PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
Systematic Theology — Volume 1
Hodge, Charles, 1797–1878 · 293,425 words · 364 reading sections
§ 10, E THE POWER OF GOD. 411
therefore, in relation to God there can be no distinction between the actual and the possible. Nothing is possible but the actual ; and all that is possible becomes actual. Strauss ^ says, after Schleierina- cher,^ that by the omnipotence of God is to be understood " not only that all that is has its causaHty in God, b…
898 wordsSECTION 242§ 11.] HOLINESS. 413
does, and what He is able to do. "With Him all things are pos- sible. He is able of stones to raise up children unto Abraham. He can send me, says our Lord, twelve legions of angels. 4. As this is the doctrine of the Bible, it is the instinctive judg- jmeiit_pf Jhe liumanjtnind.. It is a" perfection in us, that we can…
1,414 wordsSECTION 243Part 243
The word justice, or i-ighteousness, is used in Scripture some- times in a wider and sometimes in a more restricted sense. In theology, it is often distinguished as justitia interna, or moral excellence, and justitia externa, or rectitude of conduct. In Hebrew p"«T2 means, in a physical sense, straight ; and in a moral…
407 wordsSECTION 244§ 12, B, C] JUSTICE. 41T
and darkness are .round about Him : righteousness and judgment are the habitation of his throne." (Ps. xcvii. 2.) Notwithstand- ing all the apparent inequalities in the distribution of his favours ; notwithstanding the prosperity of the wicked and the afflictions of the righteous, the conviction is everywhere expressed…
863 wordsSECTION 245§ 12, D.] JUSTICE. 419
the world. It is the common doctrine of jurists. It is, of course, to be conceded that the good of society and of the moral govern- ment of God, is one important end of punishment in all govern- ments, human or divine. It is, however, rather an important col- lateral effect of the administration of justice, than its im…
860 wordsSECTION 246§ 12, D.] JUSTICE. 421
Argument from the Religious Experience of Believers. 2. This sense of justice, which is indestructible in the nature of man, and which, in common with reason and conscience, has sur- vived the Fall, is not only revealed in the ordinary experience of men, but still more distinctly in their religious consciousness. What…
928 wordsSECTION 247§ 12, D.] JUSTICE. 423
meaning. A thing may be wise or unwise, expedient or inexpedi- ent, but in no otlier sense right or wrong. Wrong becomes right, and right becomes wrong, as the gi'eater amount of happiness flows from the one or from the other. As this utilitarian theory of mor- als has been banished from the schools of philosophy, it s…
881 wordsSECTION 2488 12, E. JUSTICE. 425
those terms signify in us. The modern philosophy, however, teaches that, if God be an absolute Being, thinking, feeling, will- ing, and acting are inconsistent with his nature. Hence, — 1. Some teach that God is only the original ground of being, having in Himself no distinctive attributes. What we call the attributes…
955 wordsSECTION 249§ 13, A.] GOODNESS. 427
self-acting laws, but to an intelligent, personal God, to whom we are accountable for our character and conduct, and who rewards and punishes his creatures according to their works. V As a philosophical theory, this doctrine is much below the stand- \ ard of the German theologians. For they, as far as they are Theists…
836 wordsSECTION 250§ 18, B.] GOODNESS. 429
tliere be no feeling in God, there can be no love. That He pro- duces happiness is no proof of love. The earth does tliat uncon- sciously and without design. Men often render otliers happy from vanity, from fear, or from caprice. Unless the production of hap- piness can be referred, not only to a conscious intention, b…
973 wordsSECTION 251§ 18, B.] GOODNESS. 481
man. As in a forest, we see trees of every shape and size, per- fectly and imperfectly developed, and this diversity is itself a good ; so among men there are some more, and some less conformed to the ideal standard of reason and right, but this is not an evil. It is only diversity of development ; the manifold forms o…
924 wordsSECTION 252S18,B.] GOODNESS. 438
world is indebted to wars for the preservation of civil and religious liberty, for which they are a small price. Better have war than lose the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free. Thus, if sin be the necessary means of the greatest good, it ceases to be an evil, on the whole, and it is perfectly consistent with t…
926 wordsSECTION 253S 18, B.] GOODNESS. 435
declaring that the hearts of men are in his hand, and that He turns them as the rivers of water ; that He makes his people willing in the day of his power, working in them to will and to do, according to his good pleasure ; it is so inconsistent with the promise to give repentance and faith, with the assertion of his p…
940 wordsSECTION 254$14.] TKUTH. 437
the true God, because He is really God, while the gods of the heathen are vanity and nothing, mere imaginary beings, having neither existence nor attributes. (2.) The true is that which completely comes up to its idea, or to what it purports to be. A true man is a man in whom the idea of manhood is fully realized. The …
893 wordsSECTION 255§ 14.J TRUTH. 439
.... As the ascription of veracity to God arises out of what we observe in ourselves, it bears the impress of anthropomorphism, and has no claim to scientific recognition." ^ He further objects to the ascription of truth to God, in the ordinary sense of that term, because God works uniformly according to law, and there…
922 wordsSECTION 256§15.] SOVEREIGNTY. 441
in his hands. He determines when, where, and under what cir- cumstances each individual of our race is to be born, hve, and die. Nations, no less than individuals, are thus in the hands of God, who assigns them their heritage in the earth, and controls their destiny. (4.) God is no less sovereign in the distribution of…
293 wordsSECTION 257THE TRINITY.
§ 1. Preliminary Remarks. The doctrine of the Trinity is peculiar to the religion of the Bible. The Triad of the ancient world is only a philosophical statement of the pantheistic theory which underlies all the religions of antiquity. With the Hindus, simple, undeveloped, primal being, without consciousness or attribu…
367 wordsSECTION 258§ 2, A.] BIBLICAL FORM OF THE DOCTRINE. 443
the subjective sense of that word) of all true Christians. It is the unconscious, or unformed faith, even of those of God's people who are unable to understand the term by which it is expressed. They all believe in God, the Creator and Preserver against whom they have sinned, whose justice they know they cannot satisfy…
900 wordsSECTION 259§2, A.] BIBLICAL FORM OF THE DOCTRINE. 445
according to the Scriptures, (a.) Thcat the Father is first, the Son second, and the Spirit tliird. (5.) Tlie Son is of the Fatlier (e/c Beov, the Aoyos, dKwv, aTravyaa/xa, rov 6env) ; and the Spirit is of the Father and of the Son. (<?.) The Father sends the Son, and the Father and Son send tlie Spirit, (c?.) The Fa…
927 wordsSECTION 260§2, B.] BIBLICAL FORM OF THE DOCTRINE. 447
head, then such forms of expression can hardly fail to be recognized as having their foundation in that great truth. 2. Much more important, however, is the fact, that not only in Genesis, but also in all the early books of Scripture, we find a distinction made between Jehovah and the angel of Jehovah, who himself is …
869 wordsSECTION 261§3, B.] BIBLICAL FOKM OF THE DOCTRINE. 449
God, its adaptation tQ general use is to be attributed. A truth often lies in the mind of the Church as an object of faith, long before it is wrought out in its doctrinal form ; that is, before it is analyzed, its contents clearly ascertained, and its elements stated in due rela- tion to each otlier. When a doctrine so…
903 wordsSECTION 262§S,B.] BIBLICAL FORM OF THE DOCTEINE, 461
things. God, as thus manifested in the world, Philo called not only Aoyos, but also utos, etKwv, vlo's fj.ovoyevq';, 7rpoT6yovo<;, aKia, TrapaSety- /xa, Sofa, eTTLa-Trjfxr}, Oeov, and Seurcpos ©eo's. In the application of this philosophy to the doctrine of Christ, it was easy to make him the Aoyos ■n-pocjiopLKO';, to a…
896 wordsSECTION 263§ 4, A.] CHURCH FORM OF THE DOCTRINE. 453
that the principles of Origen were inconsistent with the true divin- ity of Christ. It was not long, therefore, before Arius, another presbyter of Alexandria, openly maintained that the Son was not eternal, but was posterior to the Father ; that He was created not from the substance of God, but ck ovk ovtwi/, and there…
929 wordsSECTION 2645 4, A.] CHURCH FORM OF THE DOCTRINE. 455
regard to the Son it was declared that He was of the same numerical essence with the Father ; He is truly God, possessing the same at- triljutes anJ entitled to the same homage. Thus explained, the word became an insuperable barrier against the adoption of the Nicene Creed by any who denied the true divinity of the Son…
894 wordsSECTION 265§4, B.] CHURCH FOBM OF THE DOCTRINE. 457
is, of the essence of the Father, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten and not made, consubstantial with the Father, by whom all things were made whether in heaven or on earth ; who for us men and our salvation came down from heaven ; and was incarnate and became man, suffered and rose again on th…
929 wordsSECTION 266§5, A, B.] CHURCH FORM OF THE DOCTRINE. 459
tains allusions to subsequent controversies concerning the person of Christ, it is naturally referred to some period between the mid- dle of the fifth and the middle of the sixth centuries. Although not issued with the authority of any Council, it was soon univer- sally admitted in the West, and subsequently in the Eas…
870 wordsSECTION 267§ 5, C] CHURCH FOEM OF IHE DOCTRINE. 161
Spirit, there can be no inferiority of one person to the other in the Trinity. Neither does it imply posteriority ; for the divine essence common to the several persons is self-existent and eternal. The subordination intended is only that which concerns the mode of subsistence and operation, implied in the Scriptural f…
898 wordsSECTION 268§ 6, A.] CHURCH FORI^I OF THE DOCTRINE. 463
prehensive than tlie latter, it may be expedient to speak of them in order, although what belongs to the one head, in a good degree belongs also to the other. The ambiguity of the word 6fxoovai.o<; has already been remarked upon. As ovma may mean generic nature common to many indi- viduals, not unum in numero, but ens…
930 wordsSECTION 269§ 6, A.] CHURCH FORM OF THE DOCTRINE. ' 465
Nicene Creed for what it teaches on that &i!')ioLt. It does not go beyond the facts of Scripture. But llie iiilljris v/mo framed that creed, and those by whom it was defended, {o<[ go o^'vond those facts. They endeavoured to explain wlipt av.is ilie n:Miiie of that subordination. While denying to the Father any priorit…
975 wordsSECTION 270§6, A.] CHUECH FORM OF THE DOCTRINE. 467
ut in Patre sit principium et origo : quoties mentio sit Patris et Filii siniul, vel Spiritus, nomen Dei peculiariter Patri tribuitur. Hoc modo retinetur unitas essentias et habetur ratio ordinis, qusB tarnen ex Filii et Spiritus deitate nihil minuit : et certe quum ante visum fuerit Apostolos asserere Filiurn Dei iliu…
877 wordsSECTION 271§6,B.] CHURCH FORM OF THE DOCTRINE. 469
theismum. Essentia quidem generando cominunicatur; sed gener- atio, ut a Persona fit originaliter, ita ad Personam ierminatur." This is the common mode of I'epresentation. 2. Tliis generation is said to be eternal. " It is an eternal movement in the divine essence." 3. It is by necessity of nature, and not by the wil…
984 wordsSECTION 272§6, C] CHURCH FORM OF THE DOCTRINE. 471
person who had healed the impotent man, and who with eqnal pro- priety could be called God or man, because He was both God and man. What the passage teaches, therefore, concerns the consti- tution of Christ's person as He appeared on earth, and not the nature of the relation of the Father and Son in the Godhead. C. Et…
1,013 wordsSECTION 273§6, C] CHURCH FORM OF THE DOCTRINE. 473
the light and hfe of men, and that He became flesh, and revealed his glory as the Son of God. Here it is plain that the Logos or Word is declared to be the Son. And in the eighteenth verse of that chapter it is said, " No man hath seen God at any time ; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father (6 wv €…
954 wordsSECTION 274§6, C] CHURCH FORM OF THE DOCTRINE. 475
so designated. But this is no argument to prove that the Logos may not in a far higher sense be called the Son of God. 2. The passage in question, however, need not be understood of an event which occurred in time. Its essential meaning is, " Thou art my Son, now art thou my Son." The occasion referred to by the words…
953 wordsSECTION 275§6,1).] CHURCH FORM OF THE DOCTRINE. 477
It need hardly be remarked that no A^alid objection to the doc- trine of the eternal Sonship of Christ, or, that He is Son as to his divine nature, can be drawn from such passages as speak of the Son as being less than the Father, or subject to Him, or even ignorant. If Christ can be called the Lord of glory, or God, w…
949 wordsSECTION 2765 7.] PHILOSOPHICAL FORM OF THE DOCTRINE. 479
reason to expect something in the constitution of our nature answer- ing to the Trinity in the Godhead. He refers to the memory, intelhgence, and will, as co-existing in one mind, so that the opera- tions of the one are involved in the operations of the others. Greg- ory of Nyssa refers for his illustration to the soul…
918 wordsSECTION 277§ 7»] PHILOSOPHICAL FORM OF THE DOCTRINE. 481
of the Trinity in ourselves ; as we are formed in the image of God, we have the right to conceive of God according to the analogy of our own nature. As distinction of persons is necessary to self- consciousness in us, so also in God. Therefore, if God be not a Trinity, He cannot be a person. How, lie asks, can God from…
712 wordsSECTION 278THE DIVINITY OF CHRIST.
§ 1. Testimony of the Old Testament. The doctrine of redemption is the distinguishing doctrine of the Bible. The person and work of the Redeemer is therefore the great tlieme of the sacred writers. From the nature of the work which He was to accomphsh, it was necessary that He should be at once God and man. He must par…
824 wordsSECTION 279§ 1, A.] THE DIVINITY OF CHRIST. 486
and was glad, and as our Lord said, Before Abraham was I am. This proves that the person predicted as the seed of the woman and as the seed of Abraham, through whom redemption was to be effected, was to be both God and man. He could not be the seed of Abraham unless a man, and he could not be the Saviour of men unless …
1,442 wordsSECTION 280Part 280
esse ex numero creatorum existentium extra Dei essentiam, sed ex emanationibus, quss intra Dei essentiam subsistunt, sic in Tan- chiima explicari, quod sit Metatro7i, Prineeps faciei, John vi. 46." That the angel of Jehovah is a divine person, is further manifest from the account given in Exodus xxxii. and xxxiii. of w…
489 wordsSECTION 281§1, C] THE DIVINITY OF CHRIST. 489
as he had done to Gideon by causing fire to issue from a rock and consume the sacrifice which had been placed upon it. When Manoah knew that it was the angel of Jehovah, he said unto his wife, " We shall surely die, because we have seen God." C. Different Modes of explaining these There are only three methods on which…
1,397 wordsSECTION 282Part 282
The hundred and tenth Psalm is repeatedly quoted and ex- pounded in the New Testament, and applied to Christ to set forth tlie dignity of his person and the nature of his work. (1.) He is David's Lord. But if David's Lord, how can He be David's Son ? Tins was the question which Christ put to the Pharisees, in order to …
458 wordsSECTION 283§ 1, E.] THE DIVINITY OF CHRIST. 493
ful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, Father of Eternity, and Prince of Peace. (4.) His kingdom is everlasting and univei'sal. (5.) The consequences of his \dvent and dominion are such as flow only from the dominion of God. In the eleventh chapter we have an- other description of the perfection of his person and. of his kin…
942 wordsSECTION 284J 2, A.] THE DIVINITY OF CHEIST. 496
It is plain, even from this cursory review, that the Old Testa- ment clearly predicts the advent of a divine person clothed in oui nature, who was to be the Saviour of the world. He was to be the seed of the woman, the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Judah, of the house of David ; born of a virgin ; a man of sor- rows…
1,471 wordsSECTION 285Part 285
being. We are to exercise the same faith and confidence in Him that we do in God ; yield Him the same obedience, devotion, and homage. We find, therefore, that such is the case from the begin- ning to the end of the New Testament writings. Christ is the God of the Apostles and early Christians, in the sense that He is …
508 wordsSECTION 286§2,C.] THE DIVINITY OF CHKIST. 499
ing in the flesh. Hence such effects are ascribed to the knowledge of Christ, and to faith in Him ; such hopes are entertained of the glory and blessedness of being Avith Him, as would be impossible or irrational if Christ were not the true God. He is our lite. He that hath the Son hath life. He that believes on Hira s…
976 wordsSECTION 287|2, C] THE DIVINITY OF CHRIST. 501
Sis Control over all Creatures. The divine authority of Christ is manifest in the control which He claimed over all his people and over all creatures. All power was and is in his hands. His ministers are under his direction ; He sends one here and another there. All Paul's labors and journey- ings were performed under …
997 wordsSECTION 288§2,E.3 THE DIVINITY OF CHRIST. 503
ciples wherever they may be. He also promises to all who believe on Him, eternal life. He has power to quicken or to give life to as many as He will. " My sheep follow me, and I give unto them eternal life." " I will raise them up at the last day." " To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life." " Be …
953 wordsSECTION 289§8, A.] TH^E DIVINITY OF CHRIST. 505
Son who is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him. The Son, therefore, as the revealer of God, is the Word. The reason why John selected this designation of the divine nature of Christ, is not so easy to determine. It may indeed be said that there is ground for the use of the term in the usage of the Old Test…
1,523 wordsSECTION 290Part 290
knowledge of God. He Avho had seen Him had seen the Father also ; for He and the Father are one. He promised to send them the Holy Ghost to abide with them permanently ; and that He would manifest Himself to them as God manifests Himself to the saints, revealing to them his glory and love, and making them sen- sible of…
509 wordsSECTION 291§3, A.] THE DIVINITY OF CHRIST. 609
would be abhorrent to a Jew, who had even a superstitious rever- ence for the name of God, especially for the name Jehovah, and o Ku/Dios 6 Oeoi is equivalent to DTivS nin\ (^3.) The repetition of the pronoun /xoS also requires the passage to be considered as an address to Christ. The Epistles of St. John. In his epis…
970 wordsSECTION 292§3, B.] THE DIVINITY OF CHRIST. 511
blessings and honour and glory and power to Him that sitteth upon the throne and unto the Lamb forever and ever. The New Jeru- salem is the seat of his kingdom. He is its light, glory, and bless- edness. He again and again declares himself to be the Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last (i. e., the immutable and eter…
941 wordsSECTION 293§3,8."! THE DIVINITT OF CHRIST. 513
ing Spirit (Trvevfia ^woTTOLovv'), i. e., a Spirit having life in Himself, and a source of life to others. (1 Cor. xv. 45.) (9.) The proper object of supreme love, whom not to love, justly subjects the soul to eternal death. (1 Cor. xvi. 22.) (10.) The object of prayer (1 Coi\ xvi. 23), from whom grace is to be sought.…
969 wordsSECTION 294§3,B.3 THE DIVIMTT OF CHRIST. 515
ous body, according to the working whereby He is able even to subdue all things unto Himself, (iii. 21.) Colossians i. 15-20, is expressly designed to set forth the true Godhead of Christ in opposition to the errors springing from the emanation theory, which liad already begun to prevail in the churches of Asia Minor.…
965 wordsSECTION 295§8, B.] THE DIVINITY OF CHEIST. 617
The Pastoral Epistles. In Paul's pastoral epistles to Timothy and Titus, besides the ordinary recognition of the divinity of Christ found in almost every page of the New Testament, there are four passages in vv^hich, at least according to the common text and the most natural interpre- tation, he is directly called God…
981 wordsSECTION 296§8,B.] THE DIVINITY OF CHRIST. " 519
spicuity of the passage and the analogy of Scripture are concerned, are decidedly in favour of the common text. There is something remarkable in the passage ; it is brought in apparently as a quota- tion from a hymn, as some think, or from a confession of faith, as others suppose, at least, as a familiar formula in whi…
958 wordsSECTION 297§3,B.] THE DIVINITY OF CHRIST. 621
Imperfect and unsatisfactory as this survey necessarily is, it is enough to prove not only that the Scriptures teach the divinity of Christ, but that Christianity as a religion consists in the love, wor- ship, and service of the Lord Jesus, whose creatures we are, and to whom we belong by the still dearer relation of t…
66 wordsSECTION 298THE HOLY SPERIT.
§ 1. His Nature. The words n-l") and. -rrvevfxa are used in different senses, both lit- cial and figurative, in the sacred Scriptures. They properly mean wind, as when our Lord says, " The Truevfia bloweth where it hsteth ; " then any invisible power ; then immaterial, invisible agents, as the soul and angels ; then Go…
371 wordsSECTION 299§1, A.] THE HOLY SPIRIT. 623
spoken of " His Spirit," occur in all parts of Scripture from Gen- esis to Revelation. These and equivalent terms are evidently to be understood in the same sense throughout the Scriptures. If the Spirit of God which moved on the face of the waters, which strove with the antediluvians, which came upon Moses, which gave…
969 wordsSECTION 300§1, A.] THE HOLY SPIRIT. 525
2. We stand in relations to the Holy Spirit which we can sus- tain only to a person. He is the object of our faith. We believe on the Holy Ghost. This faith we profess in baptism. We are baptized not only in the name of the Father and of the Son, but also of the Holy Ghost. The very association of the Spirit in such a …
993 wordsSource & rights
Public-domain historical edition (1877). Text from OCR of an original Internet Archive scan; OCR may contain recognition errors.
Project Gutenberg source record →
Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.