This is a question I have wrestled with in recent years. First, the ramifications of what it means that Jesus was actually a living, historical person. And once you've come to terms with that, then understanding what that actually means for you, a person of the 21st century.
Machen seeks to tie these points together, while combating the liberalist idea that Christian experience is enough to connect us with Christ.
His main point is that, as he mentions on page 60, "Christianity depends, not on a complex of ideas, but upon the narration of an event." This is how Christianity is unlike other religions. It is dependent on a specific event.
Machen's main point is that this historical event has taken place, but it has effects on people today. We cannot separate these points; both of these truths are necessary for the Christian faith. What the liberalist Christians seek to do is say that the historical event doesn't matter, only the Christian experience that we feel today does.
Machen argues this with the fact that Christian experience must be based off of the historical events; otherwise, it isn't Christianity.
"Christian experience is rightly used when it helps to convince us that the events narrated in the New Testament actually did occur; but it can never enable us to be Christians whether the events occurred or not" (62).
To speak on the flip-side of that, I think maybe in Western Christian society, we have almost gone the exact opposite and removed the validity of Christian experience altogether. In fear of those who have denied the historical events, we have almost made it almost entirely about the historical facts. So I appreciate Machen emphasizing that Christian experience does have a rightful place; however, that place is being checked against the historical truths of Jesus.
God works in many mysterious and wonderful ways; but these will always be consistent with who He has revealed himself as in the inerrant Scriptures.
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