24
March 1996. Presbyterian
Theologian, Professor, Scholar, and Pastor, Dr. John H.
Gerstner, passes to glory.
The
PCA Historians tell the story at: http://www.thisday.pcahistory.org/2014/03/march-24-2/
One of our more popular posts, presented here again with
a sample of Dr. Gerstner’s writing appended:—
Pastor, Professor, and Theologian Cum Laude
It was a great honor. Your author was asked to
preach the Presbytery sermon at the installation of the Rev. Dr. John Gerstner
as an Associate Pastor of Trinity Presbyterian Church in Johnstown,
Pennsylvania. The veteran pastor and theologian had just that year of 1990
joined the Presbyterian Church in America as well as the particular presbytery
of which I was a member minister. I can remember entering with the other
Presbytery ministers into the sanctuary, and there sitting in the front row, in
the center seat, was Dr. Gerstner. A quick thought went through my mind
as to what could I say which would edify the people of God, and Dr. Gerstner
that evening? But just as quickly came the answer of which Dr. Gerstner in all
his ministerial life had exhibited, namely, to preach the Word of God in all of
its fullness.
Born in Tampa, Florida in 1914, John Gerstner’s life and
ministry would be spent in the northern states. Graduating from
Westminster College, he followed that up with his Master of Divinity degree at
Westminster Theological Seminary in 1940. Five years later, he would earn from
Harvard University his Ph.D. degree. Overseas studies in England, Spain,
and Switzerland would round out his education for the ministry.
Ordained in the largest Scot-Irish denomination in
America, the United Presbyterian Church, he served several churches in
Massachusetts and Pennsylvania. But he would make his mark upon the Christian
world and especially through those students who were privileged to sit under
him at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary for more than 30 years. As an
evangelical and Reformed professor in that UPCUSA graduate school, he provided
a solid course of instruction for those evangelical and Reformed students who
sat under him. One such student was R.C. Sproul.
A careful look into the published works of the Ligionier
Study Center will reward you with books and videos all written and
spoken by John Gerstner. His primary work would be his three volume book
on “The Rational Biblical Theology of Jonathan Edwards.” He became the
authority on the life and ministry of this greatest of all American
theologians.
This author in two of his five pastorates had Dr.
Gerstner as a special weekend speaker. On both occasions, he along with the
people of God enjoyed a guest pastor who had an incredible intellect, a
great wit, and always a pastoral heart. He entered heaven’s glory on this day, March 24, 1996.
Words to Live By: The apostle Paul in 2 Timothy 2:2 states,
“and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to
faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” (ESV) There are four
generations mentioned in this verse: Paul, those who heard him, faithful men,
and others also. It presents the goal of transmitting God’s Word to
succeeding generations. John Gerstner accomplished this, as all those given the
spiritual gift of teaching, are to aim for it. Pray for them to
faithfully accomplish it.
A Sample from among Dr. Gerstner’s writings:
“The trouble with secularism is the world itself. It
always proves to be a mere shadow. Those who are most successful in acquiring
it suffer the greatest disillusionment. It is a notorious fact that the
wealthiest persons, unless they be truly religious persons, are the most bored,
the least happy. They are always piling up but never possessing anything. Their
experiences, like the Preacher’s, lead to the dirge: “All is vanity and
vexation of spirit under the sun.” Secularists are bent on pleasure, but ‘she
that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth.’ Animals can eat, drink, and
be contented, but man cannot. He cannot be contented without these physical
gratifications because he has his animal appetites, but being more than an
animal he cannot be content with only them. He cannot live without bread, but
neither can he live by bread alone.
“The second cardinal defect in secularism is the loss of
the other world which it spurns. Man cannot be happy with this world, nor can
he be happy without the other. Even if he disbelieves the other world he cannot
escape it. He cannot escape it even now. He cannot be sure that there is not an
eternal world. He may disbelieve it, but he cannot, try as he will, disprove
it. As Shakespeare has said, he is afraid to ‘shuffle off this mortal coil’
with all its griefs because he does not know what lies ahead. He may have
doubts about God, but who has ever demonstrated His nonexistence? How can man
satisfy himself that there is no heaven which he may miss nor any hell which he
may enter? The slightest possibility of these things—and who can deny their
possibility?—utterly unnerves the secularist.
“If there were any satisfaction in the possession of the
whole world for a lifetime, how would that compensate for one moment out of
heaven or one moment in hell? The merest possibility of the eternal world
completely outweighs the utmost certainty of this one. What answer, therefore,
can a worldling give to Jesus’ question, ‘What does it profit a man if he gain
the whole world and lose his own soul?’ It will not comfort him to reply, ‘But
I do not believe you. I do not believe that I, in gaining the whole world, will
forfeit my own soul.’ It will not comfort him because he is not sure that he is
right, nor certain that Christ is wrong. The mere possibility that Christ’s
question about the future is valid ruins his present. ‘To him that hath not shall
be taken away even that which he hath’—from him that has not the world to come
shall be taken away even this one which he has.”
[excerpted from Reasons
for Faith (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1960), pp. 13-14.]
