By Rev. JOHN COLQUHOUN, Glendale.
THE Apostle Paul in writing to the Corinthians says, “But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of any man’s judgment” (I. Cor. iv. 3), and thus he shows that, through grace, he was enabled to assess man’s judgment at its real value. The Greek word “hemera,” translated here “judgment,” is in all other places where it occurs in the New Testament translated “day,” and it is worthy of note that in some of the older English translations, such as that of Wycliffe and Tyndale, it is translated in this passage “day.” Thus the judgment which the Apostle lightly esteems is the judgment of a “human day,” a judgment which may be arrived at rashly and without mature consideration, or through insufficient evidence, or as is often the case, through prejudice. Further, it is a judgment that shall most certainly be reviewed by the Judge of all the earth, and when it lacks equity, will assuredly be reversed.
In an article on “Theological Independence,” Dr. W. G. T. Shedd understands the judgment of a “human day” as to be “judged by the spirit of the age,” which, as he rightly expresses it, is but “the shifting theories of human speculation, and the changing fashions of human taste and culture.” Those who judge according to the spirit of the age consider their own judgment very important and imagine that all should respect that judgment. With consummate presumption they hold themselves capable of judging on all matters, civil and ecclesiastical, secular and religious, so much so that to every age the scathing words of Job could be applied, “No doubt but ye are the people, and wisdom shall die with you” (Job xii. 2). They never took a step in the way of holiness, but yet take upon themselves to tell the Lord’s people how they should conduct themselves in the world. According to their judgment a strict adherence to the Word of God is fanaticism, bigotry, cant and hypocrisy, while a so-called “broad-minded tolerance,” which pays little or no regard to the Scriptures, is judged by them to be the right thing.
In the age in which we live it is considered fashionable to declare that the Bible is full of errors, and, therefore, not a safe guide as to what a man is to believe; destructive critics, who have assumed to themselves a monopoly of learning, speak of the “assured results” of their investigations, and thus the Bible is subjected to the judgment of the spirit of the age. While we hold that the Bible is its own interpreter, and that it furnishes within itself irrefutable proofs of its own authenticity and Divine inspiration, yet the researches of the philologist, the carefully noted observations of the Eastern traveller and the spade of the archaeologist, have done much already to throw aside these “assured results,” and we have no doubt but that in the realm of scientific discoveries such advances will yet be made as will prove beyond the shadow of a doubt, to every unbiased mind, that the judgment of the spirit of the age, as regards the Scriptures, is based wholly upon “the shifting theories of human speculation.”
As the Bible has been wrongly judged by the judgment of a “human day” so has the Lord of the Bible been judged. When He was arraigned before Pilate the spirit of the age gave its judgment when the Jews said, “If he were not a malefactor, we would not have delivered him unto thee,” and again they said, “We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God.” This spirit showed itself further in its Satanic enmity when it wildly cried, “Away with him, away with him, crucify him,” and Pilate accommodated himself to the spirit of the age in his judgment, delivering Christ to be crucified, which judgment bears clearly the marks of being that of a “human day.” Christ Himself, by way of forewarning His disciples of what they are to expect in this world, says, “The disciple is not above his master nor the servant above his lord,” and so Christ’s servants cannot expect better treatment than their Lord. This is clearly revealed in the case of Paul when he addressed the multitude at Jerusalem after he was apprehended. Their judgment was, “Away with such a fellow from the earth: for it is not fit that he should live.” The practical results of that judgment are to be found in the eleventh chapter of Hebrews, where we read of some of Christ’s witnesses that they “had trial of cruel mockings and scourging, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: they were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword; they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented; . . . they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.” These are a people of whom the Holy Ghost gives the judgment that the world was not worthy of them.
When the judgment of a “human day” is of such little value one would be inclined to think that it was more or less harmless. This, however, is not the case. The Lord’s people themselves, when influenced by that weakness to which they are so prone because of unbelief, are too ready to estimate the judgment of a “human day” at a higher rate than it really has, and in the measure in which that is true of them their usefulness is marred and their own comfort lessened. There has been, however, outstanding examples of men and women who were enabled to assess this judgment at its real value. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were judged by the spirit of the age in which they lived and it was a harsh judgment, but it was as nothing in their estimation, for they had submitted their case to a higher Judge. Prophets, Apostles and Reformers, and all who were instrumental in building the walls of Zion were judged by the spirit of the age in which they lived, but it was the judgment of a “human day,” and they showed much of the spirit of Paul when he said, “I am ready not to be bound only but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.” (Acts xxi. 13).
It is, however, on those who are still unconverted that the spirit of the age has the greatest effect, and it is with them that the judgment of a human day has the greatest weight. The world has many a weapon with which to slay would-be Christians, and among them, that of giving an unfavourable judgment of true piety. This is a most successful weapon as it corresponds to the natural enmity which is to be found in every human heart, and therefore of great weight with the unregenerate. Through the correspondence between the spirit of the age and the enmity of the heart, natural men look askance at piety, they treat religion as an imposture, and, therefore, they do not see any reason why they should bear ridicule by following it. Those who adhere strictly to the Bible are few and those who give their judgment against it are many, therefore they prefer to be among the majority, little realising that might is not right and that it pleased the Eternal Father to hide many things from the wise and prudent and to reveal them unto babes.
When assessing the true value of the judgment of a “human day,” it is not to the numbers of those who uphold it that we must look, but we must look at it in the light of the Judgment of the Great Day. Many who passed as religious in the judgment of men will be weighed in the balance and found wanting on that Day, and many who were judged as hypocrites by the world will then hear the wonderful invitation, “Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” The Lord’s people, who in the judgment of a “human day,” have been judged worthy of death, shall, in the language of the Shorter Catechism, be “raised up in glory, shall be openly acknowledged and acquitted in the day of judgment, and made perfectly blessed in the full enjoying of God to all eternity.” When that day shall come it will be found that the worship of God is something else than what the world judged it to be, and that He dwells on this earth, not in Cathedrals where the worship is performed in a highly ritualistic manner, accompanied by the sound of dead instruments, together with crucifixes, surplices and candles which form a prominent feature of the devotions. These meaningless baubles are to Him but vain oblations, abominations, and that which is a weariness to Him, and the judgment of a “human day” with regard to them shall be set aside, and the Judge who shall preside on the Great Day shall acknowledge as worship the lisps of babes in Christ, the groanings of the prisoners, and the deep sighs of those who find that their progress in piety is not what they desire. Let us therefore seek grace to lightly esteem the judgment of a human day, and consider seriously the Judgment of the Great Day.