In 2029, The Sword and Trumpet monthly publication will mark its centenary. George R. Brunk I began the publication in 1929 due to concerns about liberalizing tendencies in the Mennonite church. His concerns have been realized in many cases over the last century. Those concerns were shared by the editors who faithfully continued George’s work—J. Irvin Lehman, J. Ward Shank, Paul L. Kratz, George’s son George R. Brunk II, and our current editor, Paul M. Emerson.
After almost ten decades of Bible-based Mennonite teaching, spread across a broad spectrum of biblical, theological, social, and cultural issues, we think it will be helpful to review some of our founding statements in a series of editorials. In this, we want to recenter the ministry of The Sword and Trumpet to buttress our biblical faithfulness in the years ahead.
Our review takes us back to two founding statements: the Mission Statement, and the Founder’s Statement. The former can be found on the title page of each issue. The latter was published in the first issue of The Sword and Trumpet in 1929; it can be found on our website.
We will begin with the Mission Statement, the essence of which is found in the second sentence: “Defending, proclaiming, and promoting the whole Gospel of our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ, as revealed in the Holy Scriptures.” Gospel fidelity is to be preserved in three ways—defense, proclamation, and promotion. We will look at each of these more closely going forward.
The Whole Gospel
Before we get there, we need to think about what is meant by “the whole Gospel.” “Gospel” means good news, specifically the good news “of our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ.” This is the good news of Christ—that He is the Son of God; that He came to earth as a man; that He lived a sinless life, died a vicarious death for sinners, and arose as a victorious Savior; that He offers salvation to all who accept Him in faith; that He intercedes for all His own; that He will return to reign on the earth and make all things right again. That is the Gospel, but what is meant by “whole?” Isn’t it enough to just say “the Gospel?”
In light of the compromises of George Brunk’s day, and the ongoing adjustments to the Gospel in our century, it is imperative that we remember to hold to the whole Gospel. A so-called Gospel which holds to only a part of the truth is no Gospel at all. For example, some teach that the Gospel is comprised entirely of justification by faith. Once someone is justified, he is free to continue living however he pleases. When he sins, he is assured that he is safe, since he walked an aisle or prayed a prayer, even if he bears none of the fruit which Scripture expects of born-again believers. On the other hand (and a much more pressing problem among Anabaptists), some teach a Gospel which requires a person to add his own works to Christ’s before he can be assured of his salvation. He is told that faith and works are both foundational to salvation, told he must keep a law (Old Testament, New Testament, tradition, opinions, etc.) before Christ will save him. This not only cleaves off a part of the Gospel, it leaves people to vainly pursue self-justification.
Or we could point to certain systems which erase human responsibility by an unbiblical emphasis on divine sovereignty (in a form of God-rejecting, Stoic determinism), vis-à-vis systems which erase God’s sovereign authority by an unbiblical emphasis on human free will. Neither fatalism nor self-determination match the biblical material. At the core, these systems define God differently than how God has revealed Himself in Scripture. And thus, they have a partial Gospel. Different doctrine, different God, different Gospel.
We could continue the catalog, but that is beyond the scope of this article. We at The Sword and Trumpet are committed to the whole Gospel—that is, the biblical gospel. Anything which God has seen fit to define in the Bible as a part of the Gospel deserves proper emphasis in our teaching. To do any less is to depart from our mission to uphold the “whole Gospel.”
Defending the Gospel
We are committed to “defending…the whole Gospel.” But that begs the question: “Defend it against what?” The Mission Statement continues: “This publication exposes and opposes doctrinal error which compromises the faith and leads to apostasy.” Our concern is with exposing and opposing doctrinal error. Doctrinal error is anything that is inconsistent with or opposed to the clear teaching of Scripture. A Christian may be rightly concerned with many good things, but we are focused on doctrines, especially those which are opposed and compromised in our day.
Here is a sampler of issues of current concern:
- Realizing the extent of human sinfulness (John 3, John 15, Romans 3, Ephesians 2).
- Remembering the necessity of the new birth (John 3:3).
- Recovering justification by grace through faith (Ephesians 2).
- Seeing the centrality of Christ in all things (Colossians 1:18).
- Emphasizing the need for all who are Christ’s to obey His commandments (John 14:15).
- Understanding the centrality and significance of the Holy Spirit for Christian thought and life (Romans 8, 2 Corinthians 2).
- Lifting our eyes from the things which are “seen” and “temporary” to the things which are “not seen” and “eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:18).
Each of these is neglected, compromised, or opposed in the church today. And we could make a much longer list. The essence of the problem is simple: Our people have lost their biblical referent. Though we have retained many true things, we have not connected them to Scripture. We hold doctrines because of what we’ve been taught, whether or not we are convinced by Scripture. We have retained a carcass of doctrine, but the life is gone. We have ashes, but no fire. We have a house, but the foundation is crumbling. We simply don’t understand our Bibles well enough. We need a resurgence of biblical fidelity, of Christian vitality.