God
Glorified In Man's Dependence
Part
1
by
Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758)
Edited
by Dr. Riktor Von Zhades
29
That no flesh should rejoice in his presence.30 But ye are of him in
Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness,
and sanctification, and redemption.31 That, according as it is
written, He that rejoiceth, let him rejoice in the Lord.
1
Corinthians 1:29-31
Those
Christians to whom the apostle directed this epistle dwelt in a part
of the world where human wisdom was in great repute; as the apostle
observes in the 22d verse of this chapter, "The Greeks seek
after wisdom." Corinth was not far from Athens, that had been
for many ages the most famous seat of philosophy and learning in the
world.
The
apostle therefore observes to them, how that God, by the gospel,
destroyed and brought to nought their human wisdom. The learned
Grecians, and their great philosophers, by all their wisdom did not
know God: they were not able to find out the truth in divine things.
But after they had done their utmost to no effect, it pleased God at
length to reveal himself by the gospel, which they accounted
foolishness. He "chose the foolish things of the world to
confound the wise, and the weak things of the world to confound the
things which are mighty, and the base things of the world, and things
that are despised, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought
the things that are." [Read 1 Corinthians 1:27; 2 Corinthians
2:14] And the apostle informs them why he thus did, in the verse of
the text; That no flesh should glory in his presence.
In
which words may be observed,
1.
What God aims at in the disposition of things in the affair of
redemption, viz., that man should not glory in himself, but alone in
God; That no flesh should glory in his presence,-that, according as
it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.
2.
How this end is attained in the work of redemption, viz., by that
absolute and immediate dependence which men have upon God in that
work for all their good.
First.
All the good that they have is in and throught Christ; He is made
unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. All
the good of the fallen and redeemed creature is concerned in these
four things, and cannot be better distributed than into them; but
Christ is each of them to us, and we have none of them any otherwise
than in him.[Read Isaiah 64:6] He is made of God unto us wisdom: in
him are all the proper good and true excellency of the understanding.
Wisdom was a thing that the Greeks admired; but Christ is the true
light of the world, it is through him alone that true wisdom is
imparted to the mind. It is in and by Christ that we have
righteousness-. it is by being in him that we are justified, have our
sins pardoned, and are received as righteous into God's favor. It is
by Christ that we have sanctification: we have in him true excellency
of heart as well as of understanding; and he is made unto us
inherent, as well as imputed righteousness. It is by Christ that we
have redemption, or actual deliverance from all misery, and the
bestowment of all happiness and glory. Thus we have all our good by
Christ, who is God. Another instance wherein our dependence on God
for all our good appears, is this, That it is God that has given us
Christ, that we might have these benefits through him; he of God is
made unto us wisdom, righteousness, &c. It is of him that we are
in Christ Jesus, and come to have an interest in him, and so do
receive those blessings which he is made unto us. It is God that
gives us faith whereby we close with Christ.
There
is an absolute and universal dependence of the redeemed on God. The
nature and contrivance of our redemption is such, that the the
redeemed are in every thing directly immediately, and entirely
dependent on God: they are dependent on him for all, and are
dependent on him every way.
The
several ways wherein the dependence of one being may be upon another
for its good, and wherein the redeemed of Jesus Christ depend on God
for all their good, are these, viz., that they have all their good of
him, and that they have all through him, and that they have all in
him: that he is the cause and original whence all their good comes,
therein it is of him; and that he is the medium by which it is
obtained and conveyed, therein they have it through him; and that he
is that good itself that is given and conveyed, therein it is in him.
Now
those that are redeemed by Jesus Christ do, in all these repects,
very directly and entirely depend on God for their all. The redeemed
have all their good of God; God is the great author of it; he is the
first cause of it, and not only so, but he is the only proper cause.
It is of God that we have our Redeemer: it is God that has provided a
Saviour for us. Jesus Christ is not only of God in his person, as he
is the only begotten Son of God, but he is from God, as we are
concerned in him, and in his office of Mediator; he is the gift of
God to us: God chose and anointed him, appointed him his work, and
sent him into the world. And as it is God that gives, so it is God
that accepts the Saviour. As it is God that provides and gives the
Redeemer to buy salvation for us, so it is of God that salvation is
bought: he gives the purchaser, and he affords the thing purchased.
It
is of God that Christ becomes ours, that we are brought to him, and
are united to him: it is of God that we receive faith to close with
him, that we may have an interest in him. "For by grace ye are
saved, through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of
God" [Read Ephesians 2:8]. It is of God that we actually do
receive all the benefits that Christ has purchased. It is God that
pardons and justifies, and delivers from going down to hell, and it
is his favor that the redeemed are received into, and are made the
objects of, when they are justified. So it is God that delivers from
the dominion of sin, and cleanses us from our filthiness, and changes
us from our deformity. [Read 2 Corinthians 5:17; Galatians 6:15] It
is of God that the redeemed do receive all their true excellency,
wisdom, and holiness; and that two ways, viz., as the Holy Ghost, by
whom these things are immediately wrought, is from God, proceeds from
him, and is sent by him; and also as the Holy Ghost himself is God,
by whose operation and indwelling [Read John 14:17], the knowledge of
divine things, and a holy disposition, and all grace, are conferred
and upheld.
And
though means are made use of in conferring grace on men's souls, yet
it is of God that we have these means of grace, and it is God that
makes them effectual. It is of God that we have the holy Scriptures;
they are the word of God. It is of God that we have ordinances, and
their efficacy depends on the immediate influence of the Spirit of
God. The ministers of the gospel are sent of God, and all their
sufficiency is of him. "We have this treasure in earthen
vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of
us" [Read 2 Corinthians 4:7]. Their success depends entirely and
absolutely on the immediate blessing and influence of God. The
redeemed have all.
Of
the grace of God. It was of mere grace that God gave us his only
begotten Son. The grace is great in proportion to the dignity and
excellency of what is given: the gift was infinitely precious,
because it was a person infinitely worthy, a person of infinite
glory; and also because it was a person infinitely near and dear to
God. The grace is great in proportion to the benefit we have given us
in him: the benefit is doubly infinite, in that in him we have
deliverance from an infinite, because an eternal misery; and do also
receive eternal joy and glory. The grace in bestowing this gift is
great in proportion to our unworthiness to whom it is given; instead
of deserving such a gift, we merited infinitely ill of God's hands.
The grace is great according to the manner of giving, or in
proportion to the humiliation and expense of the method and means by
which way is made for our having the gift. He gave him to us dwelling
amongst us; he gave him to us incarnate, or in our nature; he gave
him to us in our nature, in the like infirmities, in which we have it
in our fallen state, and which in us do accompany, and are occasioned
by the sinful corruption of our nature. He gave him to us in a low
and afflicted state; and not only so, but he gave him to us slain,
that he might be a feast for our souls.
The
grace of God in bestowing this gift is most free. It was what God was
under no obligation to bestow: he might have rejected fallen man, as
he did the fallen angels. It was what we never did any thing to
merit; it was given while we were yet enemies, and before we had so
much as repented. It was from the love of God that saw no excellency
in us to attract it; and it was without expectation of ever being
requited for it. And it is from mere grace that the benefits of
Christ are applied to such and such particular persons. Those that
are called and sanctified are to attribute it alone to the good
pleasure of God's goodness, by which they are distinguished. He is
sovereign, and hath mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he
will, he hardens.
Man
hath now a greater dependence on the grace of God than he had before
the fall. He depends on the free goodness of God for much more than
he did then: then he depended on God's goodness for conferring the
reward of perfect obedience: for God was not obliged to promise and
bestow that reward: but now we are dependent on the grace of God for
much more: we stand in need of grace, not only to bestow glory upon
us, but to deliver us from hell and eternal wrath. Under the first
covenant we depended on God's goodness to give us the reward of
righteousness; and so we do now. And not only so, but we stand in
need of God's free and sovereign grace to give us that righteousness;
and yet not only so, but we stand in need of his grace to pardon our
sin, and release us from the guilt and infinite demerit of it.
And
as we are dependent on the goodness of God for more now than under
the first covenant, so we are dependent on a much greater, more free
and wonderful goodness. We are now more dependent on God's arbitrary
and sovereign good pleasure. We were in our first estate dependent on
God for holiness: we had our original righteousness from him; but
then holiness was not bestowed in such a way of sovereign good
pleasure as it is now. Man was created holy, and it became God to
create holy all the reasonable creatures he created: it would have
been a disparagement to the holiness of God's nature, if he had made
an intelligent creature unholy. But now when a man is made holy, it
is from mere and arbitrary grace; God may forever deny holiness to
the fallen creature if he pleases, without any disparagement to any
of his perfections.
And
we are not only indeed more dependent on the grace of God, but our
dependence is much more conspicuous, because our own insufficiency
and helplessness in ourselves is much more apparent in our fallen and
undone state, than it was before we were either sinful or miserable.
We are more apparently dependent on God for holiness, because we are
first sinful, and utterly polluted, and afterwards holy: so the
production of the effect is sensible, and its derivation from God
more obvious. If man was ever holy and always was so, it would not be
so apparent, that he had not holiness necessarily, as an inseparable
qualification of human nature. So we are more apparently dependent on
free grace for the favor of God, for we are first justly the objects
of his displeasure and afterwards are received into favor. We are
more apparently dependent on God for happiness, being first
miserable, and afterwards happy. It is more apparently free and
without merit in us, because we are actually without any kind of
excellency to merit, if there could be any such thing as merit in
creature excellency. And we are not only without any true excellency,
but are full of, and wholly defiled with, that which is infinitely
odious. All our good is more apparently from God, because we are
first naked and wholly without any good, and afterwards enriched with
all good.
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