On Paul's fearless honesty

And in these sad days, when Christian language so often conceals a profoundly unchristian mind and heart, would to God that we had, in all our churches, less empty pious words, less of a foolish optimism, and more of the fearless honestly of Paul.

From Notes on Galatians

On Applied Christianity

Liberals are constantly talking about 'applied Christianity' without having any Christianity to apply.

On modern scientific materialism

Modern, scientific utilitarianism, in other words, did not succeed in producing the millennium prior to 1914; and there is not the slightest evidence that it has producted the millenium since that time or that it ever will produce the millenium in the ages to come. Indeed modern scientific utiltiarianism may produce something far more terrible than anything that we have seen as yet.

From the Baccalaurete Address at Hampden-Sydney College on June 9, 1929

Found here

On Law

A new and more powerful proclamation of law is perhaps the most pressing need of the hour; men would have little difficulty with the gospel if they had only learned the lesson of the law. As it is, they are turning aside from the Christian pathway; they are turning to the village of Morality, and to the house of Mr. Legality, who is reported to be very skillful in relieving men of their burdens ... 'Making Christ Master' in the life, putting into practice 'the principles of Christ' by one's own efforts-these are merely new ways of earning salvation by one's obedience to God's commands.

From What is faith?

On simplicity and theology

I'm not sure where this oft quoted gem comes from

The more we know of God, the more unreservedly we will trust him; the greater our progress in theology, the simpler and more childlike will be our faith.

What is faith?

The full text of the book What is faith? can be found here.

On the poor

For ye have the poor with you always, and whensoever ye will ye may do them good; but me ye have not always. Mark 14:7
Here in one of the most unforgettable, characteristic words that Jesus ever uttered, our Lord actually contrasts the service of the poor with the service of Him. “Ye have the poor with you always,’ he said, ‘and whensoever ye will ye may do them good; but me ye have not always.’ We have not Jesus always with us in the sense in which the woman had Him with her at Bethany; we cannot pour any precious ointment upon His head. But in a higher better sense we have Him with us still. And surely we must not neglect the privilege of communion with Him.
Certainly I am not advocating neglect of external service. Without that it is quite impossible that we should be true disciples of Jesus. It is a poor and untrue religion which leaves the hungry in distress. But we shall perform such services all the better if we take time also to commune with Jesus Himself. Do you think that the Christian life is concerned only with philanthropy; do you think that activity in social service is all that our Lord Desires? Oh no, my friends. Those things are absolutely necessary to the Christian, but they are not all that is necessary. If we are true Christians, we shall not neglect those things; but we shall also take time to go into our closet and close the door; and there, with the world shut out, with even our service forgotten for the moment, we shall think no longer of what we do but of what our Savior has done, and we shall pour out upon Him, with an abandon like that of the woman at Bethany, our gratitude and love and praise.
…In these words to the woman at Bethany our Lord sets us free from the oppressive tyranny of the efficiency expert…
J. Gresham Machen – The Claims of Love (In God Transcendent)

Found here

On Good news

What good does it do to me to tell me that the type of religion presented in the Bible is a very fine type of religion and that the thing for me to do is just to start practicing that type of religion now? ... I will tell you, my friend. It does me not one tiniest little bit of good. ... What I need first of all is not exhortation, but a gospel, not directions for saving myself but knowledge of how God has saved me. Have you any good news? That is the question that I ask of you. I know your exhortations will not help me. But if anything has been done to save me, will you not tell me the facts?"

(Cited in Michael Horton's Trust and Obey, p 40.

From J. Gresham Machen, Christian Faith in the Modern World Macmillan, 1936 p 57)

Vance on Machen on imperialism, etc

An article by L Vance on Machen on imperialism, militarism, and Conscription can be found here.

Machen's Parents

Machen's parents were Arthur Webster Machen (born July 20, 1847, he died in 1915) and Mary (Minnie) Jones (born June 17, 1849, she died in 1931).