“Resolved, to act, in all respects, both speaking and doing, as if nobody had been so vile as I, and as if I had committed the same sins, or had the same infirmities or failings as others; and to let the knowledge of their failings as others; and to let the knowledge of their failings promote nothing but shame in myself, and prove only an occasion of my confessing my own sins and misery to God” (Resolution 8).
I would imagine that many people, if asked to read this, would respond by saying that this is absurd. I am sure that from their worldview and theological perspective it is absurd, but is it really all that far off of they things should be? We know that Paul spoke of himself in this manner: “It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all” (I Tim 1:15). The person that sees his or her heart in accordance with the Spirit’s work in convicting of sin and of Scripture cannot possible see another person as a worse sinner. I cannot know the depths of another person’s heart to the extent that I know my own. I know my own motives and intents and level of love or non-love far better than I can know another person’s. I know the thoughts and desires of my own heart better than those of other’s. While I know that each person will have all of his or her careless words brought into judgment, I should be able to keep track of my own better than any other individual. I have knowledge of far more past sins than I do of any other person. Therefore, each person that is not blinded by pride should see far more of his or her own sins than those of other people.
In a theoretical way, however, a person can deduce that others may commit far more sins than himself. But in a practical way, it is not possible to see the inward sin of others as much as my own. Another may violate the commands of God far more on the outside than I do, but I can’t be sure that the other person sins more than I do in the inward man. So Edwards is not really exaggerating in what he is saying in this resolution. While Edwards was known for his holiness in his time, that does not mean that he had the same opinion of himself.
A very helpful insight that Edwards gives in this resolution is on how to view ourselves when we see the sin of other people. When he says “to let the knowledge of their failings promote nothing but shame in myself, and prove only an occasion of my confessing my own sins and misery to God,” this may sound absurd to some. However, within this statement is a very helpful insight to keep ourselves humble before God and to prevent our sin of being judgmental, For example, when we see another violate one of the Ten Commandments, we might want to judge that person very harshly. But we should always remember the Golden Rule which is to treat others as we want to be treated. When we are harsh with others we have forgotten our own outward and inward sin. First, we must remember that the real sin of each person is the sin of not loving God as the Greatest Commandment sets out. No matter what sin a person has committed, that person has violated the Greatest Commandment. I need to ask myself if I have loved God with all of my being. If the other person has lied, I need to examine my heart to see if I have refrained from lying because I love God or because I want to be proud of not lying. Have I deceived my own heart and tried to deceive God? Ah, all men are liars. Indeed the sins of others should give us great cause to mourn over our own sin as well as the sin of others.
Well, someone might say, I have never committed adultery. Fine, but have you really looked at the deeper meanings of the Seventh Commandment? Remember how Jesus used it in Matthew 5. This commandment goes to the heart and does not just regulate the physical behavior. The Scripture teaches us that to lust in the heart is to commit adultery. It also teaches us that in every sin there is a spiritual adultery against God. How many people have never lusted in their hearts? How many people have never strayed from God and so are guilty of spiritual adultery? I would dare say that all are guilty of violating the command against adultery. This means that when we hear of adultery, we should mourn in our own hearts for our own sin. We must let the sins of others show us our own hearts because pride blinds us to our own sin. We hate sin when it is in others, but usually find a good reason to commit it when we want to. Let us remember that as we look at the sin of others and see how wicked it is, in the eyes of God our own sin is far worse because He sees our sin as it is and is not blinded in any way to it. We should let the knowledge of sin in others promote shame in ourselves and provide the occasion for confessing our own sins to God. Instead of looking at the sins of others and allow that to be a cause of pride, let us look deeper and seek God so that it will be an occasion for our humility and contrition.
God Loves... Himself 
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