. H. Moulton in Great
Britain, and A. T. Robertson in America. All New Testament
Greek lexicons must be revised in the light of the new findings
in the papyri, and today men are working at this task in various
parts of the world. From these new discoveries light from time
to time is thrown upon some obscure passage, which has defied the
labors of interpreters of past generations, and the passage stands
forth in new beauty.

The contemporary world of New Testament times has received
fresh study as it is related to the origin and spread of Christianity.
Often this study has been carried forward by those who would
explain all religions on a naturalistic basis. Most emphatically
do we differ with those who would offer such an explanation for our
Christian faith. But we are confident that the New Testament stu-
dent has much to learn from the history of the period in which
the New Testament was written. The historical setting of the
first century is the background for our Christian Faith. Jesus
lived in the first century. We wish to know the environment in
which He lived. The early Christians lived and preached and died
in that first century, and we understand them better when we
understand the conditions in which they lived. All serious study
of the history of the centuries preceding Christianity and of the
century in which it arose contributes to New Testament scholar-
ship.

The more we know of the Jews of the inter-Testament period,
of their struggles and their hopes, their failures and their courage,
the truer picture we have of the Palestine in which Jesus lived.
We understand Him better, as we understand His people. Chris-
tianity soon became a world religion. It was not slow to advance
from Palestine to the conquest of the Roman Empire. We under-
stand our New Testament better as we know more of the world
into which the Gospel was carried. To understand the church of
Christ in Corinth in the first century, we need to understand
Corinth in the first century. A large part of our New Testament
grew out of the problems of churches in this pagan environment.
The letters of Paul especially are sent to churches which need

guidance for members who are trying to live as Christians among
pagan neighbors. To understand these epistles we must study
their contemporary history. Recent years have been especially
helpful in bringing this history to light. Before the student of
the New Testament today there lies a vast amount of information
concerning the social, political, moral, and religious life of the
world in the first Christian centuries. Some of this information
has been gathered by devout Christians and some by unbelievers ;
but all can be turned to use, so far as it is accurate, in establishing
the background of early Christianity. The purpose of this depart-
ment will be to teach the New Testament in the light of the his-
tory out of which it has grown.

Literary questions of date and authorship must always con-
cern the student of the New Testament. In the field of literary
criticism New Testament studies have been moving more and more
towards firmer ground. Seven Pauline epistles are accepted as un-
questionably genuine by scholars of all shades of opinion, with the
minor exceptions of a few insignificant radicals. Many decidedly
liberal theologians would no longer question the Pauline author-
ship of Ephesians, Colossians, and II Thessalonians. Some liberal
theologians would even grant the Pauline authorship of the Pas-
toral Epistles. More and more the writings of Luke are being
placed on a solid basis, both through the work of more conservative
scholars such as Sir Wm. Ramsay and of more radical scholars like
Harnack and Edward Meyer of Germany. Out of the dust of years
of controversy, Luke is gradually emerging to a firm place as one
of the accurate historians of ancient times. The problem of the
Synoptic Gospels rests still largely upon the old solution of a "two
document hypothesis." Mark is generally considered the oldest
of the three Synoptic Gospels, and as a source from which the
others drew much of their material. Besides Mark, it is generally
agreed that there was a collection of the sayings of Jesus, called in
theological parlance "Q" or "Logia of Jesus." In addition to these
two primary sources, both Matthew and Luke are supposed to have
had other independent sources of information. The Johannine
authorship of the Fourth Gospel is still, of course, denied by those
who would give a naturalistic explanation to the origin of Chris-
tianity ; although, in late years, advocates of the Johannine author-
ship of this Gospel have been arising from most unexpected places.
All in all, upon the basis of literary criticism, New Testament
scholars have a rather wide and generally accepted basis for the
beginnings of New Testament study.

Scientific Textual Criticism places the New Testament in our
hands, assuring us that with the possible exception of minor varia-
tions, it is giving us a text so accurate that there can only be the
possibility of substantial error in one one-thousandth of the whole.
New Testament grammar opens up before us the usage of the Greek
language in those very years during which our New Testament
was being written. New Testament Lexicography compiles for us
with a nicety of expression the meanings of words and phrases

used in the New Testament and in contemporary Greek speech.
Historical investigation of the first Christian century presents us
with the picture of the conditions under which Christianity began
in the world. Literary Criticism gives an agreed basis for the
beginnings of our research. Then comes the all important task of
deciding what the New Testament has to say for itself. What
does the New Testament say about the origin of Christianity?
What is Christianity according to the New Testament?

A clear, binding principle of grammatical-historical exegesis
is that the New Testament must be allowed to speak its own mes-
sage. We are to bring all the information to bear, which research
has placed at our command ; but our duty is to determine what the
New Testament actually says. This differs widely from ex-
pressing our opinions concerning what the New Testament writer
should have said. The New Testament probably says many things
which do not fit in with our presuppositions. It may say things
which the twentieth century New Testament scholar believes he
could say far better. The New Testament writers may have writ-
ten things which the modern scholar considers dead wrong; but
the duty of the New Testament exegete is to let the New Testa-
ment speak its own message. Too often the New Testament
scholar has forced the New Testament to become but an echo of
his own opinions; too often the supposedly fair-minded student
has read his own theology into Paul or John: but such is not
exegesis. The New Testament must speak its own message and
not ours. I, for one, am persuaded that it is the message of the
New Testament for which men hunger. After all they do not care
very much for the private opinion of men, even though they be
preachers; but they would like for the preacher to tell them
honestly what Jesus had to say about life's problems and what
Paul said to sinning men and women, who amid the perplexities
of earthly life were seeking to be followers of Jesus of Nazareth.
The New Testament is a book, which, when allowed to speak for
itself, has always had a peculiar ability to jar men out of their pre-
conceived notions. It opens blind eyes, unstops deaf ears, starts
dull minds to thinking. We need twentieth century preachers who
will let the New Testament speak its own message.

Now we come to the heart of the New Testament study. What
is New Testament Christianity? What is the origin of our Chris-
tian faith? This is a vital question which lies not only at the
heart of New Testament study but at the heart of our Christian
Faith as well. What is Christianity? The New Testament is the
most decisive witness in the answering of that question.

What is Christianity ? There can be but two answers to that
question, however differently the answers may be stated. Chris-
tianity is either from God, or it is from man. It is either super-
natural, or it is natural. The line is sharply drawn, far more
sharply than the great number of American preachers have yet
realized. One explanation pictures man struggling upward
through a long and painful process towards God. Here there is

8

no finality. Christianity is but a part of a never ending upward
struggle. The other explanation believes that God has moved in a
supernatural redemption to save mankind. Man helplessly lost in
sin could only cry to God. God moved to save in Jesus Christ our
Lord. The first explanation makes Christianity of the earth
earthy ; the second says it is the power of God from heaven.

Today, in theological circles and in preaching, the naturalistic
interpretation takes, generally speaking, two rather well marked
forms. Within each there is much overlapping, and often these
naturalistic preachers and writers stand halting between two opin-
ions, undecided which naturalistic explanation is best fitted to
explain the phenomena of the Church and Christian faith, but at
all events agreed that Christianity has no supernatural element.

The older of the two current forms of the naturalistic explan-
ation of Christianity, for want of a better name, may be called
"liberalism." Christianity is simply the Jesus way of living.
Jesus appeared in Palestine, a simple, gracious figure, teaching
more beautifully and living more nobly than any man had ever
lived before. Inspired by high convictions of the Fatherhood of
God, the infinite and equal worth of every human soul, the duty
and joy of self-sacrifice and brotherliness, and the inwardness of
true religion, He preached a marvelous ethical gospel. Due to the
regrettable necessities of the environment of the early church a
divine halo was placed upon the person of this gracious teacher.
Through primitive misunderstanding on the part of humble dis-
ciples and high reverence for a great leader, Jesus emerges
through the years clothed in divinity. But for the liberal the-
ologian the Christ of Pauline and Johannine theology stands far
removed from the Jesus of history. "Back to Jesus," was their
slogan. Jesus never intended that men should worship Him. He
wanted them to worship God, as He was accustomed to worship
God ; to love one's f ellowman as He loved His f ellowman. Christian-
ity must get back to the simple Jesus with His love of God, his
teaching of human brotherhood, His maxims for daily life. We love
Jesus because He lived so beautifully. Our highest ideals are to
be true to the same ideals to which Jesus was true. But that is all.
Christianity is a noble ethical philosophy by which to live. The
best Christian is he who has a religion like the religion of Jesus.
Consciously and unconsciously, this liberal Christianity is pro-
claimed up and down this world today from thousands of pulpits.
Often it is expressed beautifully and winsomely.

The new Testament Scholar asks is this the Jesus of the New
Testament. The only historical Jesus that we know is the histori-
cal Jesus of the New Testament. The last fifty years have
brought forth many liberal lives of Jesus, but none which have
spoken the facts of the New Testament. The New Testament
knows no liberal Jesus. It knows a Jesus of imperious claims, of
unheard-of promises, of supernatural power and vision; but the
New Testament knows no simple humble Jesus of Galilee. Liberal

9

Christianity would make Jesus only a gracious teacher; the New
Testament makes Him something far more.

Modern radical criticism has dealt a deadly blow at liberal
Christianity. The radical critic says that the New Testament
knows no such Christianity as liberal critics would invent. They
deny that the essence of Christianity has been the beautiful ethi-
cal teaching of the beautiful Christ, whom the liberal has sought
to find under the supposed theological rubbish of his New Testa-
ment. The radical critic says that the heart of New Testament
Christianity is the message of a supernatural redemption. He
finds the death of Christ and the cross standing at the center
of Christian faith. He says when the New Testament speaks
for itself it tells of atonement, redemption, sacrifice, a dying and
a risen God, and the believers mystical union with the Divine.
But then, with the liberal he agrees that there can be no such thing
as the supernatural in this world, at least no such supernatural as
that of which the New Testament speaks. The New Testament
record of the supernatural must receive a naturalistic explanation.

Out into the religious world of the first century the radicals
go. Here they find a supposed similarity to some element of
Christian faith, and there an apparent likeness, until after a
marvelous assortment of varied and sundry religious forms and
ceremonies and beliefs are amassed, they proceed to prove that
Christianity is but a part of a universal religious development.

Radical criticism maintains that the early Christians had a
marvelous power of gathering from various lands and countries
the elements of their religious life. They begin with a purely
human Jesus, who has very little relation at all with the Jesus of
our New Testament. Here a little was added to his representation
and there a little. Miracles were attached to His name from cur-
rent pagan and Jewish sources. Somewhere out in the Gentile
lands some one added the title "Lord" and the thought that Jesus
was ever present with His followers. The doctrine of the deity of
Jesus was born. On the snow ball rolled, gathering with every
turn. Paul and his associates borrowed from Jewish apocalypses
and pagan mystery religions, from current philosophy and theol-
ogy, until finally there appeared the theology of the Pauline
Epistles. On the process went, gathering here and there, build-
ing a new religion out of the old religions, until finally the fully
developed New Testament doctrines appeared in the writings
under the name of John. Out of the religious turmoil and syn-
cretism of the first Christian centuries grew the Christian Church.
For such students there can be no finality in our Christian faith,
for as one of the most able exponents of this view has said "Re-
ligion grows by the death of religions." Christianity is but a
stage in a more complete religious development, embracing all
faiths and religions. It in turn awaits a more worthy religion to
which it will in turn give place, and this again to a higher form of
religious faith.

The New Testament student must boldly face the issue. Can

10

these hypotheses explain our Christian Faith? Is this the wit-
ness of our New Testament? With books flowing from the modern
press in a continual stream advocating one or the other naturalistic
explanation of Christianity, the New Testament scholar must go
deep into the field of scientific investigation. The facts will decide
the issue. Truth alone can stand.

To many of us the naturalistic explanations of our Christian
faith have left the origin of Christianity entirely unsolved. We do
not believe that in any of its forms naturalistic criticism offers an
adequate explanation for historic Christianity. It stands refuted
by the evidence. But the student who goes forth to preach in this
doubting age needs to know something of this evidence.

The New Testament presents a supernatural explanation for
Christianity. The New Testament explanation adequately explains
the origin of Christianity. But the New Testament explanation in-
volves the supernatural, and many in this age have ruled the
supernatural out of their thinking. The New Testament explan-
ation for the origin of Christianity is that at a definite time in the
world's history, God wrought a great redemption for mankind by
sending His own Divine Son into this sinful world, who died upon
a cross and rose again. The doctrine of atonement lies at the very
heart of New Testament Christianity ; but it was a real atonement
accomplished by God himself. Christ was not a mere man who
lived heroically and who died bravely. He was very God Himself.
The Christian religion is not man's futile attempt to lift himself
up to God; but God's intervention in the order of things to save
mankind. Christ stands at the center of our Christian faith.
"What think ye of Christ?" that question is the touchstone of our
Christian faith. Jesus is presented in the New Testament not as
a mere teacher; but as Lord and Redeemer. Jesus died for our
sins, according to the Scriptures.

I believe that the unique in Christianity is Christ. His teach-
ings are marvelous in their compactness and glistening beauty.
But I dare say that by ransacking the literature of all ages, al-
most every beautiful teaching of the Christ can be matched by
some equally beautiful teaching by another : but the Christ of the
New Testament is matchless. Christ's Golden Rule may be dupli-
cated in other faiths, but not the uniqueness of His person. Other
teachers have taught that man should love his brother ; but Christ
alone promises to make His followers sons and daughters of the
living God. The Jewish scholar, Klausner, has criticised the ethics
of Jesus. He says they are impractical, while the teachings of the
Rabbis are superior for they are practical. True indeed for one
who does not accept the New Testament account of Christ's per-
son, His ethics are impractical. Because He is God, He gives us
ideals impractical for the ordinary man, but with the ideal He
promises to supply the strength to attain to the ideal.

There can be no compromise between the conflicting views of
our Christian faith. Christianity is one thing if Jesus is my
noblest example, but it is quite another if He is my Divine Saviour,

11

who by Hs own death and resurrection has redeemed me from sin.
It is one thing to regard Jesus as the Founder of Christianity, be-
cause he was the first to live the Christian life : but it is quite an-
other thing to believe that he made Christianity possible by His
redeeming work. Jesus was not the first Christian : He stands in
a more fundamental relation to Christianity than that, for except
for that which Jesus accomplished, Christianity would have been
impossible. It is one thing to have a faith such as Jesus had ; but
it is quite another to have a faith in Jesus. It is one type of
preaching to proclaim the ethical teaching of Jesus as a remedy for
the plagues of this world ; but it is an entirely different thing to
proclaim Jesus Christ and Him crucified, to the Jew a stumbling
block and to the Greek foolishness, but to such as believe the power
of God unto salvation.

The preacher who proclaims the redeeming grace of a mighty
Saviour will not be neglectful to proclaim a mighty ethic. The
difference between such ethical preaching and that of the liberal,
whose whole message is the proclamation of the ethics of Jesus, is,
one proclaims ethics and power and the other ethics and words.
The man in sin needs power to put the ethics of Jesus into practice.
The New Testament presents a Jesus who claims not to be an ex-
ample of faith, but an object of faith. Our Lord came into this
world, according to the records we have from His early disciples,
not so much to say something as to do something, and the value
of that which He did depended upon who He was. The Son of
God can do much for me, the best Jew who ever lived nineteen hun-
dred years ago can help me but little.

It shall be the aim of the New Testament department of this
seminary to draw a clear line of distinction between the divergent
explanations of Christianity. In our classes we shall Invite our
students not to follow blindly, but themselves to go to history and
the New Testament to find what Christianity really is. We have no
desire for blind-minded preachers; but our hope is that this sem-
inary will send forth into the Christian ministry men who are wil-
ling to take every fact of history, science, or discovery, and with
a trained intellect weigh the evidence and squarely face the
issue. Our hope is that as they go forth from this department
they may not say "I have been told" but "I know" ; and our prayer
is that with this knowledge born of study they may also add that
knowledge born of Christian experience which adds, "I know Him,
whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that He is able to
keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day";
and that, stepping into the pulpits of this nation, they with a faith
grounded in knowledge may say in the words of Paul, "I am not
ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, for it is the power of God
unto salvation to every one who believeth, to the Jew first and also
to the Greek."

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CHARGE TO PROFESSOR HUNTER B. BLAKELY, TH.D.

By President John T. Brantley, LL.D.,
Board of Directors, Columbia Theological Seminary

Your assumption of the obligation required by our Plan of
Government brings to all those who love the Seminary, and
especially to those who are responsible for its conduct, a feeling of
deep satisfaction, for well do we know it means that you have
dedicated to its service all the talents of heart and mind with which
God has endowed you. We have not failed in our need to look to
the Holy Spirit in humble prayer for guidance, and now you are
come, as we believe, the answer to our prayer. It is, therefore, in
full trust and confidence that we place on your shoulders the
mantle of your beloved predecessor, assured that the record of
his long, faithful and distinguished service will be an inspiration
to you. With his mantle I give you the pledge of our love and
of our loyal co-operation and support in the duties which are now
yours.

As Professor of New Testament Literature and Exegesis it
will be your duty to so direct the studies of those who sit at your
feet, that with you they may clearly apprehend the supreme pur-
pose of God in the salvation of men as revealed in the triumphant
mission of Jesus Christ, His Son, and in the work of the Holy
Spirit. You will seek to give them such grasp of the truth as will
enable them to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ with convincing
and convicting power. And you will try to so root and ground them
in their faith in the Word of God that they will be enabled to
withstand and combat any storm of doubt and criticism which may
hereafter rage about them. You will let your own strong belief in
the love of God shine through your teaching. You will carefully
nurture in them the evangelistic fervor which accounts for their
presence in the Seminary, that it may grow in strength and not
abate. We w r ould have the Seminary strong in Biblical knowledge
and in sound scholarship, but we would also have it strong in
evangelistic power. We would have its students know what and
how to preach, but we would also have them preach out of hearts
filled with love for God and man. Not only should they preach
the gospel, but they should live the gospel that lips and lives may
bear witness to its supreme worth. You will seek to so mold
and direct their minds and hearts, as to make them flaming
evangels of His Word.

To you is an exalted privilege for which the Holy Spirit has
adjudged you equal the training of men for the gospel ministry.
By precept and example you will impress your faith and your
spirituality upon receptive hearts and minds. You will enable
them to see God through your eyes, imbue them with your spirit,

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divide with them your talents. What they thus receive from you
they will pass on to others, and they yet to others. You will thus
set in motion spiritual forces which will enrich and bless the world,
save men from their sins, and make workers for the Kingdom of
God. To you will be the exquisite joy of returning the talents en-
trusted to you by the Lord of the Harvest, multiplied manifold. It
is our prayer that God may abundantly prosper you in your new re-
sponsibility and that upon you and your work may rest His smile.

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