B.B. Warfield and J.G. Vos on the Language of Christianity

“No one will doubt that Christians of today must state their beliefs in terms of modern thought. Every age has a language of its own and can speak no other. Mischief only comes when, instead of stating Christian beliefs in terms of modern thought, and effort is made, rather, to state modern thought in terms of Christian belief.” — B.B. Warfield, Review of Foundations: A Statement of Christian Belief in Terms of Modern Thought, by Seven Oxford Men, in Critical ReviewsThe Works of Benjamin Breckinridge Warfield (1932; reprint, Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker, 1991), 10:322

“The Bible is bent or distorted when it is interpreted in terms of some system of non-biblical thought. The late Dr. Benjamin B. Warfield, one of America’s most distinguished theological scholars, said that there can be no objection to stating Christianity in terms of modern thought. Every age, said Dr. Warfield, speaks a language of its own and can speak no other. Mischief only comes, he added, when under the guise of re-stating Christianity in terms of modern thought what is actually done is to state modern thought in terms of Christian belief. In other words, when under the guise of up-dating the form, what actually happens is that the content has been tamped with, then the Bible and its teachings have been bent or distorted.” — Johannes Geerhardus Vos, “Bible Breaking, Bible Bending, and Bible Believing,” in John H. White, ed., The Book of Books: Essays on the Scriptures in Honor of Johannes G. Vos (1978), p. 6