JOHN NELSON DARBY - Defender of the Faith
" Darby is convinced that without the atoning work of Christ, man must bear the guilt of his sin, and remain at a distance from God without knowledge of Him or of His love. |
Few today who would identify themselves as
Fundamentalists have ever heard of John Nelson Darby or the Plymouth Brethren.
Yet as Ernest R. Sandeen correctly observes in The Roots of Fundamentalism,
"much of the thought and attitudes of those who are known as Fundamentalists
can be mirrored in the teachings of this man.
Darby flourished at a time
when the winds of higher criticism were sweeping through the established
churches of the British Isles. Christians firmly rooted in orthodoxy were
appalled to see unregenerate clergy not only paid out of state coffers, but
openly attacking the inspiration and authority of the Word of God. A general
disenchantment and despair over the state of the organized church caused many
to withdraw and seek fellowship elsewhere.
A number of movements sprang up
to bid for the moral high ground of biblical Christianity. One of these was the
Bible society movement begun in 1804 with the establishment of the British and
Foreign Bible Society in London by a group of theologically conservative
Anglicans. Another was the ill-fated anti-liberalism Oxford movement which
itself became entangled in an anti-Reformation Romanism. Yet another reaction
against the established church, which was to leave its important but largely
anonymous signature upon the Fundamentalist movement of a later time, was the
movement begun by the "brethren" who were to eventually become known for their
meetings at Plymouth. The chief architect and theologian of this movement was
the Irish clergyman, J. N. Darby.
DARBY'S LIFE
John Nelson
Darby, namesake of family friend and famed British admiral, Lord Nelson, was
born in London of Irish parents on November 18, 1800. Ireland furnished the
backdrop for his earliest years of development and education. In 1819 at the
age of eighteen, Darby graduated from Trinity College Dublin as a Classical
Medallist.
Brilliant, gifted, and with all the right connections, Darby had
been groomed for and was practically assured a successful career in law. But a
deep spiritual struggle gripped the budding young barrister in his eighteenth
year and caused him to abandon that profession after only one year of practice
between 1822 and 1823. Darby's spiritual odyssey lasted until 1825 when he
received ordination as deacon in the Church of England. The following year, he
was elevated to the priesthood and assigned a curacy in remote County Wicklow,
Ireland.
Taking up residence in a peasant's cottage on a bog, Darby covered
the great untamed expanse of his ecclesiastical responsibility on horseback in
the manner of John Wesley. His gentleness of spirit and saintly bearing and
conduct quickly earned him a place in the hearts of his poor parishioners. So
committed was Darby to the instruction of the peasantry in the Word of God that
he was seldom found at his own humble dwelling before midnight. His labours did
not go unrewarded. Although he expended most of his modest wages and personal
inheritance on the local schools and charities, by Darby's on account Catholics
were "becoming protestants at the rate of 600 to 800 a week." Darby's standard
of reward and gain was always in terms of souls won for the kingdom, never
silver added to the purse.
For some time the young circuit-riding cleric
had been troubled by the condition of the established church, but his demanding
duties had prevented any decisive action. He was to receive time for
undisturbed reflection on the issue, however, when his horse bolted during one
journey through the parish, throwing its rider with tremendous force against a
doorjamb. The ensuing lengthy convalescence from the required surgery in
Dublin, served as an incubator for Darby's discontent.
Darby says, "During
my solitude, conflicting thoughts increased; but much exercise of soul had the
effect of causing the scriptures to gain complete ascendancy over me. I had
always owned them to be the Word of God . . . the careful reading of the Acts
afforded me a practical picture of the early church; which made me feel deeply
the contrast with its actual present state; though still, as ever beloved by
God." After only twenty-seven months with the Church of England and thoroughly
dissatisfied with what he viewed as rampant Erastianism and clericalism, Darby
sought fellowship and ministry outside the established church.
Eventually,
Darby made the acquaintance of a group of like-minded believers, members of the
Church of England in Dublin, and met with them for prayer and Bible study
during the winter of 1827-28. It was this group which would later become known
as the Plymouth Brethren. The two guiding principles of the movement were to be
the breaking of bread every Lord's Day, and ministry based upon the call of
Christ rather than the ordination of man. While Darby was not the founder of
this group, he quickly emerged as its spiritual leader and dominant force.
By 1840, the Plymouth movement had grown to 800 strong and would reach more
than 1200 within the next five years. Even though Darby disliked denominational
labels, preferring rather the simple biblical designation "brethren," it was
perhaps inevitable that these "brethren" who met at Plymouth, should become
known as the "Plymouth Brethren."
Many other Brethren groups formed in
Britain and subsequently in other parts of the world. As a result of his
extensive travels, Darby himself was responsible for the spread of Brethren
doctrine to other countries. He made several trips to preach and teach in
Germany, France, Switzerland, Italy, and Holland. Between 1859 and 1874, Darby
made six trips to the United States and Canada where he ministered in all the
major cities and in some of the smaller ones as well. Included also in Darby's
itinerary were visits to the West Indies and New Zealand.
Wherever Darby
went, he never tired of expounding his views on the doctrine of the church and
future things. He was convinced both that the organized church was in a state
of ruin and that Christ's return to rapture the saints and establish the
millennial kingdom was imminent. While Darby's call for a radical response to
the apostate condition of the church was met with relative indifference, his
teachings on eschatological themes were heartily embraced and provided much of
the substance for the Bible conference movement of the late nineteenth and
early twentieth centuries. But more than any one doctrine, it was Darby and the
Brethren's fundamental orthodoxy that appealed to Bible believing Christians
everywhere.
DARBY'S CHARACTER
Any portraiture of Darby the man
must be painted in sharp black and white tones, never in shades of gray. He was
a man of incredible intensity. First and foremost, he was intensely committed
to the gospel of Jesus Christ. It was his only love and all-consuming passion.
He cared for little that this world had to offer. Though meticulous in personal
cleanliness, for example, Darby wore only simple clothing and those to the
point of shabbiness. It is said that on one occasion while he slept, some
kindly friends seized the opportunity to substitute new clothing for old. Upon
waking, Darby donned the new apparel without remark or even apparent
notice.
Darby was kind and humble in nature and his compassion and
generosity towards the poor was without bounds. He observed that "Christ
preferred the poor; ever since I have been converted so have I. Let those who
like society better have it. If I ever get into it . . . I return sick at
heart. I go to the poor; I find the same evil nature as in the rich, but I find
this difference: the rich, and those who keep their comforts and their society,
judge and measure how much of Christ they can take and keep without committing
themselves; the poor, how much of Christ they can have to comfort them in their
sorrows. That, unworthy as I am, is where I am at home and happy." Darby in no
way felt intellectually ill-equipped for cultivated society, it was just that
given the choice, he rejected it all in preference for the cross.
Kindly in
disposition and humble in spirit though Darby was, his absolute devotion to the
Word of God and demand for unflinching fidelity to its truth, as he understood
it, made him ready prey for controversy. His limitless patience with the honest
ignorance of the poor and unlearned was legendary. But so was his wrath against
those among the well educated who played fast and loose with the truth of the
gospel of Christ.
A full twenty-five years after one "heterodox teacher"
had felt the brunt of Darby's indignation, he was to write, "J.N.D. writes with
a pen in one hand and a thunderbolt in the other." But as Darby's biographer,
W. G. Turner points out, "it was only fundamental error which roused his
deepest grief and indignation, his patience with honest blunderers being
proverbial."
If ever the epithet, "fighting Fundamentalist" applied to
anyone, it applied to J. N. Darby. At the same time, it is true that Darby
derived no pleasure from controversy and often expressed his love for the
object of his more potent polemics. But in his view, faced with a choice
between peace on the one hand and truth on the other, there could be no
alternative but to defend the truth.
Wherever Darby went, whether peasant's
home or hallowed halls of Oxford, his nobleness of character, keenness of mind,
dedication to Christ, and commanding presence made him the focus of attention.
The great Bible teacher and preacher, G. Campbell Morgan recounts as one of the
"cherished recollections" of his boyhood his encounter with Darby who had come
to visit his father. "He vividly recalls the almost reverential awe that lay
upon him in the presence of that truly great man, and how the awe gave place
and the reverence remained, when the visitor spoke kindly to him about his
studies."
DARBY'S DOCTRINE
Darby is called by many the father of
modern dispensational theology, a theology made popular first by the Scofield
Reference Bible and more recently by the Ryrie Study Bible. It is a theology
that has gained wide influence through the publications and educational efforts
of institutions like Dallas Theological Seminary and Moody Bible Institute. Yet
while Darby is the center of almost every controversy over the origin of this
theological system, his works are little known and seldom read. This is true
among the critics and champions of dispensational theology alike. This neglect
is unfortunate, for Darby is credited with much of the theological content of
the Fundamentalist movement. There is little doubt too, that Darby had a
tremendous part in the systematization and promotion of dispensational
theology.
Today, however, Darby's theological distinctives have virtually
been reduced to his doctrine of the church in ruins, the premillennial return
of Christ - with special emphasis upon Israel and the church's role in that
kingdom age - and the rapture of the church. As important as these doctrines
are in Darby's theology, they were but an outgrowth of other doctrines which
must be considered the bedrock of his and the Brethren's teaching. It is the
bedrock upon which orthodox Christianity has stood since Pentecost and upon
which Fundamentalists made their stand shortly after the turn of the
century.
Inspiration and Infallibility of Scripture
Darby was
unswerving in his belief that the Bible was the inspired, infallible Word of
God, absolutely authoritative and faithfully transmitted from the original
autographs. If the world itself were to disappear and be annihilated, asserts
Darby, "and the word of God alone remained as an invisible thread over the
abyss, my soul would trust in it. After deep exercise of soul I was brought by
grace to feel I could entirely. I never found it fail me since. I have often
failed; but I never found it failed me."
Once questioned as to whether he
might not allow that some parts of the New Testament may have had only
temporary significance, Darby retorted, "'No! every word, depend upon it, is
from the Spirit and is for eternal service!'" Darby felt compelled to affirm
his fidelity to the Word of God because "In these days especially . . . the
authority of His written word is called in question on every side . . . "
Deity and Virgin Birth of Christ
On the deity of Christ, Darby is no
less compromising than he is on the place of Scripture in the believer's life.
"The great truth of the divinity of Jesus, that He is God," says Darby, "is
written all through scripture with a sunbeam, but written to faith. I cannot
hesitate in seeing the Son, the Jehovah of the Old Testament, the First and the
Last, Alpha and Omega, and thus it shines all through. But He fills all things,
and His manhood, true, proper manhood, as true, proper Godhead, is as precious
to me, and makes me know God, and so indeed only as the other, He is 'the true
God and eternal life.'" If Christ is not God, concludes Darby, then "I do not
know Him, have not met Him, nor know what He is." As one of the truths
connected with the person and work of Christ, Darby cites the "miraculous birth
of the Saviour, who was absolutely without sin . . ."
Substitutionary
Atonement
Just as the doctrine of the deity of Christ is written all
through the Bible, Darby maintains that the propitiation secured by the
sacrificial death of Christ "is a doctrine interwoven with all Scripture, forms
one of the bases of Christianity, is the sole ground of remission - and there
is none without shedding blood - and that by which Christ has made peace; Col.
1:20."
Darby is convinced that without the atoning work of Christ, man must
bear the guilt of his sin, and remain at a distance from God without knowledge
of Him or of His love. But thankfully that is not the case, for as Darby points
out, "There is death in substitution - He 'bore our sins in his own body on the
tree' - 'died for our sins according to the scriptures' . . ."
Resurrection of Christ
For Darby, "the Person of Christ regarded as
risen," is the pivot around which "all the truths found in the word revolve."
"Many have, perhaps, been able, in looking at the Church's hope in Christ,"
says Darby, "to see the importance of the doctrine of the resurrection. But the
more we search the Scriptures, the more we perceive, in this doctrine, the
fundamental truth of the gospel- that truth which gives to redemption its
character, and to all other truths their real power." It is the victory of
Christ over death which gives the certainty of salvation. It is the
resurrection, asserts Darby, which "leaves behind, in the tomb, all that could
condemn us, and ushers the Lord into that new world of which he is the
perfection, the Head, and the glory." Consequently, this doctrine characterized
apostolic preaching.
Return of Christ
Darby believed that it was
essential that the church have a right hope. That hope he understood to be the
second coming of Christ. At his coming, Darby maintained, Christ would take the
saints to glory with Him, to become the bride, the wife of the Lamb.
Darby
insists that "Nothing is more prominently brought forward in the New Testament
than the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ." He points out that it was the
promise of Christ's return which was first offered to the sorrowing disciples
as they witnessed the ascension of their Lord as recorded in Acts 1:11.
Furthermore, says Darby, "It was not at all a strange thing - immediately after
conversion to the living God - 'to wait for his Son from heaven, even Jesus,
who delivered us from the wrath to come.'"
In light of the foregoing, John
F. Walvoord, president emeritus of Dallas Theological Seminary, is certainly
correct in saying that "Much of the Truth promulgated by fundamental Christians
today had its rebirth in the movement known as the 'Plymouth Brethren.'"
Darby's Influence
It should be evident from the foregoing that there is
a distinct connection between the doctrines of the Brethren and the
Fundamentalists who rose to challenge modernism shortly before and especially
after the turn of the century. Well before publication of The Fundamentals: A
Testimony of Truth in 1909, the Brethren were proclaiming the same basic truths
of Scripture and staunchly defending them against all comers. The very
character of Brethren fellowship and beliefs is such that to entertain liberal
doctrines would destroy the movement altogether.
Many of the greatest
Fundamentalist leaders of the past have openly acknowledged their indebtedness
to the teachings and ministry of Darby and the Brethren. After securing the
writings of C. H. Mackintosh, the man most responsible for popularizing Darby's
works, D. L. Moody said, "if they could not be replaced, [I] would rather part
with my entire library, excepting my Bible, than with these writings. They have
been to me a very key to the Scriptures."
A. C. Gaebelein, contributor to
The Fundamentals and one of the most potent influences on the life and doctrine
of C. I. Scofield, says of Darby and other Brethren writers, "I found in his
writings, in the works of William Kelly, Mcintosh [Mackintosh], F. W.
Grant, Bellett, and others the soul food I needed. I esteem these men next
to the Apostles in their sound and spiritual teachings." In the same breath
Gaebelein speaks of four saints named John who will be present at that great
celestial meeting when Christ returns - John Calvin, John Knox, John Wesley,
and John Darby.
William Kelly, Darby's closest friend and greatest student,
never tired of admonishing others to "Read Darby!" With some fifty-three
volumes to his credit - including everything from a complete translation of the
Bible to a volume of verse - there is much of Darby to read.
John Nelson
Darby continued to serve and proclaim his Saviour both with the written and
spoken word until his departure to be with Him on the 29th of April, 1882. And
no matter what subject he addressed, one theme always came to the fore - Jesus
Christ. Just a few days before his home-going Darby wrote in a final letter to
the Brethren, "I can say, Christ has been my only object; thank God, my
righteousness too . . . Hold fast to Christ."
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