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

by Kyle Strobel

Along these lines, it is noteworthy that Edwards is perhaps best known in Christian circles for his work Religious Affections. It is, in fact, one of the most beloved spiritual classics of the Protestant tradition. In this work, Edwards provides a model of spiritual discernment. The question we need to ask is, What is religious affection? Religious affection is a way to talk about religion from the heart—“true religion” as Edwards would have called it (that or experiential religion). Religious affection is the movement of the soul in affection to God. It is having your heart inclined to him as beautiful. Religious affection is the human counterpart to God’s life of love and delight. To “be holy as I am holy” is to mirror God’s life of beauty, glory and affection in your own life. God’s goal in redemption is not simply teaching people facts about him (that he is eternal perhaps). God offers his life of love, glory and beauty to people in salvation. Therefore, the path to God must take on those very attributes. God’s life is infinite happiness, and therefore God opens his life so that people can truly delight in him. Salvation is a way of the heart and not simply a way of the mind. Salvation entails the whole person, and humans are primarily lovers, not simply thinkers. As God creates for his own glory and portrays his own beauty, he pulls us into this movement of self-glorification so that we come to partake in his glory and beauty. By being united to Christ, God seeks us a...