Lessons from yesteryear

Week beginning 26 Dec. 04

I have just finished reading Iain Murray's republished and enlarged biography of Arthur Pink, that enigmatic theologian and preacher who ended his days in a house on Lewis Street. The route that took him there was interesting, to say the least; born in Nottingham in 1886, Pink travelled to America for theological training, ministering in the United States and Australia before returning to Britain. He died at Stornoway in 1952, and is buried in Sandwick cemetery.

Pink's life is colourful yet tragic. He travelled the world, yet never really found a spiritual home in any denomination. For all his broad-heartedness -- he said that while denominationalism had some value, sectarianism was abhorrent -- he died a spiritual recluse, surrounded by any number of evangelistic churches. It is more than passing strange that the last stronghold of the pure Gospel should have proved so inhospitable.

Yet Pink's life, unusual though it is from many perspectives, was far from being unproductive. His literary output was phenomenal: the successive volumes of his Studies in the Scriptures, as well as the sheer volume of letters written, is breathtaking in its scope. He found a worldwide audience hungering for the doctrines of grace; and that world made Pink one of its heroes.

Indeed, when I was in Pennsylvania in June of this year, I met an elderly lady (whom Iain Murray mentions in a footnote on p236 and variously throughout the book) who was thrilled to speak to a Stornoway man. Pink's correspondence with her was of great value, and still appreciated half a century later. 'He taught us the doctrines of grace', she told me.

Through his writings Pink, being dead, still speaks to us, and he is worth listening to. His various expositions of Bible books and theological themes make him a valuable companion. Iain Murray's biography is deservedly reprinted and will repay careful reading. Quite apart from the Stornoway interest, I always find it thrilling to read of those, in the past and in the present, who are lovers of the doctrines of sovereign grace.

Yet the enigmatic element remains. Why did Pink find it so difficult to become naturalised into the churches he served, or the churches which surrounded him? Lewis churches in the 1940s and 1950s were largely Gaelic-speaking; yet surely this cannot be the main reason for his isolation? It was a feature of his Christian experience elsewhere too. He often found that secondary issues were elevated to conditions of membership, and that was frequently enough to marginalise him. Whether the fault lay entirely with the churches, however, is a moot point, and the facts are not easy to interpret.

Yet, if anything, the issue raised by the question of Pink's disaffiliation has not gone away. There are still Christians who refuse to take up the badge of church membership. Some of them prefer simply to 'adhere' to their own congregations, or to become spiritual vagabonds, travelling to various services, or none, and getting the best out of what all church life has to offer.

I realise that the New Testament has little to say about church membership; but it does say much about confessing our faith publicly and joining with other disciples for the study of the Bible and for prayer. The New Testament certainly knows nothing of believers who were not publicly affiliated with other believers; indeed, they had all things in common.

No-one can accuse Pink of having a low view of the church; yet many modern Christians have exactly that. Yet if we are correct to think of each local congregation as a microcosm of the whole church, then it is precisely through the formal structures of our church life that we express our commitment of discipleship to Jesus Christ. The church exists in the first instance for his glory, for the discipleship of his followers, and for the evangelising of those outside.

Now, however, we are moving into the possibilities of 'virtual church', with the world wide web producing world wide denominations, and the God channel becoming the worship element of many believers' lives. None of these can substitute, however, for being part of a local body of Christians, however large or small, and living with them, day by day, through their joys, sorrows and trials, exercising an influence, often unnoticed and frequently unappreciated, by the surrounding world.

For all the far-reaching influences of Pink's writings and ministry, one can only regret the fact that he finally remained so absent from congregational life, to which he might, undoubtedly, have contributed much.

Pink's life has much to teach the modern church at the close of 2004. Not least is the emphasis on doctrine -- for Pink, the instruction of the mind is at the heart of biblical Christianity. His Calvinism is refreshing; and it is applied meticulously to every area of life and thought. God is a sovereign; and it is under the reign of God that our best freedoms are obtained.

Second is Pink's teaching regarding the law. This point marked his alienation from American dispensationalism. The Christian, said Pink, is saved 'from' his sins, not 'in' his sins; saved, in other words, to lead a life pleasing to God, and conformable to God's requirements. It is not a case of law versus Gospel, as he heard so often in America, but of freedom in Christ to obey God's law.

Third is Pink's caution regarding experiences. Part of the problem Pink encountered in several churches was the pattern of Christian experience often imposed on, and expected of, genuine biblical conversion. Pink was aware of the fact that no such pattern exists. One does not demonstrate the genuineness of one's faith by showing how it conforms to a pattern of experience. All of us -- from American fundamentalists to British charismatics to Highland Presbyterians -- would do well to heed the caution.

Iain H. Murray, The Life of Arthur W. Pink: Revised and Enlarged Edition, Banner of Truth, 2004