A short biography of
Jonathan Edwards
by Richard D. Gelina
Resolved ... Never hence-forward, till I die, to act as if I were any way my own, but entirely and altogether God's
—Jonathan Edwards, age 19
Historical Background
The American colonies were experiencing a spiritual dearth in the early years of the 18th century. The commitment to holiness and dedication to Christ that so characterized the Puritan settlers had relaxed. The people had become complacent. Morality had dropped at an alarming rate and the New World had fallen into a spiritual cesspool that, according to some historians, has been unequaled even in our present times. Iain Murray, editor of Edinburgh's Banner of Truth Trust, wrote of this time period in the American colonies saying, "a vast change was visible in the churches of New England: the discipline was relaxed, the doctrine was diluted, and the preaching tame and spiritless" (Banner of Truth Trust, 1987, p. 19).
One reason for the spiritual decline was the "half-way covenant," a non-voting membership status in a local church that did not require a testimony of conversion. The members who were part of the half-way covenant were permitted to partake of the Lord's Supper, but did not have voting rights in the church. This introduced many non-Christians into the churches and, eventually, into the ministry (but not necessarily into the faith).
God introduces Edwards
Into this culture of spiritual darkness, God placed Jonathan Edwards who was to have a strong and lasting impact on the moral climate of this land. In 1703, Jonathan was born to Timothy and Esther Edwards, who had resisted the decline in piety that was so rampant in their day.
Timothy Edwards was determined to provide an excellent education in spiritual matters as well as in the arts and sciences for Jonathan, his only son out of eleven children. Before Jonathan had reached his teen years, his father had taught him to read Latin, Greek and Hebrew, and at age 13 he headed off to college at Yale University.
Pursuing his graduate studies at Yale in 1722, Edwards experienced a life-changing event while reading scripture, Although he had come to Christ as a young boy, the Lord now impressed on the 19-year-old young man the absolute necessity of God's grace in overcoming the sin of man, Edwards realized afresh that his sins were an abomination to God and resolved to live an upright and holy life. At this time, he began to write a series of resolutions, dedicating his life to God.
God calls Edwards
In August of 1726, Edwards accepted the call to become the assistant pastor of his grandfather's church in Northampton, New England. Three years later, the 26-year-old Edwards became the senior pastor when his grandfather passed away. As he came to terms with his newfound responsibilities as senior pastor, Edwards wrote what he saw as the duties of a minister of the Word:
A minister by his office is to be the guide and instructor of his people. To that end he is to study and search the Scriptures and to teach the people, not the opinions of men, ...but the mind of Christ. As he is set to enlighten them, so a part of his duty is to rectify their mistakes, and, if he sees them out of the way of truth or duty, to be a voice behind them, saying, "This is the way, walk ye in it."
God reveals His sovereignty to Edwards
Edwards's understanding of his own sinfulness and inability to please God led him to be a strong champion of the absolute sovereignty of God. This he did in the face of a growing Arminian influence, which sprang from the Anglican Church and from the new Episcopalianism. Realizing the desperate wickedness of his own heart, Edwards could not imagine a way to salvation apart from the free and sovereign grace of Almighty God. In his personal diary, Edwards wrote, "I should appear sunk down in my sins below hell itself; far beyond the sight of everything but the eye of sovereign grace, that can pierce even down to such a depth."
Within the first decade of his Northampton pastorate, Edwards noticed "a terrible noise of Arminianism" creeping into society of the church. Even some of Edwards's relatives called on him to avoid controversy and refrain from publishing his comments regarding these matters. But Edwards would accept only those doctrines he found "most harmonious with the Holy Scriptures." He proclaimed that the "Bible is supreme: everything is subordinate to the Word of God."
God ignites the Great Awakening
The complete wickedness of man and the absolute sovereignty of God became a common theme in Edwards's writings and sermons. In December of 1734, the Spirit of God moved mightily among the members of the Northampton church. Edwards wrote:
Our public assemblies were beautiful: the congregation was alive in God's service, everyone earnestly intent of public worship.... The assembly in general was, from time to time, in tears while the word was preached; some weeping with sorrow and distress, others with joy and love, others with pity and concern for the souls of their neighbors.
The winter of 1734–1735 witnessed the conversion of no less than 300 people in Edwards's Northampton church. Edwards claimed the revival was indicative of God's "approbation of the doctrine of justification by faith alone." Edwards now began to emphasize personal holiness and Christian growth in his sermons. The revival at Northampton had matured and was now being noticed internationally by such eminent men of God as Isaac Watts and John Wesley. Wesley and others formed a prayer group of ministers who began to petition God for a "great awakening" of the people to the things of God. After some time, this prayer group came to Edwards's attention and he joined these ministers in their daily petitions to the throne of grace. God heard the prayers of the ministers who had so sought His will, and He answered their requests by sending a revival to the English-speaking people of the world. We now know this period as the "Great Awakening," which began in the late 1730s and lasted through most of the 1740s.
The volume of conversions during this time exceeds all accounts since the days of the apostles. God showered his saving grace on multitudes of people throughout the Americas, England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales. George Whitefield was one of the principle evangelists carrying the gospel through England and the American colonies. Eventually Whitefield visited Jonathan Edwards's Northampton church, where the fires of revival had originally begun. Remembering and three-day stay at this church, Whitefield later wrote: "Preached this morning and good Mr. Edwards wept during the whole time of the exercise. The people were equally affected; and in the afternoon the power increased yet more. I have not seen four such gracious meetings together since my arrival."
As the Great Awakening progressed, Edwards was often called to other churches as a guest speaker. One such church had seemingly missed the moving of the Holy Spirit that was apparent throughout the colonies. This church in Enfield appeared to be mired in its old ways, not willing to submit to the moving of the Spirit. The pastor of the Enfield church, concerned for the souls of his congregation, asked Edwards to speak at his church, The sermon that Edwards preached at the Enfield church, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God," is considered the most famous American sermon ever preached. The Enfield pastor later wrote that the people of his church, upon hearing Edwards's sermon, were "bowed down with an awful conviction of their sin and danger." When the sermon was over, the congregation gathered into groups for prayer, Some of the people were "so affected, and their bodies so overcome, that they could not go home, but were obliged to stay all night where they were," Edwards wrote.
God changes Edwards's direction
But the revival eventually came to an end, passions faded and some of the old ways began to creep back into the people of the Northampton church. One particular division, caused by a disagreement about the half-way covenant, became so reproachful that the people of Northampton turned against Edwards, who had spent most of his life selflessly serving them. This faction finally succeeded in removing him from the pastorate of their church.
Inspired by David Brainerd, missionary to the American Indians, Edwards moved to Stockbridge in 1751 to work with the Housatonic and Mohawk Indians. In spite of increasing health problems in himself and his family, Edwards preached four sermons every Sunday at Stockbridge—one for the Housatonics, one for the Mohawks and two for a small white congregation there. During the week, Edwards educated the people in the Westminster catechism.
Although Edwards had always been a prolific writer, while at Stockbridge he wrote some of his greatest theological dissertations. In 1752, he wrote Careful and Strict Inquiry into the Modern Prevailing Notions of the Freedom of Will which is supposed to be Essential to Moral Agency. This four-part series showed how God's sovereignty is compatible with human responsibility. This work, it is said, is enough to establish Edwards as America's greatest philosopher-theologian.
God calls Edwards home
In 1758, Edwards's work in Stockbridge came to a close when he accepted the invitiation to become the president of the College of New Jersey (now Princeton). When he arrived at Princeton, school officials advised Edwards to be inoculated for smallpox, a disease that was prevalent at the time. He was inoculated, but shortly thereafter contracted the disease. In March 1758, Edwards died in his bed after uttering the words, "Trust in God, and you need not fear."
Edwards's life was full and effective. He was a pastor, a missionary, a revivalist, a college president, a father and a husband. He served God faithfully and left a great legacy of written materials expounding the Word of God to extend his teachings to future generations. Edwards's many books and theses are still in print today; they continue to be discussed and debated by theologians and philosophers. Even his alma mater Yale University, despite its current liberal leanings, recently published the works of this great man.
David J. Vaughan concluded his biography of Jonathan Edwards with these words, which I cannot improve upon, so I will close with them as well:
[Edwards] gave everything to God: his mind, his body, and his soul. He offered himself as a living sacrifice. He resolved to strive in all ways and at all times to please God. He counted all things as refuse compared to the excellency of Christ, whom he loved above all others. Not content to flicker as a candle, he burned as the sun, giving light to all around him. Fortunately for us, the light continues to shine to this day.