Archives for August 2017

Gleanings from The Religious Affections (Part 8): Uncertain Sign Four: That Affections Seem to Be from an External Supernatural Source

Many experiencing intense religious affections during the Great Awakening traced their experience to “some extrinsic and supernatural power upon their minds.” ^[1] Supposing the source to be outside themselves and produced by other than natural means, they concluded it must be from God. Others took an opposite view, believing the “manner of the Spirit of God is to co-operate in a silent, secret, and undiscernible way with the use of means, and our own endeavors; so that there is no distinguishing by sense between the influences of the Spirit of God and the natural operations of the faculties of our own minds.” ^[2] Thus, they denied that the Holy Spirit could be the source of such “supernatural” experiences. Edwards acknowledged the possibility of either a natural or divine source and therefore viewed the experience as an “uncertain sign” of a work of God.

As Evidence of Gracious and Holy Affections
Since God is “supernatural,” it follows that His work in our life would appear as such, as coming from beyond us. “If grace be indeed owing to the powerful and efficacious operation of an extrinsic agent, or divine efficient out of ourselves, why is it unreasonable to suppose it should seem to be so to them who are the subjects of it? Is it a strange thing that it should seem to be as it is?” ^[3] Indeed, Scripture relates God’s work in the heart to things that God alone can accomplish, that display His infinite power, such as being born again, raised from the dead, given sight, and “being brought out of nothing into being.” ^[4]

Moreover, “It is God’s manner, in the great works of His power and mercy which He works for His people, to order things so as to make His hand visible, and His power conspicuous, and men’s dependence on Him most evident, that no flesh should glory in His presence.” ^[5] For instance, consider God’s display of His might in delivering Israel from Egypt, in Gideon’s victory over the Midianites with his light brigade, David’s defeat of Goliath, the calling of the Gentiles, and the many dramatic conversions in the New Testament. ^[6] “God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty…that no flesh should glory in his presence” (1 Corinthians 1:27, 29). “We have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us” (2 Corinthians 4:7).

As Evidence of “Natural” Affections
While God often does make His power conspicuous, He also works in secret ways. “Sometimes He operates in a way more secret and gradual, and from smaller beginnings, than at others.” ^[7] For instance, we often see our spiritual growth in hindsight, after a fair amount of time. Moreover, God has ordained human responsibility in the process: “For any to expect to receive the saving influences of the Spirit of God while they neglect a diligent improvement of the appointed means of grace [Bible study, prayer, etc.], is unreasonable presumption.” ^[8] We cannot expect to grow when we neglect what God has provided for our growth.

Also, Satan and demons can produce “supernatural” effects disguised as something good.

There are other spirits who have influence on the minds of men besides the Holy Ghost. We are directed not to believe every spirit, but to try the spirits whether they be of God. There are many false spirits, exceeding busy with men, who often transform themselves into angels of light, and do in many wonderful ways, with great subtlety and power, mimic the operation of the Spirit of God. And there are many of Satan’s operations, which are very distinguishable from the voluntary exercises of men’s own minds.” ^[9]

In fact, the father of lies does his most destructive work in imitating and perverting the things of God.

In addition, the Holy Spirit also works in common and non-saving ways. For instance, people can be “enlightened” (Hebrews 6:4) and experience aspects of the Spirit’s work, such as conviction of sin and the blessings of fellowship, without coming to a saving faith in Christ.

Lastly, some people are more susceptible to deceptive “impressions” on their minds than others.

We see that such persons are liable to such impressions about temporal things; and there is equal reason why they should about spiritual things. As a person who is asleep has dreams that he is not the voluntary author of; so may such persons in like manner be the subjects of involuntary impressions when they are awake.” ^[10]

We cannot trust everything that pops into our head because it seems to be from a supernatural origin.

Conclusion
God dramatically saves and changes lives. Yet, our limitations and the remaining sin within us hinder our interpretations of the things of the heart, for it is “deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9). Moreover, Satan transforms himself into an angel of light and disguises his deceptions to lead us astray” (2 Corinthians 11:14). Therefore, that something seems to be from a source beyond us does not prove that it came from God—something more is needed. That “something more,” what Edwards calls “distinguishing signs” of gracious affections, will be discussed later in this series.

Next, we’ll examine why religious affections are not necessarily the work of God because they come with texts of Scripture brought “remarkably” or seemingly supernaturally to the mind.

^[1] BT, 65; Yale, 138.

^[2] BT, 65; Yale, 138.

^[3] BT, 66; Yale, 138-139.

^[4] BT, 66; Yale, 139.

^[5] BT, 67; Yale, 139-140.

^[6] BT, 67; Yale 140.

^[7] BT, 65; Yale, 138.

^[8] BT, 65; Yale, 138.

^[9] BT, 69; Yale, 141-142.

^[10] BT, 69; Yale, 142.

Click here to download a PDF of this article.

Yes, I Want a PDF of “Uncertain Sign Four: That Affections Seem to Be from an External Supernatural Source”

We respect your privacy. We’ll NEVER sell, rent, or share your email address. That’s more than a policy, it’s our guarantee!

Gleanings from The Religious Affections (Part 7): Uncertain Sign Three: Fluent, Fervent, and Abundant Religious Talk

The sound and fury of the Great Awakening involved a grand display of lively affections and their affects, including an extraordinary measure of talk about Christ, the Gospel, and divine things. But, as with the great bodily effects and the other phenomena of the Awakening, abundant religious talk appeared to some as more of the same worldly ungodliness—the mark of puffed-up “Pharisees and ostentatious hypocrites.”^[1] In contrast, others viewed the same as the fruit of God’s work on the heart. Edwards, however, took a more biblically informed approach, granting that “fluent, fervent, and abundant religious talk” can flow from a worldly or spiritual source.

As Evidence of Gracious and Holy Affections
On the one hand, “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.” We sing the praises of that which we love—parents speak of their kids and grandkids, while newlyweds praise their spouse.^[2] Why, then, should anyone immediately presume an ungodly cause behind the frequency and fervor of people extolling the greatness of God and His blessings? Shouldn’t we proclaim His excellence from the rooftops? Yet, in the same way that some rejected all religious affections as important to the Christian life, so they wrongly concluded that affections producing fervent and fluent speech about Christ and the things of God came from an ungodly source.

As Evidence of Natural Affections
On the other hand, talk is cheap. Wordiness often floats on shallow waters or flows from pride or self-exaltation. The hypocritical religious leaders during Christ’s earthly ministry were full of showy talk that drew great condemnation from Christ. Thomas Shepard put it this way;

A Pharisee’s trumpet shall be heard to the town’s end, when simplicity walks through the town unseen. Hence a man will sometimes covertly commend himself (and myself ever comes in), and tells you a long story of conversion; and a hundred to one if some lie or other slip not out with it. Why, the secret meaning is, I pray admire me, and Pray think what a broken-hearted Christian am I.”^[3]

Earnest and sincere religious talk can easily flow from the most diabolical of unredeemed hearts, while still waters often run deep as wisdom listens and restrains its words. Indeed, “A fool does not delight in understanding, but only in revealing his own mind” (Proverbs 18:2 NAS). Moreover, the profound love between a saint and God does not always lend itself to abundant speech.

O reader, if thy heart were right with God, and thus didst not cheat thyself with a vain profession, thou wouldst have frequent business with God which thou wouldst be loth thy dearest friend, or the wife of thy bosom, should be privy to…. Religion doth not lie open to all, to the eyes of men. Observed duties maintain our credit; but secret duties maintain our life.”^[4]

Additionally, “A person may be over-full of talk of his own experiences, commonly falling upon it everywhere and in all companies; and when it is so, it is rather a dark sign than a good one.”^[5] Exalting one’s experience is not the same thing as exalting God. Many were moved by natural affections to praise God at the sight of Christ’s great miracles or shout Hosanna! in hope of earthly deliverance from the tyranny of Rome. Multitudes proclaimed their affections and loyalty to Christ during His earthly ministry, but, Edwards asks, “what did these things come to in the greater part of them?”^[6] Nothing or worse when they shouted for His crucifixion.

Inconclusive
Edwards wrote The Religious Affections with the wisdom of hindsight, informed by experience with the shining and noisy stars of the Awakening—short-lived luminaries that spoke often and passionately of their experiences and love to God that fell away when the heat of the Awakening died down. He compares great religious talk to the leaves of a tree, “which, though the tree ought not to be without them, yet are nowhere given as an evidence of the goodness of the tree.”^[7] In the end, “fluent, fervent, and abundant” talk about God and one’s religious experiences may be from a good or bad cause.

Next, we’ll examine why religious affections and their effects that seem to come from an external, supernatural source are not necessarily the work of God the Holy Spirit.

^[1] BT, 62-63; Yale, 135-136.

^[2] BT, 63; Yale, 136.

^[3] Shepard, Parable of the Ten Virgins, 284; quoted in BT, 64-65, footnote; Yale, 137, footnote 3.

^[4] Flavel, Touchstone of Sincerity. Works Vol. 5, 520; quoted in BT, 65, footnote; Yale, 137, footnote 3.

^[5] BT, 64; Yale, 137.

^[6] BT, 63-64; Yale, 136-137.

^[7] BT, 62-63; Yale, 135-136.

Click here to download a PDF of this article.

Yes, I Want a PDF of “Uncertain Sign Three: Fluent, Fervent, and Abundant Religious Talk”

We respect your privacy. We’ll NEVER sell, rent, or share your email address. That’s more than a policy, it’s our guarantee!

Gleanings from The Religious Affections (Part 6): Uncertain Sign Two: Great Bodily Effects

The high and intense affections of the Great Awakening often came with an assortment of bodily effects, including fainting, shaking, sweating, crying, and exhaustion (among others). Some found the displays unsettling and refused to accept any of them as works of God. Others welcomed them all as evidence of God’s work. Here again, Edwards took a middle path, affirming that affections affect us physically, but given that the origin of our affections can be natural or spiritual, so the cause of great physical affects can be natural or spiritual.

Evidence of “Natural” Affections
On the one hand, given that many earthly things unrelated to the work of the Holy Spirit can generate various physical effects in people, “Great effects on the body certainly are no sure evidences that affections are spiritual.”^[1] Indeed, “All affections…have in some respect or degree an effect on the body.”^[2] Therefore, if highly raised religious affections can be generated from a number of sources besides God, including satanic or human delusion, depravity, weakness of disposition, or foolishness, so great bodily effects can also be produced by the same affections. People faint, cry, or shake for all sorts of earthly reasons. I fainted when I first saw my wife.

Evidence of Gracious and Holy Affections
On the other hand, intense religious affections generated by the work of the Holy Spirit within a person’s heart can generate great bodily effects. “I know of no reason why a being affected with a view of God’s glory should not cause the body to faint, as well as being affected with a view of Solomon’s glory.”^[3] Examples of physical responses to encounters with God or angels abound in Scripture. The Psalmist cries, “My flesh trembleth for fear of Thee” (Psalm 119:120). Habakkuk was greatly moved by consideration of God’s judgment: “When I heard, my belly trembled; my lips quivered at the voice: rottenness entered into my bones, and I trembled in myself” (Habakkuk 3:16). When the Apostle John saw Christ in His glory he “fell at His feet as dead” (Revelation 1:17). Daniel lost his strength and trembled at his vision of an angel (Daniel 10:6-9). It would be improper to dogmatically conclude that affections cannot be from God if they produce bodily effects.

Inconclusive Either Way

Universal experience shows that the exercise of the affections has in a special manner a tendency to some sensible effect upon the body….and the more vigorous their exercise…the greater will be the effect on the body. Very great and strong exercises of the affections have great effects on the body. And therefore, seeing there are very great affections, both common and spiritual, it is not to be wondered at that great effects on the body should arise from both these kinds of affections. And consequently these effects are no signs that the affections they arise from are of one kind or the other.”^[4]

Therefore, great bodily effects flowing from highly raised affections—in a church service, prayer meeting, conference, or time alone in the wilderness—may or may not indicate that the affections producing the bodily effects are the fruit of God’s work in the heart. For Edwards, not all that faints, shakes, or cries is necessarily from God. Maybe, maybe not.

Next, we’ll examine why “fluent, fervent, and abundant” talk about God and spiritual things does not necessarily indicate that the affections producing such talk were generated by the Holy Spirit.

^[1] BT, 59; Yale, 132.

^[2] BT, 59, Yale, 131-2.

^[3] BT, 60; Yale, 132.

^[4] BT, 59; Yale, 132.

Click here to download a PDF of this article.

Yes, I Want a PDF of “Uncertain Sign Two: Great Bodily Effects”

We respect your privacy. We’ll NEVER sell, rent, or share your email address. That’s more than a policy, it’s our guarantee!

Gleanings from The Religious Affections (Part 5): Uncertain Sign One: High and Intense Religious Affections

The greatest revival in American history burst onto the scene with lively displays of religious affections and their extraordinary effects, leading some to conclude that people subject to them were “delusional.” Others assumed by their energy and impact that the Holy Spirit produced them all. Edwards, however, acknowledged a mixture of good and bad and rejected both the “nothing of God” and “all of God” views as extreme.

Zeal as Evidence
Who can deny that we should be fervent in our love of Christ, zealous for the Gospel, and passionate for the honor of God? Saints are created and redeemed to “love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength” (Mark 12:30). Can anyone love God too much?

Love is an affection, but will any Christian say, men ought not to love God and Jesus Christ in a high degree? And will any say, we ought not to have a very great hatred of sin, and a very deep sorrow for it? Or that we ought not to exercise a high degree of gratitude to God for the mercies we receive of Him, and the great things He has done for the salvation of fallen men? Or that we should not have very great and strong desires after God and holiness? Is there any who will profess that his affections in religion are great enough, and will say, ‘I have no cause to be humbled, that I am no more affected with the things of religion than I am; I have no reason to be ashamed, that I have no great exercises of love to God and sorrow for sin, and gratitude for the mercies which I have received?” ^[1]

As religious affections form an essential part of new life in Christ, and as love forms the fountain of all religious affections, affections will be great where the love of God is great. ^[2]

Scripture portrays Christ and the greatest saints as possessing the highest of religious affections, such as the Psalmist (David), the Apostle Paul, John the Baptist, the woman who anointed the body of Jesus, “the church in her future happy seasons,” and the “saints and angels in heaven.” ^[3] “The king shall joy in thy strength, O Lord, and in thy salvation how greatly shall he rejoice” (Psalm 21:1). “Let the righteous be glad: let them rejoice before God; yea, let them exceedingly rejoice” (Psalm 68:3). “Rivers of waters run down mine eyes, because they keep not thy law” (Psalm 119:136).

High and Dry
At the same time, lofty religious affections might not be from God. For instance, Israel “sang God’s praise” following their deliverance at the Red Sea, but soon returned to their faithless grumbling. The hopeful shouts of “hosanna!” quickly turned to “crucify!” when their presumed deliverer from Rome stood bleeding and humiliated before Pilate. ^[4] Indeed, enemies of Christ can be excited by great miracles, the hope of great blessings, or the receipt of great earthly benefits. Stadiums can fill to overflowing from love of God’s perks, with or without love for the God who gives them.

Thus, great affections can arise from sources other than God, including satanic or human delusion, depravity, weakness of disposition, or foolishness (among other things). And, as God alone knows the heart perfectly, discerning the cause of intense affections can be difficult.

Some Important Lessons
The absence of religious affections indicates the absence of love for God, ^[5] yet great religious affections do not “prove” love for God, given their many possible sources. Thus, we should take care to affirm the true and reject the false, “separating between the wheat and the chaff, the gold and the dross, the precious and the vile.” ^[6] And while the presence of great religious affections can be deceiving, those who reject all religious affections reduce the Christian life to “a mere lifeless formality and effectually shut out the power of godliness.” ^[7] They “make a thorough work in ruining their souls.” ^[8]

Lastly, what moves your affections?

In things which concern men’s worldly interest, their outward delights, their honour and reputation, and their natural relations, they have their desires eager, their appetites vehement, their love warm and affectionate, their zeal ardent; in these things their hearts are tender and sensible, easily moved, deeply impressed, much concerned, very sensibly affected, and greatly engaged; much depressed in grief at losses, and highly raised with joy at worldly successes and prosperity. But how insensible and unmoved are most men about the great things of another world! How dull are their affections! How heavy and hard their hearts in these matters! Here their love is cold, their desires languid, their zeal low, and their gratitude small.” ^[9]

Yet,

If we ought ever to exercise our affections at all, then they ought to be exercised about those objects which are most worthy of them. But is there anything which Christians can find in heaven or earth so worthy to be the objects of their admiration and love, their earnest and longing desires, their hope, and their rejoicing, and their fervent zeal, as those things that are held forth to us in the gospel of Jesus Christ?” ^[10]

May God grant us greater love for His infinite excellence in Christ and discernment to distinguish the gold from the dross.

Next, we’ll examine why religious affections producing great effects on the body, such as fainting, shaking, and other phenomena, do not necessarily indicate a work of the Holy Spirit.

^[1] BT, 55; Yale, 127-128.

^[2] BT, 54-5; Yale, 127.

^[3] BT, 56-7; Yale, 128-130.

^[4] BT, 58-9; Yale, 131.

^[5] BT, 50; Yale, 121.

^[6] BT, 50; Yale, 121.

^[7] BT, 49; Yale, 120.

^[8] BT, 50; Yale, 121.

^[9] BT, 51-2; Yale, 122-3.

^[10] BT, 52; Yale, 123.

Click here to download a PDF of this article.

Yes, I Want a PDF of “Uncertain Sign One: High and Intense Religious Affections”

We respect your privacy. We’ll NEVER sell, rent, or share your email address. That’s more than a policy, it’s our guarantee!

Gleanings from The Religious Affections (Part 4): The Importance of Religious Affections to the Christian Life

Some who rejected the entire Great Awakening as a work of God also denied religious affections as necessary to the Christian life. For them, faith involved reason and the intellect only, not the affections. For Edwards, however, this was a serious error with enormous negative consequences—new life in Christ does not exist where religious affections are absent.

God Requires Fervent Followers
“Love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might” (Deuteronomy 6:5). Indeed, “lukewarm” believers are odious to Christ (Revelation 3:16). “He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me,” Christ tells us (Matthew 10:37). The Christian life involves a deep and fervent love of God.

Actions Spring from Affections
We do little to nothing without affections stirring our actions. “Such is man’s nature that he is very inactive, any otherwise than he is influenced by some affection, either love or hatred, desire, hope, fear, or some other.” ^[1] “He that has doctrinal knowledge and speculation only, without affection, never is engaged in the business of religion.” ^[2]

Significant Life Change Is Impossible Without a Change in the Affections
Edwards believed Scripture, intellectually understood and applied to the heart by the Holy Spirit, to be God’s primary means of moving the affections. Yet, people never flee sin and embrace Christ from intellectual knowledge alone.

Never was a natural man engaged earnestly to seek his salvation; never were any such brought to cry after wisdom, and lift up their voice for understanding, and to wrestle with God in prayer for mercy; and never was one humbled and brought to the foot of God, from anything that ever he heard or imagined of his own unworthiness and deserving of God’s displeasure; nor was ever one induced to fly for refuge unto Christ, while his heart remained unaffected.” ^[3]

Scripture Places Affections Central in the Christian Life
“The holy Scriptures do everywhere place religion very much in the affections; such as fear, hope, love, hatred, desire, joy, sorrow, gratitude, compassion, and zeal.” ^[4] “The fear of God is a great part of true godliness.” We are saved “unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Peter 1:3). “Ye that love the Lord, hate evil” (Psalm 97:10a). “My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God” (Psalm 42:2). “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted, and saves those who are crushed in spirit” (Psalm 34:18). “Put ye on, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering patience” (Colossians 3:12).

Above all, love forms the foremost and fountain of all affections. “The essence of all true religion lies in holy love; and that in this divine affection, and an habitual disposition to it, and that light which is the foundation of it, and those things which are the fruits of it, consists the whole of religion.” ^[5]

The Hearts of Christ and Great Saints Overflowed with Holy Affections
David’s profound affections for God cascade from the pages of the Psalms.

Those holy songs of his he has there left us are nothing else but the expressions and breathings of devout and holy affections; such as an humble and fervent love to God, admiration of His glorious perfections and wonderful works, earnest desires, thirstings, and pantings of soul after God, delight and joy in God, a sweet and melting gratitude to God for His great goodness, a holy exultation and triumph of soul in the favour, sufficiency, and faithfulness of God, his love to and delight in the saints, the excellent of the earth, his great delight in the Word and ordinances of God, his grief for his own and the others’ sins, and his fervent zeal for God and against the enemies of God and his church.” ^[6]

Paul’s epistles glow with love to God and His people and anger toward their enemies. Joy flows from his prison cell to the Philippians, while tears stain his words to the Corinthians (2 Corinthians 2:4). And none can miss the affections of the Apostle John.

Above all, Christ “was the greatest instance of ardency, vigour and strength of love, to both God and man, that ever was.” ^[7] Zeal for His Father’s honor moved Him to cleanse the temple (John 2:13-17); He cried with Mary and Martha at the tomb of Lazarus (John 11:35-38), was compassionate to the sick and hurting (Luke 7:13), and distraught at Jerusalem’s impending destruction (Luke 19:41-44).

The Religion of Heaven Consists of Holy Affections
“The way to learn the true nature of anything is to go where that thing is to be found in its purity and perfection.” ^[8] Heaven will overflow with affection for God and each other. “In thy presence is fullness of joy” (Psalm 16:11).

Christian Duties Are Designed to Stir Religious Affections
While our prayers cannot inform God’s perfect knowledge, they “affect our own hearts with the things we express, and so to prepare us to receive the blessings we ask.” ^[9] Moreover, God designed prayer, praise, the “sacraments,” and the preaching of His Word to move our hearts. “No other reason can be assigned why we should express ourselves to God in verse rather than in prose, and do it with music, but…that these things have a tendency to move our affections.” ^[10] The “lively application” of the great truths of the Gospel through preaching and the visible representation of truth in baptism and communion is designed to instruct us and move our affections. ^[11]

Hardness of Heart Is Sin
Christ grew angry and grieved at hard hearts (Mark 3:5), while rocklike hearts produced Israel’s disobedience: “They will not hearken unto me: for all the house of Israel are impudent and hard-hearted” (Ezekiel 3:7). Indeed, the New Covenant includes the promise of a new heart: “And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh” (Ezekiel 11:19)

Summary
In his typical, thorough fashion, Edwards summarizes the importance of both intellectual understanding and religious affections to the Christian life:

Although to true religion there must indeed be something else besides affection, yet true religion consists so much in the affections that there can be no true religion without them. He who has no religious affection is in a state of spiritual death, and is wholly destitute of the powerful, quickening, saving influences of the Spirit of God upon His heart. As there is no true religion where there is nothing else but affection, so there is no true religion where there is no religious affection. As, on the one hand, there must be light in the understanding as well as an affected fervent heart; where there is heat without light, there can be nothing divine or heavenly in that heart; so, on the other hand, where there is a kind of light without heat, a head stored with notions and speculations, with a cold and unaffected heart, there can be nothing divine in that light; that knowledge is no true spiritual knowledge of divine things.”^[12]

In Part 5 we will examine the first of twelve “uncertain” signs of true or false affections—great and high religious affections.

^[1] BT, 29; Yale, 101.

^[2] BT, 30; Yale, 101.

^[3] BT, 30-31; Yale, 102.

^[4] BT, 31; Yale, 102.

^[5] BT, 36; Yale, 107.

^[6] BT, 37; Yale, 108.

^[7] BT, 40; Yale, 111.

^[8] BT, 43; Yale, 114.

^[9] BT, 43-44; Yale, 114-115.

^[10] BT, 44; Yale, 115.

^[11] BT, 44-45; Yale, 115-116.