humbly; even if sorrowfully,

accept Ciods providential

taking of Cireg Bahnsen from
toe earth. I pray that we will
see and experience the wisQ.om
of Qod in all ofthis with a
renewed interest in Cireg's
tapes and writings.
May the Lord bless Cireg's
legacy withfruit.Q
Apologist, Thconomist,
'vVarrioT, [-'riend
Steve M. Schli66el
I first met Dr. qreg L.
Bahnsen on the phone. I was .
emerging from a rather
fathers. Cireg became a
personal tutor, instructing me
in the apologetic of Cornelius
Van Til and the theology of
the Westminster Confession
and Catechisms. From that
phone call in 1983 until today;
our Father in heaven used
Cireg to feed me, and a great
number beside.
Dr. Bahnsen's contributions
to the Kingdom and church
are significant. An ordained
minister serving the Orthodox
Presbyterian Church for the
last twenty years, Cireg had '
wide-ranging opportunities to .
serVe Christ.
Afterrecelving
, ' (simit14lneously) the tv\. Div.
and Th. M.degrees from
Westminster Theologi\:al
Cireg's gifts and calling; he told
me that Dr. Bahnsen was the
right man to succeed him as
chair of apologetics at
Westminster . .
It has been rumored that
when Dr. Bahnsen was
interviewed for the job of
teaching Apologetics and
Ethics at Reformed Theological
Seminal)' in Jackson, MS"at
least one of the interviewers
emerged from the room" dazed
by the brilliance of the mind
he had just encountered."
Cireg had a special gift from
Ciod in bringing illumination
to some of the thorniest
traditional theological
problems (call Covenant Tape
MinisIJY to order the catalog
listing over 1,500 of his audio
tapes: 1-800-503-
""..,..,.,.,.",= 3938). At times it
seemed as if his mind '
'f....>' would drape over a
rigid conception of the
supposed dispensational
structure of Ciod's '
revelation and dealings,
attempting to grasp that
most capaCious of all
religions, the RefoTmed
faith. I was hungJY for
dark problem and

dissolve it into light.

For the last several
years he has served as
the Scholar-in"
residence at the Southern
truth. My chosen method in
the pursuit 6f it was to contact
people who had a reputation
fur understanding it arid then
"bother" them until they
explained it to me.
Dr. Cireg L. Bahnsen was
not "bothered" by my call. He
expressed siilcere,' pastoral
concern and a genuine interest
in helping me, and Messiah's
Congregation, to make a
smooth stable transition into
the Reformed faith of our
Seminal)' in Philadelphia,
Cireg went on to earn a Ph.D.,
in philosophy from the
VnivetSity of Southern
California, chOOSing for his
dissertation topic, a
philosophical analysis of the
concept of "self-deception." He
chose this topic because it
would complement, even fill a
space, in the comprehensive
Christian apologetic of
Cornelius Van TiL Dr. Van Til
was more than appreciative of
10 THE COUNSEL of Chalcedon January/ February, 1996
California Center fOJ Christian
Studies.
He traveled around the
world preaching, debating and
lectUring. Often when he
lectured, that wonderful look
of "Now I understand!,"
would spread across the faces
in the room like the "wave" at
a Pittsburgh Steelers' home
game.
Though often most closely
associated with the issue of the
normativity and applicability
of God's Law (Theonomy), Dr.
Bahnsen's first love, in my
humble opinion, was
apologetics. In fact, his love for
God's Law was intimately
related to his passionate desire
to defend and promote the .
cause of the entire Word of
God, and glorify the name of
the God of the Word.
In addition to the five books
on theology and ethics which
appeared during Dr. Bahnsen's
brief sojourn, three books on
the defense of Christianity
(including the long-awaited
'Van Til Reader") will be
published posthumously. .
Dr. Bahnsen died in St.
Joseph Hospital in Santa Ana,
CA, from heart failure six days .
after an aortic valve was
replaced. It was the third time
he had to undergo valve
replacement surgery. Greg was
far more conscious of the
possibility that he might riot
recover than his friends and
loved ones would allow
themselves to admit. The
Lord's Day before his surgery
he preached a message that left
his entire congregation in tears
(ef. Acts .'20:38): "For to me, to
live is Christ, and to die is
gain."
Dr. Bahnsen is survived by
his parents, Virginia and
Robert, four adult children and
two grandchildren. After his
death, Virginia Bahnsen told
me, ;' When he got to heaven,
surely Calvin and Van Til
looked at Greg and said,
'Right on!'"
The legacy of Dr. Greg L.
Bahnsen will doubtless
continue to yield fruit for
generations to come. May is
all be in accord with that
single, overriding passion of
Greg's life: That the name of
Christ would be magnified in
all the earth. Amen. n
I want to say a few words
of thanksgiving to God for the
testimony and service of Greg
Bahnsen as a churchman.
Humanly speaking, I would
not be a Presbyterian or a
pastor today if it had not been
for Greg's commitment to the
visible, institutional church
and its Christ-appointed
ministry.
Greg was a dedicated and
loyal Protestant - a
Presbyterian - and an
Orthodox Presbyterian. He
believed that the
had restored the church - as
well as her doctrine - to the
pattern intended by Christ and '
set forth in the New
Testament. But he also
believed that many questions
about the doctrine of the '
church and its life and ministry
were being posed afresh in our
day and needed contemporary,
biblical answers. In his
lectures and writings he
addressed such topics as the
biblical necessity of chuTch
membership, the marks of the
church, the validity .of Roman
Catholic (and apostate
modernist) baptism, the
practice of church discipline,.
and many other subjects both
practical and theoretical.
. Greg believed in the parity
of the eldership and advocated
a fuller participation in the
pastoral ministry by ruling
elders. He worked hard to
improve their theological
training as well. Like some of
his Southern Presbyterian
predecessors, he believed that
ministers should be installed
and active on a local Session in
conjunction with their
participation in the Presbytery,
so that the exercise of rule in
the Presbytery would not be
divorced from the pastoral
concerns of the local churches.
In the past three years,
during which time he served
as an associate pastor on the
Session of Bayview Orthodox
Presbyterian Church, he
distinguished himself as an
active, conscientious team-
player on the Session, even
though he was fully engaged
in his speciaL ministry of
preaching and teaching with
the Southern California Center
for Christian Studies. His
pastoral care in particular was
Januaryl February, 1996 THE COUNSEL of Chalcedon 11