Christianity
without Christ
by
Charles Hodge (1823-1886)
Originally
published in the Princeton Review, April 1876 (Vol. 5, Issue 18).
The
doctrine which makes benevolence, the desire or purpose to promote
the happiness not of our fellow-men merely, but of being in general,
or all beings, logically, and often actually, results essentially in
the same thing. All religion, all moral excellence consists in
benevolence, Our only obligation is so to act as to promote the
greatest good. This is the motive and the end of obedience. According
to the New Testament, the motive to obedience is the love of Christ,
the rule of obedience is the will of Christ, and its end the glory of
Christ. Every Christian is benevolent; but his benevolence does not
make him a Christian; his Christianity makes him benevolent.
Throughout all ages the men who have labored most and suffered most
for the good of others, have been Christians — men animated and
controlled by Christ's love to them, and by their love to Christ. It
is evident that the spiritual life — the inward religious state —
of the man to whom it is Christ to live, is very different from that
of the man who lives for the happiness of the universe. A man might
thus live if there were no Christ.
Another
form of religion in which Christ fails to occupy his proper position,
is that which assumes God to be merely a moral governor, of infinite
power and benevolence. Being infinitely benevolent, he desires the
well being of his kingdom. To forgive sin without some suitable
manifestation of his disapprobation of sin, would be inconsistent
with a wise benevolence. Christ makes that manifestation in his
sufferings and death. Then he retires; henceforth we have nothing to
do with him; we have to deal with God on the principles of natural
religion; we must submit to his authority, obey his commandments, and
expect to be rewarded, not merely according to, but for, our works.
Christ merits nothing for us, we are not to look to him for
sanctification, or any other blessing. All he has done, or does, is
to make it consistent with the benevolence of God to forgive sin.
Forgiveness of sin, therefore, is the only benefit which God bestows
on us on account of Christ.
This
theory changes everything. Men me rebellious subjects. It is now
consistent in God to forgive them. He calls on them to submit, to lay
down their arms, then he is free to deal with them as though they had
never sinned. They must merit, not forgiveness — for that is
granted on account of what Christ has done — but the reward
promised to obedience; justification is simply pardon. Conversion is
that change which takes place in a man when he ceases to be selfish,
and becomes benevolent; ceases making his own happiness the end of
his life, and determines to seek the happiness of the universe. The
essence of faith is love, i.e., benevolence. It is hard to see,
according to this theory, in what sense Christ is our prophet,
priest, and king; how He is our wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption; what is meant by our being in him as
the branch is in the vine; or, what our Lord meant when He said,
"without me, ye can do nothing;" what was in Paul's mind
when he said, it is Christ for me to live, "it is not I that
live, but Christ liveth in me," and so on to the end. This is a
different kind of religion from that which we find in the Bible and
in the experience of the church. As the religion (in the subjective
sense of the word) is different, so is the preaching different, and
so are the modes of dealing with sinners, and of promoting
reformation among men. Some go so far as to hold, that there can be
morality without religion; men are exhorted to be moral bemuse it is
right, because it will promote their own welfare, and make them
respected and useful. They we to become morally good by a process of
moral culture, by suppressing evil feelings and cherishing such as
are good ones, by abstaining from what is wrong and doing what is
right.
Others
take the higher ground of theism, or of natural religion, and bring
in considerations drawn from our relation to God as an infinitely
perfect being, our creator and preserver and father, who has rightful
authority over us, who has prescribed the rule of duty, and who
rewards the righteous and punishes the wicked.
All
this is true and good in its place. But it is like persuading the
blind to see and the deaf to hew. This is not the gospel. Christ is
the only Saviour from sin, the only source of holiness, or of
spiritual life. The first step in salvation from sin is our
reconciliation to God. The reconciliation is effected by the
expiation made by the death of Christ (Rom. 5:10). It is his blood,
and his blood alone, that cleanses from sin. As long as men arc under
the law, they bring forth fruit unto death; it is only when freed
from the law, freed from its inexorable demand of perfect obedience
and from its awful penalty, that they bring forth fruit unto God
(Rom. 7:4-6). Christ delivered us from the law as demanding perfect
obedience, by being made under the law, and fulfilling all
righteousness for us; and he redeems us from the curse of the law, by
being made a curse for us — dying the just for the unjust, and
bearing our sins in his own body on the tree. Being thus reconciled
unto God by his death, we are saved by his life. He sends the Holy
Spirit to impart to us spiritual life, and transforms us more and
more into his own image. The Spirit reveals to us the glory of Christ
and his infinite love. He makes us feel not only that we owe
everything to him, but that he himself is everything to us — our
present joy and our everlasting portion — our all in all. Thus
every other motive to obedience is absorbed and sublimated into love
to Christ and zeal for his glory. His people become like him, and as
he went about doing good, so do they. All this of course, is folly to
the Greek. God, however, has determined by the foolishness of
preaching to save them who believe. Pulmonary consumption is more
destructive of human life than the plague. So Christianity without
Christ, in all its forms, the phthisis of the church, is more to be
dreaded than skepticism, whether scientific or philosophical. The
only remedy is preaching Christ, as did the apostles.
Two
important facts are to be home in mind. First, the inward religious
life of men, as well as their character. and conduct, am determined
by their doctrinal opinions. Even the Edinburgh Review, years ago,
said, "The character of an age is determined by the theology of
that age." Therefore, any system of doctrine which assigns to
Christ a lower position than that which he occupies in the New
Testament, must, in a like degree, lower the standard of Christianity
— that is, the religious life of those calling themselves
Christians. Second, nevertheless, it is equally true that men are
more governed by their practical than by their speculative
convictions. The idealist does not feel and act on his belief that
the external world has no real existence. In like manner, the
religious life of men is often determined more by the plain teaching
of the Scriptures and by the common faith of the church than by their
theological theories. Hence, men have often more of Christ in their
religion than in their theology. It is, however, of the last
importance to remember, that sound doctrine is, under God, our only
security for true religion and pure morals. If we forsake the truth,
God forsakes us.
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