Friday, December 1, 2023

It is the 1st of December, 2023. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org; I’m Dan van Voorhis.

If your church has a library- I bet you could rummage around and find a collection- 11 volumes, perhaps, of the Notes on the New Testament. It would be hard to find a more popular commentary on the Scriptures- it would sell across denominational lines and amongst the general populace, with more than a million copies of the multivolume sold within a century. These Notes on the New Testament would be the product of one of the more enigmatic and controversial figures in 19th-century Protestantism: Albert Barnes.

Barnes was born in Rome, New York, on the 1st of December in 1798, putting him in that all-important group of second-generation Americans. His parents were not connected to any one denomination, with ties to both the older Congregationalists and the Methodists coming out of the First Great Awakening. Albert, as a teenager, had not yet had a conversion experience- something that would make someone in his context anxious. But while attending Hamilton College- a school opened for natives and settlers- he had an experience that led him to attend Princeton in order to seek ordination in the Presbyterian Church.  

In the 1820s, as Barnes graduated and took his first pastorate in Morristown, New Jersey, the church was embroiled in the “New Divinity/Old Divinity” controversy. Please note: there are a few controversies in the early American church that pitted a “new” side vs. an “old” side, and the issues at their core related to the church would adapt to new methods and measures. At hand with the Presbyterian church was the emphasis on the role of human volition- will- in coming to faith. From Jonathan Edwards to Samuel Hopkins, there had been an emphasis on the individual- not to dismiss the sovereignty of God- but to counterbalance it with human responsibility.

It was in 1829, while at Morristown, that a popular sermon from Barnes, “The Way of Salvation,” was published. It was a standard call to faith, but his “new divinity” emphasis on the need for the Christian to “accept’’ the faith made him suspect amongst some. Nevertheless, after being vetted, he was called to the First Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia. This set off a storm with those who called him “Pelagian,” and he was brought up on heresy charges. For the second time, he was cleared, and his parishioners published the offending sermon with explanatory notes as to why it was thoroughly Biblical.

This issue, like many in the debates concerning human works, is one of emphasis and not easily adjudicated with a doctrinal review.

He would also become a leading voice- like many in the new school- for abolition. His approach to the end of slavery was different in that he argued against using “proof texts” against slave-holding Christians. He noted that one could find individual verses which seemed to justify slavery. Instead, he argued that the biblical message, the gospel taken as a whole, made it clear that slavery was not permitted. Like many in his era, he argued for a slow transition away from slavery and was surprised by the outbreak of the Civil War.

But for all of this, it was his popular set of commentaries on the Bible that have been his most lasting legacy. Barnes was not attempting to break exegetical ground with these but wanted to have a collection suitable for homes and Sunday schools. Charles Spurgeon, the giant of the age amongst many Calvinists and Evangelicals of his day, was asked about these commentaries “which at one time set rival publishers advertising him in every direction.” Spurgeon responded:

“[they] are extremely useful for Sunday School teachers and persons with a narrow range of reading, endowed with enough good sense to discriminate between good and evil…Placed by the side of the great masters, Barnes is a lesser light, but taking his work for what it is and professes to be, no minister can afford to be without it, and this is no small praise for works which were only intended for Sunday School teachers.”

This is his legacy- a popularizer of mainstream Protestant exegesis with a New School emphasis and a practical approach to eradicating slavery. He was at First Presbyterian Church as the primary pastor for 37 years, ending his time as pastor emeritus with his death in 1870. Born in 1798, Albert Barnes was 71 years old.

The last word for today comes from the daily lectionary and days before Advent- a spicy eschatological text from 1 Thessalonians.

13 Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. 14 For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. 15 According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 1st of December 2023, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by a fan of all things New- light, school, balance, and Coke- he is Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by a fan of the old- Spice, Bay Seasoning, Faithful (the geyser), the dog who can’t learn new tricks, and Navy- I’m  Dan van Voorhis.

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.