PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
Systematic Theology — Volume 3
Hodge, Charles, 1797–1878 · 407,138 words · 462 reading sections
§8] PERSONAL ADVENT OF CHRIST. 799
According to this view, the first method of interpretation dif- fers very little from the second of those above mentioned. Both suppose that the same words or descriptions are intended to refer to two or more events very different in their nature and in the time of their occurrence. Isaiah's prediction of the great del…
932 wordsSECTION 422§4.] THE CALLING OF THE GENTILES. 801
3. Accordingly our Lord after his resurrection, in giving his commission to the Church, said : " Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost ; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you : and lo, I am with you al- ways, …
465 wordsSECTION 423VOL. III. 51
802 PART IV. Ch. m. — the second advent. preaching the wisdom and power of God unto salvation. Their simple duty was to teach ; their commission was, " Go teach all nations.'' One of the great elements of the Papal apostasy was the idea derived from paganism, that the main design of the Church is " cultus," worship, a…
474 wordsSECTION 424§4.] THE CALLING OF THE GENTILES. 803
the redemption of Christ. He teaches that the middle wall of partition between the two had been broken down, and that the Gentiles were no more "strangers and foreigners, but fellow- citizens with the saints, and of the household of God." (Eph. ii. 19.) The great object of the Epistle to the Hebrews is to show that the…
927 wordsSECTION 425§5] CONVERSION OF THE JEWS. 805
plish that work for it, seems evident from what has already been said, (1.) This is the work which Christ commanded his Church to undertake. (2.) He furnished it with all the means neces- sary for its accomplishment; He revealed the truth which is the power of God unto salvation ; He instituted the ministry to be perpe…
879 wordsSECTION 426§5.] CONVERSION OF THE JEWS. 807
national rejection of Israel, as it was not entire, so neither was it to be final. It was to continue until the bringing in of the Gentiles. God had made a covenant with Abraham that his posterity should be his people ; and " the gifts and calling of God are without repentance." Therefore, although broken off from the …
915 wordsSECTION 427§5.] CONVERSION OF THE JEWS. 809
that the Jews are to return to their own land as Jews, and there restore their temple and its service, and then be converted; it may be answered that this is inconsistent with the prophetic repre- sentations. They are to be brought to repentance and faith, and to be restored to their land, or, to use the figure employe…
969 wordsSECTION 428§5.] CONVERSION OF THE JEWS. 811
which precludes the possibility of the preeminence assigned to the Jews in the theory of which their restoration to their own land, and their national individuality are constituent elements. 5. The Apostles uniformly acted on this principle. They rec- ognize no future for the Jews in which the Gentile Christians are n…
932 wordsSECTION 429§ 60 ANTICHRIST. 813
the period between the apostolic age and the second coming of Christ. There were to be many antichrists ; many manifestations of malignant opposition to the person and to the work of Christ : many attempts to cast off his authority and to overthrow his kingdom. 2. Besides this general reference to the antichristian sp…
938 wordsSECTION 430§ 6.] ANTICHRIST. 815
(2.) The work assigned to Antichrist in prophecy, extends over far too long a period to be accomplished by one man. (3.) Those who insist that the antichrist here predicted, is an individual man, are forced to admit that what is said in 2 Thessalonians ii. 7 (" He who now letteth, will let, until he be taken out of the…
938 wordsSECTION 431§ 6.] ANTICHRIST. 817
scription from the most stupendous to the most absurd. It has ever acted on the principle " populus yult decipi," and that it is right to deceive them for their own good, or, the good of the Church. The whole system, so far as it is distinctive,1 is a sys- tem of falsehood, or false pretensions, supported by deceit. 4…
1,028 wordsSECTION 432§ ••] ANTICHRIST. 819
it must be by delegacy." 1 According to the Romanists, there- fore, these prophecies, relating to Christ and his kingdom, refer to the papacy. It is the stone cut out of the mountain without hands, which is to break in pieces and consume all other king- doms ; which is to stand forever ; which is to fill the whole eart…
940 wordsSECTION 433§ 6.] ANTICHRIST. 821
7 admits of an easy interpretation. The Apostle there says: " Now ye know what withholdeth, that he might be revealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity doth already work : only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way." There was, therefore, at that time an obstacle which prevented the devel…
936 wordsSECTION 434§ 6.] ANTICHRIST. 82?
"last time" extends from the first to the second advent oi Christ. This long period lay as one scene before the minds of the prophets. And they tell what was given them to see, not as though they were writing a history, and unfolding events in their historical order, but as describing the figures which they saw, as it …
909 wordsSECTION 435§ 6.] ANTICHRIST. 825
tlie Apostle says, many Antichrists. Hence Daniel may describe one, and Paul another. Secondly, the same power, retaining all its essential characteristics, may change its form. If republican France, during the first revolution, was an antichristian nation, it did not necessarily change its character when it became an …
1,007 wordsSECTION 436§ 6.]. ANTICHRIST. 627
John contained in the New Testament, the Gospel, the Epistles, and the Apocalypse, according to Luthardt, form a beautiful, har- monious whole ; as faith, love, and hope mingle into one, so do these writings of St. John, though each has its characteristic ; faith is prominent in the Gospel, love in the Epistles, and ho…
943 wordsSECTION 437§ 6.] ANTICHRIST. 829
guage of prophecy, ten kingdoms. (4.) That she takes rank among and above the kings and princes of the earth. She is " arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls." (5.) That her riches are above estimate. This is dwelt upon at length in the eighteenth chapter. (6.) That sh…
1,034 wordsSECTION 438§ 6-] ANTICHRIST. 831
Roman Catholic Doctrine of Antichrist, The general opinion in the early Church was that Antichrist was a man of Satanic spirit endowed with Satanic power who should appear before the second coming of Christ. Jerome says, in his Commentary on Daniel : " Let us say what all ecclesiastical writers have handed down, namely…
954 wordsSECTION 439§ 6.] ANTICHRIST. 833
power, concentrated in an individual ruler, who will be utterly "destroyed at the coming of the Lord, and at the same time the belief may be maintained that the Antichrist described by Daniel and St. Paul is not a man, but an institution or organized power such as a kingdom or the papacy. The third position assumed by…
1,010 wordsSECTION 440§ 6.] ANTICHRIST. 835
Fifthly, as to the doctrine of Antichrist, everything follows, from the assumption that he claims to be Christ. In claiming to be the Messiah predicted by the prophets, he is to claim to be the only object of worship. That he is to admit of no other God, whether true or false, nor of any idols, Bellarmin infers from 2 …
936 wordsSECTION 441THE CONCOMITANTS OF THE SECOND ADVENT.
The events which according to the common doctrine of the Church are to attend the second coming of Christ, are first, the general resurrection of the dead; second, the final judgment; third, " the end of the world ; " and fourth, the consummation of the kingdom of Christ. § 1. The General Resurrection. That there is t…
828 wordsSECTION 442§!•] THE GENERAL RESURRECTION. 839
things is at hand." Matthew xxiv. 6, " The end is not yet ; " verse 14, " Then shall the end come." So in Mark xiii. 7, Luke xxi. 9. In all these passages the " end " means the end of the world. (2.) The equivalent expressions serve to explain the meaning of the term. The disciples asked our Lord, " What shall be the s…
986 wordsSECTION 4431 1.] THE GENERAL RESURRECTION. 841
nern Zustand," 2 the restoration of all things to their original perfect condition. " This consummation may be called a • resti- tution,' in allusion to a circle which returns into itself, or more probably because it really involves the healing of all curable disorder and the restoration to communion with the Deity of …
1,586 wordsSECTION 444Part 444
The Scriptures abound in passages which set forth God as the moral ruler of men ; which declare that He will judge the world in righteousness. The Bible represents Him as the judge of nations and of individuals ; as the avenger of the poor and the persecuted. It abounds also in promises and in threatenings, and in illu…
253 wordsSECTION 445§ 2.] THE FINAL JUDGMENT. 84(T
A second view of the last judgment assumes it to be a process now in progress. In the Old Testament the Messianic period is spoken of as the " last day," " the last time," u the end of days," " the end of the world," and is represented as a time of conflict and of judgment. The Jews expected that when the Messiah came,…
916 wordsSECTION 446§ *•] THE FINAL JUDGMENT. 847
(Matt. v. 23 ; Luke xiii. 27.) In all the graphic descriptions given in the New Testament of the process of the final judgment, Christ is represented as acting as the judge. On this point it is to be observed: (1.) That He is set forth as acting on his own authority ; and not merely as the " Bevollmachter," or plenipo-…
981 wordsSECTION 447§2.] THE FINAL JUDGMENT. 849
judgment is to be arranged, so as to admit of the countless mill- ions of human beings who shall have lived from the beginning of the world to the final consummation being so congregated as to be all gathered before the throne of the Son of Man. The com- mon answer to that difficulty was that the throne is to be so ex-…
970 wordsSECTION 448§3.] THE END OF THE WORLD. 851
plished ; satisfied that what we know not now we shall know § 3. The End of the World. The principal passages of Scriptures relating to the final con- summation or the end of the world, are the following: Psalm cii. 25, 26, " Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth ; and the heavens are the work of thy hands…
912 wordsSECTION 449§3.J THE END OF THE WORLD. 853
understood the Bible to teach the absolute annihilation of our world. Schmid * states as the Lutheran doctrine that the world is to be reduced to nothing (in Nichts sich auflosen). He quotes Baier, Hollaz, and Quenstedt in support of this view. Quenstedt a says : " Forma consummationis hujus non in nuda qualitatum immu…
933 wordsSECTION 450§4.] THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. 855
5. It is of course, in itself, no matter of interest what por- tion of space these new heavens and new earth are to occupy, or of what materials they are to be formed. As the resurrection bodies of believers are to be human bodies they must have a local habitation, although it be one not made with hands eternal in the …
966 wordsSECTION 451§4-J THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. 357
9. Although God has always had a kingdom upon earth, yet the kingdom of which the prophets speak began in its messianic form when the Son of God came in the flesh. John the Baptist, the forerunner of Christ, came preaching that the kingdom of God was at hand. Our Lord Himself, it is said, went from village to village, …
963 wordsSECTION 452§ 4J THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. 859
millennium is to last three hundred and sixty-five thousand years. During this period, be it longer or shorter, the Church is to enjoy a season of peace, purity, and blessedness such as it has never yet experienced. The principal reason for assuming that the prophets predict a glorious state of the Church prior to the…
914 wordsSECTION 453§5.] THE PRE-MILLENNIAL THEORY. 861
with the high intelligences of heaven ; with patriarchs, prophets, apostles, martyrs, and all the redeemed. (6.) Another is con- stant increase. in knowledge and in the useful exercise of all their powers. (7.) Another is the secure and everlasting possession of all possible good. And, (8.) Doubtless the outward circum…
1,046 wordsSECTION 454§5.] THE PRE-MILLENNIAL THEORY. 863
4. The Scriptures teach that when Christ comes the second time without sin unto salvation, then the Church shall enter on its everlasting state of exaltation and glory. Those in Christ who have departed this life shall be raised from the dead and be clothed with their spiritual bodies, and those who are alive shall be …
1,072 wordsSECTION 455§5.] THE PKE-M1LLENNIAL THEORY. 865
say, other revelations are to be made for the salvation of men. Any theory which thus disparages the gospel of the grace of God must be false. Christ's commission to his Church was to preach the Gospel to every creature under heaven ; Paul says, the Gos- pel is the power of God unto salvation ; that, though a stumbling…
929 wordsSECTION 456§5.] THE PRE-MILLENNIAL THEOKY. 867
Did the Apostles expect the Second Advent in their Day ? The simple facts on this subject are : (1.) That the coming of the Messiah and the establishment of his kingdom was the great object of expectation and desire for the people of God from the beginning of the world. It was the great subject of prophecy and promise …
950 wordsSECTION 457§6-] FUTURE PUNISHMENT. 869
Other restorationists rest their hope of the ultimate salvation of all men, not on the purifying effect of suffering, but on the effi- cacy of the death of Christ. If He died for all, they infer, all will be saved. 2. Others hold that future punishment is only hypothetically everlasting. That is, the wicked will suffe…
965 wordsSECTION 458§6-J FUTURE PUNISHMENT. 871
and it continued to be received when, at the Reformation, the authority of the Church was repudiated, and the Scriptures were declared to be the only infallible rule of faith and practice. Any man, therefore, assumes a fearful responsibility who sets himself in opposition to the faith of the Church universal. 2. It is…
945 wordsSECTION 459§6.] FUTURE PUNISHMENT. 873
he infers that as the word M, life, in ordinary Greek, means con- tinued existence, and 0ai/ards, death, the cessation of existence, such is their meaning in the Scriptures. Therefore, when in the Bible eternal life is promised to the righteous, immortality is promised to them ; and when eternal death is threatened aga…
947 wordsSECTION 460§6.] FUTURE PUNISHMENT. 875
doctrine in the most explicit and solemn manner. It is asserted affirmatively that future punishment is everlasting ; in the nega- tive form that it can never end ; that there is in the future world an impassable gulf between the righteous and the wicked ; and that there are sins which can never be forgiven either in t…
1,573 wordsSECTION 461Part 461
2. If it be inconsistent with the justice of God that men should perish for their sins, then redemption is not a matter of grace, or undeserved mercy. Deliverance from an unjust penalty, is a matter of justice. Nothing, however, is plainer from the teach- ing of Scripture, and nothing is more universally and joyfully a…
348 wordsSECTION 462§ 6.] FUTURE PUNISHMENT. 879
eternity are threatened for the sins done in the body. This is true ; nevertheless, it is also true, first, that sin in its nature is alienation and separation from God ; and as God is the source of all holiness and happiness, separation from Him is of necessity the forfeiture of all good ; secondly, that this separati…
575 wordsSource & rights
Public-domain historical edition (1872). Text from OCR of an original Internet Archive scan; OCR may contain recognition errors.
Project Gutenberg source record →
Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.