Profess with our Life

I am currently reading Jonathan Edward’s Great Awakening masterpiece, Religious Affections. In the discussion of what it means for someone to make a profession of faith and thus become part of a corporate body he offers up a detailed definition of the nature of a true professor.

. . . in a full conviction of their own sinfulness, misery, and impotence, and totally undone state as in themselves, and their just desert of God’s utter rejection and eternal wrath, and the utter insufficiency of their own righteousness, nor anything in them, to satisfy divine justice, or recommend them to God’s favour, they do entirely depend on the Lord Jesus Christ, and His satisfaction and righteousness; that they do with all their hearts believe the truth of the gospel of Christ; and that in a full conviction of His sufficeincy and perfect excellency as a Saviour, as exhibited in the gospel, they do with their whole souls cleave to Him, and acquiesce in Him, as the refuge and rest of their souls, and fountain of their comfort; that they repent of their sins, and utterly renounce all sin, and give up themselves wholly to Christ, willingly subjecting themselves to Him as their King; that they give Him their hearts and their whole man; and are willing and resolved to have God for their whole and everlasting portion; and in a dependence on His promises of a future eternal enjoyment of Him in heaven, to renounce all the enjoyment of theis vain world, selling all for this great treasure and future inheritance, and to comply with every command of God, even the most difficult and self-denying, and devote their whole lives to God’s service; and that in forgiveness of those that have injured them, and a general benevolence to mankind, their hearts are united to the people of Jesus Christ as their people, to cleave to them and love them as their brethren, and worship and serve God, and follow Christ in union and fellowship with them, being willing and resolved to perform all those duties that belong to them, as members of the same family of God and mystical body of Christ.

Getting through this book has been very difficult and I am at the point where I am looking forward to its completion and moving on to something much more contemporary. While Edwards is one of the most brilliant men in history, a couple hundred years of evident language change separates us.

Soli Deo Gloria,

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