Systematic Theology (Vol 2) - Hodge - VIII - Chapter 5 (The original state of man) concluded

Required reading
Systematic Theology by Charles Hodge (Vol 2) (Available from Amazon or free here) - Conclude Chapter 5 (The original state of man).

My summary
Now that Hodge has taught us what it means to be made in the image of God, he turns to discussing false views of the doctrine.

Firstly he argues against the Roman Catholic view: 'The doctrine of Romanists as to the original state of man agrees with that of Protestants, except in one important particular. They hold that man before the fall, was in a state of relative perfection ; that is, not only free from any defect or infirmity of body, but endowed with all the attributes of a spirit, and imbued with knowledge, righteousness, and holiness, and invested with dominion over the creatures. Protestants include all this under the image of God ; the Romanists understand by the image of God only the rational, and especially the voluntary nature of man, or the freedom of the will. They distinguish, therefore, between the image of God and original righteousness. The latter they say is lost, the former retained.'

Secondly Hodge shows the error of the Pelagians: 'According to Pelagians and Rationalists man was created a rational free agent, but without moral character. He was neither righteous nor unrighteous, holy nor unholy. He had simply the capacity of becoming either. Being endowed with reason and free will, his character depended upon the use which he made of those endowments. If he acted right, he became righteous ; if he acted wrong, he became unrighteous.'

What grabbed me
I liked this argument from Hodge that our actions are affected by our character: 'The character of the act is decided by the nature of the principle by which it is determined. If a man gives alms, or worships God from a selfish principle, under the control of a disposition to secure the applause of men, those acts instead of being good are instinctively recognized as evil. Indeed, if this Pelagian or Rationalistic principle were true, there could be no such thing as character ; not only because individual acts have no moral quality except such as is derived from the principle whence they flow, but also because character necessarily supposes something permanent and controlling. A man without character is a man without principles ; i. e., in whom there is nothing which gives security as to what his acts will be.'

You may obey one of God's laws, but your motivation can taint that act as sinful.

Next week's reading
Read Chapter 6 (Covenant of works).

Now it's your turn
Please post your own notes and thoughts in the comments section below.