Adolphe Monod (1802-55) was the son of a Swiss pastor ministering in Copenhagen and later in Paris. After completing his college studies, Adolphe went to Geneva to study theology though he was still unconverted. The teaching he received was thoroughly unscriptural and he did not believe in the divinity of the Saviour. Then Robert Haldane appeared in Geneva and began to expound the Epistle to the Romans1 in his hotel room to a group of students, including Adolphe and his older brother Frederic. Another student, the future Reformation historian J H Merle d’Aubigné, exclaimed after hearing the doctrine of the corruption of human nature expounded: “I see now that doctrine in the Bible”. “Yes,” Haldane answered, “but do you see it in your heart?” D’Aubigné and the Monod brothers were among those who were brought to see in their hearts their spiritual corruption, and also the remedy that God has provided in Christ for those with corrupt hearts. These three men were to become useful ministers, Adolphe Monod finally becoming pastor of a church in Paris, sometimes preaching four times on a Sabbath.
The reviewer of a recent brief biography of Monod comments, “The gospel became his lifelong theme. How many ‘good, Reformed’ preachers need to recapture the necessity of regularly preaching Christ crucified!”2 The situation is clearly serious if ministers who profess to be Reformed – to believe the doctrines of the Reformation – rarely preach Christ crucified.
It was the Saviour Himself who sent out His disciples to “preach the gospel” (Mk 16:15); so today’s preachers are under the same obligation. And what is the gospel – the good news – unless it has at its centre such facts as these: that Christ, the Son of God, became man to do all that was necessary for the salvation of sinners; that He suffered and died in their place; that He rose again and is now exalted at God’s right hand to give repentance and forgiveness of sins, even to the rebellious; and that He will come the second time to bring all His people from their graves?
1Future generations also have benefited from this teaching, which Haldane published in book form. His Exposition of Romans has been reprinted by the Banner of Truth Trust.
2The review, by Kerry Orchard, appeared in the October 2014 issue of Evangelical Times; the book under review was Adolphe Monod, by Constance Walker, published by EP Books.
How did Paul carry out his ministry in Corinth and elsewhere? He tells us: “I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified” (1 Cor 2:2). He knew about the commission to preach the gospel that Jesus had given to the 11 disciples; he understood clearly that it was his responsibility also, as another ambassador of Christ, to have at the centre of his preaching the great fact of a crucified Redeemer and also the benefits that flow to sinners through Him. He was so submissive to the will of God in everything that, wherever he went, he would never question the absolute necessity of preaching Christ crucified.
There is an evident need, which few in Reformed circles would deny, to preach law and gospel to the unconverted. Preachers must point them to their dreadful position as sinners, for their hearts are polluted and they are condemned to eternal punishment unless they repent. Preachers must go on in the prayerful hope that the Holy Spirit will powerfully apply these solemn truths to the souls of sinners and bring them to cry as the jailer did: “What must I do to be saved?” (Acts 16:30). They should be ready with the answer that Paul and Silas gave him: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved”. It is an answer that has God’s authority behind it.
Yet in a congregation where most people profess to be converted (though, in this imperfect world, people may profess a faith which they do not actually possess) there may be a temptation to spend long periods of time teaching other scriptural doctrines or expounding books of Scripture where Christ and Him crucified do not lie on the surface. Clearly preachers must not only proclaim the atonement, but the whole counsel of God. While Paul, in a missionary situation, concentrated on proclaiming Christ as the way of salvation, we find him, in his Epistles to established congregations, giving a great deal of instruction on many other parts of God’s revealed will. Yet these other doctrines must be linked to Christ and His finished work.
For example, if the preacher emphasises the blessings of God’s children, he must direct attention to the source from which these blessings flow. Even though they are now new creatures in Christ Jesus, God’s children deserve nothing; they still sin – not least in their hearts. Only as God looks upon them in Christ, as united to Him, does He help them in times of trouble, advance the work of grace in their souls, and protect them from the wiles of the devil. God’s children today may receive comfort from the words which Paul used to encourage believers in Philippi: “My God shall supply all your need”, but the comfort arises from the fact that the supply is “according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus” (Phil 4:19). There can be no supply of the believer’s needs apart from Christ and the covenant of which He is the Head and Surety. And there can be no comfort for them, especially in times of particular need, apart from reading or recalling the teachings of Scripture about Christ as the source of support and comfort – and hearing these teachings expounded in the preaching of the Word.
Suppose a preacher spends considerable time expounding what the Bible says about godly living, explaining the demands that God makes as to how His people should conduct themselves before the world, and pointing out that even their thoughts ought to be perfectly pure and holy. The standard is: “As He which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation” – in your whole way of life (1 Pet 1:15). This is a high standard, a standard which it is impossible for anyone to reach in this world. No one here, Christ excepted, has reached the biblical standard of perfection, though all believers will be brought to perfection as they are removed to a better world above. To preach on such a subject is entirely proper, but to do so without also proclaiming Christ must be profoundly discouraging for those who take the demands of God’s law seriously, especially those who have a very tender conscience – for it is only through Christ that the believer’s shortcomings can be forgiven. And it is only for the sake of Christ that the Holy Spirit is given to advance their sanctification.
In this world, believers will never get beyond their need for the gospel. As sinners, they must look by faith to Christ day by day; Scripture tells them to be “looking unto Jesus” (Heb 12:2) as they run the race that is set before them. But unless Jesus Christ is preached to them regularly, they will find it more difficult to obey such an exhortation as the one just quoted, to commit themselves continually to the Saviour as the One who acts for them as their Prophet, their Priest and their King. He is the exalted One who teaches them, who died for them and now intercedes for them, and who rules over them and defends them. It is for His sake that they will be brought safely through this world and taken at last to eternal glory. The points made in these last few sentences are a mere summary of what is involved in preaching Christ; they are capable of almost endless enlargement, particularly as they are linked to the other doctrines of Scripture.
In a book containing seven of C H Spurgeon’s sermons entitled, Christ’s Glorious Achievements,3 he wrote in his preface: “Upon no theme is the true minister so much at home, and yet no subject more completely surpasses his ability. We love the subject, though we are lost in it.” That is how it should be. Would that all Reformed ministers thus followed Spurgeon and Monod and the many others who, while they attempted to proclaim the whole counsel of God, put “Christ and Him crucified” at the very centre of their preaching – and delighted to do so!
3Republished in paperback last year by the Banner of Truth Trust.