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Growing in God's Spirit
"Every Christian is called to press on toward maturity in Christ," writes Charles Colson in the foreword. "True believers, who understand the enormity of Christ’s sacrifice and the abundance of the life for which he has redeemed us, hunger and thirst to know him better and love him more." Growing in God’s Spirit, with three selections from Jonathan Edwards’s writings, outlines "in clear and compelling terms," writes T. M. Moore, "what it means to grow in God’s Spirit, and how we may begin to do so with greater consistency and delight." Edwards calls us to a life of faith that - is infused with a transcendent perspective - delights in the prospect of heaven and the presence of God - takes seriously the challenge and privilege of growing in God’s Spirit. Moore divides these selections into brief chapters and adds subheads. Each of the 13 chapters concludes with questions to promote reflection on the meaning and application of Edwards’s words. Moore’s introduction helps launch the reader into Edwards’ text. Growing in God’s Spirit is the first in a series of books making the writings of Edwards accessible to all. "Edwards’s writings, some of the greatest treasures of the Kingdom, have enormously influenced my life. . . . This collection will be an invaluable resource for pursuing growth in God’s Spirit." —Charles Colson
- GenresChristian
168 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 2003
About the author
Jonathan Edwards
1,715 books544 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database named Jonathan Edwards.
Jonathan Edwards was the most eminent American philosopher-theologian of his time, and a key figure in what has come to be called the First Great Awakening of the 1730s and 1740s.
The only son in a family of eleven children, he entered Yale in September, 1716 when he was not yet thirteen and graduated four years later (1720) as valedictorian. He received his Masters three years later. As a youth, Edwards was unable to accept the Calvinist sovereignty of God. However, in 1721 he came to what he called a "delightful conviction" though meditation on 1 Timothy 1:17. From that point on, Edwards delighted in the sovereignty of God. Edwards later recognized this as his conversion to Christ.
In 1727 he was ordained minister at Northampton and assistant to his maternal grandfather, Solomon Stoddard. He was a student minister, not a visiting pastor, his rule being thirteen hours of study a day. In the same year, he married Sarah Pierpont, then age seventeen, daughter of Yale founder James Pierpont (1659–1714). In total, Jonathan and Sarah had eleven children.
Stoddard died on February 11th, 1729, leaving to his grandson the difficult task of the sole ministerial charge of one of the largest and wealthiest congregations in the colony. Throughout his time in Northampton his preaching brought remarkable religious revivals.
Yet, tensions flamed as Edwards would not continue his grandfather's practice of open communion. Stoddard believed that communion was a "converting ordinance." Surrounding congregations had been convinced of this, and as Edwards became more convinced that this was harmful, his public disagreement with the idea caused his dismissal in 1750.
Edwards then moved to Stockbridge, Massachusetts, then a frontier settlement, where he ministered to a small congregation and served as missionary to the Housatonic Indians. There, having more time for study and writing, he completed his celebrated work, The Freedom of the Will (1754).
Edwards was elected president of the College of New Jersey (later Princeton University) in early 1758. He was a popular choice, for he had been a friend of the College since its inception. He died of fever at the age of fifty-four following experimental inoculation for smallpox and was buried in the President's Lot in the Princeton cemetery beside his son-in-law, Aaron Burr.
Jonathan Edwards was the most eminent American philosopher-theologian of his time, and a key figure in what has come to be called the First Great Awakening of the 1730s and 1740s.
The only son in a family of eleven children, he entered Yale in September, 1716 when he was not yet thirteen and graduated four years later (1720) as valedictorian. He received his Masters three years later. As a youth, Edwards was unable to accept the Calvinist sovereignty of God. However, in 1721 he came to what he called a "delightful conviction" though meditation on 1 Timothy 1:17. From that point on, Edwards delighted in the sovereignty of God. Edwards later recognized this as his conversion to Christ.
In 1727 he was ordained minister at Northampton and assistant to his maternal grandfather, Solomon Stoddard. He was a student minister, not a visiting pastor, his rule being thirteen hours of study a day. In the same year, he married Sarah Pierpont, then age seventeen, daughter of Yale founder James Pierpont (1659–1714). In total, Jonathan and Sarah had eleven children.
Stoddard died on February 11th, 1729, leaving to his grandson the difficult task of the sole ministerial charge of one of the largest and wealthiest congregations in the colony. Throughout his time in Northampton his preaching brought remarkable religious revivals.
Yet, tensions flamed as Edwards would not continue his grandfather's practice of open communion. Stoddard believed that communion was a "converting ordinance." Surrounding congregations had been convinced of this, and as Edwards became more convinced that this was harmful, his public disagreement with the idea caused his dismissal in 1750.
Edwards then moved to Stockbridge, Massachusetts, then a frontier settlement, where he ministered to a small congregation and served as missionary to the Housatonic Indians. There, having more time for study and writing, he completed his celebrated work, The Freedom of the Will (1754).
Edwards was elected president of the College of New Jersey (later Princeton University) in early 1758. He was a popular choice, for he had been a friend of the College since its inception. He died of fever at the age of fifty-four following experimental inoculation for smallpox and was buried in the President's Lot in the Princeton cemetery beside his son-in-law, Aaron Burr.
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November 1, 2019
The Light that Shines in the Darkness
In the 1950s, A. W. Tozer saw the enemy within the church as the Evangelical Rationalists: those who believed that divine truth was confined to words and creeds, and if you held the right opinion on the stated propositions, you had the truth. Today there is an anti-rationalist countermovement that promotes contemplative practices and mysticism, and portrays doctrine as an impediment to authentic religious experience. Jonathan Edwards' sermons on The Divine and Supernatural Light, included in this book, explain why we must have doctrine to enjoy meaningful spiritual experience, and why we must have spiritual experience or be left with a dead letter. It is the remedy for both sterile rationalism and meaningless mysticism.
Edwards begins with Peter's confession of Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the Living God, and Jesus' response: "Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven." Matt 16:17. While others through natural reason ("flesh and blood") surmised Jesus to be John the Baptist or Elijah or Jeremiah or one of the prophets, Peter received a true spiritual knowledge of Jesus directly imparted to the soul by God the Father.
There is a difference between having a rational judgment that honey is sweet after being told it is so, and having a sense of its sweetness after tasting. Those whom God enlightens do not merely hold the rational belief that the Son of God is glorious, but they have a sense of his gloriousness in their hearts. It is directly received from God as light from the sun: "For God who commanded the light to shine in the darkness, has shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." 2 Cor. 4:6.
While the divine light is produced in us directly by God, and is not caused by the word of God, it is not given without the word. The divine light reveals no new doctrine, suggests no new proposition to the mind, and teaches no new thing of God, but only gives a due apprehension of the divine excellency of what the Scriptures reveal. The mind cannot see the excellency of any doctrine unless that doctrine be first in the mind. The notion that there is a Christ and that Christ is holy and gracious is conveyed to the mind by the word of God; but the sense of the excellency of Christ by virtue of that holiness and grace is the direct working of the Holy Spirit.
The rational mind provides the understanding while the divine light inclines the heart and the will. The least glimpse of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ does more to exalt and ennoble the soul than all knowledge that can be obtained by reason alone. By this light, and only this light, we are transformed into the likeness of God's Son: "We all with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord are changed into the same image from glory to glory even as by the spirit of the Lord." 2 Cor. 3:18. The divine light produces the fruit of obedience and holiness of life that no mere rational understanding of the doctrines of religion will ever bring forth. It changes the nature and draws the heart in a sincere love to God which is the only principle of true, gracious and universal obedience.
All of the sermons in this book (Growing in God's Spirit) are available on the internet free for the searching. But the book is a handy resource and reference for personal and group study, and I highly recommend it. (Though the publisher's study notes do little to enlighten the text.)
In the 1950s, A. W. Tozer saw the enemy within the church as the Evangelical Rationalists: those who believed that divine truth was confined to words and creeds, and if you held the right opinion on the stated propositions, you had the truth. Today there is an anti-rationalist countermovement that promotes contemplative practices and mysticism, and portrays doctrine as an impediment to authentic religious experience. Jonathan Edwards' sermons on The Divine and Supernatural Light, included in this book, explain why we must have doctrine to enjoy meaningful spiritual experience, and why we must have spiritual experience or be left with a dead letter. It is the remedy for both sterile rationalism and meaningless mysticism.
Edwards begins with Peter's confession of Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the Living God, and Jesus' response: "Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven." Matt 16:17. While others through natural reason ("flesh and blood") surmised Jesus to be John the Baptist or Elijah or Jeremiah or one of the prophets, Peter received a true spiritual knowledge of Jesus directly imparted to the soul by God the Father.
There is a difference between having a rational judgment that honey is sweet after being told it is so, and having a sense of its sweetness after tasting. Those whom God enlightens do not merely hold the rational belief that the Son of God is glorious, but they have a sense of his gloriousness in their hearts. It is directly received from God as light from the sun: "For God who commanded the light to shine in the darkness, has shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." 2 Cor. 4:6.
While the divine light is produced in us directly by God, and is not caused by the word of God, it is not given without the word. The divine light reveals no new doctrine, suggests no new proposition to the mind, and teaches no new thing of God, but only gives a due apprehension of the divine excellency of what the Scriptures reveal. The mind cannot see the excellency of any doctrine unless that doctrine be first in the mind. The notion that there is a Christ and that Christ is holy and gracious is conveyed to the mind by the word of God; but the sense of the excellency of Christ by virtue of that holiness and grace is the direct working of the Holy Spirit.
The rational mind provides the understanding while the divine light inclines the heart and the will. The least glimpse of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ does more to exalt and ennoble the soul than all knowledge that can be obtained by reason alone. By this light, and only this light, we are transformed into the likeness of God's Son: "We all with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord are changed into the same image from glory to glory even as by the spirit of the Lord." 2 Cor. 3:18. The divine light produces the fruit of obedience and holiness of life that no mere rational understanding of the doctrines of religion will ever bring forth. It changes the nature and draws the heart in a sincere love to God which is the only principle of true, gracious and universal obedience.
All of the sermons in this book (Growing in God's Spirit) are available on the internet free for the searching. But the book is a handy resource and reference for personal and group study, and I highly recommend it. (Though the publisher's study notes do little to enlighten the text.)
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