PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
Outlines of Theology
A. A. Hodge, 1823–1886 · 184,090 words · 224 reading sections
ETERNAL SONSHIP OF CHRIST. 145
44. What passages in the Old Testament speak of the Son as a distinct person from the Father, and yet as divine ? In Ps. xlv., 6, 7, we have the Father addressing the Son as God, and anointing him. — See also Ps. ex., 1; Isa. xliv., 6, 7, 14. The prophecies always set forth the Messiah as a person dis- tinct from the…
788 wordsSECTION 62ETERNAL SONSHIP OF CHRIST. 147
The orthodox fathers used the phrase logos endiathetos to designate the Word, whom they held to be a distinct person, dwelling from eternity with the Father. The ground of their use of this phrase was a fanciful analogy which they conceived existed between the relation which the eternal logos (word, or reason),. (John …
849 wordsSECTION 63150 THE HOLY TRINITY.
There is evidently no inconsistency in the simple scriptural statement given in the answer to the last question. Heterodox controversialists, however, have claimed that there is a manifest inconsistency in the orthodox theory that the Father communi- cates to the Son the whole divine essence without alienating it from …
849 wordsSECTION 64152 THE HOLY TRINITY.
God is declared to have been made flesh, and therefore must have preexisted as Son. 2d. By the resurrection he was powerfully manifested to be the Son of God as to his divine nature. The phrases, according to the flesh, and according to the spirit of holi- ness, are evidently antithetical, designating severally the Lor…
866 wordsSECTION 65154 THE HOLY TRINITY.
We answer that in John iii., 13 the " Son of Man" is said to have come down from heaven, and to be in heaven. But surely Jesus, as Son of Man, was not omnipresent. In Acts xx., 28 God is said to purchase his church with his own blood ; but surely Christ, as God, did not shed his blood. The explanation of this is that i…
891 wordsSECTION 66156 THE HOLY TRINITY.
See Gal. iv., 6 ; Kom. viii., 9 ; Phil, i., 19 ; 1 Peter i., 11. As the form of expression is identical in the several phrases, Spirit of God, and Spirit of the Son, and as the Scriptures, with one exception, John xv., 26, uniformly predicate every thing of the relation of the Spirit to the Son, that they predicate of …
812 wordsSECTION 67158 THE HOLY TRINITY.
The famous Council of Nice, A. D. 325, while so accurately defining the doctrine of the Godhead of the Son, left the testi- mony concerning the Holy Ghost in the vague form in which it stood in the ancient creed, " in the Holy Ghost/' But the heresy of Macedonius, who denied the divinity of the Holy Ghost, having sprun…
812 wordsSECTION 68160 THE HOLY TRINITY.
They held, as above shown, that the eternal generation of the Son by the Father, and the eternal procession of the Holy Ghost from the Father and the Son involved in both instances the deri- vation of essence. They illustrated their idea of this eternal and necessary act of communication by the example of a luminous bo…
818 wordsSECTION 69162 THE HOLY TRINITY.
This party was so called as occupying middle ground between the Arians and the Orthodox. They held that the absolute, self- existent God was one. person, but that the Son was a divine per- son of a glorious essence, like to (oilolovolov') but not identical with (dfioovacov) that of the Father, and from eternity begot- …
831 wordsSECTION 70ETERNAL AND UNIVERSAL. 165
4th. The whole plan of redemption in all its parts is founded upon it. Justification, sanctification, adoption, and all else that makes the gospel the wisdom and power of God unto salvation, can be understood only in the light of this fundamental truth. 5th. As an historical fact it is beyond dispute that in whatever …
731 wordsSECTION 71NOT CONDITIONAL. 167
God has in the Scriptures foretold the certain occurrence of many events, including the free actions of men, which have after- wards surely come to pass. Now the ground of prophecy is fore- knowledge, and the foundation of the foreknowledge of an event as certainly future, is God's decree that made it future. The etern…
702 wordsSECTION 72NOT INCONSISTENT WITH MAN'S FREE AGENCY. 169
Calvinists admit that the all comprehensive decree of God de- termines all events according to their inherent nature, the actions of free agents as free, and the operation of necessary causes, neces- sarily. It also comprehends the whole system of causes and effects of every kind ; of the motives and conditions of free…
830 wordsSECTION 73GOD NOT THE AUTHOR OF SIN. 171
14. Hoio does this doctrine, that God's universal decree ren- ders the occurrence of all future events certain, differ from the ancient doctrine of fate ? 1st. The doctrine of fate supposed the certainty of events to be determined by a law of necessary causation, effecting its end irresistibly and irrespectively of th…
872 wordsSECTION 74PREDESTINATION.
3d. From the nature of man, who is a responsible free agent who originates his own acts. The Scriptures always attribute to divine grace the good actions, and to the evil heart the sinful ac- tions of men. 18. How may it be shown that the doctrine of unconditional decrees does not represent God as the author of sin ? …
852 wordsSECTION 75SUPRA-LAPSARIAN THEORY. 177
UpoytvcjoftG) is compounded of ttqo, before, and yiv6aKw, of which the primary sense is to know, and the secondary sense to approve, e. g., 2 Tim. ii., 19 ; John x., 14, 15 ; Rom. vii., 15. This word occurs five times in the New Testament. Twice, e. g., Acts xxvi., 5, and 2 Pet. ih\ 17, it signifies previous knowledge,…
881 wordsSECTION 76LUTHEREAN VIEW. 179
from the number of creatible, but from the mass of actually sin- ful men. — John xv., 19; Rom. xi., 5, 7. 3d. The Scriptures declare that the elect are chosen to sancti- fication, and to the sprinkling of the blood of Christ. They must therefore have been regarded when chosen as guilty and defiled by sin.— 1 Pet. i., …
800 wordsSECTION 77CONSISTENT WITH JUSTICE. 181
They held that God elected his own people to eternal life for Christ's sake. They appeal to Eph. i., 4, "According as he hath chosen us in him (Christ) before the foundation of the world." This view may evidently be construed either with the Arminian or the French theory of the decrees above stated, *. e., we were chos…
844 wordsSECTION 78ASSURANCE POSSIBLE. 183
Paul answers this objection by condescending to no appeal to human reason, but simply (1.) by asserting God's sovereignty as creator, and man's dependence as creature, and (2.) by asserting the just exposure of all men alike to wrath as sinners. — See Ana- lysis of chap, ix., 6-24, in Hodge's Com. on Komans. 17. How c…
844 wordsSECTION 79THE CREATION OF THE WORLD.
In respect to its positive element, reprobation is not sovereign, but simply judicial, because God inflicts misery in any case only as the righteous punishment of sin. " The rest of mankind God was pleased, according to the unsearchable counsel of his own will, to pass by, and to ordain them to dishonor and wrath for t…
788 wordsSECTION 80188 THE CREATION OF THE WORLD.
Among the ancient philosophers of every school it was uni- versally accepted as an indubitable axiom that the origination of any new existence out of nothing is impossible, *. e., ex nihilo nihil fit. All, therefore, theists and atheists alike, repudiated the idea of creation. Plato held that there are two eternal, sel…
736 wordsSECTION 81190 THE CREATION OF THE WOKLD.
1st. The Hebrew word translated create in Gen. i., 1, has a sense precisely equivalent to our word make, and it is the least indefinite term in the whole language that Moses could have selected if his purpose was to affirm the absolute creation of the world by God out of nothing. And a more limited sense can not ration…
590 wordsSECTION 82192 THE CREATION OF THE WORLD.
7th. Those among theistic thinkers who have been tempted to regard matter as eternal and self-existent, have been influenced by the vain hope of explaining thereby the existence of moral evil in consistency with the holiness of God. They would refer all the phenomena of sin to an essentially evil principle inherent in …
867 wordsSECTION 83194 THE CREATION OF THE WORLD.
2d. " Processes are now going on by which rocks are formed, on a small scale, of the same character as those which constitute the great mass of the earth. Hence it is fair to infer (1.) that all the rocks were formed in a similar manner. (2.) That by as- certaining the rate at which rocks are now forming we may form so…
776 wordsSECTION 84ANGELS.
the above method of reconciliation with the hypothesis that the term earth in Genesis did not signify the whole globe, but " the part of our globe which God was adapting for the dwelling-place of man and animals connected with him/' that is, "a large part of Asia, lying between the Caucasian Ridge, the Caspian Sea, and…
793 wordsSECTION 85SATAN. 199
Good angels (for evil spirits, see question 13) are designated in Scripture as to their nature, dignity and power, as " spirits/' Heb. i., 14 ; " thrones, dominions, principalities, powers, mights," Eph. i., 21, and Col. i., 16 ; " sons of God," Luke xx., 36 ; Job i., 6 ; " mighty angels," and " powerful in strength," …
871 wordsSECTION 86FALLEN ANGELS. 201
SATAN. 199 8. What are their employments ? 1st. They behold the face of G-od in heaven, adore the divine perfections, study every revelation he makes of himself in provi- dence and redemption, and are perfectly blessed in his presence and service. — Matt, xviii., 10 ; Kev. v., 11 ; 1 Pet. i., 12. 2d. God employs the…
819 wordsSECTION 87PROVIDENCE.
With respect to the souls of men, Satan and his angels are utterly destitute of any power either to change the heart or to coerce the will, their influence being simply moral, and exercised in the way of deception, suggestion, and persuasion. The de- scriptive phrases applied by the Scriptures to their working are such…
827 wordsSECTION 88PROVIDENCE.
All the various views respecting G-od's relation to the uni- verse entertained among men may be classed under one or other of the following heads, and in general terms stated as follows : 1st. The deistical, including those views which admitting more or less fully that, when Grod created the universe, he com- municate…
802 wordsSECTION 89208 PROVIDENCE.
3d. His infinite goodness makes it certain that he would not leave his sensitive and intelligent creatures to the toils of a me- chanical, soulless fate ; nor his religious creatures to be divorced from himself, in whose communion their highest life consists. 4th. His infinite righteousness makes it certain that he wi…
743 wordsSECTION 90DEFINITIONS. 211
It is not reasonable to object that God simply foresaw the event, and so prophesied, promised, or threatened it, because the event is frequently promised or threatened contingently, upon a condition which does not stand in the relation of a cause to that event. God could not foresee one event as contingent upon an- oth…
849 wordsSECTION 91DOCTRINE OF CONCURSUS. 213
3d. In his ordinary providence God does not change or coerce, hut rather preserves these properties in their integrity, and this order of nature. 4th. God, however, "both in the original constitution of the ma- terial elements, in the adjustment of them in their mutual rela- tions, and in his concurrent providential c…
870 wordsSECTION 92THE ORIGINAL STATE OF MAN.
23. What is the old doctrine of concursus, and the distinction betiveen u previous" and " simultaneous" concursus ? This was an attempt to construct a philosophical explanation of the truth upon this subject taught in Scripture, rather than a simple statement of that truth, or a legitimate deduction from it. It was a …
836 wordsSECTION 93218 THE ORIGINAL STATE OF MAN.
1. What is the general principle which it is always necessary to bear in mind while treating of the various faculties of the human soul ? The soul of man is one single indivisible agent, not an organ- ized whole consisting of several parts ; and, therefore, what we call its several faculties are rather the capacity of…
814 wordsSECTION 94220 THE OKIGINAL STATE OF MAN.
There is included in the doctrine of the will, 1st, that in the exercise of the faculty of volition, or self-decision, the soul truly originates action, i. e., acts as an original cause of its own acts, therein differing totally from all material causes, which act only as they are acted upon. This is the transcendental…
836 wordsSECTION 95222 THE ORIGINAL STATE OF MAN.
1st. That, being a spirit, he originates action. Matter acts only as it is acted upon. A man acts from the spring of his own active power. 2d. That, although a man may be forced by fear to will and to do many things which he would neither will nor do if it were not for the fear, yet he never can be made to will what h…
860 wordsSECTION 96CREATED HOLY. 225
10. What constitutes a virtuous and what a vicious char- acter ? Virtue, as denned in the answer to the last question, attaches FACULTIES OF THE SOUL. 223 only to the will of man (including all the conative faculties), 1st, to its permanent disposition; 2d, to its temporary affections; and, 3d, to its volitions. Som…
872 wordsSECTION 97CREATED HOLY. 227
2d. God pronounced all his works, man included, to be " very good," Gen. i., 31. The goodness of a mechanical provision is essentially its fitness to attain its end. The " goodness" of a moral agent can be nothing other than his conformity of will to the moral law. Moral indifFerency in a moral agent is itself of the n…
702 wordsSECTION 98ITS PAKTIES. 229
4th. It is also set forth by the same great writer as the "uni- versal judgment of men, that the goodness or badness of an act depends upon the goodness or badness of the disposition or affec- tion which prompted it. It is the moral state of the will (or heart, see Matt, vii., 17-20 and xh\, 33,) which makes the act of…
811 wordsSECTION 99ITS CONDITION. 231
From the nature of its " condition," perfect obedience, and to distinguish it from the covenant of grace, which secures the sal- vation of God's people independently of their works. It is also, though less frequently, called the covenant of life, because of its design, and of the promise which was attached to it. 6. W…
857 wordsSECTION 100NATURE OF SIN. 235
13. What is meant by the seal of a covenant, and what was the seal of the covenant of works ? A seal of a covenant is an outward visible sign, appointed by 232 COVENANT OF WORKS. God as a pledge of his faithfulness, and as an earnest of the bless- ings promised in the covenant. Thus the rainbow is the seal of the c…
889 wordsSECTION 10110. "■" -
It is not necessary that the conscious motive to the act should be positively sinful, it may be only morally indifferent, because the absence of right affections and omissions of duty are sins. Ability to fulfill the requirements of the law is not necessary to constitute the non-fulfilment sin. — See Chap. XVIII., que…
873 wordsSECTION 102IMPUTATION OF ADAM'S SIN. 239
the subot : his aa:::.l government, his sin must have instantly had the effect of (1.) displeasing and alienating God, and (2.) de- pravin his wn souL 2:1 In ta; i:oa;at relatiin whith Adam sustained :: - 1 the penalty : the covenant of works was incurred, i. e., death inclulm. 1 mirtality ■:: b: ay. 2 lOTuytiiu ::s:u…
848 wordsSECTION 103IMPUTATION OF ADAM'S SIN. 241
Sin is used in the sense of, 1st, the wrong moral condition or character of the will or heart ; 2d, an act transgressing moral law ; 3d, guilt, or legal responsibility for that which has trans- gressed law. In the first and second senses, sin can be imputed only to the sinful agent himself. In the third sense, of legal…
895 wordsSECTION 104SIN.
22. How is this doctrine of imputation involved in the doc- trine of justification ? The doctrine of the substitution of Christ in the place of his elect, of the imputation of then sins to him, and of his righteous- ness to them, is the central doctrine of the gospel, involving all that is taught us concerning satisfa…
846 wordsSECTION 105ORIGINAL SIN.
28. What is the theory which assumes that the sin of Adam was literally and strictly the sin of the whole race, and what are the principal objections to it ? This is identical with the realistic theory, so prominent in scholastic theology and mediseval philosophy, which assumes that universals as genera, species, etc.…
828 wordsSECTION 106NOT DISEASE. 249
2d. That it consists primarily in the mere supremacy of the sensual part of our nature. It is a depraved habit or bias of will. 3d. That it consists solely in the absence of holy dispositions, because, from the inherent activity of the soul, sin exhibits itself from the beginning in the way of a positive proneness to …
884 wordsSECTION 107ORIGINAL SIN.
1st. It follows from the inherent activity of the human soul, and from the inherently obliging power of moral right that the absence of right dispositions immediately leads to the formation of positively sinful dispositions. Not to love God is to hate him, 250 ORIGINAL SIN. not to obey him is to disobey. Disobedience…
848 wordsSECTION 108254 ORIGINAL SIN.
4th. There remains no recuperative element in the soul. Man can only and for ever become worse without a miraculous recre- ation. 9. What proof of the doctrine of original sin may be derived from the history of the Fall ? God created man in his own image, and pronounced him as a moral agent to be very good. He threat…
861 wordsSECTION 109256 ORIGINAL SIN.
The penalty of the law was death, including death spiritual, physical, and moral. Physical death is universal ; eternal death, temporarily suspended for Christ's sake, is denounced upon all the impenitent. As one part of the penalty has taken effect, even upon infants, who have never been guilty of actual transgression…
859 wordsSECTION 110SIN AGAINST THE HOLY GHOST. 259
The semi-Pelagian theory of Dr. Taylor may be disproved by the facts, 1st. That infants die, are baptized, and must be re- deemed before the commencement of moral agency. — See above, questions 16-19. 2d. The Scriptures declare this corruption to be hereditary and innate. — Ps. li., 5 ; lviii., 3 ; John iii., 6 ; Eph. …
809 wordsSECTION 111262 FREE AGENCY.
These passages appear to teach that this sin consists in the malicious rejection of the blood of Christ, and of the testimony of the Holy Ghost against evidence and conviction. It is called the sin against the Holy Ghost because he is immediately present in the heart of the sinner, and his testimony and influence is di…
808 wordsSECTION 112264 FREE AGENCY.
There are often several conflicting desires, or impelling affec- tions in the mind at the same time, in which case the strongest desire, or the strongest group of desires, drawing in one way, de- termine the volition. That which is strongest proves itself to be such only by the result, and not by the intensity of the f…
831 wordsSECTION 113266 FREE AGENCY.
The true theory of moral certainty, on the other hand, is that the soul is a unit ; that the will is not self-determined, but that man, when he wills, is self-determined ; and that his volition is certainly determined by his own internal, rational, moral, emo- tional state at the time, viewed as a whole. In opposition…
840 wordsSECTION 114268 ABILITY.
An unregenerate man often does heartily desire to avoid the penalty of God's law, and consequently, through fear of the con- sequences of his sin, may be said to desire to eradicate the preva- lent principle of sin from his heart. He may even, as a matter of taste and judgment, desire to obey the law of God in certain …
849 wordsSECTION 115THE COVENANT OF GRACE.
The Scriptures declare that by nature all men, without excep- tion, are dead in sin. That the affections are depraved. That the wicked man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil. Christ died for us while we were without strength. Sinners are the servants of sin. Men are said to be subje…
759 wordsSECTION 116272 THE COVENANT OF GRACE.
Thus the disposition made by God with the ancient church through Moses, the Old contrasted in the New Testament with the New diadrjitv (Gal. iv., 24), was really a covenant, both civil and religious, formed between Jehovah and the Israelites, yet alike in its legal element, " which was added because of trans- gressions…
806 wordsSECTION 117274 THE COVENANT OF GRACE.
As embraced under one or other of these two great covenants of works or of grace, every man in the world stands in God's sight. It is to be remembered, however, that in the several dis- pensations, or modes of administration of the eternal covenant of grace, Christ has contracted various special covenants with his peop…
861 wordsSECTION 118276 THE COVENANT OF GRACE.
5. In what sense is Christ said to be the mediator of the cove- nant of grace ? Christ is mediator of the eternal covenant of grace because, 1st. As the one mediator between God and man, he contracted it. 2d. As mediator, he fulfills all its conditions in behalf of his people. 3d. As mediator, he administers it and di…
786 wordsSECTION 119MOSAIC DISPENSATION. 279
God offers it to all men, and that he actually contracts it with all believers. 2d. As to its promises, that they include all the tem- poral and eternal benefits of Christ's redemption. 3d. As to its conditions, that God now graciously accepts faith and evangelical obedience for righteousness, in the place of that perf…
835 wordsSECTION 120282 THE PERSON OF CHEIST.
1st. The promise given during the preceding period, (Gen. iii., 15,) is now renewed in the form of a more definite covenant, re- vealing the coming Saviour as in the line of Abraham's posterity through Isaac, and the interest of the whole world in his salva- tion is more fully set forth, Gen. xvii., 7 ; xxii., 18. This…
872 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.
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Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.