Edwards on the Spiritual man (1)Jonathan Edwards on the Spiritual man by Andrew McCafferty, Feb 2002
Am I a spiritual person or a worldly person? Because we all must appear before the judgment seat of Christ , this is the most important question we can ask ourselves. Jonathan Edwards' book, "Religious Affections" is an excellent, biblical guide to answering this question accurately. In this article I want to give a brief overview of what Edwards tells us. Lord willing, I hope to give more details in future articles.
Before looking at the answer to the question, I want to say something about the question itself. The terminology "spiritual person" comes from 1st Corinthians. Paul writes
1 Cor 2:14 The unspiritual man does not receive the gifts of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. 2:15 The spiritual man judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one.
and in the next verse:
But I, brethren, could not address you as spiritual men, but as men of the flesh, as babes in Christ. (1 Cor 3:1)
In Romans 8, he also distinguishes two types of people, those who are "according to Spirit" and those who are "according to the flesh":
Rom 8:5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things; but those who live according to teh Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.
In both 1st Corinthians and Romans, Paul is distinguishing between Christians and non-Christians. A Christian has the Spirit of God (Rom 8:9), is a spiritual person (1st Cor 2:15, 3:1) and is "according to the Spirit" (Rom 8:5). A non-Christian does not have the Spirit of God indwelling them, and so he is not a spiritual person. So we could re-phrase our initial question as "Am I Christian?". This is the same question as "Am I a spiritual person?" only in different words. We use the phrase "spiritual person", because this is what Paul uses and, more importantly, Paul is following the Lord Jesus. In John 3 the Lord Jesus distinguishes between those who are born of the Spirit and those who are born only of the flesh. He tells Nicodemus that we must be born of the Spirit to enter into the Kingdom of God:
John 3:5 Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 3:6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
These four questions are all the same: Am I born again or not? Am I a spiritual person or not? Am I a Christian or not? Do I have the Spirit of God dwelling in me or not? Now, to turn to Edward's answer.
To help us to answer the question, Edwards distinguishes three kinds of people who call themselves Christians. He does not give a name to these three types, but I will call them: "polite", "spiritual" and "fanatic". We could also name them according to the level and type of their religious affections. The "polite" person is neither hot nor cold with respect to the love of God. The "spiritual" person has a fire burning in him, but it is a gentle, controlled fire. The fanatic is burning out of control. These names are not perfect, but they are useful to help us understand what Edwards is talking about. In the remainder of this article I will briefly discuss there three types, beginning with the Spiritual man.
The Spiritual man has a fire burning in his heart. Though the work of the Holy Spirit dwelling within him, his religious affections are pure and strong. Zeal for God's glory consumes him like a fire (John 2:17). He loves God with all his heart and soul and might and strength. He is zealous for good works (Titus 2:14). The love of Christ controls him, being persuaded that one died for all (2 Cor 5:14). His joy is unspeakable and full of glory (1 Peter 1:8). His peace is beyond understanding (Phil 4:7). The God of hope fills him with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit he abounds in hope (Rom 15:13). His love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things (1 Cor 13:7). His desire for God is like a deer panting for streams of water (Ps 42:1). There is a Chinese song that describes the heart of the Spiritual man well. A rough translation:
O Spiritual Fire, burn in my heart
Another way to grasp the nature of a spiritual person is to compare him or her to the other two types of people. In every generation, we find a multitude of people who confuse being a polite, likeable person and being a Christian. A polite would-be Christian might be an inactive Christian or he may be a very active pastor. A polite would-be Christian is often willing to go out of his way to help others. He does his best to "love his neighbor as himself". He seeks to keep the peace in and out of the Church. He is often generous and forgiving. He has a good reputation among men, fulfilling his duty at home and at work. All of this is very good. Christians are commanded to help others, to be generous, to forgive, to do their best to get along with all men and maintain a good reputation. But the problem is that there is no Holy Fire burning in his soul. He is really no different than a polite Buddhist or a polite atheist for that matter.
One reliable sign that a person is a "polite Christian", is that he is polite to everyone, except to those who are on fire for God. A "polite Christian" can endure all things, except for Christians who believe in heaven and hell. Since the days of the reformation and the coming of freedom of religion, the greatest persecutors of the Christian Church have almost all been "polite Christians". When Edwards lived, New England had a group of polite, well-educated Harvard graduates who loved to research theology. They were pastors in theologically liberal churches These were the ones who most bitterly opposed Edwards and the American Great Awakening which he lead. In the mainland China, it is the three self Church which active house churches fear the most.
If a polite Christian is lacking a fire, the fanatic has the opposite problem. A fanatic is the person who is on fire for God, but it is not a holy, pure, loving fire. In the eyes of a fanatic, the heart of Jesus' ministry was clearly out the temple and criticizing the Pharisees. Edwards writes about this at some length in "Religoius Affections" because the American Great Awakening was brought to an end in 1743 by a fanatical pastor named Davenport. Davenport was under the illusion that Christian zeal meant accusing the liberal church leaders (and anyone else who opposed him) of being unconverted. With one year of this type of "zealous ministry", he turned most of the people of New England against the Great Awakening, and the Awakening came to an end. Although Edwards does not mention Davenport by name, part of his book is written to correct him and his followers. Edwards argues at length that Jesus Christ had a gentle lamb-like, dove-like Spirit. Jesus was on fire with the love of God without having any of the marks of a fanatic. He was gentle and lowly in heart (Matt 11:29-30), he did not cry aloud nor was his voice heard in the streets; he did not break a bruised reed or quench a smoldering wick, till he brought justice to victory; (Matt 12:29-30). He stood before his accusers with out a word. As a sheep led to the slaughter or a lamb before its shearer is dumb, so he opened not his mouth (Isa 53:7, Acts 8:32). His life was marked by compassion, grace, and mercy. He did not come into the world to condemn the world but that the world might be saved through him (John 3:17). And so the Christian, above all is commanded to "let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, with all malice, and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. (Eph 4:31-32)". Unlike a fanatic, the Christian spirit is a gentle and reasonable spirit.
Am I born again? Am I a spiritual person? Am I "according to the Spirit"? In broad terms, Edwards tells us that the mark of the Spirit's work in a Christian is that they are on fire with the love of God without any fanaticism. The Christian has a pure, holy, gracious, humble, gentle, love-filled fire consuming his soul. Of course, that fire is nothing else than the indwelling of the Holy Spirit of God.
(Note: this article first appeared in Chinese in the CRTS quarterly bulletin.)
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