PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
Systematic Theology — Volume 2
Hodge, Charles, 1797–1878 · 339,329 words · 411 reading sections
§2.] DEFINITION OF TERMS. 293
infallibly determined by their character to holiness, yet fallen men and saints are admitted to be free. Ability may be lost, yet lib- erty remain. The former is lost since the fall. Restored b}^ grace, as they say, it is to be again lost in that liberty to good which is identical with necessity. If liberty and ability…
1,457 wordsSECTION 182Part 182
doctrine of contingency. All Augustinians maintain that a free act may be inevitabh' certain as to its occurrence. All Anti- Augustinians, whether Pelagians, Semi-Pelagians, or Arminians, and most moral philosophers and metaphysicians, take the opposite ground. They teach that as the will has a self-determining power i…
440 wordsSECTION 183§3.] CERTAINTY CONSISTENT WITH LIBERTY. 2137
tiite free agency, because that is found in brutes, in idiots, and in maniacs. There is no dispute as to wliat is meant by reason as one of the elements of free agency ; and so far as activ^e power, which is its second element, is concerned, it is agreed that it means or in- cludes efficiency. In other words, it is agr…
996 wordsSECTION 184§ 3.J CERTAINTY CONSISTENT WITH LIBERTY. 299
of the oaitli wlio did not sin. When we look on a new-born Infant we know tluit whatever may be uncertain in its future, it is abso- hitely, inevitably certain that, should it live, it will sin. In every aspect, therefore, in which we can contemplate free agency, wliether in Gotl, in the human nature of Christ, in the …
942 wordsSECTION 185§3.] CERTAINTY CONSISTENT WITB. LIBERTY. 301
all things are foreseen all things are inevitably certain as to their occurrence. This is granting all any Augustinian need demand. 2. Another doctrine held by a largo part of the Christian world in all ages which of necessity precludes the doctrine of contingency, is that of the foreordination of future events. Those…
921 wordsSECTION 186§ 3.] CERTAINTY CONSISTENT WITH LIBERTY. 303
The Argument from Consciousness. A third argnnieiit on this subject is derived from consciousness. It is conceded tliat every man is conscious of hberty in his volun- tary acts. It is conceded further that this consciousness proves the fact of free agency. Tiie validity of this argument uT'ged by tiie advocates of cont…
1,537 wordsSECTION 187Part 187
The axiom that every effect must liave a cause, or the doctrine of a sufficient reason, applies to the internal as well as to the extei-- nal world. It governs the whole sphere of our experience, inward and outward. Every volition is an effect, and therefore must have had a cause. There must have been some sufficient r…
391 wordsSECTION 188§ 3.] CERTAINTY CONSISTENT WITH LIBERTY. 307
a sufficient reason why it is, and is as it is." The efficiency of the agent, therefore, is not a sufficient reason for tlie volition being as it is. It is inconceivable that an undetermined cause sliould act one wav rather than another ; and if it does act thus without a sufficient reason, its action can be neither ra…
969 wordsSECTION 189§3.] CERTAINTY CONSISTENT WITH LIBERTY. 309
be true that moral character, in order to be the object of approba- tion or disapprobation, must be self-acquired. A man, therefore, may be justly accountable for acts which are determined by his character, whether that character or inward state be inherited, acquired, or induced by the grace of God.…
50 wordsSECTION 190PART III.— SOTERIOLOGY.
Under this head are included God's purpose and plan in rela- tion to the salvation of men ; the person and work of the Re- deemer ; and the application of that work by the Holy Spirit to the actual salvation of the people of God.…
44 wordsSECTION 191CHAPTER I.
THE PLAN OF SALVATION. § 1. Crod has such a Plan. The Scriptures speak of an Economy of Redemption ; the plan or purpose of God in relation to the salvation of men. They call it in reference to its full revelation at the time of the advent, the oiKovo/xta tot) TrXrjpwfxaTo^ rwv Kaipwv, " The economy of the fulness of …
776 wordsSECTION 192§1.] GOD HAS SUCH A PLAN. 315
plan stand to each other, is therefore very far from being a matter of idle speculation. It must determine our theology, and our the- ology determines our rehgion. Sow the Plan of Crod can he known. If there be such a preconceived divine scheme relating to the sal- vation of men ; and if the proper comprehension of th…
923 wordsSECTION 193§ 2.] SUPRALAPSARIANISM. 317
In the "Formula Consensus Helvetica," drawn up as the testimony of the Swiss churches in 1675, whose principal authors were Heid- egger and Turrettin, there is a formal repudiation of the supralap- sarian view. In the Synod of Dort, which embraced delegates from all the Reformed churches on the Continent and in Gr^at B…
1,466 wordsSECTION 194Part 194
1. That this view is self-consistent and harmonious. As all the decrees of God are one comprehensive purpose, no view of the rela- tion of the details embraced in that purpose which does not admit of their being reduced to unity can be admitted. In every great mech- anism, whatever the number or complexity of its parts…
367 wordsSECTION 195§4.] HYPOTHETICAL REDEMPTION. 321
predetermined to create the heavens and the earth to manifest his power, wisdom, and benevolence. Thirdly, it is used in theology generally to express the purpose of God in relation to the salvation of individual men. It includes the selection of one poi-tion of the race to be saved, and the leaving the rest to perish …
1,555 wordsSECTION 196Part 196
5. If, as Paul teaches (Rom. viii. 29, 30), foreknowledge pre- cedes predestination, and if the mission of Christ is the means of accomplishing the end of predestination, then of necessity predesti- nation to eternal life precedes the gift of Christ. Having, as we are taught in Eph. i. 4, 5, predestinated us to the ado…
312 wordsSECTION 197§ 5.] THE LUTHERAN DOCTRINE.
c\^' the Lutheran Church. This controversy was for a time authorita- tively settled by the " Form of Concord," which was adopted and enjoined as a standard of orthodoxy by the Lutherans. In this document both the doctrine of cooperation and that of absolute predestination were rejected. It taught the entire inability …
929 wordsSECTION 198§6.] THE REMONSTRANT DOCTRINE. 327
persevere in faith unto salvation. There is no predestination of unbeHevers unto death. § 6. The Remonstrant Doctrine. In the early part of the seventeenth century Arminius intro- duced a new system of doctrine in the Reformed churches of Hol- land, which was formally condemned by the Synod of Dort Avhich sat from No…
1,468 wordsSECTION 199Part 199
It is plain that the main point of difference between the later Lutheran, the Arminian, and the Wesleyan schemes, and that of Augustinians is, that according to the latter, God, and according to tlie former, man, determines who are to be saved. Augustine taught that out of the fallen family of men, all of whom might ha…
270 wordsSECTION 200§8.] THE AUGUSTINIAN SCHEME. 331
necessity the character of our religion, depend upon the view taken of this particular question. It is, therefore, a question of the high- est practical importance, and not a matter of idle speculation. § 8. The Augustinian Scheme. Preliminary Remarks. It is to be remembered that the question is not which view of th…
912 wordsSECTION 201§8.] THE AUGUSTINIAN SCHEME. 333
Statement of the Doctrine. The Augustinian scheme includes the following points : (1.) That the glory of God, or the manifestation of his perfections, is the highest and ultimate end of all things. (2.) For that end God purposed the creation of the universe, and the whole plan of providence and redemption. (3.) That H…
915 wordsSECTION 202§8.] THE AUGUSTINIAN SCHEME. 335
being transferred or substituted for another ; and tlie whole being complete and unimpeded in its action. Such is the order of God's working, that if you give a naturalist a single bone, he can con- struct the whole skeleton of which it is a part ; and such is the order of his plan of redemption, that if one of the gre…
959 wordsSECTION 203§8.] THE AUGUSTINIAN SCHEME. 837
and to cause it to minister to the production of good. And sec- ondly, He intervenes by his providence, and by the work of Christ and of the Holy Spirit, to save innumerable souls from the deluge of destruction. The Augustinian system, therefore, is nothing but the assumption that God intended in eternity what He actua…
1,427 wordsSECTION 204Part 204
themselves for that change, or to cooperate in its production, then all those systems which assume the ability of the sinner and rest the distinction between one man and another as to their being saved or lost, upon the use made of that ability, must be false. They are contrary to facts. They are inconsistent with what…
476 wordsSECTION 205§8.] THE AUGUSTINIAN SCHEME. 341
done in the case of the children of God after their regeneration. Imparting spiritual life is one thing; sustaining, controlling, and cherisliino- that life is another. If the Bible teaches that regenera- tion, or spiritual resurrection, is the work of the almighty power of God, analogous to that which was exercised by…
958 wordsSECTION 206§8.] THE AUGUSTINIAN SCHEME. 3^3
tion was devised for fallen man and not for fallen angels. (2.) It was a matter of grace that that plan was revealed to some portions of our race and not to others. (3.) The acceptance, or justifica- tion of every individual heir of salvation is a matter of grace. (4.) The work of sanctification is a work of grace, i. …
977 wordsSECTION 207§8.] THE AUGUSTINIAN SCHEME. 345
the Lord ; and promises that if thus trained in the way in which they should go, when they are old they will not depart from it. But it is not true that regeneration is the product of culture. Men can- not be educated into Christians, as they may be trained in knowl- edge or morals. Conversion is not the result of the …
971 wordsSECTION 208.?8.] THE AUGUSTINIAN SCHEME. 347
They are, therefore, perfectly safe. *' My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me : and I give unto them eternal life ; they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all ; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's han…
1,529 wordsSECTION 209Part 209
A third obvious remark is that these objections are subjective ; i. e., they derive all their force from the limitation of our powers and from the narrowness of our views. They assume that we are competent to sit in judgment on God's government of the universe ; that we can ascertain the end which He has in view, and e…
353 wordsSECTION 210§9.] OBJECTIONS TO THE AUGUSTINIAN SCHEME. 351
maketh rich : He bringeth low, and lifteth up." (1 Sam. ii. 7.) " The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away ; blessed be the name of the Lord." (Job i. 21.) " It is He that giveth thee power to get wealth." (Deut. viii. 18.) " He giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding." (Dan. ii. 2…
932 wordsSECTION 211§9.] OBJECTIONS TO THP: AUGUSTINIAN SCFIEME. 353
is to lead us to seek that mercy with earnestness and importunity. And the experience of the Church in all ages proves that such is the actual effect of the doctrine in question. It has not led to neglect, to stolid unconcern, or to rebellious opposition to God, but to submission, to the acknowledgment of the truth, an…
73 wordsSECTION 212CHAPTER II.
THE COVENANT OF GRACE. § 1. The Plan of Salvation is a Covenant. The plan of salvation is presented under the form of a covenant. This is evident, — First, from the constant use of the words n"'"i2 and SiaO^KT] in jeference to it. With regard to the former of these words, al- though it is sometimes used for a law, di…
375 wordsSECTION 213§2.] DIFFERENT VIEWS OF THE COVENANT. 855
the word has this meaning when apphed to the transaction with Abraham and with the Hebrews, it must have the same meaning when apphed to the plan of salvation revealed in the gospel. Secondly, that the plan of salvation is presented in the Bible under the form of a covenant is proved not only from the signifi- cation …
931 wordsSECTION 214§3.] PARTIES TO THE COVENANT. 357
The word grace is used in Scripture and in ordinary religious writings in three senses, (1.) For unmerited love ; i. e., love exercised towards the undeserving. (2.) For any unmerited favoui-, especially for spiritual blessings. Hence, all the fruits of the Spirit in behevers are called graces, or unmerited gifts of Go…
905 wordsSECTION 215§4.] COVENANT OF REDEMPTION. 359
former, and is founded upon it. The two, however, ought not to be confounded, as both are clearly revealed in Scripture, and moreover they differ as to the parties, as to the promises, and as to the conditions. On this subject Turrettin says,^ " Atque hie su- perfluum videtur quaerere. An foedus hoc contractum fuerit c…
918 wordsSECTION 216§ 4.] COVENANT OF REDEMPTION. 361
thy plan. " By the which will," says tlie Apostle (Ileb. x. 10), " we are sanctified (i. e., cleansed from the guilt of sin), through the offerino- of the body of Jesus Christ once for all." Christ came, therefore, in execution of a purpose of God, to fulfil a work which had been assigned Him. He, therefore, in John xv…
952 wordsSECTION 217§6.] COVENANT OF GRACE. 363
the stipulations of the compact with the Father, two things follow. First, salvation is offered to all men on the condition of faith in Christ. Our Loi-d commanded his disciples to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. The gospel, however, is the offer of salvation upon the conditions of tlie c…
958 wordsSECTION 218§ 5.] COVENANT OF GRACE. 365
condition of the covenant of redemption. It was the meritorloua oTOund, laying a foundation in justice for the fulfilment of the promises made to Him by the Father. But in other cases, by condition we merely mean a siyie qua non. A blessing may be promised on condition that it is asked for ; or that there is a will- in…
1,542 wordsSECTION 219Part 219
That the promise was the same to those who lived before the advent that it is to us, is plain. Immediately after the fall God gave to Adam the pi'omise of redemption. That promise was contained in the prediction that the seed of the woman should bruise the serpent's head. In this passage it is clear that the ser- pent …
292 wordsSECTION 220§ 6.] THE IDENTITY OF THE COVENANT OF GRACE. 369
further included in the prediction than when it is said that " salva- tion is of the Jews." In all these and similar cases we have two guides as to the real meaning of the Spirit. The one is found in subsequent and explanatory declarations of the Scriptures, the other is in the fulfilment of the predictions. We know fr…
967 wordsSECTION 221§ 6.] THE IDENTITY OF THE COVENANT OF GRACE. 371
of his death that men were saved before, as well as after his advent. The Apostle Paul says (Rom. iii. 25), that Christ was set forth as a propitiation for the remission of sins, not only ei- tw pw Kaipw but also of the sins committed before the present time, during the forbearance of God. And in Heb. ix. 15, it is sti…
981 wordsSECTION 222§7.] DIFFERENT DISPENSATIONS. 373
dispensation was an adumbration of the New, and that it loses all its value and import if its reference to Christ be ignored. To deny, therefore, that the faith of the Old Testament saints was a faitii in the Messiah and his redemption, is to deny that they had any knowl- edge of the import of the revelations and promi…
881 wordsSECTION 223§ 7.] DIFFERENT DISPENSATIONS. 375
religion were enjoined. A priesthood and a complicated system of sacrifices were introduced. The promises were rendered more defi- nite, settincr forth more clearly by the instructions of the propliets the person and work of the coming Redeemer as the prophet, priest, and kino- of his people. The nature of the redempti…
935 wordsSECTION 224§ 7.] DIFFERENT DISPENSATIONS. 377
S[)irit of trutli, to abide with his people, to guide them into the knowledge of the truth, and to convince tlie world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment to come. He charged the Apostles to remain at Jerusalem until they had received this power from on hio-h. And in explanation of the events of the day of Pentec…
260 wordsSECTION 225PERSON OF CHRIST.
§ 1. Preliminary Remarks. 1. The most mysterious and the most familiar fact of conscious- ness and experience is the union of soul and body in the constitution of our nature. According to the common faith of mankind and of the Church, man consists of two distinct substances, soul and body. By substance is meant that w…
366 wordsSECTION 226§1.] PRELIMINAKY REMARKS. 379
tion, a union of contact or in space. The soul does not dwell in the body as a man dwells in a house or in his garments. The body is part of himself, and is necessary to his completeness as a man. He is in every part of it, and is conscious of the slightest change in the state of even the least important of its members…
988 wordsSECTION 227§ 2.] THE SCRIPTURAL FACTS. 381
one to the other as naturally and as easily as they do when speaking of man as mortal and immortal, or as corporeal and as spiritual. Thirdly, there are certain passages of Scriptui-e in which the doc- trine of the incarnation is formally presented and dogmatically asserted. First Argument, all the Elements of the Doc…
885 wordsSECTION 228§2.] THE SCRIPTURAL FACTS. 383
Christ. In the second place, besides this negative proof, the Bible affords all the evidence of the individual personality of our Lord that the case admits of. He always says I, me, mine. He is always addressed as Thou, thee, thine. He is always spoken of as He, his, him. It was the same person to whom it was said, " T…
1,594 wordsSECTION 229Part 229
6. In Hebrews ii. 14, the same doctrine concerning the person of Christ is clearly taught. In the first chapter of that Epistle the Son is declared to be the brightness of the Father's glory and the express image of his substance (i. e., of what the Father is). By Him the worlds were made. He upholds all things by the …
378 wordsSECTION 230§8.] THE HYPOSTATICAL UNION. 387
person. Hence the Church has been constrained to teach what the Bible doctrine involves : first, as to the nature of the union of the two natures in Chi'ist ; and secondly, as to the consequences of that union. § 3. The Hypostatical Union. Two Natures in Christ. There is a union. The elements united are the divine a…
898 wordsSECTION 231§8.] THE HYPOSTATICAL UNION. 389
hominibus consubstantialem, et per omnia similem, peccato ex- c-epto." Therefore the theologians teach,^ " Natura divina est es- sentia divina, qua Christus Patri et Spiritui Sancto coessentialis est. Natura humana est essentia seu substantia humana, qua Christus nobis hominibus coessentialis est." Or as stated in the …
914 wordsSECTION 232§8.] THE HYPOSTATICAL UNION. 391
Son of God with our nature constitutes Him one person. And aa in man the personaHty is in the soul and not in the body, so the personaHty of Clirist is in the divine nature. Both of these poiurs are abundantly evident from Scripture. The forme'r, or the unity of Christ's person, has already been proved ; and the latter…
963 wordsSECTION 233§4.] CONSEQUENCES OF THE HYPOSTATICAL UNION. 393
3. Passaofes in which the person is the subject, but the predicate is true only of the human nature. As when Christ said, " I thirst; " "My soul is sorrowful even unto death." And when we read that " Jesus wept.'' So all those passages which speak of our Lord as walkiiKT, eating, and sleeping; and as being seen, touche…
994 wordsSECTION 234§4.] CONSEQUENCES OF THE HYPOSTATICAL UNION. 395
digestion and assimilation; and such as are mixed, {. e., both mental and corporeal, as all voluntary acts, as speaking, writing, etc. Yet all are equally the acts of the man. It is the man who thinks, who digests his food, and who speaks. So of the acts of Christ. Some are purely divine, as creation and preservation ;…
922 wordsSECTION 235§5.] ERRONEOUS VIEWS OF THE PERSON OF CHRIST. 397
eternal life. For it is not they who live, but Christ who liveth in them. (Gal. ii. 20.) The life of the believer is not a corporate life, conditioned on union with any outward or<ranization, called the Church, for whosoever calls on the name of the Lord, that is, whosoever religiously worships Him and looks to Him as …
924 wordsSECTION 236§ 5.] ERRONEOUS VIEWS OF THE PERSON OF CHRIST. 399
among themselves, and were divided into different classes. Some liad mino-led with their Jewish opinions more or less of the ele- ments of the Gnostic philosophy. This was the more natural, as many of the teachers of Gnosticism were Jews. The fathers, therefore, speak both of Jewish, and of Gnostic Ebionites. So far as…
911 wordsSECTION 237§ 5.] ERRONEOUS VIEWS OF THE PERSON OF CHRIST. 401
Christ be God, or the divine Logos, He must have an infinite intelligence and an almighty will. If a perfect man. He must have a finite intelligence and a human will. How then can He be one person ? This is indeed incomprehensible ; but it involves no con- tradiction. Apollinaris admitted that the "/'^x'; and ■rrvf.vfx…
899 wordsSECTION 238§ 5.] ERRONEOUS VIEWS OF THE PERSON OF CHRIST. 403
about Christ was divine, even his body.^ The opposition between the Syrian and Egyptian bishops (Antioch and Alexandria) be- came so pronounced, that any distinction of natures in Christ was by the latter denounced as Nestorianism. It was Eutyches, how- ever, a presbyter of Constantinople, one of the most strenuous ad-…
944 wordsSECTION 239§6.] DOCTRINE OF THE REFORMED CHURCHES. 405
Scriptures, and separated Him so far from his people that He could not sympathize with them in their temptations. The effort of Herachus therefore proved abortive, and the controversy continued with unabated acrimony, until finally the sixth general council held at Constantinople, A. D. 681, authoritatively decided in …
822 wordsSECTION 240§ 7.] LUTHERAN DOCTRINE. 407
It thus appears that the Reformed distinctly rejected all the errors concerning the person of Christ, condemned in the early Church ; the Arian, the Ebionitic, the Gnostic, the -Apollinarian, the Nestorian, the Eutychian, and the Monothelite, as well as the peculiar Lutheran doctrine introduced at the time of the Refor…
852 wordsSource & rights
Public-domain historical edition (1876). Text from OCR of an original Internet Archive scan; OCR may contain recognition errors.
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Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.