Dare I Disagree With Jonathan Edwards?!
This post has taken some time for me to write because I am not really qualified to write it. With this post I run the risk of angering my “Edwardian” brothers and sisters. I have been reading Edward’s Religious Affections and have some minor quibbles with his theology – actually they are more like questions than quibbles. Now, before lightning strikes me, or my inbox gets flooded with emails exclaiming my theological fallaciousness, or exhorting me to repent, or telling me how mightily Edwards was used in the Great Awakening …I am well aware of the fact that I can not hold a candle to Edwards when it comes to anything regarding theology, Christian living, piety, writing, intelligence, affections, and I am sure that my preference for German lagers pales in comparison to his fine tastes…in fact I really do appreciate Jonathan Edwards. He was a giant of orthodoxy who was, and still is, mightily used by God for advancing the kingdom. I have learned much from him and I appreciate his works. I even really appreciate his Religious Affections, the work I have my quibble with. So, here is my quibble or question. I disagree with Edwards emphasis on finding assurance in our affections. Here is one such quote,
From hence it clearly and certainly appears, that great part of true religion consists in the affections. For love is not only one of the affections, but it is the first and chief of the affections, and the fountain of all the affections. From love arises hatred of those things which are contrary to what we love, or which oppose and thwart us in those things that we delight in: and from the various exercises of love and hatred, according to the circumstances of the objects of these affections, as present or absent, certain or uncertain, probable or improbable, arise all those other affections of desire, hope, fear, joy, grief, gratitude, anger, &c. From a vigorous, affectionate, and fervent love to God, will necessarily arise other religious affections; hence will arise an intense hatred and abhorrence of sin, fear of sin, and a dread of God’s displeasure, gratitude to God for his goodness, complacence and joy in God, when God is graciously and sensibly present, and grief when he is absent, and a joyful hope when a future enjoyment of God is expected, and fervent zeal for the glory of God. And in like manner, from a fervent love to men, will arise all other virtuous affections towards men.
I agree that where our affections lie certainly is evidence of where we are spiritually, but I am concerned that he is causing his readers to look inward rather than outward to Christ for assurance of faith. The overall emphasis of Edward’s work here appears to me to be that we should look for evidence of faith in ourselves – where our affections lie, rather than trust in the promises of God alone. Yet when I read the Reformers, and the Three Forms of Unity, it appears that they avoid the teaching that we should look inside of ourselves but rather outside of ourselves to Christ. To quote Luther in his Lectures on Genesis:
Abraham is Righteous…because he believed God who gave a promise…For faith is the firm and sure thought or trust that through Christ God is propitious and that through Christ His thoughts concerning us are thoughts of peace, not of affliction or wrath. God’s thought or promise–these belong together…The confident laying hold of the promise is called faith; and it justifies, not as our own work but as the work of God…Faith alone lays hold of the promise, stretches out its hand when God offers something, and accepts what He offers…The only faith that justifies is the faith that deals with God in His promises and accepts them…Furthermore, every promise of God includes Christ; for if it is separated from this mediator, God is not dealing with us at all. (Emphasis added.)
The Canons of Dort (CoD) says in 5/10:
This assurance is not produced by a certain private revelation besides or outside the Word, but by faith in the promises of God, which He has most abundantly revealed in His Word for our comfort; by the testimony of the Holy Spirit, witnessing with our spirit that we are children and heirs of God; and, finally, by the serious and holy pursuit of a clear conscience and of good works. And if the elect of God did not have in this world the solid comfort of obtaining the victory and this unfailing pledge of eternal glory, they would be of all men the most miserable.
I may be completely mistaken, but what I perceive Edwards to be saying is that we are to look inward to judge whether we are looking to Christ. Now the CoD appear to say something similar as Edwards when it mentions the “serious pursuit of a clear conscience and good works.” Obviously a pursuit of good works will have its affections in Christ. But there is a subtle difference, I think. Edwards appears to call us to look to the quality of our faith, while the Reformers and the Reformed confessions exhort us to look away from ourselves and to cast our gaze upon the work of Jesus Christ. And what of Lord’s day 1 of the Heidelberg Catechism?
That I am not my own, but belong with body and soul, both in life and in death, to my faithful Saviour Jesus Christ. He has fully paid for all my sins with His precious blood, and has set me free from all the power of the devil. He also preserves me in such a way that without the will of my heavenly Father not a hair can fall from my head; indeed, all things must work together for my salvation. Therefore, by His Holy Spirit He also assures me of eternal life and makes me heartily willing and ready from now on to live for Him.
Do you see it? It says, “by His Holy Spirit He also assures me…” it does not say, “by the affections I have He assures me…”
I am not an emotional person. I am very even keel in my affections. I don’t get to high, or too low – for the most part. My wife will confirm that I love her deeply, but emotional affection is not prevalent in my personality. If I look too my affections, I have to admit that there are times when looking at myself I wonder if I am saved or if I care about anyone or anything in the world. There are days, when I am simply done, exhausted, and my affection is sinful and for myself. If I look for assurance in myself at those times, I would certainly be damned to hell. So even on the good days, when I am standing on a mountain top and God is near, and it feels like Jesus is close, and my heart is overflowing with affection for him, I can not take comfort in that. But I can take comfort from the thought that Jesus Died for me. I find assurance in the promise that He will never leave me nor forsake me. When my affections are not right, when I am faithless, His affection for me is good and He is faithful.
So have I completely misunderstood what Edwards is writing? Thoughts are welcome. I appreciate any feedback.
I appreciate the candor of this post. Your approach to the topic is, in my view, spot-on. While I would skip beyond Luther and dive directly into Romans 4, I like Luther’s explanation. The only question here, is are we understanding rightly what Edwards means when he says, “From hence it clearly and certainly appears, that great part of true religion consists in the affections”.
I haven’t read Edwards extensively, but could he be drawing from 2 Peter 1:3-11, particularly verses 5-7 where Peter encourages a progression of growth from faith to love? If that is the case, then Edwards isn’t trying to suggest (though he might be leaving too much room for inference) that we are to find our salvation in our affections; rather, if our affections do not fall in line with our statement of faith that there may be cause for concern. Just a thought.
Good post. Thank you very much for sharing in a manner that exemplifies having a disagreement or questions in a loving, Christ-centered, Scripture-focused manner. May the Lord Bless you and keep you.
Thanks for the comment Faithful. I do agree that our affections should fall in line with our confession. I also believe that our affections can be evidence of faith – faith without works is dead. My concern is the emphasis placed on the affections and looking to them to find assurance… Edwards has a point, if we have no affection for God, and we never engage him, and our affection is to idolatry (money, sex, etc.) – then we can see that we are probably not saved…but is that evidence of salvation where we find our assurance? I feel like I am so close to understanding something that my feeble brain just can’t quite connect…
I think you have it already. You’ve plainly and efficiently declared the Gospel of Grace through faith in Christ. From there on comes struggle against idolatry and living fleshly by continued walking in the Spirit (I’m borrowing loosely from Galatians 5:16-25). I don’t think Edwards is arguing for a measure of the strength or amount of affection, but the focus of your affections. If he is, then I’d agree with you fully in disagreeing with him.
I appreciate the candor of this post. Your approach to the topic is, in my view, spot-on. While I would skip beyond Luther and dive directly into Romans 4, I like Luther’s explanation. The only question here, is are we understanding rightly what Edwards means when he says, “From hence it clearly and certainly appears, that great part of true religion consists in the affections”.
I haven’t read Edwards extensively, but could he be drawing from 2 Peter 1:3-11, particularly verses 5-7 where Peter encourages a progression of growth from faith to love? If that is the case, then Edwards isn’t trying to suggest (though he might be leaving too much room for inference) that we are to find our salvation in our affections; rather, if our affections do not fall in line with our statement of faith that there may be cause for concern. Just a thought.
Good post. Thank you very much for sharing in a manner that exemplifies having a disagreement or questions in a loving, Christ-centered, Scripture-focused manner. May the Lord Bless you and keep you.
Thanks for the comment Faithful. I do agree that our affections should fall in line with our confession. I also believe that our affections can be evidence of faith – faith without works is dead. My concern is the emphasis placed on the affections and looking to them to find assurance… Edwards has a point, if we have no affection for God, and we never engage him, and our affection is to idolatry (money, sex, etc.) – then we can see that we are probably not saved…but is that evidence of salvation where we find our assurance? I feel like I am so close to understanding something that my feeble brain just can’t quite connect…
I think you have it already. You’ve plainly and efficiently declared the Gospel of Grace through faith in Christ. From there on comes struggle against idolatry and living fleshly by continued walking in the Spirit (I’m borrowing loosely from Galatians 5:16-25). I don’t think Edwards is arguing for a measure of the strength or amount of affection, but the focus of your affections. If he is, then I’d agree with you fully in disagreeing with him.
I perceive Edwards to not be talking about the assurance of salvation at all. He is not suggesting to look towards an affection for discernment of our faith being true, but rather simply talking about the effect that affections (namely love) has upon our Christian walk.
He says ” From a vigorous, affectionate, and fervent love to God, will necessarily arise other religious affections…”.
I would think he is not talking about affirming or validating our faith, but rather one of the results of an assured faith. Assurance of salvation is evident in Romans and other passages in the Bible. It would be difficult to have an affective love for God has he talks about, without an strong understanding of why God is worthy of such love.
That said, he isn’t suggesting to look inwards either… but rather to more fully fix our gaze upon Christ, and the Father. For certain extreme exceptions aside, it is rather difficult to passionately love oneself. Ergo, when we gaze upon the magnificence of who God is and what he has graciously done for us on the cross, our hearts cannot help but overflow with love for him. This is what Edwards suggests will then flow into a love for good and a hate for evil and a love for our brothers and sisters.
NB. It is worthwhile to note that we should restrain ourselves from jumping to the conclusion that the affections Edwards speaks of will be uniformly experienced by all followers of Christ. Our culture has strongly shaped our understanding of “affection”, “emotion”, and “love”. The stereotypical, overcoming, tear-producing, heart-wrenching love so often portrayed in the movies, while certainly is experienced by many believers at different times towards God, is not the norm of affections in the Christian walk and certainly shouldn’t be expected by everyone all the time. The one thing some movies do right is portray the unexpected nature of emotion. Likewise, for those who do experience similar affections towards our Creator, it is often in the most unlikely situations and least-expected moments.
I perceive Edwards to not be talking about the assurance of salvation at all. He is not suggesting to look towards an affection for discernment of our faith being true, but rather simply talking about the effect that affections (namely love) has upon our Christian walk.
He says ” From a vigorous, affectionate, and fervent love to God, will necessarily arise other religious affections…”.
I would think he is not talking about affirming or validating our faith, but rather one of the results of an assured faith. Assurance of salvation is evident in Romans and other passages in the Bible. It would be difficult to have an affective love for God has he talks about, without an strong understanding of why God is worthy of such love.
That said, he isn’t suggesting to look inwards either… but rather to more fully fix our gaze upon Christ, and the Father. For certain extreme exceptions aside, it is rather difficult to passionately love oneself. Ergo, when we gaze upon the magnificence of who God is and what he has graciously done for us on the cross, our hearts cannot help but overflow with love for him. This is what Edwards suggests will then flow into a love for good and a hate for evil and a love for our brothers and sisters.
NB. It is worthwhile to note that we should restrain ourselves from jumping to the conclusion that the affections Edwards speaks of will be uniformly experienced by all followers of Christ. Our culture has strongly shaped our understanding of “affection”, “emotion”, and “love”. The stereotypical, overcoming, tear-producing, heart-wrenching love so often portrayed in the movies, while certainly is experienced by many believers at different times towards God, is not the norm of affections in the Christian walk and certainly shouldn’t be expected by everyone all the time. The one thing some movies do right is portray the unexpected nature of emotion. Likewise, for those who do experience similar affections towards our Creator, it is often in the most unlikely situations and least-expected moments.
Christian Greetings One Christian Dad,
First of all I commend you for your bravery in making this post. I don’t necessarily think you need to be correct, or incorrect in your reading of Jonathan Edwards “Treatise concerning Religious Affection” in order for this to be a worthwhile discussion.
I would like to make a few notes:
First of all, I 100% agree with the comment by Faithful Stewardship – leap right over Luther, and into Romans 4 – in the sense that the Bible should really be awarded much more quotation in such debate than the creeds and confessions of a tradition. Not that those creeds and confessions don’t have their place, but the biblical language is ultimately what would solve the riddle of Jonathan Edwards statement. Unless we are looking at whether or not Edwards is fully Calvinist / Reformed. Is Edwards scriptural, and is that your reason for agreeing or disagreeing with him?
To Christ-Followers (Christians- although this term is muddied up a bit these days by leagues of church-going persons who do not fully comprehend the gospel) it should be imperative to measure all things against the word of God. That is the message of 1 John.
Secondly, Edwards is not completely Calvinist on his take of Predestination and Election, as hard as Calvin would be… that question I will leave there, but prefer to use Scripture to cast a light on Edwards comment that you quoted.
Also interesting, the Sola Scriptura of the Reformation sometimes is too quickly buried in creeds and summaries of that very word of God. Luther did not desire to be followed, but to call men / leaders of the church back to following the word of God. We should not honour him, but honour his biblical cause!
Galatians 2:20 states: “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (ESV)
In this light, when the born again, or renewed person in Christ looks into themselves they are no longer hopeless. They no longer find no equipment to “fight” evil and cling to good. The person who finds salvation in Christ will certainly mature in faith.
“Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature.” – Corinthians 14:20
Quoting: My concern is the emphasis placed on the affections and looking to them to find assurance…
Aside from Edwards comments, how really is the disciple assured of their faith? I will leave it with this question and look forward to your response, as I am sincerely interested.
I offer these comments for discussion 🙂 and enjoyed your post, look forward to more! Keep reading, keep writing, and most of all Keep in the Word!
Blessings,
D
Christian Greetings One Christian Dad,
First of all I commend you for your bravery in making this post. I don’t necessarily think you need to be correct, or incorrect in your reading of Jonathan Edwards “Treatise concerning Religious Affection” in order for this to be a worthwhile discussion.
I would like to make a few notes:
First of all, I 100% agree with the comment by Faithful Stewardship – leap right over Luther, and into Romans 4 – in the sense that the Bible should really be awarded much more quotation in such debate than the creeds and confessions of a tradition. Not that those creeds and confessions don’t have their place, but the biblical language is ultimately what would solve the riddle of Jonathan Edwards statement. Unless we are looking at whether or not Edwards is fully Calvinist / Reformed. Is Edwards scriptural, and is that your reason for agreeing or disagreeing with him?
To Christ-Followers (Christians- although this term is muddied up a bit these days by leagues of church-going persons who do not fully comprehend the gospel) it should be imperative to measure all things against the word of God. That is the message of 1 John.
Secondly, Edwards is not completely Calvinist on his take of Predestination and Election, as hard as Calvin would be… that question I will leave there, but prefer to use Scripture to cast a light on Edwards comment that you quoted.
Also interesting, the Sola Scriptura of the Reformation sometimes is too quickly buried in creeds and summaries of that very word of God. Luther did not desire to be followed, but to call men / leaders of the church back to following the word of God. We should not honour him, but honour his biblical cause!
Galatians 2:20 states: “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (ESV)
In this light, when the born again, or renewed person in Christ looks into themselves they are no longer hopeless. They no longer find no equipment to “fight” evil and cling to good. The person who finds salvation in Christ will certainly mature in faith.
“Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature.” – Corinthians 14:20
Quoting: My concern is the emphasis placed on the affections and looking to them to find assurance…
Aside from Edwards comments, how really is the disciple assured of their faith? I will leave it with this question and look forward to your response, as I am sincerely interested.
I offer these comments for discussion 🙂 and enjoyed your post, look forward to more! Keep reading, keep writing, and most of all Keep in the Word!
Blessings,
D