Zealous for God's Fame

"Zeal is a mixed affection, a compound of love and anger; it carries forth our love to God, and our anger against sin in an intense degree. Zeal is impatient of God's dishonour; a Christian fired with zeal, takes a dishonour done to God worse than an injury done to himself" (Thomas Watson, Body of Divinity, 16).

The Great Contest for Man

"The great contest of heaven and earth is about the affections of the poor worm which we call man."

—John Owen, The Grace and Duty of Being Spiritually Minded (vol. 7 in The Works of John Owen; ed. William H. Gould; Carlisle: Banner of Truth, 1994), 395.

Great Knowledge Alone Can Never Save

This is why I read Jonathan Edwards:

Whatever clear notions a man may have of the attributes of God, and doctrine of the trinity; the nature of the two covenants, the economy of the persons of the trinity, and the part which each person has in the affair of man's redemption; if he can discourse never so excellently of the offices of Christ, and the way of salvation by him, and the admirable methods of divine wisdom; and the harmony of the various attributes of God in that way; if he can talk never so clearly and exactly of the method of the justification of a sinner, and of the nature of conversion, and the operations of the Spirit of God, in applying the redemption of Christ; giving good distinctions, happily solving difficulties, and answering objections; in a manner tending greatly to the enlightening the ignorant, to the edification of the church of God, and the conviction of gainsayers; and the great increase of light in the world: if he has more knowledge of this sort than hundreds of true saints, of an ordinary education, and most divines; yet all is no certain evidence of any degree of saving grace in the heart.

—Jonathan Edwards, Sermons and Discourses 1743–1758 (vol. 25 in the Works of Jonathan Edwards; ed. Wilson H. Kimnack; New Haven: Yale University, 2006), 616.

A Love Affair with the Lord and His Law

Van Gemeren:

Psalm 119 is well known for its teaching on God’s law. Yet the beauty of this psalm lies not only in the recitation of devotion to the law but also in the psalmist’s absolute devotion to the Lord. . . . This is a psalm not only of law but also of love . . . not only of devotion to precept but also of loyalty to the way of the Lord. The beauty of this psalm resounds from the relationship of the psalmist and his God.

—William A. Van Gemeren, "Psalms," EBC 5 (rev. ed.; Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2008), 858.

Childlike Fear versus Slavish Fear

"A childlike fear differs from a slavish fear in this, that a slavish fear has no love in it."

—Jonathan Edwards, Ethical Writings (vol. 8 in the Works of Jonathan Edwards; ed. Paul Ramsey; New Haven: Yale University, 1989), 331.

True Thankfulness

"True thankfulness is no other than the exercise of love to God on occasion of his goodness to us."

—Jonathan Edwards, Ethical Writings (vol. 8 in the Works of Jonathan Edwards; ed. Paul Ramsey; New Haven: Yale University, 1989), 331.

True Humility

In "Grace Tends to Holy Practice," preached in 1738, Edwards says this of true humility's tendency:

True Christian humility of heart tends to make persons resigned to the will of God, patient and submissive to his holy hand under afflictions, full of awful reverence towards the Deity, ready to treat divine things with great respect, and of a meek behavior towards men, condescending to inferiors and respectful towards superiors, gentle, easy to be entreated, not self-willed, not envious, but contented with his own condition, of a peaceable and quiet spirit, not disposed bitterly to resent injuries, but apt to forgive.

—Jonathan Edwards, Ethical Writings (vol. 8 in the Works of Jonathan Edwards; ed. Paul Ramsey; New Haven: Yale University, 1989), 304–305.

God-Centered Anger

In "Charity Contrary to an Angry Spirit," preached in 1738, Edwards speaks of what God-centered anger looks like:

If men's own private interest was not what men sought, but the glory of God and the common good chiefly, then their spirit would be much more stirred in God's cause than in their own. And they would not be prone to hasty, rash, inconsiderate, immoderate and long continued wrath for injuries to themselves. They would in a great measure forget themselves for God's sake, and Christ's sake; and the end, at which they would aim in their anger, would not be making themselves feared, or getting their own will, but God's glory, and others' good.

—Jonathan Edwards, Ethical Writings (vol. 8 in the Works of Jonathan Edwards; ed. Paul Ramsey; New Haven: Yale University, 1989), 279.

Anger in Relationship to God

"Love to God is opposite to a disposition in men to be angry at others' faults chiefly as they are affected and injured by them; it disposes them to resent them more as they are against God."

—Jonathan Edwards, Ethical Writings (vol. 8 in the Works of Jonathan Edwards; ed. Paul Ramsey; New Haven: Yale University, 1989), 278.

Sinful Anger versus Godly Anger

Edwards, from "Charity Contrary to an Angry Spirit," preached in 1738:

Persons sin in their anger with respect to the occasion of anger when their spirits are stirred at the faults of others chiefly as they affect themselves, and not as they are against God. We should never be angry but at sin. This should always be the evil which we oppose in our anger; and when our spirits are stirred to oppose this evil, it should be as sin, or chiefly as it is against God. If there be no sin, then we have no cause to be angry; and if there be a fault, or sin, then the sin is infinitely worse as it is against God than as it is against us, and therefore requires more opposition upon that account. Persons sin in their anger when they are selfish in it. Men are not to act as their own or for themselves singly, for they are not their own, as has been lately shown. When a fault is committed, wherein both God is sinned against and they are injured, they should be chiefly concerned and their spirits chiefly moved against it as it is against God, as they would show themselves to be more concerned for God's glory than their own temporal interest.

All anger in men is either a virtue or a vice. There is no middle sort which is neither good or bad. But there is no true virtue or goodness in opposing sin unless it be opposed as sin. The anger which is a virtue is the same which is called "zeal." Our anger should be like Christ's anger. He was like a lamb under personal injuries. And we never read of his being angry but in the cause of God against sin. So we read, Mark 3:5, "He looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts." Thus anger may be unsuitable and unchristian with respect to the occasion or cause of it.

—Jonathan Edwards, Ethical Writings (vol. 8 in the Works of Jonathan Edwards; ed. Paul Ramsey; New Haven: Yale University, 1989), 276–277.

Owen's Little Finger Full of Theology

J. C. Ryle:

I am quite aware that Owen's writings are not fashionable in the present day. . . . Yet the great divine . . . [has] more learning and sound knowledge of Scripture in his little finger than many who depreciate him have in their whole bodies. I assert unhesitatingly that the man who wants to study experimental theology will find no books equal to those of Owen.

—Holiness: Its Nature, Hindrances, Difficulties, and Roots, as cited in Sinclair Ferguson, The Trinitarian Devotion of John Owen (Sanford, FL: Reformation Trust, 2014), 43.

A Cry in Every Rod of God

Commenting on Mic. 6:9, Owen pleads:

There is a call, a cry in every rod of God, in every chastening providence, and therein [he] makes a declaration of his name, his holiness, his power, his greatness. This every wise, substantial man will labour to discern, andd so comply with the call. . . . If, therefore, we would apply ourselves unto our present duty [being spiritually minded], we are wisely to consider what is the voice of God in his present providential dispensations in the world. 

 —John Owen, The Grace and Duty of Being Spiritually Minded (vol. 7 in The Works of John Owen; ed. William H. Gould; Carlisle: Banner of Truth, 1994), 308.

Psalm 119 as Touchstone of Biblical Spirituality

In his Grace and Duty of Being Spiritually Minded, John Owen labors in chapter 4 to answer the question, how may we "know when we abound in spiritual thoughts, so as that they may be an evidence of our being spiritually minded"?

His answer, in part, focuses on Psalm 119:

I answer, in general, among other Scriptures, read over Psalm 119 with understanding. Consider therein what David expresseth of himself, as unto his constant delight in and continual thoughts of the law of God; which was the only means of divine revelation at that season. Try yourselves by that pattern; examine yourselves whether you can truly speak the same words with him, at least if not in the same degree of zeal, yet with the same sincerity of grace.

Then he answers an objection. But, "You will say, 'That was David.'" Owen replies:

But as far as I know, we must be like him, if ever we intend to come to the place where he is. It will ruin our souls, if when we read in the Scriptures how the saints of God express their experiences in faith, love, delight in God, and constant meditation on him, we grant that it was so with them, that they were good and holy men, but it is not necessary that it should be so with us. These things are not written in the Scripture to show what they were, but what we ought to be.

 —John Owen, The Grace and Duty of Being Spiritually Minded (vol. 7 in The Works of John Owen; ed. William H. Gould; Carlisle: Banner of Truth, 1994), 301.

Spirtually Minded Praying

How may we know that our prayers pour forth from an internal fountain of grace, that is, from new life within imparted by the Spirit of God, and thus know that we are truly spirtually minded in our prayers?

This is my restatement of a question John Owen asks in his incomparable and soul-satisfying work on The Grace and Duty of Being Spiritually Minded. And here are what I regard as some highlights of his answer, which I give to help us discern whether or not we are spirtually minded in our prayers.

But before I give these highlights, I want to answer an objection. I can hear someone saying, "Well, now, isn't prayer itself an expression of spiritual mindedness?" And the answer is, "Well, it depends." Think (to point to only two examples that come to mind) about what the Lord Jesus teaches about hypocritical and unacceptable praying in Mt. 6:5-8 and in Lk. 18:9-14.

Now, then, for the highlights of Owen's answer:

First, Owen says that we are assured generally that "whoever believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself" (1 Jn. 5:10). "Sincere faith," he says, "will be its own evidence" (292).

Second, it is an evidence that grace within is at work in spiritual thoughts and desires when the soul finds sweet spiritual satisfaction in spiritual disciplines and duties such as prayer. Not to put to fine a point on it, Owen challenges our lukewarmness in asserting that "this holy complacency [satisfaction], this rest and sweet repose of mind, is the foundation of the delight of believers in this duty" (292).

He then adds, the spiritually minded "do not pray only because it is their duty to do so, nor yet because they stand in need of it, so that they cannot live without it, but they have delight in it; and to keep them from it is all one as to keep them from their daily food and refreshment" (292–293).

Alright, so delight is the essential matter in this matter. But how does it arise? What brings it about? I mean, we can't just turn it on, can we? Owen says that this delight in prayer of which he is speaking arises from the following three things:

First, it arises from "the approach that is made unto God therein. It is in its own nature an access unto God on a throne of grace (Eph. 2:18; Heb. 10:19-20); and when this access is animated by the actings of grace, the soul hath a spiritual experience of a nearness in that approach" (293).

Second, this soul-satisfaction arises "from the due exercise of faith, love, and delight, the graces wherein the life of the new creature doth consist" (293).

Third, it arises "from the testimony of conscience, bearing witness unto our sincerity, both in aims, ends, and performances of the duty" (293–294).

Owen then rounds off this instruction by saying, "Hence a gracious repose of mind and great satisfaction do ensue" (294).

—John Owen, The Grace and Duty of Being Spiritually Minded (vol. 7 in The Works of John Owen; ed. William H. Gould; Carlisle: Banner of Truth, 1994), 292–294.

The First Effect of the Power of God in Regeneration

Edwards:

The first effect of the power of God in the heart in regeneration is to give the heart a divine taste or sense, to cause it to have a relish of the loveliness and sweetness of the supreme excellency of the divine nature.

—Jonathan Edwards, Treatise on Grace, in Writings on the Trinity, Grace, and Faith (vol. 21 in the Works of Jonathan Edwards; ed. Sand Hyun Lee; New Haven: Yale University, 2003), 509.

Seeing Second Timothy as Written in Paul's Lifeblood

Calvin:

The chief purpose of this letter is to confirm Timothy both in the faith of the Gospel and in his pure and constant preaching of it. But the circumstances of the time add especial weight to these exhortations. Paul had before his eyes the death he was ready to suffer as a testimony to the Gospel. Thus all that we read here about the kingdom of Christ, the hope of life eternal, the Christian warfare, confidence in confessing Christ, and the certainty of doctrine should be seen as written not merely in ink but in Paul's lifeblood; for he asserts nothing for which he is not ready to offer the pledge of his death.

—John Calvin, The Second Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians and the Epistles to Timothy, Titus, and Philemon (eds., Torrance, David W., and Torrance, Thomas F; trans. Smail, T. A.; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1996), 287.

More on the Nature of True Virtue

Jonathan Edwards:

A truly virtuous mind, being as it were under the sovereign dominion of love to God, does above all things seek the glory of God, and makes this his supreme, governing, and ultimate end: consisting in the expression of God's perfections in their proper effects, and in the manifestation of God's glory to created understandings, and the communications of the infinite fullness of God to the creature; in the creature's highest esteem of God, love to God, and joy in God, and in the proper exercises and expressions of these. And so far as a virtuous mind exercises true virtue in benevolence to created beings, it chiefly seeks the good of the creature, consisting in its knowledge or view of God's glory and beauty, its union with God, and conformity to him, love to him, and joy in him. And that temper or disposition of heart, that consent, union, or propensity of mind to Being in general, which appears chiefly in such exercises, is virtue, truly so called: or in other words, true grace and real holiness.

—Jonathan Edwards, Ethical Writings (vol. 8 in the Works of Jonathan Edwards; ed. Paul Ramsey; New Haven: Yale University, 1989), 557–558.

The Nature of True Virtue

Jonathan Edwards:

"It is sufficient to render love to any created being virtuous, if it arise from the temper of mind wherein consists a disposition to love God supremely."

Stated more fully, philosophically, and theologically by Edwards:

The most proper evidence of love to a created being, its arising from that temper of mind wherein consists a supreme propensity of heart to God, seems to be the agreeablenss of the kind and degree of our love to God's end in our creation and in the creation of all things, and the coincidence of the exercises of our love, in their manner, order, and measure, with the manner in which God himself exercises love to the creature in the creation and government of the world, and the way in which God as the first cause and supreme disposer of all things, has respect to the creature's happiness, in subordination to himself as his own supreme end. 

In a footnote to this prolix sentence, Paul Ramsey condenses and highlights well what Edwards is asserting:

The sentence above takes the measure of truly virtuous love of fellow creatures to be its "coincidence"—its perfect alignment in manner, order, or degree—with "the manner in which God himself exercises love to the creature . . . in subordination to himself as his own supreme end."

Only one small quible with Ramsey's restatement of what Edwards is saying. Edwards does not mean by "coincidence" that the alignment in view must be "perfect," as Ramsey puts it. But he does mean this: where there is greater agreement in that alignment between the creature's love for a creature and God's God-centured love for a creature, the more virtuous an action truly is.

—Jonathan Edwards, Ethical Writings (vol. 8 in the Works of Jonathan Edwards; ed. Paul Ramsey; New Haven: Yale University, 1989), 557–558.

Spotting Discontentment

What are the marks of Christian contentment? Expounding Phil. 4:11, Thomas Watson says this of contentment: "The doctrine of contentment is very superlative, and till we have learned this, we have not learned to be Christians."[1]

If he is right in this regard, it obviously behooves us who profess to know Christ to be able to discern contentment. So what does it look like? One good way to help us spot contentment is to spot the marks of discontentment. 

The following three marks of what is excluded by Christian contentment are suggested and shaped by Watson,[2] followed by some scriptural citations for how to battle each particular manifestation of discontentment:

First, Christian contentment excludes a frustrated fretting at our circumstances. So Scripture exhorts us to "rejoice always" (1 Thess. 5:16); to "give thanks in all circumstances" (1 Thess. 5:18); and to say with the apostle, "I can do all things through him who strengthens me" (Phil. 4:13).

Second, Christian contentment excludes an uneven disorientation of the mind amid the hot and bother of twenty-first century life. So Scripture encourages us to "set [our] minds on things above, not on the things on the earth" (Col. 3:2); and to think about "whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable," whatever is "excellent," whatever is "worthy of praise" (Phil. 4:8).

Third, Christian contentment excludes an immature hopelessness in the face of personal and corporate failures, shortcomings, and challenges. So Scripture exhorts us to "hope in God" (Ps. 42:5), to "rejoice in hope of the glory of God" (Rom. 5:2), and to "set [our] hope fully on the grace to be brought to [us] at the revelation of Jesus Christ" (1 Pet. 1:13).

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[1] Thomas Watson, The Art of Divine Contentment (Waxkeep Publishing, 2012), chapter 4, Kindle edition. 

[2] Watson, Ibid., chapter 6.

Whence Cometh the Fear of God?

In his Treatise on the Fear of God, John Bunyan speaks of the grace of the fear of God in the fourth section of the book. In what follows, I'll provide his eleven headings from the section where he describes that from which this godly fear flows, along with some of the texts cited.

1. This fear, this grace of fear, this son-like fear of God, it flows from the distinguishing love of God to his elect (Jer. 32:38-40).
2. This fear flows from a new heart (Jer. 32:39; Ezek. 11:19; 36:26).
3. This fear of God flows from an impression, a sound impression, that the Word of God maketh on our souls; for without an impress of the Word, there is no fear of God (Deut. 6:1-2; 31:12).
4. This godly fear floweth from faith; for where the Word maketh a sound impression on the soul, by that impression is faith begotten, whence also this fear doth flow (Gal. 3:2; Heb. 11:7).
5. This godly fear also floweth from sound repentance for and from sin; godly sorrow worketh repentance, and godly repentance produceth this fear (2 Cor. 7:10-11).
6. This godly fear also flows from a sense of the love and kindness of God to the soul (Ps. 130:3-4).
7. This fear of God flows from a due consideration of the judgments of God that are to be executed in the world; yea, upon professors too (Ps. 119:120; 1 Chron. 13:12; Deut. 13:11; 17:13; 19:20; 21:21).
8. This godly fear also flows from a godly remembrance of our former distresses, when we were distressed with our first fears (Deut. 4:9-11).
9. This godly fear flows from our receiving of an answer of prayer, when we supplicated for mercy at the hand of God (1 Kgs. 8:37-40; Lk. 16:15).
10. This grace of fear also flows from a blessed conviction of the all-seeing eye of God (1 Kgs. 8:39-40).
11. This grace of fear also flows from a sense of the impartial judgment of God upon men according to their works (1 Pet. 1:17).

—John Bunyan, A Treatise on the Fear of God (The Apologetics Group), 56-61.