Optimism about the future and liberalization
In the years from 1870 until the outbreak of World War I in 1914, the Western world was characterized by an almost limitless optimism about the future. The technological and scientific breakthroughs of this time radically transformed society and significantly raised living standards in many places.
This also coincided with major Christian revivals, which brought with them intense enthusiasm and excitement. A message that gained popularity and spread increasingly widely was the idea that the baptism of the Holy Spirit—if one truly received His power and fullness—could, in practice, “erase” original sin in human beings.
At the same time, significant liberalization occurred in many places, both socially and theologically. Much of this was positive. Social rights for women and workers were won through struggle. Public schools and health care became more widespread.
At the same time, however, a trend began to spread that moved toward the erosion of moral standards and a relativization of the concept of sin and the authority of the Bible. Liberal theology—a form of theology that no longer placed the authority of Scripture at the center but was more concerned with human interpretations of Scripture—spread, first in Germany, but later also throughout the rest of the Western world.
The fallen state of humanity was often downplayed. Jesus was reduced to a moral philosopher, and the Bible to a collection of writings that certainly conveyed some good values, but otherwise did not deserve any particularly exalted status.
Reuben Archer Torrey
One of those who saw the dangers in this development was Reuben Archer Torrey. Torrey was born and raised on the U.S. East Coast. He was a graduate of Yale University and had also studied theology in Germany, where he had seen firsthand how liberal theology had influenced the theological faculties there.
He had been recruited by Dwight L. Moody to lead his Bible institute in Chicago in 1889, and when Moody died in 1899, Torrey was in many ways his natural successor. In the early 1900s, he took part in a number of revival campaigns around the world. Later, he also played a key role in the founding of the Bible Institute of Los Angeles and contributed to the periodical The King’s Business, which gained widespread readership.
Torrey distinguished himself as a clear-sighted and outspoken defender of the Bible’s authority as the word of God, of the truths of the gospel, and of Jesus’ unique role as the Son of God and Savior of the world. He had a unique ability to express this in a particularly clear and convincing way.
The Fundamentals
In 1908, businessman Lyman Stewart attended a meeting in Los Angeles where the preacher Amzi C. Dixon was preaching. Stewart had long wanted to issue a “warning,” a testimony to all English-speaking missionaries and preachers around the world, to caution them against contemporary theological liberalism and the dangers it entailed.
Stewart had long been searching for a suitable candidate to write and publish such a work. He believed that Dixon, with his ability both to challenge and to convince liberal theologians of the fallacies and dangers of their theology, was exactly the right person for the job.
Dixon quickly became enthusiastic about the project and set about compiling a list of various topics and potential authors. One of the first names on his list was Torrey, but since the goal was to achieve the broadest possible representation among those who shared the same purpose, the list eventually grew to over 64 names. The collections of articles were published over a period of five years.
The first volume was published in 1910, and between 1910 and 1915, 12 volumes containing various articles were published. Louis Meyer took over as editor in 1911. When he died in 1912, it was Torrey who took on the task of completing the collection of articles.
Torrey in Hidden Treasures
Johan O. Smith, editor and founder of Hidden Treasures, developed an interest in R.A. Torrey. early in his Christian life. As early as 1906, he wrote to his family to say that he had bought Torrey’s book The Baptism With the Holy Spirit. He highly recommended the book and was clearly enthusiastic about Torrey’s straightforward, simple, and effective writing style.
Although Smith was already an admirer of Torrey as early as 1906, it wasn’t until 1929 that he included excerpts from Torrey’s writings in Hidden Treasures. However, he then included large sections of the book The Divine Origin of the Bible in various issues of the magazine. Later, he also included excerpts from another book by Torrey. A total of 21 different excerpts and sections were published in Hidden Treasures between 1929 and 1935.
Most of what Smith included from Torrey’s writings came from books intended to defend the Bible’s authority as the word of God. At the time, Torrey was well known as an exceptionally strong and effective defender of the Bible.
The Bible as the word of God
Smith began publishing excerpts from Torrey’s book in February 1929. Torrey’s text gets straight to the point and presents a number of arguments to show that the Bible is not merely a collection of texts that conveys good values, but God’s own word:
- Although the Bible was written by very different authors, at different times, and in many different languages, its message is nonetheless remarkably unified and consistent.
- The Bible has withstood all human attacks and attempts to eradicate its message.
- The Bible has influenced people’s lives—indeed, entire societies and nations—in such a profound and fundamental way that it cannot be compared to anything else.
The prophecies fulfilled in Jesus
It was absolutely essential for Torrey to show how the Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah were fulfilled in the life of Jesus, several hundred years later. He writes:
“There are many prophecies in the Old Testament of things that were to occur hundreds of years in the future. These prophecies, in many instances, were very clear, detailed, and precise, and they have been fulfilled to the letter.”
One of the prophecies Torrey highlights is the famous prophecy in Isaiah 53, about “the Lord’s suffering servant.” He writes:
“The attempt has been made over and over again by the rationalists to break the force of the argument by denying that Isaiah 53 refers to the Messiah, but the attempt has broken down utterly. Not only has it been completely proven from their own works that the Jewish rabbis interpreted it as of the Messiah but, furthermore, when the question has been asked, if it does not refer to the Messiah then to whom does it refer, the best answer they can give is, ‘It refers to suffering Israel.’ But anyone can see this is impossible if he will study the chapter for himself.”
The Old Testament testifies about Jesus
However, it is not the case that only fragments and passages from the Old Testament speak prophetically about Jesus. The entire text is permeated by this prophetic message. Torrey writes:
“[…] ask the man who has really gone into the study of the Old Testament thoroughly and profoundly, and he will tell you that the entire Old Testament is prophetic; that its laws are prophetic, its history is prophetic, people mentioned there are prophetic and its institutions are prophetic.”
“As one honestly studies these things he is led to exclaim, ‘This is truly the hand of God.’ As any man who is not blinded by sin studies the leaf of a tree or the dust of a butterfly’s wings beneath the microscope he sees the wisdom and the hand of God in it; and as anyone microscopically studies the types of the Old Testament, he sees the hand of God in them ever more clearly.”
Johan Oscar Smith on the Bible as the word of God
Johan Oscar Smith himself was deeply concerned with the theme of the Bible as the word of God. The Christian movement Smith had started was a lay movement. It was led by himself and other Christians with no theological training, who held ordinary jobs. On the other hand, they were avid readers. When you read Smith’s own writings, they reveal an exceptionally thorough knowledge of the Bible and a deep respect for the authority of the biblical texts.
The list of authors he included in Hidden Treasures also illustrates the breadth of the literature he included in the magazine. Smith and his colleagues were characterized by a passionate and deep commitment to proclaiming that God’s word should be obeyed and put into practice among Christians.
Of course, we see this reflected in the way Smith himself expresses himself in the magazine. His articles are full of such powerful and exhortative calls to “live the word.” The impact of the word on our lives is what bears witness, first and foremost, to the authority of the word and to our own living faith in it.
The article “The Lord Said He Would Dwell in the Dark Cloud” was published in the February/March 1926 issue of Hidden Treasures. In this article Smith writes:
“Hearing God’s word is of no value unless it is mixed with faith in our heart. The proof that the word has been mixed with faith in us is that we practice what we believe. This is obedience to the faith, and faith without works is dead. When we believe the word, it becomes effectual; and through that effectualness, we are transformed—transformed into the image of the Son of God, from glory to glory. If we hear God’s word but do not put into practice what we hear, then it is as though we see an image of ourselves in a mirror, with all our failings, but immediately forget what we look like. Consequently, no transformation can take place, and the word cannot become effectual.”
God’s word must be done
Another apt quote comes from the article “The Word and Its Effect on God’s People,” published in March 1935, around the same time that he published various excerpts from Torrey’s writings:
“God’s Word is to be lived; but it is not being lived, and so judgment comes. Christianity has become nothing more than a pleasant social club where the flesh is spared and thrives. Woe to those who upset the pleasantness by coming with a Word of truth. They will be called deceivers and will be, as the Scriptures say, ‘Put out of the synagogue.'”
Smith’s attitude toward contemporary forms of liberal Christianity is clearly evident here. Just like Torrey, he saw the dangers of a liberal theological relativization of the Bible’s status. This led to moral decline.
Smiths emphasis on the need to put the word into practice runs like a common thread through his writings. It was imperative for him to proclaim this. People who did not practice such a radical, action-oriented Christianity would also be unable to serve as a real counterweight to the moral decline taking place at the time.
Christians without deeds were and remain “salt that has lost its flavor.”
The power and authority of God’s word
In addition to the book on the Bible’s divine authority, Smith includes excerpts from the book The Divine Power of the Bible in the magazine. Here, Torrey writes about how the Bible possesses divine power. One of the things it has the power to bring about is faith, Torrey writes. He writes:
“Faith is the gift of God, but it is by his word that God imparts this gift. It is not merely a statement of the Bible ‘that faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God;’ (Romans 10:17), it’ is also a fact of experience.”
Faith is thus brought about by a specific cause, namely the word of God.
Those who practice the Word confirms that the Word is from God
There are also interesting parallels to Smith in Torrey’s argument for the Bible’s divine origin and authority. In one of the excerpts Smith included in Hidden Treasures, he writes:
“Find a man who has entirely surrendered his will to God, who is leading a life of self-renunciation, of devotion to God and his fellow man, of humility and prayer, and in every instance, you will find a man who is fully convinced that the Bible is God’s word. An exception to this cannot be found.
On the other hand, find a man who denies or continuously doubts that the Bible is the word of God, and in every instance, you will find a man who is leading either a life of lust, or greed for money, or self-will, or pride. In other words, those who live nearest God and know God best, with absolute unanimity say the Bible is God’s word; those who deny it are those who live farthest from Him.
Which of them should we believe?”
Fighting for the authority of the Bible as the word of God, and as a guide for a true Christian life, was central to Johan Oscar Smith’s Christian ministry. He himself had experienced the Bible’s divine message and its power to transform his own life. That is why he was so passionate about helping others experience the same thing. Here he found a strong ally and kindred spirit in Reuben A. Torrey.
Watch the film about Reuben Archer Torrey here.
Watch the film “The Authority of the Bible“.
Read more about the history of the Bible in this article.
