Happy Birthday Mr. Edwards!

Today marks the birthday of one of the premier American theologians of all times; Jonathan Edwards. He was born on October 5, 1703 in East Windsor, Connecticut. There is no doubt that Edwards was used by God to make a tremendous mark in Christianity and Christian thinking. He was more than a giant among men. As you read of him you soon discover that he almost never stopped thinking. When he wasn’t thinking he wrote down almost everything he came across for future reference. From many of the journals, writings, and pages several classics were born that continue to endure the test of time and influences the spiritual life of the church today. Among those classics are The Religious Affections, The Freedom of the Will, and The Nature of True Virtue, Charity and its Fruits, and "The End For Which God created the World". Many, of course, no him for his most famous sermon, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God." I didn’t want this day to go by without making mention of this great man of God who has had such great a influence on me. I will certainly take a moment and thank God for this remarkable man whom God called one day into his salvation, his service, and finally into his sphere. I do not mean to “deify” Edwards, but I have come to love and appreciate him very much as a gift from God to the body of Christ and I simply desire to render respect and honor where respect and honor is due. Let me share with you what others have said about this great man… “That good and sensible man…that great man” (John Wesley) “Mr. Edwards is a solid, excellent Christian…I think I have not seen his fellow in all New England.” (George Whitefield) “The profoundest reasoner, and the greatest divine, in my opinion, that America ever produced.” (Samuel Davies) “He was, in the estimation of the writer, one of the most holy, humble and heavenly minded men, that the world has ever seen, since the apostolic age.” (Ashbell Green)

“The British Isles have produced no such writers on divinity in the eighteenth century as Dickinson and Edwards.” ( John Erskine) “The greatest, wisest, humblest and holiest of uninspired men.” (A note in John C. Ryland’s copy of Hopkins Life of Edwards) “No man is more relevant to the present condition of Christianity than Jonathan Edwards…He was a mighty theologian and a great evangelist at the same time…He was pre-eminently the theologian of revival. If you want to know anything about true revival, Edwards is the man to consult. Revivals have often started as the result of people reading volumes such as these volumes of Edwards works.” (D. Martin Lloyd-Jones)

“Holy, humble, and a rare lover of God and his glory…Edwards promoted God’s glory and heavenly character as no other in his time.” (Gregg Metcalf)

What Do You Think?