Formed for the Glory of God: Learning from the Spiritual Practices of Jonathan Edwards

by Kyle Strobel

As I have emphasized, everything flows forth from our understanding of salvation and the God who saves. The gospel message entails God’s self-giving to bring us into his own life. Therefore, the Christian life becomes oriented around the idea of communion with God. When forgiveness becomes the central defining feature of salvation, the Christian life tends to become little more than pretending to act like you know you are forgiven. Rather, when communion becomes the centerpiece of salvation, the Christian life becomes oriented by, around and to the God who communes with us. Our goal is not pretending, but the opposite (as we will see in the next chapter). The “direction” of the Christian life is communion, abiding and resting in God, so that we can live according to his way in the world. This understanding of the Christian life has Christ at its center, and his people are held in orbit around him as they live in the Spirit of grace and love. Edwards, in a depth we rarely experience, understood that grace is God’s giving of himself to us in communion. Grace, in this sense, is a counterpart to love. God’s eternal life is love, and love will ultimately bind us to that life. But because of our state as fallen creatures, love can only be given as grace. By the Spirit of God we know communion and holiness, and therefore the Spirit of God is the grace of God given to his people. The Spirit of God unites himself to the person and two things take place: the person is united to God ...