“Resolved, that no other end but religion shall have any influence at all on any of my actions; and that no action shall be, in the least circumstance, any otherwise than the religious end will carry it.” (Resolution 44)
“Resolved, never to allow any pleasure or grief, joy or sorrow, nor any affection at all, nor any degree of affection, nor any circumstance relating to it, but what helps religion.” (Resolution 45)
Last time I tried to apply these resolutions to the functions of a church. This time I would like to look at how the people that make up the body of Christ (church) are to treat each other in light of these resolutions and particularly how they reflect the two Greatest Commandments. In I Corinthians 12 Paul instructs us how the church is really made up of members of a body. All the people in the church in reality are baptized into Christ by the Spirit and each member is given certain gifts for the sake of the body. The application of this is quite powerful when we see the analogy of marriage as given in Ephesians 5 to this. The husband is said to love himself when he loves his wife since they are really one and that was an analogy to Christ loving His bride which is the church. The same is true of the wife submitting to the husband and how that is a picture of how the church is to submit to Christ. In plain language, then, a member of a body cannot distinguish love for the other members and for self from love for the head. If all that I do is not out of love for God and His glory, then I do not really love the members of the body of Christ or Christ Himself. If any other end or goal but religion influences me in an action of mine, then that action is not love for Christ or for the church. If I allow any pleasure or grief or any affection or circumstance to influence me and not love for God, then that action is not out of love for God, Christ, or the church. The unity of the church within the members and with Christ makes this a necessary deduction even if it is hard to swallow.
In Matthew 25 Jesus instructs us that what we have and have not done for the least of His disciples we have done or not done to Him. In other words, this applies to resolutions 44 and 45 instruct us in the second Greatest Commandment which is to love our neighbors as ourselves. I John 5:2 and context teach us that we can only know that we love the children of God when we love God and keep His commandments. Since the Ten Commandments can only be kept in keeping the Greatest Commandments. The resolutions are supremely instructive in how to love other human beings, especially believers as in the context of the local church. Each action that a believer does must be in accordance with the Greatest Commandments or it is not love for God or our neighbors. Each action that a believer does must be out of love for God or it is not love for his or her neighbor either.
The application of that principle to the world is simply overwhelming. All the parties, benevolences, charities, sexual acts, and all that the world does that it thinks is benefiting others is really acts of hatred because all of those acts are not out of love for God and so are not for the real good of other people. But let us go even deeper. All the acts that an individual within the church does if not moved by for God is not love for Christ and His people. When we reflect on this for a moment, surely this is one way the Spirit is grieved. We can understand how factions and squabbling can disrupt and cause trouble in a church, but do we realize that even good things done in the church apart from true love for God is not love for the people that make up the church and so grieves the Spirit as well? What is the church in this sense but a community that is to love each other as Christ loved the church? If the world cannot see that the members of the church are His disciples by their love for one another, then the church is simply not functioning as one body in Christ which by definition a body is to seek the desires of the head and the common good. What is really good for the body as a whole is best for each member individually.
I Corinthians 13:1-3 teaches us that no matter what we do or how outwardly good it is it is worthless and sinful without love. Surely we know that this means a true and biblical love. The resolutions of Edwards, when applied to this, show us that even our good actions toward others if they are moved by pleasures and joys that are not true spiritual affections are nothing but splendid sins. The churches must return to teaching that we are to have motivations and intents that are from and toward love rather than just behavior modification. We must teach people that true love is from God alone and only when we are moved by love for Him can any action toward other human beings be out of a true love and therefore be something other than idolatry. Our churches and our personal lives are filled with formalism and outward actions that have little if any love for God in them. Until we repent of self-seeking in our personal lives and in the churches we will not know the power of God and our best works will be sin. While that may sound absurd to many, it will not to those who love Christ and His Word.
God Loves... Himself 
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