"For though we live in the

world, we do not wage war as

the world does. The weapons
we fight with are not the
weapons of the world. On the
contrary, they have divine
power to delTlolish
strongholds. We demolish
arguments and every
pretension that sets
itself up against the
knowledge of qod,
and we take captive
every thought to
make it obedient to
Christ: (2 Cor.
10:3-5)
I will not forget
the year 1970 when Dennis
Johnson, Roger Wagner, and
qreg Bahnsen, three friends
from Westmont College, first
joined I./S at Westminster
Seminary in Philadelphia.
They drove all the way from
. Californiato attend our
Prospective Student
Conference; the next fall they
enrolled as first-year students.
Their seminary years were a
memorable time for me as a
teacher. even something of a
golden age, as I think back on
it. Beside the Westmont Three,
there was Vern Poythress,
now Professor of NT at WTS,
Wayne qrudem, who recently
published a Systematic
Theology, John Hughes, who
earned his doctorate at
Cambridge and is now a
leading expert on the use of
computers for theological
study, Tiina AUik, who
doctored at Yale and has
taught theology, and several
other future theological
scholars. That was an exciting
time at Westminster.
Discussions Were lively, in and
out of class. Professors had to
be very, very sharp to keep up
with the students.
Intellectually, theologically, .
and spiritually, I think that I
grew, during those years, at
least as much as my students.
And qreg Bahnsen was a
large part of that.
qreg and I didn't always
agree with one another-- then
or later. We exchanged emails
a week ago-- how hard it is to
think of how recently it was--
in which I assured him of my
prayers and continuing high
regards. He replied along
similar lines, mentioning our
two books on Van Til, which
are both coming out in this
year of Van Til's centennial.
He rather liked mine, but he
reminded me that he still
+ THE COUNSEL of Chalcedon January/ February, 1996
disagreed with me about
Transcendental ArgulTlent. So
it was, between qreg and me;
A bit of encouragement, ilbit
of challenge. Always "iron
sharpening iron," as Proverbs
puts it. Even during his student .
years I often sought, his .
opinions, because he always .
did first-class thinking. He .
was never content to give '
superficial attention io (In, '
issue. He would grab tljat
issue by the neck and wrestle it
to the ground, till it cried ' '
uncle. EVen if it took
twenty-five pages,
fifty pages, a
hundred pages". He
always did far more
than the course ' .' -, ,-
assignments
required. Andhis
reading was so
broad that we
professors-- welL L
anyway-- regularly Sllspeded,
feared, that in lTIany areas he' .
knew more than we did. Our
fears were entirely justified;
qreg finished his M. Div:
and Th. M. degrees' the same .
year, an almost unheard-of feaf
at Westminster. Then he
earned a ph: D. il1 Philosophy
with Dallas Willard at USC
He taught briefly at Reformed
Theological Seminary in
Jackson, Mississippi'and was
dismissed from there amid, ihe
controversy that followed him
for much of his career. Yet one
meets many, many people
today who were deeply
influenced by qreg during the
. ,
Jackson years, and many
other$ who influenced by
those who were influenced by
Cireg.
In 1977, he published the
over 600 page volume
Theonomy in Christian '
Ethics. This book was the
definitive argument for the
theonomic position, which is
that the Old Testament civil .
law, together with its
penaliies, continues to bind
New Testament Christians
and modem civil
governments. One aspect of
biblical penology especially .'
problematic to modem people
was the death penalty for
(
homosexual behavior. Cireg
dealt with this matter at length
in his 1978 book,
Homosexuality, a Biblical
View. He published two other
books on theonomy: By This
Standard (1985) was a more
concise and popular
presentation of /1i$ argument;
No pther Standard (1991) .
was a reply to theonomy's
critics. On the same subject, he
wrote a great many al\icles
and in two
published symposia on the law
of Clod: Ciod and Politics,
edited by Ciary Scott Smith .
(1989) and The Law, the
Ciospel, and the Modem.
Christian: Five Views,
published by ZondeNan in
1993. '
Cireg's theonomic position
was often attacked, but the
attacks were not, for the most
part, very cogent, in my
, ,
opinion. Cireg. was always one
step ahead of his critics. He
had done more thinking than
they, and he had taken greater .
pains to master the literature,
the issues, and the logic of it.
That doesn't necessarily mean
that he was always right and
they were always wrong. But
there is no doubt in my mind
that for the most part, in the ,
battle between theonomy and
its critics, it was theonomy that
had the more able defense, the
more able defender, And
Cireg's arguments have yet to
be fully answered.
My own personal view,
however, is that Cireg was
even more able, and his
ministry more useful to the
kingdom, in the field of
apologetics. His academic
background was primarily in
philosophy, and at . .
Westminster he drank deeply
ofthe teaching of Cornelius
Van Til. He taught apologetics
in manytontexts and entered
into the .controversy between
Van Tillianand traditionalist
apologetics. He wrote a
"Biblical Introduction to
Apologetics" and a of
important articles on the .
, subject. Before he died, he .
completed the aforementioned
book on VanTil, consisting of
readings and commentary. I
urge you to buy it even ,though
my own bo'ok is also aViliiabie . .
The tWo are rather different in
purpose and format. Certainly
I will grab Cireg'sbook'the
moment it hits the shelves.
But Cireg was not just a
classroom apologist, fighting
battles over rival apologetic
methods. He was, particularly
in recent years, an apologetic
evangelist. I was there, at VC
INine, when Cireg demolished
the arguments of atheist
spokesman Ciordon Stein.
Believe me, it was even better
in person than it is on tape;
The large audience was quite
electrified. I'm sure that most '
of them had never seen or
heard anything like that
before. Certainly Ciordon Stein
never had heard of anything '
like that before.
As the founder and
full-time Scholar-in-Residence
of the Southern California
Center For Christian Studies,
Cireg became more and more a
trainer of eViingelists. He set
out, not only to teach the
truths of Scripture and ,
Reformed theology, but also to
train people to take that truth
to the streets. He believed that
he could train others to do
what he himself had done
with Stein and Tabash, and
what he would have done
with Michael Martin, if
Martin had bothered to show
up for the debate.
So when he lectured last
year at Westminster, he
commented that we Reformed
apologists should spend less of
our time debating
methodology, more time using
our apologetics to win the lost.
To me that was a needed .
admonition, Cireg was right
on.
Jannaryl February, 1996 t THE COUNSEL of Chalcedon 5
I grieve that we will not be and all of us, above aU to was blessed with a sharp mind
able to hear any more of those continue the spiritual warfare, that could readily show the '
debates, or to see to what . a war against sin within the illogic of arguments raised
extent he was really able to heart and mind and through against scriptural truth. As he
tei!ch students his practical all of human society. He used presuppositional
apologetic. It's certainly hard to wants us to leave here this day, apologetics, which is rooted in
irnagine why(jod would have . taking the precious gospel of Scripture, those who heard his
taken him wh'eT\ he. may have . Jesus to the streets: proclaiming argumentation would often
been on the verge of making a without fear that it is only think, "Why didn't I think of
majIJT impact in the field of througJi the perfect Hfe and that answer to the gainsayers'
theological herein atoning death of Christ that attack on Ciodl"
the Vnited States, in the our minds and hearts can be After this first meeting, it
former SovietVnion where he redeemed from the foolishness was approximately fifteen years
lectured to the leaders of of unbelief; and proclaiming before our paths crossed again.
society, indeed, potentially all the word of (jod as (jod's own In this second and subsequent
over-the world. I do hope that wise blueprint for the renewal meetings, I had the opportunity
work will go on. For one of all areas of human life imd to more time getting
thing, I would urge his society . .0. better acquainted with Cireg. In
colleagues and friends to look (i:;;;;;;;;;i;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;i;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;u _ those intervening years, his able
througb his nundredsof tapes Greg Bahnsen: . and much needed book,
and articles to publish more Theonomy in Christian
volumes of his work. (jreg Q!owth in Trial Ethics, was deeried and rejected
considered carefully almost by many Christians who
evelY theological imd Byron Snapp, '. deplored humanistic ethics, but
apologetic issue there is, and ." . wanted nothing. to do with
he did valuable work ih church To many hewas known as a replacing those ethics with the
h
ist6
IY, and As a stubborn, perhaps even general equity of the abiding . '
feUowlaborer in the fieid, I obnoxious young man. He civil ethics of Ciod's Worn. For
deeply' wish I ha4. (jreg's could qUickly and easily rub (jreg and others, it was difficult
thinking-- in all these areas-nat people the wrong way in his to see a clear presentation of
my fillgertips. , swift and adroit put downs of Biblical law be so quickly
their arguments, and in his
(jreg knew that the Judge fi I h ld- t th I-d'ty f shrugged off by the very
rmy 0 mgo evall 0
of all the earth win always do' Ciod's civil law for today, and audience that should have given
right, and (jod's decision was postmillenialism teachings that it serious thought. Hehad
to take (jreg to glory this 'past were/are nqt popular even in ' encountered other losses as
Monday, So We praise him the Reformed community today. well. His marriage failed. He
today that (jreg is with the" Yet when I met him briefly had undergone iwo open heart
Lord Jesus. I grieve the loss <if in the late 70's, I. did not see surgeries. He had lost his
(jreg to the church and the ' these characteristics. 'I Saw an teaching position in a seminary
theological world, and I grieve individual who loved the where he was enjoying
the personal loss of a friend ' totality ofqod's Word and interacting with students and
and yokefeUow. But I know zealously wanted to see it teaching the next generation of
too that (jreg would want me, applied to every area of life. He preachers:
6 t mE COUNSEL of Chalcedon t January! February, 1996