A Church of Scotland minister in Milngavie, north of Glasgow, described his thoughts about his 2014 Christmas Eve service1 in an article in The Herald, a Glasgow-based newspaper. The minister, Rev Andrew Frater, wrote that, after the service, he felt “troubled and dispirited”, despite the fact that there had been “a full church” and “a healthy collection” for Christian Aid.
What was wrong? He was disturbed that he had stuck so closely to “the literal aspect” of the biblical account of the birth of Jesus. The Bible readings had included Luke 1:35: “And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God”.
Mr Frater admits he does not believe the virgin birth of Christ “literally”. He supports his stance by quoting from John Robinson, Bishop of Woolwich in the 1960s, who did much to popularise a form of theology which rejected the authority of Scripture and, with it, many core Christian doctrines. He has been described as “an uninhibited proponent of universal salvation”.2
But if we do not accept the clear teaching of Luke 1:35, and of Matthew 1, about Jesus’ supernatural birth as the son of His virgin mother, what are we left with? A mere human child – perhaps a special child who grew up to be a unique man, but certainly not one to be worshipped.
Mr Frater quotes Bishop Robinson expressing his concern not to lose sight of “the real world – the world of missiles and housing and unemployment in which we live”. But we must not lose sight of the more fundamental problem in this world, of which missiles, issues about housing and unemployment are but symptoms, albeit serious symptoms. That is the problem of sin, for there was a literal Adam and a literal Eve, a literal Satan and a literal Fall with actual consequences both in this life and in a literal hell.
It is all very well to say, as Mr Frater does, that he was asking his con-
1This article does not address issues about Christmas itself; this was done in a note beginning on page 30 of the January 2016 issue of this magazine, and also in the first article of the December 2015 issue of The Young People’s Magazine.
2Quoted in en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Robinson_(bishop_of_Woolwich).
gregation “to suspend reason” when he read to them about the virgin birth of Christ and other parts of the Scripture account of the incarnation. What he seems to be left with is the belief that “the God of life and love is eternally with us and for us”. It would be very easy to assault this belief as straining one’s reason. How many can say, in the face of the severe troubles that this world brings, that God is with them and for them? The evidence seems to point in an altogether different direction, but only if human reason truly submits to divine revelation will sinners trust in God as with them and for them.
Human reason is not a source of information; it is the capacity to use information. People may say that various facts – such as the virgin birth, the appearance of angels to the shepherds and the wise men being led on in their journey to Judea by the star that they had seen in the East – are too much for human reason to accept, but it is better to point to the unwillingness of the fallen human will to accept that God can work supernaturally in this world.
No, we do not see such miracles today – or healings as performed by Jesus and the apostles, or people raised from the dead, or bread and fish multiplied to feed thousands. But those who have eyes to see it can recognise greater miracles than these: the healing of spiritual diseases and the raising of the spiritually dead to spiritual life through the Holy Spirit.
The central question is: Why did Jesus come into the world? Let the Bible answer: it was “to save sinners” (1 Tim 1:15). Sin separates between sinners and God; it brings them under condemnation; and it is the cause of all the friction between individuals, between groups in society and between nations. Whatever commendable efforts may be made to reduce disharmony and prevent violence, they will ultimately not go far enough unless the basic human problem of sin is addressed. Missiles may be decommissioned and stocks of other armaments reduced, but this does nothing to remove the natural tendency in human hearts to disharmony and violence.
But when will nations “beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruninghooks”, or turn modern weapons of war into machinery for agriculture or industry? When will “nation . . . not lift up sword against nation, neither . . . learn war any more”? (Is 2:4). At some time during “the last days”, the New Testament age, “the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it” (Is 2:2).
Commenting on this verse, J A Alexander notes: “The Prophet sees the Church permanently placed in a conspicuous position, so as to be a source of attraction to surrounding nations. To express this idea, he makes use of terms which are strictly applicable only to the local habitation of the Church” in the Old Testament age. It describes a period when the spiritual miracle of conversion will take place on a large scale, when the Church of Christ will be more conspicuous than any national body, any nation, or group of nations. None of this would be possible if Jesus was merely a human child.
But He was the very Son of God, who took human nature so that He might deal with sin and its consequences. He took the guilt of sin upon Himself; He bore the punishment due to the sins of everyone that will ever believe in Him; He made it possible for them to be at peace with God, a peace even more vital than that between individuals and nations, important though it is. For Jesus’ sake, the Holy Spirit works in the hearts of sinners, subduing the enmity, the jealousy and the distrust that leads to disharmony and violence between human beings. It is when sinners are reconciled to God through the blood of the cross, and only then, that He is with them and for them.
How do we know this? Because God, in His grace, has not only made provision for the salvation of sinners; He has revealed this, accurately and reliably, in the Scriptures. The inspiration of Scripture was itself a miracle, or rather a series of miracles. Accordingly it is rejected by those who think they have to “suspend reason” if they are to accept the miraculous. Mr Frater speaks of “the growing number who are hanging on to the Church by their fingertips” and is concerned to retain their allegiance, weak though it may be. The truth is that ministers must be faithful – wisely – to the souls of their hearers; Paul was conscious, as he told you, that ministers “watch for your souls, as they that must give account”.
This Apostle was made willing to submit to facts he had once violently rejected: for instance, that Jesus of Nazareth was actually the Son of God, that He was reigning from His throne in heaven, that He will return at the end of the world to call everyone that has ever lived, both godly and ungodly, from their graves, and judge them in righteousness. Those who rely on their natural reason, rather than on God’s revelation in the Bible, may readily reject these truths. But that does not make them false. Our duty is to submit to the facts as revealed by God, and particularly to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as the divine Saviour.
Many have been shocked over the last few years at decisions made by the Church of Scotland General Assembly on the issue of homosexuals in the ministry. But even more fundamental has been the willingness of the Church of Scotland to accept ministers who reject such doctrines as the absolute authority and inspiration of Scripture, the divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ, His atoning death, His literal resurrection, the final judgement and a lost eternity. This is what should leave us troubled and dispirited. But let us pray that God would so work that the professing Church everywhere would submit wholeheartedly to the entire revelation that He has given.