"No man is more relevant to the present condition of Christianity than Jonathan Edwards."
—D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

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The pious Congregational minister Jonathan Edwards knew and preached the beauties of heaven as much as the terrors of damnation. He was a humble and joyful servant of God, striving to glorify God in his personal life and public ministry. His ministry serves a light to future generations. And his renown as a theologian and philosopher is well deserved. A God-Entranced Vision of All Things: The Legacy of Jonathan Edwards edited by John Piper and Justin Taylor chronicles the theological work of the late Jonathan Edwards, and elucidates upon some of the core themes of Edwards' ministry. Lutheran theologian Robert W. Jenson calls Edwards "America's theologian."

Jonathan Edwards, born on October 5, 1703, was the son of Timothy Edwards (1668–1759), a minister at East Windsor, Connecticut (modern day South Windsor.) His mother, Esther Stoddard was the daughter of the Rev. Solomon Stoddard, of Northampton, Massachusetts. Esther seems to have been a woman of profound intellect and independence of mind. Jonathan, their only son, was the fifth of eleven children. Jonathan was trained for college by his family. He entered Yale College in 1716, at just under the age of thirteen. On February 15, 1727, he was ordained minister at Northampton Congregational Christian church and assistant to his grandfather, Solomon Stoddard. That same year, Edwards married Sarah Pierpont. She was then aged seventeen and daughter of James Pierpont (1659–1714), a founder of Yale University and, and through her mother, great-granddaughter of Thomas Hooker.

In the late 1730s, the Puritan congregations—under the influence of the Holy Spirit—presided over a Great Awakening, which in turn, sparked revival in the churches, and invigorated believers in their faith, and brought in new converts. Edwards became acquainted with George Whitefield during this time. He also preached his most famous sermon, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" in Enfield, Connecticut in 1741. Though, the Edwards who could warn people of God's wrath against sin, could also speak of the sweetness and joy of Christ. One of the core themes of the Puritans that they derived from Holy Scriptures was the holiness of God. From God's holiness emanates not only his justice, which entails wrath against sin, but also his love, which entails grace for believers, on account of Christ's righteousness.

Common to all of Edwards' theology and piety was a passion for God's glory. As a young man he reveled in what he called "sweet contemplations of my great and glorious God" and claimed, "Absolute sovereignty is what I love to ascribe to God." In a work entitled The End for Which God Created the World (1765). Edwards carefully and logically defended the position that God's ultimate purpose is to glorify himself in all his works. Edwards applied this great truth to his own ministry as a pastor, theologian, scholar, and missionary by making it his passion to proclaim God's glory." 1

Edwards' theology, succinctly stated, could be encapsulated by the Westminster Shorter Cathecism's proclamation that "Man's chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever."

Jonathan Edwards was a tense, highly focused, and very intelligent man, a person of many parts. Ambitious too, while reserved and austere, as he himself recognized. Not just a preacher and revivalist, as he has come to be known to us through evangelical tradition, but a theologian, a philosopher, and a scientist. Part of the romance—or tragedy—of Edwards’ life is that he took it upon himself to play radically different roles at one and the same time. But he seems to have played each of these roles with characteristic thoroughness and commitment. 2

Our reason for being, our calling, our joy is to render visible the glory of God. Edwards writes:

All that is ever spoken of in the Scripture as an ultimate end of God’s works is included in that one phrase, the glory of God... The refulgence shines upon and into the creature, and is reflected back to the luminary. The beams of glory come from God, and are something of God and are refunded back again to their original. So that the whole is of God, and in God, and to God, and God is the beginning, middle and end in this affair. 3

One of the core themes of Edwards' theology is that 'God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him:'

The enjoyment of God is the only happiness with which our souls can be satisfied. To go to heaven, fully to enjoy God, is infinitely better than the most pleasant accommodations here. Fathers and mothers, husbands, wives, or children, or the company of earthly friends, are but shadows; but God is the substance. These are but scattered beams, but God is the sun. These are but streams. But God is the ocean. Therefore it becomes us to spend this life only as a journey toward heaven, as it becomes us to make the seeking of our highest end and proper good, the whole work of our lives; to which we should subordinate all other concerns of life. Why should we labour for, or set our hearts on, any thing else, but that which is our proper end, and true happiness? 4

The Influence of the Puritans

Edwards belonged to a sect known as the Puritans who encompassed the earliest English migrants to the New World. C.S. Lewis said, "We must picture these Puritans as the very opposite of those who bear that name today: as young, fierce, progressive intellectuals, very fashionable and up-to-date. They were not teetotallers; bishops, not beer, were their special aversion..." For many generations, these Puritans were the "young bucks" who wanted to go all the way with God and the Bible.

If ever a group of Christians sought to glorify God in everything, it was the Puritans. Although the term "Puritan" has often been used as an insult, the Puritans themselves were simply Christians who wanted to honor God in their worship and doctrine. Richard Baxter, himself a leading Puritan pastor, defined them as "religious persons that used to talk of God, and heaven, and Scripture, and holiness." Their worldview is perhaps best encapsulated in the first answer in the Westminster Shorter Catechism: "Man's chief end is to glorify God and enjoy him forever." 5

The Puritan's desire was for a yearning for The Holiness of God, and that deep yearning for the divine was nurtured amidst the sorrows and afflictions of life—and reinforced by the fellowship of believers. Puritans professed an abiding faith in the promises of God revealed in divine revelation. Their religious affections reflected their desire for righteousness. They saw providence in every aspect of life, and believed unflinchingly in the sovereignty of God. At the heart of Puritan theology was a concern for God's sovereignty: "God the great creator of all things doth uphold, direct, dispose, and govern all creatures, actions and things, from the greatest even to the least, by His most wise and holy providence, according to His infallible foreknowledge and the free and immutable counsel of His own will, to the praise of the glory of His wisdom, power, justice, goodness and mercy" (Westminster Confession of Faith, Chp. 5. §1.)

To a Puritan mind imbued by God-fearing humility, God was to be praised even in the midst of loss. It was recognized from divine revelation that the Almighty used even our afflictions and trials for our sanctification. ‘When God lays men on their backs, then they look up to heaven,’ says Thomas Watson. ‘The vessels of mercy are first seasoned with affliction and then the wine of glory is poured in.’ Hence, even in the midst of loss, Puritans could savor the joy of God in eternity (2 Corinthians 4:17-18.)

The earliest Puritans were all English Calvinists who hoped to turn the entire Church of England into a Presbyterian national church—like Scotland's—and all of England into a Christian commonwealth modeled after Geneva. As the Elizabethan settlement became clearer and more firmly entrenched, they raised their voices in protest against what they considered 'popish' elements in the Anglican theology, worship and polity. That is, they considered the Church of England under Elizabeth and Hooker and the various archbishops of Canterbury too close to Roman Catholicism, and they sought to purge it and purify it of those 'Romish' beliefs and practices. All of them wanted to abolish the office of bishop and allow congregations to have greater say in choosing their ministers. They despised the Book of Common Prayer and sought simpler worship centered upon sermons. Most of them saw priestly vestments, incense, high altars, kneeling and genuflecting, and statues in churches as pernicious symbols of unbiblical, Catholic tendencies in the English churches. the label 'Puritan' was attached to them because of their desire to purify the English church of such traditions and bring it into conformity with their own vision of true Reformed theology and practice. 6

The Puritans were not in lockstep unity, however, as they were divided over issues concerning baptism and the organization of church polity.

In the early decades of the seventeenth century the Puritans began to quarrel among themselves over the exact nature of the ideal church. Some of them wanted to stay with the Church of England no matter what and keep trying to reform it. Others insisted that the state church was hopelessly corrupt and polluted beyond reforming. These Puritans separated from the Anglican church and formed independent churches that followed a congregational form of church polity. Each church would be autonomous and self-governing, calling its own pastor and deciding on worship and practices. Among these radical, separatist Puritans were the so-called Pilgrims who settled first in Holland to escape persecution from the English government and then traveled on the Mayflower to to Massachusetts Bay in New England and founded Plymouth Colony in 1620. During the decade of the 1630s, thousands of Puritans left England and settled in New England wit the hope of establishing a Christian commonwealth. Most of them became congregationalists when they arrived in the New World, whereas the favored church polity of most Puritans was presbyterian. 7

Another distinctive hallmark of Puritan theology was the covenant relationship between God and His elect:

Puritan divines faced one of the dilemmas of Calvinism head-on and sought to solve it through what is known as federal, or covenant theology. While this type of thinking about God's relationship with humanity was developed among Calvinists before the heyday of Puritanism, it was the Puritans—especially in New England—who made it central to their whole theology. One dilemma faced especially by Puritan Calvinists of New England was this: If human are to strive for conversion and sanctification (signs of grace,) how is it compatible with divine sovereignty in predestination? In other words, how may strong belief in predestination be reconciled with equally strong insistence on Puritan piety? For "if predestination affirms the ultimacy and final efficiency of God's choice, piety urges at least some effective free participation on the part of the human subject." A related dilemma was this: If God is so sovereign that His will is not bound by anything, including his own nature and character, how can believers ever be sure of their election? The underlying nominalism or at least divine voluntarism within high Calvinism raised this question intensely for Puritans who sought assurance of election through signs of grace. How can one trust God not to be capricious? Are the elect secure, or might God change His mind?

Covenant theology was underpinned by tacit reaffirmation of original sin in all its basic premises:

The solution to these and other problems was found in covenant theology, which affirms that God has initiated and bound himself to contracts with humans. The first covenant God offered to Adam and Eve was the covenant of works. God promise to bless them in paradise so long as they obeyed him and did not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The covenant of works was broken by humans and the result was exactly what the contract required—condemnation and corruption for covenant breakers. The Puritans assumed that all of Adam and Eve's posterity were born covenant breakers. They accepted the strong Augustinian idea that, as they put it, "in Adam's fall we sinned all." Part of the covenant of works was the condition that if original humans failed in their obligations, their posterity would suffer corruption and condemnation. God's covenants are not just with individuals. They are collective and apply to groups in history.

Whereas, sinful man stood as a covenant breaker, God stood faithful. Though God was under no obligation to honor those conditional covenants that his chosen people had broken, providence purposed the line of the messiah the line of David, and ultimately brought about the Covenant of Grace. Thus, covenant theology's logical succession from the covenant of works reached fruition in the new and climatic Covenant of Grace:

Covenant theology posited a second contract God mercifully established with fallen humanity—the covenant of grace. According to it, "God's promises of redemption and renewal are to those who will receive them in faith and respond to them in obedience. The good news is proclaimed but a requirement is exacted. The covenant of grace requires only that humans be sorrowful for their sinfulness, believe God and trust in his promises (e.g., to provide a perfect sacrifice for sin,0 and strive to glorify him in their lives. As the nineteenth century gospel song says, "Trust and obey." 8

Additionally, another climatic "hallmark of Puritan theology was the ideal of a Christianized society:

New England Puritans especially believed fervently in what has been called theonomy, or "kingdom now theology." That is, they believed that one of the God's promises in the covenant is not only to bless individuals, families and the church for trusting and obeying but also to bless human society if it will strive for godliness in its order. The Puritans believed in God's promises of blessing to Israel applies to them as extension of Israel under the second phase of covenant of grace known as the new covenant. The church is the 'New Israel' and the kingdom of God on earth is promise to it if it permeates all of human society and brings social structures into confirmity with God's law. When the Puritans exiled themselves from England in the 1630s, they sought a New World where this Christian commonwealth (modeled after Calvin's Geneva) could be built unhindered by the godless crown and impure state church. They saw North America as the promised land and sought to occupy it for God and his kingdom. 9

Closing Salvos

So, do we need the Puritans today? Or more aptly do we need the Puritan vision? It is no understatement to say that the rebound of Reformed theology in the late 1990s and twenty-first century owes to the resurgence of interests in the old Puritans. Christianity Today journalist Collin Hansen recently chronicled the popularity of Reformed theology with young twenty-somethings, in his book Young, Restless, Reformed: A Journalist's Journey with the New Calvinists, which grew out of a 2006 article in Christianity Today:

In many ways the Calvinist resurgence that Piper is leading owes more to the British Puritans than even Calvin or any other stream of Reformed theology. John Owen, known for penetrating insight into sanctification, emerged as the top theologian from the era of Puritan rule in Britain. John Bunyan endured persecution for his Puritan faith and produced the defining work of Christian pilgrimage literature, Pilgrim's Progress. Charles Spurgeon, a Baptist like Bunyan, zealously evangelized and during 1800s built possibly the world's first megachurch. Jonathan Edwards, the only American whose portrait hung in the library, died nearly two decades before the colonies became the United States. In recommending Desiring God, J.I. Packer said, "Jonathan Edwards, whose ghost walks through most of Piper's pages, would be delighted in his disciple." 10

Related Reading:

"God is most glorified in us, when we are most satisfied in Him."
—John Piper

1. 1. Boice, James M. and Phillip Ryken, The Doctrines of Grace: Rediscovering the Evangelical Gospel, (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2002,) p. 49.
2. 2. Piper, John. A God Entranced Vision of All Things: The Legacy of Jonathan Edwards. (Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway Books, 2004), p. 175.
3. 3. Edwards, Jonathan, “The Dissertation Concerning the End for Which God Created the World,” in The Works of Jonathan Edwards, vol. 8, Ethical Writings, ed. Paul Ramsey (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1989), 526, 531.
4. 4. Edwards, Jonathan, “The Dissertation Concerning the End for Which God Created the World,” in The Works of Jonathan Edwards, vol. 8, Ethical Writings, ed. Paul Ramsey (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1989), 531.
5. 5. Boice, James M. and Phillip Ryken, The Doctrines of Grace: Rediscovering the Evangelical Gospel, (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2002.)
6. 6. Olson, Roger E., The Story of Christian Theology: Twenty Centuries of Tradition and Reform, (Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 1999), 496.
7. 7. Olson, Roger E., The Story of Christian Theology: Twenty Centuries of Tradition and Reform, (Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 1999), 496.
8. 8. Olson, Roger E., The Story of Christian Theology: Twenty Centuries of Tradition and Reform, (Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 1999), 501-502.
9. 9. Olson, Roger E., The Story of Christian Theology: Twenty Centuries of Tradition and Reform, (Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 1999), 503.
10. 10. Hansen, Collin. Young, Restless, and Reformed: A Journalist's Journey with the New Calvinists. (Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway Books, 2008), p. 35.