[Following are portions of a talk Dr. Malherbe gave at Pepperdine University, as published in Declaring God's Good News, 1964.]
…It reveals a certain uneasiness, and more seriously, a sense of insecurity which is the real basis for the uneasiness. Surely our faith and our appeal are deserving of more confidence. We cannot afford to allow the fact that this enterprise is strange to some of us and therefore makes us uneasy, deny its legitimacy to others, to whom it is natural, and, indeed, necessary. If we do so, we shall only appear to be placing a premium on ignorance, and this is a disservice to the Christian faith.
Just as it is the intellectual’s responsibility to correct his view of the intellectual life, so certainly it is the duty of his opponent to learn to understand, if he cannot appreciate, that life properly….The response frequently offered, that when the Gospel is represented on a level a twelve-year old can understand it will answer all needs of all men, and can be understood by all men is both unrealistic and untrue. Such a response, besides leaving the questioner unsatisfied, also leaves the suspicion that anti-intellectualism is as much a kind of snobbery as intellectualism.
…If we are to take the Great Commission seriously, we must grant that “every creature” has a significance other than contributing to a geographical distribution of preachers. Surely “every creature” includes the intellectual. Or are we Calvinistic enough in this respect to damn him before we speak to him? If we do deign to speak to him about Christ, do we become all things to him, and speak to him in terms that are real to him, or do we insist on speaking to him as to a twelve-year old? Whose example shall we be following if we do this? Certainly not that of Paul. Paul was familiar with the intellectual currents of his own day. He knew that they revealed the needs of man, and he knew how to approach men in those terms.
…Let us put away recrimination and suspicion. Let us put into practice Paul’s conviction that the body consists of many members who have many different functions. Let us be concerned to develop the part God has given us, and have a care for one another. Let us all show our knowledge of the more excellent way as together we strive to build up the body of our Lord who died for us all.
