The Truth of the Gospel and the Relevance of the Gospel

Berkouwer’s view that “Salvation is not of, but is surely in history” (Faith and Justification, (Grand Rapids, 1954, p. 159, emphases original / Dutch edition, 1949) guards against the devaluation of both the historicity of the Christ-event and the decisive character of our present decision concerning Christ. Both demythologizing and determinism are carefully avoided by Berkouwer.

In this post, I am concerned with Berkouwer’s response to demythologizing.

I have made reference also to his opposition to determinism – simply to make the point that his concern for the urgent proclamation of the Gospel does not to lead him to seek relevance by way of demythologized Gospel. This is the point at which I begin this discussion of his attitude towards demythologizing. There can be no contemporary relevance without historical truth.

Concerning Bultmann’s demythologizing, he comments, “The fact that he proceeds from a pastoral and missionary motive – namely, to preserve modern man from rejecting the New Testament because of its mythical structure – does not diminish by one iota the theological presumption of this undertaking” (The Person of Christ, (Grand Rapids, 1954), p. 41 / Dutch edition, 1952).

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In order to get a balanced view of Berkouwer’s attitude towards Bultmann, we should note also these comments from Jack Rogers: ‘In America we often do theology as if it was a game of cops and robbers. We choose … sides, thinking that the ‘good guys’ (those we agree with) say and do all the good things and that the ‘bad guys’ (those we disagree with) say and do all the bad things. Life isn’t like that. I can remember how puzzled I was when I started reading G C Berkouwer to discover him quoting Rudolf Bultmann, for instance, with great approval in one place and then a few pages later vigorously disagreeing with him. He didn’t seem to need to add a footnote to remind us that Bultmann was a bad guy. He dealt with the issues instead of putting down the people’ (Confessions of a Conservative Evangelical, (Philadelphia, 1974), p.60).

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Berkouwer is aware of the tensions in modern history which have led to the widespread acceptance of a demythologized version of Christianity. He is aware of the complexity of Biblical historiography (Holy Scripture, (Grand Rapids, 1975), pp. 243-244 / Dutch edition, Vol. I, 1965 and Vol. II, 1967), the kerygmatic purpose of the New Testament (pp. 247-248) and the changing situations to which the Gospel must address itself (p. 257; see also The Work of Christ, (Grand Rapids, 1965), p. 15 / Dutch version, 1953; A Half Century of Theology: Movements and Motives, (Grand Rapids, 1977),pp. 7-8 / Dutch version, 1974).

He is, however, quite insistent about the historical character of the Christian revelation. To sacrifice would lead not to relevance but to irrelevance. Emphasizing that the Gospel’s present relevance is rooted in its past history, he warns us against sacrificing the Gospel’s foundation in past history for the sake of present relevance.

Concerning the historical basis of the Christian Gospel, Berkouwer writes,

“The historical record may have been strongly influenced by the kerygmatic purpose, but the final purpose of the gospel … is to demonstrate the truthfulness of what has been said of the Christ … the gospels have been written out of faith … the conviction that the historical Christ is the Son of God” (The Person of Christ, p. 35).

“There is reason to believe that certain post-Easter situations of the Church co-determined the renditions (of jesus’ words and works) … This … is … due … to faith in the living Christ and the saving event manifest in him, with all its power and grace in every situation and age … what happened is decisive for all evangelists … their tendency is clearly anti-docetic … But … not in opposition to a freedom in composing and expressing the mystery of Christ” (Holy Scripture, (Grand Rapids, 1975), pp. 251-252 / Dutch edition – Vol. I, 1965; Vol.II, 1967).

“It might be asked whether, in all the discussion about … demythologizing … the decisive die has not already been cast in the New Testament opposition to myth. Is not ‘a divine fact with all the weight of historical reality’ placed over against myth (in 2 Peter 1:16) … It cannot be denied that the witnesses had in mind a real event in time. The emphasis on eyewitnesses makes sense only in this way” (pp. 254, 256).

Thus, Berkouwer refuses to sacrifice the historical foundation of the Gospel in search of a spurious relevance. He does seek relevance (Note the titles of the opening chapters of Faith and Justification (”Relevance”, Faith and Sanctification (”Timeliness and Relevance” and Faith and Perseverance (”Timeliness and Relevance”). He never seeks relevance at the expense of the truth of the Gospel.

Echoing the words of 1 John 4:2 – “every spirit which confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God” – , Berkouwer affirms the doctrine of the incarnation, favourably citing the word of Vos: “One cannot avoid teaching Christ’s pre-existence: if jesus Christ be God, then he existed before he became man” (The Person of Christ, p. 54). In his affirmation of this doctrine, Berkouwer also affirms “the fact of the virgin birth … as part of an indivisible totality” (The Work of Christ, p. 106).

Echoing the words of 1 Corinthians 15:14 – “if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain”, Berkouwer affirms the historical factuality of Christ’s resurrection: “It is impossible to separate the fact from the significance of the resurrection, as though the main thing were the idea rather than the historical reality of the resurrection” (p. 181).

It is clear that, for Berkouwer, contemporary relevance is not gained by accommodating the Christian message to modern scepticism. Rather, contemporary relevance emerges from the truth of the Gospel. We proclaim the Gospel of “salvation” when we build upon the solid foundation of the person and work of Christ. This solid foundation has been laid “in history” by the God who is “not of … history” (here I am alluding to the quotation from Berkouwer with which I began this post).l