The Great End of All Theology!

The theological labor of Edwards exhorts us to study for the sake of heartfelt worship and for practical obedience.

You recall what Mark Noll said: “Edwards’ piety continued on in the revivalist tradition, his theology continued on in academic Calvinism, but there were no successors to his God-entranced world-view. . .”

The sweet marriage of reason and affection, of thought and feeling, of head and heart, study and worship that took place in the life of Jonathan Edwards has been rare since his day and still is rare.

So the final exhortation is to recover that “logic on fire” as the Puritans called it – on fire with joy and obedience.

Edwards did not pursue a passion for God because it was icing on the cake of faith. For him faith was grounded in a sense of God which was more than what reason alone could deliver. He said,

A true sense of the glory of God is that which can never be obtained by speculative [reasoning]; and if men convince themselves by argument that God is holy, that never will give a sense of his amiable and glorious holiness. If they argue that he is very merciful, that will not give a sense of his glorious grace and mercy. It must be a more immediate, sensible discovery that must give the mind a real sense of the excellency and beauty of God.¹

In other words, it is to no avail merely to believe that God is holy and merciful. For that belief to be of any saving value, we must “sense” God’s holiness and mercy. That is, we must have a true delight in it for what it is in itself. Otherwise the knowledge is no different than what the devils have.

Does this mean that all his study and thinking was in vain? No indeed. Why? Because he says, “The more you have of a rational knowledge of divine things, the more opportunity will there be, when the Spirit shall be breathed into your heart, to see the excellency of these things, and to taste the sweetness of them.”²

But the goal of all is this spiritual taste, not just knowing God but delighting in him, savoring him, relishing him. And so for all his intellectual might, Edwards was the farthest thing from a cool, detached, neutral, disinterested academician.

He said in his 64th resolution,

Resolved, When I find those “groanings which cannot be uttered,” of which the apostle speaks, and those “breathings of soul for the longing it hath,” of which the psalmist speaks . . . I will not be weary of earnestly endeavouring to vent my desires, nor of the repetitions of such earnestness.

In other words, he was as intent on cultivating his passion for God as he was of cultivating his knowledge of God. He strained forward in the harness of his flesh not only for truth, but also for more grace. The 30th resolution says,

Resolved, To strive every week to be brought higher in religion, and to a higher exercise of grace, than I was the week before.

And that advancement was for Edwards intensely practical. He said to his people what he sought for himself,

Seek not to grow in knowledge chiefly for the sake of applause, and to enable you to dispute with others; but seek it for the benefit of your souls, and in order to practice . . . Practice according to what knowledge you have. This will be the way to know more. . . . [According to Psalm 119:100 [show] [100]I understand more than the aged, for I keep your precepts.
] “I understand more than the ancients, because I keep thy precepts.”³

The great end of all study – all theology – is a heart for God and a life of holiness.

The great goal of all Edwards’ work was the glory of God. And the greatest thing I have ever learned from Edwards, I think, is that God is glorified not most by being known, nor by being dutifully obeyed. He is glorified most by being enjoyed.

So God glorifies Himself toward the creatures in two ways: 1. By appearing to . . . their understanding. 2. In communicating Himself to their hearts, and in their rejoicing and delighting in, and enjoying, the manifestations which He makes of Himself. . . . God is glorified not only by His glory’s being seen, but by its being rejoiced in. When those that see it delight in it, God is more glorified than if they only see it. His glory is then received by the whole soul, both by the understanding and by the heart.

God made the world that He might communicate, and the creature receive, His glory; and that it might [be] received both by the mind and heart. He that testifies his idea of God’s glory [doesn't] glorify God so much as he that testifies also his approbation of it and his delight in it.⁴

And so the final and most important exhortation to us from the life and work of Jonathan Edwards is this: in all your study and all your pastoral ministry seek to glorify God by enjoying him for ever.

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.⁵

—The Pastor as Theologian: Reflections on the Life and Ministry of Jonathan Edwards, a sermon delivered on April 15, 1988 by John Piper at the 1988 Bethlehem Conference for Pastors.

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Read the whole of this most Christ exalting sermon on the apprehension of a greater and more glorious vision of God in our own personal lives, in ministry and in Christian living in general off the life of Jonathan Edwards, here. This sermon on Mr. Edwards’ life, divinity, and ministry has been a great rebuke and help to me. It is my hope and prayer that you would be far more blessed than I have in your reading or listening to this sermon. You can download it here also in mp3.

1. Works, II, 906 [↩]
2. Works, II, 162, see p.16 [↩]
3. Works, II, 162f [↩]
4. The Philosophy of Jonathan Edwards, Harvey G. Townsend, Westport, CT: Greenwood Press Publishers, 1955, Miscellanies, #448, p. 133; see also #87, p. 128, and #332, p. 130 and #679, p. 138 [↩]
5. Works, II, 244 [↩]

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FeebleSaint (JM Vergara) is an aspiring Christian blogger. A sinner saved by God's sovereign grace. An Engineer. A GFX afficionado. A lay-theologian. Nothing but a Feeble Saint. Find me on: Twitter - Facebook - Plurk - Multiply - Youtube - email