Required reading
Systematic Theology by Charles Hodge (Vol 2) (Available from Amazon or free here) - Commence Chapter 8 (Sin) by reading up to the heading '3. The doctrine of the early church'.
My summary
This week Hodge begins teaching us about sin.
The chapter begins with critiques of anti-theistic theories of sin.
We learn that some philosophers believe:
(i) dualism accounts for sin;
(ii) sin is mere negation;
(iii) sin is privation;
(iv) sin is accounted for on the law of necessary opposition;
(v) sin is a feeling arising from the want of absolute control;
(vi) sin is the sensuous nature of man;
(vii) sin is selfishness.
What grabbed me
I liked how Hodge gave reasons why each theory of sin is wrong.
For example, I appreciated his critique of dualism: 'This theory obviously is : (1.) Inconsistent with Theism, in making something out of God eternal and independent of his will. He ceases to be an infinite Being and an absolute sovereign. He is everywhere limited by a coeternal power which He cannot control. (2.) It destroys the nature of sin as a moral evil, in making it a substance, and in representing it as inseparable from the nature of man as a creature composed of matter and spirit. (3.) It destroys, of course, human responsibility, not only by making moral evil necessary from the very constitution of man, and by referring its origin to a source, eternal and necessarily operative ; but by making it a substance, which destroys its nature as sin. This theory is so thoroughly anti-theistic and anti-Christian, that although long prevailing as a heresy in the Church, it never entered into any living connection with Christian doctrine. '
It is interesting that many of the anti-theistic theories of sin reduce man's responsibility for it!
Next week's reading
Continue Chapter 8 (Sin) by reading up to the heading '6. Doctrine of the Church of Rome'.
Now it's your turn
Please post your own notes and thoughts in the comments section below.
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