PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
Systematic Theology — Volume 2
Hodge, Charles, 1797–1878 · 339,329 words · 411 reading sections
§6.] PROOF OF THE DOCTRINE. 521
for.ndation of the world ; given to Him of the Father, to redeem from the estate of sin and misery, into which it was foreseen our race would by transgression fall. It was for the accomplish- ment of this purpose of mercy that He assumed our nature, was born of a woman, and did and suffered all that He was called upon …
992 wordsSECTION 302§6.] PROOF OF THE DOCTRINE. 523
of the divine favour, which is his Hfe, and constantly receives from Him the gift of the Holy Spirit. So that the life that the believer lives, is Christ living in hira. Thus in the whole process of salva- tion the ideas of substitution, of representation, of Christ's being and doing for us, all tliat we are required t…
993 wordsSECTION 303§6.] PROOF OF THE DOCTRINE. 525
They rec^arded Him as made a curse for them ; as bearing their punishment, or "the chastisement of their peace." They received tlie " sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ," as the only mean? of being cleansed from the guilt of their sins, and of restoration t" the favour of God and holiness of heart and life. This w…
872 wordsSECTION 304§ 7.] OBJECTIONS. 527
All I need as a creature, as a sinner, as guilty, as polluted, as miserable and helpless ; all I need for time or for eternity. So of Toplady's precious hymn, — " Rock of ages, cleft for me ; " for me personally and individually ; as Paul said he lived " by faith of the Son of God who loved me, and gave himself for w…
904 wordsSECTION 3057.] OBJECTIONS. 529
Others, and perhaps the majority of the most popular of this class of theologians, go further than this. They are willing that criticism and forced interpretations should make what havoc they please with the Bible. Any and every book may be rejected from the canon. Any and every doctrine may be interpreted out of the s…
480 wordsSECTION 306TOL. II. 34
630 PART m. Ch. Vn. — satisfaction of CHRIST. trine of a true expiatory sacrifice for sin, of a real satisfaction of justice by means of the vicarious punishment of sin, is the doctrine of the Scriptures, as well of the Old Testament as of the New. This is all we contend for, and all we care for. If God teaches this, …
451 wordsSECTION 307§'7.] ' OBJECTIONS. .5:11
and ever has done. Are we so confident in ourselves as to deny that there is a just God who governs the world, rather than admit that the innocent may rightfully bear the iniquity of the guilty ? In teachino" the doctrine of legal substitution, of the transfer of ffuilt from the transgressor to the innocent, of the sat…
937 wordsSECTION 308§ 7.] OBJECTIONS. 533
No two of the writers above mentioned agree in all points. They differ, however, only in the length to which they carry their com- mon principles in modifying or overthrowing the faith of the Church. Ebrard, one of the best, because one of the most moderate and least infected of the class, says in the preface to his " …
986 wordsSECTION 309§ 7 ] OBJECTIONS. 535
the place of those by whom it had been incurred, one individual of infinite dignity dying in the stead of the multitude of his people (the shepherd for his sheep), is discarded and trodden under foot. In reference to this theory, it is sufficient here to remark, — 1. That it is a mere speculative, or philosophical, an…
960 wordsSECTION 3108 7.] OBJECTIONS. 337
IJiinself sin, is founded on the moral impossibility that a nature, as distinguished from a person, can sin or be guilty. When it is said that we derive a sinful nature from Adam, and -iiat guilt as well as pollution attaches to the nature of fallen men, the doctrine is, that we, and all who derive that nature from Ad…
988 wordsSECTION 311§ 7] OBJECTIONS. 530
This whole theory has a materialistic aspect. Humanity as derived from Adam is conceived of as a polluted stream, into which a heal- ing purifying element was introduced by Christ. From Him on- ward, it flows as a life-giving stream. What then becomes of those who lived before Christ ? This is a question which these th…
909 wordsSECTION 312§ 7.] OBJECTIONS. 541
of God. The handwriting {x^tp6ypa4,ov, the bond, Schuldbrief) Christ has cancelled, by nailing it to his cross. His complete sat- isfaction to the law, freed us as completely as the debtor is freed when his bond is legally cancelled. Expiation a Heathenish Idea. 4. The idea of expiation, the innocent suffering for th…
917 wordsSECTION 313§ 7.] OBJECTIONS. 543
there is of power in the prolonged exhibition of a love which passes knowledge, is to be found there. Whatever tliere is of power in the truths which Christ taught, and which He sealed with his blood, ti-uths either before entirely unknown, or only imperfectly apprehended, belongs of course to the doctrine which the Ch…
515 wordsSECTION 314CHAPTER VIII.
FOR WHOM DID CHRIST DIE? § 1. State of the Question. This is a question between Augustinians and Anti-Angustinians. The former believing that God from all eternity having elected some to everlasting life, had a special reference to their salvation in the mission and work of his Son. The latter, denying that there has …
388 wordsSECTION 315§ 1.] STATE OF THE QUESTION. 545
necessary for each is abundantly sufficient for the infinite number and variety of plants and animals which fill the earth. All that Christ did and suffered would have been necessary had only one huauin soul been the object of redemption ; and nothing different and nothing more would have been required had every child …
954 wordsSECTION 316§2.J PROOF OF THE AUGUSTINIAN DOCTRINE. 547
elects some. This is the view extensively adopted in this country. According to Augustinians, men, by their fall, having sunk into a state of sin and misery, might justly have been left, as were the fallen angels, to perish in their sins. But God, in his infinite mercy, having determined to save a multitude whom no man…
960 wordsSECTION 317§2.] PROOF OF THE AUGUSTINIAN DOCTRINE. 549
The effect of a ransom and sacrifice may indeed be conditional, but the occurrence of the condition will be rendered certain before the costly sacrifice is offered. There are also very numerous passages in which it is expressly declared that Chi'ist gave Himself for his Church (Ephesians v. 25) ; that He laid down his…
987 wordsSECTION 318§ 2.] PROOF OF THE AUGUSTINIAN DOCTRINE. 551
of the mission of the Holy Spirit, and of all other saving blessings, that it cannot be ignored in any view of the plan and purpose of salvation. With this representation every other statement of the Scriptures must be consistent ; and therefore the theory which denies this great and precious truth, and which assumes t…
1,012 wordsSECTION 319§2.] PROOF OF THE AUGUSTINIAN DOCTRINE. 653
6. There is another argument on this subject generally pre- sented, which ought not to be overlooked. The unity of the priestly office rendered the functions of the priesthood inseparable. The hiijh-priest interceded for all those for whom he offered sacri- fice. The one service did not extend beyond the other. He bore…
947 wordsSECTION 320§2.] PROOF OF THE AUGUSTINIAN DOCTRINE. 555
any man infer that He sinned so much for one man and so much for another? Why then should it be said that because the rio;hteous- iiess of Christ is the judicial ground of our salvation, that He did and suffered so much for one man and so much for another ? 3. As this objection is directed against a theory which no Ch…
1,036 wordsSECTION 321§ 2.] PROOF OF THE AUGUSTINIAN DOCTRINE. 557
the salvation of all men. So that all Augustinians can join with the Synod of Dort in saying, " No man perishes for want of an atonement." If the Atonement he limited in Design, it must he restricted in the Offer. There is still another ground on which it is urged that Augus- tinians cannot consistently preach the g…
936 wordsSECTION 322§2.] PROOF OF THE AUGUSTINIAN DOCTRINE. 559
as a propitiation, not for our sins only, but for the sins of the whole world. He was a propitiation effectually for the sins of his people, and sufficiently for the sins of the whole world. Augustinians have no need to wrest the Scriptures. They are under no neces- sity of departing from their fundamental principle th…
1,033 wordsSECTION 323§2.] PROOF OF THE AUGUSTINIAN DOCTRINE. 561
for all. In the second place, these passages are, in some cases at least, hypothetical. When Paul exhorts the Corinthians not to cause those to perish for whom Christ died, he merely exhorts them not to act selfishly towards those for whom Christ had exhib- ited the greatest compassion. The passage neither asserts nor …
709 wordsSECTION 324THEORIES OF THE ATONEMENT.
The history of this doctrine is commonly divided into three pe- riods, the Patristic ; the Scholastic ; and the time of the Reforma- tion and from that event to the present day. The method which the writers on this subject have usually adopted, is to pass in re- view in chronological order the distinguished theologians…
826 wordsSECTION 325§ 2] PATRISTICAL THEORY. 565
p;iid to Satan, but as a conqueror. As Satan conqucM'ed mankind and made them his slaves ; so Christ became a man, and, in our nature, conquered Satan ; and thus acquired the right to dehver us from our bondage and to consign Satan himself to chains and darkness. The third form of the theory is, that as the right and …
962 wordsSECTION 326§8.] MORAL THEORY. 667
character, teachings, and acts. On this account it is usually des- ignated the " moral view of the atonement." The assumption is that there is no such attribute in God as justice ; i. e., no per- fection which renders it necessary, or morally obHgatorv, that sin should be punished. If this be so, there is no need of ex…
1,469 wordsSECTION 327Part 327
by the instincts of his own religious nature and by the authority of the Word of God. He says, " In the facts [of our Lord's pas- sion], outwardly regarded, 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 …
483 wordsSECTION 3285 8.] MORAL THEORY. 571
Objections to this Theory. The obvious objections to this moral view of the atonement in all its forms, are, — 1. That while it retains some elements of the truth, in that it recognizes the restoration of man to holiness and God, as the great end of the work of Christ, and regards his work as involving the greatest j)…
951 wordsSECTION 329S 4.] GOVERNMENTAL THEORY. -"3
tlie fathers in treating of the qualifications of Christ as a Saviour, insisted tiiat He must be, (1.) God ; (2.) a man ; and (3. ) as man free fi-om sin.^ It is a liistorical fact that the two doctrines of the divinity of Chi'ist, and expiation through the blood of the Son of God, have gone hand in hand. The one has s…
954 wordsSECTION 330§4.] GOVERNMENTAL THEORY. 675
tius consisted in this, that the sufferings and death of Christ were designed as an exhibition of God's displeasure against sin. They were intended to teacli tlmt in the estimation of God sin deserves to be punished, and, therefore, that the impenitent cannot escape the penalty due to their offences. " Nihil iniquitati…
947 wordsSECTION 331§4.] GOVERNMENTAL THEORY. 577
was actually contained, and therefore that the Church doctrine o.' satisfaction agreed with the literal sense of the Scriptures ; yet it was insisted upon that this literal doctrine of the Bible involved difficulties affecting our moral nature, and was evil in its practical effects, and inconsistent with what the Scrip…
888 wordsSECTION 332§4.] GOVERNMENTAL THEORY. 579
of piinisliment ; neither are the sufFerincrs of martyrs, although intended to redound to the good of the Church and of the workl. Tlie sufferings of Paul, which were so abundant and so constant, although so fruitful of good, were not penal. And the sufferings of Christ, if incurred in the dischai'ge of his mission of …
932 wordsSECTION 333§5.] THE MYSTICAL THEORY. 581
his work was designed and adapted to produce the strongest possi- ble impression on the minds of all intelligent ci'eatures of the evil of sin, and thus restrain them from the commission of it, but nei- ther the one nor the other was its primary design. It has this moral impression on the sinner and upon the intelligen…
955 wordsSECTION 334§5.] THE MYSTICAL THEORY. 583
or not. Dorner, one of the latest and most competent authorities on this point, takes the negative side of the question. According to him Philo taught that the Logos was (1.) A faculty of God, the vovi or understanding, and also the power of God. The two are united ; thought and power. (2.) The Logos is the activity of…
945 wordsSECTION 335§5.] THE MYSTICAL THEORY. 585
be admitted as true which reason does not authenticate.^ The other class strove after fellowship with God. Both assumed that wliat Miinscher and Gieseler call the physical union of the divine and human natures, was the normal and ultimate state of man. Whether this identity of the two was effected by a perfect devel- o…
903 wordsSECTION 336§ 5.] THE MYSTICAL THEORY. 68V
the righteousness which is infused is the righteousness of Christ ; but instead of depreciating the human nature and making it only the channel for communicating the divine, he laid special stress on the humanity of Christ. The human nature of Christ was not a creature. It was formed out of the substance of God ; and a…
913 wordsSECTION 337§6.] CONCLUDING REMARKS. 689
for us, but by his work in us. The eternal Son is incarnate not in the man Christ Jesus, but in the Church. The Modern Views. In the present period of the Church's history, this mystical theory of the person and work of Christ is probably more preva- lent than ever before. The whole school of German speculative theol…
880 wordsSECTION 338§ 6.] CONCLUDING REMARKS. 691
Peripateticism. Those of them who followed Scotus Erigena found Pantheism in the Scriptures. When the philosophy of Leibnitz and Wolf dominated the schools, that philosophy deter- mined the form of all Sci'iptural doctrine. And since the rise of the new speculative philosophy all that the Scriptures teach is cast in it…
435 wordsSECTION 339INTERCESSION OF CHRIST.
§ 1. Christ our Intercessor, Under the old dispensation the High Priest, after having offered sacrifices for sin in the outer court, was directed, on the day of atonement, to take the blood of the victims and a censer with burning incense, and to enter within the veil, and thei-e present the blood before God, sprinkli…
376 wordsSECTION 340§ 2.] ITS NATURE. 693
XV. 26 ; xvi. 7. Neither translation expresses its full meaning. It signifies invoked, called upon for help. The Paraclete is, there- fore, in the comprehensive sense of the word, a helper, whatever may be the specific nature of the aid affbrded. As, however, the guilty, the ignorant, the friendless, when arraigned bef…
915 wordsSECTION 341§4.] INTERCESSION OF SAINTS. 695
merits as the ground on which his prayers for his people should be answered. Protestants object to the intercession of saints as taught and practised in the Church of Rome. 1. Because it supposes a class of beings who do not exist ; that is, of canonized departed spirits. It is only those who, with the angels, have b…
369 wordsSECTION 342KINGLY OFFICE OF CHRIST.
§ 1. The Qhurch Grocfs Kingdom. God as the creator and preserver of the universe, and as infinite in his being and perfections, is, in virtue of his nature, the absolute sovereign of all his creatures. This sovereignty He exercises over the material world by his wisdom and power, and over rational beings as a moral ru…
342 wordsSECTION 343§2.] CHRIST IS TRULY A KING. 5«7
The kingdom of Grod, therefore, as consisting of those wlio ac- knowledge, worship, love, and obey Jehovali as the only living and true God, has existed in our world ever since the fall of Adam. It has ever been the light and life of the world. It is the salt by which it is preserved. It is the leaven by which it is ul…
1,459 wordsSECTION 344Part 344
Christ has what theologians are accustomed to call his king- dom of power. As Theanthropos and as Mediator, all power in heaven and upon earth has been committed to his hands. (Matt, xxviii. 18.^ In Psalm viii. 6, it is declared to be the pur- pose of God that all things should be put under the feet of man. This purpos…
493 wordsSECTION 345§ 3.] NATURE OF CHRIST'S KINGDOM. 601
This universal authority is exercised in a providential control, and for the benefit of iiis Church. He employs the angels as ministering spirits, to minister to the heirs of salvation. He con- trols ami restrains tlie principalities, powers, world-rulers, and spirits of wickedness. (Eph. vi. 12.) He overrules all the …
924 wordsSECTION 346§3.J NATURE OF CIIRISTS KINGDOM. 603
Christ as God manifest in the flesh, tliat it was under the old economy to refuse to worship Jehovah as the only living and true God. In both cases it was a violation of the fundamental law of the kinodom, and of necessity worked excision fron\ God's people. But if we are to recognize Christ as Thomas did (John XX. 28)…
909 wordsSECTION 347§3.] NATURE OF CHRIST'S KINGDOM. 605
worldly even in the sense in which the ancient theocracy was of this woiltl. The latter organized the Hebrews as a nation, and directed all their municipal and national, as well as their social and reliirious affairs. It, therefore, could not coexist in time and place with any otlier national organization. The kingdom …
936 wordsSECTION 348§3.] NATURE OF CHRIST'S KINGDOM. 607
of Christ as the sole liead of the Church. Councils, provincial and ecumenical, have not onlv prescribed creeds conti'arj to the Scrip- tures, but also have made laws to bind the conscience, and ordained observances which Christ never enjoined. As Christ is the head of his earthly kingdom, so is He its only lawgiver. …
879 wordsSECTION 349§4.] THE KINGDOM OF GLORY. 609
6. Diversity of opinion exists as to the time when this kingdom shall be inaugurated. Chiliasts have commonly held that Christ is to come a thousand years (or a protracted period) before the gen- eral resurrection and final judgment, and reign visibly on earth, and that this is the kingdom to which the prophecies and p…
149 wordsSECTION 350HUMILIATION OF CHRIST.
§ 1. Includes his Incarnation. The Apostle tells us that Christ humbled Himself. In answer to the question, Wherein his humiliation consisted? our standards wisely content themselves with the simple statements of the Scrip- tures : " Christ's humiliation consisted in his being born and that in a low condition, made un…
365 wordsSECTION 351§1.] INCLUDES THE INCARNATION. 611
Christ iiad no real human body, and others, that his body was not fashioned out of matter, but formed of a celestial substance, the fathers inserted in their creeds, that he was " born of the substance of the Virgin Mary." This is involved in the Scriptural state- ment that He was born of a woman, which can only mean t…
950 wordsSECTION 352§2.] HE WAS MADE UNDER THE LAW. 613
from obliVation to the law in every sense of the word, until He voluntarily subjected Himself to its demands. The law is made for men, i. e., for human persons. But Christ was not a liuman person. He remained after the incarnation, as He had been from eternity, a divine person. All his relations to the law, therefore, …
1,514 wordsSECTION 353Part 353
That the sufferings of Christ ceased the moment He expired on the cross, is plain from John xix. 30, where it is recorded, " When Jesus had received the vinegar, he said. It is finished (Te-eAea-rai) : and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost." This is univer- sally admitted. As, liowever, such passages as Psalms x…
1,378 wordsSECTION 354§5.] HIS DEATH AND BURIAL. 619
but quickened by the Spirit: by which also he went and preached to the spirits in prison." The English version is an exposition, us well as a translation of the passage. As the words stand in our Bible they afford no ground for the doctrine that Christ after death went into hell and preached to the spirits there confin…
970 wordsSECTION 355§ 5.] HIS DEATH AND BURIAL. 621
pliciter credimus, quod tota persona (Christi), Deus et hciio, post sepulturam, ad inferos descenderit, Satanain devicerit, potestatem inferoruin everterit, et Diabolo omiiem vim et potentiain eriputyit. Quoiuodo vero Cliristus id effecerit, non est ut argutis et subiimi- bus i ma o;i nation! bus scrutemur." The Romis…
865 wordsSECTION 356§6.] HIS DEATH AND BURIAL. 623
tantum ut Deus, verum etiam ut homo, praesens dominatur et regnat, a mari ad mare." ^ " Cliristus .... etiam secundum assumptam humanam naturam omnia novit et potest." ^ " Earn majestatem statim in sua conceptione, etiam in utero matris liabuit: sed ut Apostolus loquitur se ipsum exinanivit, eamque, ut D. Lu- therus do…
1,329 wordsSECTION 357THE EXALTATION OF CHRIST.
According to our standards the exaltation of Christ includes, — (1.) His resurrection. (2.) His ascension. (3.) His sitting at the right hand of God. (4.) His coming to judge the world at the last day. § 1. Resurrection of Christ. The resurrection of Christ is not only asserted in the Scriptures, but it is also dec…
347 wordsSECTION 358§ 1.] RESURRECTION OF CHRIST. G27
subsequent resurrection. The Christian Church is his monument. All believers are his witnesses. The importance of Christ's resurrection arises, — 1. From the circumstance that all his claims, and the success of his work, rest on the fact that He rose again from the dead. If He rose, the gospel is true. If He did not …
947 wordsSECTION 359§ 1.] RESURRECTION OF CHRIST. G29
and this mortal must put on immortality." (1 Cor. xv. 50-53.) The future body will not be subject to the wants, the infirmities, or the passions which belong to the present state of existence. " In the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven." (Matt. xxii. 30.)…
960 wordsSECTION 360§ 2.] ASCENSION OF CHRIST. 6^1
the region of the stars, which are called the hosts of lieaven. (3.) Sometimes it means a state, and answers to some of the senses of the phrase, " kingdom of heaven." The believer is said to be delivered from the power of darkness, and translated into the kingdom of God's dear Son. We are therefore said even in this w…
927 wordsSource & rights
Public-domain historical edition (1876). Text from OCR of an original Internet Archive scan; OCR may contain recognition errors.
Project Gutenberg source record →
Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.