Over the past three years, I

had the privilege of studying

under Dr. Oreg Bahnsen at
the Southern California
Center for Christian Studies.
Though his passing weighs
heavily upon me, a sense of
great rejoicing floods my soul;
for Dr. Bahnsen's teaching
minishy was Christ's gift of
love to his Church. Through
him, our Lord wooed us to
the truth that sets us free from
sin and death into the
form the foundation of
biblical Christianity. Apart
from them, we have no
certain hope in Christ,
standard for Christian living,
or anchor for our soul.
Whether in ethics,
evangelism, or textual
criticism, Ood's Word was
his only rule of faith and
practice. I will never forget
his closing remarks at Christ
College in 1994 as he
concluded his survey of
complicated truths of theology
to their simplest elements, Dr.
Bahnsen was able to make his
point with clarity and power.
His love for Ood's holy
Word motivated him to
plumb its depths so that he
might bring forth from its
treasure house things old and
new. He had no greater joy
than to see our hearts beating
with the same passion for
Scripture that filled his own.
glorious liberty of the
sons of Ood. He
warned us against
Christ's Gift of Love to
the Church:
This love for truth
made him a
demanding teacher.
Though always
warm and
approachable, I can
attest to Dr.
Bahnsen's rigorous
approach to
theological
ethical relativism,
cultural irrelevance,
and doctrinal laxity.
Dr. Bahnsen's voice
was nothing less than
The Teaching Ministry
of Dr. Greg Bahnsen
Chris Strevel
a clarion call fronHhe
Lord of glory to remember our
first love by returning to the
faith of our fathers. As Dr.
Bahnsen has now joined the
ranks of the Church
triumphant, we must
examine the lessons he taught
us and take them to heart.
This is the only response that
we can make to such a
wonderful gift from our
Savior.
Dr. Bahnsen's minishy was
permeated by a wholehearted
commitment to the
inspiration, infallibility, and
all-sufficiency of the Scriptures'
of the Old and New
Testaments. These doctrines
western philosophy. Having
discussed all the major
philosophers from Thales to
Quine, he noted that his
entire presentation had been
but an application of 1
Corinthians 1 :20-21. The
wisdom of this world is
foolishness, but those who
know Christ possess all the
treasures of wisdom and
knowledge.
Dr. Bahnsen's ability to
communicate divine truth
will always stand out in my
mind as one of his greatest
gifts. Whether shOWing us
the importance of one word
in a Scripture text or reducing
education. When I thought I
had mastered a particular
point, a conversation with
him always revealed more
work to be done. Through
the "Socratic" method, he
drew out what I knew, and
challenged mdo take that
knowledge to new levels of
understanding and
application. Some may have
criticized. him for being so
demanding. He believed
however that the need of the
hour was for dear thinking
and teaching Reformed
pastors. This goal can be
attained only if potential
pastors are carefully trained in
the great truths of our
Jannaryl February, 1996 t THE COUNSEL of Chalcedon 'i' 19
religion. One of Dr. '
Bahnsen's abiding legacies to
the Church of Jesus Christ is
precise biblical scholarship
and training.
Dr. Bahnsen, like many of
his like-minded pastors, was
frequentlY accused of being
overly non-experiential.
Critics urged that theonomy
andreconstructionist thinking
undertnine Christian piety by
the intellect over the
heart, law over, grace. To this
day, whenever r
the details of Scripture. We
must love him with our lives
as we apply those truths to
our daily experience.
Dr. Bahnsen enjoyed little
respect from the Christian
academic community during
his lifetime. His Theonomy
in Christian Ethics made
him an outcast early in his
theological career. That his
peers would treat such a gift
with contempt is one of the
theological tragedies of the
Refonned Christianity. Like
Calvin, many'
physical ailments,
have weakened the optimism
of many, but even'this did not
diminish his victory " '
orientation; He in
his students confidence in the
, , ' l
inevitable triumph of the
kingdom of qod ory,
The Christian Church will
miss Dr. Bahnsen:s
minisby. Many faithful
pastors and teachers, are
needed tpsarry on
hear this criticisni; I
his work. ,But
shake my head iTI
disbelief. Dr.
Bahnsen'srecumng ,
theme was the
interrelationship
between Christian
thinking and living.
If divine truth' does
not stir our hearts to '
love qod more, our head
knowledge is worthless. Dr.
Bahnsen's pastoral heart was
particularly evidenf when he
lectured through Calvin's ,
Institutes. How he rejoiced
to study a systematic theology
whose express purpose was to
instruct the stUdent in the
rudiments of Christian '
theology so that he could love
qod more intensely and live
more obediently. This is the
kind of balance the Church
often lacks but must recover if
we are to be Christ's spotless
Bride. We must love Ood
with our minds as we study
20th cenfury. As he
witnessed these events
unfolding in his life, he
realized that he was
experiencing a microcosm of
the state of the Christian
Church. Instead of a city set
on a hill, the Refonned
Church was tom by politics,
comfortably withdrawn into
its own circles, afraid to issue
the life-wide challenge of
biblical Christianity to a lost
and dying world. But
throughout his life, and this is
the point I wish to make, Dr.
Bahnsen remained optimistic
about the future of historic
20 THE COUNSEL of Chalcedon " January/ February, 1996
the man, it
is gave
him to us at this , ,
critical time in
history. We mJ,lst
meekly respolld to
his faithful teashing
solemn :,
warnings as: from
Christ Thr9ughpr.,
Bahnsen and others like him,
Christ is his Church
back to himself. He Wishes,
for his Bride, to
experience Spirit\JC\1 fuilness, ,
maturity; ang preservation
from doctrimilerror. But the
Refonnedchurches may do
this only as Christ gives its'
grace to get beyond personal
prejudices' and '
misrepresentations '
surrounding Dr. Bahnsen's life
and teaching and embrace his
labor of love among us. Q
'.