Deep Dive into Religious Affections by Jonathan Edwards - It Is No Sign That Affections Are Gracious, Or That They Are Otherwise, That Persons Did Not Make Them Themselves, Or Excite Them of Their...

Jonathan Edwards addresses the debate surrounding religious affections that individuals feel they did not produce themselves. He argues against the prevailing notion of his time that all such experiences should be dismissed as mere enthusiasm or delusion. Edwards contends that if saving grace is truly the work of God's powerful Spirit, entirely beyond human capability, then it is not unreasonable to expect that its effects might be felt as originating from an external, divine source. He supports this by pointing to scriptural accounts where God's power was visibly manifest in acts of salvation.However, Edwards equally cautions against the error of assuming that any affection not consciously generated is automatically a sign of saving grace and the work of the Holy Spirit. He emphasizes that other spiritual entities, such as evil or false spirits, are capable of influencing minds and producing experiences that feel externally driven, including false comforts and joys. Furthermore, even impressions from the Spirit of God might be common, non-saving influences. Edwards also considers natural causes, such as a person's physical or psychological constitution, as potential sources of unaccountable affections.Therefore, Edwards concludes that the mere feeling that an affection was not self-produced is not a reliable indicator of its spiritual validity. He stresses the importance of discerning the true nature of affections through other means, beyond their perceived origin, rather than automatically equating them with divine grace or dismissing them as delusion. The origin of an affection alone is not a definitive sign of whether it is gracious or not.Reformed Theologian GPT: https://chat.openai.com/g/g-XXwzX1gnv-reformed-theologianPatreon: patreon.com/edi_reformed