Cited in sermons
Charles Hodge
113 sermons · All people cited
The Justice of God in His Merciful Election
Romans 9:14–18 confronts the charge that God acts unjustly in electing particular sinners to salvation while passing over others. Drawing on God's declaration to Moses in Exodus 33 and His purpose in raising up Pharaoh, the sermon argues that divine election is just precisely because God, as the omnipotent Creator and sovereign Judge, retains the absolute right to bestow mercy on whom He wills and to harden whom He wills — a right He expressly claims and which no creature may dispute. The sermon situates election within the full ordo salutis and the pactum salutis, showing predestination to be the eternal foundation of every benefit of salvation applied in history. Hearers are called to find assurance in the marks of grace, to trust God's immutable purposes, and to proclaim the gospel as the ordained means by which the elect are called forth.
The Lord of the Sabbath, Part 2
Matthew 12:9–14 presents a second Sabbath conflict in which the Pharisees attempt to trap Jesus with the question of whether it is lawful to heal on the Sabbath, while themselves plotting murder on that same day. The sermon traces Jesus' fourfold response — a rhetorical question, a contrast between sheep and man, a drawn implication, and a commanding word of healing — demonstrating that the Pharisees' opposition is not ultimately about Sabbath details but about the authority of Christ, who is Lord of the Sabbath and therefore Lord over all. The healing of the man with the withered hand confirms Jesus' assertion in verse 8 and points forward to the cross, where the sin that hardens men's hearts against Christ is finally and fully addressed. Hearers are called to rest in Christ alone, who heals not only withered hands but withered souls, and to receive the Sabbath as a gift rather than a burden.
2LCF Chapter 1 - Of the Holy Scriptures, Part 2
What does it mean to interpret Scripture rightly, and why does it matter? This Bible study exposition of 2 Timothy 3:16–17 (part 2) builds on the prior week's treatment of the doctrine of Scripture to address the discipline of hermeneutics — the principles, laws, and methods of biblical interpretation. Eight basic principles are set forth: Scripture's interpretation is a spiritual exercise requiring Spirit-dependent prayer; the text's meaning is objective, not reader-relative; the grammatical-historical method governs exegesis; context is paramount; Scripture is its own best interpreter; literary genre must be recognized; the relationship between the Old and New Testaments must be understood; and the interpreter is not alone but stands within the community of the church's gifted teachers across the centuries. The governing application is that every believer, not merely the ordained minister, must handle the Word of God accurately rather than twisting it to suit preferred meanings.
The Charge to Timothy
The Apostle Paul's charge to Timothy in 1 Timothy 1:3–7 exposes a crisis of false teaching in the Ephesian church and demands an authoritative, commanding response — not suggestion or diplomacy. The sermon works through the specific charge to silence heterodoxy (vv. 3–4), the purpose of that charge which is love flowing from a pure heart, a good conscience, and sincere faith (v. 5), and the defection of the false teachers who, having strayed from the truth, turned to idle talk and arrogant ignorance (vv. 6–7). The congregation is pressed to see that doctrinal fidelity is the precondition of genuine love in the church, and that the qualifications for teaching office in 1 Timothy 3 exist precisely to prevent the disorder on display in Ephesus.
The Demonstration of God's Love
Romans 5:8 encapsulates the entire gospel in a single verse: God demonstrates his own love toward us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. This sermon works through Romans 5:6–11 to establish that the objects of God's redeeming love were helpless, ungodly, sinners, and active enemies of God — leaving no ground for human merit in salvation. The demonstration of that love at Calvary is the sole foundation of justification, reconciliation, and assurance, and it calls the redeemed to a joy that fuels genuine gospel holiness rather than moralistic striving.
The Ultimate Reason for All Things
Romans 11:36 declares that all things are 'from him, through him, and to him' — asserting that God is the creator, sustainer, and ultimate end of everything that exists. This sermon works through Paul's doxology in its context of divine sovereignty over the withholding and dispensing of mercy, showing that the universe exists not for man's comfort but for the glory of God alone. The three prepositional phrases of the text ground the aseity and providence of God against any notion that man counsels, precedes, or rivals him. The sermon applies this by calling sinners to Christ as the only way guilty creatures return to a God-centered universe, and by pointing believers to the comfort that all things — including suffering — are governed by a God whose mercy dispenser never runs empty.
The Whole Armor of God
Ephesians 6:10–20 calls believers to put on the whole armor of God not as a passive ideal but as an urgent, daily discipline in genuine spiritual warfare against principalities, powers, and the wiles of the devil. The sermon works through three structural observations: the two commands of verses 10–11 (be strong in the Lord; put on the armor), the reason given in verses 11–12 (the nature and reality of the enemy), and the armor described in verses 13–20 (five defensive elements and one offensive element). Each piece of armor — truth, righteousness, the gospel of peace, faith, salvation, the Word, and prayer — is shown to direct the believer away from self-reliance and toward Christ as the captain of salvation. The central application is that theological grounding, not spiritual showmanship, constitutes genuine spiritual warfare, and that apart from Christ no believer will stand in the evil day.
The Parent/Child Relationship
Colossians 3:20–21 addresses both children and fathers as morally responsible members of the household of faith, calling each to a distinct duty within the domestic sphere. Children are commanded to obey their parents in all things — a command grounded in the moral law written at creation, codified in the Fifth Commandment, and motivated by the pleasure of Christ. Fathers are warned against provoking their children to discouragement, and are exhorted positively — drawing on Ephesians 6:4 — to nourish, instruct, and discipline with love, consistency, and dependence upon God. The sermon presses both charges as inseparable from the new life described throughout Colossians 3: orthodoxy must issue in orthopraxy, beginning in the home.
The Marriage Relationship
Colossians 3:18–19 calls wives to submit to their own husbands and husbands to love their wives without bitterness — two commands that cut precisely against the natural grain of each. This sermon argues that both duties are grounded not in social utility or natural sentiment but in the gospel itself: the wife's submission images Christ's submission to the Father, and the husband's love images Christ's self-sacrificial love for the church. The sermon draws on Ephesians 5, 1 Peter 3, and 1 Corinthians 11 to show that ontological equality between husband and wife is fully compatible with functional differentiation of role, and closes by pressing both commands back onto the cross as the only sufficient motive and resource for obedience.
The Corporate Conduct of the Believer
Colossians 3:15–17 sets out three governing marks of the believer's corporate life in the church: the peace of Christ ruling as referee over all relationships, the Word of Christ dwelling richly as the church's food and curriculum, and every act done in the name of Christ to the Father's glory. The sermon insists that these marks flow not from moral effort but from the gospel itself — from justification by faith, which produces peace with God that must then govern peace among God's people. Believers are exhorted to be gluttons for Scripture, to sing doctrinally sound psalms and hymns that are God-exalting rather than self-centered, and to cultivate gratitude as a constant recognition that all goodness is grace.
The Tenth Commandment
The Tenth Commandment — 'You shall not covet' — reaches past external conduct to regulate the intentions and desires of the heart, exposing sins that civil law cannot punish and that no amount of outward morality can conceal. This exposition of Deuteronomy 5:21 identifies three things the commandment prohibits — inordinate desire, discontentedness, and envy — and then establishes the theological reason for the prohibition: covetousness is idolatry, bringing the Decalogue full circle from the First Commandment back to itself. Nine positive helps for mortifying covetousness are set forth, culminating in the active obedience of Christ imputed to believers — the only ground of hope for those whom this commandment finds out.
The Old Testament and Jesus: Specific Warnings
Matthew 5:19–20 presents two specific warnings that frame Christ's exposition of the law in the Sermon on the Mount: a warning against antinomianism and a warning against legalism. Both errors, though apparently opposite, share a common root — a contempt for God's law as he actually gave it, whether by subtracting from it or by supplementing it with human tradition. The sermon argues that the righteousness required for entrance into the kingdom of heaven is not produced by moral effort nor excused by doctrinal sleight of hand, but is found only in Christ, whose imputed righteousness is received through faith alone.
The Whole Armor of God
Ephesians 6:10–20 closes Paul's letter with a summons to active, armored vigilance in the Christian life. Working through the command to stand, the reason rooted in the reality of spiritual warfare against unseen principalities and powers, and the specific pieces of armor Paul describes, this exposition insists that the believer's strength is entirely derivative — drawn from Christ who is already enthroned far above all powers (Ephesians 1:20–23). Each element of the armor — truth, imputed righteousness, the gospel of peace, faith, salvation, and the sword of the Spirit — directs the Christian away from self-sufficiency and back to Christ, whose finished work at Calvary is the only ground on which any saint can stand or withstand in the evil day.
Christ Our Propitiation
Romans 3:25–26 stands at what Martin Luther called 'the chief point of the whole Bible,' and this sermon expounds why: the cross is not only a display of divine love but a vindication of divine righteousness. Two theological words — redemption and propitiation — carry the weight of the exposition: redemption addresses humanity's bondage; propitiation addresses humanity's liability to the wrath of God, which Christ exhausted in himself on behalf of his people. The sermon argues that God's justice and God's justifying mercy are not in tension but cohere perfectly at Calvary, and calls every hearer to rest that case not on moral performance but on faith alone in Christ alone.
To God Be the Glory
Romans 11:33–36 closes Paul's extended treatment of divine sovereignty and the salvation of sinners in chapters 9–11 with a doxology that demands a response of awe and worship. The sermon moves through three movements in the text: an exclamation concerning God's omniscience and unsearchable judgments (v. 33), a confirmation from Isaiah and Job that God is self-sufficient and owes nothing to any creature (vv. 34–35), and an ascription of glory acknowledging God as the source, sustainer, and goal of all things (v. 36). The doctrines of sovereign election and particular redemption are not presented as intellectual trophies but as the only ground on which genuine doxology is possible — a theology that does not culminate in worship has not been properly understood.
Conflict in Antioch
Galatians 2:11–14 records the Apostle Paul's public confrontation of Peter at Antioch, where Peter's withdrawal from Gentile table fellowship — motivated by fear of Jewish persecution of the Jerusalem church — functionally communicated a faith-plus gospel to Gentile believers. The sermon expounds three elements of the passage: Paul's action toward Peter, the reason for that action, and the real issue at stake, namely the compromise of justification by faith alone. The central application is that no consideration — social harmony, fear of persecution, or the standing of the one in error — can justify softening the gospel of sovereign grace, and that every Christian, not only pastors, must be able to articulate and defend justification by faith alone.
The High Priest of the New Covenant
Hebrews 7:20–8:6 presents Christ as the High Priest of the New Covenant, whose priestly office rests on four pillars: a divine oath, a permanent and unchangeable priesthood, a sinless character, and a heavenly ministry in the true tabernacle. Because Christ is the surety of the better covenant — bearing the full debt of sinners in the place of finite Levitical priests who died without completing what they began — He saves completely and finally all who come to God through Him. The sermon calls both unbelievers to abandon self-reliance and bow to this all-sufficient Savior, and believers to rest their assurance not on their own performance but on the unchangeable priesthood of Christ.
The Passion, the Resurrection, and Justification by Faith Alone
Romans 4:25 sets the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ as the inseparable ground of the believer's justification before God. This sermon expounds that single verse within the broader context of Romans 3:21–4:25, where Paul establishes that justification is by faith alone — not by circumcision, moral refinement, or works — and demonstrates from Abraham and David that God imputes righteousness to the ungodly who believe. The necessity of Christ's atoning death and bodily resurrection are treated as twin non-negotiables: without blood shed there is no remission, and without a risen Savior justification remains unconfirmed and faith is vain. Believers are called to rest in the finished work of Christ alone — delivered up for their offenses, raised for their justification — and to resist the accuser by returning to these objective gospel realities.
A Spiritual Inventory
First Corinthians 1:30–31 presents Christ as the believer's wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption — a fourfold treasure that Paul sets against the competing philosophies and worldviews of his day. The source of every gospel blessing is God alone: 'of him you are in Christ Jesus,' which excludes every ground of human boasting and demands a radical humility before the triune God. Justification is not a moral improvement but a legal imputation of Christ's perfect righteousness to the believer's account, and sanctification is equally a work of Christ's power, not the believer's unaided effort. The goal of this entire arrangement is the glory of God, so that all boasting is directed to the Lord alone.
The Responsibility of Children
Colossians 3:20 addresses children as responsible members of the covenant community with a specific duty: to obey their parents in all things for the glory of God. This sermon expounds that command under two headings — as a religious commitment rooted in what is well-pleasing to the Lord, and as a requirement of God's moral law grounded in the Fifth Commandment (Exodus 20; Deuteronomy 5; Ephesians 6:1–3). The law's impossible demand is not softened but turned pedagogically toward the cross: children cannot perfectly obey or honor their parents, and that failure is meant to drive them to Christ, whose active obedience fulfilled all righteousness on behalf of sinners. Parents are therefore urged to present the law honestly, presume nothing about their children's regeneration, and cultivate homes where gospel ethics are visibly practiced.
A Word to the Wives
Colossians 3:18 commands wives to submit to their own husbands as is fitting in the Lord — a command that cuts against the grain of contemporary culture and even the instincts of redeemed sinners. This sermon establishes that submission is not demeaning but reflects the eternal pattern of the Son's willing submission to the Father within the equal-in-essence Trinity, and that gospel redemption does not abolish role distinctions in the family but enables their proper functioning. The domestic application works through the lawful target, the universal scope, and the Christological motivation of the command, pressing wives to understand that submitting to their own husbands is primarily a religious duty rendered unto the Lord. The sermon closes by grounding the entire exhortation in the gospel: a wife's standing before God rests not on threads of her own submissive obedience but on the imputed righteousness of Christ, whose active and passive obedience constitute the only robe in which sinners stand justified.
The Christ-Centered Orientation of the New Man
Colossians 3:15–17 presents the new man not as a moralist who earns standing before God by putting off vice and putting on virtue, but as one whose entire life is oriented around the person and work of Christ. The sermon argues that three Christ-centered realities define the new man: the peace of Christ, which is grounded in justification by faith alone and flows from the blood of Calvary; the word of Christ, which is to dwell richly in the heart both for personal transformation and mutual edification in the body; and the name of Christ, under which every word and deed is performed. The practical summons is to let the gospel — not personal performance — be the governing principle of the Christian life, so that the new man is known above all for making much of Christ crucified.
Perfecting Holiness in the Fear of God
Paul's charge in 2 Corinthians 6:14–7:1 to 'perfect holiness in the fear of God' rests on three covenant promises: the nearness of God, the favor of God, and the fatherhood of God. Because God has already fulfilled these promises in Christ, the imperatives to cleanse from all filthiness of flesh and spirit and to press on toward complete sanctification follow as the fitting response of those already redeemed, not as conditions for receiving grace. The sermon traces the biblical-theological root of these promises from Exodus and Leviticus through Jeremiah and Ezekiel to their fulfillment in Christ, and applies the call to corporate ecclesial fidelity and to individual decisions — especially the prohibition of marriage to unbelievers — governed by the fear of God rather than emotion.