Latest / Reformed Thinking / Truce Grace Distinguished from the Experience of Devils (James 2:19) | Jonathan Edwards

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Truce Grace Distinguished from the Experience of Devils (James 2:19) | Jonathan Edwards · Reformed Thinking

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Welcome to Reform Thinking. We are diving into a topic today
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that really cuts right to the heart of Christian assurance.
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How do we know if our religious feelings, our experiences, are
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truly from God, or if they're, you know, simply a product of
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our natural, unregenerate minds? Well, this is a deep dive into
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the work of Jonathan Edwards, and it's taken from his 1752
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treatise True Grace Distinguished from the
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Experience of Devils. The title itself sounds
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arresting, and it should, because Edwards is zeroing in on
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this single powerful line from the Apostle James.
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Beams 2.1 time. That's the one.
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Thou believes that there is one God, thou dust.
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Well, the devil's also believe and tremble.
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OK, so let's unpack this right away.
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Edwards is looking at the people of his day.
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This is the peak of the Great Awakening, and religious
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experiences are intense, often highly emotional, right?
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The question for every person then, and I think for you, our
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listener now, is stark. How can we tell a genuine,
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saving work of the spirit from a highly vivid, maybe terrifyingly
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emotional religious experience that still remains entirely
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within the bounds of a natural fallen heart?
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And that's the whole issue. Edwards saw many professing
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Christians resting their hope, their sense of a good estate and
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acceptance before God on what he calls speculative faith.
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Speculative. Faith.
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It's an intellectual belief in the facts of Christianity.
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James points to the belief in monotheism.
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The existence of one God is, you know, a basic doctrine like
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that. Edwards does grant that
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believing this is good, but only in a very limited sense.
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Good, but clearly not good enough for salvation.
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I mean, if the devil's can do it, it can't be the final
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measure. So why does Edwards allow that
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it's good at all? Well, he says it's good because
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it's necessary and it avoids a greater evil.
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To believe in God's existence is kind of the basis for all moral
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order. For any religious observance to
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be an atheist, especially for someone living under the light
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of the gospel, would be a vastly greater sin.
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It would just aggravate their damnation further.
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Well, it has a restraining effect.
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Exactly. This intellectual ascent has a
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good tendency towards restraining moral chaos, but it
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is not saving, and the core principle Edwards builds his
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entire case on is this. Nothing in the mind of man that
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is of the same nature as what the devil's experience can be.
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A sure sign of saving grace. That's the proposition.
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That proposition is the theological fence Edwards uses
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to separate the sheep from the goats.
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So we're looking for something that is wholly of a different
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kind than what a perfectly wicked, highly intelligent,
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condemned being could feel or know.
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That's it. A different nature entirely.
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What's so brilliant about how Edwards sets this up is that he
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doesn't immediately start, you know, psychoanalyzing the
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anxious convert. He starts with the devil.
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Yes, he uses Satan as this perfect example of maximum
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possible wickedness combined with maximum possible
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intellectual light. James's whole argument rests on
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the idea that what is in the devil is no evidence of grace,
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so we need to solidify why that proposition is so immovable.
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Exactly. We start with the premise of the
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Devil's nature. Edwards gives 3 radical reasons
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why sharing a property with the devil cannot signal saving
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grace. The first is the utter absence
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of holiness. When the devil fell from heaven,
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he lost all holiness. He's perfectly wicked, the chief
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of all sinners, the father of all sin.
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Scripture calls him the wicked one in evil spirit, spiritual
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wickedness in high places. He is the total antithesis of
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everything holy. So if the devil is the quake
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essential expression of pure unmitigated corruption, what's
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the implication for anything we might observe him experiencing?
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The implication is very strict. If a quality or an experience as
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it exists in the devil lacks any holiness whatsoever, if it's
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purely natural, intellectual or psychological, then that same
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quality found in a man can't be holy or spiritual.
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Not unless something else, something supernatural, is added
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to it. Edwards is clear saving grace is
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a reflection of God's image, the seal of the Spirit.
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So if an experience doesn't require holiness in its subject,
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the devil, it can't possibly function as the distinguishing
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mark of holiness. In a man, the common denominator
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is always the natural unholy heart.
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That sets the theological baseline.
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Now, the second reason you mentioned, it addresses a
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possible confusion, because we know that many unregenerate
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people here on Earth can display good behavior, moral virtue,
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some kind of restraint. That's not true of the devil.
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That's the distinction he makes for the second reason, the
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absence of common grace. Edwards differentiates between
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saving grace, which makes one holy, and common grace, which
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merely restrains wickedness. Many people in this world
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possess common grace, moral restraint, civil goodness,
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common influences of the Spirit that prevent them from becoming
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as vile as they possibly could be.
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It's why human society can function at all.
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But the state of damnation changes everything.
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Precisely when a being is cast into hell, as the devils are,
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God wholly withdraws all restraining and merciful common
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influences. This is a chilling detail.
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The dam possessed either saving grace, nor common grace, nor any
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moral virtue of any kind. This total withdrawal of God's
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providential restraint is what leads to what Edwards calls a
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vast increase of the exercise of wickedness.
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So the devil isn't just wicked, he's maximally wicked, yes.
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There is no moral check remaining.
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This makes the devil the perfect spiritual control group for
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examining non saving experience. Any feeling or conviction he has
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is, by definition, utterly devoid of spiritual holiness.
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So the devil is the ultimate example of the natural man's
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potential, but unleashed by the total cessation of God's
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restraint. The third argument then kind of
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locks the door on any shared identity by focusing on the
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radical opposition and state between Saints and devils.
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The contrast is absolute, both in relative standing and in
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their real nature. In relative terms, Saints are
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the children of God. They're called to dwell with
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Christ. They're heirs of the heavenly
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Jerusalem. The devil is the grand rebel
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appointed to everlasting fire, the object of God's greatest
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eternal wrath. Their destinations are mutually
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exclusive. And their characters are
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mutually exclusive. Saints are described as meek,
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gentle, like doves bearing the image of Christ.
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The devil is the roaring lion, the great destroyer, Edwards
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argues. It just defies reason that
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contradicts common sense to suggest that sharing a property
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with Satan, a property that defines him in his condemned
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state, could be the certain sign that you are appointed to the
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radically contrary state. You can't be both.
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You're either the child of the holy God or, as Scripture calls,
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wicked man, you're the children of the devil.
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Resemblance cannot be the sign of the opposite parentage.
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You share a quality that belongs to the condemned.
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That quality cannot prove you belong with Christ.
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The logic there is airtight. I mean, the devil is the
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theological measuring stick for perfect, unrestrained,
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intelligent unholiness. And this doctrine, as Edwards
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tells us, applies to more than just the devil.
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It does. Edwards immediately transitions
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into what he calls the improvements by stating that
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this applies equally to damned men in hell.
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They are conformed to devils in state and nature.
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When they're cast into outer darkness, they too will possess
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nothing better in them than the devil's.
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They'll have neither saving grace nor common grace.
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So the same analysis we applied to the devil's experience
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applies to the experience of all the damned.
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So with that theological groundwork now set, Edwards can
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begin to examine these specific religious experiences that
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people mistake for saving grace. Where does he start?
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He starts with the mind moving to inference, the second
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speculative knowledge. And the core claim here is
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frankly shocking. It's that massive intellectual
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knowledge of God and theology is not only insufficient, but it's
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found in its highest form in the greatest enemy of God.
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It is a radical claim, especially in a time like the
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Great Awakening where religious discourse was everywhere.
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Edwards argues that when the devil fell, he didn't lose his
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natural faculties. Sin corrupts the heart, but
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doesn't diminish an angelic intellect.
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He was once among the bright and glorious angels, the morning
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stars. Edwards writes that the devil
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was educated in the best divinity school in the universe,
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namely the heaven of heavens. The implication of that the
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devil as the consummate theologian is terrifying.
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It suggests that intellectual mastery can be purely
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weaponized. What exactly did this education
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give him knowledge of? A comprehensive and
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exceptionally accurate body of knowledge.
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First, God's nature and attributes.
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He saw the glory of God's face before he fell.
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Second, creation and Providence. He was a spectator of creation
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and all the series of God's dealings with his church
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throughout history. He wasn't indifferent.
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His entire mission has been in total opposition to God, which
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requires strict, detailed observation of God's every move
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and. What about the most central
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doctrines of the faith? Redemption.
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Christ. He has a deep certain
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understanding of Christ, redemption, and divine wisdom.
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Because the cross is the ultimate demonstration of God's
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subtlety, confounding the subtlety of the devil.
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And he must know the Scriptures with the greatest precision.
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You just have to look at the temptation of Christ in the
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wilderness. Right, he quotes Scripture.
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He quotes Scripture to pervert it, to rest it, trying to
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overthrow God's plan that requires immense, accurate
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doctrinal knowledge. He also knows the invisible
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world directly, doesn't he? Yes, an immediate, direct
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experience view of the spiritual world.
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Heaven, which he forfeited, and hell, which he now inhabits and
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orchestrates. And on top of all that, he
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possesses an unparalleled knowledge of human nature, our
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dispositions, our corruptions, our weak points, as we are the
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primary target of his subtle devices.
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He even has a great speculative knowledge of the nature of
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experimental religion, which is shown by his ability to imitate
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it so artfully, transforming himself into an Angel of light.
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So the immediate take away for you, the listener, is that no
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matter how clear your theological notions are, how
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eloquently you can discourse on the Trinity or Christ's offices
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or justification, no matter how well you can solve naughty
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theological difficulties, even if you have greater doctrinal
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acquaintance than many, many true Saints, this is not a
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certain evidence of saving grace.
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The devil beats you in a systematic theology exam.
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Edwards concludes that when Scripture speaks of knowledge as
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peculiar to true Saints, like knowing the only true God in
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Jesus Christ, it must be Speaking of a different kind of
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knowledge. It's not just more information,
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it is a spiritual, a tasting knowledge that engages the heart
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and will and love and submission.
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Something purely speculative knowledge cannot touch.
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That sets up the next point perfectly.
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Inference 3. Speculative ascent.
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It's one thing to know the facts.
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It's another to believe them, to assent to their truth.
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And yet here again, the devil is sound.
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Indeed, the devil is not just a knower, he is a believer in the
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facts. Edwards makes the biting
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observation that the devil is profoundly orthodox.
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He is no Deist, Sicilian, Aryan, Pelegian, or Antinomian.
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His articles of faith are sound. He believes in the existence of
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God, the justice of God, the reality of Christ, the eternity
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of punishment. The danger is pretty clear then,
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believing doctrines purely from the force of rational arguments.
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Just seeing the overwhelming proof of creation or Providence
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or biblical fulfillment. That is no evidence of saving
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grace, because the devil has access to those same rational
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arguments in their ultimate form.
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So when the Scripture speaks of believing in Christ as a sign of
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grace, Edwards insists it means a spiritual conviction,
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believing with the whole heart, a faith that is peculiar to true
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Saints. Merely submitting your intellect
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to facts that are rationally proven is simply the natural
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operation of the mind. And if the devil believes the
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facts of theology, and if you believe in an infinite wrathful
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God, what is the inevitable natural consequence of that
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belief? That brings us to inference the
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4th distress and terrors. The text specifically says the
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devil's not only believe, but tremble.
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This is a direct scriptural evidence that terror and
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emotional upheaval, no matter how great, are not unique to
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grace. This trembling must be immense,
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Edwards says. It makes those mighty, proud and
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sturdy beings physically shudder under the apprehension of God's
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sovereignty and wrath. Let's stop here and address a
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common practical concern. If a listener has undergone an
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intense, maybe years long period of crippling condition,
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religious anxiety, fear of hell, are we saying that experience is
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fundamentally no different than what awaits the damned?
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How do we counsel them not to despair based on that
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experience? That is the crucial practical
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question, and Edwards would answer.
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The great and long continued terrors arising from real
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awakenings, apprehension of real sober truth, not just delusion
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or melancholy, are no more than what will be in all wicked men
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in hell. The terror they experience in
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this life is a shadow. It's the same kind of reaction,
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only it's restrained and degree by the present frail body and
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the common influence of God's Providence.
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The judgment day analogy he uses makes this very clear.
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It does. Edward says that all ungodly men
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who are now stupid and senseless will be effectually awakened at
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last by the last trumpet. They will be filled with most
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amazing terrors when the reality of their condemnation and the
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majesty of Christ are unveiled. They'll cry out to the rocks and
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mountains not because they're suddenly holy, but because
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they're overwhelmed by a natural fear of deserve danger.
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So if someone experiences intense fear before subsequent
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comfort, the intensity of that fear is no certain sign that the
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comfort that follows fellows is genuine.
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It just proves they're rational enough to fear a genuine danger.
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Right. Edwards is forcing us to stop
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looking at the thermometer, the intensity of the feeling, and to
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look at the substance. Is the root of that fear a holy
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hatred of sin, or is it a natural self preserving terror
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of punishment? The latter is perfectly natural
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to the devil. Which means we have to talk
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about the conscience of self moving beyond mere feeling and
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into the logical recognition of deserved guilt.
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Yes, this is Inference V. The mere work of the law.
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So how does Edwards differentiate this work of the
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law from a saving repentance? The work of the law involves a
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conviction of guilt and a conviction of the just desert of
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punishment. It consists of the minds
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operations that are forced by the clear light of conscience
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without the concurrence of the heart and inclination.
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The legal conviction is imposed by truth.
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It is an embraced by love. The mind knows it's guilty, but
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the heart retains its enmity. And this means the damned
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experience this conviction in its most absolute form.
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Absolutely. Natural conscience isn't
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extinguished in the damned, it's brought to its most perfect
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exercise. Edwards describes it as acting
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as God's vice preservant in the soul.
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A vice preservant is a deputy who exercises delegated
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authority. Conscience in hell is God's
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perfect tormenting deputy. That's the definition of the
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never dying worm from Mark 9. The Sinner might blind or stop
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the mouth of his conscience in this life, but in the next it is
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fully open to condemn him. So it's like a criminal who
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knows he's guilty, he knows the sentence is deserved, but he
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still hates the judge and hates the law.
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That is precisely the distinction.
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The judge of day itself is the ultimate legal work.
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If purpose isn't to determine justice, but to manifest it
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perfectly to every eye and every conscience, sinners will stand
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speechless, their mouths effectually stopped, because
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their consciences will be so perfectly enlightened, they
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can't deny their guilt or God's righteousness in condemning
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them. They will condemn themselves,
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not because their hearts have suddenly become holy, but
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because the rational evidence of their guilt is undeniable.
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That's incredibly sobering. It means that having great
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convictions of sin, a clear sight of the wickedness of your
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heart, even despairing of your own righteousness, being
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convinced you're holy without excuse before God, and
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acknowledging that God would be perfectly just in punishing you,
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all of these things will be perfectly executed in the
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ungodly at the Day of Judgement. Therefore, they can't be certain
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signs of grace here. And Edward is very careful here.
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He grants the true submission of the heart and will to God's
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justice, where the Sinner not only admits God is righteous,
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but loves the righteousness that condemns him.
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That is peculiar to true converts.
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The damned will be convinced that God is just in condemning
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them, but their wills will not be bowed.
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They'll retain the highest degree of enmity in opposition.
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Legal conviction alone cannot accomplish spiritual submission.
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This leads to a necessary caution, then, for those
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listening who might be relying on a specific kind of conversion
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narrative, this idea that you have to achieve a certain depth
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of despair before you can experience comfort.
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That is the caution against relying on the order of events.
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While it makes common sense that you can't genuinely accept a
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savior if you don't think you deserve punishment, Edwards
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argues we should not use the method or degree of conviction
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as an infallible rule for regeneration.
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And why does he push back against making the method an
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infallible rule? Because Edwards says the
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Scripture provides no warrant for it.
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To insist that a Sinner must follow a specific predetermined
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order or achieve a specific high degree of terror before faith
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can be genuine is to limit the unsearchable ways of the Spirit.
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If God may give some degree of conviction that ultimately comes
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to nothing, which is common, who are we to set the bounds and say
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how great that degree must be before it guarantees salvation?
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Reprobates will have perfect conviction at judgement.
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Why would God never cause them to anticipate some great degree
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of that judgement here? So the take away is that the
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infallible evidences of grace given in Scripture are never
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found in the history of conviction, but in grace itself,
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its nature, exercises and fruits.
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The focus has to always shift away from the process and onto
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the presence of holiness. Which brings us naturally to the
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emotional output of the heart. If intellectual knowledge isn't
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enough, and even legal terror isn't enough, what about earnest
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desire? We move to inference the 6th
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Earnest desires and longings. If a person intensely seeks
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salvation, surely that must be a holy longing.
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And Edward's answer, predictably, is no.
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Why? Because devil's doubtless long
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for deliverance from the misery they suffer, and from that
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greater misery which they expect they long for escape.
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And wicked men, when the door of salvation is shut, they cry,
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Lord, Lord, open to us, that is the most earnest desire for
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salvation imaginable. But it's too late.
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So even the most seemingly pious or earnest religious desire
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could be rooted entirely in self-interest, driven by a
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natural instinct for self preservation.
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Edwards isolates the principle self love.
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Many seemingly religious desires, longing for God,
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longing for Christ, longing for heaven, may be entirely resolved
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into self love arising from no higher principle than the self
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preserving desires of the devils who want to escape torment.
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A desire for heaven simply is a place of relief from pain
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without a corresponding desire for the holiness of heaven or
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the presence of God is merely natural.
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It's the difference between desiring food because you love
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the taste and desiring food only to escape the pain of
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starvation. The latter isn't a holy desire.
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OK, so the discussion now shifts to experiences that affect the
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imagination and the physical senses.
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Yes, starting with inference, the 7th apprehension of external
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glory. This would cover those
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overwhelming impressions that feel like divine visitation,
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hearing music that seems heavenly, seeing scripture words
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illuminated, or imagining visible splendor like a shining
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light, golden streets, or a glorious vision of Christ on the
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throne. And Edwards insists that these
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sensory impressions are not certain signs of grace because
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they only deal with the external aspect of glory, and this
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external glory, in its highest degree, will be visible to the
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damned. We need to spend some time on
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that image. How can the damned witness the
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highest degree of glory? Because they will see the
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external terrifying majesty in which Christ appears at the
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judgment day. Edwards writes that this vision
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of Christ glory, a majesty, will be 10,000 times greater than
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ever was impressed on the imagination of either Saints or
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sinners in their present mortal state.
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If the wicked are forced to witness this ultimate external
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splendor, and it drives them to beg for mountains to hide them,
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then the sight of external splendor alone cannot
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distinguish a St. So the Saint sees the external
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glory and loves the holiness it represents.
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The damned sees the external glory and trembles at the power
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it manifests. Exactly the experience, viewed
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as just a physical apprehension, is not unique to Grace.
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So the imagination, no matter how elevated or affected, is
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unreliable. This brings us to a more subtle
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point, inference 8th affecting sense of divine things.
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The devil isn't just a cold intellect, he is affected by
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divine things, and they deeply impress his spirit, causing him
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to tremble. This is the critical distinction
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Edwards is making between a holy relish and a natural, even
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agonizing sense. This inference contains several
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sub points demonstrating that just feeling the weight of
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spiritual reality is not salvation.
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Let's start with the first subpoint, then sense of
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importance of another world. The damned are in the invisible
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world. They know the truth of eternity
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with an existential certainty no mortal man can match.
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Their experience teaches them the vast importance of eternity,
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the worth of souls, and the comparative momentariness of
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this life. We see this perfectly in the
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rich man in Loop 16. He's experiencing torments, yet
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his consciousness of eternal states drives him to beg that
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Lazarus warn his five brothers. That is a desire arising from
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agonizing experience, not from love of God.
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So Edwards applies this Unregenerate men may have an
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affecting sense of the vanity of time, the worth of grace, and
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may mourn for their sins. But this sense is not evidence
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of grace because it is experienced most acutely by the
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damned who have discovered the dreadful issue of their evil
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way. Their mourning for sin is
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mourning for its consequences, not mourning because they hate
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offending a holy God. OK, now sub .2 sense of awful
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greatness and majesty of God. We're returning to the devil's
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trembling here. This fear stems from a strong,
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affecting sense of God's majesty, which is made manifest
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through the execution of divine vengeance.
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And this sense of terrible majesty is accessible to the
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unregenerate. It will be realized most
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terrifyingly when Christ is revealed in flaming fire and the
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wicked desire to hide from the glory of His Majesty.
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This fear is a natural, unholy reaction to overwhelming,
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terrible power. Edwards reminds us of the wicked
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congregation of Mount Sinai who saw a manifestation of God's
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majesty, and all the people in the camp trembled.
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They saw the majesty, they trembled, but they did not
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become Saints. So a sense of terrible majesty
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is not saving, it's simply a self preservation instinct
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reacting to an infinite entity. And this extends to sub .3 sense
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of all God's attributes. This is where the distinction
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becomes most subtle and I think most important for the
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knowledgeable listener. Devils and damned man have a
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strong affecting sense of all attributes, natural and moral,
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but they feel them only as torment.
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OK, let's break that down. How did the damned experience
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these attributes? Let's start with almighty power.
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They know it through physical agonizing experience, they saw
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it at creation, and they feel it continually.
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In their strong chains of darkness and their constant
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pain, they are under the perfect, inescapable pressure of
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infinite power. And what about God's wisdom?
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They have been the subjects of innumerable affecting
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manifestations of God's wisdom, which constantly baffles and
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confounds their subtle wicked devices.
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They cannot escape the truth of God's perfect strategy, which
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they oppose at every turn. OK, but what about the holy
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attributes, purity and holiness? These are felt only as a
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consuming fire. They find the infinite purity of
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God in the dreadful effects of His hatred of sin, and what they
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suffer eternally. They know by agonizing
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experience that God's opposition to sin burns with an infinite
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vehemence. Crucially, they feel the effect
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of holiness, but they never feel love for holiness itself.
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And finally, justice and truth. Justice will be manifested in
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the clearest, most convincing light of judgement stopping
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every mouth, as we discussed, and they find God's threatenings
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to be true, which leads to absolute despair.
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They know God is eternal and unchangeable, which means their
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torment is eternal and their despair is rationally founded.
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They also see demonstrations of God's grace, which is an
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attribute of God's truth and goodness in the glory of the
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Saints at Christ's right hand, which, while glorious, only
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serves to torment them by showing them what they lost.
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The conclusion is the same. Having an affecting sense of
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some or even all of God's attributes is no certain sign of
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true grace. We have to address the
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anticipated counter argument, which is highly practical.
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Why compare living, frail mortal men to devils in the damned,
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given the vast differences in circumstances?
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The state of the living is so radically different from the
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state of a disembodied, condemned spirit.
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Edwards agrees entirely that the degree of these experiences, the
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terror, the knowledge, the sense of majesty is not equal in
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mortal men. He says no mortal man could
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possibly subsist under the degree of terror the devil
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feels. They would simply die.
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But the crucial point is the kind of experience.
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Precisely. The argument is that the same
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sort of light in the understanding, the same views
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and affections, and the same kind of impressions on the mind
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and heart are present. If the Apostle James's argument
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holds for speculative belief that if the devil's have it,
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it's not evidence of grace, than it holds for all the non holy
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views and affections that accompany it, like trembling or
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legal conviction. So Edwards is essentially
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arguing that since unregenerate people here on earth in the same
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natural faculties and principles of soul as the damned, they are
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capable of the same kind of views and affections.
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The only difference is that here these views are restrained and
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agreed by their present frail state and by common Providence.
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And therefore it is spiritually unsafe to rely on the degree to
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which these legal, natural or sensory experiences are carried
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as an infallible rule. The rule for assurance must rest
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in the quality of holiness, not the quantity of emotion.
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OK, let's step back and synthesize this pretty radical
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argument. Edwards set the Devil's state as
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the baseline for unholy experience, confirming that
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Satan is perfectly wicked, lacking both saving grace and
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common grace. We then meticulously dissected 8
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areas often mistaken for salvation, speculative
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knowledge, doctrinal orthodoxy, overwhelming fear, legal
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convictions, self love, driven desire, and a powerful affecting
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sense of God's terrifying attributes.
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All these phenomena are accessible to the natural unholy
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heart. So if intellectual knowledge,
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legal terror, and earnest self preserving desire are all found
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outside of saving grace, what is the differentiating?
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Mark? Edwards insists the infallible
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evidences of grace are of another kind.
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They are all of a holy and spiritual nature.
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They are things of the heart that is holy, carnal and
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corrupt. Cannot receive or experience the
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Scripture confirms in First Corinthians 2.14.
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This shifts the entire focus from analyzing the intensity of
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the feelings, the great fear, the great conviction, to
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analyzing the quality of the heart's disposition.
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Indeed, the scriptural standard for discerning true Saints lies
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in the nature and fruits of grace itself.
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The apostles insisted on these Lovejoy, peace, long-suffering,
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gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, as listed
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in Galatians 5. The true sign is that divine
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love which James described as pure, peaceable, gentle and easy
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to be entreated. The evidence is not the
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magnitude of fear, but the genuine presence of holiness,
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which is utterly absent in the devil.
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So here is where it gets interesting for you to consider.
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If the devil who is educated in the best divinity school in the
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universe, possessing massive intellectual capacity, direct
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experience of divine power and wrath, if he uses his deep
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doctoral knowledge only to pervert scripture and device
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subtle ways to oppose God's Kingdom, What does this tell you
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about the insufficiency of mere mental ascent or theological
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sophistication for genuine righteousness?
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Is your belief rooted in facts the even the damned affirm?
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Or is it rooted in that holy charity which the devil cannot
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know and which the Spirit alone imparts?