HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE EASTERN EUROPEAN
TEACHING MISSION
by Robert Ingram
James Michener chronicles the story of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution in his book entitled The Bridge at Andau. In this true story of a brave and embattled people rising up in a failed attempt to overthrow the Soviet domination of their country, he portrays people who refused to be subject to that which they believed was wrong.
What adds to the compelling historical account is the biographical nature of the writing. Michener spotlights the daring individual freedom fighters who rallied the citizenry during the uprising. Reading this book while in Budapest with the Sprouls allowed us all to appreciate more deeply the people R. C. was teaching. It also served as a window into the character of Almos Sipos, the general secretary of the Bible Society of the Hungarian Reformed Church and cosponsor of the Ligonier teaching conference for pastors.
I had the pleasure of meeting Almos a year ago in September when I was in Budapest making arrangements for this summer’s conferences. Monty Taylor, a friend from Eastern European Seminary who lives in Budapest, had taken me to Almos’ home in the hopes of enlisting his support for the upcoming conference. I’ll never forget the sheer delight in Almos’ face as he realized that R. C. would be available to teach in Budapest. He quickly pulled down from his bookshelves a book on the authority of Scripture, written in German, which contained chapters by R. C. on the authority of the Bible. Working through Monty as our interpreter, he immediately concluded that the most crucial topic that needed addressed would be that of the authority, inspiration, and inerrancy of the Bible.
R. C. enjoyed personal interaction with Eastern European pastors.
Protestantism and the Reformed faith in particular, had served two masters for many years, he said. It had been compromised by communist control for forty-five years. Only a remnant of orthodox faith survived, and, of course, it was a persecuted faith. But, he said, the Hungarian people had for the past one hundred or more years been captive to liberal German theology. The ravages of that influence, combined with communist control of the church, had wreaked havoc within the Hungarian churches. R. C., Almos said, would lead the battle for the Bible in Budapest, and the people would follow. To ensure that R. C. was heard, it was arranged that the conference would be held at the Hungarian Reformed Seminary.
R. C. defended the authority of scripture in this historic seminary lecture
When R. C. arrived in Budapest in June, he met with Almos and discovered the “freedom-fighter” spirit of this distinguished pastor and leader. Almos told the story of his father’s yearlong studies at Princeton Seminary nearly sixty years ago. His research was to educate himself in the classical understanding of the authority of Scripture in order to teach it when he returned to Hungary. For so doing, he was immediately dismissed from his position in Budapest. That, said Almos, was the last time the men in his Reformed denomination had access to teaching on the inerrancy of Scripture.
The more R. C. spoke with Almos the more he realized the potential significance of the upcoming week. He would be the first in two generations to confront a seminary faculty and a large constituency on this most significant doctrine. The setting would be the very institution that had for so long undermined the authority of the Bible through its liberal and even communist ideology. In addition to those that would be outright hostile to what R. C. would teach, Almos indicated that two other groups would be present.
Some would be men committed to the authority of Scripture, but because they had never been taught that doctrine, they were inarticulate in defending it. All they knew, but had largely rejected, were the Barthian and Bultmannian positions taught at the seminaries. One such pastor was Zollie, in whose church R. C. preached the weekend prior to the conference. Because nothing had been published or taught on this doctrine for so many years, the seminary effectively controlled the pastors, and, therefore, their congregations. Men like Almos had to learn German in order to read what little evangelical theology was available.
The other (and largest) group at the Bible Society. These men had for years safeguarded the classical, orthodox understanding of Scripture’s authority, but with few resources and under many restrictions. How delighted they were to promote R. C.’s teaching, especially when they knew he had been the founding president of the International Council on Biblical Inerrancy and had championed this doctrine throughout his teaching career.
Approximately 250 pastors were present for R. C.’s lectures. Due to the wide spectrum represented, R. C. chose to consolidate the support of those in the middle with those already committed to inerrancy. All were treated to some of the finest lectures I have heard him present, demonstrating unusual skill and academic prowess in the defense of the faith. R. C. gave ground where it was appropriate to do so such that those who were not fully convinced of his position were wooed over by his fair and honest appraisal of their position. In his inimitable style, through lectures but especially in question-and-answer sessions, R. C. disarmed the skeptics by showing the Achilles’ heel of liberalism. Near the end of the week, he candidly addressed the implications of not subscribing to the same view of the Scriptures that our Lord taught. In what was simultaneously compelling, passionate, and pastoral, R. C. unleashed a critique that must have caused serious introspection by those still not convinced.
In his closing remarks at the end of the week, Almos Sipos sounded these triumphant words:
Soli Deo gloria, to God alone be the glory, for the blessing we have received through this conference and how God’s glorious Word has become more precious and rich in our lives. Dear guests and those who are members of the younger generations, in the past sixty years, this type of teaching has not been heard in this lecture hall. And we praise God for the miracle of this possibility this week. It would be good if everyone present would realize that this conference has been and should continue to be a warning, a trumpet call. This conference should be a call to the spiritually awake that the battle for God’s Word and its purity has already begun and in the future will only become more pronounced in this country. In light of this it has been our desire to provide you with the spiritual weapons you need.… For decades liberal German thought has dominated, destroying God’s people. We have appreciated the positive Calvinist theology we have been exposed to, but little has arrived here since the Puritan era.…
On behalf of R. C. and Ligonier Ministries, we again thank all of you who made this teaching available in Hungary. God’s Spirit strove mightily with men, and we left with the firm conviction that there was a historic element to that week.
The participants were aided by simultaneous translation through headphones.
R. C. was in Budapest as part of a three-country teaching mission this past June. He began in Prague, Czechoslovakia, traveled to Budapest, and from there concluded his three weeks of teaching in Cluj—Napoca, Romania. These three conferences resulted from his experience of teaching pastors from seven Eastern European countries two summers ago in Vienna. ▲
Bob and Marjean Ingram accompanied R. C. and Vesta Sproul last June in Eastern Europe.
TABLETALK
from ligonier ministries and the teaching fellowship of r. c. sproul • october 1992
Martin Luther
MAN OF COURAGE
publisher Ligonier Ministries editor Robert F. Ingram assistant editor Michael S. Beates
art director David K. Freeland editorial assistants Thomas Mayo; Mike Renihan; R. C. Sproul, Jr. marketing Sharon J. Anderson; Gordon Busteed; Gretchen L. Suskovic; Sally Thompson
production W. David Fox; R. Terry Groner; Melissa Prichard; Dawn Sanders circulation Brenda M. Worden design Aude Q. Cabaldon, Jr.; New Focus
Tabletalk is published by Ligonier Ministries, Inc., 400 Technology Park, Suite 150, Lake Mary, FL 32746. Application to mail at second-class is pending at Lake Mary, FL, and additional mailing offices. Postmaster: Send address changes to Ligonier Ministries, P.O. Box 547500, Orlando, FL 32854.
The daily Bible studies are based upon teaching material by Dr. R. C. Sproul, copyright 1992, Ligonier Ministries, Inc. Unless noted, all Scripture quotations in this publication are from the Holy Bible, New International Version, copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishers.
evangelical press association member
Cover by Hugo Vogel, Archiv Für Kunst und Geschichte, Berlin
robert f. ingram • editor
Coram Deo
What motivated Luther to be so bold in the Christian faith? How was such a courageous spirit born in this son of a German coal miner?
Courage is the end result of a process involving several components, two of which are conviction and conscience. Courage is not a virtue that stands alone; it issues forth from a life context. That context includes convictions held by the individual as indisputable truths. Data, information, experience, and knowledge have coalesced within a person to form deep-seated convictions. The mind, with a high degree of certainty, has ascertained what it believes to be true.
Such intellectual truth, however, does not always move men and women to courageous stands of heroic proportion. A moral dimension is a necessary ingredient that must adhere to the conviction. Once the conscience grips the conviction, it is usually only a matter of time before it becomes manifest as courage.
That, at least, is what occurred in Luther’s life. Through a long, steady process, the providential hand of God led him away from the accepted Roman Catholic understanding of the faith. A series of turmoils, momentous experiences, conclusions from his studies, and abuses within the church forced Luther to reevaluate what he believed about the nature of God and man, particularly as it related to how a person is made right with God.
After several years of intense investigation into these matters, Luther concluded that his former convictions about the nature of saving faith would have to be rejected in favor of the evangelical hope he rediscovered in the Gospel. These new convictions became fueled with the moral fervor of his conscience. The rest is literally church history. With the boldness of heart that only a man free in Christ can muster, he stood before popes and princes, powers and authorities. The courage he displayed is astounding and was validated throughout the remainder of his life.
What are the implications for living life coram Deo, that is, in the presence of God, under His sovereign authority, and for the sake of His glory? For the believer, it involves living out the courage of one’s convictions. Our faithfulness to this calling will not likely involve tribunals before popes. Our ordinary lives, in contrast to the tumultuous life Luther led, will probably seem mundane. But coram Deo living will entail the same diligent pursuit of the truth. It will demand the honing of our conscience to a razor’s edge, and it will require at the appropriate time, and in the appropriate manner, some form of courageous expression. ▲
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