Charles Hodge’s judgment of Charity for Roman Catholics

We must interpret language according to the usus loquendi of those who use it, and not according to our own usage. If a man defines justification so as to include sanctification, and says that justification is by works as well as faith, we must understand him accordingly. We may say a man is sanctified by love, hope, and other Christian graces and works; meaning that all these tend to promote his conformity to God; when we could not say, that he is justified, in our sense of the term, by these things.

via Theologia ยป Is the Church of Rome a Part of the Visible Church.

I find it fascinating that many claim that the fact that Roman Catholics confuse justification and sanctification means that they are hell-bound Galatian heretics. They are anathema.

But for Charles Hodge it actually gets them off the hook. They may have true faith precisely because their confusion gives them space.

By the way, his whole essay is excellent.

(One can only imagine how much it would pain Hodge to see an Anglican condemned for speaking of judgment “on the basis of works” when he plainly meant the same thing as judgment “according to works.”

A few more interesting statements from Charles Hodge.)

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