Benjamin Breckinridge Warfield, faithful servant of Christ, and excellent theologian, was born on November 5th, 1851, in Lexington, Kentucky, USA. At that date, Lexington had only just over 8,000 people. The Breckinridge family was well-to-do, and so Benjamin and his brothers were given education in private schools. Here the young boys heard superb Christian doctrine. They had to memorise the excellent Puritan Westminster Catechism, along with the prooftexts from the Bible.
The Warfield family were blessed with a very good religious background. The father of the boys traced his ancestry to the English Puritans, who had crossed over the sea to America to enjoy true religion without state interference.
William, the father of the boys, loved nature and looked on the world as God’s marvelous creation. He arranged for B. B., his son, to learn Greek, which is the language of the New Testament. After his days at school, he went to what is now called Princeton University, where he gained here excellent marks in Math and Science. He was clearly a very talented student.
In February 1872, he crossed over to Europe, where he studied in the universities in Edinburgh, Scotland and in Heidelberg, Germany. At Heidelberg, he felt God’s call to him to prepare for the Christian ministry. He said to a friend that he wanted to be a minister, so that he could repay God for the blessings he had received by the gospel.
In September 1873, he entered Princeton Theological Seminary, in New Jersey. Princeton Theological Seminary was established in 1812, the first Seminary founded by the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church. B.B. deeply respected and valued the godly Charles Hodge, professor of biblical literature and theology, principal of the seminary from 1851 to 1878. B. B. received a licence to preach, in 1875. He preached as temporary pastor at Concord Church, in Nicholas County, Kentucky, and then, following his graduation, he served at First Presbyterian Church, in Dayton, Ohio. He was now twenty-five years of age.
Central to B. B. Warfield’s teaching was the crucially important doctrine that the Bible is “infinitely and eternally true.” Early in his ministry, owing to illness in the throat, he had to stop preaching for some months. He now returned to Germany to continue his theological studies. Before he went, he married a young lady named Annie Pearce Kinkead, on August 3rd, 1876, and they then set sail for Germany together.
A sad event took place when they reached Leipzig, in Germany. They both went to the beautiful Harz Mountains for a visit. The Harz Mountains are almost a hundred miles west of Leipzig. Unhappily, they were caught in a violent thunderstorm, which resulted in some kind of nervous disorder that worsened and rendered Annie unfit for society to the end of her life.
On their return home, in the summer of 1877, they found themselves in a situation in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in which a violent local riot was taking place. They themselves were, thankfully, not hurt. But Benjamin’s luggage was lost, which contained many books worth a thousand dollars.
In 1878, Western Theological Seminary, in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, called him to teach New Testament studies. His work here led to B.B’s international recognition as an excellent theologian. He not only excelled academically, but also in faithfully affirming the books of God’s holy Word to be inspired. In 1881, Warfield was recruited by Archibald Alexander Hodge, son of Charles Hodge, to write to show, in an article entitled “Inspiration,” that the Bible is truly inspired by God. They agreed that it is the Holy Spirit of God who so guided the writers of the Bible that their writings are truly the very Word of God, and can be trusted as absolutely reliable. We can always believe the teachings of the Bible, because they are absolutely reliable. It is for this faithful obedience to the Word of God, that B. B. Warfield has been highly esteemed ever since this time.
In 1886, A. A. Hodge passed away. Warfield was invited to take his place. After prayer for guidance, he did so. A member of the Hodge family observed that “A. A.” was followed by “B. B.”! The Warfields now moved to Princeton. Owing to Annie’s poor condition, their home was quiet and was not bustling with visitors. This meant that Warfield had plenty of time for writing books. Some of these books were translated into Dutch, Spanish, Chinese and Japanese. He gave warning to his readers to beware of arguments which, in so many other books at that date, denied the authenticity of the Bible.
One concern of his family was to show love and care for black people, following the sad days when black people in America had been slaves, as in the past they had been. He wanted black people to be well-treated in society, in church, and in the seminary where he taught. When he was principal of the seminary he allowed a black student to live in university halls, an action which was met by opposition from fellow faculty members. The focus of his teaching to all students was to teach them to honour God, who is our great Creator.
Warfield was, as always, opposed to the attitude of those, who, at this date, can doubt the infallibility of the Bible. He affirmed the doctrines of creation and the resurrection of Christ. He called the religion of the skeptics “Christless Christianity.” He was finally against all liberal views of the Bible.
In 1913, a new president with more liberal views was appointed for the seminary. His name was J. Ross Stevenson. Warfield disagreed with him on vital issues and he made it his duty to watch out for books which denied the Bible’s infallibility. In 1913, his wife, Annie, fell so ill that she had to rest mostly in bed. Dr. Warfield cared for her lovingly, until she died on November 19th, 1915. From now on, B. B. spent all his time and energy on preparing his lectures and writing articles. He had a book published entitled, “Faith and Life,” which was made up of his lectures to students since he began his work at Princeton, in 1887.
Another book was “The Plan of Salvation,” in which he makes clear the true biblical doctrine of salvation. This was most needful because, as we have said, at this date, the churches were tending to compromise on the true biblical doctrine of salvation. It was a source of deep regret and sadness to B. B. Warfield that so many in the churches were moving away from the biblical doctrines of the Christian faith, and adopting liberal views sadly very inconsistent with God’s Word.
In December 1920, Warfield took a major heart attack. He recovered sufficiently for him to teach an afternoon class in the seminary. He gave lectures on John 3, where God gives us the subject of the new birth, and God’s wonderful love for sinners. Warfield never ceased to be amazed at the wonder of God’s love for this fallen world.
His work, however, was now over. In his own home, he took another heart attack, and passed from a state of grace to a state of glory on 16 February 1921. A faithful saint had been true to God’s inspired word to the very last. Now he was called away to his eternal reward.
Benjamin Breckenridge Warfield had faithfully believed and faithfully taught God’s Word to the end of his busy life. He is an example to us all. Every faithful servant can say: “For me to live is Christ and to die is gain” (Phil. 1:21).
