20th Century Reformed Resurgence

The Liberal Crisis: When the Foundations Were Being Destroyed

By 1900, the Christian church faced a crisis unlike any it had encountered since the Reformation. Not from without—from within. Liberal theology had invaded the seminaries, the universities, the pulpits. The problem was not Catholicism or atheism. It was professing Christians who had abandoned biblical authority and replaced it with human reason. They denied the virgin birth. They rejected substitutionary atonement. They treated the Bible as a merely human document, fallible and full of errors. They proclaimed a "gospel" of social progress, ethical improvement, divine immanence. They emptied Christianity of its supernatural content and reduced it to moralism and sentiment.

Scripture teaches that "the faith" has been once delivered to the saints. It is not infinitely flexible. It cannot be reshaped by every generation according to the fashions of the age. But liberal theology claimed exactly this: that Christian doctrine must be perpetually reinterpreted in light of modern science, modern philosophy, modern culture. The gospel must be made relevant, palatable, reasonable. Miracles must be explained away. The resurrection must be spiritualized. The cross must be reunderstood as a moral example rather than a substitutionary sacrifice.

By the 1920s, the great Protestant denominations had been largely captured by liberal theology. The denominational structures, the seminaries, the publishing houses—all had fallen into the hands of men who no longer believed the faith of the apostles. The great evangelical truth that God alone saves, through sovereign grace, by the work of Christ, applied by irresistible grace—this truth was being systematically abandoned. In its place came a humanistic religion that made man the measure of all things and rendered God a vague force of moral improvement.

Into this crisis stepped a man whose courage and clarity would help preserve Reformed Christianity for the twentieth century and beyond: J. Gresham Machen.

J. Gresham Machen: Defender of the Faith

J. Gresham Machen (1881–1937) was a brilliant biblical scholar who taught at Princeton Theological Seminary. When liberal theology began to dominate even Princeton's halls, Machen stood against the tide with courage and clarity. His book "Christianity and Liberalism" (1923) became a manifesto for orthodox Christianity. Machen made an argument that was radical and still remains controversial: that liberalism is not a form of Christianity at all. It is a different religion entirely. To call liberal theology "Christianity" is to commit an egregious category error. Liberalism is built on human reason; Christianity is built on revelation. Liberalism denies the supernatural; Christianity is saturated with it. Liberalism makes man the measure; Christianity makes God supreme.

Scripture teaches that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Machen understood this. He knew that compromise with liberalism was not possible. You cannot maintain the doctrines of grace while denying the deity of Christ. You cannot affirm substitutionary atonement while denying that Christ rose from the dead. You cannot embrace the irresistible grace of the Spirit while treating man as the ultimate arbiter of truth.

When Princeton Seminary increasingly fell under liberal control, Machen took a courageous step. He left Princeton and helped found Westminster Theological Seminary in 1929—an institution dedicated to the old Reformed faith. Westminster's faculty included some of the finest scholars in the world: Geerhardus Vos, Oswald Allis, John Murray, and others. These men were convinced that the doctrines of grace, properly understood from Scripture, were not antiquated relics but living truth for every age. They were determined to train ministers who would preach the sovereignty of God, the total depravity of man, the sufficiency of Christ, the irresistible grace of the Spirit, and the perseverance of the saints.

Machen also founded the Orthodox Presbyterian Church when the Presbyterian Church U.S.A. would not discipline heretical ministers. This was not schism motivated by arrogance or personal pique. It was separation motivated by biblical conviction. Machen saw that the mainline denominations had abandoned the faith and chose to build new structures where the gospel could be faithfully proclaimed. It was costly. It was difficult. But it was right.

Machen died in 1937, but his legacy endured. He had proved that orthodox Christianity could defend itself against liberalism not through retreat or accommodation but through faithful exposition of Scripture and bold proclamation of biblical truth. He showed that the doctrines of grace were not incompatible with scholarship, that you could be intellectually rigorous and biblically faithful simultaneously. His example inspired generations of faithful ministers and theologians to contend for the faith once delivered.

Martyn Lloyd-Jones: The Preacher to the Preachers

If Machen was the defender of orthodoxy in America, Martyn Lloyd-Jones (1899–1981) was the embodiment of Reformed preaching in Britain. Lloyd-Jones was a physician turned preacher who spent most of his ministry at Westminster Chapel in London, where he preached to thousands for over thirty years. His influence was extraordinary. Ministers from across the Protestant world came to learn from him. Pastors listened to his recorded sermons. Students read his books. Why? Because Lloyd-Jones demonstrated that Scripture teaches that the proclamation of God's sovereignty in salvation is the most powerful force for renewal in the church.

Lloyd-Jones understood that the church does not need less doctrine; it needs more. It does not need to abandon the hard teachings of Scripture; it needs to understand them more deeply and preach them more faithfully. He devoted thirteen years to expounding the Epistle to the Romans, taking Scripture at its word, line by line, showing how Paul articulates the gospel of sovereign grace with precision and power. His sermon series became a monument of biblical preaching that stands alongside the Puritan works as a model for faithful exposition.

Lloyd-Jones was convinced that twentieth-century Christianity needed revival—not reformation of structures but a mighty movement of the Spirit. And he believed that revival comes through the faithful proclamation of biblical truth, particularly the doctrines of grace. When believers understand that they have been chosen before the foundation of the world, that Christ died specifically for them, that the Spirit has irresistibly changed their hearts, that God will keep them to the end—the result is not arrogance but humility, not complacency but zeal, not despair but joy.

Lloyd-Jones also became a champion of Reformed theology in an ecumenical age. When many evangelical leaders were moving toward pragmatism and accommodation, Lloyd-Jones stood firm. He called for faithfulness to Scripture, for fidelity to the doctrines of grace, for bold proclamation of God's sovereignty. His example showed that you could be a great preacher not by watering down the message or making it "relevant" but by understanding Scripture deeply and proclaiming it with power.

R.C. Sproul and Ligonier: Teaching the Doctrines of Grace

By the latter half of the twentieth century, evangelical Christianity had largely abandoned the doctrines of grace. The evangelical movement, born from revivals and characterized by enthusiasm, had come to embrace a theology of human choice and human will. The Arminian question—How can divine sovereignty and human responsibility both be true?—had been "resolved" in favor of human responsibility. Doctrine was viewed with suspicion. Systematic theology was seen as spiritually dangerous. The slogan became: "Just love Jesus."

Into this vacuum stepped R.C. Sproul (1939–2017), a Reformed theologian of extraordinary clarity and passion. Sproul founded Ligonier Ministries with the conviction that Scripture teaches that the church desperately needs to understand the doctrines of grace, and these doctrines can be taught with clarity and force even in a television age. Through his seminars, his books, his videos, his teaching, Sproul made the Reformed faith accessible to millions of ordinary believers.

Sproul's genius was in making deep theology understandable. He could explain the doctrine of unconditional election in a way that a child could grasp but that satisfied the most rigorous scholar. He could show how the Reformation doctrine of God's sovereignty had been recovered from Scripture, how it had shaped the greatest movements of renewal in church history, and how it stood in stark contrast to the humanistic religion of our age. More importantly, he showed how understanding God's sovereignty transforms the way we live. If God has chosen us, if He died for us, if He converted us, if He keeps us—then we owe Him everything. We should live with gratitude, humility, and joyful obedience.

Sproul's teaching ministry has reached more people with Reformed theology than perhaps any other single figure in church history. Millions have heard him explain the doctrines of grace. Thousands have come to understand that they are Calvinists whether they knew it or not—that their faith rests on the sovereignty of God, not on human choice. Ligonier Ministries continues his legacy, teaching the doctrines of grace through every medium available.

John MacArthur: Faithful Preaching for Fifty Years

John MacArthur (born 1939) represents the embodiment of faithful pastoral ministry in the modern age. For more than fifty years, MacArthur has preached at Grace Community Church in Los Angeles, expounding Scripture verse by verse, building his congregation on the foundation of God's Word. His ministry exemplifies what it means to be a Reformed pastor in the contemporary world.

MacArthur has never shied away from unpopular doctrines. He has preached unconditional election when the culture demanded human autonomy. He has proclaimed the sufficiency of Scripture when the world insisted that human wisdom must supplement divine revelation. He has defended the exclusivity of Christ when pluralism became fashionable. He has stood against the seeker-sensitive movement, against the prosperity gospel, against every attempt to reshape Christianity into a religion that flatters human dignity and affirms human achievement.

Scripture teaches that a faithful pastor must "preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine" (2 Timothy 4:2). MacArthur has done this. He has taught the doctrines of grace not merely from the pulpit but through hundreds of books and study guides. His commentary series has become a standard reference. His videos reach millions. Yet through it all, he has maintained a focus that is remarkable: build the church on Scripture. Train pastors to be faithful expositors. Equip believers to understand the doctrines of grace and live them out.

MacArthur has also been willing to stand alone when necessary. When cultural pressure mounted, when evangelical leaders compromised, when the path of least resistance was to accommodate, MacArthur continued to preach the gospel faithfully. The doctrines of grace are not compromisable. They are not negotiable. They are not one opinion among many. They are the teaching of Scripture, and Scripture is the Word of God.

The Young, Restless, and Reformed Movement: God's Grace Rediscovered

By the early twenty-first century, something unexpected began to happen. A generation of young evangelicals—those born after 1980—began discovering the doctrines of grace. They read Jonathan Edwards. They studied the Westminster Confession. They listened to John Piper, Tim Keller, and other Reformed evangelical pastors. They realized that the faith of the Reformation, the faith of the Puritans, the faith defended by Machen and Lloyd-Jones and Sproul, was not antiquated. It was alive. It was powerful. It was transformative.

The "Young, Restless, and Reformed" movement became a phenomenon that confounded the pundits. Here were believers in their twenties and thirties embracing doctrines that had supposedly been abandoned. They were reading heavy theology. They were discussing predestination and election at coffee shops. They were singing the praises of John Calvin. They were discovering that Scripture teaches God's absolute sovereignty in salvation and that this doctrine, far from being oppressive or arrogant, is liberating and humbling.

This movement proved something crucial: that the doctrines of grace have not lost their power. They are not relics of a bygone era. When presented faithfully, when grounded in Scripture, when shown to produce humility and gratitude and holiness—they resonate with the human heart. People want to know that their salvation rests on something more solid than their own willpower. They want to know that God is God. They want to belong to a faith that makes absolute claims and calls them to absolute commitment.

The twenty-first century has seen Reformed theology spread globally in ways that would have astonished the reformers themselves. Reformed churches are growing in Africa, in Asia, in Latin America. Young pastors from around the world come to seminary to study Reformed theology. Books on the doctrines of grace are translated into dozens of languages. The gospel of sovereign grace is spreading more widely than ever before.