God Loves… Himself

“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)

The resolutions above, if practiced, demonstrate what true union with Christ is really all about. Believers speak of union with Christ in terms of justification, but not always in terms of sanctification and the spiritual life itself. The believer knows in general terms that s/he must be united to Christ by faith and as such is married to Christ and is considered in some way to be one. Since the believer is one with Christ, the believer can trust that all of his or her sins have been counted or reckoned as Christ’s. As the Husband all the debts have been transferred to Him and He has paid all of the debts. The Husband, in the union of the bride and Himself, gives the bride all the righteousness that she needs. So the debts of the believer are paid and then by imputation is given or reckoned a perfect righteousness which means that the believer is given a free gift of salvation and heaven all of grace.

We are encouraged to think of those things and rest completely in Christ for salvation, and that is true. But so many times we are told to go out and work hard because of that great salvation. But let us not forget that Christ is our sanctification as well. Sanctification comes by faith and in much the same was as justification did. Paul speaks of himself as having been crucified with Christ and the life which he now lived it was not himself but Christ in him (Gal 2:20). In Colossians Paul wrote to the people there and told them that their life was hidden in Christ and that Christ was their life (Col 3:1-4). We are told that the believer is the temple of God and of the Spirit as well. What do these things have to do with the Christian life? Are believers supposed to be saved and then God just lives in them for no reason exerting little to no power? Or could it be that this is how God brings believers to share in the divine life?

We must remember that the believer has the very joy of Christ in him of her (John 15:11). We must also remember that the believer is able to love because God is love and God dwells in the believer (I John 4:7-9). In the same light whatever the believer has in terms of Christ-likeness is from the Holy Spirit who works all of those things in His people (Galatians 5:22ff). Now, putting this together with the above resolutions of Edwards, we can see how this works in some way. Instead of Edwards just depending on himself to do all of the aspects of these resolutions, what he is really talking about is that all that he does and all that is worked in him by his affections he wants to be the work of the Holy Spirit in working the life of Christ in His people.

Edwards is not a man that trusts in his own efforts, but he fully recognizes the efforts that must be made through grace. The person that desires the strength of grace and the work of the Spirit does not take naps all the time and expect the Spirit to just work it in. No, the Spirit works through the spiritual practices of man and the Word. In order to work the fruits of the Spirit in us, the Spirit must sand off the rough edges of selfishness. The Spirit works through resolutions and the gradual weakening of self in man to exert more and more of the divine life in the soul.

Another way that the Spirit works in man is through prayer. So a resolution fits with this in that when we see the risings of affections like pleasure and sorrow that are not to the glory of God we should pray for the work of the Spirit in this. In bringing these things to our minds we are able to pray for the grace and strength of the Spirit to overcome them, but even more than overcoming them to thrust them out by the infusions of love and joy by the Spirit. It is when we see that self cannot overcome the negative things and self cannot work up the positive things that the believer dies to self and gives himself over to the work of the Spirit. I cannot believe from his other writings that Edwards thought he could do all this by self-effort. However, the resolutions were a great way for him to throw himself completely on the Spirit for the strength of joy to do what he resolved.

“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)

With resolutions like these the ties with many things in Scripture come to mind. The text from Romans 12:1-2 is tied in with this. “Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.” In one sense these verses show what Edwards meant by resolutions 44 and 45. In another sense, both the verses in Romans 12 and the resolutions flow from the Greatest Commandment.

Romans 12:1 commands the readers to present their bodies as living sacrifices. A sacrifice was not necessarily something that was killed, it was something that was completely devoted to something or totally given over to something. So in the Old Testament an animal was sacrificed because it was devoted to that purpose. Now the bodies of believers are to be totally given over and devoted to living to and for the glory of God. This is pictured in resolution 44 where Edwards says that no other end or goal “but religion shall have any influence at all on any of my actions.” In other words, he saw his body as a living sacrifice. His resolution connects with this verse in that his body is seen as something to be totally given over to God in the sense that no action should be done but that which was for the goal of religion which for Edward was the glory of God.

The text goes on to say that this is “your spiritual service of worship.” If we looked at the opposite of what the verse means, which is to show what the extent of the verse, it would tell us that if we do not present our bodies as a living and holy sacrifice then we are not in worship of God. If it is true spiritual service of worship to present to God as a sacrifice our bodies, then it is a false and non-spiritual worship to say that we serve God if our bodies are not sacrificed in this manner to Him. Therefore, the 44th resolution of Edwards is not radical and over the top from the biblical perspective, it is just plain and simple Christianity. A believer’s body is to be given over and devoted to God as a holy (set apart for His use) sacrifice which is to say that it is to have no goal other than for religion purposes. For Edwards, a religious purpose was to love God with all of one’s being and that demanded that all the actions of the body be devoted to Him.

Romans 12:2 has some parallel thoughts with Edwards’ 45th resolution. This verse speaks of being transformed by the renewing of your mind. A person has to be in the process of renewing the mind not to allow any affections or pleasures and sorrows influence a decision away from doing it for the glory of God. This is a mind that is being renewed and is not being conformed to the world and its way of doing and thinking. This is a mind that if firmly set on the grace to be brought at the coming and revealing of Jesus Christ I Peter 1:13). This is a mind that desires to be holy as He is holy (I Peter 1:15-16).

The standard of holiness is as God and we know that God has no pleasures or sorrows that move Him but toward His own glory. In order to be holy as He is holy, that is, to be like God which is to share in His holiness (Heb 12:10) and to share in His divine nature (II Peter 1:4), is to be influenced in the realm of the affections as well for nothing but His glory. Man is to love God with all of his heart, mind, soul, and strength which is to be like God and the moral image of God. To do this all the aspects of man is to be like God. God exists in a perfectly blessed state which is to live in perfect love within His triune Being. All that the Father does is love for the Son and all that the Son does is love for the Father and all that the Spirit does is to be the love the flows between the Father and the Son. For man to share in the life of God is for man to be brought into the flow of love of God for and within Himself. This is a love and delight that is poured out in the heart of man by the Spirit (Rom 5:5). This is the joy of Christ which He puts in and works in us (John 15:11). If one wants to argue that these things which at the very least are the rivers of pleasure and delights that flow from the throne of God (Psa 36:8) do not influence the affections and holiness of man, let them argue with signposts. The matter is delightfully clear.

“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.

“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)

This powerful and provocative thought from Edwards needs to be applied to each church today. While he made this as a personal resolution, surely this should be part of church covenants today. It is far more powerful and biblical in the way to make decisions Wthan Roberts’s Rules of Order. The only way to retain a biblical order in the church is for the church to make decisions based on love for God. The church should never allow any decision or program to be made apart from this paraphrase of Edwards’ resolution: This church shall never allow any individual’s or any collection of individual’s pleasure or grief, joy or sorrow, not any affection at all, nor any degree of affection, nor any circumstance relating to it, but what is prayed over and decided to be that which is our of love for the glory of God and the advancement of His kingdom.

Imagine how different a church business meeting would be if this would be adopted as a model. In reality, if this happened business meetings would be far shorter and prayer meetings would be longer. What would it look like if the concern for the types of songs and the style of music were guided by this resolution? What would it look like if the version of the Bible used would focus on this resolution as its guideline? What would it look like if Sunday Schools followed this resolution? What would it look like if the preaching truly followed this resolution? If this resolution is a picture of the Great Commandment, then our churches should follow this resolution.

Let us also remember the 44th resolution from a few days ago. “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.” Each church should remember this in their planning and praying for worship services and business meetings as well. I see resolution 44 as being a statement of the Great Commandment while 45 reaches even deeper into the inward man. Imagine a church covenant that had this as the heart and primary statement within the covenant? Imagine a group of people within one body covenanting together to pursue the glory of God like this individually and as a group?

The Great Commandment, as the Greatest Commandment, should have the greatest influence on the life of each church. What else should guide the church? Rather than the church being guided by marketing techniques and growth programs, shouldn’t the church be focused on loving God first and foremost? After all, what else should a church be doing? If a church is not being driven by the love of God above all, wouldn’t the gathering of the people then simply be an idolatrous gathering?

If a church gathers to worship and the love of God is not the primary motive, then by simple definition that church is not there to worship God and it is worshipping a god of its own imagination. If a church does evangelism that is moved by other means and motives than love for God and His glory, then its very evangelism is idolatrous. If a church does not have God as its primary motive in worship, then it is not worshipping God but some idol. If a church has a Sunday School that does not have God as its primary love and motivation, then it is a Sunday School that is being done in an idolatrous way. If the preaching and praying are not done out of motives that are primarily out of love for the glory of God, then the preaching and praying are done for other gods as well.

This resolution of Edwards must be seen as a simple and direct application and perhaps exegesis (in a way) of the Greatest Commandment. The questions for the practice of a church are virtually unlimited. However, a few questions are in order: 1. What pleasures and joys are driving the services and ministries of your church? 2. What griefs and sorrows drive the services and ministries of your church? 3. Are affections displayed in your church? If so, what are they moved by and what or whom do the go toward? 4. What are the circumstances in your church that move people affection or action? 5. What types of affections or passions are revealed in your business meetings? 6. What moves the decisions at your business meetings? 7. What determines the music at the church you attend? 8. What determines the content of the preaching? 9. What do people pray for? 10. Why are people interested in missions and evangelism? 11. Why aren’t they interested in missions and evangelism? Whatever is not of love is simply worthless.

“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)

I was simply unable to leave this resolution with only one blog. This has simply gripped me and set before me what it means to truly love God with all of the heart, mind, soul, and strength. It has shown me how small my desires for God were and it has shown me how great they should be. While I have read this resolution before, perhaps even several times, it has been used of God to grip me in a different way.

I am trying to imagine what it would be like to never allow any pleasure of the body or any joy of the soul unless it was that which helped true religion or was really love for God. I am trying to imagine what it would be not to have any grief or sorrow unless it was out of love for God and His glory. The last few days I have been trying to judge myself and the inner workings by this standard. Talk about falling short of the glory of God! D.L. Moody remarked years ago that the world has not seen what God would to through a man that was really committed to Him. I believe that I am seeing why it is so hard to be committed to God by the standard of the Great Commandment. As Chesterton remarked (paraphrased), it is not that Christianity has been tried and found hard, but it has been found hard and not tried.

Christianity is not hard, it is impossible for the natural man and for the partial-hearted person. No wonder Christ said that He would spit out the lukewarm. No wonder that Christ had such harsh words for the Pharisees. He could see in their selfish hearts and knew that all their religious actions were for themselves. They were using God to gain honor and status for self. Perhaps that is true today as well. Where is the heart of the average professing believer? Why do people desire entertainment in church today with short sermons and hardly any prayer? It is because man is selfish in his religion as well as in his life. Man is bored with prayer and the Word of God. What does that really mean? It means that man only desires the things that interest him and can keep his attention. God cannot do that for man now unless He is packaged in an interesting and non-threatening way. In other words, God has to be changed in order for modern man to be entertained enough to be interested.

Frankly, men are being more honest in that than many in the church that appear outwardly interested while inwardly their hearts are in other places enjoying the thoughts of other things. But God demands all of the heart, mind, soul, and strength of those that will serve Him. One reason that people today would think that Edwards is radical is because the church is so worldly that it is unrecognizable as a biblical church. The standard of what true religion is has been so watered down that when and if true religion is seen it would be thought of as truly nutty and overdone. It would not be respectable in modern society and of course if we want to reach people we are told that we must be respectable in society. Is that true or is respectability simply one way to water down the truth of God and the love for God and help man excuse his sin? It is far easier to be respectable than it is to be holy. It is far easier to water things down and be respectable than it is to refuse any pleasure or joy unless it is for the love and glory of God. It is easy to say that things glorify God when our desires are really for self or other things.

I guess what I am trying to say here is that if we don’t make a similar resolution to what Edwards makes here we will deceive our own hearts. If we are not willing to say that we are not going to have any pleasure or grief except that which glorifies God, we will be settling for a religion that does not desire to love God as He commands. If we are not willing to make this resolution ourselves, we are saying by implication that we are willing to be idolaters a lot of the time in order not to love God with all of our being. How far was the Lord Jesus Christ willing to go with His love for God? How far was He willing to go with His commitment?

How far will the people of the church want to go in order to love God? As long as people in the church are not ready to go along with the radical nature of love for God and settle for institutional functioning or behavioral modification, the power of God will not be evident in the lives of individuals or the churches. Edwards should provoke us beyond the standard theological and behavioral lines of today to a full pursuit of the love of God.

“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)

This resolution flows out of and goes a bit deeper than resolution 44. In 44 Edwards resolved not to have any motive or goal except that of true religion. He did not want an action of his, not even in the least circumstance of it, to be influenced by any goal or motive than that of true religion which is love for God and His glory. While 44 sets out a standard that is far higher than virtually any other mortal man has conceived of, resolution 45 takes it a step further. While all of 45 is implied in 44, putting it into words is simply astonishing in light of the way modern Americans view things.

It is hard to imagine such a close knowledge of self and of the heart to even attempt a resolution such as this. Now we are at the depths of the heart and in need of vast stores of grace to even breathe in this atmosphere. How can we make a resolution never to even allow any pleasure or grief unless it helps religion? What a startling statement! No pleasure is to be allowed at all (never) unless it helps us in our religion (love for God and His glory). That sounds drastic and legalistic to many, but what else does it mean to love God with all of our heart, mind, soul, and strength? We are not even to allow any grief unless it helps us love God and His glory. In other words, the Great Command regulates us as to all of our pleasures and all of our grief. Nothing regarding pleasure and grief should slip through the cracks when applying the Greatest Commandment to our hearts and souls.

The terms “pleasure” and “grief” appear to be polar opposites and used to refer to events that happen to the body while the terms “joy” and “sorrow refer to events within the soul or the inner man. While the distinctions are not absolute, Edwards is trying to get at the issue that no affection or any degree of affection should be allowed but what helps religion or assists in love for God and His glory. Nothing that the body or soul does should be done if not to promote true religion. Nothing should be allowed in terms of the outward man or the inward man that does not promote true religion. He is going to the depths of the heart to get at true religion.

All are commanded to eat, drink, of whatever they do to do to the glory of God (I Cor 10:31). This must include the motives that move us to eat and drink and the intent or goal in eating or drinking. Genesis 6:5 shows the nature of the inner man and how God sees it. “Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” Without question this text teaches that the wickedness of man is great because of the intent of the thoughts of the heart. Not only does God see the thoughts of the heart, but He sees the intent of the thoughts of the heart. God sees and judges the very depths of the heart. Edwards is trying to push his heart to love God with all of the heart and that includes the intents. Deep in every person we are driven by desires, motives, and intents. Until our loves, desires, pleasures, griefs, joys, and sorrows flow toward God and are moved by love for Him, all the good that a man does is only evil and only evil continually. That is what Edwards brings us face to face with in this resolution.

The vast majority of people on the planet in our day would accuse Edwards of overdoing it and perhaps even of being legalistic. One difference between that mindset and that of Edwards is that today people want to do the minimum and still be thought of as holy. With Edwards he wanted to know God and love Him with the maximum that he would be enabled to by grace. A second difference is that people today don’t take the Great Commandment all that seriously while for Edwards is was life and even eternal life itself. Edwards was far closed to the biblical view than that of modern man.

If we take the Great Commandment seriously, we must begin to pray for grace in order to start the push toward obedience with our every affection. No matter what happens to us and not matter what we are going to do, we must cry out to God for the grace to only have things move us that really promote true religion. What would happen to a church if a few people were so serious about loving God that they began to seek God in order to be moved to do all things out of love for Him? What would happen if they truly desired to do nothing and be affected by nothing unless it promoted true religion? Perhaps the reason that we don’t see much (if any) true religion in our day is simply because this type of thinking is thought to be extreme rather than simply biblical.

“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)

This is another way of stating that Edwards wanted to be committed to the glory of God in all things. This is another provocative way of setting out how man is to be committed to the glory of God in all that he does whether it is at church, home, work, or play. The word “end” here (such as to “no other end but religion”) refers to the goal or purpose of an action. Edwards is saying that he was resolved to have no other purpose or goal other than the glory of God in Christ have any influence at all on any of his actions. Not only was he concerned about his primary purpose and goal, he did not want any other purpose or goal having any influence at all on his actions.

This is really just biblical Christianity and the Greatest Commandment applied. Man is to have God as his chief love and love nothing else unless it is out of love for God. The way Edwards puts this, however, seems to have a different slant. But he is just drawing out the real meaning that is inherent though not often thought of in terms of the Great Commandment and love for God. It is not just that God is to be the greatest love of man; in one very real sense He is to be the only love of man. The Great Commandment does not command man to love God with more love than all other things, but to love God with all of the love. God does not command man to glorify Him in most of man’s actions or to desire His glory with 56% of the intent and motives, but man is to glorify God with all of his actions and is to desire God’s glory with 100% of the intent and motives. This is what Edwards is driving at or at least driving at in a way that is parallel to it.

If man is to have no other goal or purpose but religion which is to love God, then that changes all of life. No longer is man to live a respectable life in order to glorify God, but man is to glorify God in all that he does whether it will be respectable to men or not. But the point seems to slip away as the heart of man wants to find some refuge apart from God. It is not just that man is to have no other goal or purpose but the glory of God which is true religion, but man is to have no other goal or purpose. Nothing else is to determine what man is to do but love for God and His glory. But again, not just that it is not to determine what man is to do, but it is to have no influence on it at all. This is radical to the extreme. This is surely implied in Luke 9 when Jesus told the disciples that a man must deny himself take up his cross and follow Him. The only thing that was to influence a person at that point was the love to follow Christ. Denying self was necessary in order that all the things of self would have no influence on the decision to follow Christ. Taking up the cross was a painful thing but it was to have no influence in the decision to follow Christ.

In this resolution Edwards was forcing himself and then us to look at some real hard demands of Christianity. Man is not left any wiggle room in the Christian life to love other things and himself. All people are to follow Christ and to love Him with all of our being. As defined in this resolution, that means that the only acceptable motive and goal in all of our actions would be true religion which is to love God and His glory. But of course that is unattainable for fallen man. This throws man upon grace in order to be saved and grace indwelling man to move him toward loving God as His chief and only motive and goal. All other people and things are to be loved out of a love for God and His glory.

“Resolved, never henceforward till I die, to act as if I were any way my own, but to entirely and altogether as God’s, agreeable to what was found in Saturday, Jan. 12.” (Resolution 43)

Romans 14:7 – For not one of us lives for himself, and not one dies for himself; 8 for if we live, we live for the Lord, or if we die, we die for the Lord; therefore whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s. 9 For to this end Christ died and lived again, that He might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.

I Cor 6:19 – Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?

2 Corinthians 5:15 – and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf.

The texts listed above demonstrate that this resolution of Edwards is thoroughly biblical. He was not being dramatic or being given over to a puritanical pseudo-holiness as some might thing, but he was making a resolution that was and is biblical in its concept. This resolution is startling in that it puts things in both a negative and a positive way. Using this technique that the book of Proverbs uses so much the point is driven home. He resolves never to act in any as if here were his own. On the other hand, he resolves to live and do all that he does entirely and altogether as God’s possession.

The point that he makes is really quite clear. The believer has been created by God and then bought by the blood of Christ. The believer does not belong to him or herself in the slightest, but instead belongs completely to God. Believers have not been bought in order to live for self, but in order to live for the glory of God. We want to think of the purpose of the death of Christ to save sinners from hell. But the texts of Scripture from above also teach that Christ died in order to have a people live for God. To put that a different way, Christ not only died in order to save people from hell, He died in order that people would no longer live for themselves but for Him. The implication of that, then, is that if people are not living for Christ they have not been bought by the blood of Christ. If there is no real sanctification there is no real justification either.

But what does it mean to live and act on a minute by minute basis as if we were not our own but belong entirely to God? We know that I Corinthians 10:31 tells us that whether we eat or drink or whatever we do we are to do it for the glory of God. When we wake up each morning we are to get out of bed as one that belongs to God and not just for our own comfort. When we brush our teeth we are brushing His teeth. When we eat breakfast we are using the things He created and provided for us to feed ourselves which belong to Him also. When we walk out of the house that He provided for us and get into the car that He has given us to go to the job that He has given us we are to go out of love for His glory and not do it in order to be a good person. In no way and at no time am I my own person. I belong to God and am to do all that I do simply for His glory and pleasure as one that lives at His pleasure.

How are decisions to be made? They are to be made with the knowledge that I am not my own but belong to another. I am to seek God’s will and pleasure in what I do and not my own. I am not to do that which is merely good or that which I like or even that which I think is good, but I am to think and act as one that belongs to another. I am to think and to act as one that is to love God with all of my heart, mind, soul and strength. All of my actions that I do and all that I don’t do are to be guided by His glory and not self-interests and self-comfort. When I try to make decision according to my own wisdom and make decisions based on self-interests I am stealing from God what is rightfully His. No, we are to submit to Him all things and take our hands and control off of His property. Who do we think we are to use God’s property for ourselves? We should never do anything as if we belonged to ourselves and as if we were not entirely and altogether God’s. This means in our bigger and smaller decisions. We belong to Him entirely or we try to use self partially for self which is idolatry. Christ died so that we would be His. He deserves all the decisions and loves of the lives He has given us.

“Resolved, never to do anything that I so much question the lawfulness of, as that I intend, at the same time, to consider and examine afterwards whether it be lawful or not: unless I as much question the lawfulness of the omission.” (Resolution 39)

Here is an amazing balance and insight into the human heart. Edwards was a student of his own heart as well as the heart of others. We all know that there are people that are scrupulous in their outward behavior and study to make sure that all the things that they do are lawful. Many things are judged to be unlawful and so they refuse to do them. However, the balance is set out here or at least pointed to by Edwards. There are many things that are unlawful to do but there are also many things that are unlawful not to do. The legalistic mind is satisfied with not doing so many things without realizing that there is also the great sin of omission. It is not just the things that we do that are sin, but it is also the things that we don’t do.

The amazing part of this is the balance brought in by this resolution of Edwards. Not only must a person ask if an act is lawful or not, the person must also bring into the picture the question if it is an action that should be done. When we ask ourselves if an action is lawful, we try to think of all the negative ramifications that our action will have if it is done. Edwards would tell us to ask of all the negative ramifications that will happen if our action is not done. Even more, we should ask what positive things would not happen if we don’t to the action. Asking ourselves questions like this brings many things into focus. We should now see the greatness of our sin in judging all that we do by what we shouldn’t do rather than by what we should do. We should now see that our sins are far more and far greater than we can imagine. Our sins that we are blinded to most of the time include the things that we should not but have neglected.

Look at Matthew 23:23 in the light of Edwards’ resolution: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others.” If we are not careful, we will be just like the Pharisees in this way. We will be devoted to do the things that are lawful and neglect other things. We will follow certain rules and yet be guilty of many sins of omission. In keeping the things that are lawful in some ways we might omit the weightier or greater provisions. It is vital that we learn to think like this or we will continue to commit many and great sins of omission.

The balance Edwards brings to our thinking and hopefully our lives is powerful and refreshing. While many of us are blind to much sin that we do and perhaps even more sin that we omit, if we can learn to think along the lines of this resolution we will be able to repent of much sin and love God with more of our minds and lives.

“Resolved, in narrations never to speak anything but the pure and simple verity.” (Resolution 34)

The modern day is most likely far worse than Edwards’ day, but Americans are very prone to be more concerned about image than truth. We say what we want to be true and what we wish to be true rather than what is true. We want to appear nice so we say things about others that are not true in order that other people will think we are nice. However, that is simply flattery as well. It is so hard to speak that which is pure and simple verity (truth) the whole day when the world presses on us to be certain ways that are in direct contrast to this.

On the one hand speaking the truth requires human beings to love God as Truth and not tell lies. It is better to suffer loss than it is to lie. On the other hand human beings tend toward flattery which is really telling lies in a different way. It is hard to be a slave of Christ and speak that which is pure and simple verity. We have all felt the pressure of this when a wife or child brings up a new dress or hairdo. What should we say when we are asked, “honey, how do I look?” How are we to respond to those things in light of what the truth requires? How are we to respond when people hand us a baby and expect us to say glowing things about it? What is a salesman to say when asked direct questions about the product his income depends upon? At these points the pure and simple verity is thought to be rude and sociably unacceptable.

The above examples should point to the nature of our hearts, however. We want to flatter or fudge the truth so that people will be friendly to us and like us. We may say that we don’t want to offend, but the reason we don’t want to offend is so that we will not appear offensive or that we will appear less than nice and civil. This flows from a selfish heart that is centered upon ourselves. To put it rather bluntly, the real reason we are nice is for selfish reasons. On the other side, if we are lying we are sinning against God and preferring the smiles of human beings to God Himself. In other words, our flattering lips reflect idolatrous hearts that really loves self more than others or God. We must always remember that we are to speak the truth in love, but it must be real love and the truth must be pure and simple. Edwards reminds us of these things in this resolution.

While no believer advocates outright lying in most instances, as a people we have replaced truth and love with social nicety. We would rather be thought nice than to be truthful. In the middle of America niceness has replaced love and truth. Niceness and forms of civility have replaced true Christian love. It is not nice or civil to speak of hard things to people. It is not nice or civil to question another person’s salvation. It is not nice or civil and perhaps even mean and judgmental to correct or confront people in their sin. However, telling the truth is a command of love. There are sins of omission and commission. We can sin against the truth by what we say and by what we don’t say. If what I am saying is true, this is a terrible indictment against the modern church that is so outwardly nice and civil but at the expense of truth and real love. The Pharisees wanted to appear religious by their own rules and so followed their own rules without a heart of love when love is God’s rule. Modern religious people in America want to be nice and civil by their own standards and yet this can be done apart from a heart of true love.

Edwards’ simple resolution points to a lot of hypocrisy and shortcomings in churches across America. It points to the hypocritical heart in a different way than that of the Pharisees. Many have developed standards of niceness and civility and think that is love. This results in people thinking that they love others when they are nice and civil when in fact they are not loving them at all. In reality the outward man still is trying to deceive the inward man as to what it really is. If people want to be nice and civil they think they love from the heart when they are not. Love desires what is really good for others and then it does what is good for others whether it appears nice and civil or not. When religion replaces true love for an appearance of love it has deceived itself and replaced truth for error. May all true believers strive to speak nothing but that which is the pure and simple verity. If we did, it would change the way we treat each other and may point out the necessity of a change of heart. If we don’t, we are not striving to love God and other people.