Signs of the Spirit: An Interpretation of Jonathan Edwards's "Religious Affections"

by Sam Storms

Overview

Jonathan Edwards's treatise Religious Affections is widely considered the most important and accurate analysis of religious experience ever written.

Unfortunately, many well-intentioned readers sit down with Religious Affections, only to give up in frustration over Edwards's lofty style and complex argumentation.

For this reason Sam Storms, one of evangelicalism's experts on Edwards, has attempted to bridge the gap between how Edwards said what he did in the eighteenth century and how he might say it today. In Signs of the Spirit he articulates the substance of Edwards's arguments in a more understandable way. The point is not to "dumb down" Jonathan Edwards but to make his work accessible to a wider audience.

This volume serves those both in and outside the academic realm as valuable preparation for, or as a companion guide to, a reading of Edwards's Religious Affections.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781433520969
Publisher:	Crossway
Publication date:	06/27/2007
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	240
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

 Sam Storms (PhD, University of Texas at Dallas) has spent more than four decades in ministry as a pastor, professor, and author. He is the pastor emeritus at Bridgeway Church in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and was a visiting associate professor of theology at Wheaton College from 2000 to 2004. He is the founder of Enjoying God Ministries and blogs regularly at SamStorms.org. 

  Sam Storms (PhD, University of Texas at Dallas) has spent more than four decades in ministry as a pastor, professor, and author. He is the pastor emeritus at Bridgeway Church in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and was a visiting associate professor of theology at Wheaton College from 2000 to 2004. He is the founder of Enjoying God Ministries and blogs regularly at SamStorms.org. 

Read an Excerpt

CHAPTER 1

THE ESSENCE OF TRUE SPIRITUALITY

I DOUBT IF THERE IS a more pressing and urgent issue for the church today than determining "what are the distinguishing qualifications of those that are in favor with God, and entitled to his eternal rewards." Or to put it in other words, what is the nature of true spirituality and those features in the human soul that are acceptable in the sight of God?

To answer this question we turn our focus to 1 Peter 1:8. There the apostle described his Christian audience in these encouraging terms: "Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory." Why this passage? Why should we believe it describes the quintessence of true spirituality more than any other?

The answer is found in the immediately preceding context (vv. 6–7), in which Peter describes the trials and suffering of the believer. Such experiences have a unique capacity to highlight the differences between what is true and sincere in the heart of a person as over against what is false and hypocritical. Hardship in its many forms and the testing of our faith cause the "genuine beauty and amiableness" of true spirituality to appear more clearly. Indeed, "true virtue never appears so lovely, as when it is most oppressed."

Perhaps most important of all is that trials and pains purify and increase true spirituality. They not only enable us to see and discern what is true from what is false, but also "tend to refine it, and deliver it from those mixtures of that which is false, which encumber and impede it, [so] that nothing may be left but that which is true." From the comparison Peter draws in verse 7, we see that "as gold that is tried in the fire, is purged from its alloy and all remainders of dross, and comes forth more solid and beautiful; so true faith being tried as gold is tried in the fire, becomes more precious; and thus also is found unto praise, and honor, and glory."

As noted, the apostle is writing to Christians who are enduring excruciating persecution, oppression, and affliction. One need only read 1 Peter 1:6; 2:20–21; 3:17; and especially 4:12–18 to see that this is true. He makes it clear in chapter 1 that our ability to rejoice simultaneously with the anguish of trials and troubles is based on two things.

Peter first reminds his readers of the duration of trials and suffering. He says in verse 6 that they are "for a little while." In other words, they are temporary, not eternal. Trials and pain will pass. No matter how bad it gets here on earth, one day our suffering will give way to the unsurpassed glory and eternal pleasure of heaven (see 2 Cor. 4:16–18). Knowing the duration of trials and suffering gives us strength to persevere and endure.

Second, he points to the design of trials. In verse 7 Peter says that suffering works to purify our faith. His point is that God never wastes pain. The trials and tribulations of this life serve to sanctify us and conform us to the image of Jesus himself. First Peter 1:7 thus reminds us of two verses in Psalm 119:

Before I was afflicted I went astray,
Peter's point is that just as fire burns away the dross and alloy from gold, leaving it pure and solid, so also the flames of trials and tests and oppression consume the dross of our faith. When we are subjected to the heat of persecution and tribulation, hypocrisy, pride, and self-sufficiency are progressively (though never perfectly) destroyed (see Ps. 66:10; Mal. 3:3; Isa. 48:10).

When we come to verse 8 we find Peter describing for us what remains of Christian faith that has passed through the furnace of afflictions. In other words, verse 8 describes the end product of persecution and pain. It describes Christian faith in its rawest and purest form, the most holy essence of faith. This is "grade-A" faith, faith that is as free as it can be, this side of heaven, of sinful additives and preservatives! Here is faith as it has never been seen before. Here is faith with the peripheral elements pared off, its spurious and superficial and hypocritical dregs drained away. In sum, verse 8 describes the very essence of authentic Christianity.

Let me illustrate what Peter means. Try to envision a solid block of granite, untouched by human hands. When a master sculptor approaches such an object, he takes hammer and chisel and, in effect, begins to chip away everything that doesn't look like a man! He cuts, shapes, and pounds away until the finished product stands before us in all its glory. That's what God does with us through our trials and oppressive circumstances. God uses them like a spiritual hammer and chisel to chip away from our lives everything that doesn't look like Jesus! He pares away every false prop, every transient hope. The result is what Peter describes in 1 Peter 1:8.

Or consider the athlete who fails to work out. He becomes slothful, eating and drinking and refusing to exercise. Over time his muscles atrophy. He gains excessive weight. His reflexes aren't as sharp as they used to be. His lung capacity is greatly reduced. When he runs (if he ever gets off the couch), his legs feel heavy and lifeless. Then he recommits himself to a rigorous exercise program. Over the next few weeks he burns away body fat and strengthens his muscles. His endurance level increases, and he returns to his former shape. The result is a finely honed body, ready for competition. The physical effect of exercise on his body is analogous to the spiritual effect of trials on our faith.

So what am I saying? Simply this: 1 Peter 1:8 portrays for us what Christian faith looks like in its purest form. Here is true spirituality, authentic religion, seen as clearly and as transparently this side of final glorification as is possible.

And of what does true spirituality consist? Peter identifies two things: love for Jesus and joy in Jesus. Though his readers did not see Christ with the physical eye, their spiritual vision was one of unashamed and extravagant affection for the Son of God. Though their outward suffering was grievous and painful, their inner joy was a pleasure of such depth that no trial could diminish it.

There are two things Peter says of this joy. The first is the manner or means by which it rises in the human heart, namely, through faith, belief, and trust in the Son of God. Peter appears to say that it is because you believe in him that such joy fills the heart. But second, this is no ordinary joy, no fleeting happiness, no passing pleasure. It is "inexpressible" joy that is "filled with glory" (v. 8). This joy is "of a vastly more pure, sublime and heavenly nature" than worldly joy, "being something supernatural, and truly divine, and so ineffably excellent; the sublimity, and exquisite sweetness of which, there were no words to set forth." This is a joy that is so profound that it is beyond words. It is all-consuming, overwhelming, speechless joy! This joy defies all human efforts at understanding or explanation. The words have not yet been created that would do justice to the depths of this kind of joy. The human tongue has not yet been found that can articulate the heights to which this kind of joy elevates us.

This joy is also "filled with glory"; it is "glorified joy"! "In rejoicing with this joy, their minds were filled, as it were, with a glorious brightness, and their natures exalted and perfected. It was a most worthy, noble rejoicing that did not corrupt and debase the mind, as many carnal joys do, but did greatly beautify and dignify it. It was a prelibation of the joy of heaven that raised their minds to a degree of heavenly blessedness."

The word Peter employs evokes images of God's glory in the Old Testament, that bright, shining radiance of his presence. This, then, is a joy shot through and through with the resplendent majesty of the beauty of God's being. It is not fleshly or worldly joy, nor the joy that comes from earthly achievements or money or fame. It is a joy that has been baptized, as it were, in the glory of God himself.

From Peter's incredible utterance, we may draw the conclusion that true spirituality or true religion consists in great measure in holy affections. Or again, "when religion appeared in them most in its genuine excellency and native beauty, and was found to praise, and honor, and glory, [Peter] singles out the religious affections of love and joy, that were then in exercise in them. These are the exercises of religion he takes notice of, wherein their religion did thus appear true and pure and in its proper glory."

But we must define the word "affection." What does it mean? How does it differ, if at all, from our word "emotion"? Is it the same as the word "passion"? And does Peter really believe true spirituality to consist in holy affections? And are there other affections aside from love and joy that Scripture identifies as embodying the essence of authentic faith? These are the questions we will take up in the next chapter.

CHAPTER 2

SPIRITUAL AFFECTIONS

THE WORD "AFFECTION" may be unfamiliar to many, except when used of romantic feelings between a man and a woman. This is not the sense in which I use it here.

The affections are simply "the more vigorous and sensible exercises of the inclination and will of the soul." To make sense of this we must first account for the way God has constituted the human soul.

God has created the soul with two faculties: "one is that by which it is capable of perception and speculation, or by which it discerns and views and judges of things; which is called the understanding." Most would simply use the word "mind" to describe this faculty.

The other faculty is that by which the soul goes beyond mere perception or understanding and is in some way either inclined toward or averse to what it grasps. In other words, the soul is not an indifferent or unaffected spectator but either likes or dislikes, is pleased or displeased, approves or rejects what it sees. Some call this faculty the inclination. When we have in view those actions that are governed by it we refer to it as the will. Perhaps its most common designation is the heart.

Whatever the mind or understanding perceives, the inclination either is pleased with and approves of or opposes and disapproves of. Certainly there are varying degrees of both delight and disgust. Some ideas or objects elicit intense disdain, while others stir deep and heartfelt joy. Still other things that our minds grasp have comparatively little impact on us. Although we are rarely utterly indifferent to them, our souls are not greatly stirred.

On the other hand, when we see, perceive, think about, or ponder things or ideas that greatly engage us, even our bodies are powerfully affected. God has so united the material (body) and immaterial (soul) aspects of our being that it is virtually impossible for the latter to be greatly moved and it not affect the former. The word "affections," therefore, describes the more "vigorous and sensible exercises" of this faculty of soul by which we are either greatly drawn to or driven from some reality as perceived by the understanding. Affections, then, are warm and fervid inclinations that reveal the fundamental orientation of the human heart.

In the course of human existence, we make countless choices; we exercise our wills in the pursuit of some option to the exclusion of another. But only those acts of will that are lively and sensible and vigorous deserve the name affections.

Every time we exercise our will, we give evidence of either liking or disliking what is in view. We are either inclined or disinclined toward some object or course of action. If our inclination toward something "be in a high degree, and be vigorous and lively, [it] is the very same thing with the affection of love [or desire, joy, delight]; and that disliking and disinclining, if in a great degree, is the very same with hatred."

Such lively and sensible and vigorous affections of the soul invariably have an effect on the body in some way and to varying degrees. Indeed, "such seems to be our nature and such the laws of the union of soul and body, that there never is any case whatsoever [of] any lively and vigorous exercise of the will or inclination of the soul without some effect upon the body, in some alteration of the motion of its fluids, and especially of the animal spirits. And on the other hand, from the same laws of the union of soul and body, the constitution of the body, and the motion of its fluids, may promote the exercise of the affections."

It's important to remember, however, that the mind, not the body, is the seat and source of spiritual affections. Only the soul or immaterial element is capable of thinking and understanding, and thus of loving or hating, or experiencing joy or sorrow over what is known.

The many physiological sensations we experience — the rush of blood, rapid breathing, goose bumps, chills down the spine, an increased heartbeat, etc. — are but effects of affections and are not to be identified with them. Thus a disembodied spirit "may be as capable of love and hatred, joy or sorrow, hope or fear, or other affections, as one that is united to a body." The saints now with Christ in heaven, as also the angels and even God himself, are filled with holy and intense spiritual affections, yet they do not have a physical body or blood or adrenaline or hormones or literal eyes, ears, and noses.

So how do "affections" differ from "passions"? Perhaps the latter refer to those inclinations of the will that "are more sudden, and whose effects on the animal spirits are more violent, and the mind more overpowered, and less in its own command."

We should also distinguish affections from "emotions" or "feelings." Certainly there is what may rightly be called an emotional dimension to affections. Affections, after all, are sensible and intense longings or aversions of the will. Perhaps it would be best to say that whereas affections are not less than emotions, they are surely more. Emotions can often be no more than physiologically heightened states of either euphoria or fear that are unrelated to what the mind perceives as true. Affections, on the other hand, are always the fruit or effect of what the mind understands and knows. The will or inclination is moved either toward or away from something that is perceived by the mind. An emotion or mere feeling, on the other hand, can rise or fall independently of and unrelated to anything in the mind.

One can experience an emotion or feeling without it properly being an affection, but one can rarely if ever experience an affection without it being emotional and involving intense feelings that awaken and move and stir the body.

True spirituality, or true religion, therefore, consists to a large extent in "vigorous and lively actings of the inclination and will of the soul, or the fervent exercises of the heart," which is to say, the affections.

Our next task will be to demonstrate from the biblical text itself that this proposition is true.

CHAPTER 3

BIBLICAL FOUNDATIONS FOR UNDERSTANDING THE AFFECTIONS

THE SORT OF RELIGION or spirituality that pleases God is one that consists largely in "vigorous and lively actings of the inclination and will of the soul, or the fervent exercises of the heart." God is displeased with weak, dull, and lifeless inclinations. Scripture speaks often and with divine approval of earnest and fervent affections of the soul (see Rom. 12:11; Deut. 10:12; 6:4–5; 30:6).

Spirituality is actually of little benefit to anyone if not characterized by lively and powerful affections. Nothing is so antithetical to true religion as lukewarmness. Consider those many biblical texts in which our relationship to God is compared to "running, wrestling or agonizing for a great prize or crown, and fighting with strong enemies that seek our lives, and warring as those that by violence take a city or kingdom."

Whereas it is true that new Christians will have affections that are comparatively weak, "yet everyone that has the power of godliness in his heart has his inclinations and heart exercised towards God and divine things, with such strength and vigor, that these holy exercises do prevail in him above all carnal or natural affections, and are effectual to overcome them."

Not only are affections the essence of true spirituality, they are also the spring or source of virtually all our actions. There is hardly any activity or pursuit of man that is not, to some degree, driven or influenced by love, hatred, desire, hope, fear, etc. If we were to eliminate from the world all love, hatred, hope, fear, anger, zeal, and desire, that is to say, all affections of the soul, the world would lie motionless and dead. Whether it be covetousness or greed or ambition or sensuality or any such worldly experience, apart from such affections energizing this activity mankind would be passive and uninvolved.

(Continues…)

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Excerpted from "Signs of the Spirit"
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Copyright © 2007 C. Samuel Storms.
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Table of Contents

Preface: A Brief Apologetic for Signs of the Spirit,
PART ONE: Religious Affections,
Introduction: Revival: The Context of Edwards' Religious Affections,
1 The Essence of True Spirituality,
2 Spiritual Affections,
3 Biblical Foundations for Understanding the Affections,
4 The Affections in Prayer, Praise, and Preaching,
5 "Signs" of Nothing (1),
6 "Signs" of Nothing (2),
7 Signs of Authentic Affections: An Introduction,
8 The First Sign of Authentic Affections,
9 The Second Sign of Authentic Affections,
10 The Third Sign of Authentic Affections,
11 The Fourth Sign of Authentic Affections,
12 The Fifth Sign of Authentic Affections,
13 The Sixth Sign of Authentic Affections,
14 The Seventh Sign of Authentic Affections,
15 The Eighth Sign of Authentic Affections,
16 The Ninth Sign of Authentic Affections,
17 The Tenth Sign of Authentic Affections,
18 The Eleventh Sign of Authentic Affections,
19 The Twelfth Sign of Authentic Affections (1),
20 The Twelfth Sign of Authentic Affections (2),
PART TWO: Personal Narrative,
Introduction: The Personal Spirituality of Jonathan Edwards,
21 A New Sense of the Heart,
22 Vehement Longings for God and Godliness,
23 Heaven and Earth,
24 Suffering and the Sweetness of Christ,
25 Word and Spirit,
26 A Painful but Profitable Sense of Sin,
Appendix: A Chronology of the Life, Ministry, and Writings of Jonathan Edwards,