“Change and the Everlasting Gospel?”

(The Pastor's Letter - November. 1972)

Dear Friends,

In the month of November 1572 the great Scottish Reformer John Knox passed to his eternal rest under the grace of his Covenant God in heaven. The changes have taken place in the world at large over those four long centuries since Knox's death, would, no doubt, make it an unrecognisable place to the old Reformer were he able to walk the streets and speak to the men and women of the twentieth century. This, of course, is natural, for change is of the very essence of things that do change. But, what of those things that should remain unchanging, and, indeed, eternal on account of their very nature and institution? What of “the everlasting gospel” of the grace of our God in heaven that so wondrously worked in the heart of good John Knox and many thousands of others in those far and distant days of the church of Christ in the land?

The question, of course, will never really have an answer for us, and, no doubt, there are many who would have little or no interest in such an answer anyway. To a great many people, even within the bounds of the professing church of Christ itself, John Knox smacks of dark clothes and strictures, so that the true teaching and preaching of the man have been entirely set aside. Yet, the gospel of Knox, in common with the other reformers of his day was, indeed, that great and eternal gospel of the justification of the sinner only and solely through the ever-abiding merits of the death of Christ on the cross, and the application of that death by the Holy Spirit of God to those sinners.

Whether or not, then, John Knox would recognise the world of today were he able to stand once more upon the earth is, indeed, of little importance to us; but, whether or not the gospel of today would pass muster as that true and ever lasting gospel of the grace of God that he so faithfully preached is, surely, something worth, at least, a little reflection in the hearts and minds of those who profess to be the custodians of that gospel in this generation.

We recently dealt with the question, “Today's Gospel – Authentic or Synthetic?” at our Friday Evening Lectures. The Lecture was, in reality, a verbal book review of the Banner of Truth paperback of that name. On the following pages, we reproduce part of the opening chapter from the book, trusting that some will see fit to purchase and read the whole book for themselves, examine the core of the message that is preached and believed today in the name of evangelical Christianity, and lay firmer hold upon that which we can truly say is “truth unchanged, unchanging.” (see article 2) Surely this would be the best “commemoration” of John Knox, or any other of the Lord's people who have honoured the Lord in the gospel which they have preached and believed, for, then, all honour would be to the Author and Finisher of that gospel. There is no “fashion̵ in the gospel of God, only in the heresies that surround it from age to age.