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uence

JOHN PIPER

aCelebrating the Vision and Inof Jonathan Edwards Y


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2014 Desiring God

Published by Desiring GodPost Ofce Box 2901

Minneapolis, MN 55402www.desiringGod.org

Permissions You are permitted and encouraged to reproduce and distributethis material in any format provided that you do not alter thewording in any way and do not charge a fee beyond the cost ofreproduction. For web posting, a link to this document on ourwebsite is required. Any exceptions to the above must be ap-

proved by Desiring God.

Please include the following statement on any distributed copy: Desiring God. Website: desiringGod.org

Cover design and typesetting Taylor Design Works

All emphases in Scripture quotations have been added by theauthor or editor.


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TABLE OF CONTENTS

i Authors Pre ace

iv Editors Pre ace

01 I God Is Gloried in Us When We AreSatised in Him: Fi een Implications

28 Sel -love, Good and Bad: Should WeBe Willing to Be Damned or the Gloryo God?

49 Godly Sorrow and the Fullness o Joy:Breaking the Heart and Making It Glad

61 Tinking and Feeling ogether: Clearruth or the Sake o Strong Affections

69 Reasonable, Well-grounded, SpiritualFaith: Te Glory o God in the Face oChrist Is Really Tere

75 Te Excellencies o Christ: Te Highest,Best, Sweetest, Final Good o theGood News


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98 Gods Governance o All Tings,Good and Evil: Recovering a God-

entranced Worldview 128 Te Justice o Hell: How Is Eternal

Suffering Proportionable to a Li eo Sinning?

139 Heralding a Glorious God: en

Characteristics o Edwardss Preaching 167 Motivating Missions: Te Connection

between Compassion or People andPassion or God

185 Appendix 1 Piper Encounters Edwards: A Chronology

226 Appendix 2 Edwardss Inuence on Piper:A Bibliography


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Captive to Glory i

AUTHORS PREFACE

My heart abounds with thank ulness or the gi ed con-tent team at Desiring God. In this case, Jonathan Parnelldid most o the heavy li ing, but my gratitude overows

to all. Tey conceived o this collection and, along with Justin aylors gracious contributions, made it a reality.All I did was help title the chapters and write this pre ace.Tey gathered my thoughts rom many sources and putthem together here.

When I look back over the years covered by this col-

lection, I realize with resh intensity the pervasive impacton me o Edwardss vision o God. Without Edwards, Iam not sure the phrase God-entranced would have themeaning or me it does. Tis is an indictment o my soul.For someone should ask, Isnt the Bible enough to make youGod-entranced? Te true answer is that it should be.

But is it not typically Gods way to waken our souls to hisglory by some parent or teacher or preacher or student work-er or writer? God told imothy, Preach the word ( im.: ). He did not say, Dont preach; hand out Scriptures.


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o be sure, he also said, Devote yoursel to the publicreading o Scripture ( im. : ). But he also said, eachthese things ( im. : ); Command these things (

im : ); Urge these things ( im. : ); Remind themo these things ( im. : ); Declare these things( itus : ); Put these things be ore the brothers ( im.: ); and, Insist on these things ( itus : ). Why? Why should we not just read Scriptures? Why

teach and preach and remind and exhort and urge andcommand and write? Because God intends to get gloryhorizontally as well as vertically.

He could reveal his glory to us vertically with nohuman mediator. But that is not why he made the world.Tat is not why he bought the church with his own blood.He made the world so that every creature would reect

some o his glory, and others would see it. He purchasedthe church so that every member o the body would reectsome o the glory o Gods grace, and others would seeit and be moved by it. He knows what he is doing. Heis maximizing the communication o his glory and heknows how to do it better than we do.

Tere ore, there are millions o ordinary reectors oGods glory. And there are some whom God has avored with unusual capacities to see and show the majesty oGod in the Scriptures. Edwards is one o those. I can dipinto almost anything he wrote and be ore long I am in aGod-entranced world. Te God o the Biblenot anotherGodexplodes with brilliance. Tere is no one who doesthis or me like Edwards.

So I look at this little book o collected writings as a


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tribute to my much-loved teacher. And even more, as atribute to the God who entranced the soul o JonathanEdwards all his li e. I pray that you would taste and see what he sawperhaps, by Gods great grace, even more.

John Piper Advent


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EDITORS PREFACE

J.I. Packer has written a ew book endorsements dur-ing his long, ruit ul ministry, but hes only mentionedthe ghost o Jonathan Edwards once. Back in , com-

mending the rst edition o John Pipers Desiring God ,Packer remarked, Jonathan Edwards, whose ghost walksthrough most o Pipers pages, would be delighted with hisdisciple.

I Edwards would be delighted, its because the ocus o Desiring God , and Pipers entire vision or ministry, is the

glory o God. Edwardss theology is complex, and has beenthe subject o years o seemingly endless scholarship on itsdetails, but his passion or the supremacy o God is crystalclear. And this is palpable in anything Piper has to say.

A ew publications already exist to highlight this inu-ence o Jonathan Edwardsthe main one being Pipersown tribute inGods Passion or His Glory: Living theVision o Jonathan Edwards(Crossway, ). Ten thereis A God-Entranced Vision o All Tings: Te Legacy o

Jonathan Edwards (Crossway, ), a compilation o


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essays edited by Piper and Justin aylor. Add to this thatEdwards is mentioned or this inuence in virtually everyone o Pipers more than books, and on occasion theseinclude a chapter that bears his name. Note also that desir-ingGod.org, with its nearly , online resources (andgrowing), has a special topic named Jonathan Edwards.

When you read or hear any o John Piper, you are encoun-tering a vision o Gods greatness he draws rom JonathanEdwards.

Tis book is a collection o the best snapshots o thatinuence in Pipers corpus.

Tanks to the generous partnership o three publish-ersMultnomah, Baker, and Crosswayweve corralledinto one volume the best Edwards excerpts rom Pipersmain writings. Tanks to Justin aylor, weve added two

help ul appendices. Te rst appendix eatures a chronol-ogy compiled by aylor o Edwardss inuence on Piper,beginning in seminary in . Te second appendix is animpressive bibliography o all things Edwards and Piper.

Since each chapter is a selection rom a different book,theres no necessary order the reader must ollow, though

the hope is that he can trace the movement rom the mostundamental theology to its practical implications in theli e o the church. In act, a miniature version o the entirebook is captured in the rst chapter.

Feel ree to jump around, depending on what inter-ests you most. I you were to read this book rom rontto back, youll see some consistent themes and repeatedquotes. Tis means two things: ) you may think, HaveI read this be ore? (likely the answer is yes); and ) by thetime youve read the whole thing, you should be able to


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ll in the blank rom this sentence straight rom Edwards:God is gloried not only by his glorys being seen, but by itsbeing in.

Te ll-in-the-blank word above is what the aim o thisbook is all about. Its not that you can merely observe theinuence o Edwards in Piper, or that you are inspired toread more primary sources, or even that you just see Godsglory. Te aim is that youdelight in Gods glorythat youare overcome by Gods grace in Christ to remove everyobstacle that stands in the way o you enjoying him orever.

Jonathan ParnelldesiringGod.org


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IF GOD IS GLORIFIED IN US WHENWE ARE SATISFIED IN HIM:FIFTEEN IMPLICATIONS

Gods Passion or His Glory (Wheaton: Crossway, ),

.

Te vision o God displayed in Jonathan EdwardssTe End or Which God Created the World took me captiveover thirty years ago and has put its stamp on every parto my li e and ministry. I believe and love its message. My

personal reason or writing the bookGods Passion or HisGlory is to make Edwardss work more accessible, and in sodoing to join God in pursuing the invincible end or whichhe created the world. Tat end, Edwards says, is, rst, thatthe glory o God might be magnied in the universe, and,second, that Christs ransomed people rom all times andall nations would rejoice in God above all things.


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Gods Glory Manifest in the Happiness of the Saints

But the depth and wonder and power o EdwardssTe

End or Which God Created the World is the demonstra-tion that these two ends are one. Te rejoicing o all peo- ples in God, and the magni ying o Gods glory are oneend, not two. Why this is so, how it can be, and what di -

erence it makes is what my li e and Jonathan Edwardsstheology are about. Te rst biographer o Edwards

describesTe End like this: From the purest principleso reason, as well as rom the ountain o revealed truth,he demonstrates that the chie and ultimate end o theSupreme Being, in the works o creation and providence, was the mani estation o his own glory in the highest happiness o his creatures.

Te mani estation o his own glory in the highest happiness o his creatures. Virtually everything I preach and write and do is shaped by this truth: that the exhibitiono Gods glory and the deepest joy o human souls are onething. It has been a more-than-thirty-year quest, since I wasrst awakened to this vision through C.S. Lewis and DanielFuller. Te quest goes on. But, over time, my most experi-enced and reliable guide in the Himalayas o Holy Scripturehas been Jonathan Edwards. He said it like this: Te end othe creation is that the creation might glori y [God]. Now what is glori ying God, but a rejoicing at that glory he hasdisplayed? Te happiness o the creature consists in rejoic-ing in God, by which also God is magnied and exalted.

Te implications o this vision are ar-reaching. A erspending over thirty years pursuing the high paths oGods written revelation, I eel like I am just beginning to


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breathe the air o this lo y reality. Not to make you erretout all the implications or yoursel , I will mention in what

ollows een o them. Keep in mind what I am illustrat-ing. Te urther up you go in the revealed thoughts oGod, the clearer you see that Gods aim in creating the world was to display the value o his own glory, and thatthis aim is no other than the endless, ever-increasing joy ohis people in that glory.

How Does Edwards Say It?

Let Edwards speak again or himsel on this issue. How areGods glory and your joy related? He says it in many ways:

God in seeking his glory seeks the good o hiscreatures, because the emanation o his glory

implies the happiness o his creatures. And incommunicating his ullness or them, he does it orhimsel , because their good, which he seeks, is somuch in union and communion with himsel . Godis their good. Teir excellency and happiness isnothing but the emanation and expression o Gods

glory. God, in seeking their glory and happiness,seeks himsel , and in seeking himsel , i.e. himseldiffused he seeks their glory and happiness.

Tus it is easy to conceive how God should seek thegood o the creature even his happiness, rom asupreme regard to himsel ; as his happiness arises

rom the creatures exercising a supreme regard toGod in beholding Gods glory, in esteeming andloving it, and rejoicing in it.


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Gods respect to the creatures good, and his respectto himsel , is not a divided respect; but both areunited in one, as the happiness o the creatureaimed at is happiness in union with himsel .

This Truth in Fifteen Marvelous Implications

hus the exhibition o Gods glory and the deepest joyo human souls are one thing. he implications o this

are breath-taking. I mention i teen in acorn- orm.Any one o them could become a great oak tree withbook-length branches.

Implication #1.

Gods passion or his own glory and his passion or my joy in

him are not at odds. Gods righteousness is not the enemyo his mercy. His commitment to uphold the worth o hisname does not consign me to destruction, though I havebesmeared his name by indifference and distrust. Rather,in the death o his Son, Jesus Christ, God conspired to vindicate his righteousness and justi y sinners in one act.

Which means that his zeal to be gloried and his zeal tosave sinners are one.

Implication #2.

Tere ore, God is as committed to my eternal and ever-increasing joy in him as he is to his own glory. Tis gives us a

glimpse into the massive theological substructure beneathsome o the sweetest promises in the Biblethe onesthat say God exerts omnipotent zeal to do us good. For


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example, Chronicles : , For the eyes o the Lord runto and ro throughout the whole earth, to show his mightin behal o those whose heart is blameless toward him(RSV). Psalm : , Surely goodness and mercy shall pursue me all the days o my li e (authors translation).Zephaniah : , Te Lord your God will exult over you with joy, he will be quiet in his love, he will rejoice over you with shouts o joy. Luke : , Fear not, little ock,

or it is your Fathers good pleasure to give you the king-dom (RSV).

Implication #3.

Te love o God or sinners is not his making much o them,but his graciously feeing and empowering them to enjoymaking much o him.As Edwards says, God is their good.Tere ore i God would do us good, he must direct us tohis worth, not ours. Te truth that Gods glory and our joyin God are one radically undermines modern views o sel -centered love. God-centered grace nullies the gospel osel -esteem. oday, people typically eel loved i you makemuch o them and help them eel valued. Te bottom linein their happiness is that they are made much o .

Edwards observes, with stunning modern relevance,

rue saints have their minds, in the rst place,inexpressibly pleased and delighted withthe things o God. But the dependence o theaffections o hypocrites is in a contrary order: theyrst rejoice that they are made so much o byGod; and then on that ground, he seems in a sort,lovely to them.


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In other words, in his view, the bottom line o happiness isthat we are granted to see the innite beauty o God andmake much o him orever. Human beings do, in act, havemore value than the birds (Matt. : ). But that is not thebottom line o our happiness. It simply means that we were created to magni y Gods glory by enjoying him in a way birds never can.

Implication #4.

I the exhibition o Gods glory and the deepest joy ohuman souls are one thing, then all true virtue amonghuman beings must aim at bringing people to rejoice in the glory o God. No act is truly virtuousthat is, truly lov-ingthat does not come rom and aim at joy in the gloryo God. Te ground or this truth is laid in EdwardssTe End, but the exposition o it was given inTe Nature o

rue Virtue, which Edwards wrote at the same time ( )and intended to publish bound together withTe End in one volume. Tere he said, I there could be a causedetermining a person to benevolence towards the whole world o mankind exclusive o love to God, it can-not be o the nature o true virtue.

Te reason or this sweeping indictment o God-neglecting virtue is not hard to see in Edwards God-centered universe: So ar as a virtuous mind exercises true virtue in benevolence to created beings, it chiey seeks thegood o the creature, consisting in its knowledge or view

o Gods glory and beauty, its union with God, and con-ormity to him, love to him, and joy in him. In other words, i Gods glory is the only all-satis ying reality in


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the universe, then to try to do good or people, withoutaiming to show them the glory o God and ignite in thema delight in God, would be like treating ever with cold packs when you have penicillin. Te apostle Paul warnsthat I can give all my possessions to eed the poor, anddeliver my body to be burned, and still not have love (Cor. : ). Te nal reason or this is that man is not thecenter o true virtue, God is. So whatever you do, do all tothe glory o God ( Cor. : ).

Implication #5.

It also ollows that sin is the suicidal exchange o the gloryo God or the broken cisterns o created things.Paul said,All have sinned and all short o the glory o God (Rom.

: ). Sinning is a alling short o the glory o God. Butthe Greek word or alling short (husterountai) meanslack. Te idea is not that you shot an arrow at Gods glo-ry and the arrow ell short, but that you could have had itas a treasure, but you dont. You have chosen somethingelse instead. Tis is conrmed in Romans : where people exchanged the glory o the incorruptible God or animage. Tat is the deepest problem with sin: it is a suicidalexchange o innite value and beauty or some eeting,in erior substitute. Tis is the great insult.

In the words o Jeremiah, God calls it appalling. Beappalled, O heavens, at this, and shudder, be very deso-late, declares the Lord. For My people have committed

two evils: Tey have orsaken me, the ountain o living waters, to hew or themselves cisterns, broken cisternsthat can hold no water (Jer. : ). What is the essence


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o evil? It is orsaking a living ountain or broken cis-terns. God gets derision and we get death. Tey are one:in choosing sugarcoated misery we mock the li e-givingGod. It was meant to be another way: Gods glory exaltedin our everlasting joy.

Implication #6.

Heaven will be a never-ending, ever-increasing discovery o

more and more o Gods glory with greater and ever-greater joy in him. I Gods glory and our joy in him are one, and yet we are not innite as he is, then our union with himin the all- satis ying experience o his glory can never becomplete, but must be increasing with intimacy and inten-sity orever and ever. Te per ection o heaven is not static.Nor do we see at once all there is to see or that wouldbe a limit on Gods glorious sel -revelation, and there ore,his love. Yet we do not become God. Tere ore, there willalways be more, and the end o increased pleasure in God will never come.

Here is the way Edwards puts it:

I suppose it will not be denied by any, that God, inglori ying the saints in heaven with eternal elicity,aims to satis y his innite grace or benevolence,by the bestowment o a good [which is] innitely valuable, because eternal: and yet there never willcome the moment, when it can be said, that now thisinnitely valuable good has been actually bestowed.

Moreover, he says, our eternal rising into more and moreo God will be a rising higher and higher through that


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innite duration, and not with constantly diminishing(but perhaps an increasing) celerity [that is, velocity] [toan] innite height; though there never will be any par-ticular time when it can be said already to have come tosuch a height. Tis is what we see through a glass darklyin Ephesians : , [God seats us in heaven with Christ]so that in the ages to come he might show the surpassingriches o his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.It will take an innite number o ages or God to be doneglori ying the wealth o his grace to uswhich is to say he will never be done.

Implication #7.

Hell is unspeakably real, conscious, horrible and eter-nalthe experience in which God vindicates the worth ohis glory in holy wrath on those who would not delight inwhat is in initely glorious. I in initely valuable glory hasbeen spurned, and the o er o eternal joy in God hasbeen inally rejected, an indignity against God has beencommitted so despicable as to merit eternal su ering.

hus, Edwards says,

God aims at satis ying justice in the eternaldamnation o sinners; which will be satised bytheir damnation, considered no otherwise than with regard to its eternal duration. But yet therenever will come that particular moment, when itcan be said, that now justice is satised.

O the love o God and the wrath o God, Edwards sayssimply, Both will be unspeakable.


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Te words o Jesus and the words o his apostle conrmthis: it will be unspeakable. Tus the Lord said, Depart

rom me, accursed ones, into the eternal re which hasbeen prepared or the devil and his angels . Tese willgo away into eternal punishment, but the righteous intoeternal li e (Matt. : , ). And Saint Paul said that when Jesus returns, he will come dealing out retributionto those who do not know God and to those who do notobey the gospel o our Lord Jesus [which means joy ullytrusting the all-sufficient love o God in Christ]. Tese will pay the penalty o eternal destruction, away rom the presence o the Lord and rom the glory o his power (Tess. : ).

Implication #8.

I the exhibition o Gods glory and the deepest joy ohuman souls are one thing, thenevangelism means depict-ing the beauty o Christ and his saving work with a heart elturgency o love that labors to help people nd their satis ac-tion in him. Te most important common ground withunbelievers is not culture but creation, not momentary

elt-needs but massive real needs. Augustines amous prayer is all-important: You made us or yoursel and ourhearts nd no peace till they rest in you. I a person real-izes that the image o God in man is mans ineffably pro-

ound tness to image orth Christs glory through ever-lasting joy in God, then he will not gut the great gospel o

its inner li e and power.Te gospel is not the good news that God makesmuch o me; it is the gospel o the glory o Christ. And


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Incline your ear and come to Me. Listen, that you may live.(Isaiah : )

When Edwards pondered the aims o preaching or theglory o God he said,

I should think mysel in the way o my dutyto raise the affections o my hearers as high as possibly I can, provided that they are affected withnothing but truth, and with affections that arenot disagreeable to the nature o what they areaffected with.

High affections rooted in, and proportioned by, thetruththat is the goal o preaching. Te truth is the man-i old glory o God in his word; and the high affections arethe delight o knowing God and the dread o not beinghappy in him. Because you did not serve the Lord yourGod with joy and a glad heart there ore you shall serve your enemies (Deut. : ).

Implication #10.

Te essence o authentic, corporate worship is the collectiveexperience o heart elt satis action in the glory o God, or a trembling that we do not have it and a great longing orit. Worship is or the sake o magni ying God, not our-selvesand God is magnied in us when we are satisedin him. Tere ore, the unchanging essence o worship (notthe outward orms which do change) is heart elt satis ac-tion in the glory o God, the trembling when we do nothave it and the longing or it.

Te basic movement o worship on Sunday morning is


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not to come with our hands ull to give to God, as thoughhe needed anything (Acts : ), but to come with ourhands empty, to receive rom God. And what we receivein worship is the ullness o God, not the eelings o enter-tainment. We ought to come hungry or God. We shouldcome saying, As the deer pants or the water brooks, somy soul pants or You, O God. My soul thirsts or God,

or the living God (Ps. : ). God is mightily honored when a people know that they will die o hunger and thirstunless they have God.

Nothing makes God more supreme and more centralin worship than when a people are utterly persuaded thatnothingnot money or prestige or leisure or amily or jobor health or sports or toys or riendsnothing is goingto bring satis action to their sin ul, guilty, aching hearts

besides God. Tis conviction breeds a people who go harda er God on Sunday morning. Tey are not con usedabout why they are in a worship service. Tey do not viewsongs and prayers and sermons as mere traditions or mereduties. Tey see them as means o getting to God or Godgetting to them or more o his ullnessno matter how

pain ul that may be or sinners in the short run.I the ocus in corporate worship shi s onto our giv-ing to God, one result I have seen again and again is thatsubtly it is not God that remains at the center but the qual-ity o our giving. Are we singing worthily o God? Dothe instrumentalists play with a quality betting a gi toGod? Is the preaching a suitable offering to God? And lit-tle by little the ocus shi s off the utter indispensability oGod himsel onto the quality o our per ormances. And we even start to dene excellence and power in worship


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in terms o the technical distinction o our artistic acts.Nothing keeps God at the center o worship like the bibli-cal conviction that the essence o worship is deep, heart eltsatis action in him, and the conviction that the trembling pursuit o that satis action is why we are together.

Furthermore, this vision o worship prevents the prag-matic hollowing out o this holy act. I the essence o wor-ship is satis action in God, then worship cant be a meansto anything else. We simply cant say to God, I want tobe satised in you so that I can have something else. Forthat would mean that we are not really satised in Godbut inthat something else. And that would dishonor God,not worship him.

But, in act, or thousands o people, and or many pas-tors, the event o worship on Sunday morning is con-

ceived o as a means to accomplish something other than worship. We worship to raise money; we worship toattract crowds; we worship to heal human hurts; torecruit workers; to improve church morale; to give talentedmusicians an opportunity to ulll their calling; to teachour children the way o righteousness; to help marriages

stay together; to evangelize the lost; to motivate people orservice projects; to give our churches a amily eeling.In all o this we bear witness that we do not know what

true worship is. Genuine affections or God are an end inthemselves. I cannot say to my wi e: I eel a strong delightin you so that you will make me a nice meal. Tat is not the way delight works. It terminates on her. It does not have anice meal in view. I cannot say to my son, I love playingball with youso that you will cut the grass. I your heartreally delights in playing ball with him, that delight cannot


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be per ormed as a means to getting him to do something.I do not deny that authentic corporate worship may

have a hundred good effects on the li e o the church. It will, just like true affection in marriage, make everythingbetter. My point is that to the degree that we do worship

or these reasons, to that degree it ceases to be authentic worship. Keeping satis action in God at the center guardsus rom that tragedy.

Implication #11.

I the exhibition o Gods glory and the deepest joy ohuman souls are one thing, thenworld missions is a dec-laration o the glories o God among all the unreached peo- ples, with a view to gathering worshippers who magni y Godthrough the gladness o radically obedient lives. ell ohis glory among the nations, is one way to say the GreatCommission (Ps. : ). Let the nations be glad and sing

or joy, is another way (Ps. : ). Tey have one aim: theglory o God exalted in the gladness o the nations.

Te apostle Paul combined the glory o God and thegladness o the nations by saying that the aim o the Incar-nation was to show Gods truth ulness in order thatthe Gentiles might glori y God or his mercy. As it is writ-ten Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people (Rom. : ,RSV). In other words, rejoicing in God and glori ying Godare one, and that one thing is the aim o world missions.

Implication #12. Prayer is calling on God or help; so it is plain that he is gloriously resource ul and we are humbly and happily in


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need o grace.Te Giver gets the glory. We get help. Tatis the story o prayer. Call upon me in the day o trou-ble; I will deliver you, and you shall glori y me (Ps. : ,RSV). Jesus said to aim at two things in prayer: your joyand Gods glory. Ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be made ull (John : ). Whatever you ask inmy name, that will I do, so thatthe Father may be gloriedin the Son (John : ). Tese are not two aims, but one. When we delight ourselves in God, God is gloried in giv-ing the desires o our heart (Ps. : ).

Implication #13.

Te task o Christian scholarship is to study reality as amani estation o Gods glory, to speak about it with accu-racy, and to savor the beauty o God in it. I think Edwards would regard it as a massive abdication o scholarship thatso many Christians do academic work with so little re er-ence to God. I all the universe and everything in it existsby the design o an innite, personal God, to make hismani old glory known and loved, then to treat any subject without re erence to Gods glory is not scholarshipbut insurrection.

Moreover, the demand is even higher: Christian schol-arship must be permeated by spiritual affections orthe glory o God in all things. Most scholars know that without the support o truth, affections degenerate intogroundless emotionalism. But not as many scholars rec-

ognize the converse: that without the awakening o truespiritual affections, seeing the ullness o truth in allthings is impossible. Tus Edwards says, Where there is a


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kind o light without heat, a head stored with notions andspeculations, with a cold and unaffected heart, there canbe nothing divine in that light, that knowledge is no truespiritual knowledge o divine things.

One might object that the subject matter o psychol-ogy or sociology or anthropology or history or physics orchemistry or English or computer science is not divinethings but natural things. But that would miss the rst point: to see reality in truth we must see it in relation toGod, who created it, and sustains it, and gives it all the properties it has and all its relations and designs. o seeall these things in each discipline is to see the divinethingsand in the end, they are the main things. Tere-

ore, Edwards says, we cannot see them, and there ore we cannot do Christian scholarship, i we have no spiri-

tual sense or taste or Godno capacity to apprehend hisbeauty in the things he has made.

Tis sense, Edwards says, is given by God throughsupernatural new birth, effected by the word o God. Terst effect o the power o God in the heart in regenera-tion, is to give the heart a divine taste or sense; to cause

it to have a relish o the loveliness and sweetness o thesupreme excellency o the divine nature. Tere ore, todo Christian scholarship, a person must be born again;that is, a person must not only see the effects o Gods work, but also savor the beauty o Gods nature.

It is not in vain to do rational work, Edwards says, eventhough everything hangs on Gods ree gi o spiritual li eand sight. Te reason is that the more you have o a ratio-nal knowledge o divine things, the more opportunity willthere be, when the Spirit shall be breathed into your heart,


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to see the excellency o these things, and to taste the sweet-ness o them.

It is evident here that what Edwards means by rationalknowledge is not to be con used with modern rationalismthat philosophically excludes divine things. Even morerelevant or the present issue o Christian scholarship isthe act that rational knowledge or Edwards would alsoexclude a Christian methodological imitation o rational-ism in scholarly work. Edwards would, I think, nd somecontemporary Christian scholarship methodologicallyunintelligible because o the de acto exclusion o Godand his word rom the thought processes. Te motive osuch scholarship seems to be the obtaining o respect andacceptance in the relevant guild. But the price is high. AndEdwards would, I think, question whether, in the long run,

compromise will weaken God-exalting, Christian inu-ence, because the concession to naturalism speaks moreloudly than the goal o Gods supremacy in all things. Notonly that, the very nature o reality will be distorted by ascholarship that adopts a methodology that does not puta premium on the ground, the staying power, and the goal

o reality, namely, God. Where God is methodologicallyneglected, aith ul renderings o reality will be impossible.How then is this view o Christian scholarship an out-

working o the truth that the exhibition o Gods gloryand the deepest joy o human souls are one thing? Godexhibits his glory in the created reality being studied bythe scholar (Ps. : ; : ; Col. : ). Yet Gods endin this exhibition is not realized i the scholar does not seeit and savor it. Tus the savoring, relishing, and delightingo the scholar in the beauty o Gods glory is an occasion


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when the exhibition o the glory is completed. In thatmoment, the two become one: the magni ying o Godsglory is in and through the seeing and savoring o thescholars mind and heart. When the echo o Gods gloryechoes in the affections o Gods scholar and resoundsthrough his speaking and writing, Gods aim or Chris-tian scholarship is achieved.

Implication #14.

Te way to magni y God in death is by meeting death as gain.Paul said his passion was that Christ be exalted in[his] body, whether by li e or by death. And then he add-ed the words that show how Christ would be exalted in hisdeath: For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain (Phil.

: ). Christ is shown as great, when death is seen asgain. Te reason or this is plain: the glory o Christ ismagnied when our hearts are more satised in him thanin all that death takes rom us. I we count death gain,because it brings us closer to Christ (which is what Phil.

: says it does), then we show that Christ is more to bedesired than all this world can offer.

Implication #15.

Finally, i the exhibition o Gods glory and the deepest joyo human souls are one thing, then, as C.S. Lewis said, Itis a Christian duty, as you know, or everyone to be as happy as he can. Jonathan Edwards expressed this duty withtremendous orce ulness in one o his seventy resolutionsbe ore he was twenty years old: Resolved, o endeavor toobtain or mysel as much happiness in the other world as


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I possibly can, with all the power, might, vigor, and vehe-mence, yea violence, I am capable o , or can bring mysel toexert, in any way that can be thought o . And, o course,the duty is established by explicit commands o Scripture:Delight yoursel in the L (Ps. : ); Serve the L with gladness (Ps. : ); Rejoice in the Lord always;again I will say, rejoice! (Phil. : ); and many more.

Sometimes people ask: should we pursue obedience toGod or joy in God? Edwards would answer: Te questioninvolves a category con usion. Its like asking: should I pur-sue ruit or apples? Obedience is doing what we are told. And we are told to delight ourselves in the Lord. Tere ore pur-suing joy in God is obedience. In act, when the psalm says,Serve the L with gladness, it implies that the pursuit o joy must be part o all our obedience, which is what Implica-

tion above already said. It could not be otherwise i joy inGod is essential to magni ying the surpassing worth o God.

I hope it is evident now that this duty to be satised inGod is not just a piece o good advice or the sake o ourmental health. It is rooted in the very nature o God asone who overows with the glory o his ullness, which is

magnied in being known and loved and enjoyed by hiscreatures. Which is why I say again that this discovery hasmade all the difference in my li e. What I owe JonathanEdwards or guiding me in these things is incalculable.I love his words, Te happiness o the creature consistsin rejoicing in God, by which also God is magnied andexalted. But I also love to say it my way: God is most glo-ried in us when we are most satised in him.


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A Final Plea and Prayer

Edwardss central insightthat God created the world to

exhibit the ullness o his glory in the God-centered joyo his peoplehas made all the difference or me. Aside

rom all the other riches in Edwardss vision o God thisalone would warrant Charles Colsons recommendationo Jonathan Edwards:

Te western churchmuch o it dri ing,enculturated, and in ected with cheap gracedesperately needs to hear Edwardss challenge .It is my belie that the prayers and work o those who love and obey Christ in our world may yet prevail as they keep the message o such a man as Jonathan Edwards.

O how I pray that these words, and all that I have written, will persuade many o you to read and embrace Edwardssgreat vision o Gods passion or his glory.


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NOTES

1 Sereno Dwight, Memoirs o Jonathan Edwards, inTe Works o Jonathan Edwards, vol. (Edinburgh:Te Banner o ruth rust, ), clxiii.

2 I tell the story o the key encounters with C.S. Lewisin Desiring God: Meditations o a Christian Hedo-nist (Sisters, OR: Multnomah Press, ), .One o the most awakening sentences o my li e has proved to be, I think we delight to praise what weenjoy because the praise not merely expresses butcompletes the enjoyment; it is its appointed consum-mation (C.S. Lewis, Reections on the Psalms [NewYork: Harcourt, Brace and World, ], ).

3 Te importance o Fullers impact is narrated inthe oreword which I wrote to his bookUnity o the Bible: Un olding Gods Plan or Humanity(GrandRapids: Zondervan Publishing House, ), x xii. David Brand pays tribute to the same impacto Edwards through Daniel Fuller in his excellentbook, Prole o the Last Puritan, x.

4 Miscellany in: Jonathan Edwards,Te Miscella-nies, ed. by Tomas Scha er,Te Works o Jonathan Edwards, vol. (New Haven: Yale University Press,

), .Te Miscellanies are Edwardss private note-books where he did his thinking, which later made its way into his sermons and books. Te date or Miscella-ny is estimated to be rom Edwardss twentieth year.See Scha ers dating efforts inTe Miscellanies, - .


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5 Jonathan Edwards,Te End or Which God Createdthe World in John Piper,Gods Passion or His Glo-ry, (Wheaton: Crossway, ), and ootnote .

6 Ibid., .

7 Ibid., .

8 Ibid., .

9 Gods righteousness is his unwavering commit-ment to uphold and display the innite worth ohis glory in all that he does, which would seem torequire punishment or all who have allen shorto the glory o God (Rom. : ). But since Godsrighteousness (his commitment to his glory) andhis mercy (his commitment to our joy) are not ulti-

mately at odds, he made a way to be both just andthe justier o him who has aith in Jesus (Rom.

: ). See ootnote in Jonathan Edwards,Te End or Which God Created the World in Piper,Gods Passion or His Glory, .

10 See especially Romans : , God displayed[Christ] publicly as a propitiation in His bloodthrough aith. Tis was to demonstrate His righ-teousness, because in the orbearance o God He passed over the sins previously committed; orthe demonstration, I say, o His righteousness atthe present time, so that He would be just and the

justier o the one who has aith in Jesus. See myexposition o this text in the wider Biblical contexto this truth inTe Pleasures o God: Meditations


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on Gods Delight in Being God(Sisters, OR: Mult-nomah Press, ), .

11 Te traditional translation ollow in Psalm :misses the uni orm meaning o the Hebrewradaph,namely pursue, chase or persecute. Te verse doesnot mean that Gods goodness and mercy ollow usas though we were leaders and they were loyal sub- jects. It means they pursue us as though we were in

constant need o omnipotent helpwhich we are.Daniel Fuller captures the orce o this verse: Inthat his goodness and mercy pursue a er his peopleevery day o their lives (see Ps. : ), God himselis modeling the benevolent love o Corinthians

: : Nobody should seek his own good, but thegood o others. But this seeking the wel are o thecreature does not contradict the o -stated affirma-tion in Scripture that to [God] be the glory orever!Amen (e.g., Rom. : ), or the blessing o know-ing God, enjoyed by believing people as his mercyand goodness pursue them daily, causes their heartsto well up constantly in praise to him (Unity o the Bible, ).

12 See Te End or Which God Created the World ,Chapter wo, Section Five ( ) or Edwardsscollection o Biblical texts that show God created the world with a view to pursuing the creatures good.

13 Jonathan Edwards,Te Religious Affections, ed. by John Smith,Te Works o Jonathan Edwards, vol. (New Haven: Yale University Press, ), .


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14 Jonathan Edwards,Te Nature o rue Virtue, in Ethical Writings, Te Works o Jonathan Edwards, vol. , ed. by Paul Ramsey (New Haven: Yale Uni- versity Press, ), .

15 Ibid., .

16 Edwards,Te End or Which God Created theWorld , .

17 Ibid., .18 Ibid., . For the biblical evidence o hells eter-

nal conscious torment and the justice o it, see JohnPiper, Let the Nations Be Glad: Te Supremacy oGod in Missions(Grand Rapids: Baker Book, ),

; and Jonathan Edwards, Te Justice o

God in the Damnation o Sinners, inTe Workso Jonathan Edwards, vol. (Edinburgh: Te Ban-ner o ruth rust, ), ; and JonathanEdwards, Te orments o Hell Are ExceedingGreat, Sermons and Discourses, , ed.by Kenneth Minkema, in:Te Works o Jonathan

Edwards, vol. (New Haven: Yale UniversityPress, ), .

19 Unpublished sermon on Exodus : , quoted in John Gerstner, Jonathan Edwards on Heaven and Hell (Grand Rapids: Baker Book, ), . Tisentire book illustrates Edwardss capacity to show

that heaven is unspeakably wonder ul and hell isunspeakably horrible.

20 I owe this way o saying it to David Wells in


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personal conversation. Few people today are mak-ing wiser, more penetrating observations aboutthis distinction than Wells in his three books, No Place or ruth: Or Whatever Happened to Evan- gelical Teology? (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerd-mans Publishing Co., );God in the Wasteland:Te Reality o ruth in a World o Fading Dreams (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans PublishingCo., ); Losing Our Virtue: Why the Church Must Recover Its Moral Vision (Grand Rapids: Wil-liam B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., ).

21 St. Augustine,Con essions, trans. by R. S. Pine-Co -n (New York: Penguin Books, ), , (I, ).

22 Jonathan Edwards,Some Toughts Concerning the

Revival, Te Great Awakening , ed. by C. C. Goen,Te Works o Jonathan Edwards, vol. (New Hav-en: Yale University Press, ), .

23 Te Religious Affections, .

24 Jonathan Edwards,reatise on Grace, in: reatise on

Grace and Other Posthumously Published Writings,ed. by Paul Helm (Cambridge: James Clarke and Co.Ltd., ), .

25 Christian Knowledge, inTe Works o Jona-than Edwards, vol. (Edinburgh: Banner o ruth

rust, ), .

26 From a personal letter to Sheldon Vanauken inVanaukens book, A Severe Mercy (New York:Harper and Row, ), .


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27 Resolution in Edwardss Memoirs, in: TeWorks o Jonathan Edwards, vol. (Edinburgh), xxi.

28 Edwards,Te End or Which God Created theWorld , and ootnote .

29 Charles Colson, Introduction to JonathanEdwards, Religious Affections (Sisters, OR: Mult-nomah Press, ), xxiii, xxxiv.


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SELF-LOVE, GOOD AND BAD:SHOULD WE BE WILLING TO BEDAMNED FOR THE GLORY OF GOD?

Future Grace: Te Puri ying Power o the Promises o

God (Colorado Springs: Multnomah, ), .

Good counsel tells me to alert the reader that what is com-ing may be heavy sledding. We are not used to readingmaterial that is two centuries old, rom a thought-world

oreign to our day. Yet, as I said be ore: raking is easy, but

you get only leaves; digging is hard, but you might nddiamonds. Tat is what I ound in a great eighteenth-cen-tury pastor and theologian.

It is no secret, rom what I have written elsewhere, thatI am deeply indebted to Jonathan Edwards in the devel-opment o my understanding o God and li e. J.I. Packersaid o my book Desiring God: Meditations o a Chris-tian Hedonist , Jonathan Edwards, whose ghost walksthrough most o Pipers pages, would be delighted withhis disciple. Tat was a very generous tribute. I write


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with Edwards looking over my shoulder. So I would liketo show that living by aith in uture grace and Christianhedonism stand in aith ul continuity with the thinkingo Jonathan Edwards. I do not claim that Edwards wouldhave chosen my way o bringing biblical truth to bear onthe modern church. Nor do I assume it is the only or eventhe best way. But I do want to claim that it is biblical, andthat it is in the Re ormed tradition o Jonathan Edwards,and that, i properly understood and applied, it leads to aGod-centered li e o joy ul and sacricial love.

Tere are at least two eatures o Edwardss thoughtthat appear at rst glance to be at odds with Christianhedonism. One is his treatment o sel -love. He showsthat its branches dont reach high enough and its rootsdont go deep enough. How will this criticism o sel -love

t with our stress on aith as being satised with all thatGod is or us in Jesus? Christian hedonism sounds likesel -love. Is it? Te other eature o Edwardss thought thatseems contrary to Christian hedonism is his use o theterm disinterested. Genuine love to God must be disin-terested, he would say, which o course does not sound like

the language o hedonism. Or is it?The Place of Self-Love in the Thought of Edwards

Sel -love was a burning topic in Edwardss day. He hada love-hate relationship with the term, because it carriedso much potential truth and so much potential error. He

once wrote, O, how is the world darkened, clouded, dis-tracted, and torn to pieces by those dread ul enemies omankind called words!


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himsel , and became totally governed by narrowand selsh principles and eelings. Sel -lovebecame absolute master o his soul, and the morenoble and spiritual principles o his being took wings and ew away.

So sel -love in this sense is the same as the vice o selsh-ness. People who are governed by sel -love place [their]happiness in good things that are conned or limited to

themselves, to the exclusion o others. And this is selsh-ness. Tis is the thing most clearly and directly intendedby that sel -love which the Scripture condemns. So sel -love is a trait that man has a er the Fall, and its evil, as we will see, is not its desire or happiness, but its nding thathappiness in narrow, merely private interests.

Edwards knew quite well that even benevolence orothers could be rooted in a conned and narrow sel -love.Much benevolence simply rises out o natural affinitygroups that unite others to ourselvesgroups like am-ily and community and nationality. Edwards called thisbenevolence on the basis o sel -love compounded sel -love and did not recognize it as true virtue.

But Edwards did raise the question, When can thebreadth o the benevolent effects o sel -love be broadenough, so that it can be called true virtue? In , sev-enteen years a er he preached the sermons on Corinthi-ans , Edwards gave an extremely radical answer. He said,Only when it embraces the good o the whole universe o

being. Or more simply, Only when it embraces God. Foruntil then, sel -love embraces an innitely small part ouniversal existence because it does not embrace God.


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I there could be a cause [like sel -love]determining a person to benevolence towardsthe whole world o mankind, or even all createdsensible natures throughout the universe, exclusiveo union o heart to general existence and o loveto Godnot derived rom that temper o mind which disposes to a supreme regard to him, norsubordinate to such divine loveit cannot be othe nature o true virtue.

Norman Fiering said o this statement, We may admirethe audacity o such a statement . But it is also open toobvious criticism. Ten he proceeds to critique Edwardsin a way that seems to ignore the aim and achievemento Edwards inTe Nature o rue Virtue. What Edwardsaims to do is show that God is central and indispensablein the denition o true virtueto keep God at the cen-ter o all moral considerations, to stem the secularizing

orces o ethical thinking in his day. Edwards could notconceive o calling any act truly virtuous that did not havein it a supreme regard to God. Tis is why Edwards seemsto me so utterly relevant to our day, and why he is a modelo God-centered thinking.

So what Edwards was trying to do by ocusing on thenegative, narrow, conned sense o sel -love was to showin the end that all love is a narrow, merely natural kind olove unless it has a supreme regard to God. Te inadequa-cy o sel -love is that its branches do not reach up to God.

Tey might embrace great causes and make great sacric-es, but i love does not embrace God, it is innitely paro-chial. In other words, Edwardss treatment o sel -love,


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Edwards took all this or granted the way he took the veryexistence o human will or granted. But my experience isthat it hits people today as though it were a new religion which I think shows just how ar we have come ( allen)

rom the biblical vision o Jonathan Edwards.I suppose it may be a slight overstatement to say that

Edwards took all this or granted, because he does under-take to argue or it somewhat. For example, he says,

Tat to love ourselves is not unlaw ul, is evidentalso rom the act, that the law o God makes sel -love a rule and measure by which our love to othersshould be regulated. Tus Christ commands(Matthew : ), Tou shalt love thy neighbor asthysel , which certainly supposes that we may, andmust love ourselves . And the same appears also

rom the act, that the Scriptures, rom one endo the Bible to the other, are ull o motives thatare set orth or the very purpose o working onthe principle o sel -love. Such are all the promisesand threatenings o the word o God, its calls andinvitations, its counsels to seek our own good, andits warnings to beware o misery.

But now how does all this relate to our supreme regard orGod, which Edwards argues is so indispensable to true virtue? For many thought ul Christians, the quest orhappiness seems sel -centered, not God-centered. But, in

act, Edwards can help us see that the attempt to abandonthat quest produces a worse sel -centeredness. He clearsaway a lot o og when he poses the question, Whether


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or not a man ought to love God more than himsel ? Heanswers like this:

Sel -love, taken in the most extensive sense, andlove to God are not things properly capable obeing compared one with another; or they arenot opposites or things entirely distinct, but oneenters into the nature o the other . Sel -love isonly a capacity o enjoying or taking delight in

anything. Now surely tis improper to say that ourlove to God is superior to our general capacity odelighting in anything.

You can never play off sel -love against love to God whensel -love is treated as our love or happiness. Rather, loveto God is the orm that sel -love takes when God is dis-

covered as the all-satis ying ountain o joy. NormanFiering catches the sense here per ectly when he sums upEdwardss position like this: Disinterested love to God isimpossible because the desire or happiness is intrinsic toall willing or loving whatsoever, and God is the necessaryend o the search or happiness. Logically one cannot be

disinterested about the source or basis o all interest.Does Disinterested Really Mean Disinterested?

Tis is very important, because Edwards does in act usethe word disinterested when he talks about love toGod. And this is one o the eatures o Edwardss thought

that I said earlier looks contrary to Christian hedonism,but in act isnt. Rather, the same ambiguity exists in theterm disinterested as with the term sel -love. When


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Edwards speaks o a disinterested love to God, he meansa love that is grounded not in a desire or Gods gi s, butin a desire or God himsel . Tis is absolutely crucial orunderstanding Edwardss relation to Christian hedonismand living by aith in uture grace.

Disinterestedness is not an anti-hedonistic word asEdwards uses it. It is simply his way (common in the eigh-teenth century) o stressing that we must seek our joy inGod himsel and not in the health, wealth, and prosperityhe may give. It is a word designed to sa eguard the God-centeredness o joy, not to oppose the pursuit o it.

You know immediately that you are in the realm o Chris-tian hedonism when you read Edwards describing the seem-ingly paradoxical phrase,disinterested delight ! Tis showshow care ul we must be not to jump to conclusions when we

see apparently non-hedonistic terms in Edwards (and oth-er older writers). Te ollowing crucial insights come romEdwardss mature work on the Religious Affections:

As it is with the love o the saints, so it is withtheir joy, and spiritual delight and pleasure: therst oundation o it, is not any considerationor conception o their interest in [understand:material benet rom] divine things; but it primarily consists in the sweet entertainment theirminds have in the view or contemplation o thedivine and holy beauty o these things, as they arein themselves. And this is indeed the very main

difference between the joy o the hypocrite, andthe joy o the true saint. Te ormer rejoices inhimsel ; sel is the rst oundation o his joy: the


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latter rejoices in God . rue saints have theirminds, in the rst place,inexpressibly pleased anddelighted with the sweet ideas o the glorious andamiable nature o the things o God. And this isthe spring o all their delights, and thecream o all their pleasures . But the dependence o theaffections o hypocrites is in a contrary order: theyrst rejoice that they are made so much o byGod; and then on that ground, he seems in a sort,lovely to them.

A paragraph like this puts an end, once and or all, to thethought that the term disinterested in Edwards meansthat we should not pursue our deepest and highest plea-sures in God. On the contrary! He is the cream o all[our] pleasures, and contemplating him is sweet enter-tainment. We should be driven on by longing or satis ac-tion in God himsel , never content with the mere gi s oGod, which are but tributaries owing rom the Fountainhimsel . It is a radically hedonistic paragraph, and a pro-

ound call to live by aith in uture grace.

Should We Be Willing to Be Damned for the Gloryof God?

Perhaps the best proo that supreme love or God can nev-er be played off against the pursuit o satis action in Godis Edwardss answer to the question, whether we should be willing to be damned or the glory o God.

is impossible or any person to be willing to be per ectly and nally miserable or Gods sake, or


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odds: my joy and Gods glory. Te more I delight in Godsbeing gloried, the more valuable that glory appears. otry to abandon the pursuit o one will nulli y the other.

So there is no such thing in the thought o Edwardsas the ultimate abandonment o the quest or happiness.

Disinterestedness is affirmed only to preserve the central-ity o God himsel as the object o our satis action. And sel -loveis rejected only when it is conceived as a narrowlove or happiness that does not have God as its supreme

ocus. In the words o Norman Fiering, Te type osel -love that is overcome in nding union with God isspecically selshness, not the sel -love that seeks theconsummation o happiness.

But Even Good Self-Love Is Merely Natural

Let us press deeper with Edwards. Is there then any reasonto speak o the inadequacy o sel -love when it is used inthis broad sense o our love or happiness that reaches allthe way up to embrace God? Yes, there is. And it appears when we ask, Why do some people put their happiness inGod and others dont? Edwardss answer was the miracleo regeneration. And the reason he gave this answer wasthe reason he did everything he did: to put God not onlyat the top but also at the bottom o true virtue and true

aithto make him the ground as well as the goal.His battle was against the secularizing tendencies that

he saw in the ethical theories o his daytheories that

reduced all virtue into powers that man has by nature.Edwards saw this as a naive estimation o mans corrup-tion and as an assault on the centrality o God in the moral


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li e o the soul. How then do people come to have God astheir true happiness? (Which is the same as asking, Howis a Christian hedonist created? Or: How does one cometo live by aith in uture grace?) Edwards observed that alove to God that arises solely rom sel -love cannot be atruly gracious and spiritual love or sel -love is a principle entirely natural, and as much in the hearts o devils asangels; and there ore surely nothing that is the mere resulto it can be supernatural and divine.

So he goes on to insist that those who say that all love toGod arises solely rom sel -love

ought to consider a little urther, and inquirehow the man came to place his happiness inGods being gloried, and in contemplating andenjoying Gods per ections . How came thesethings to be so agreeable to him, that he esteemsit his highest happiness to glori y God? I a era man loves God, and has his heart so united tohim, as to look upon God as his chie good it will be a consequence and ruit o this, that evensel -love, or love to his own happiness, will causehim to desire the glori ying and enjoying o God;it will not thence ollow, that this very exerciseo sel -love, went be ore his love to God, andthat his love to God was a consequence and ruito that. Something else, entirely distinct romsel -love might be the cause o this, viz. a change

made in the views o his mind, and relish o hisheart whereby he apprehends a beauty, glory, andsupreme good, in Gods nature, as it is in itsel .


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So Edwards says that sel -love alone cant account or theexistence o spiritual love to God because, prior to thesouls pursuing happiness in God, the soul has to perceivethe excellency o God and be given a relish or it. Tis is what happens in regeneration.

Divine love may be thus described. is the soulsrelish o the supreme excellency o the Divinenature, inclining the heart to God as the chie

good. Te rst thing in Divine love, and that rom which everything that appertains to it arises, is arelish o the excellency o the Divine nature; whichthe soul o man by nature has nothing o . Whenonce the soul is brought to relish the excellency othe Divine nature, then it will naturally, and ocourse, incline to God every way. It will inclineto be with him and to enjoy him. It will havebenevolence to God. It will be glad that he is happy.It will incline that he should be gloried, andthat his will should be done in all things. So thatthe rst effect o the power o God in the heart inregeneration, is to give the heart a Divine taste orsense; to cause it to have a relish o the lovelinessand sweetness o the supreme excellency o theDivine nature; and indeed this is all the immediateeffect o the Divine power that there is; this isall the Spirit o God needs to do, in order to a production o all good effects in the soul.

Very simply, what he is saying is this: a capacity to tastea thing must precede our desire or its sweetness. Tat is,regeneration must precede loves pursuit o happiness in


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God. So Edwards speaks o the natural power o sel -lovebeing regulated by this supernatural taste or God:

Te change that takes place in a man, when heis converted and sanctied, is not that his love

or happiness is diminished, but only that itis regulated with respect to its exercises andinuence, and the courses and objects it leads to .

When God brings a soul out o a miserable state

and condition into a happy state, by conversion, hegives him happiness that be ore he had not [namely,in God ], but he does not at the same time take awayany o his love o happiness.

So the problem with our love or happiness is never that itsintensity is too great. Te main problem is that it ows in

the wrong channels toward the wrong objects, becauseour nature is corrupt and in desperate need o renovationby the Holy Spirit. And lest we think that, in speakingo love to God, we have moved aeld rom our concern with living by aith in uture grace, recall that or Edwards,love is the main thing in saving aith, the li e and power o

it, by which it produces great effects.How Then Shall We Live?

Tis leads us nally to the duties that ow romEdwardss teaching and its relation to living by aith in

uture grace and Christian hedonism. Once the reno-

vation o our hearts happens through the supernatural work o regeneration, the pursuit o the enjoyment othe glory o God becomes more and more clearly the


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all-satis ying duty o the Christian. And indifference tothis pursuit, as though it were a bad thing, appears as anincreasingly great evil.

Te heart is more and more gripped with the truth thatGod created the world or his own glory and that this gloryechoes most clearly in the enjoyments o the saints. Listenas Edwards un olds or us the deepest roots o Christianhedonism in the very nature o the Godhead. And noticehow Gods passion to be gloried and our passion to besatised unite into one experience.

God is gloried within himsel these two ways: .By appearing to himsel in his own per ect idea[o himsel ], or in his Son, who is the brightness ohis glory. . By enjoying and delighting in himsel ,by owing orth in innite love and delighttowards himsel , or in his Holy Spirit . So Godglories himsel toward the creatures also in two ways: . By appearing to their understanding. .In communicating himsel to their hearts, and intheir rejoicing and delighting in, and enjoying, themani estations which he makes o himsel .Godis gloried not only by his glorys being seen, but byits being rejoiced in. When those that see it delightin it, God is more gloried than i they only seeit. His glory is then received by the whole soul,both by the understanding and by the heart. Godmade the world that He might communicate,

and the creature receive, his glory; and that itmight [be] received both by the mind and heart.He that testies his idea o Gods glory [doesnt]


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glori y God so much as he that testies also hisapprobation o it and his delight in it.

In other words, the chie end o man is to glori y God byenjoying him orever which is the essence o Christianhedonism, and o living by aith in uture grace. Tere isno nal conict between Gods passion to be gloried andmans passion to be satised. God is most gloried in us when we are most satised in him.

As Edwards put it,Because [God] innitely values his own glory,consisting in the knowledge o himsel , love tohimsel , and complacence and joy in himsel ; hethere ore valued the image, communication or participation o these, in the creature. And it is

because he values himsel , that he delights in theknowledge, and love, and joy o the creature; asbeing himsel the object o this knowledge, loveand complacence . [Tus] Gods respect to thecreatures good, and his respect to himsel , is not adivided respect; but both are united in one, as the

happiness o the creature aimed at, is happiness inunion with himsel .

Maximize Spiritual Satisfaction; Manifest theSplendor of God

It ollows rom all this that it is impossible that anyonecan pursue happiness with too much passion and zeal andintensity. Tis pursuit is not sin. Sin is pursuing happi-ness where it cannot be lastingly ound (Jer. : ), or


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pursuing it in the right direction, but with lukewarm,halfearted affections (Rev. : ). Virtue, on the otherhand, is to do what we do with all our might in pursuito the enjoyment o all that God is or us in Jesus. Tere-

ore the cultivation o spiritual appetite is a great duty orall the saints. Men ought to indulge those appetites. oobtain as much o those spiritual satis actions as lies intheir power.

Te aim o my book Future Grace is to root ever moredeeply in Scripture the vision o God and li e called liv-ing by aith in uture grace. I take subordinate pleasure inrooting it in the thought o one o the greatest theologiansin the history o the church. I put little stock in wheth-er anybody calls this vision o God and li e Christianhedonism. Tat is a term that will pass away like vapor.

But my prayer is that the truth in it will run and triumph.Another pastor will say it differently, and probably better,

or another generation. I am called to serve mine. My pas-sion is to assert the supremacy o God in every area o li e.My discovery is that God is supreme not where he is simply served with duty but where he is savored with delight.

Delight yoursel in the L (Psalm : ) is not a sec-ondary suggestion. It is a radical call to pursue your ullestsatis action in all that God promises to be or you in Jesus.It is a call to live in the joy ul reedom and sacricial lovethat comes rom aith in uture grace. Ten will come to pass the purpose o God who chose us in Christ to live tothe praise o his glory.


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NOTES

30 Miscellanies, no. , inTe Philosophy o Jonathan Edwards fom his Private Notebooks, Harvey G.

ownsend, ed. (Westport, C : Greenwood Press,, orig. ), . See also , or other

complaints about the inadequacy o language.

31 [Sel -love] may be taken or [a persons] loving whatsoever is pleasing to him. Which comes only tothis, that sel -love is a mans liking, and being suitedand pleased in that which he likes, and which pleas-es him; or, that it is a mans loving what he loves.For whatever a man loves, that thing is pleasing tohim And i this be all that they mean by sel -love,

no wonder they suppose that all love may be resolvedinto sel -love.Te Nature o rue Virtue (Ann Arbor:Te University o Michigan Press, ), . Seealso Te Mind, inScientic and Philosophical Writ-ings, Wallace E. Anderson, ed.,Te Works o Jona-than Edwards, vol. (New Haven: Yale University

Press, ), ;Charity and Its Fruits (London: TeBanner o ruth Press), , .

32 rue Virtue, .

33 Charity and Its Fruits, .

34 Ibid., .

35 Edwards, rue Virtue, .

36 Norman Fiering, Jonathan Edwardss Moral


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Tought and its British Context (Chapel Hill: Uni- versity o North Carolina, ), .

37 Edwards,Charity and Its Fruits, .38 Ibid., .

39 Miscellanies, no. , .

40 Fiering, Jonathan Edwardss Moral Tought , .

41 Clyde A. Holbrook, ed., Original Sin: Te Works o Jonathan Edwards, vol. (New Haven: Yale Univer-sity Press, ), ; Charity and Its Fruits,

42 John E. Smith, ed., Religious Affections,TeWorks o Jonathan Edwards, vol. (New Haven: YaleUniversity Press, ), . (emphasis added).

43 Miscellanies, no. , ; see also Fiering, Jonathan Edwardss Moral Tought , .

44 See Jonathan Edwards,reatise on Grace, PaulHelm, ed. (Cambridge: James Clarke and Co.,

), .

45 Fiering, Jonathan Edwardss Moral Tought , .46 Smith, Religious Affections, .

47 Ibid., (emphasis added). See also Edwards,Te Nature o rue Virtue, .

48 Edwards, reatise on Grace, .

49 Edwards,Charity and Its Fruits, .

50 Ibid., .


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51 Miscellanies, no. , .

52 Edwards, Concerning Faith, .

53 Miscellanies, no. , ; see also no. , , andno. , and no. , .

54 Jonathan Edwards,Te End or Which God Createdthe World , inTe Works o Jonathan Edwards, vol. (Edinburgh: Te Banner o ruth, ), .

55 Edwards,Charity and Its Fruits, .56 Edwardss Resolution no. , inTe Works o Jon-

athan Edwards, vol. (Edinburgh: Te Banner oruth rust), xx. Resolved: o live with all my

might, while I do live.

57 I owe this quote to Don Westblade, who tran-scribed the unpublished sermon o Edwards ( romthe Jonathan Edwards Project at Yale University)on Canticles : , with the doctrine stated: Tat persons need not and ought not to set any boundsto their spiritual and gracious appetites.


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GODLY SORROW AND THEFULLNESS OF JOY:BREAKING THE HEART ANDMAKING IT GLAD

God Is the Gospel (Wheaton: Crossway, ), .

Te greatest lesson I learned rom Jonathan Edwards isthat God is shown to be most beauti ul and valuable whenhis people see him clearly in the gospel and delight in himabove all else. In other words, God is most gloried in us

when we are most satised in him. Which means that you never have to choose between your greatest joy andGods greatest glory.

Te question here is: How does this relate to the neces-sary sorrows o the Christian li e, especially the sorrow ogospel-awakened contrition? How does the gospel o theglory o God in the ace o Christ ( Cor. : ) relate to thesorrow o contrition? Or to make the question even more pointed, how does the savoring o the glory o God in thegospel relate to the sorrow o gospel-awakened remorse or


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sin? I the great good o the gospel is savoring the glory oGod in the gospel, how can it also produce sorrow?

Sorrow Rises from the Sight of All-Satisfying Glory

In a sermon rom , titled Te Pleasantness o Reli-gion, Edwards addressed the question: How does thecentrality o savoring the glory o God in the gospel relateto the pain o gospel-awakened contrition? Here is the key

insight:Tere is repentance o sin: though it be a deepsorrow or sin that God requires as necessary tosalvation, yet the very nature o it necessarilyimplies delight. Repentance o sin is a sorrow arising

fom the sight o Gods excellency and mercy, but

the apprehension o excellency or mercy mustnecessarily and unavoidably beget pleasure in themind o the beholder. is impossible that anyoneshould see anything that appears to him excellentand not behold it with pleasure, and its impossibleto be affected with the mercy and love o God, and

his willingness to be merci ul to us and love us,and not be affected with pleasure at the thoughtso [it]; but this is the very affection that begets truerepentance. How much so ever o a paradox it mayseem, it is true that repentance is a sweet sorrow, sothat the more o this sorrow, the more pleasure.

Tis is astonishing and true. What he is saying is that tobring people to the sorrow o repentance and contrition, you must bring them rst to see the glory o God as their


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treasure and their delight. Tis is what happens in thegospel. Te gospel is the revelation o the glory o Christ, who is the image o God ( Cor. : ). rue sorrow oversin is shown by the gospel to be what it really isthe resulto ailing to savor the glory o God in the ace o JesusChrist ( Cor. : ). Te sorrow o true contrition is sor-row or not having God as our all-satis ying treasure. Butto be sorrow ul over not savoring God, we must see Godas our treasure, our sweetness. o grieve over not delight-ing in God, he must have become a delight to us.

The Seeds of Delight Bear the Fruit of Sorrow

How did this happen? How did God become our all-sat-is ying treasure? It happened through the gospel. Te gospel revealed the glory o God in Christ. We saw it. We were awakened to his beauty and worth. Te seeds odelight were sown, and the ruit they produced was sor-rowsorrow that or so long we had never savored hisglory. Paradoxically this means that true repentance andcontrition based on the gospel is preceded by the awaken-ing o a delight in God. o weep savingly over not possess-ing God as your treasure, he must have become preciousto you. Te gospel awakens sorrow or sin by awakening asavor or God.

How David Brainerd Broke the Hearts of Indiansand Made Them Glad

wenty-six years a er he preached the sermon on TePleasantness o Religion, Jonathan Edwards publishedthe journals o David Brainerd, the young missionary to


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the American Indians who died in at the age o twen-ty-nine. He took this opportunity to illustrate rom realli e what he had taught about the relationship betweenthe glory o the gospel and the sorrow o contrition.

On August , Brainerd preached to the Indians oCrossweeksung, New Jersey and made this observation:

Tere were many tears among them while I wasdiscoursing publicly . Some were much affected

with a ew words spoken to them in a power ulmanner, which caused the persons to cry outin anguish o soul, although I spoke not a wordo terror, but on the contrary, set be ore them the

ullness and all-sufficiency o Christs merits, andhis willingness to save all that come to him; andthereupon pressed them to come without delay.

Again on November that same year he preached onLuke : concerning the rich man and Lazarus.

Te Word made power ul impressions upon manyin the assembly, especially while I discoursed othe blessedness o Lazarus in Abrahams bosom[Luke : ]. Tis, I could perceive, affected themmuch more than what I spoke o the rich mansmisery and torments. And thus it has been usually with them . Tey have almost always appearedmuch more affected with the com ortable than thedread ul truths o Gods Word. And that which

has distressed many o them under convictions, isthat they ound they wanted [=lacked], and couldnot obtain, the happiness o the godly.


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Paul by the way you speak o responding to the gospel?In response to this good question I would say, its true

that Edwards used the term disinterested love in re er-ence to God.

I must leave it to everyone to judge or himsel concerning mankind, how little there is o thisdisinterested love to God, this pure divineaffection, in the world.

Tere is no other love so much above a selsh principle as Christian love is, there is no love that isso ree and disinterested. God is loved or himseland or his own sake.

But the key to understanding his meaning is ound in this

last quote. Disinterested love to God is loving God orhimsel and or his own sake. In other words, Edwardsused the term disinterested love to designate love thatdelights in God or his own greatness and beauty, and todistinguish it rom love that delights only in Gods gi s.Disinterested love is not love without pleasure. It is love

whose pleasure is in God himsel .Disinterested Sweet Entertainment

In act, Edwards would say that there is no love to God thatdoes not include delight in God. And so i there is a disin-terested love to God, there is disinterested delight in God.

And that is exactly the way he thinks. For example, he says:As it is with the love o the saints, so it is withtheir joy, and spiritual delight and pleasure: the


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is Pauls paradoxical maxim in Corinthians : , as sor-row ul, yet always rejoicing.

Jonathan Edwards saw the glory o God in the gospel more clearly than most o us and experienced beingenthralled with Gods ellowship through the gospel. But he also le us one o the most beauti ul descriptionso what the glory o God in the gospel produces in the li eo the believer. He showed that the God-enthralled visiono Christ in the gospel does not make a person presumptu-ousit makes him meek. It produces broken-hearted joy.

All gracious affections that are a sweet odorto Christ, and that ll the soul o a Christian with a heavenly sweetness and ragrancy, arebrokenhearted affections. A truly Christian love,either to God or men, is a humble brokenheartedlove. Te desires o the saints, however earnest, arehumble desires: their hope is a humble hope; andtheir joy, even when it is unspeakable, and ull oglory, is a humble brokenhearted joy, and leaves theChristian more poor in spirit, and more like a littlechild, and more disposed to a universal lowlinesso behavior.


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NOTES

58 Te section in Edwardss writings that made thismost clear was:

God glories himsel toward the creatures in two ways: . By appearing to their understanding. .In communicating himsel to their hearts, and intheir rejoicing and delighting in, and enjoying, themani estations which he makes o himsel .Godis gloried not only by his glorys being seen, but byits being rejoiced in. When those that see it delightin it, God is more gloried than i they only see it.His glory is then received by the whole soul, bothby the understanding and by the heart. God made

the world that he might communicate, and thecreature receive, his glory; and that it might [be]received both by the mind and heart. He that testi-es his idea o Gods glory [doesnt] glori y God somuch as he that testies also his approbation o itand his delight in it. Jonathan Edwards,Te Mis-

cellanies, inTe Works o Jonathan Edwards, vol. ,ed. Tomas Scha er (New Haven, Conn.: Yale Uni- versity Press, ), . Miscellany ; see also

(pp. ); ( ); (not in the NewHaven volume). Emphasis added.

See also the comments o Benjamin Wareld on

the rst question o the Westminster Catechism.Te answer, Mans chie end is to glori y God andto enjoy him orever is ollowed by this comment:


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Not to enjoy God, certainly, without glori yinghim, or how can he to whom glory inherentlybelongs be enjoyed without being gloried? But justas certainly not to glori y God without enjoyinghim or how can he whose glory is his per ectionsbe gloried i he be not also enjoyed? Benjamin

Wareld, Te First uestion o the WestminsterShorter Catechism, inTe Westminster Assembly and Its Work, in Te Works o Benjamin Wareld , vol. (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker, ), .

59 Jonathan Edwards, Te Pleasantness o Religion,in Te Sermons o Jonathan Edwards: A Reader(New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, ),

. His thesis in this sermon is: It would be worththe while to be religious, i it were only or the pleas-antness o it, based on Proverbs : .

60 Ibid., . Emphasis added. Edward says similarlyin another place, Te same taste which relishes thesweetness o true moral good, tastes the bitternesso moral evil. Religious Affections, in Te Works

o Jonathan Edwards, vol. , ed. John Smith (NewHaven, Conn.: Yale University Press, ), .

61 Jonathan Edwards,Te Li e o David Brainerd , inhe Works o Jonathan Edwards, vol. , ed. Norman

Pettit (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press,), . Emphasis added.

62 Ibid., . Emphasis added.

63 Jonathan Edwards,Original Sin, in he Works o


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Jonathan Edwards, vol. , ed. Clyde A. Holbrook (NewHaven, Conn.: Yale University Press, ), .

64 Jonathan Edwards,Charity and Its Fruits, in Ethi-cal Writings, in Te Works o Jonathan Edwards, vol. , ed. Paul Ramsey (New Haven, Conn.: YaleUniversity Press, ), .

65 Edwards, Religious Affections, . Emphasis added.

66 Norman Fiering is right in the ollowing quote i you take disinterested in the absolute sense ono benet whatever, not even the sweet entertain-ment o beholding God. Disinterested love toGod is impossible because the desire or happinessis intrinsic to all willing or loving whatsoever, andGod is the necessary end o the search or happiness.Logically one cannot be disinterested about thesource or basis o all interest. Jonathan Edwardss

Moral Tought in Its British Context (Chapel Hill,N.C.: University o North Carolina Press, ), .

67 Especially help ul on this crucial point is John

Owen,Te Works o John Owen, vol. , ed. Wil-liam Goold (Edinburgh: Banner o ruth, ).Tis volume contains three important works onthe battle with remaining sin in believers:Othe Mortication o Sin in Believers; O empta-tion: Te Nature and Power o It; and Te Nature,

Power, Deceit, and Prevalency o the Remainders o Indwelling Sin in Believers.

68 Tis is why I used the subtitle How to Fight or Joy


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or my bookWhen I Dont Desire God (Wheaton,Ill.: Crossway Books, ).

69 Once as I rode out into the woods or my healthin l , having alighted rom my horse in a retired place, as my manner commonly has been, to walk

or divine contemplation and prayer, I had a view,that or me was extraordinary, o the glory o theSon o God, as Mediator between God and man,

and his wonder ul, great, ull, pure and sweetgrace and love and meek, gentle condescension which continued, as near as I can judge, about anhour; which kept me the greater part o the time ina ood o tears, and weeping aloud. Tis is taken

rom Edwardss Personal Narrative, in Jonathan Edwards: Representative Selections, ed. ClarenceH. Faust and Tomas H. Johnson (New York: Hilland Wang, ), .

70 Edwards, Religious Affections, .


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THINKING ANDFEELINGTOGETHER:CLEAR TRUTH FOR THE SAKE OFSTRONG AFFECTIONS

Tink: Te Li e o the Mind and the Love o God (Wheaton: Crossway, ), .

Few people have helped me with the interconnection othinking and eeling more than the eighteenth-century NewEngland pastor and theologian Jonathan Edwards. I told my

story o his inuence in my li e in the bookGods Passion or His Glory: Living the Vision o Jonathan Edwards.

Edwards Without a Successor

Edwards, as almost every historian says, was among thegreatest thinkers that America has ever produced, i not

the greatest. Historian Mark Noll argues that no onesince Edwards has embodied the union o mind and heartthe way Edwards did.


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Edwardss piety continued on in the revivalisttradition, his theology continued on in academicCalvinism, but there were no successors to hisGod-centered worldview or his pro oundlytheological philosophy. Te disappearance oEdwardss perspective in American Christianhistory has been a tragedy.

In other words, theology and piety ound a union in

Edwards that has disappeared or is very rare. I hope thisbook will encourage some to pursue that union.

Trinitarian Thinking and Feeling

One o the gi s Edwards gave to me, which I had not oundanywhere else, was a oundation or human thinking and

eeling in the rinitarian nature o God. I dont mean thatothers havent seen human nature rooted in Gods nature.I simply mean that the way Edwards saw it was extraordi-nary. He showed me that human thinking and eeling donot exist arbitr

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