“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)
In light of the New Covenant, does a believer have any right to his or her own heart and affections? In the previous blog I asserted that the believer does not. If what I am saying, based on Scripture, that the believer has no right to his heart and affections, then why don’t we see the teachings and practice of this very much if at all? Why do professing believers seem to think that they are doing God a favor if they love Him? Why do people seem to think that they are doing a good work if they love God? Why do people think that any good work at all earns some merit before God? It is because they do not understand their real obligations to God.
For Edwards to make the resolutions that he did (44 & 45) shows a deep understanding of the human heart. He knows that the human heart is so inclined to go after sinful things and even outwardly good things. He knew that he had to make a covenant with God over these things. The covenant with God, in other words, was a complete surrender of his inward and outward being to God. A complete surrender to God demonstrates and sets out the rights of God in and over all things. A person that thinks that good works are a favor to good understands virtually nothing of the nature of sin and of God. Good works do not flow from a sinful heart; they can only flow from a heart that has submitted to God. The natural man cannot do one good thing at all because whatever he does flows from a heart that has not submitted to God (Genesis 6:5).
Why do people think that works earn merit or the favor of God? Simply because they don’t understand that they owe God complete perfection to begin with. “Which of you, having a slave plowing or tending sheep, will say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come immediately and sit down to eat’? 8 “But will he not say to him, ‘Prepare something for me to eat, and properly clothe yourself and serve me while I eat and drink; and afterward you may eat and drink ‘? 9 “He does not thank the slave because he did the things which were commanded, does he? 10 “So you too, when you do all the things which are commanded you, say, ‘We are unworthy slaves; we have done only that which we ought to have done'” (Luke 17:7-10). In other words, we owe God complete and utter submission and obedience. The fact that we don’t give complete and utter submission and obedience every moment of our lives shows our depravity. When people think that they have done something that earns mercy of favor from God, they simply don’t grasp the fact that all of their previous acts were sinful. In fact, if their so-called good act did not come from good motives and love for God it was not only far from meritorious, it was a very sinful act.
The resolutions of Jonathan Edwards do not demonstrate a man wanting to obtain merit with God because of what he was doing, but rather demonstrated that he understood the true nature of sin and of grace. Edwards knew that all of his good works were as filthy rags before God without a proper heart. He knew that his motives and intents must be right before God. He knew that to flee from sin in reality is to flee from the sin in the heart as well. He also knew that God rightfully owned him and that all of his affections belonged to God. It was not that Edwards was making some great resolutions to God that went beyond what the average person is supposed to do, but he was simply setting out what every person should do every moment of his or her life.
This point needs to be stressed over and over. Edwards is not setting out some super high standard of holiness and obedience to God, he is simply setting out the standard for everybody. The problem is that people have lowered the standards so many times that the real standard seems unreal. God has never lowered His standards from a complete and total obedience from the heart, but man has and does. The standards that Edwards gives us in his resolutions are not too high, but if anything don’t set out the truth of God’s standards in their blazing perfection of holiness. Our thoughts of God are far too low and so our understandings of submission to God and holiness from the heart are too. Even if we were able to follow these resolutions perfectly, it would simply be what we owe God as His creatures. They would earn no merit or favor with Him at all.
God Loves... Himself 
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