Five discourses on the soul's eternal salvation in Vol I of the Works - Edwards - IV - First discourse continued

Required readingFive discourses on the soul's eternal salvation in Vol I of the Works by Jonathan Edwards (Available from Amazon or free here) - Read the Third Point (III. To show in what sense the act of a christian life, or of evangelical obedience, may be looked upon to be concerned in this affair) of the 'Discourse on Justification by Faith Alone'.

My summary.

Now that Edwards has given the meaning and proof of justification by faith alone, he moves to looking at how evangelical obedience is concerned in this affair.

Good works are not works of the law as a fulfillment of the covenant of works. But nonetheless, Edwards gives reasons why we do good works.

This includes the fact that 'the perseverance of faith is necessary, even to the congruity of justification; and that not the less, because the sinner is justified, and perseverance promised, on the first act of faith, but God, in that justification, has respect, not only to the past act of faith, but to his own promise of future acts, and to the fitness of a qualification beheld as yet only in his own promise. And that perseverance in faith is thus necessary to salvation, not merely as a sine qua non, nor as an universal concomitant of it, but by reason of such an influence and dependence'.

What grabbed me

It's always good to be reminded of the importance of good works.  

I particularly liked the point about the joyful assurance that we have because of our good works: 'And then to suppose that no after acts of faith are concerned in the business of justification, and so that it is not proper for any ever to seek justification by such acts, would be for ever to cut off those Christians that are doubtful concerning their first act of faith, from the joy and peace of believing. As the business of a justifying faith is to obtain pardon and peace with God, by looking to God, and trusting in him for these blessings; so the joy and peace of that faith is in the apprehension of pardon and peace obtained by such a trust. This a Christian that is doubtful of his first act of faith cannot have from that act, because, by the supposition, he is doubtful whether it be an act of faith, and so whether he did obtain pardon and peace by that act. The proper remedy, in such a case, is now by faith to look to God in Christ for these blessings; but he is cut off from this remedy, because he is uncertain whether he has warranted so to do; for he does not know but that he has believed already; and if so, then he has no warrant to look to God by faith for these blessings now, because, by the supposition, no new act of faith is a proper means of obtaining these blessings. And so he can never properly obtain the joy of faith; for there are acts of true faith that are very weak, and the first act may be so as well as others: it may be like the first motion of the infant in the womb; it may be so weak an act, that the Christian, by examining it, may never be able to determine whether it was a true act of faith or no; and it is evident from fact, and abundant experience, that many Christians are for ever at a loss to determine which was their first act of faith. And those saints who have had a good degree of satisfaction concerning their faith, may be subject to great declensions and falls, in which case they are liable to great fears of eternal punishment; and the proper way of deliverance, is to forsake their sin by repentance, and by faith now to come to Christ for deliverance from the deserved eternal punishment; but this it would not be, if deliverance from that punishment was not this way to be obtained.

But what is a still more plain and direct evidence of what I am now arguing for, is, that the act of faith which Abraham exercised in the great promise of the covenant of grace that God made to him, of which it is expressly said, Gal. iii. 6. "It was accounted to him for righteousness"—the grand instance and proof that the apostle so much insists upon throughout the 4th chapter of Romans, and 3d chapter of Galatians, to confirm his doctrine of justification by faith alone—was not Abraham's first act of faith, but was exerted long after he had by faith forsaken his own country, Heb. xi. 8. and had been treated as an eminent friend of God.'

By our fruits, we shall know ourselves.

Next week's reading

Read the Fourth Point (IV. To answer objections).

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