Now, John Albert Bengal is sadly
almost unknown in America today. He lived from 1687 to 1752 and he is the father
of modern biblical scholarship. First, a look at Bengal's life. and then at his great works. So, Bengel's birth and upbringing. John Albert Bengel was born in
Vimynden, near Stuttgart, on the 24th of July, 1687, the son
of scholar-deacon Martin Albert Bengel. John's father began to
homeschool John early, but died of an epidemic fever when John
was only six. Then Louis XIV, the French king,
his troops plundered and burnt down the Bengals' home, destroying
the Bengals' vast, valuable library. Concerning these hard times,
John testified that at his father's death, he received a firm conviction
that his heavenly father would be his best parent and educator. He began to pray fervently, read
the scriptures and devotional books, and sought to walk worthy
of God so that he could later say, my youth was a sea of mercies. Happily, a friend of John's father,
David Spindler, continued John's homeschooling before placing
him in the senior class of a middle high school under Sebastian Knier,
a renowned Greek scholar. After six months, John, now 13
years of age, proceeded to the upper school, adding history,
mathematics, French and Italian to his classical biblical and
literary studies. Meanwhile, John's mother had
married John Albert Gluckner of Marlbron Theological Seminary,
whom John accepted now as his beloved father. Now aged 15,
Bengal matriculated in theology at Tubingen University. In those
days it was common to matriculate at 17 or 18. And he became so
proficient that his professor persuaded him to publish his
student work and chose him as a respondent in defense of Professor
Hochstetter's book, Pretio Redemptionis, on the price of redemption, in
public debate. After reading a report from Oxford
scholars on the unreliability of the biblical texts, Bengal
made a detailed study of research done by British, Dutch, Swiss
and German scholars and scrutinized the manuscripts used. This research
convinced Bengel that the different readings found in the oldest
manuscripts were slight and unimportant, and that scholars should rather
demonstrate the reliability of the manuscripts. Instrumental
in Bengel's trust in God's word was undoubtedly Hermann August
Franker. He was the friend of Cotton Mather,
you will remember. He was influenced by Frank's
lectures at Haller, which he attended as what he called a
Wanderstudent. He attended them as a guest student,
apart from his other studies. Bengel's biographer, Friedrich
Hauss, notes that Bengel always came through tribulations with
a strengthened trust in God. The English liberals really shook
his young faith, but through his own studies he realised that
they were wrong. Another time of testing for Bengel
occurred shortly before taking his MA finals. He was stricken
with a severe illness, thought to be terminal. Psalm 118, 17
proved Bengal's constant companion throughout his pain and weakness. I shall not die, but live and
declare the works of the Lord. Bengal, by far the youngest in
his year, had little strength to study and missed many a lecture. Nevertheless, he received the
highest marks possible, beating all his classmates. Bengel now concentrated on church
history, theology and biblical languages, assisting Professor
Jäger in authoring a major work on the history of Christianity
and doing research work for a new translation of the German Bible. Are there any teenagers here
who have such a background? As a teenager he was translating
the Bible and publishing with his own professor. Bengel took
charge of the books Job to Malachi, working from the original Hebrew
manuscripts. At this time he composed a work
on Hebrew accentuation, which he saw as an essential meaning
carrier for the understanding of scripture. During these studies,
Bengel built on the pioneer publications of Spener and Franker and older
Jewish scholars. Now, Bengel enters the preaching
and teaching ministry. Remember, he's still a teenager.
Bengel was already preaching regularly at 17 and was ordained
at 20 in 1706 as a minister of the gospel. Expecting to be made an assistant
pastor, Bengel found himself placed as sole pastor in the
very neglected parish of Metzingen, a very, very rough area, and
soon found that his academic education had not prepared him
sufficiently for the task. Nevertheless, Bengal preached
regularly and catechised often and soon had a thriving church
under his leadership. His further studies remained
enormous by any standards, especially when one considers that he had
been blind in one eye from his birth. Apparently, Tübingen,
which was then the most important university in Germany, had sent
Bengel to Mexico to see how he would cope with extreme conditions. Pleased with the results, they
gave Bengel a post in divinity at Tübingen with the promise
that he could still continue his preaching activities to which
he felt called. Equipped with great spiritual
and physical energy, though of a frail frame, young Bengal coached
his students, pastored his flock, and published one exegetical
and doctrinal work after another. Before inviting Bengel to head
a preparatory department for 14 to 16 year olds at a new theological
college at Dengfendorf, the government sent him on a pan-German tour
of the churches from the beginning of March to the end of September
1713 in order to give him as wide an understanding as possible
of the needs of the schools and churches throughout the various
German states. Everywhere on these tours he
found opposition to the sound scholarly ideas of Spener and
Franker but insisted, wherever he went, that Christian scholars
must be fully instructed in God's Word. This would mean hard work
for them, but if they rejected the task, they must renounce
any claim to possessing theological acumen. During this journey,
Bengel also came into contact with a renewed interest in natural
law and common grace as a basis for Christian action, which he
believed was symptomatic of a church which neglected biblical theology. Remember that today in our reformed
establishment, natural theology and common grace are once again
preached as doors to salvation. Well, for Bengel that meant an
absolute rejection of the biblical way of salvation and you won't
mind me agreeing with him. Now the Theological College at
Denkendorf But by November, Dengendorf College was ready and Bengel
had settled down to his new duties. His inauguration speech was entitled,
The Diligent Pursuit of Piety is the Surest Method of Attaining
Sound Learning. Bengel taught that unless his
students cherished an intimate walk with God, they could drop
the idea of becoming ministers. He advised those who merely wished
for an academic study of the biblical text to read Franker's
book, Christ, the Substance of the Holy Scriptures. Christ,
the Substance of the Holy Scriptures. That's good. Bengel also warned
of the physical dangers facing the college. The French had sacked
and plundered Landau and Freiburg and were heading for Denkendorf.
breathing, fire and slaughter. Bengel stressed the need for
Denkendorf to remain a spiritual bulwark in the area, as other
such bulwarks had been sacked by an enemy who had no interest
in Christ's kingdom. Bengel drew up curricula and
devised didactical and methodical means of preparing his students
for higher studies. He advised what was indispensable,
what was useful, what was agreeable, but also what was useless. He explained how to acquire and
how to use learning to its best advantage and what books were
useful to this end. He urged the students to gain
not only a working knowledge of Latin, Greek and Hebrew, this
will please Brother Hamilton, but also several modern languages
apart from them. Multilingual works were used
at Denkendorf as study helps. Instruction was also given in
Arabic and the Oriental languages. Bengel also introduced the novel
subjects in those days of science, history and geography. When teaching logic, he urged
his students to mould their lives around the logos rather than
think merely in terms of human reason. The it is written of
the Bible was always more important than the it appears to us of
the philosophers and scientists. His main goal was not merely
to inform his students, but to form them as ambassadors for
Christ. He taught his pupils the difference
between lecturing, educating and preaching, and also trained
them to be elegant and clear in their speech and writing.
As soon as Bengal was settled in his new calling, he married
Susan Regina Zegar, who bore him twelve children, six of whom
died in infancy. Bengal was not always happy in
his new work. the college was state-controlled,
so rebellious students could not be expelled as in private
church colleges such as August Hermann Frankers at Halle. Bengel had to resort to stern
discipline which nevertheless was eminently successful. Because of his success, parents
sent their unruly youngsters to the college to have them disciplined. rather than be prepared for the
ministry. Other theological colleges sent
their rebels to Bengal to be made into gentlemen. Bengal still
used every opportunity he could to preach himself, not only in
Lutheran, but also Swiss Reformed churches. The Swiss ran a seminary
at Malbron on the same lines as Bengal in Denkendorf and both
colleges planned projects together. Now to the life of a true labourer
for Christ, although up to now he's been labouring very well,
I think. But between the age of 26 to
54, Bengel stubbornly refused all offers of preferment, and
his offers were very, very tempting to any man. He rejected the influential
post of professor of Greek at Tübingen in his twenties. He was offered in his twenties
the highest position in German universities. And he declined
the divinity chair at Gießen in 1720 as he did three other
professorships with the words, I am satisfied God has sent and
placed me here. Gradually, however, his health
waned and his strength fled, so after 28 years of service
at Denkendorf, Bengel asked the Lord to find him a less arduous
post. He was immediately called as
superintendent bishop of the Herbrechtingen church and took
up his duties there in April 1741, with the promise that he would
not have any administrative duties. However, Bengel soon found that
tasks were heaped upon him. His preaching engagements were
numerous enough, but he was also made Provost of Alpiersbach,
a member of both the General and Special Assemblies and the
Council of Consistory. For his work in textual research,
Bengal became Doctor of Theology in 1751. The fact is that Bengal,
who never took a holiday, never ever, nor indulged in leisure
pastimes, no hobbies, could not say no to hard work. He was so impressed by the testimony
of Isaiah 6.8, that whenever he heard the request, whom shall
I send and who will go for us, he felt duty bound to respond
at once with, here am I, send me. However, he never offered
himself for a new appointment, but awaited a pressing request,
allowing himself the privilege of refusal should he believe
that his present tasks were more to his calling. Now Bengal began
to emphasise more and more the essentiality of gospel knowledge
before gospel preaching. Not in preference, but in time,
I'm thinking of. Bengal had always read his sermons
out in full. but now he found that he had
only time to jot down sermon divisions and a few notes before
preaching. Nevertheless, he always spent
much time in prayer, Bible study, and in consulting commentaries
and lexica on his text. Bengel emphasized careful preparation
and hard study, as there was a movement of special piety at
Denkendorf. and students were being told
by their pastors that learning was folly, and the Spirit would
always provide the Christian with the necessary message to
sinners. To colleagues who boasted that
good preaching had nothing to do with good preparation, but
was a gift of grace, Bengel answered, we ought to consider it a general
axiom. The grace begins where natural
means can go no further, but that as far as these means are
available, we are not warranted to expect extraordinary help. Paul puts it much stronger, let
him who will not work not eat. He told his students that the
more they knew of the gospel, and the more proficient they
were in preaching it, the more successful they would be as soul
winners. Bengel was called a pessimist
in his preaching, as, like Tobias Crisp, a great favourite of mine,
who is now also called an antinomian of the hypercalvinists by our
reformed establishment, He taught that every good deed of a Christian,
even when preaching the gospel, was tainted with sin. However,
Bengal delighted in preaching because he believed our Lord
when he said, My sheep, hear my voice. This truth found in
John 10 was the subject of Bengal's first sermon in 1704, and it
was a text he often used in the pulpit ever after. There was
no talk of human agency in Bengel's call to salvation. No talk, as
is recently spoken of, of salvation being all of God and all of man. No one appealed to sinners as
he, but only after explaining to them that they were entirely
cast off from God and had no power at all in themselves to
come to him. He preached, place no confidence
in anything short of God, who alone can deliver and save. Now to his years of ill health
prior to being called home. In November 1735, Bengal was
struck down by a serious fever epidemic, though he continued
to preach until he dropped. Even then, he could be heard
reciting Psalm 42, as the heart panteth after the water brooks,
so panteth my soul after thee, O God. It was then that Bengal
calmly concluded that there was nothing to detain him on earth
so he would be better off in heaven. He told his comforters
to pray for the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ rather
than waste unnecessary time worrying about his death. Bengal continued
to experience bouts of severe illness some three times a year.
But amazingly, the Lord preserved him for another 17 years. During this time, he was often
heard to say rather impatiently, I feel satiated of this life. Or in a more hopeful tone, probably
I shall soon be ripe. I think you understand what he
meant. He relented that he had spent
so much time in academic circles longing to spend time with ordinary
sinners weighed down by sin. In February 1752, Bengal was
struck down by catharal fever, colic and calculus haemorrhage,
in the language of the day. He recovered somewhat but had
no appetite and was always tired and in pain, sweating profusely. By October he was so exhausted
that he could not rise from his bed. Internal pressure on his
abdomen and chest made breathing most difficult. No complaint
came from his mouth. Indeed, he could not talk, but
his face showed he was communing with God in prayer. The day before his death, he
asked to receive the Lord's Supper with his wider family, who quickly
gathered around his bed. Though he had hardly uttered
a word for days, Bengal now outlined his faith in his Saviour's provisions
loudly before his loved ones, and had a word for each one. He committed the prince, the
government, and his country to the Lord. Then all believers
everywhere, and then prayed for the whole world. Then the gathered
family partook of the Lord's supper together and sang the
hymn, O Jesus Christ, my purest light. I'm a bit roofed. They sang this from the Württemberg
church hymnal. Then his family members one by
one prayed whilst Bengal rested. Suddenly his eyes opened and
he said clearly, we have not earned a stock of grace, but
it is given for our use as we need it. As for those who think
they earn it, God is able to make them often feel very empty
and he means them no harm by it. Then a minister present recited
the words, Lord Jesus, to thee I live, to thee I suffer, to
thee I die, thine I am in death and in life. Save and bless me,
O Saviour, forever and ever. Amen. As the minister pronounced
the words, Thine I am, Bengal laid his right hand
on his heart to signify his ascent and in that moment was called
to glory. Age 65. Bengal's funeral was held in
Stuttgart on Sunday, November 5th, 1752. The city gates were
closed during the service so that the inhabitants could mourn
the loss of their beloved bishop and preceptor, undisturbed by
the outside world. Dr. Taffinger, a fellow member
of the consistory, preached on Hebrews 7, 24-25. Christ who continueth ever hath an unchangeable
priesthood. Wherefore, he is able also to
save them to the utmost that come unto God by him, seeing
he ever liveth to make intercession for us." Now to Bengel's works. Sorry that I was rather too much
move there, but the life of this great man has very much influenced
me. Now, a light placed under a bushel. Up to the 20th century, Bengal
was honoured in the English-speaking world as a fine Christian scholar who ably defended the historicity,
authenticity and reliability of the Word of God. Then his
higher reputation faded and his teaching was ignored. The reasons
are evident. Nowadays, text-critical research
is treated with suspicion by English-speaking Bible-believing
scholars who think it a liberal employment. But England's own
James Usher in the 17th century, John Owing in the same century,
and John Gill in the 18th century, were devoted to the Word of God,
but their historical and linguistic work, Usher on biblical dating,
Owing on the development of the Hebrew language, and Gill on
sound shifts and Hebrew vocalization, are even ridiculed by modern
reform scholars. Such research, however, must
go hand in hand with sound exegesis. We've been learning this all
through the conference. So too, the two world wars, for
obvious reasons, caused English-speaking countries to look askance at
Germany, and positive developments in the German churches found
little hearing abroad. Rationalistic German studies,
such as those of Johann Gottfried Eichhorn and Ferdinand Christian
Bauer, though denounced by Germany's academic, pietistic and reformed
sources, were presented to the English-speaking churches as
epitomes of enemy thinking. Eichhorn and Bauer, however,
did not pioneer textual research at all. Beser of France and Geneva,
Elsevier, who brother Mike mentioned, Von Maastricht and P. Wettstein
from the Netherlands, Walton, Fell, Mill and Bentley from England,
Fry and J.J. Wettstein from Switzerland, he
was the brother of the Dutch Wettstein, and Küster, Haffenreffer,
Bengel and Wolff of Germany produced text-critical works throughout
the 16th, 17th and 18th century which far outclassed 19th century
icons. These works are sadly unknown
in the States and in England. For example, when Wellhausen
produced his fantasies of the history of Israel. He was laughed
at by the academic world in Germany. And he was fired from his job
as a biblical professor. And they said, what you teach
is pure Islam. So they made him professor of
Islamic studies instead. And he was better off there,
I presume. Bengel was master of all these men, and scholars
such as Keil, Delitzsch, Hengstenberg and Tulloch, whom you do know
I think, continue the methods pioneered by Spener, Franker
and Bengel. In doing so they demonstrated
biblical truths at a far higher academic level than the rationalists. So, traditionally and historically
speaking, textual criticism has been in the hand of believers
from earliest times, and it was Bible-believing scholars such
as Bengel who made such studies understandable and acceptable
both to scholars and the common man in his daily witness. Indeed,
while Spurgeon was combating the downgrade controversy in
England, Germany, as Spurgeon proclaimed openly, because a
member of Spurgeon's congregation became the wife of F.W. Onken, the great German Baptist
founder and revivalist, And when Spurgeon was there preaching,
he was preaching to thousands. And Germany at the time was going
through a revival and a great upsurge of Christian scholarship. From 1713 on, to protect his
students from rationalism, Bengel guided them through a two-year
course on the Greek New Testament, comparing critical editions with
the ancient manuscripts he had collected, using his own textbook,
annotations, editions and animat versions on Heidinger's Greek
Testament of 1706, a book worth studying. Before going deeply
into God's Word, Bengal authored works such as On the Holiness
of God, so that his students would understand who authored
the scriptures. Then followed text analytical
commentaries on the original biblical texts. Bengal was for
a primarily literal interpretation of the Bible. rejecting the Kabbalistic
teaching of his day, which saw in every letter of Hebrew words
some deep, mystical or occult meaning. Amongst many of our
brethren today, there are people who love to work out the meaning
of each letter in the Hebrew words and they believe they can
pull out great secrets that other people have never seen. Well, they were painted them
in those days too. With the help of international
scholars, Bengel searched the libraries of Britain, Germany,
Italy, Scandinavia, Switzerland, Russia, Hungary and the Near
East for hitherto unpublished documents. In April 1725, Bengel
announced his planned critical edition of the Greek text in
an essay with specimens named Prodromos Novi Testamenti Graecae
and appealed for international cooperation in securing further
manuscripts. This brought to light a large
number of Greek, Latin, Coptic and Armenian texts, several of
which were superior, in the sense of more complete, to those used
by former scholars such as the Englishman John Mill at Oxford. On hearing of Bengel's work,
a young Basel scholar, John James Wettstein, decided to publish
before Bengel, he wanted to get in first, and solicited the aid
of the English Mill School, who were quite liberal, now led by
Richard Bentley and Conyers Middleton. Wettstein's work was negatively
speculative. His professor, John Louis Frey,
moved Basel, the University of Basel, to refuse Wettstein permission
to publish on the grounds that the work was useless, uncalled
for, and dangerous. Then Frey and Eselin supplied
Bengal with all the university's ancient manuscripts. In 1729,
Bengel presented his completed critical text to the Stuttgart
and Tübingen censorship committee, along with his work Apparatus
Criticus, and received their approbation. However, he determined
to scrutinize all Wettstein's sources and arguments before
printing. Bengel's Apparatus Criticus,
giving account of all the readings he had adopted, came out in 1734. The work is in three parts. The
first states what New Testament criticism is and why it is necessary,
and also features a historical overview of the science from
earliest times. The second deals with an overview
of the means used to ascertain the value of the various manuscripts
with their individual characteristics. The third lists all the various
readings with arguments for and against. Bengl included a special
section on revelation which had been neglected through lack of
interest in the book by former biblical scholars. Remember Calvin
never attempted it, and Luther never did, and Zwingli never
did. In the same year, Bengel published
his octavo Greek New Testament with an introduction explaining
his methods of research. In 1736 Bengal's Harmony of the
Gospels appeared, which was followed in 1740 by his exposition of
the revelation of St John, as I say a task even Calvin balked
at. Through reception to Bengal's
works, though reception to Bengal's works was mostly positive, hyper-conservative
critics accused Bengel of unprecedented audacity in analysing the divine
word. Wittgenstein, Bengel's main rival,
first called Bengel's work the best edition that had ever been
printed. but became more critical as the
edition became popular amongst scholars, far more popular than
his own works. The Dutch called for Bengal's
German works to be translated into Latin so that they could
be distributed internationally. Count Zinzendorf helped greatly
in their circulation, calling Bengal the prophet of his age. The German mission to India at
Tranquavar, the Germans were sending missionaries to India
long before William Carey, who built on their work. Those missionaries welcomed Bengal's
work as it assisted them greatly in their task of translating
the Bible and bringing the gospel to people who had been strangers
to it. Strong criticism came from Erasmus
scholars, as Bengal had introduced readings absent on Erasmus' Greek
New Testament. Bengal explained that Erasmus'
work was a rushed job, and where Erasmus had no Greek text, he
had translated from the Latin Bible into Greek and published
them as the true ancient text. Then the papists became angry
because they saw Bengal's criticism of Erasmus as a criticism of
the Roman Catholic reliance on Latin texts. So too, some Lutheran
scholars protested because Bengal had indirectly criticized the
manuscripts used by Luther. A Luther, like Kingdale's translation,
was really a compilation and there was much of the Latin behind
it. Now to Bengal's best known work,
Gnomon. It should be in all your studies.
Bengal's best known work is his Gnomon, published in 1742. My
1855 edition runs to 1106 pages and is a must for any expository
pastor. It is a verse-by-verse analysis
of the Greek text throughout the entire New Testament and
is a mine of information for pastors who follow the expository
method of preaching. Bengel's motive in bringing out
his nomen, as explained in his preface, was to set forth the
majesty, simplicity, unsearchable depths, conciseness, comprehensiveness,
and practical use of God's Word. His maiden rule in his exegesis
was that Scripture should be interpreted by Scripture, and
text should not be isolated from the rest of Scripture as a basis
for doctrine. Hengstenberg's Evangelical Church
Chronicle reviewed the work as, "...a rare performance of the
kind, concise, original, vigorous, eloquent and sprightly. It is an erudite exposition delivered
in a spirit of fervent Christian love. It evinces the deepest
reverence for the sacred text and a most profound acquaintance
with its contents." A plentitude of sound knowledge, hallowed
and animated by deep piety, here sheds itself over the very words
of Scripture, and serves to elicit from every part of it the inerrant
glow of its interior divine illumination." That's praise, isn't it? Most
helpful for the church member who has no academic training
are Bengel's Testimony of Truth, 1748, On the Right Way of Handling
Divine Subjects, 1750, and A Vindication of the Holy Scriptures, 1755.
Bengel's advice to close with is the following. In this work
he lists the points that all true Bible students should follow. The Holy Scriptures are the sole
repository of that complete system of truth which man, as a being
appointed to obtain everlasting salvation, needs to be acquainted
with. 2. Even the minutest scripture
detail has its importance in the structure of revealed truth,
and natural reason has often the power of seeing and tracing
that importance, but never the power of choosing or rejecting
any such matter at pleasure. 3. The expositor who nullifies
the historical groundwork of Scripture for the sake of finding
only spiritual truths everywhere brings death upon all correct
interpretation. 4. The Scriptures best illustrate
and corroborate themselves. Consequently, those expositions
are the safest, which keep closest to the text. 5. The whole power
and glory of the inspired writings can be known only to the honest,
devout and believing inquirer. 6. Much in Scripture stretches
far beyond the confines of reason's natural light, and far beyond
even our symbolic books, meaning the creeds. Still, whatever of
the kind is evidently declared in scripture ought to be received
as a part of the system of divine truth, notwithstanding all reputed
philosophy and all reputed orthodox theology. So if the scriptures
tell you something that your creeds tell you in other terms
or meaning other things, well, you speak to scripture. On the
other hand, every theological notion which is not evidently
deducible from Holy Scripture ought to be regarded with religious
suspicion and caution. Brethren, if we preach and witness
according to Bengal's principles, our ministry will be all the
richer. Let us go and do likewise as
Bengal did. Amen.