Charles Hodge (1797-1878)
Charles Hodge,
That the law of God is thus strict in its demands, is a truth which lies at the foundation of all Paul’s reasoning in reference to the method of justification. He proves that the Gentiles have sinned against the law written on their hearts; and that the Jews have broken the law revealed in their Scriptures; both Jews and Gentiles therefore are under sin, and the whole world is guilty before God (Romans 3:19). Hence he infers that by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight (Romans 3:20). There is however no force in this reasoning, except on the assumption, that the law demands perfect obedience. How many men, who freely acknowledge that they are sinners, depend upon their works for acceptance with God! They see no inconsistency between the acknowledgment of sin, and the expectation of justification by works. The reason is, they proceed upon a very different principle from that adopted by the apostle. They suppose that the law may be satisfied by very imperfect obedience. Paul assumes that God demands perfect conformity to his will, that his wrath is revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men (Romans 1:18). With him therefore it is enough that men have sinned, to prove that they cannot be justified by works. It is not a question of degrees, more or less, for as to this point there is no difference, since all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).
This doctrine, though so plainly taught in scripture, men are disposed to think very severe. They imagine that their good deeds will be compared with their evil deeds, and that they will be rewarded or punished as the one class or the other preponderates; or that the sins of one part of life may be atoned for by the good works of another; or that they can escape by mere confession and repentance. They could not entertain such expectations, if they believed themselves to be under a law. No human law is administered as men seem to hope the law of God will be. He who steals or murders, though it be but once, though he confesses and repents, though he does any number of acts of charity, is not less a thief or murderer. The law cannot take cognizance of his repentance and reformation. If he steals or murders the law condemns him. Justification by the law is for him impossible. The law of God extends to the most secret exercises of the heart. It condemns whatever is in its nature evil. If a man violate this perfect rule of right, there is an end of justification by the law; he has failed to comply with its conditions; and the law can only condemn him. To justify him, would be to say that he had not transgressed. Men however think that they are not to be dealt with on the principles of strict law. Here is their fatal mistake. It is here that they are in most direct conflict with the Scriptures, which proceed upon the uniform assumption of our subjection to the law. Under the government of God, strict law is nothing but perfect excellence; it is the steady exercise of moral rectitude. Even conscience, when duly enlightened and roused, is as strict as the law of God. It refuses to be appeased by repentance, reformation, or penance. It enforces every command and every denunciation of our Supreme Ruler, and teaches, as plainly as do the Scriptures themselves, that justification by an imperfect obedience is impossible. As conscience however is fallible, no reliance on this subject is placed on her testimony. The appeal is to the word of God; which clearly teaches that it is impossible a sinner can be justified by works, because the law demands perfect obedience.
The apostle’s second argument to show that justification is not by works, is the testimony of the Scriptures of the Old Testament. This testimony is urged in various forms. In the first place, as the apostle proceeds upon the principle that the law demands perfect obedience, all those passages which assert the universal sinfulness of men, are so many declarations that they cannot be justified by works. He therefore quotes such passages as the following: There is none righteous, no not one. There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way; they are altogether become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no not one (Romans 3:10,12). The Old Testament, by teaching that all men are sinners, does, in the apostle’s view, thereby teach that they can never be accepted before God on the ground of their own righteousness. To say that a man is a sinner, is to say that the law condemns him; and of course it cannot justify him. As the ancient Scriptures are full of declarations of the sinfulness of men, so they are full of proof that justification is not by works.
But in the second place, Paul cites their direct affirmative testimony in support of his doctrine. In the Psalms it is said, Enter not into judgment with thy servant; for in thy sight shall no man living be justified (Psalm 143:2). This passage he often quotes; and to the same class belong all those passages which speak of the insufficiency or worthlessness of human righteousness in the sight of God.
In the third place, the apostle refers to those passages which imply the doctrine for which he contends; that is, to those which speak of the acceptance of men with God as a matter of grace, as something which they do not deserve, and for which they can urge no claim founded upon their own merit. It is with this view that he refers to the language of David; Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin (Romans 4:7-8). The fact that a man is forgiven implies that he is guilty; and the fact that he is guilty, implies that his justification cannot rest upon his own character or conduct. It need hardly be remarked, that in this view, the whole Scriptures, from beginning to the end, are crowded with condemnations of the doctrine of justification by works. Every penitent confession, every appeal to God’s mercy, is a renunciation of all personal merit, a declaration that the penitent’s hope was not founded on any thing in himself. Such confessions and appeals are indeed often made by those who still rely upon their good works, or inherent righteousness, for acceptance with God. This, however, does not invalidate the apostle’s argument. It only shows that such persons have a different view of what is necessary for justification, from that entertained by the apostle. They suppose that the demands of the law are so low, that although they are sinners and need to be forgiven, they can still do what the law demands. Whereas, Paul proceeds on the assumption that the law requires perfect obedience, and therefore every confession of sin, or appeal for mercy, involves a renunciation of justification by the law.
Again, the apostle represents the Old Testament as teaching that justification is not by works, by showing that they inculcate a different method of obtaining acceptance with God. This they do by the doctrine which they teach concerning the Messiah as a Redeemer from sin. Hence Paul says that the method of justification without works, (not founded upon works) was testified by the law and the prophets, that is, by the whole of the Old Testament. The two methods of acceptance with God, the one by works the other by a propitiation for sin, are incompatible. And as the ancient Scriptures teach the latter method, they repudiate the former. But they moreover, in express terms, assert, That the just shall live by faith (see: Romans 1:17; Hab. 2:4; Gal. 3:11). And the law knows nothing of faith; its language is, The man that doeth them shall live by them (Gal. 3:11-12). The law knows nothing of any thing but obedience as the ground of acceptance. If the Scriptures say we are accepted through faith, they thereby say that we are not accepted on the ground of obedience.
Again, the examples of justification given in the Old Testament, show that it was not by works. The apostle appeals particularly to the case of Abraham, and asks, Whether he attained justification by works and answers, No, for if he were justified by works he had whereof to glory, but he had no ground of glorying before God (Rom. 4:2), and, therefore, he was not justified by works. And the Scriptures expressly assert, Abraham believed God and it was imputed to him for righteousness Rom. 4:3). His acceptance, therefore, was by faith and not by works.
In all these various ways, does the apostle make the authority of the Old Testament sustain his doctrine that justification is not by works. This authority is as decisive for us as it was for the ancient Jewish Christians. We also believe the Old Testament to be the word of God, and its truths come to us explained and enforced by Christ and his apostles. We have the great advantage of an infallible interpretation of these early oracles of truth, and the argumentative manner in which their authority is cited and applied prevents all obscurity as to the real intentions of the sacred writers. That by the deeds of the law no flesh shall be justified before God, is taught so clearly and so frequently in the New Testament, it is so often asserted, so formally proved, so variously assumed, that no one can doubt that such is indeed the doctrine of the word of God. The only point on which the serious inquirer can even raise a question, is what kind of works do the Scriptures mean to exclude as the foundation for acceptance with God. Does the apostle mean works in the widest sense, or does he merely intend ceremonial observances, or works of mere formality performed without any real love to God?
Those who attend to the nature of his assertions and to the course of his argument, will find that there is no room for doubt on this subject. The primary principle on which his argument rests precludes all ground for mistaking his meaning. He assumes that the law demands perfect obedience, and as no man can render that obedience, he infers that no man can be justified by the law. He does not argue that because the law is spiritual it cannot be satisfied by mere ceremonies or by works flowing from an impure motive. He no where says, that though we cannot be justified by external rites, or by works having the mere form of goodness, we are justified by our sincere though imperfect obedience. On the contrary he constantly teaches, that since we are sinners and since the law condemns all sin, it condemns us, and justification by the law is, therefore, impossible. This argument he applies to the Jews and the Gentiles without distinction, to the whole world, whether they knew any thing of the Jewish Scriptures or not. It was the moral law, the law which he pronounced holy, just and good, which says, Thou shalt not covet (cf: Romans 7:7ff); it is this law, however revealed, whether in the writings of Moses, or in the human heart, of which he constantly asserts that it cannot give life, or teach the way of acceptance with God. As most of those to whom he wrote had enjoyed a divine revelation, and as that revelation included the law of Moses and all its rites, he of course included that law in his statement and often specially refers to it; but never in its limited sense as a code of religious ceremonies, but always in its widest scope as including the highest rule of moral duty made known to men. And hence he never contrasts one class of works with another, but constantly works and faith, excluding all classes of the former, works of righteousness as well as those of mere formality. Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he hath saved us (Titus 3:5).
Who hath saved us not according to our works (2 Timothy 1:9). We are saved by faith, not by works (Eph. 2:9). Nay, men are said to be justified without works; to be in themselves ungodly when justified; and it is not until they are justified that they perform any really good works. It is only when united to Christ that we bring forth fruit unto God (Romans 7:4). Hence we are said to be his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works (Eph. 2:10). All the inward excellence of the Christian and the fruits of the spirit are the consequences and not the causes of his reconciliation and acceptance with God. They are the robe of beauty, the white garment, with which Christ arrays those who come to him poor and blind and naked. It is then the plain doctrine of the word of God that our justification is not founded upon our own obedience to the law. Nothing done by us or wrought in us can for a moment stand the test of a rule of righteousness which pronounces a curse upon all those, who continue not in all things written in the book of the law to do them (Gal. 3:10).
— taken from: The Way of Life, Charles Hodge, 1841
Biographical Information:
Charles Hodge (1797-1878) was a Presbyterian minister, theologian, and a seminary professor at Princeton Theological Seminary where he taught for most of his life. A man of God and staunchly orthodox, Hodge taught in the areas of Oriental and Biblical literature, exegetical, didactic and polemic theology. He was also Princeton’s principal from 1851–1878.
See also:
• The Doctrine of Justification (Part 1): Its Paramount Importance — Charles Hodge
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