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THE PURPOSE OF THE ELECT: PARTICIPATION IN THE LOVING INTRA-TRINITARIAN RELATIONSHIP
Introduction
Professor of American Christian History at Notre Dame University, Mark Noll, calls
Jonathan Edwards, “the greatest evangelical mind in American history and one of the truly
seminal thinkers in Christian history of the past few centuries.”1 Over two hundred and fifty
years have passed since Edwards’ death, and the secondary sources ruminating on his theology
and philosophy are still being produced in great amounts with no end in sight.2 This paper is an
attempt to add to the current understanding of Edwards’ doctrine of God and doctrine of man,
specifically his understanding that all of human life for the elect has Trinitarian value. This paper
will argue that due to Edwards’ doctrine of God and doctrine of man, he believed that God’s goal
for creating was the exaltation of His intra-Trinitarian love through the participation of His elect
image-bearers in his Trinitarian relationship.
Method
1
Mark Noll, The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1994), 24.2
A little over 20 years ago in 1993, Mark Noll observed, “Interest in Edwards—and especially his theology—may be higher now than it ever has been, even in his own day. Edwards’s biographer, M. X. Lesser, has estimated that the number of academic dissertations on Edwards has doubled every decade over the last forty years. The three volume Encyclopedia of the American Religious Experience, published by Scribner’s in 1988, contains far more references to Edwards than to any other single figure.” See Mark Noll, “God at the Center: Jonathan Edwards on True Virtue,” Christian Century (September 8-15, 1993), 857. Also, in 2012, D. G. Hart argued that interest in Edwards from the 1960’s to today is largely responsible for the popularity of Calvinism in evangelicalism today. See Oliver Crisp and Douglas Sweeney, eds., After Jonathan Edwards: The Courses of the New England Theology (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2012), 13, 237-253.
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This thesis will be proven first, by examining God’s loving Trinitarian ontology, His
natural and moral attributes, and His reason for creating. Second, man’s creation in God’s image,
man’s fall, and man’s redemption in Christ will be examined. Third, the paper will consider the
elect’s participation in the intra-Trinitarian relationship due to union with Christ. Finally, a
summary of the argument will be offered and a brief application of this Edwardsian purpose for
the elect will be considered. Primary sources throughout Edwards’ writings will be referenced,
along with secondary sources from current historians and theologians.
God The Fountain
God is Love
In order to understand Edwards on the purpose of the elect, one must first understand
his doctrine of God. One must begin with his primary source of theology. His theology is one
from above that starts with God and then goes down to man. Since Edwards believed that
Scripture is the ultimate source from above, he appealed to Scripture as the final authoritative
source for understanding God and man.3 This is not to say that he only appealed to Scripture, or
that the Reformed or Christian tradition did not appeal to other sources, but is only to say that
Scripture was his supreme source of authority on God and His creation.4
3
Jonathan Edwards believed that the Bible is inerrant and is absolutely primary in the Christian faith. See John H. Gerstner, “The View of the Bible Held by the Church: Calvin and the Westminster Divines,” in Inerrancy, ed. Norman Geisler (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1980), 400-407.4
Ibid. Of course, one can debate whether or not Edwards truly appealed to Scripture as his supreme source of authority. The point, however, is what Edwards claimed to believe, and what Edwards believed his methodology was built upon. At the very least, one must admit that Edwards thought he was being faithful to Scripture. Edwards argued that Scripture was the primary reason for his beliefs. What follows in this paper are the thoughts of Edwards, but Edwards wrote these thoughts because he was attempting to be faithful to Scripture.
2
Furthermore, Edwards stood in the Reformed Tradition affirming God’s absolute
simplicity.5 He believed that God is His properties.6 He even affirmed the identity thesis, which
is highly questioned today, that God is His properties and His properties are one another.7
Edwards believed and taught that God is love (1 John 4:8). His identity is love. His love is the
ultimate fountain of all His other perfections.8 Edwards wrote,
The apostle tells us that God is love (1 John 4:8). And therefore seeing he is an infinite Being, it follows that he is an infinite fountain of love. Seeing he is an all-sufficient Being, it follows that he is a full and overflowing and an inexhaustible fountain of love. Seeing he is an unchangeable and eternal Being, he is an unchangeable and eternal source of love. There even in heaven dwells that God from whom every stream of holy love, yea, every drop that is or ever was proceeds.9
5
Whether or not Edwards affirmed divine simplicity is debated today. For a summary of the debate and the reasons why Oliver Crisp believes Edwards affirmed divine simplicity, see Oliver Crisp, “Jonathan Edwards on Divine Simplicity,” in Religious Studies 39:01 (March 2003): 23-41. Also see Oliver Crisp, “Jonathan Edwards on the Divine Nature,” in Journal of Reformed Theology 3 (2009): 175-201.6
Jonathan Edwards, Writings on the Trinity, Grace and Faith, ed. Sang Hyun Lee, The Works of Jonathan Edwards, Vol. 21 (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2003), 113. Also see Jonathan Edwards, Freedom of the Will, ed. John E. Smith, The Works of Jonathan Edwards, Vol. 1 (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1957), 376-377.7
Edwards, Writings on the Trinity, Grace and Faith, 113-114. Also see Jonathan Edwards, Religious Affections, ed. John E. Smith, The Works of Jonathan Edwards, Vol. 2 (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1959), 256-257.8
Ibid.9
Jonathan Edwards, Charity and Its Fruits: Living in the Light of God’s Love, ed. Kyle Strobel (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2012), 281. One can reasonably assume Edwards is affirming a form of divine simplicity in this statement. God is love. God is full of unending, unquenchable love. Furthermore, Edwards affirmed the Westminster Confession, which clearly affirms divine simplicity. In a letter to John Erskine, he said he would have no difficulty submitting to the Westminster Confession. See, Jonathan Edwards, Letters and Personal Writings, ed. by George S. Claghorn, The Works of Jonathan Edwards, Vol. 16 (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1998), 355.
3
To Edwards, there is no love apart from God. There is no source of love outside of God that He
is drawing from.10 There is nothing greater than God; nothing existed prior to God.11 He alone is
infinite.12 And, since God is love, He is the infinite fountain of love, the ultimate source of love.13
God never runs out of love since He is self-existing and eternal. God can never run out of love
because He can never run out of Himself. If God ran out of love, He would cease to be God
according to Edwards, which is impossible.
God is Three Persons in Love
Moreover, not only did Edwards affirm that God is one in love, he also argued that
God is three Persons in love, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. These three Persons share one Divine
essence. To Edwards, God’s infinite simple love proved His triune identity. He wrote,
That in John, "God is love" [1 John 4:8, 1 John 4:16], shows that there are more persons than one in the Deity: for it shows love to be essential and necessary to the Deity, so that his nature consists in it; and this supposes that there is an eternal and necessary object, because all love respects another, that is, the beloved.14
There is no love if there is no object to love. Love by definition “respects another” according to
Edwards. Because God is love and love is essential to His Divinity, it necessarily follows that He
is more than one person. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are one another’s objects of love, one
10
Jonathan Edwards, “Dissertation I: Concerning The End for Which God Created the World,” in Ethical Writings, ed. Paul Ramsey, The Works of Jonathan Edwards, Vol. 8 (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1989), 420.11
Ibid.12
Ibid.13
Also see Jonathan Edwards, Sermons and Discourses, 1734-1738, ed. M. X. Lesser, The Works of Jonathan Edwards, Vol. 19 (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2001), 780.14
Edwards, Writings on the Trinity, Grace and Faith, 113-114.
4
another’s “beloved.” They love one another in perfect fellowship from eternity past. There is
nothing lacking in this divine triune relationship.
Additionally, Edwards believed that there are eternal distinctions in the Trinity among
the three Persons:
And this I suppose to be that blessed Trinity that we read of in the holy Scriptures. The Father is the Deity subsisting in the prime, unoriginated and most absolute manner, or the Deity in its direct existence. The Son is the Deity generated by God's understanding, or having an idea of himself, and subsisting in that idea. The Holy Ghost is the Deity subsisting in act or the divine essence flowing out and breathed forth, in God's infinite love to and delight in himself. And I believe the whole divine essence does truly and distinctly subsist both in the divine idea and divine love, and that therefore each of them are properly distinct persons.15
God the Father is unbegotten, eternally living as the first Person of the Trinity (prime). God the
Son is generated by the Father’s idea of Himself. Yet, the Son lives in this idea as full eternal
deity like the Father. The Holy Spirit is the breath of love flowing between the Father and the
Son. He lives in personalized love between the Father and the Son eternally. These three Persons
are one God, and there has never been a point in which they did not exist in this way.16 The
Persons of the Trinity are coeternal.17 They are all equally God.18
15
Ibid., 131.16
For a brief explanation of Edwards’ description of the Trinity, see John Piper, Think: The Life of the Mind and the Love of God (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2010), 34-35. Also see John Piper, “A God-Entranced Vision of All Things: Why We Need Jonathan Edwards 300 Years Later,” in A God-Entranced Vision of All Things: The Legacy of Jonathan Edwards, eds. John Piper and Justin Taylor (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2004), 24-28.17
Piper, Think: The Life of the Mind and the Love of God, 34-35.18
Ibid.
5
God’s Moral Attributes and Natural Attributes
Not only did Edwards believe that God is love and God is three Persons in love, he
also believed that God’s identity is made up of other attributes as well. Edwards believed that
God’s attributes can be divided into two categories: His moral attributes and His natural
attributes.19 God’s moral attributes can be summarized as God’s love and holiness.20 God’s
natural attributes consist of His strength, knowledge, etc.21 These two categories are necessary
for God to be God, for God to be love and for God to be able to love: “for his moral attributes
can't be without his natural attributes: for infinite holiness supposes infinite wisdom, and an
infinite capacity and greatness; and all the attributes of God do as it were imply one another.22
Man’s Reflection of God
Created in God’s Image
Not only did Edwards believe that God is triune love and that God has natural and
moral attributes, He also believed that God’s love is the fountain for His creating purposes. God
created because He loves Himself, and seeks to glorify Himself above all things:
It is manifest that the Scriptures speak, on all occasions, as though God made himself his end in all his works: and as though the same Being, who is the first cause of all things, were the supreme and last end of all things. . . . And when God is so often spoken of as the last as well as the first, and the end as well as the beginning, what is meant (or at least implied) is, that as he is the first efficient cause and fountain from whence all things originate, so he is the last final cause for which they are made; the final term to which they all tend in their ultimate issue.23
19
Edwards, Religious Affections, 256. Much more can be said. For the sake of the argument of this paper, this summary is sufficient.20
Ibid.21
Ibid.22
Ibid., 257.23
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God is the beginning and end of all His works. He alone is the source, and He alone is the goal.
God made all things for His own glory. The Scriptures agree with Edwards’ testimony, as
Edwards argued,
Thus in Isaiah 44:6, "Thus saith the Lord, the King of Israel, and his redeemer the Lord of hosts, I am the first, I also am the last, and besides me there is no God." Ch. Isaiah 48:12, "I am the first, and I am the last." Revelation 1:8, "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and was, and which is to come, the Almighty." Ver. Revelation 1:11, "I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last." Ver. Revelation 1:17, "I am the first and the last." Ch. Revelation 21:6, "And he said unto me, it is done, I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end." Ch. Revelation 22:13, "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.”24
The Scriptures’ teaching on God being the beginning and end of all things is clear. This reality
begs the question, “Why did God make Himself the beginning and chief end of His works?”
Edwards answered this question by arguing that God desires His own glory and the glory of each
Person in the Godhead above all things. God did not create man because he needed an object to
love.25 God needs nothing.26 God created man in order to glorify His own triune love through
redemption:
In all this God designed to accomplish the glory of the blessed Trinity in an exceeding degree. God had a design of glorifying himself from eternity, to glorify each person in the Godhead. The end must be considered as first in the order of nature and then the means, and therefore we must conceive that God having proposed this end had then, as it were, the means to choose. And the principal means that he pitched [upon] was this great Work of Redemption that we are speaking [of]. It was his design in this work to glorify his only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, in this great work, and it was his design by the Son to glorify
Edwards, “Dissertation I: Concerning The End for Which God Created the World,” in Ethical Writings, 467.24
Ibid.25
Jonathan Edwards, “448. End of the Creation.” in The Miscellanies: a -500, ed. Thomas A. Schafer, The Works of Jonathan Edwards, Vol. 13 (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1994), 495-496.26
Ibid.
7
the Father, John 13:31–32 ["Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in him. If God be glorified in him, God shall also glorify him in himself,"] and John 17:1 ["glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee"]. And [also] that the Son should thus be glorified and should glorify the Father by what should be accomplished by the Spirit to the glory of the Spirit, that the whole Trinity conjunctly and each person singly might be exceedingly glorified.27
God created to glorify His triune love by communicating His intra-Trinitarian love outside of
Himself through redeeming sinners. God created image-bearers so that He could glorify Himself
in their reflection of Him, in His saving love for them, and in their love for Him as Father and in
their love for one another as brothers and sisters. God would accomplish man’s redemption and
each Person of the Trinity would fulfill His role to reveal and magnify God’s triune love.
Therefore, due to God’s intra-Trinitarian love, God planned to send forth His saving
love to sinners, redeeming them as His own sons and daughters.28 God pursued His purpose for
creation first, through creating man in His own image.29 Edwards argued,
When God was about to create the world, he had respect to that emanation of his glory, which is actually the consequence of the creation, both with regard to himself and the creature. He had regard to it as an emanation from himself, a communication of himself, and, as the thing communicated, in its nature returned to himself, as its final term. And he had regard to it also as the emanation was to the creature, and as the thing communicated was in the creature, as its subject.30
God created all things for the purpose of expressing, revealing, and reflecting His own glory.
God’s fingerprints are ever-present on His creation reflecting His glory back to Him. Mankind,
27
Jonathan Edwards, A History of the Work of Redemption, ed. John F. Wilson, The Works of Jonathan Edwards, Vol. 9 (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1989), 125.28
Edwards, “Dissertation I: Concerning The End for Which God Created the World,” in Ethical Writings, 433-434.29
Jonathan Edwards, “Images of Divine Things, no. 8,” in Typological Writings, eds. Wallace E. Anderson and Mason I. Lowance Jr., with David Watters, The Works of Jonathan Edwards, Vol. 11 (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1993), 53.30
Edwards, “Dissertation I: Concerning The End for Which God Created the World,” in Ethical Writings, 532.
8
especially was created in God’s image because God loves Himself and sought to communicate
His Trinitarian love to His creatures. When God created all things in the beginning, He called his
creation “good” (Gen. 1:31). He created for the purpose of reflecting His own love back to Him.
Mankind was made in God’s image and was set apart from the rest of creation:
God created man in his own image, inspired him with a heavenly ray, gave him noble and excellent powers. This is evident to reason. And the beasts are left without those faculties that man has, whereby he is able to meditate on God, or the first cause of all things, to see him who is invisible, and see future and eternal things.31
God set mankind apart for the purpose of reflecting God in a way that the rest of creation does
not and cannot. Although all creation reflects God’s glory, only mankind reflects Him. Only
mankind was meant to participate in the Godhead relationally as God’s image-bearer through
union with Christ. Mankind reflects God’s ontology in a creaturely way. Edwards wrote,
The special end for which God made mankind, is something very diverse and very superior to those ends for which he made any parts of the inferior creation. Because God has made man very different from them; he has vastly distinguished him, in the nature that he has given him, and faculties with which he has endowed him, and the place he has set him in in the creation. Now, if he has made man for nothing different from what he has made other creatures, then he hath thus done in vain.32
Mankind alone bears God’s image. Other creatures and the rest of creation do not. This reality
begs the question, “In what way did God distinguish man from the rest of creation?” Edwards
affirmed that man was made in God’s image, but what does this image consist of? Specifically,
Edwards believed that God’s image in man corresponds to God’s ontology, God’s own
attributes. As mentioned earlier, Edwards divided God’s attributes into two categories, moral and
31
Jonathan Edwards, Sermons and Discourse, 1723-1729, ed. Kenneth P. Minkema, The Works of Jonathan Edwards, Vol. 14 (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1997), 148.32
Jonathan Edwards, “864. Providence. God’s Moral Government of the World. Revealed Religion. Future State. Eternal Punishment.” in The Miscellanies: 833-1152, ed. Amy P. Pauw, The Works of Jonathan Edwards, Vol. 20 (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2002), 103.
9
natural.33 God’s moral image is summarized as God’s love and holiness; man was created in
God’s image to love as God loves and to be holy as God is holy.34 God’s natural image consists
of His knowledge, power, etc.; man was created in God’s image to reason, to understand God
and His creation, to exercise dominion over God’s creation, etc.35 Edwards argued,
As there are two kinds of attributes in God, according to our way of conceiving of him, his moral attributes, which are summed up in his holiness, and his natural attributes, of strength, knowledge, etc. that constitute the greatness of God; so there is a twofold image of God in man, his moral or spiritual image, which is his holiness, that is the image of God’s moral excellency (which image was lost by the Fall); and God’s natural image, consisting in men’s reason and understanding, his natural ability, and dominion over the creatures, which is the image of God’s natural attributes.36
Since there are two kinds of attributes in God, it follows that in His creating of man in His
image, He would place these two kinds of attributes in man as well. Therefore, to Edwards, man
is literally a creaturely mirror of God’s ontology and function.
Furthermore, not only does God’s image in man mirror God’s attributes, His image
also testifies of His triune identity. God’s act in creating was not an act carried out by only one
member of the Trinity. Remember that Edwards believed that God created for the purpose of
glorifying His triune love. God the Father, God the Son, and the God the Holy Spirit were all
especially involved in the creation of man. After all, in Genesis 1:26 God said, “let us make
man,” which Edwards argued was “a consultation of the persons of the Trinity about the creation
of man,
for every person had his particular and distinct concern in it, as well as in the redemption of man. The Father employed the Son and the Holy Ghost in this work. The Son endued man
33
Edwards, Religious Affections, 255-256.34
Ibid.35
Ibid.36
Ibid.
10
with understanding and reason. The Holy Ghost endued him with a holy will and inclination, with original righteousness.37
The Trinity was actively involved in creating man in God’s image. The Father had the Son create
man to mirror God’s natural attributes (knowledge, power, etc.). The Father also had the Holy
Spirit create man to mirror God’s moral attributes (love, holiness, etc.). When man uses his
natural attributes for God’s glory, he mirrors God and testifies of the handiwork of God the
Father and God the Son. When man uses his moral attributes, he mirrors God and testifies of the
handiwork of God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. All three Persons of the Trinity created
man in God’s image for the overarching purpose of reflecting God back to Him. In Edwards’
theology, the redemption of man is the apex of God’s triune reflection in man.
Therefore, man finds his worth, not in the mirror of man or in the intrinsic makeup of
his identity apart from God, but in God Himself. Mankind is not his own end. As man reflects
God, he lives out his ultimate purpose, joy, love, etc. Life to the full for mankind is found in
reflecting His Creator, in living for the One he is meant to mirror, and living united to the One he
is meant to mirror:
And man then had excellent endowments. His mind shone with the perfect spiritual image of God, being without any defect in its holiness and righteousness, or any spot or wrinkle to mar its spiritual beauty. God had put his own beauty upon it; it shone with the communication of his glory. And man enjoyed uninterrupted spiritual peace and joy that hence arose. His mind was full of spiritual light and peace as the atmosphere in a clear and calm day.38
Man was created perfect and good. The first man and woman were morally holy and reasoned
perfectly according to the creaturely perfection endowed them by God. They enjoyed God
37
Jonathan Edwards, The “Blank Bible,” ed. Stephen J. Stein, The Works of Jonathan Edwards, Vol. 24 (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2006), 126.38
Jonathan Edwards, Sermons and Discourses, 1730-1733, ed. Mark Valeri, The Works of Jonathan Edwards, Vol. 17 (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1999), 333.
11
through enjoying all of His provisions in the Garden, in marriage, and through following His
holy commands.
Not only did God create mankind holy and good, He poured out His goodness on
them. God created a world in which man could thrive, and all His needs would be met by His
Creator. According to Edwards, God sought the good of man through seeking His own glory in
man:
Thus ’tis easy to conceive how God should seek the good of the creature, consisting in the creature’s knowledge and holiness, and even his happiness, from a supreme regard to himself; as his happiness arises from that which is an image and participation of God’s own beauty; and consists in the creature’s exercising a supreme regard to God and complacence in him; in beholding God’s glory, in esteeming and loving it, and rejoicing in it, and in his exercising and testifying love and supreme respect to God: which is the same thing with the creature’s exalting God as his chief good, and making him his supreme end.39
Edwards followed his own logic in this case to its consistent end. If God made man in His image
for His own glory, it necessarily follows that God would provide a creation in which man could
mirror Him maximally. Man was created to know and enjoy God. All of creation serves the
purpose of reflecting God’s glory back to Him, but creation also serves the purpose of fulfilling
man’s enjoyment of God. Adam and Eve were not meant to enjoy marriage and the Garden of
Eden as their supreme end. Instead, God created Adam and Eve in His image to enjoy Him
through enjoying His provisions for them. God sought man’s good for His own glory.
Furthermore, Edwards believed that God’s love for Himself and His desire to reflect
His love in His creation was best revealed through God’s redemption of man. Edwards even
argued that every other work of God in creation is an appendage to his great work of
39
Edwards, “Dissertation I: Concerning The End for Which God Created the World,” in Ethical Writings, 533.
12
redemption.40 God’s end in creating the world was to magnify His own love and glory through
redemption.41 Edwards wrote,
And God had regard to it in this manner, as he had a supreme regard to himself, and value for his own infinite internal glory. It was this value for himself that caused him to value and seek that his internal glory should flow forth from himself. It was from his value for his glorious perfections of wisdom, righteousness, etc. that he valued the proper exercise and effect of these perfections, in wise and righteous acts and effects. It was from his infinite value for his internal glory and fullness, that he valued the thing communicated, which is something of the same extant in the creature. Thus, because he infinitely values his own glory, consisting in the knowledge of himself, love to himself, and complacence and joy in himself; he therefore valued the image, communication, or participation of these in the creature. And it is because he values himself, that he delights in the knowledge, and love, and joy of the creature; as being himself the object of this knowledge love, and complacence. For it is the necessary consequence of true esteem and love, that we value others' esteem of the same object, and dislike the contrary. For the same reason, God approves of others' esteem and love of himself.42
God’s value of Himself caused Him to desire that His intra-Trinitarian love would flow forth
from Him. Thus, God’s delight in His creaturely image is ultimately delight in Himself, for He is
delighting in His image that is present in humanity. Edwards argued,
Tis evident, that man was made to behold and be delighted with the excellency of God in his works, or in short, to be made happy by beholding God's excellency; as it has been shown that intelligent beings, the consciousness of the creation, must be. But if man was made to delight in God's excellency, he was made to love God; and God being infinitely excellent, he ought to love [Him] incomparably more than any man is capable of loving a fellow creature; and every power, and all that is in man, ought to be exercised as attendants on this love.43
40
Jonathan Edwards, “702. Work of Creation. Providence. Redemption.” in The Miscellanies: 501-832, ed. Ava Chamberlain, The Works of Jonathan Edwards, Vol. 18 (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2000), 284.41
Ibid.42
Edwards, “Dissertation I: Concerning The End for Which God Created the World,” in Ethical Writings, 532.43
Jonathan Edwards, “98. Trinity,” in The Miscellanies: a -500, 265-266.
13
God created man to love Him, to delight in Him. The more happy man is in God and the more he
loves God, the more he mirrors God. Man was created in such a way that the less he delights in
God, the less he loves God, the less he mirrors God. When Adam enjoyed God in the Garden
through His provision, fellowship, and commands, he mirrored God excellently. God called His
creation “very good” precisely because His reflection was very good (Gen. 1:31).
Created in Flesh
Not only did Edwards believe mankind was created in God’s image, he also believed
mankind was created as flesh. According to Edwards, there are aspects of mankind that do not
consist of God’s image. Even in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve in their perfection had
creaturely attributes that did not reflect God’s attributes, but did reflect God’s handiwork like the
rest of creation. Edwards argued,
The case with man was plainly this: when God made man at first, he implanted in him two kinds of principles. There was an inferior kind, which may be called natural, being the principles of mere human nature; such as self-love, with those natural appetites and passions, which belong to the nature of man, in which his love to his own liberty, honor and pleasure, were exercised: these when alone, and left to themselves, are what the Scriptures sometimes call flesh. Besides these, there were superior principles, that were spiritual, holy and divine, summarily comprehended in divine love; wherein consisted the spiritual image of God, and man's righteousness and true holiness; which are called in Scripture the divine nature. These principles may, in some sense, be called supernatural, being (however concreated or connate, yet) such as are above those principles that are essentially implied in, or necessarily resulting from, and inseparably connected with, mere human nature; and being such as immediately depend on man's union and communion with God, or divine communications and influences of God's Spirit: which though withdrawn, and man's nature forsaken of these principles, human nature would be human nature still; man's nature as such, being entire without these divine principles, which the Scripture sometimes calls spirit, in contradistinction to flesh. These superior principles were given to possess the throne, and maintain an absolute dominion in the heart: the other, to be wholly subordinate and subservient. And while things continued thus, all things were in excellent order, peace and beautiful harmony, and in their proper and perfect state. These divine principles thus reigning, were the dignity, life, happiness, and glory of man's nature.44
44
Jonathan Edwards, Original Sin, ed. Clyde A. Holbrook, The Works of Jonathan Edwards, Vol. 3 (New Haven, CT: Yale University, 1970), 381-382.
14
Man is made up of two principles: superior (spiritual) and inferior (flesh). Man’s superior
principles consist of him being made in God’s image as discussed earlier. Man’s fleshly
principles are necessary for human nature, but they were meant to serve God’s superior
principles. The flesh of man was meant to serve God’s image in man. For a brief time, mankind’s
flesh submitted to God’s image within him,
Man in his first state before the fall had a disposition to praise his Creator, for he was then perfectly holy. And therefore the love of God reigned in his heart, which will necessarily dispose to the praises of God. His heart was not only full of love but full of joy. Man was then in an happy state, without anything to trouble him, and everything smiling upon [him]; his heart was full of bliss so that then he could joyfully praise God in a paradise of delights.45
Adam and Eve reflected God’s image perfectly, enjoying God through their reflection of Him.
Their humanity, their “mere human nature,” glorified God as well for it served the image of God
in them. They enjoyed God’s Garden and one another for God’s glory in exactly the way God
intended.
The Fall
Adam’s joy and happiness in God, however, did not last. Instead of his flesh serving
his superior attributes continually, he exalted his fleshly attributes as superior to his own
reflection of God. Adam’s wife, Eve, was deceived by the Serpent and encouraged him to eat of
the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Even though Adam knew that God had forbidden
them to eat of this tree, he freely ate and sinned against God. As a result, the whole human race
was plunged into sin. Edwards believed that when mankind sinned against God, he lost the moral
45
Jonathan Edwards, Sermons and Discourses, 1739-1742, eds. Harry S. Stout and Nathan O. Hatch, with Kyle P. Farley, The Works of Jonathan Edwards, Vol. 22 (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2003), 229.
15
image (holiness, love, etc.) of God, but retained the natural image (knowledge, reason, etc.) of
God.46 Edwards argued,
When man sinned, and broke God's covenant, and fell under his curse, these superior principles left his heart: for indeed God then left him; that communion with God, on which these principles depended, entirely ceased; the Holy Spirit, that divine inhabitant, forsook the house. Because it would have been utterly improper in itself, and inconsistent with the covenant and constitution God had established, that God should still maintain communion with man, and continue, by his friendly, gracious vital influences, to dwell with him and in him, after he was become a rebel, and had incurred God's wrath and curse. Therefore immediately the superior divine principles wholly ceased; so light ceases in a room, when the candle is withdrawn: and thus man was left in a state of darkness, woeful corruption and ruin; nothing but flesh, without spirit. The inferior principles of self-love and natural appetite, which were given only to serve, being alone, and left to themselves, of course became reigning principles; having no superior principles to regulate or control them, they became absolute masters of the heart. The immediate consequence of which was a fatal catastrophe, a turning of all things upside down, and the succession of a state of the most odious and dreadful confusion. Man did immediately set up himself, and the objects of his private affections and appetites, as supreme; and so they took the place of God.47
As a result of man’s sin, man lost the superior principles, God’s moral image, and sought to use
God’s natural image (reason, knowledge, etc.) in submission to his flesh instead of submitting
his flesh to God’s image. To summarize, after the Fall, man exalted his own creaturely image
above his reflection of God, and sought to bring his natural reflection of God to serve his flesh.
All of man’s actions in this sinful state communicated a marred image of God. Sinners used their
knowledge and reason to reflect their flesh instead of using their flesh to serve what remained of
God’s image. Thus, sinners used what remained of God’s image to serve their own human
image, which made them “like god” as the Serpent promised. Not a single action of sinful man
reflects God as it did prior to the Fall. Therefore, the image of God that man destroyed must now
be restored by his Creator, if it is to be restored at all. To use Edwards’ language, the Holy Spirit
has “forsook the house,” and man’s ability to please God, to love and enjoy God, left with Him.
46
Edwards, Religious Affections, 255-256.47
Edwards, Original Sin, 381-382.
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The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
The Father of Love and Glory
The horror of the Fall and the dreadful reality that man existed in after the Fall was
according to God’s plan for creation in the beginning.48 Edwards believed that God created for
the purpose of redemption, for only through redemption would man participate in the intra-
Trinitarian love of God. The Fall was necessary for redemption to occur.49 This does not mean
that God is responsible for sin according to Edwards, but it does mean that God decreed the
Fall.50 If God permitted the Fall for the sake of the elect participating in His intra-Trinitarian
love, this reality begs the question, “How did God accomplish redemption Trinitarianly?” To
answer, Edwards began with God the Father. He argued,
Our dependence is equally upon each [Person in the Trinity] in this affair: the Father appoints and provides the Redeemer, and himself accepts the price and grants the thing purchased; the Son is the Redeemer by offering up himself, and is the price; and the Holy Ghost immediately communicates to us the thing purchased by communicating himself, and he is the thing purchased.51
As mentioned earlier, God the Father is unoriginated. He lives as the first (prime) Person of the
Trinity. Edwards followed this reality to its consistent end by arguing that the Father appointed
God the Son as the Redeemer. He sought to glorify the Son in this work.52 God the Son willfully
came to redeem precisely because the Father appointed Him to do so. The Father also required
48
Edwards, Freedom of the Will, 399.49
Ibid.50
Edwards, Original Sin, 383.51
Edwards, Writings on the Trinity, Grace and Faith,136.52
Edwards, A History of the Work of Redemption, 125.
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the price for man’s sin and accepted the price paid by Christ as the propitiation for the elect the
Father chose before the foundation of the world.
Christ is the Image of the Father
As mentioned earlier, the Son is the Father’s perfect idea of Himself.53 He is the
perfect image of the Father, and the Son subsists in this image.54 The Trinitarian order is
followed in redemption as well. The Son submits to the Father’s appointment of Him as the
Redeemer for the sake of His Father’s glory.55 The Son offers Himself up to the Father as the
propitiation for the elect given Him by the Father.56 The Son is the price for sin, and pays the
price for the elect.57
Union with Christ
Mankind after the Fall was left dead in sin, ruined, and devoid of God’s Spirit. Man
was broken, left with no hope. He died in the Garden spiritually which lead to his physical death
as well. God, however, was not finished with mankind:
Man’s soul was ruined by the fall, the image of God was ruined, man’s nature corrupted and destroyed, and man became dead in sin. The design was to restore the soul of man in conversion and to restore life to it, and the image of God in conversion and to carry on the restoration in sanctification, and to perfect it in glory.58
53
Edwards, Writings on the Trinity, Grace and Faith, 131.54
Ibid.55
Edwards, A History of the Work of Redemption, 125.56
Edwards, Writings on the Trinity, Grace and Faith, 136.57
Ibid.58
Edwards, A History of the Work of Redemption, 444.
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By God’s design, His purpose was to restore the soul of man through conversion, to restore His
image to man, and to carry this restoration on in conforming him to Christ’s glorified image.
Mankind’s Fall was all according to God’s plan. Remember that God’s redeeming purposes were
the main reason He created.59 George Marsden summarizes, “For Edwards the only place to start
in trying to understand history was—as for everything else—with the triune God. History, like
nature was the language of God’s redemptive love.”60 All of creation history serves to reflect
God’s triune redemptive love. To use Edwardsian language, God’s purpose for creating was to
redeem His people by uniting them to Christ.61 Through union with Christ, God’s people
participate in the intra-Trinitarian love of God.62 Of this reality Marsden writes, “In Edwards’
favorite image, Christ is the bridegroom who is bringing his bride, the church, into a creature’s
fullest possible experience of Trinitarian love.”63 The Son is the avenue through which humans
participate in the Trinitarian relationship. Edwards summarized this truth clearly: “inasmuch as
he was a divine person, he brought God down to man, and then he ascended to God. Inasmuch as
he was in the human nature, he carried up humanity with him to God.”64 If redemption is God’s
purpose for creating, then Christ is the essence of redemption. Marsden summarizes,
59
George M. Marsden, Jonathan Edwards: A Life (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2003), 488-489.60
Ibid., 488.61
Michael J. McClymond and Gerald R. McDermott, The Theology of Jonathan Edwards (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2012), 419-423.62
Ibid.63
Marsden, Jonathan Edwards: A Life, 488-489.64
Jonathan Edwards, “Jesus Christ is the Great Mediator and Head of Union in Whom All Elect Creatures in Heaven and Earth are United to God and to One Another,” in The Blessing of God: Previously Unpublished Sermons of Jonathan Edwards, ed. Michael D. McMullen (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman, 2003), 316.
19
History, according to Edwards, was in essence the communication of God’s redemptive love in Christ. The history of redemption was the very purpose of creation. Nothing in human history had significance on its own, any more than created nature had significance on its own. Christ’s saving love was the center of all history and defined its meaning. Human events took on significance only as they related to God’s redemptive action in bringing increasing numbers of humans into the light of that love or as they illustrated human blindness in joining Satan’s warfare against all that was good.65
All mankind therefore glorifies God. Mankind either repents, believes, and enjoys Trinitarian
love through Christ, or, man magnifies the beauty of God’s Trinitarian love to the elect by
enduring God’s righteous eternal wrath.66
The Spirit is Divine Love Personalized
God Loves All Sinners Through His Spirit. Nevertheless, even though man sinned
against God, losing God’s moral image, and even though His Spirit left man, His Spirit did not
depart entirely from mankind. God’s presence was still with mankind, although man’s identity
was now changed from righteous image-bearer to a sinner bearing a marred image of God. In
Edwards’ discussion on the Trinity, he argues that the Spirit is God’s love personalized between
the Father and the Son.67 Therefore, where the Spirit is present, love is present, and the love of
the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are present. After the Fall, God’s Spirit is no longer present
within all men, but His Spirit is present with all men.
The Common Gifts of the Spirit. One way in which God shows His love to sinners is
through his pouring out of gifts on them. Man has lost God’s moral image, but he still possesses
God’s natural image and “mere human nature.” Mankind does not possess these principles apart
65
Marsden, Jonathan Edwards: A Life, 488-489.66
Edwards, “Dissertation I: Concerning The End for Which God Created the World,” in Ethical Writings, 536.67
Edwards, Writings on the Trinity, Grace and Faith, 131.
20
from God. Both of these principles are given due to what Edwards called “the common gifts of
the Spirit.”68 The common gifts of the spirit are those gifts that are common to all of fallen
mankind.69 They are common to both the godly and the ungodly.70 Mankind is not the source of
these loving gifts. Mankind does not possess these gifts because of his intrinsic worth apart from
God. He possesses these gifts due to God’s love, due to the presence of God’s Spirit with, but not
in, mankind.71 Man’s depravity has earned him God’s wrath, but God has freely chosen to pour
out His love on mankind. He has given His Spirit to pour out common gifts on mankind from
outside of them.72
The Special Gifts of the Spirit. The Spirit not only gives mankind common gifts, but
He also gives the elect, God’s people, special saving gifts.73 He gives these gifts, not from
without, but from within His people.74 His people are His temple.75 Also, the Spirit unites
Christians to Christ. Through Christ, Edwards argued, Christians partake “of his relation to the
Father or his communion with him in his Sonship. We shall not only be the sons of God by
regeneration but a kind of participation of the Sonship of the eternal Son.”76 Kyle Strobel says of
68
Edwards, Charity and Its Fruits: Living in the Light of God’s Love, 60-62.69
Ibid.70
Ibid.71
Edwards, Religious Affections, 199-205.72
Ibid.73
Ibid.74
Ibid.75
Ibid.76
21
this reality, “This relational participation with God is given through the Spirit, the bond of love
by which God communes with his creatures.”77
Furthermore, the Spirit also gives Christians supernatural spiritual gifts. Apart from
the supernatural gifting of the Spirit, there would be no saving grace brought to man, no saving
gifts, or spiritual gifts that reveal this grace. The Spirit serves the Father’s purpose to apply the
work of the Son to God’s people instantaneously.78 He regenerates them so that they may see the
excellence of the divine nature.79 He regenerates them to see God’s glory in the gospel of Jesus
Christ.80 He returns the elect’s moral image and reorders the elect’s flesh to be submissive to his
divine image, gradually conforming them to the image of Christ.
Summary
To summarize, God is eternally one and three in love.81 He sought to share this intra-
Trinitarian love with mankind through redemption. Each Person of the Trinity shares in this
loving glorification of God with each one’s role being magnified through creating mankind in
God’s image, and through restoring and glorifying this image through union with Christ, making
Edwards, "Thy Name Is as Ointment Poured Forth," in The Blessing of God: Previously Unpublished Sermons of Jonathan Edwards, 177.77
Kyle Strobel, "By Word and Spirit: Jonathan Edwards on Redemption, Justification, and Regeration," in Jonathan Edwards and Justification, ed. Josh Moody, (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2012), 48.78
Edwards, Writings on the Trinity, Grace and Faith, 161.79
Edwards, Writings on the Trinity, Grace and Faith, 173-174. Also see Edwards, Religious Affections, 298-299.80
Edwards, Writings on the Trinity, Grace and Faith, 173-174. Also see Edwards, Religious Affections, 298-299.81
Edwards, “448. End of the Creation.” in The Miscellanies: a -500, 495-496.
22
these image-bearers sons and daughters of God. The result of God’s Trinitarian glorification is
the elect’s participation in the loving intra-Trinitarian relationship for all eternity.
Application
Due to Edwards’ doctrine of God and doctrine of man, human life for the elect is
given eternal Trinitarian meaning. There is nothing mundane about life and there are no
necessary evils. Instead, everything is valuable beyond mere humanity, “beyond mere human
flesh,” precisely due to union with Christ and participation in the intra-Trinitarian loving
relationship. Christians live in an eternal state of participation in intra-Trinitarian love. How
could life in relationship with God ever be mundane, meaningless, or lacking value with
knowledge of this truth? As Christians live out the natural and moral image of God in Christ,
they reflect God back to Him, and enjoy His loving intra-Trinitarian relationship. Even
something as common as eating and drinking now takes on new intra-Trinitarian meaning; for,
the Christian who eats in thanksgiving as the redeemed experiences God’s intra-Trinitarian love
as he eats and drinks.
Conclusion
In conclusion, all things are from God and return to God. He is the source and end of
all good things. His goal in creation was redemption, the participation of man in His intra-
Trinitarian love. Due to Edwards’ understanding of God’s intra-Trinitarian love and His desire to
express this love, and his understanding of man being created in God’s image, the Fall, the
restoration and glorification of this image through Christ, and participation in the loving
Trinitarian relationship by the elect, Edwards valued all of life Trinitarianly. The purpose of the
23
elect was not “mere human nature” but constant participation in the Divine.82 The only proper
response from God’s elect image-bearers to such wonderful realities is worship, the use of one’s
flesh in service to one’s divine image to praise the Triune Creator as Father, Brother (Son), and
Love (Holy Spirit).83
82
Edwards, “Dissertation I: Concerning The End for Which God Created the World,” in Ethical Writings, 532.83
Ibid.
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