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The Spring of All Holy Affections: God’s Moral Excellency | Jonathan Edwards · Reformed Thinking

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  Welcome back to reformed thinking.
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  This is the deep dive, yeah. Where we take a stack of sources
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  and try to figure out what really matters.
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  And today we're digging into some notes from Jonathan
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  Edwards, his work on religious affections.
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  Right. Those spiritual desires,
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  feelings, inclinations we have. And we're looking specifically
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  at what makes an affection truly holy.
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  The mission, I guess, is to unpack what he means by moral
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  Excellency. Yeah.
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  How is that different from just, you know, natural qualities?
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  And why does getting this distinction right matter for
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  genuine spiritual life? According to these sources,
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  anyway. Let's get into it.
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  OK, so what's really striking right from the start is how
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  these sources draw these very clear lines.
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  Yeah, sharp lines between different kinds of good and
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  evil, and even different ways of perceiving things.
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  They kick off saying that truly holy affections are, well,
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  fundamentally based on the loveliness of the moral
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  Excellency of divine things. OK, moral Excellency.
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  They're pretty quick to define what they mean by moral here.
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  Right, because it's not just like behaving properly on the
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  outside, Yeah. No, they say moral good is
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  what's contrary to sin. It's found in beings that have
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  will and choice. So beings capable of choosing.
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  Exactly. And it's about them acting as
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  it's fit and suitable for them to act.
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  It's an inherent goodness in them as voluntary agents.
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  OK, an inherent goodness. And these divines, they really
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  make a point of separating this moral good from what they call
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  natural good. Right, they do.
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  Moral good in this context is basically holiness or virtue.
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  Like in God. Yeah, in God, it's his
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  righteousness, His truth, His goodness.
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  That's His Holiness and in US. Or creatures.
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  It's things like love to God, love to others, justice,
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  meekness, you know, Christian virtues.
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  That's our holiness, or what it should be.
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  OK, so that's moral good, holiness, virtue, right
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  character. What about natural good then?
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  How's that different? Well, the source is presented as
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  entirely different. It's about what perfects or
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  suits nature itself, kind of abstractly considered.
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  Without thinking about right or wrong.
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  Exactly. No regard for right or wrong.
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  So things like pleasure, honor, strength.
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  Having lots of knowledge. Being clever.
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  Yes, speculative knowledge, human learning, policy,
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  cleverness, stuff like that. And in God, what are his natural
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  goods? His natural attributes are seen
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  as his greatness, so his power, his knowledge being internal,
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  omnipresent, his, you know, awesome majesty and for.
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  Creatures natural good is reason ability, right?
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  Reason, understanding, natural ability, dominion over other
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  creatures, those kinds of things.
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  So it seems like moral good is about the being, the character,
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  the Will's disposition. Well, natural good is more about
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  capacity, power, circumstance, maybe usefulness.
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  That's a good way to put it, and they draw a similar line for
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  evil too. OK, so moral evil is?
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  That's the evil of sin, acting against duty, against what's
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  right. Pretty straightforward.
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  And natural evil. That's just contrary to mere
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  nature. It doesn't involve duty.
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  So thinks suffering, pain, torment, disgrace.
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  More natural defects. Yeah, like being born with a
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  major disability or lacking basic understanding.
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  These are seen as bad things contrary to natures perfection,
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  but not morally wrong in the same way sin is.
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  Okay, that distinction feels pretty foundational.
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  For everything else, they build on it it.
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  Really is and they connect it right back to the image of God
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  in US. And where this moral Excellency,
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  this holiness, actually live, so to speak?
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  They talk about a twofold image of God in humans.
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  Twofold. Yeah, yeah.
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  First there's the natural image. That's our reason our
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  understanding natural abilities dominion over creatures.
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  The things that sort of mirror God's natural attributes, yeah.
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  His power, his knowledge. Exactly.
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  That's how it's presented. It images God's natural
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  greatness. But there's another part.
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  You said twofold, right? The crucial part, yeah, the
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  moral or spiritual image, and that is that's described as our
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  holiness. It's the image of God's moral
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  Excellency. OK, so we reflect God's
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  greatness naturally, but also his goodness morally, Or at
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  least we were supposed to. Precisely because the key point
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  these sources hammer home is that this moral or spiritual
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  image, our original holiness, was lost in the fall.
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  So we still have reason, ability, reflections of God's
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  natural side, you could say. But that core holiness, the
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  reflection of his moral nature, is gone, damaged at least.
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  That's the idea. And where do they say this moral
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  Excellency, this holiness is primarily located?
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  Where is it seated? In an intelligent being, yeah.
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  It's primarily in the heart or the will, the will.
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  An intelligent being is morally good, according to these
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  sources, when its will is truly right and lovely.
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  So it's not just about doing the right things, it's about the
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  will itself being right, the disposition.
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  Exactly the core inclination of the heart.
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  OK. If it's about inherent goodness
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  and rightness, yeah, it has to be deep down at the level of the
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  will. And this leads them to argue
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  something quite radical, actually, which is that holiness
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  isn't just a good quality among many, it's actually the main
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  source of beauty and loveliness in all intelligent beings.
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  The source of beauty, primarily. Primarily, yes, the sources say
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  the true beauty and loveliness of all intelligent beings
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  consists mainly in their moral Excellency, their holiness.
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  Wow, they even call holiness the Excellency of Natural
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  Excellencies. What does that?
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  Mean well. Think about it.
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  Natural qualities like great strength or incredible knowledge
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  without holiness. Do they make someone lovely?
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  Truly admirable. Maybe not.
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  It could make them scary even. Exactly.
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  The sources argue they can even make a being more hateful.
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  They use the contrast between elect angels and devils.
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  How so? Well, the angels have great
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  strength and knowledge, right? But it's their holiness that
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  makes those qualities glorious and wonderful.
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  OK, but devils also have immense strength and understanding.
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  Yet because they lack holiness, those same natural capabilities
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  just make them utterly hateful. Their power serves their evil
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  will. Ah.
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  I see, so holiness isn't just like icing on the cake, it's
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  what makes the cake itself good or determines how the other
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  ingredients are used. It directs and beautifies the
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  natural qualities. That's a good way to put it.
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  And they apply this directly to God himself.
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  How does it apply to God? Holiness is described as the
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  beauty of the divine nature. It's the holiness that makes all
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  his other attributes, his wisdom, His Majesty, His power,
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  His eternity, lovely and attractive.
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  So God's wisdom isn't just impressive, it's lovely because
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  it's holy wisdom. Precisely.
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  His Majesty is lovely because it's holy majesty.
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  The real loveliness of all God's perfections, these sources
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  argue, comes from the loveliness of His Holiness.
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  That puts holiness right at the absolute center of who God is
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  and why He is worthy of love and adoration.
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  It's not just His power, but His goodness.
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  It really does. And this understanding then
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  radiates outward, doesn't it, To other divine things?
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  You mean like Saints, angels, scripture?
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  Absolutely. The beauty of Saints and angels,
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  it's their holiness. The beauty of the Christian
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  religion itself, its holiness. And the Bible, the Excellency of
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  the word of God, according to these sources, is its holiness.
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  They point to Psalm 119. You know all those verses about
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  God's law being pure, right, true, righteous.
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  And Psalm 19 too right. The law of the Lord is perfect,
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  the testimony is sure, the statute's right, the commandment
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  pure. Exactly.
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  The fundamental appeal isn't just the stories or the wisdom,
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  but it's holy nature. And what about Christ?
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  His amiableness, his attractiveness, is presented as
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  primarily His Holiness. He's called the Holy One of God.
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  So the beauty of his human nature, his meekness, love,
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  compassion, that's all summed up in His Holiness.
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  That's the idea. And the beauty of his divine
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  nature, too, consists primarily in His Holiness.
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  It follows, then, the gospel. The glory of the gospel is its
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  holiness. It's seen as flowing out from
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  the holy beauty of God in Christ.
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  The way of salvation itself is described as holy.
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  Even heaven. Even heaven, it's glory, is
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  presented in terms of holiness. It's the holy city, the
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  habitation of God's holiness. They cite Isaiah and Revelation
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  there. Wow, so the consistent thread is
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  holiness as the supreme beauty, which means if we're going to
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  truly love any of these divine things.
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  According to these sources, our love has to be primarily on
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  account of their holiness. You have to love the holiness in
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  them. That's the absolute core of it.
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  Which naturally leads to the next question.
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  Question How does someone even perceive this beauty, this
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  holiness? Right, and here the sources
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  introduce something really interesting, the idea of a new
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  supernatural sense. A new sense, like seeing or
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  hearing. Sort of.
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  Or maybe more like taste. They call it a divine spiritual
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  taste that's given when someone is regenerated spiritually born
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  again. A spiritual tasting ability?
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  How is that different from just, you know, understanding things
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  with your mind? It's described as completely
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  different, entirely diverse from our natural senses or our
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  natural understanding. And what does this sense
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  perceive? The beauty of holiness that's
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  said to be its immediate object. Holiness is the specific
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  sweetness that this spiritual taste perceives.
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  OK, a direct perception of holiness itself.
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  Is this something everyone has? The spiritual taste.
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  No, according to these sources, absolutely not.
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  Natural men, people who haven't been regenerated, they have no
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  sense or taste for the goodness and Excellency of holy things as
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  holy. They can't perceive it for its
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  holiness. No, it's said to be holy.
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  Hid from them. But wait, people who aren't
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  believers can still be affected by God?
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  God, right? They can feel awe, or fear his
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  power, or recognize his existence maybe.
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  Oh, for sure, absolutely. They can definitely have a sense
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  of God's natural perfections, His greatness, His power, His
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  awesome majesty. That seems undeniable.
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  Yeah, and the sources even point out that devils have great
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  knowledge of God's natural glory.
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  They know he's powerful and they tremble before him.
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  But that's not the same thing. That's a crucial point.
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  That is not perceiving the beauty of his moral perfections.
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  It's not seeing or tasting His Holiness.
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  So what's the real difference in how you perceive God, then,
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  between this natural sense and the spiritual sense?
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  Well, the spiritual sense perceives the intrinsic beauty,
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  what the source is called the bonum formosum, the beautiful
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  good of moral Excellency of holy.
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  It sees holiness as supremely lovely in itself.
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  OK, lovely for its own sake and the natural understanding.
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  The natural understanding perceives God's natural
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  attributes, power, knowledge, etcetera, and it can perceive
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  God's grace or love, but mainly as profitable as a bonum util a
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  useful good. Useful to me, something that
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  benefits me, keeps me safe, makes me happy.
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  Exactly. It's perceived in relation to
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  self-interest, not for its own inherent beauty.
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  The natural person doesn't grasp the intrinsic beauty of God's
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  moral perfection, His Holiness. It really does sound like that
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  honey analogy they use. That's good water knowing honey
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  is sweet versus actually tasting the sweetness.
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  One's just a fact in your head, the other is a direct experience
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  of the quality. That nails it.
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  That's the difference they're drawing.
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  And they mentioned the psalmist, you know, in Psalm 119 and 19,
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  delighting in the holiness of God's law.
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  That's presented as an example of this spiritual taste, this
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  appetite for holiness itself. OK, so all this careful
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  definition, all these distinctions, it seems like it's
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  all building towards helping people evaluate their own
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  spiritual condition, their affections.
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  That seems to be the goal, yes. How do you test if your
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  affections are truly holy? And this idea of loving holiness
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  for its own sake seems to be the key test they proposed.
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  It is a holy love, they argue, must have a holy object.
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  But more than that, its own holiness consists in loving that
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  object because it is holy, loving it for its holiness.
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  Not for some other reason like what I get out of.
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  It precisely, and they try to bolster this by looking at the
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  flip side. The opposite you mean sin.
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  Yeah, they argue from contraries.
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  If our sinful nature's basic hostility, it's enmity is mainly
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  directed against holy things specifically because they are
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  holy and. Then it makes sense that a holy
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  nature would primarily delight in holiness.
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  Exactly. It's logical They point to the
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  Seraphim in Isaiah crying holy, holy holy or the Saints in
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  Revelation declaring for thou only art holy.
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  As evidence that God's holiness is what primarily captures their
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  attention, their admiration and praise.
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  Yes, that seems to be the divine beauty that most engages them.
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  And even when Saints here on earth praise God for his power
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  or justice or mercy. The sources suggest they do so
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  understanding that these attributes get their loveliness
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  from His Holiness or are aspects of His Holiness.
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  It all comes back to holiness. OK, this brings it right down to
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  application for you, the listener.
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  How do you actually examine your own feelings, your love, your
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  joy, especially towards God, Christ, the Bible, other
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  believers? How?
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  Does this whole moral versus natural good, holiness versus
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  self-interest thing help you test that?
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  Well, the test laid out in these sources is pretty direct.
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  Does your affection, your love or joy, spring from a supreme
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  delight in this beauty of holiness itself?
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  Without being primarily motivated by what you think
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  you'll get out of it, your imagined self-interest, or your
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  expectation of blessing or reward.
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  That's the question. So if my main feeling towards
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  God is, say, relief that he's powerful enough to fix my life,
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  or a warm feeling towards Jesus because I believe he guarantees
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  my eternal security, Yeah, the sources are saying that's not
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  necessarily holy affection. It's not the defining
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  characteristic of it, no. They state very clearly that
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  having a great sense of God's greatness, His awesome majesty,
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  his natural power, that's no certain sign of grace.
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  No certain sign? Why not?
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  Because, as we said, people without grace, even devils, can
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  perceive and react to God's natural attributes.
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  They can be awed or terrified by His power.
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  So what is the effect then of only sensing God's greatness,
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  His natural power, without seeing His Holiness?
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  Well, it can terrify you obviously, make you fear
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  judgement or or if you think God is showing you mercy or giving
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  you some benefit, like Nebuchadnezzar getting his
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  Kingdom back in Daniel, it might make you feel grateful, you
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  might even praise God. But that gratitude isn't
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  necessarily spiritual. It could just be based on
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  natural principles. Relief, self-interest.
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  You're thankful for the benefit received, you stand in awe of
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  the power that gave it, but you might still have no actual love
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  for the character. The holiness of the giver.
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  Like being grateful to a powerful tyrant who happened to
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  spare you. Something like that.
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  Perhaps it's a critical difference.
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  OK, So what happens then, according to these sources, when
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  someone does get a glimpse of God's moral beauty, His
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  Holiness? Well, the contrast is presented
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  as dramatic, stark really. The sources say something like
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  the first glimpse of the moral and spiritual glory of God
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  shining into the heart produces all these effects, as it were,
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  with omnipotent power. Omnipotent power.
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  What effects? It's described as something that
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  melts the heart. It humbles you deeply.
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  It starts to wean you off. Dependence on worldly things.
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  It powerfully draws you towards God Himself.
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  And it changes you. It effectually changes the
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  person, a profound fundamental shift.
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  That sounds like more than just a feeling, it sounds like a
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  complete reorientation of your whole being.
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  That's exactly how it's presented.
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  It's described as a change that nothing else, not fear of power,
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  not hope of natural benefit, can actually bring about.
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  But isn't appreciating God's power or majesty still
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  important? Oh yes, definitely useful and
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  necessary, especially when it's combined with a view of His
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  Holiness. Grace actually helps you see the
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  beauty derived from holiness even in those natural attributes
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  like power and wisdom. The initial converting site, the
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  one that truly changes the heart.
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  That is the site of the beauty of holiness itself.
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  So we've really traced how these sources draw this incredibly
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  sharp line, haven't we, between a natural appreciation of God's
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  greatness, his power, and a truly spiritual sense of his
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  moral beauty, His Holiness? Yes, and how that spiritual
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  sense, that divine taste as they call it, is presented as
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  absolutely essential for genuinely holy affections.
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  It's what marks them out from responses that might look
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  religious on the surface but are actually rooted in self-interest
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  or just awe at power. It really pushes you to look
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  beneath the surface of your own feelings about God and divine
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  things, doesn't it? It's not just that you feel
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  something strongly. Right, but what is the actual
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  object drawing that feeling? Is it primarily God's power and
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  what He can do for you? Or is it the inherent beauty,
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  the sheer rightness and goodness of His holy nature that
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  captivates you? That raises a really challenging
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  final thought based on these sources.
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  If the perception of God's moral beauty, His Holiness, is the
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  only thing that truly effectively changes the heart
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  and removes that deep seated hostility towards holiness, then
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  what does that imply about the nature of any religious
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  experience, any apparent transformation that doesn't seem
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  to begin with or isn't centered on a genuine delight in God's
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  holiness for its own sake?