Kayla Cash
Professor Westblade
Religion 319
26 November 2013
Jonathan EdwardsÕ Hell:
Love God because He is Holy, or because He is
Fearsome?
Eighteenth-century
preacher Jonathan Edwards was most famous for his Òfire and brimstoneÓ
preaching. This refers to his fixation on explaining the terrors of hell to his
congregation. Such preaching did not make him popular in most situations, as he
was eventually removed as pastor by the church he shepherded. Many did not find
comfort in the words of Edwards, feeling as if Edwards himself was condemning
his congregation to hell and offering little hope and acknowledgement of the
goodness and true mercy of God. Edwards did in fact acknowledge the challenges
that the people in his congregation had with what he was teaching them. As John
H. Gerstner points out; ÒIn a massive understatement he says that men find it difficult to reconcile endless punishment with those
perfections which the Scripture attributes to God, such as his being most just
and righteous and also merciful. Men picture God as a God of great tenderness
and compassion who is far from being cruel; He is love itself and is not
willing that any should perish.Ó[1] So EdwardsÕ preaching
that only the mere pleasure of God keeps the wicked from experiencing hell at
any given moment, and ÒBy mere pleasure of God, I [Edwards] mean his sovereign
pleasure, his arbitrary will, restrained by no obligation, hindered by no
manner of difficulty, any more than if nothing else but GodÕs mere will had in
the least degree, or in any respect whatsoever, any hand in the preservation of
wicked men one moment,Ó[2]
did not sit well with most people. There was now the temptation to view God as
a scary, vindictive, and dare say, evil figure, who took pleasure in tormenting
man, who did not show grace to those who love him, but arbitrarily picked
people who didnÕt have to suffer the terribleness of eternal damnation.
However, this paper sets out to show that the eternal torments of hell that
Edwards preaches and is condemned for by his congregation and beyond is the
EdwardsÕ best sermon of love to his fellow man. To say that Edwards is
preaching that man is to be scared into heaven is a sinful accusation. Edwards
does not preach the fate of the unrepentant to make all afraid of God and to
run to him in pure fear of punishment. Edwards would assert that such thinking
misses the point of his preaching. In his sermons, he issues warnings to those
who remain outside of grace, who refuse to allow
Christ to be their savior and substitute.
To best understand how
EdwardsÕ preaching should be viewed as loving, it would be of benefit to
understand what is hell. Though some deny hell, Edwards will maintain that his
basic proof is found in the Bible. Hell, in the theology of Edwards, is
actually the presence of God himself. Says Gerstner, ÒIndeed, according to
Edwards, He is hell and He is heaven. Eternity for sinner and saint will be
spent Òin the immediate presence and sight of GodÉGod will be the hell of one
and the heaven of the other.ÓÓ[3]
But what is eternity?
ÒWe have no positive idea of the eternality of hell,Ó says Gerstner. Edwards
would agree that most did not have true understand of what eternity is, and why
it is a part of the punishment for sin. Edwards offers an explanation of
eternityÕs properties to help one another conceptualize it:
It is that duration that has no end.Ó Since
Edwards cannot define, he lists some of eternityÕs properties, negatively and positively.
Negatively: first, it cannot be divided into integral parts; there is no half
of eternity. Second, it cannot be distinguished by periods, such as youth or
old age. Third, a great period has no more proportion to it than a short one; a
thousand ages is as much less as a minute. Fourth, the eternality of hell
cannot be made more or less by addition or subtraction. Fifth, it will be
forever only beginning, ÒThe wicked after they have suffered many millions of
ages, will be as it wereÉonly setting out in torment.Ó[4]
ÒIt is said, not only
that the punishment shall be forever, but for ever and everÉ.Doubtless
the New Testament has some expression to signify a proper eternity, of which it
has so often occasion to speak. But it has no higher expression than this: if
this does not signify an absolute eternity, there is none that does.Ó[5]
As Edwards repeatedly states, hell is the everlasting presence of God. The
wicked suffering in hell will see God in his glory and be agonized all the
more. What the redeemed worship will be what the wicked loathe. Their torment
in hell is seeing the goodness of God and not being able to escape from it. There
is no relief from the torments of hell; that is what eternity is. There is no
beginning and no end, no halfway mark, and no time out. Edwards does not offer
hope of any kind in hell. Its eternality is what makes it hell. There is no
end, no matter how long and loud the cries.
Edwards makes it clear
that all of mankind experience the mercy of God in his holding his hand back,
using vivid imagery that is similar to what one would find in the book of
Revelation: ÒThere is the dreadful
pit of the glowing flames of the wrath of God; there is hellÕs wide gaping
mouth open; and you have nothing to stand upon, nor any thing to take hold of;
there is nothing between you and hell but the air, it is only the power and
mere pleasure of God that holds you up.Ó[6]
And, Òthere are the black clouds of GodÕs wrath now hanging directly over your
heads, full of the dreadful storm, and big with thunder; and were it not for
the restraining hand of God, it would immediately burst forth upon you.Ó[7]
Also he makes it clear that Òthe bow of GodÕs wrath is bent, and the arrow made
ready on the string, and justice bends the arrow at your heart, and strains the
bow, and it is nothing but the mere pleasure of God, and that of an angry God,
without any promise or obligation at all, that keeps the arrow one moment from
being made drunk with your blood.Ó[8]
But why is there this
terrible hell? Because just as God has it on his heart to show how excellent
his love is, he also sets out to show the horridness of his wrath. When God,
the great and justly angered, comes to execute the vengeance for his glory, and
the sinner is suffering the full weight and power of GodÕs wrath, God will, as
Edwards preaches, Òcall upon the whole universe to behold that awful majesty
and might power that is to be seen in it.Ó[9]
And contrary to what
many prefer to think, Edwards will insist that it is the furthest from being
inconsistent with the perfection of God to allow the everlasting punishment of
a torturous hell. As a matter of fact, those perfections require it; GodÕs
perfections Òrequire that sin should have so great a punishment, either in the
person who has committed it, or in a surety.Ó[10] Some
people rightly acknowledge that the threatenings of
punishment do speak of a proper eternity. But in the same breath, they will say
that it is not necessarily true that punishment will actually be eternal,
because God may threaten things and actually not follow through with the
threats, the rationale being that ÒGod is not obliged to fulfill absolute
positive threatenings, as he is absolute promises.Ó[11]It
is contrary to Truth to declare that anything is real, be it past, present, or
future, that God simultaneously knows is not true. Thus, as something is
threatened it shall be, just as if it was declared as so. As Edwards explains, just because God has threatened hell,
doesnÕt mean he must follow through with it, but he is obliged to not
absolutely threaten if he knew that he should not or would not follow through
with his threats, as this would be showcase an inconsistency within God.
Edwards explains in further detail:
Threatenings are significations of something, and if they are made
consistently with truth, they are true significations, or significations of
truth, that which shall be. If absolute threatenings
are significations of anything, they are significations of the futurity of the
things threatened. But if the futurity of the things threatened be not true and real, then how can the threatening be a true
signification? And if God, in them, speaks contrary to what he knows, and
contrary to what he intends, how he can speak true is inconceivable.Ó[12]
There are rational arguments for hell, most obviously the
fact that there is suffering in the world. This shows that God is not opposed
to having man suffer. Sinners rightly deserve to be
cast down into hell, Edwards explains. Divine justice rightly permits ÒGodÕs
using his power at any moment to destroy them,Ó[13]
for all are already under the condemnation of hell. The unconvertedÕs
proper place is hell, for in the very nature of man, original sin exists as the
cause for damnation: what is sin but the ruin and misery of the soul? As Edwards
teaches, Òit is destructive in its nature; and if God should leave it without
restraint, there would need nothing else to make the soul perfectly miserable.Ó[14]
Edwards notes this about
a peculiar habit of men: that a man may hear about hell and the magnitude of
its torments, but Òflatters himself that he shall escape it.Ó[15]
He depends upon himself, in all that he does, has done, and what he hopes to
do--only further heaping insults upon GodÕs glory. Edwards
wants the unconverted to know that Òall that preserves them every moment is the
mere arbitrary will, and uncovenanted, unobliged forbearance of an incensed God.Ó[16]
This is because sin is a crime so heinous that it
merits the punishment of hell. Hell is directly proportional to sin—Òif
the obligation to love, honor, and obey God be infinite, then sin which is the
violation of this obligation, is a violation of infinite obligation, and so is
an infinite evil.Ó[17]
Edwards would affirm
that his reasoning is sound, and that anything to the contrary would deny God
his infinite glory, a fact that he presumes no one would take away from God,
and thus Òit is proper that God should hate every evil, and hate it according
to its odious and detestable nature.Ó[18]
Therefore, if God justly has an infinite hatred of sin, then the expressions of
this hatred are justified, for infinity is proportional to infinity.
The God that Jonathan
Edwards preaches is the God who is justly angered by the sins of humanity. He
is the God whose glory is seen in heaven and whose glory is seen in hell. His
mercy is expressed through
holding his hand to keep sinful man out of the fiery flames of hell.
Nevertheless, although God is the
torment of hell as well as the joy of heaven, the condemned will contribute to
their own misery and not a mutual comfort, as many like to believe. Edwards may
see it possible that the damned will only serve each other as fuel for the fire
that consumes the other. Sinners will also be of destruction to themselves.
They will pine after things and never receive satisfaction,[19]
which is why Edwards says that Òit would be far better for the unawakened to have spent the time in hell, than on earth;
yea better for them to have spent ten thousand years in hell, instead of on
earth.Ó[20]
In hell, Òthe wicked
continue to rebel against the just punishment of God, and that brings more just
punishment. So growth in misery in hell seems as inevitable as growth in
blessedness in heaven is certain.Ó[21] And Òthe
very realization of the wickedÕs plight makes their
plight the sadder. By their rebellion against their misery they only intensify
itÉ.As men gather sticks in this world for their own
fire they continue to do so even when they are actually engulfed in the
flames!Ó[22] Scripture
also teaches that suffering will happen in differing degrees, according to the
varying aggravations of the sins committed. God assures man that those who know
the will of the Lord and in spite of the knowledge do not prepare themselves
for his return, will suffer greatly. But those who
never knew God and sins will still suffer, but in a lesser degree.
Nevertheless, Òwhen once the day of mercy is past, your most lamentable and
dolorous cries and shrieks will be in vain; you will be wholly lost and thrown
away of God, as to any regard to your welfare. God will have no other use to
put you to, but to suffer misery; you shall be continued in being to no other
end; for you will be a vessel of wrath fitted for destruction; and there will
be no other use of this vessel, but to be filled full of wrath. God will be so
far from pitying you when you cry to him, that it is said he will only Òlaugh
and mock.ÓÓ[23]
Such a sobering message appears harsh and unlike the God as God is commonly
understood. But Edwards, as he saw himself as a spokesperson of God, wanted all
to see that God intended that men should understand
that it is true that sinners sin at the risk of an eternal punishment,
regardless if they choose to believe that they have been so clever that they
will evade punishment in their unredeemed state.[24]
The person in hell does
not try to repent, Edwards would argue; they instead continue in their sin by
blaspheming the name of God, refusing to worship him. The condemned will see
God and all of his glory and goodness and hate him for it. They will not turn
or beg for mercy, for they will see God as the inflictor of all of their pain
and cry out all the more against him.
Both Scripture and reason will lead to EdwardsÕ understanding that the
unrepentant will be punished so that they fully understand the punishment that
they are suffering. They will know that ÒGod has executed and fulfilled what he
threatened, what they disregarded and would not believe.Ó[25]
Edwards would assert that Òit is reasonable that they
[sinners] should be sensible of their own guilt, and should remember their
former opportunities and obligations, and should see their own folly and GodÕs
justice.Ó[26] The
punishment of the unrepentant is that in hell, their existence is worse than
non-existence. As previously stated, annihilation is the absence of the
punishment that is described in throughout the New Testament. There, the
Òwicked in their punishment, are said to weep, and wail, and gnash their teeth;
which implies not only real existence, but life, knowledge, and activity, and
that they are in a very sensible and exquisite manner affected with their
punishment.Ó[27]
Therefore, Edwards leaves no room for the idea of
annihilation as the punishment of sin. Primarily because Òannihilation is no
state at all and is therefore inconsistent with a manÕs soul, which is never
destroyed.Ó[28]
We know this to be true because of Scriptural teachings. The Bible explicitly
uses the term Òeternal,Ó the same word used in describing glory as in
describing death. Consequently, Edwards would find it inconsistent to be
certain that heaven will last for eternity and think that hell could be
temporal. Following the logic of Isaac NewtonÕs 3rd law of Inertia; heaven and hell are equal and opposite.[29]
For God to inflict an eternal punishment upon the
wicked is not to say that such punishment is inconsistent with His mercy. It
contradicts reason and scripture to say that the mercy of God is such that he
is unable to allow penal justice to be executed.[30]
The eternal death and punishment that God threatens
the wicked with is not annihilation, but instead a total sensory punishment.
For Òthe Scripture everywhere represents the punishment of the wicked, as
implying very extreme pains and sufferings. But a state of annihilation is no
state of suffering at all. Persons annihilated have no sense of feeling of pain
or pleasureÉThey no more suffer to eternity than they
did suffer from eternity.Ó[31]
Further, if a good man may suffer a life that is worse
than annihilation, then undoubtedly the proper punishment of the sinner,
through which God will put on display his outstanding abhorrence of their sin,
will be a fate of suffering all the greater. By reason, therefore, the eternal
punishment must exist as something greater than the non-punishment of
annihilation.
Gerstner says it best:
Òalthough Edwards regarded himself as the spokesman of God in these sermons, he
was still issuing warnings, in GodÕs name, of what would happen to the
impenitent. He was not himself invoking judgment or issuing anathemas.Ó[32] The
evidence coming from EdwardsÕ preaching of hell points to his obedience to God
and a true, deep love for man, that they may not suffer. Edwards wanted to avoid engendering people with a wrong
type of fear. He would not want anyone to possess a sinful fear of God, which
is to fear God as evil, but instead have a right fear, the fear that comes from
respect that acknowledges God as great and excellent. An improper fear of God
drives men away from Him; if men fear God as they fear the devil. They flee
from him, but if they fear him as the being he really is, they will flee to
him. It is this wrong fear or Òservile fearÓ which is cast out by love. But
love does not cast out this dread of displeasing and offending God, for this
holy fear does not only dread the fruits of GodÕs displeasure but the
displeasure itself.[33]
A true faith in Christ
is not an acceptance of him out of sheer desperation to escape hell, but a
genuine, loving trust in the Òloveliness and excellency of his being.Ó It would
be a mistake, Gerstner writes, to believe that Edwards preached hell and only
hell to unawakened sinner. Edwards though that this
doctrine would be the most successful in awakening sleeping spirits, and he
wanted to cater to manÕs natural love of pleasure: ÒAll men want to cultivate
please as well as avoid pain.Ó[34]
Furthermore:
Edwards never
entertained the notion that anyone could be scared into heaven (but only into
thinking about it and ÒseekingÓ for it). Constantly he speaks as in the sermon
on Job 14:5: ÒThere is no promise in the whole Word of God that prayings and cries that arise merely from fear and
expectation of punishment shall be heard especially if they have been willfully
negligent till then.ÓÉsinners are not scared into
heaven but that total fear would make them all the more the children of hell.Ó[35]
In summary, Edwards teaches that ÒGod vindicates
his injured majestyÓ in subjecting the wicked to the eternal, torturous hell.
God also glorifies his justice in this punishment; Òthe glory of God is the
greatest good. It is that which is the chief end of the creation.Ó God also
(indirectly) glorifies his grace on those on whom he has shown mercy; Òthe
saints in heaven will behold the torments of the damned: Ôthe smoke of their
torment ascendeth up for ever and ever.ÕÓ[36] When the
saved see how great a misery God has let pass them, Edwards implores the
congregation to think of the unbridgeable gap between their state and the state
of the condemned. Would they not, Edwards would reason, have a great
understanding of the beauty of the grace bestowed upon them? The pain and
misery of the condemned will only serve as fuel for greater love and gratitude
for God in heaven. HellÕs torments, and the recognition that God has taken that
from them will fill the saints in heaven will happiness forever, according to
Edwards. For the sense of what they could be suffering eternally, and do not
have to endure only makes the blessed eternally grateful.[37]
In this understanding,
Edwards then rebukes the unrepentant: ÒHow mad are men, who so often hear of
these things and pretend to believe them; who can live but a little while (a
few years); who do not even expect to live here longer than others of their
species ordinarily do; and who yet are careless about what becomes of
themselves in another world, where there is no change and no end!Ó It baffles
Edwards with how careless men can be on the matter of eternity and how they can
be repeatedly told about the torments of hell if they stay in their unrepentant
states. He so plainly and rationally says, Òif they
[these eternal punishments] be eternal, one would think that would be enough to
awaken your concern, and excite your diligence.Ó[38] Edwards also
soberly reminds all that on the negative side of eternity, there is no hope:
Do but consider how
dreadful despair will be in such torment. How dismal will it be...to have no
hopeÉ.How sinking would it be to you, to endure such
pain as you have felt in this world, without any hopes, and to know that you
never should be delivered from it, not have one minuteÕs rest! You can now
scarcely conceive how doleful that would be. How much more to endure the cast
weight of the wrath of God without hope! The more the damned in hell think of
the eternity of their torments, the more amazing will it appear to them.Ó
Edwards wants all to abandon their lives of sin
and embrace Christ, who came to save sinners from the torments of hell, who
paid the debt so they would not, who suffered hell and overcame:
For if you should suffer
that punishment you would never pay the whole of the debt those who are sent to
hell never will have paid the whole of the debt which they own to God, not
indeed a part which nears any proportion to the wholeÉ.Justice
therefore never can be actually satisfied in your damnation. But it is actually
satisfied in ChristÉ.In him you shall be safe from the
eternal torments of hell.Ó[39]
Edwards then reminds his audience that a
man will never be able to pay the debt in full that they owe to God. The injury
to God and his glory is so great that a fully satisfying the conditions of a
punishment are not possible (as outlined above). But, as Edwards concludes, Òif
we saw a proportion between the evil of sin and
eternal punishment, i.e. if we saw something in wicked men that should appear
as hateful to us, as eternal misery appears dreadfulÉall objections against
this doctrine would vanish at once.Ó[40]
[1] Gerstner,
John H. ÒHellÓ in The Rational Biblical
Theology of Jonathan EdwardsÓ vol. 3. p
526.
[2] Edwards, Jonathan.
ÒSinners in the Hands of an Angry God.Ó
[3] Gerstner, 507.
[4] Ibid,
522.
[5] Ibid, ÒEternity.Ó
[6] Edwards, Jonathan.
ÒSinners in the Hands of an Angry God.Ó
[7] Ibid, ÒSinners.Ó
[8] Ibid, ÒSinners.Ó
[9] Ibid, ÒSinners.Ó
[10] Edwards, Jonathan, ÒThe
Eternity of God Torments.Ó
[11] Ibid, ÒEternity.Ó
[12] Ibid, ÒEternity.Ó
[13] Edwards, Jonathan,
ÒSinners in the Hands of an Angry God.Ó
[14] Ibid, ÒSinners.Ó
[15] Ibid, ÒSinners.Ó
[16] Ibid, ÒSinners.Ó
[17] Edwards, Jonathan, ÒThe
Eternity of God Torments.Ó
[18] Ibid, ÒEternity.Ó
[19] Gerstner,
John H. ÒHell,Ó in The Rational Biblical
Theology of Jonathan Edwards, 508.
[20] Ibid, 512.
[21]Ibid,
515.
[22] Ibid,
516.
[23] Ibid, ÒSinners.Ó
[24] Edwards, Jonathan. ÒThe Eternity of God Torments.Ó
[25] Ibid, ÒEternity.Ó
[26] Ibid, ÒEternity.Ó
[27] Ibid, ÒEternity.Ó
[28] Gerstner,
John H. ÒHell,Ó in The Rational Biblical
Theology of Jonathan Edwards, 524.
[29] Ibid, 524.
[30] Edwards, Jonathan. ÒThe
Eternity of God Torments.Ó
[31] Ibid, ÒEternity.Ó
[32] Gerstner, John H. ÒHell,Ó in The Rational Biblical Theology of Jonathan Edwards, 531.
[33] Ibid,
534.
[34] Ibid,
535.
[35] Ibid,
533.
[36] Ibid, ÒEternity.Ó
[37] Ibid, ÒEternity.Ó
[38] Ibid, ÒEternity.Ó
[39] Edwards, ÒThe Eternity
of God Torments.Ó
[40] Ibid, ÒEternity.Ó