When I expressed to a friend not too long ago that I was reading Jonathan Edwards’ treatise On the Religious Affections (yes, I’m still plodding through), he quipped, “So are you unsaved yet?”
If you have read Edwards, or one of his disciples such as John Piper, you will understand my friend’s comment. There is a sad truth to this: a deep contemplation of Edwards (or of his disciples) can have the tendency to unseat one’s confidence and assurance of his relationship with God.
Edwards pursues a noble, and in many respects necessary, path. What signs accurately distinguish a true and genuine profession of Christian faith from one spurious or casual? The distinction is critical since it is possible to rest upon works or culture or background for salvation when such comes only by the work of new birth wrought by the Holy Spirit in the heart. Are there clear evidences by which one might judge himself to be truly born again?
Edwards looks at the religious affections as the basis for our convictions. For him, the affections are akin to what we consider to be our emotions. With true religious conviction there will be a deep response of the heart, a deep seated and expressive love for the things of God which can only be produced by the work of God in the heart.
However, an emphasis upon our uncontrollable emotional response may leave one wondering if he has faith, and what he might need to do to get faith. Reading of Edwards’ signs of true grace can cause a reader to doubt his salvation. As much as I am inspired by Edwards, Piper, and others, this does concern me. I don’t wish to leave any child of God without hope.
And yet, if we fail to consider the signs of a work of God, if we don’t long to see evidence of God’s presence, is there not the corresponding danger of leaving the unconverted falsely in hope? Yes, there is. James Montgomery Boice once spoke at the church I pastor and cautioned us to consider that a good number of those in worship on any given Sunday may not at all have been converted.
There is a great deal of complacency in the Christian church, people who believe they have been saved, but are truly unacquainted with the work of God’s spirit. Edwards describes the fruit of a true conversion as having
“…a conviction, so clear, and evident, and assuring, as to be sufficient to induce them, with boldness, to sell all, confidently and fearlessly to run the venture of the loss of all things, and of enduring the most exquisite and long-continued torments, and to trample the world under foot, and count all things but dung, for Christ….” [page 303]
So many in our pews seem to lack such a conviction. We are happy to have a church to go to and songs to make us happy, but is there an inner conviction so deep that we would for Christ venture the loss of all things? If there is not, can we really claim to have been born anew? That is the question that Edwards and others rightfully forces us to ponder.
There is therefore a challenge to light a fire beneathe the nominal and complacent, and to do so without wounding the sheep. That indeed is a challenge.
Technorati Tags: Christian Life, Church, Edwards, Grace
Anonymous
Hey Randy,Thanks for the post. This is a topic of interest to me. I have read Edwards as well as his faithful disciple Piper and have benefited much from their writing(more from the latter). Their convictions and passion for the glory of God really come out in their books. They are a great gift to the church and will continue to be for years to come. I agree with you that Christians shouldn’t be complacent in their faith, and that real faith does produce fruit. My general difficulty with Edwards and Piper, though, is subtly revealed in your friend’s comment about getting “un-saved”. They seems to somhow, intentionally or not, bank our assurance on grand religious experiences. So much so to where a reader feels unsaved if they didn’t exuberate such emotions regularly. In the end, their experiences (as it comes out in their books)become the standard for the rest of us(a tough thing to live up to). Another difficulty I have with them is that they seem to approach their congregations with an apologetics of suspicion; that is, assume unbelief unless there are true signs of faith. It seems like the opposite should be the case; we belief the sign of the covenant, assume they are christians until they apostasize and reject the gospel. Tom
Randy Greenwald
Thanks, Tom. I think, though, that both Piper and Edwards would say that they are NOT basing their assurance upon grand religious experiences. They want us to consider what might be true evidences, fruit, of conversion and to help us see beyond the spurious. I’d rather not wait until someone apostasizes before I raise the alarm that the lack of fruit should be a concern for the person. The question is the nature of the fruit we should seek. There are dangers here. We cannot peer into the heart. But we are called by the Scriptures to examine ourselves in a way that I think does go a bit beyond the presence of the covenant sign, don’t you think?
Anonymous
I agree fully. Being a covenant member doesn’t excuse me from bearing fruit. I still have obligations to believe and repent, to love and forgive, etc. We are on the same page on that.Tom
Anonymous
This is an interesting statement – “When I expressed to a friend not too long ago that I was reading Jonathan Edwards’ treatise On the Religious Affections (yes, I’m still plodding through), he quipped, “So are you unsaved yet?”There are a handful of places in this treatise that are the most discomforting, but difficult to apply. I was listening the other day to Vance’s narration of this book and was really being edified and crying out “amen.” Then he began the 12th positive sign, “XII. Gracious and holy affections have their exercise and fruit in Christian practice.”It is the “sins of omission” details that unsaint us. We all feel weighed in the balance and wanting. If anyone has the edition with the footnotes, the sermon quoted from Solomon Stoddard can really un-nerve you. (Way to Know Sincerity and Hypocrisy).But we should take comfort in the fact that the best of men were searched by this treatise and came out the better for it. I am studying the life of Asahel Nettleton for an upcoming Sunday School. He went through a time of serious introspection with this book in hand, as well as Edward Payson. But though both men had doubts, they were both very godly Christian pastors from the beginning of the 19th century.If there is a single sermon that is the most helpful to assist to analyze if the root of the matter is in us it is his sermon, “Hypocrites Deficient in the Duty of Prayer.” The description of the effects of the new birth by Edwards are so accurate and helpful. A regenerated person is a praying person.