History of the Work of Redemption in Vol I of the Works - Edwards - I - General Introduction

Required readingHistory of the Work of Redemption in Vol I of the Works by Jonathan Edwards (Available from Amazon or free here) - Read the General Introduction.

My summary.

This week we begin a new work.

Edwards introduces his subject with a quick exposition of Isaiah 51:8: "For the moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool: but my righteousness shall be for ever, and my salvation from generation to generation."

Then before getting into the body of the work, Edwards makes some preliminary remarks.  He:

(i) defines the terms 'redemption' and 'carried on';

(ii) shows the design of this great work of redemption - the things accomplished by it.

What grabbed me

I liked Edwards affirmation that the design of redemption was the glory of the trinity: 'In all this God designed to accomplish the glory of the blessed Trinity in an eminent degree. God had a design of glorifying himself from eternity; yea, to glorify each person in the Godhead. The end must be considered as first in order of nature, and then the means; and therefore we must conceive, that God having professed this end, had then as it were the means to choose; and the principal mean that he adopted was this great work of redemption. It was his design in this work to glorify his only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ; and by the Son to glorify the Father: John xiii. 31, 32. "Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in him. If God be glorified in him, God also shall glorify him in himself, and shall straightway glorify him." It was his design that the Son should thus be glorified, and should glorify the Father by what should be accomplished by the Spirit to the glory of the Spirit, that the whole Trinity, conjunctly, and each person singly, might be exceedingly glorified. The work that was the appointed means of this, was begun immediately after the fall, and is carried on till, and finished at, the end of the world, when all this intended glory shall be fully accomplished in all things.'

Our redemption glorifies the entire godhead!

Next week's reading

Read Parts I and II of Period I.

Now it's your turn
Please post your own notes and thoughts in the comments section below.