March 30, 2007

• Jonathan Edwards — Why 500 pages, mate?

  
  Here’s something that irritates me, and I am wondering if it annoys you too.

  I
  mean all those books by the Puritans where they spend pages and pages
  describing what it is like to be under the operations of the Holy
  Spirit. Now, aren’t these Puritan writers implying that a man can be
  under the operation of the Holy Spirit and not even know it? If not,
  then why did Jonathan Edwards for example, spend 500 pages trying to
  explain what true “spiritual experiences” are? Isn’t he implying that
  the Holy Spirit cannot make a man know he is saved ? For example, if in
  everyday life, someone wrote a book called “How to know you have
  experienced childbirth”, they would be implying that childbirth is
  something that can happen to you without you knowing it. So when
  Edwards writes “how to know you have truly been converted”, isn’t he
  implying that the Holy Spirit can’t properly cause that change of mind
  to be obvious to the believer?

  It seems Edwards in “Religious
  Affections” has done the equivalent of writing a book about “How to
  know you are standing in the light of the sun”. Because the only
  operation of the Holy Spirit is to enlighten the mind. That is, to
  furnish it with understanding of the words of God that are already
  written.

  “Because it is God who said, “Out of darkness Light
  shall shine,” who shone in our hearts to give the brightness of the
  knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” (2 Cor 4:6)

  Could
  it be — that the reason Edwards spends 500 pages trying to describe
  “how to know if you’re saved” is because he made faith dark and
  mystical. You know how he says “faith is more than belief” and “faith
  is more than intellectually understanding and believing the Gospel”.
  Well, since he makes faith complex and mystical, no wonder it took him
  500 pages to explain “how to know you’re having true spiritual
  experiences from faith, and not experiences from a counterfeit”.

  Since
  he denied that conversion is simply a change of mind from falsehood to
  truth, it took him 500 pages to explain how in the world you can know
  you are converted. Because having the truth in you is useless (Edwards
  says that you can have the truth in you but still go to hell), Edwards
  is forced to explain how men should use their love/humility etc as
  evidences of salvation. (Because the truth cannot be an evidence of
  salvation, since unbelievers already have it according to Edwards, that
  only leaves humility/love etc as evidences of salvation).

  And
  thus Edwards must show how we can be sure our love and humility is
  genuine and not counterfeit. Since the Pharisees/Jews were sincere and
  zealous, and yet lost (Rom 10:3), Edwards was posed with a dilemma. How
  can the believer be sure that his sincerity and zealousness is not
  counterfeit like the Jews was?

  Can you ever be sure?

  See how making sincerity/humility/love the “evidence” to a man that he is saved would cause the man to doubt?

  On
  the other hand, if you say that faith is simply “receiving the
  testimony of God” (John 3:33), then you CANNOT doubt your salvation.
  Because its impossible to believe the infallible testimony, and not
  realize you’re a believer!

  • 2:53 pm
  • 3 Comments