PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
The Atonement
A. A. Hodge, 1823–1886 · 134,256 words · 171 reading sections
CHAPTER XXII.
These objectors should, however, remember that that obedience which Christ rendered in our stead was not that which the law demands of all moral agents, un- changeably and inalienably in its natwral relation, but precisely that obedience which God, as Sovereign, moral Governor and Guardian of all human souls, required …
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* Vol. ii., p, 860. t Cat. Racov., p. 265, CHAPTER XXI. Christ’s suifter- ings: Bush- nell’s state- ment. 294 THE NATURE OF THE ATONEMENT. l i! doctrine maintained by Socinus, and by Maurice, Bush- nell, and Young, in our own day. Baur, as quoted by Hagenbach,* Says : “Thus the two: representatives of eeu lag tian …
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1. The precious truth which it undeniably contains has always been held by the Church as an integral part of the orthodox doctrine of the piacular sacrifice of Christ. All that is negative in the Moral Influence Theory is refuted by the overwhelming evidence we have recited in establishing the Church doctrine as to div…
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test, absolutely impotent, and must be practically sup- planted by the other: “In the facts, outwardly re- garded, there is no sacrifice, or oblation, or atonement, or propitiation, but simply a living and dying thus and thus. The facts are impressive ; the person is*clad in a wonderful dignity and beauty; the agony is…
704 wordsSECTION 125_ CHAPTER XX1.
carter purpose of suffering and dying. The fact, the time, many of the fbiatied circumstances and horrors of his death, were not only foreseen, but were foreordained (Matt. xxvi; 24,54 56; and xxvii 9,10; 35). > The death of Christ was God’s act: ‘ Hom, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of Go…
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It is in- 4. The Scriptures explicitly declare that Christ was consis’ the Saviour of those who died before his advent in the applica” flesh as well as those who came afterward. If Christ work of did suffer the penalty due to his people, and so expiate ot their sins, it is clear what is meant when he is called ced be “…
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progress made towards the full development of such a theory for more than a century and a half. The Catho- lic view upon the one hand, and the Socinian view on the other, generally prevailed. It was reserved for cer- tain New England divines of the last century first clearly to state and defend as a whole what has been…
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This theory has, upon the whole, many practical advantages over the Socinian view. (a.) Because it includes and exhibits, with far more practical effect, all the elements of truth which the Socinian view embraces. (b.) Because, in addition to those elements, the positive principles signalized in the Governmental Theory…
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inflicted upon the sinner in person. Fiske insists that God’s justice can no more be satisfied by the vicarious suffering of another than the sinful agent, than a man’s thirst can be slaked by another man’s vicariously drink- ing water for him. We have admitted that this is the precise point in which the Scriptural doc…
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3. The fundamental principle which distinguishes this theory, namely, that in its last analysis all virtue may be resolved into benevolence, is both false and pernicious. To resolve all colour into sound would be theoretically to annihilate colour; and so to resolve all virtue into | benevolence is theoretically to ann…
786 wordsSECTION 131GOVERNMENTAL THEORY OF THE ATONEMENT. 315
force the law and maintain its authority, and so wlti- mately help to promote the great benevolent ends of moral government.” This theory “ harmonizes with a just con- ception of the origin and end of law (including precept and penalty), as emanating from a divine purpose to promote, by means of it, the highest good of…
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Christ as a vicarious victim, or he did not. And we may be most sure that if there was no exercise of justice, there was no expression of it; if there was no punish- ment, there was no example of it; if there was no wrath felt, there was no manifestation of. it. Whatever it may not have been, we know that it was the mo…
750 wordsSECTION 133GOVERNMENTAL THEORY OF THE ATONEMENT. 319
A position which makes a revelation ridiculously super- fluous. (2.) This argument rests upon analogies drawn from observation of human governments and divine providence. And then thirty-nine pages are devoted to the confirmation of these views, thus brought in by rea- son, with the concurrent testimony of Scripture. T…
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as its opponents imagine. I have shown that the doc- trine presented in the little work entitled “ Gethse- mane’’* never was the accepted doctrine of the Reformed Churches ; and it is precisely against this perversion or caricature of the old Calvinism that the objections in question are directed. (2.) That the doctrin…
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1. As far, then, as this question is involved in the Arminian controversy, we are ready to admit the reality of the great importance which they attribute to it. If they could prove that the love which prompted God to give his Son to die, as a sin-offering, on the cross, had for its objects all men indiscriminately ; an…
763 wordsSECTION 136INTRODUCTORY. 327
2. This will necessarily confine the discussion to that form which the question assumes when brought in de- bate between those who hold that Christ died to secure the salvation of the elect personally, and those who, while maintaining that the design of his death was gene- ral and impersonal, nevertheless more or less …
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What I have to say on the present subject of the design of the Atonement will be grouped under the fol- lowing heads :—(1.) The exact statement of the real question in debate, excluding all irrelevant issues, and sharply defining the only point about which men can differ on this subject. (2.) A discussion of the true r…
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it is plain as the sun in the heavens that the death -of Christ did remove all legal obstacles out of the way of God’s saving any man he pleases. In this sense, if you please, Christ did make the salvation of all men indif- ferently possible, a parte Dei. He can apply it to any, whomsoever he will; but since his will n…
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6. But the question does truly and only relate to the DESIGN OF THE FATHER AND OF THE SON IN RESPECT TO THE PERSONS FOR WHOSE BENEFIT THE ATONEMENT WAS MADE; that is, to whom in the making of it they intended it should be appled. We contend that the following heads absolutely exhaust every possible question as to what …
680 wordsSECTION 140THE QUESTION, WHAT IS THE TRUE RELATION WHICH THE PROBLEM AS TO THE NATURE OF THE ATONEMENT SUSTAINS TO THAT AS TO ITS DESIGN, EXAMINED.
demption, on the other hand, must agree in maintaining that God provided the Atonement for the good of all men indiscriminately, and that election comes in sub- ordinately to redemption, either conditioned on foreseen faith (so the Arminians), or as a sovereign purpose, upon the part of God, to make certain the success…
819 wordsSECTION 141STATEMENT OF DOCTRINE, 309
WAVING thus presented an accurate and, as I ¥ hope, clear statement of the real question in de- bate, between the representatives of different schools of theology, upon the topic in hand, I now proceed to discuss briefly the true relation which this question as to the design of the Atonement neces- sarily sustains to t…
662 wordsSECTION 142STATEMENT OF DOCTRINE. 341
- rations of the Holy Spirit, and all the fruits thereof; * and yet they hold that Christ died in this sense indis- cruminately in behalf of all men. There is no doubt that the great mass of learned and able Lutheran theo- logians have explicitly held both of these views. This is certainly a practical proof that both s…
809 wordsSECTION 143OPINION OF CALVINISTS. 345
Calvinists, on the other hand, panes that an absolute Sovereign, in that eternity which is without beginning, end, or succession, foreordains whatsoever comes to pass. They acknowledge that if the decrees of God are eternal, they must be one, single, changeless, all-comprehending intention. They profess to believe that…
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for the elect. J enkyn claims that Bishop Davenant has sag triumphantly proved that the great Augustine himself, “the masterly champion of Pein against Pela- gius,” was an advocate of an indefinite Aiaaecent But Wiggers, one of the most capable and impartial witnesses that even Germany has produced in this century, in …
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Testardus, in connection with the theological school of ea Saumur, France, during the first half of the seventeenth century. The two latter, in whose writings this pecu- liarity was specially developed and made -ldle over and over again professed their cordial acquiescence with the rigidly Calvinistic deliverances of t…
685 wordsSECTION 146OPINION OF CALVINISTS. 351
This view represents God as loving the non-elect sufficiently to give them his Son to die for them, but not loving them enough to give them faith and repentance. It represents him as purposing that all men should be ‘saved on condition of faith—a condition known to be impossible ; and at the same time purposing that a …
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This excellent and orthodox book became the occasion of a protracted controversy, styled the ‘‘ Marrow Contro- versy,” which conspired with other and deeper causes to effect that alienation which issued in. the formation of the Secession Church. There were good and sound men on both sides; but the most eminent Christia…
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Now, doubtless, as held by these men, all this was consistent with strict orthodoxy. They meant no more than that, incidentally to his great design of saving the elect, and in order to that end, God had made certain provisions which were sufficient for all, adapted to each, and freely offered to all. But all their form…
796 wordsSECTION 149OPINION OF CALVIN. 359
The question we debate, and which the Reformed Church has decided, is as to the wntended application of the Atonement. If any man insists upon our abstracting that intended application, and considering apart from it the sufferings of Christ by themselves, we have no ob- jection to acknowledge that when considered apart…
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debate every competent theologian will confess. He _ declares the gift of Christ is the result of his infinite love to the persons for whom he is given;* that Christ really merits eternal life and all spiritual graces for those for whom he died ;+ that Christ is to us both the clear mirror and the pledge and security …
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362 THE DESIGN OF THE ATONEMENT. renton, the Westminster Assembly, the Formula Con- sensus Helvetica, the Savoy Confession, &c., &, &e. We lay it down, therefore, as a canon, which no student of historical theology will care to deny, that the COMMON CONSENT OF THE REFORMED CHURCHES, DURING THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY, AS …
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personal redemption of the elect to the exclusion of a general redemption of all. These parties admit that the Confession may be chargeable with the sin of omission, in respect to the failure to affirm that redemption is general and indefinite; but they deny that it affirms the contrary. It is said that the Confession …
689 wordsSECTION 153TRUTH OF THE REFORMED DOCTRINE. 369
The decrees of the Synod of Dort were accepted with unparalleled unanimity by all the Reformed Churches. They were adopted again and again by the National Synod of the Reformed Church of France; at Alez, in 1620; at Charenton, in 1623; and at every subsequent session until they ceased to meet. Again and again the Frenc…
778 wordsSECTION 154TRUTH OF THE REFORMED DOCTRINE. 371
(2.) We have also clearly proved that the work of Christ as our Substitute was a complete SATISFACTION, fully discharging all the demands of the law as a broken covenant of works. The demands of the law terminate upon persons. Its demands can be satisfied only with respect to certain definite persons, and not with resp…
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2. None of the advocates of a general and indefinite Atonement can believe that Christ purchased redemption, faith, or obedience, for those for whom he died; for in that case all for whom he died must repent, believe, and obey. But the Scriptures teach that Christ did purchase those blessings for those for whom he died…
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3, All the advocates of general redemption believe that Christ, moved by an impersonal and indiscriminate philanthropy, or love of men as such, died in order to make the salvation of all men possible to them on the condition of faith. But the facts of the case are—(a.) That Christ died after generations of men had been…
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5. The Scriptures habitually affirm that the MOTIVE which led the Father to give his Son, and the Son to die, was not a mere general philanthropy, but the highest, most peculiar and personal love. Christ’s true purpose in dying can certainly have no more exact and complete expression than his outpourings of soul in the…
865 wordsSECTION 158TRUTH OF THE REFORMED DOCTRINE. 381
Now, many plausible reasons may be assigned why, on the supposition of a personal and definite Atonement, general terms should be used on some occasions, to illus- trate the fact that the redemption is suited for all, suffi- cient for all, offered to all; that the elect are chosen out of every family, tribe, and nation…
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of the covenant, before the throne of grace in our behalf. cuarcer With ‘his own blood—to appear in oe presence of God __— for us’ (Heb, ix. 12, 24). So presenting himself that his former oblation might have its perpetual efficacy, until the many sons given him are brought to glory. And herein his intercession consiste…
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The hypothesis of a general and indefinite Atonement admits but of two distinct positions,—that of the Ar- minian, and that of the Calvinistic Universalist. Accord- ing to the Arminian view, the Father and the Son did all that properly belonged to either of them to do to secure the salvation of all men. The Holy Spirit…
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As to the warrant for the ministerial offer of salvation to all, it must be found alone in the great commission with which every minister is sent out by the authority of the Master himself. No matter what may be the nature or the design of the Atonement, no servant has any right to go back of his commission, and insist…
702 wordsSECTION 162390 | LYHE DESIGN OF THE ATONEMENT.
Viewing the matter from the stand-point of the Cal- vimstic Universalists, we challenge our opponents to show us wherein there is any more inconsistency with the good faith of the indiscriminate offer of an interest in the redemption of Christ upon our view that it was designed only for the elect, than there is upon th…
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2. It is claimed that that large class of Scripture passages in which in general terms it is said that Christ “suffered for all,” and gave his life for the “world,” expressly teach that the design of the Atonement was general and impersonal. These passages are such as the following: ‘For there is one God, and one Media…
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all men without exception have equal and free access to it. But the considerate interpreter, who understands the nature of this idiom, will never think of seeking, in expressions of this kind, proof of the final salvation of every individual of the human race. Nor do they, when strictly scanned by the usus loquendi …
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shall be saved. Yet in both cases the event is spoken of as conditional. There is not only a possibility, but an absolute certainty, that they will perish if they fall away. But this is precisely what God has promised to prevent.”* Falling away (a) is the natural tendency of the human heart, and (6) the natural result …
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Calvinistic Universalists, their position shown to be illogical, 384. Cameron, 346. Candlish, 331, 390, 391. Catechismus Romanus, 268. Charenton, the Synod of, 85. Christ the Substitute of his people, 71, 72, 151-153. Our sins were laid upon him, 157-165. He is the Surety, Head, and Advocate of his people, 191, 19…
786 wordsSECTION 167329, 336, 339, 358, 380,
Impetration, term defined, 38, 39. Of re- demption, how distinguished from ap- plication of the same, 39, 354. Of righteousness necessarily secures its ap- plication, 228, 229, 336, 370-373. Impreventability of sin, the theory of, 80, 81. Imputation of Adam’s sin, 84, 105. Im- mediate and antecedent, not mediate and …
785 wordsSECTION 168PALESTINE, SYRIA, AND BIBLE LANDS.
Realistic theory of our union with Adam, 93-100. Proved not to be the doctrine of the Reformed Churches, 95-98. Reatus, or guilt, definition of term, 38. Reconciliation of God to man, 166-170. Redemption, Biblical usage of the phrase, 176, 177. Not to be taken in a com- INDEX: mercial senso, 177, 178. - How relate…
783 wordsSECTION 169BIOGRAPHICAL VOLUMES.
The most Interesting and Valuable Work on the Holy Land ever Published. “THE LAND AND THE BOOK; or, Biblical Illustrations Drawn from the Manners and Customs, the Scenes and Scenery, of the Holy Land. By the Rev. W. M. THomson, D.D. Crown 8vo, 718 pages, with 12 Coloured Illustrations and 120 Woodcuts, Price 7s. 6d. c…
833 wordsSECTION 170BY THE REV. ISLAY BURNS, D.D.
Lives of the Great and Good. By JoserH Jounson, Author of “‘ Heroines of our Time,” &c. Post 8vo, cloth extra, gilt edges. Price 3s. 6d. ANNALS OF INDUSTRY AND GENIUS. By Miss C. L. BRIGHTWELL, Eight Illustrations, Cloth. Price 3s. 6d. OMANTIC INCIDENTS IN THE LIVES OF NATU- RALISTS AND CELEBRATED TRAVELLERS. By Mis…
833 wordsSECTION 171T. NELSON AND SONS, LONDON, EDINBURGH, AND NEW YORK.
View to the Delineation of Christian Faith and Life. With Notes, Chrono- logical Tables, Lists of Councils, Examination Questions, and other Illustrative Matter. (From A.D. 1 to A.D. 313 ) Crown 8vo, cloth antique, red edges. Price 5s. ““Vour able and eloquent ‘ History of the Church of Christ.’ ”—Rev. Dr. Kennedy, He…
688 wordsSource & rights
Public-domain historical work by A. A. Hodge, 1823–1886. OCR from an original historical scan hosted by Internet Archive; OCR may contain recognition errors.
Project Gutenberg source record →
Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.