Editor’s Note: This continues Rev. Dr. Phil Corr’s contributions on the Life of Jonathan Edwards, America’s first theologian and – by many estimates – still the best. As people in the United Church of Christ discern their future, it may be wise to return to one of the UCC’s unheralded “firsts” – the theological thought of Jonathan Edwards to draw strength, find a renewed identity as reformation Christians, and, most importantly renew our identities as those who delight ourselves through worship and service in the perfections of the Triune God in whom Jonathan Edwards delights .
By Phil Corr (c) 2007
Jonathan Edwards’ heart beat with the heart of God. A vital part of that relationship was his dedication to studying the Bible–both in personal and professional ways. Often the two — private and professional Bible study–were intertwined. The Bible is at the heart of his personal devotions and sermons.
Throughout most of his life Edwards dug deep into God’s written Word. Stephen J. Stein relates in his introduction to the Yale Press edition of The Blank Bible that the young Edwards fresh from two years of graduate study at Yale College wrote, “ ‘Resolved, to study the Scriptures so steadily, constantly and frequently, as that I may find, and plainly perceive myself to grow in the knowledge of the same.’”
It is important to understand Edwards’ presuppositions when it comes to the Bible. In one of
his “Miscellanies” he writes, “ ‘Scripture is the only rule of our faith and practice.’” This fits in well with the present high view of Scripture which states that the Bible is the only infallible guide to matters of faith and practice.
Cotton Mather was a Christian leader who might well have influenced the young Edwards. In 1726–when Edwards was 23 years old–Mather published his Manductio ad Ministerium: Directions for a Candidate of the Ministry….
Stein notes: “In the volume, published at a point when his own career was coming to a close, Mather gave advice to young men aspiring to the cloth. Among the counsel he offered was guidance concerning the study of the Bible. He asked, ‘Can a Man be a Thorough Divine without Reading the SACRED SCRIPTURES? No, Verily; Not so much as a Common Christian. Read them, Child; I say, Read them, with an Uncommon Assiduity. To Dig in these Rich Mines, make it your Daily Exercise. Hold on doing so, until you are, An Eloquent Man, and Mighty in the Scriptures.’”
The Bible infuses most of Edwards’ works, but especially his: diary, Miscellanies, Notes on
Scripture, The Blank Bible, and sermons. I have already quoted above from his diary. His Miscellanies were a series of writings (his own and the published works of others).
In Miscellanies #204 Edwards writes, in part, “ ‘And the way of God’s holding communion with men that the Christian religion supposes, is the most congruous that can possibly be thought of towards men in a fallen estate and in a wicked world, viz. to have his word written in a volume: where the matter is so various, so exceeding comprehensive and diversified, and suited to every circumstance; the texts having so many different aspects, respects, aptitudes and sense, as beheld in different lights and compared with God’s providences or other parts of his Word.’”
Edwards wrote his Notes on Scripture before he came into possession of the Blank Bible from his brother-in-law. There is some overlap between the two (before Yale) previously unpublished works.
When it comes to The Blank Bible, Edwards is immersed in the Old and New Testaments. He includes his own exegesis and writings by others.
When it comes to exegesis–the drawing out of the meaning of the Bible–The Blank Bible provides a great deal of material. Stein writes that “the entries in Edwards‘ ‘Blank Bible‘ confirm the richness of the Christian exegetical tradition, the various
appropriations Edwards make of that tradition, and his creative adaptations and applications of scriptural insights.”
Exegesis is a very important part of sermon preparation. When it comes to sermons, “Mather
counseled his readers on ‘the Method of PREACHING,’ TOO. His first demand of the ministerial candidate was that he deliver ‘none but Well-Studied Sermons,’ counsel that Edwards, no doubt considered well when he read Mather’s handbook and that he attempted to incorporate into his own ministry.”
“Edwards continued the pattern of of ‘well-studied sermons’ in the following years. In 1729, several months after he had assumed full responsibility for the congregation at Northampton following his grandfather’s death, he preached… a three-unit sermon on John 16:8 with the following doctrine: ‘The work of the Holy Ghost as Christ’s messenger is to convince men of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment.
Stein continues to write that “it is clear that scriptural study and homiletically responsibilities
were closely linked for Edwards from early on in his ministry. That was also the judgment of his student and first biographer, Samuel Hopkins… declared that Edwards ‘studied the BIBLE more than all other Books, and more than most other Divines do,’ a pattern confirmed by his sermons, publications, and manuscripts. Hopkins also credited Edwards’ ‘study and knowledge of the Bible’ with being a major factor in his ‘Eminency as a Preacher.’”
Phil Corr’s work on the web can be seen at: haystack06.org and fccofcc.com
