Smootherprince
Ostensibly Jerusalem rejected Christ on theological
grounds, and outwardly the Pharisees condemned Jesus for
blasphemy. But beneath these intellectual and doctrinal
objections was a hostile will. Jesus had exposed their
hypocrisy and unmasked their sins. Their pride was
wounded. They felt humiliated. They hated him for his
holiness. They were jealous of his influence on the common
people. These things were at the root of their repudiation
of Christ. But it was more respectable to find fault with
his theology than to admit their moral embarrassment.
Their doubts were a cloak for their sins.
It has often been so. I do not say it is always so,
because of course many people have genuine theological
problems. But frequently a man's deepest need is not
intellectual but moral, and his supposed inability to
believe is really an unwillingness to obey.
--From "Fundamentalism and Evangelism" (London: Crusade
Booklets, 1956), p. 29.
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