Exegetical Lectures and Sermons on Hebrews by Charles Hodge, published by the Banner of Truth Trust, edited and introduced by William VanDoodewaard, hardback, 258 pages, £12.00, obtainable from the Free Presbyterian Bookroom.
To have another exposition from this noted commentator and theologian is indeed welcome. Hodge (1797-1878) spent over 50 years teaching students for the ministry in Princeton Theological Seminary, and his commentaries on Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians and Ephesians have been highly valued since they were first published. But potential readers should be clear that Hodge did not work up his lectures on Hebrews for publishing as he did these other volumes published in his lifetime. The greater part of this first section (the lectures) of the book now published derives from 1842, when a student took notes of Hodge’s seminary lectures on Hebrews; these are supplemented from a brief set of notes which Hodge used when lecturing on this Epistle in his first year of teaching. There are no comments on Hebrews 13.
Hodge worked from the original Greek and also had the Authorised Version before him; yet the version quoted before each section of the exposition (and for the texts of the sermons in the second part of the book) is the New King James. This sometimes (for example, on Hebrews 2:16) causes a mismatch between the verses quoted and the comments on these verses. (The comment on Hebrews 3:16 has an extra not, reversing the intended meaning of the sentence.) One would welcome more punctuation in many places; this would help the readability of the book.
The second part of the book contains 15 sermons, some of them just outlines (four of these were included in the volume edited by the preacher’s son, A A Hodge, Princeton Sermons, a collection of outlines of the father’s addresses to the students of Princeton Seminary on Sabbath afternoons). As an example of the helpful remarks we find in these sermons, we may listen to Charles Hodge preaching encouragingly on Hebrews 2:14: “Let it be remembered that in no instance did any cry of distress fall unheeded in the Saviour’s ear; that in no one instance did He refuse to answer the prayer of the helpless or perishing. Mercy and grace to help are the two great blessings which we as sinners need, and these are the very blessings which God when manifest in the flesh never refused to give. We are thus assured in a way which otherwise would have been impossible. Whoever goes to Him He will in no way cast out.”
Speaking on Hebrews 3:7,8, which warns readers of the Epistle against hardening their hearts, Hodge directs his hearers not to resist the influences of the Holy Spirit and goes on, “If the Spirit . . . has withdrawn and left any of you callous, is there not in that very fact a most alarming admonition? Is not this very indifference, daily increasing, calculated to force the conviction that if it is not resisted it will soon degenerate into a lethargy [from] which nothing but the call of death will arouse them?” And he concludes the sermon: “If you can do nothing else, under a full sense of your helpless misery, under the full conviction of your duty to obey this call [to turn wholeheartedly to God], throw yourselves on the divine mercy and cry, Lord, be merciful to us sinners”.
Finally, from a sermon on Hebrews 5:9,10, we quote: “Christ is the author of salvation only to those who obey Him. . . He is able to save to the uttermost all those who come to God by Him. Coming to God by Him is equivalent to obeying Him. And it is unquestionable that the particular act of obedience intended here is committing our cause to Him as our High Priest, so that He may make atonement for us with God, that He may present His sacrifice on our behalf, and interceding for us become the author of eternal life. And as this cannot be done without our having a sincere desire for reconciliation with God, and for deliverance from sin, this act of obedience can never stand alone. It springs from a principle which must produce universal obedience. It will invariably be accompanied with a sincere desire and strenuous effort to conform ourselves to the whole will of God. To all who thus obey Him will Jesus Christ become the author of eternal salvation.”
These extracts should illustrate the quality of Hodge’s preaching. And the outlines, brief though they are, spell out the essence of his understanding of what his text teaches and how we should apply that teaching to ourselves.