THE SAINTLY SCHOLAR
The Preaching Legacy of Jonathan Edwards
By John Fanella
The life and thought of Congregational minister Jonathan Edwards has received noted acclaim in the last decade. The plethora of secondary literature on Edwards’ life and thought is almost endless and The Works of Edwards are receiving high academic consideration. What makes this interesting is that at least half of Edwards’ extant works are sermons.
Richard Lovelace, Professor of Church History at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, said, “Jonathan Edwards may be the greatest American theologian and philosopher and perhaps also the greatest mind America has yet produced.” Perry Miller claimed that Edwards’ treatise Freedom of the Will alone was enough to establish him as the greatest philosopher-theologian ever to grace the American scene. Miller also considered Edwards to be one of
The Primacy of Preaching in the Ministry of Jonathan Edwards
Edwards’ deepest and most concentrated thinking was given to the study, explanation and preaching of the Bible. The late Dr. John Gerstner wrote that,
“Never in history did a finer philosophical mind than that of Jonathan Edwards give its sustained and almost undivided lifetime attention to the Bible, examining it for its exegetical detail, historico-redemptive sweep, theological system, and above all its evangelistic use and effects...He commented on virtually every text (often entering the critical arena), and tied it all together (beginning with election and Adam and reaching via the book of Revelation into his own time and beyond). Edwards worked the Bible into the greatest possession of orthodoxy, defended its fundamental doctrines by the deepest analysis of the human will ever produced, and examined its doctrine of religious affections definitively.”
J.I. Packer likewise notes:
“As a Bible-lover, a Calvinist, a teacher of heart-religion, a gospel preacher of unction and power, and, above all, a man who loved Christ, hated sin, and feared God, Edwards was a pure Puritan; indeed, one of the purest and greatest of all the Puritans. American historians of culture have recently rediscovered Edwards as a major contributor to the American philosophical and literary heritage. It is to be wished that evangelical Christians today might themselves rediscover the important contribution that this latter-day Puritan made to the elucidation of the biblical faith.”
Although the Puritan era is one of the greatest eras of preaching in the church, some scholars believe that it is the preaching of Jonathan Edwards (actually a post-Puritan) which is the summa of the movement.
“Despite the distinguished presence of the movement (Puritanism) within English Evangelicalism of the seventeenth century, it is generally thought that Puritanism reached its spiritual and intellectual zenith in the ministry and writings of the American Jonathan Edwards.”
It was in his sermons that Edwards' studies bore their richest fruit. From the first days of his preaching, he was recognized as a remarkable preacher, as arresting and awakening as he was instructive. B.B. Warfield observes that Edwards,
“Filled himself with the profoundest sense of the heinousness of sin, as an offense against the majesty of God and an outrage of His love, he set himself to arouse his hearers to some realization of the horror of their condition as objects of the divine displeasure, and of the incredible goodness of God in intervening for their salvation. Side by side with the most moving portrayal of God's love in Christ, and of the blessedness of communion with Him, he therefore set, with the most startling effect, equally vivid pictures of the dangers of unforgiven sin and the terrors of the lost estate. The effect of such preaching, delivered with the force of the sincerest conviction, was overwhelming.”
The Style of Edwards’ Preaching
The form of Edwards preaching is typical of Puritan “plain” preaching. He preached with a threefold aim: to make men understand, feel, and respond to gospel truth, or doctrine, reason, and use, as the Puritans called it. J.I. Packer notes that Edwards “studied plainness of style, concealing his learning beneath a deliberately bald clarity of statement.” He preached in this manner because he knew, “the main benefit obtained by preaching is by impression made upon the mind at the time, and not by an effect that arises afterwards by a remembrance of what was delivered.” This is quite different than the modern approach to preaching which is more concerned with “learning” than with “spiritual impression.” Many modern preachers are concerned that the message stick with the hearers through the week. But for Edwards the occasion of preaching was where transformation took place. Therefore he put his entire soul into the process, preaching for the direct and supernatural influence on people’s hearts—what he called, “The divine and supernatural light.”
What Can We Learn From Edwards’ Preaching?
In synthesizing the prevalent literature, then, we find that Edwards is a highly academic mind whose preaching drew its power from simplicity. The lesson we may draw from this analysis is that the most astute minds belong in the pulpit. Often today, the best minds are ushered into teaching capacities in seminaries. Perhaps great minds, who temper themselves to communicate their reason to “plain” people, would see deeper results, as did Edwards. Edwards also proves that deep thinking and fervent study do not dampen the effectiveness of preaching. Rather, rightly applied, the preaching of Edwards proves that thinking enhances preaching and brings the blessing of God.
There is no doubt that evangelical preaching needs Edwards. His scholarship, his piety, his earnestness, his vivid reality, and his gospel appeal are things we must recover in today’s pulpit. The evangelical pulpit, in its disdain for strong, biblical preaching, is powerless. But Jonathan Edwards is an example of what God can and will do through the foolishness of preaching.
A Model Sermon: Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God
Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God is perhaps the most popular of all of Jonathan Edwards’ sermons. This sermon was preached, not in his home
Edwards quietly arose that morning and announced his theme as, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. He preached on the wrath of God against unrepentant sinners. The sermon is an exposition of Deuteronomy 32:35-36: “To me belongeth vengeance and recompense; their foot shall slide in due time: for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them that make haste. For the Lord shall judge His people.”
The response of the congregation to the sermon was remarkable. The language and imagery were so vivid that many in the congregation trembled uncontrollably, some cried out for mercy, others fainted. One reliable witness recorded that as Edwards preached there were “moanings and cryings, until the shrieks became so amazing that Edwards (his eyes fixed on the bell-rope) had to pause.” His message so stirred his hearers that grown, strong men held on to their seats, feeling they were sliding into hell. This sermon sparked one of the most dramatic episodes of revival in the Great Awakening. One biographer observes that, “What Jonathan Edwards was doing as he turned page after page in the little booklet was to make this July Sunday, 1741, seem their last chance. Accept the terms today or be eternally lost.” B. Trumbell observed that the people were, “bowed down with an awful conviction of their sin.”
The results of this sermon cannot be attributed to flamboyant oratory, or emotional style. In fact, he read his message in a carefully controlled tone just so that his primary appeal would be to his hearers’ minds, not their emotions. When one of his hearers was asked if Edwards was an eloquent preacher, he replied:
“If you mean by eloquence, what is usually intended by it in our cities; he had no pretensions to it. He had no studied varieties of voice, and no strong emphasis. He scarcely gestured or even moved; and he made no attempt by the eloquence of his style, or the beauty of his pictures, to gratify the taste, and fascinate the imagination. But, if you mean by eloquence the power of presenting an important truth before an audience, with over-whelming weight of argument, and with such intenseness of feeling that the whole soul of the speaker is thrown into every part of the conception and delivery, so that the solemn attention of the whole audience is riveted, from the beginning to the close, and impressions are left that cannot be effaced, Mr. Edwards was the most eloquent man I ever heard.”
The sermon itself revolves around two central themes. The first is fire. Over and over again, Edwards paints a word-picture of the flames of hell awaiting the unrepentant sinner. Following is an excerpt demonstrating this fire motif:
“God is holding you over the pit of hell, like someone who holds a spider over a fire, and He abhors you and is dreadfully provoked by you. His wrath towards you is burning like a fire and He sees you as being worthy of nothing else but to be thrown into that fire. His eyes are too pure to even look at you; you are ten thousand times more vile in His eyes than the most hated, poisonous snake is in ours. You have offended Him infinitely more than even a stubborn rebel did his prince. Yet, it is nothing but God's hand that holds you from falling into the fire every moment.”
Edwards demonstrates in this sermon his belief in a literal hell which includes eternal suffering for its occupants, pictured by the suffering of burning. Edwards pictures his hearers as literally hanging over the flames of hell, and uses the art of threat to persuade his hearers to turn to Christ. John MacArthur observes, “Twentieth-century readers, accustomed to being spoon-fed nice homilies about God’s benevolence, and having little understanding of His wrath, are often appalled by the terrifying picture Edwards paints of God.” But Edwards proceeds through this sermon to display the wrath of God without fear. In turn it sparked a remarkable episode of revival.
The next central theme is that of the sovereignty of God. As an ardent Calvinist, Edwards approached this sermon with God as the one in ultimate control of the sinners’ eternal destiny. This theme is represented time and time again by the following phrase, repeated a dozen times in the sermon:
“The observation I make from these words and now declare to you is this: There is nothing that keeps wicked people out of hell for a single moment except the mere pleasure of God. What I mean by the mere pleasure of God is His sovereign pleasure, which is not hindered or restrained by anything. It is only the sovereign will of God that preserves the life of a wicked person. There is nothing else that preserves the wicked for one moment of his life except God's will.”
The overarching theme of Sinners in the Hands of Angry God is that the non-Christian is in the hands of God now, rather than only later in hell (as is often thought). Edwards does threaten a future hell on his unconverted hearers, but his main message is that they are in God’s hands now, already, and they must be converted before God lets them go. E.H. Cady points out, “The focus of the sermon is on the predicament of the sinner, how dreadfully he dangles just before he plunges into eternal agony, and while he has time to repent and be saved.”
The purpose of the sermon was chiefly evangelistic. Contrary to the chronic misrepresentation of this sermon, it actually ends with a tender gospel appeal, to the benefit and delight of his hearers. One person present that morning reported,
“Several souls were hopefully wrought upon [that] night. & oh ye cheerfulness and pleasantness of their countenances [that] received comfort--oh [that] God would strengthen and confirm--we sung a hymn & prayed & dismissed ye assembly.”
Edwards was using the fears of hell to convince his hearers of the hardness of their hearts and compel them to come to Christ. Whereas the context has changed, this sermon serves as a great model for today’s preachers to preach the wrath of God for positive effect, and not always feel as if the wrath of God must be hidden in order to win people to Christ. God honors the fearless preaching of His Word.
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NOTES
1 Richard Lovelace, Jonathan Edwards and the Great Awakening (Christian History Magazine,
2 Perry Miller, cited in John Gerstner, Jonathan Edwards: A Mini-Theology (Wheaton: Tyndale House, 1987), 9.
3 Perry Miller, Jonathan Edwards (New York: William Sloane Associates, 1949), xii.
4 John H. Gerstner, Jonathan Edwards: A Mini-Theology (Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, 1987), 21-22.
5 J.I. Packer, A Quest for Godliness: The Puritan Vision of the Christian Life (Wheaton: Crossway Books, 1990), 315.
6 Allistair McGrath, Evangelicalism and the Future of Christianity (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1995), 24-25.
7 Benjamin B.Warfield, The Works of Benjamin B. Warfield, (Volume IX, Studies in Theology), 515-53.
8 J.I. Packer, A Quest for Godliness: The Puritan Vision of the Christian Life (Wheaton: Crossway Books, 1990), 313.
9 Jonathan Edwards, The Works, 2 vols. (Edinburgh, Banner of Truth Trust, 1976-1995),
10 Iain H. Murray, Jonathan Edwards: A New Biography (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1987), 68.
11 Cited in Perry Miller, Jonathan Edwards (William Sloan Associates: New York, 1949), 145.
12 Ola Elizabeth Winslow, Jonathan Edwards: Basic Writings (New York: Meridian, 1966), xix-xx.
13 B. Trumbell, History of
14 Jonathan Edwards, The Works, 2 vols. (Edinburgh, Banner of Trurth Trust, 1976-1995), I:ccxxxii.
15 Jonathan Edwards, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God (Phillipsburg, P&R Publishing, 1992), 22,23.
16 John MacArthur, Foreward to Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God Made Easier to Read, by Jonathan Edwards (Phillipsburg, P&R Publishing, 1992).
17 Jonathan Edwards, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God (Phillipsburg, P&R Publishing, 1992),12,13.
18 E.H. Cady, The Artistry of Jonathan Edwards (New England Quarterly 22, 1949), 61-72.
19 Cited in Iain H. Murray, Jonathan Edwards: A New Biography (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1987), 169.
