The Beauty and Sweetness of the Word

While there is certainly a great deal more to say from this work, this is the final post (at least for a time!) where I will be noting some helpful points from The Religious Affections, by Jonathan Edwards. Here Edwards seeks to point out the beauty of the Word of God, namely, the substance from which we behold the heights of holiness and the true depths of sin. Edwards had a great deal to say about beauty, and here seeks to apply this idea to what we see of God in the Bible. Do not mistake the end of this quotation, certainly Edwards is not saying that God is potentially “an infinite evil.” Rather he is making the point that if the beauty of all who God is were removed from Scripture, that is the kind of God that would be left. But since this is not possible, since the inerrant Word describes God as a God of inifinite value, purity, love, and holiness, we look to this God and marvel. Thus, may we, as Edwards puts it, see the”beauty of holiness” and live in constant communion with our great God.

Take away all the moral beauty and sweetness in the Word, and the Bible is left wholly a dead letter, a dry, lifeless, tasteless thing. By this is seen the true foundation of our duty, the worthiness of God to be so esteemed, honoured, loved, submitted to, and served, as He requires of us, and the amiableness of the duties themselves that are required of us. And by this is seen the true evil of sin; for he who sees the beauty of holiness must necessarily see the hatefulness of sin, its contrary. By this men understand the true glory of heaven, which consists in the beauty and happiness that is in holiness. By this is seen the amiableness and happiness of both saints and angels. He that sees beauty of holiness, or true moral good, sees the greatest and most important thing in the world, which is the fulness of all things, without which all the world is empty, no better than nothing, yea, worse than nothing. Unless this is seen, nothing is seen that is worth the seeing; for there is no other true excellency or beauty. Unless this be understood, nothing is understood that is worthy of the exercise of the noble faculty of understanding. This is the beauty of the Godhead, and the divinity of Divinity (if I may so speak), the good of the infinite Fountain of good; without which, God Himself (if that were possible) would be an infinite evil; without which we ourselves had better never have been; and without which there had better have been no being.

Jeremy Kimble (PhD, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary) is Assistant Professor of Theological Studies at Cedarville University. He is an editor for Credo Magazine as well as the author of That His Spirit May Be Saved: Church Discipline as a Means to Repentance and Perseverance and numerous book reviews. He is married to Rachel and has two children, Hannah and Jonathan.