“People sometimes say, indeed, that it makes little difference what theory of the atonement we may hold. Ah, my friends, it makes all the difference in the world. When you contemplate the cross of Christ, do you say merely, with modern theorists, ‘What a noble example of self-sacrifice; I am going to attain favour with God by sacrificing myself as well as He.’ Or do you say with the Bible, ‘He loved me and gave Himself for me; He took my place; He bore my curse; He bought me with His own most precious blood.’ That is the most momentous question that can come to any human soul.”
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Born in Baltimore, Maryland, he came from a wealthy and well-educated background. He studied at John Hopkins University and then went to Princeton Theological Seminary, receiving an M.A. in philosophy. He studied in Germany and returned to teach New Testament at Princeton. He received his B.D. in 1905 and was ordained in the Presbyterian Church.
In 1929, he left Princeton Seminary when the institution capitulated to the liberal faction, and he, along with others, founded Westminster Theological Seminary. In 1934 he was censured by the Presbyterian Church for his actions in relation to the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions, the liberal bias of which he opposed. In 1935 he was defrocked by the Presbyterian Church over major doctrinal issues. Machen then established the Orthodox Presbyterian Church as a reaction to the liberalism of the Presbyterian hierarchy. He died at age 55, of pneumonia.