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What Reason Reveals About God’s Purpose in Creation | Jonathan Edwards · Reformed Thinking

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  So if you were to ask the average person on the street why
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  the universe exists, you'd probably get a lot of different
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  answers. Oh yeah, tons of them.
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  Right, like some might talk about The Big Bang or, you know,
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  biology or maybe just random chance.
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  Yeah, the usual suspect. But I want you to imagine, just
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  for a minute, that you're walking through the cobblestone
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  streets of Europe and you stumble upon this massive, awe
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  inspiring cathedral. Oh man, I love those old.
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  They're incredible. So you walk inside and you look
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  up at the soaring arches, the stained glass catching the
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  sunlight, the intricate stonework that took generations
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  to complete. Now, if you were lucky enough to
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  find the original architect sitting in one of the pews, you
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  would probably walk up to them and ask one very specific
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  question. And it wouldn't be about the
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  bricks. Right.
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  You wouldn't ask how they built it or you know, what kind of
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  stone they used or how many workers it took.
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  You would ask why did you build this?
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  What was the point of all this effort?
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  Yeah. What was the highest aim, the
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  overarching goal that made you drop those blueprints in the 1st
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  place? Well, welcome to reformed
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  thinking. Glad to be here.
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  Today on the show, we are taking that same inquiry, but we are
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  scaling it up infinitely. We are asking the creator of the
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  universe why the cosmos exists. Which is a huge question.
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  Why is there something rather than nothing?
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  And more specifically, what was God's highest aim in creating
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  the world? So for this deep dive, we are
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  opening up a massive piece of Christian theology.
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  Jonathan Edwards dissertation Yes.
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  A dissertation concerning the end for which God created the
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  world. It is quite the title.
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  It really is. Our mission today is to look
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  closely at this text and try to comprehend the highest aim God
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  had in view during creation. And we're going to rely on
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  reason and calm reflection. It is a massive question, and
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  setting it up with the architect is a really good way to frame
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  it. Thanks.
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  Because when we approach Jonathan Edwards, especially a
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  text from the 1750s, it's really easy to anticipate this dense,
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  impenetrable wall of 18th century philosophy.
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  Oh for sure, it sounds intimidating.
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  Right. I mean, Edwards was writing
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  during the Enlightenment. That was a time when human
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  reason was really being elevated.
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  Yeah, people were starting to view God as a clockmaker.
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  Yes, someone who just wound up the universe and walked away.
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  But what stands out here is his method.
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  He tells us right at the beginning that he is avoiding
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  tedious metaphysical arguments. Which is a relief, honestly.
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  Huge relief. Instead, he appeals directly to
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  the dictates of a reflective mind.
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  He wants us to use calm, sedate reflection to follow his logic.
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  Just take it step by step. Yeah, and as Protestant
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  Christians who hold to Reformed theology, we come to this text
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  with a shared framework. Those of us who adhere to the
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  Westminster Confession know its famous opening lines.
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  Man's chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.
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  That's the one. What Edwards does in this
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  dissertation is flip that perspective from the creature to
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  the creator. Oh, that's interesting.
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  He asks what is God's chief end? What is the architect's primary
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  goal? And he builds a foundation of
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  rational thought that is incredibly satisfying to follow,
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  provided we just, you know, take our time and don't rush the
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  logic. Well, I have my copy of the text
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  right here, and looking at the sheer volume of his arguments, I
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  want to make sure we trace his logic organically.
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  Good idea. So where does he even start?
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  Because he doesn't begin with the physical creation of the
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  Earth or the stars. Right.
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  Not at all. He starts before all of that.
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  Right in eternity past, Yes. With what he calls the
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  attributes of God, Yes, He brings up this idea that God
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  possesses infinite might, boundless wisdom, perfect
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  righteousness, and absolute goodness.
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  The core attributes. But then he introduces a
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  problem, or at least like a logical tension, right?
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  If the world had never been created, those attributes would
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  have remained eternally dormant. They would just sit there.
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  Yeah, his might wouldn't have produced any great effects.
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  His wisdom wouldn't have had any objects to contrive or dispose
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  of. His justice and goodness would
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  have had no outlet. So Edwards builds this case that
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  if these capabilities exist, there is a natural necessity for
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  them to be exercised. But how does he justify that
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  leap? Like from simply having a
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  capability to demanding its exercise.
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  He justifies it through a concept he calls sufficiency.
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  OK, untack that for me. When Edwards uses the word
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  sufficiency, he means a complete perfect capability to accomplish
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  a specific work. Got it?
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  He argues that if a capability is excellent in itself, then the
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  exercise of that capability is also excellent.
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  OK, that tracks. Think about it this way, A
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  sufficiency for a work has no actual objective value in
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  reality unless the work happens. Oh wow.
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  Yeah. If it's an excellent thing that
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  there should be a capacity for a certain action, the value of
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  that capacity is entirely tied to the action itself.
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  So God delights in his own capabilities, yes.
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  He esteems his own infinite might and wisdom because they
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  are objectively good. Therefore, it naturally follows
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  that he delights in the actual exercise and expression of those
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  capabilities. So if he values his ability to
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  contrive wisely, he must value the wise contrivance itself.
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  You got it. If he delights in his
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  disposition to act justly, he must delight in righteous
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  action. The exercise of the attribute is
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  the logical manifestation of the attributes excellence.
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  It moves from potential to actual.
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  Right in that movement, the objective value of the attribute
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  is fully realized. Wait, I'm struggling with this a
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  bit. OK, what's saying?
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  Well. If God is already perfect and he
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  knows absolutely everything, why does he need to prove it?
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  I see what you mean. It feels like a cosmic science
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  experiment where he's just testing his own limits to see
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  what he can pull off. Right.
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  Like he's trying to impress himself.
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  Yeah. If he is completely
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  self-sufficient, as reformed theology insists, he already
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  knew he had these abilities. He had a perfect idea of his own
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  capabilities long before anything was created.
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  Sure. Doesn't this imply he lacks
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  something before creating us? Does the act of creation add
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  something to God that he was missing?
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  That is probably the most natural objection to race, and
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  it cuts right to the part of the theology.
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  I mean, it's a huge question. It is, but you are absolutely
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  right that God did not create the universe to discover his own
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  abilities, OK? He's not running experiments to
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  test his own limits. Edwards is very clear that God
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  knew himself and his perfections.
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  Florida State long before any actual operations of.
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  Them. So it's not about self
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  discovery, no. The act of creation does not add
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  to God's essential nature or make Him more divine.
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  Rather, Edwards is arguing that the action itself holds
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  intrinsic value. The action is valuable on its
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  own. Yes, the action of wise
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  contrivance, or the act of righteous disposal of things is
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  an objective good that God esteems.
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  It is about the manifestation of excellence.
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  So if an attribute is good, it's expression is good.
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  Correct. God values the expression not
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  because it fills a void in Him, but because the expression is a
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  multiplication of the good that He is a.
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  Multiplication. I like that.
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  It is an outward flowing of his nature He creates because it is
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  the nature of supreme goodness to be commutative and active,
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  not static and hidden. The value is in the reality of
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  the exercise. I think I can visualize this.
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  Let's hear it. Imagine someone who possesses
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  the greatest singing voice in human history.
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  Their vocal cords are physiologically flawless.
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  They have perfect pitch, incredible breath control and a
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  resonance that could bring tears to your eyes.
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  A once in a generation talent. Right now imagine this person
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  decides to sit in a completely silent, soundproof room for
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  their entire life. They never sing a single note.
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  That would be tragic. Exactly.
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  I mean, yes, it would be. They know they have this
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  incredible voice, they are fully aware of their capacity, but
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  they keep their lips sealed. So the capacity is there, but
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  nothing happens. Right.
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  The capacity is excellent, no doubt, but the actual singing is
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  what manifests that excellence. Yeah, the song itself has
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  objective value. A silent room is objectively
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  less beautiful than a room filled with that music.
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  Absolutely. The singer doesn't sing to find
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  out if they still have the voice.
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  They sing because the song itself is a beautiful, valuable
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  thing that deserves to exist. The act of singing brings the
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  capability into reality. The singer in the silent room
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  highlights a physical and logical reality perfectly.
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  It makes it easier to grasp. It does.
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  The voice in The Silent Room is excellent potential, but the
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  song brings that excellence into the realm of actuality, where it
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  can be fully realized as an objective good.
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  Well, wait, the singer in the silent room poses a new problem,
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  doesn't it? What do you mean?
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  Well, a song physically requires sound waves to bounce off
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  something. Thematically, it requires an ear
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  to hear it. Ah.
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  Yes, you're tracking right with Edwards here.
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  This implies that God's creation isn't finished just by the act
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  of making it. It physically and logically
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  demands an observer. Yes, it demands an audience.
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  If someone sings an incredible song, it changes the
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  environment. If the song echoes in an empty
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  universe, it is certainly better than silence, but it remains
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  incomplete. Because no one is there to
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  appreciate it. Right.
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  And this leads to Edward's next logical leap.
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  He argues that it is highly desirable that God's glorious
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  perfections should be known and seen by beings other than
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  Himself. Because if they aren't.
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  Seen if his capabilities are exercised but totally hidden
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  from any conscious observer, it is effectively the same as if
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  they were never exercised at all.
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  That makes total sense. Like if God flexes his might by
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  creating a billion galaxies, but there is absolutely no one
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  around to witness it, it feels like a wasted effort.
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  A beautiful painting in a pitch black.
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  Room, Yeah. So Edwards introduces the
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  concept of an audience. He says it is infinitely good in
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  itself that God's glory should be known by a glorious Society
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  of created beings. A glorious society.
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  That's a great phrase. And the logic he uses to get
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  there is fascinating. He constructs this rigid
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  hierarchy of existence like. That down for us.
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  He starts with the most basic premise imaginable.
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  Existence is better than non entity.
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  Having something is better than having nothing.
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  OK. Level 1, right?
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  From there, he argues that if any created existence is worthy
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  to be, the knowledge is worthy to be.
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  Knowledge is a higher form of existence than just inanimate
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  matter. So a conscious mind is
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  objectively greater than a mindless rock floating in space.
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  Yeah, exactly. And if any knowledge is worthy,
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  then the highest sort of knowledge, knowledge of God in
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  his glory, is the most excellent kind of created existence.
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  It's the absolute. Pinnacle.
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  The absolute pinnacle of what a creature can possess.
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  The rigor of that hierarchy establishes that conscious
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  awareness is not an afterthought in creation, it's a primary
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  goal. It's the whole point of the
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  audience. Right when he talks about a
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  glorious Society of created beings, he is giving us a vision
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  of the cosmos that is intensely relational.
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  It's not just rocks and stars. No, he's suggesting that the
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  universe is not a theater for God to act in isolation.
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  It is a theater specifically designed with seating for an
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  audience capable of comprehension.
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  I. Love that image.
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  And what is truly breathtaking here is how Edwards views the
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  trajectory of this glorious society.
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  He points out that there should be in them an increasing
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  knowledge of God to all eternity.
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  Increasing knowledge. Yes, and this completely
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  reframes how we think about the Christian afterlife.
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  Often people conceptualize eternity as a static state, a
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  kind of eternal plateau of rest where nothing ever changes, you
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  just arrive and that's it. Right, sitting on a cloud.
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  But Edwards envisions it as a continuous, escalating
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  acquisition of the knowledge of God.
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  Because God is infinite, a finite creature can never fully
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  comprehend Him. So you never run out of things
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  to learn. Never.
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  Therefore, eternity is an endless, joyful progression of
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  discovering more and more of the divine nature.
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  It is an active dynamic state of increasing knowledge.
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  That dynamic view of eternity shatters the cartoonish idea of
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  sitting on a cloud playing a harp forever.
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  It's way more exciting than that.
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  I think we see a shadow of this desire for an audience in our
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  own human nature. Oh, absolutely.
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  How do you mean? Well, we naturally want to share
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  a beautiful thing. Yes, we do.
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  When you're driving down the highway and you see a stunning,
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  vibrant sunset, the sky is bleeding purple and orange, your
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  first instinct is to turn to the passenger seat and say, look at
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  that. Or you pull out your phone, take
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  a picture and send it to a friend.
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  Right. Even if the picture is terrible,
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  we have this innate sense that beauty is meant to be witnessed.
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  It feels almost tragic to is something incredible entirely
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  alone. Yeah, if we as flawed creatures
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  feel that impulse to share beauty, it makes perfect sense
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  that God, who is the source of all beauty, would create beings
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  specifically to witness his glory.
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  He makes the sunset, and then he makes the eyes to see it.
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  The instinct to point out the sunset is a perfect reflection
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  of what Edwards is talking about.
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  We are wired to recognize that an unobserved beauty is somehow
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  missing its full realization. When we say look at that, we are
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  acting out a tiny fraction of the cosmic design.
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  We are participating in the idea that knowledge of excellence is
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  an objective good. However, observing a sunset
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  brings up an additional layer of nuance.
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  Oh, what's that? Merely looking at the colors in
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  the sky is not the complete experience.
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  I guess not. Think about a camera.
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  A camera lens can take in the light of the sunset, but a
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  camera lens doesn't care. It has no emotional response, it
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  just records data. Oh wow, yeah.
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  For the experience to be complete, you have to actually
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  appreciate, you have to feel a sense of awe.
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  Edwards recognizes this gap. So it's not just about seeing.
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  No, he argues that as it is desirable for God's glory to be
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  known, it is equally reasonable that it should be esteemed and
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  delighted in answering to its dignity.
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  He makes a very sharp distinction here between the
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  mind and the heart. Yes, he does.
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  Edwards talks about moral beauty living in the affections of the
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  heart. He basically says that cold hard
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  facts don't make you a good person, right?
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  He writes that there is no more reason to esteem it a suitable
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  thing, that there should be an idea in the understanding
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  corresponding unto the glorious object, than that there should
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  be a corresponding affection in the will.
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  That's a dense sentence, but it's brilliant.
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  In modern terms, knowing the facts about God's might and
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  wisdom is insufficient. The understanding in the mind
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  must trigger a corresponding affection in the will.
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  So knowledge must lead to love. Right.
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  If the perfection itself is excellent, the knowledge of it
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  is excellent, but the esteem and love of it is also excellent.
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  The creature cannot be a cold calculating observer.
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  The creature must be a joyful participant.
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  This is a massive theological distinction.
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  Edwards is stating that moral beauty specifically consists in
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  the disposition and affection of the heart.
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  The intellect alone falls short. Exactly.
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  I mean spot on. A demon, for example, can ace a
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  theology exam. That is a terrifying thought,
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  but true. The demonic realm has a very
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  accurate intellectual understanding of God's
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  capabilities. They know His might perfectly,
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  but they do not love it. They tremble at.
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  It so they have the knowledge but not the affection.
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  Therefore, mere knowledge does not fulfill the purpose of the
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  glorious society. Edwards argues that since God
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  loves His own excellence because it is objectively the highest
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  good, it is entirely fitting that he loves having himself
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  valued by his creation. So he desires the affection of
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  the will. The act of delight of the heart,
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  because that is the only rational, appropriate response
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  to infinite beauty, a cold, indifferent acknowledgement of
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  God's glory, would be a profound contradiction of truth.
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  The heart must align with the mind.
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  OK, I have to push back on. This.
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  Bring it on. Because when we talk about God
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  wanting his creation to esteem and delight in Him, it can sound
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  really unsettling. Unsettling how?
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  Does this make God sound incredibly needy, like a monarch
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  demanding applause? Yes, the needy monarch
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  objection. We all know people who
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  constantly need validation, who fish for compliments, and we
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  view that as a sign of deep insecurity.
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  It's exhausting to be around those people.
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  It is if a human king builds a massive monument to himself and
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  commands everyone to stand around and tell him how great he
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  is. We called that narcissist.
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  So how do we reconcile this idea that God created the universe so
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  that we would praise him without reducing him to the level of an
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  insecure human ruler demanding a standing ovation?
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  That is probably the most common objection to this entire line of
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  reformed theology, and we have to address it head on.
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  Please do. The answer lies in contrasting
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  human insecurity with divine perfection.
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  When a human monarch demands applause, they do so because
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  they lack something. They need the ego boost.
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  Yes, they are hungry for validation, they are insecure in
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  their status, and they are using other people to fill a
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  psychological void. Their demand for praise is
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  fundamentally selfish because they are not the highest good in
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  the universe. They are flawed humans.
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  Flawed humans demanding to be treated as if they were
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  flawless. But God is in a completely
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  different category. God desires our delight not
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  because he is lacking, but because he is objectively the
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  highest good. So it's about reality.
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  Yes, when He demands our praise, He is demanding that we align
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  ourselves with reality. If God were to point our
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  affections toward anything other than Himself, He would be
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  pointing us away from the highest joy.
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  Which wouldn't be loving. It would be an unloving act.
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  Yeah. Or delight in him is the most
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  accurate, right and beautiful response to reality.
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  It's in alignment with truth. That makes a lot of sense.
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  CS Lewis actually touched on this brilliantly.
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  He noted that praise is not just the expression of joy, but the
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  consummation of it. Consummation We.
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  Praise what we enjoy because the delight is incomplete until it
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  is expressed. God wants our praise because He
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  wants our joy to be full. That distinction between lacking
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  something and being the highest good makes all the difference.
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  It takes the narcissism argument and flips it completely.
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  It really does. Let me offer an analogy to
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  ground this concept of the mind versus the will.
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  I love your analogies. Let's hear it.
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  Think about a gourmet meal prepared by a world class chef
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  in a Michelin star restaurant. OK, I'm hungry already.
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  A food scientist could analyze that meal in a stair barrel
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  laboratory. They could tell you the exact
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  chemical composition of the sauce, the precise temperature
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  the meat was cooked at to achieve the perfect Mayard
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  reaction, and list every single molecule of flavor.
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  So they know everything about it.
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  That represents the idea in the understanding they have perfect
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  data about the meal, but actually sitting down at a
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  rustic table, tasting the meal, closing your eyes and savoring
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  the complex flavors, that is the affection in the will.
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  The food scientist knows the meal, but the diner delights in
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  it. Right.
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  Edwards is saying that God does not want a universe full of food
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  scientists taking notes on his attributes.
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  He wants a universe full of diners savoring the feast.
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  God wants us to taste and see, not just calculate and observe.
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  The diner is experiencing the meal as it was intended to be
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  experienced, and what is critical to recognize here is
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  that this intense joy, this savoring of the feast, must
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  originate from somewhere. It doesn't just come out of
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  nowhere. No, it isn't manufactured by the
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  creature out of nothing. The creature doesn't generate
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  this delight independently, it flows from a source.
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  So. Where does it come?
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  From Edwards looks at this entire system, the attributes,
• 19:37
  the audience, the delight, and traces it all back to a single
• 19:41
  overflowing origin. He introduces A breathtaking
• 19:44
  concept. He says that God possesses an
• 19:47
  infinite fullness of all possible good, perfection,
• 19:51
  beauty, and happiness. This fullness is capable of
• 19:54
  communication or what he calls emanation.
• 19:57
  Add extra, which is a Latin term meaning an outward flowing.
• 20:00
  Emanation add extra. Because God is an infinite
• 20:03
  fountain of good, it is a valuable thing in itself that
• 20:07
  this fountain should send forth abundant streams.
• 20:09
  So it overflows. He makes a point to say that
• 20:13
  such an emanation of good is in some sense a multiplication of
• 20:17
  it. The stream coming from the
• 20:19
  fountain is an increase or repetition of the good found in
• 20:22
  the fountain itself. That phrase emanation add extra
• 20:27
  feels like the crux of the whole dissertation.
• 20:29
  It really is the anchor of his thought.
• 20:30
  It completely annihilates the idea of the distant clockmaker
• 20:34
  God we talked about earlier. It shatters it.
• 20:36
  We often hear that old deist analogy where God builds the
• 20:40
  universe like a pocket watch, winds it up, and then steps back
• 20:43
  to just watch it tick from a distance.
• 20:45
  Which is such a cold view of creation.
• 20:47
  It is, but Edwards is giving us a completely contrary vision.
• 20:51
  Creation is not a mechanical project.
• 20:53
  It is an overflow of divine joy. It is an active, continuous
• 20:57
  process of communication. He lists a trio of analogies
• 21:00
  that are so vivid. First, the infinite fountain of
• 21:04
  water sending out streams. Second, the sun shining forth
• 21:07
  beams of light. And 3rd, the root and stalk of a
• 21:11
  tree, diffusing SAP and life to its buds, leaves and fruits.
• 21:15
  Those analogies are incredible. Each of these analogies moves us
• 21:18
  further away from a cold, detached Creator and closer to
• 21:22
  an organic, living relationship between God and the cosmos.
• 21:26
  Those analogies are essential for grasping the strict
• 21:29
  theological truth Edwards establishes.
• 21:31
  Let's look closely at the tree analogy for.
• 21:33
  Instance OK the root and the SAP.
• 21:35
  Edwards notes that the disposition in the root to
• 21:37
  diffuse SAP is the reason the buds and leaves exist.
• 21:40
  So the urge to give life creates the leaf.
• 21:43
  Right. The commutative disposition in
• 21:45
  general, the urge of the divinity to flow out was the
• 21:48
  actual trigger for creation. God didn't create the world and
• 21:51
  then decide to interact with it. The flowing out was the point.
• 21:53
  The very desire to communicate His goodness is what caused the
• 21:57
  world to be. The emanation itself was aimed
• 22:00
  at by Him as a last end of the creation.
• 22:03
  This means that the universe is tethered to God by its very
• 22:07
  nature. It exists because He is
• 22:09
  currently and continuously flowing outward.
• 22:12
  If we connect this tree analogy back to your daily reality, it
• 22:16
  changes everything. How so?
• 22:18
  The SAP doesn't just create the leaf in the spring and then
• 22:20
  leave it alone. The SAP sustains the leaf every
• 22:23
  single day. If the SAP stops flowing, the
• 22:26
  leaf Withers immediately. That is a staggering thought.
• 22:29
  It really makes you pause, doesn't it?
• 22:30
  The leaf is completely dependent on the constant act of flow from
• 22:34
  the root. It means that the joy you
• 22:36
  experience today, any moment of goodness or beauty, is sustained
• 22:40
  by that same original, overflowing SAP.
• 22:43
  You are the leaf. You are the leaf, and the SAP is
• 22:45
  the infinite fullness of God's happiness.
• 22:48
  When you put all of these pieces together, you get a theological
• 22:51
  framework that is incredibly robust.
• 22:53
  They'll connect so perfectly. God's glorious attributes, His
• 22:56
  might and wisdom, needed exercise so they wouldn't remain
• 22:59
  dormant, right? That exercise needed to be seen
• 23:01
  and known by a glorious Society of created beings, because
• 23:05
  hidden exercise is no exercise at all.
• 23:07
  The audience. That society needed to not just
• 23:10
  know, but actively delight in and esteem what they saw,
• 23:14
  responding with the affection of the will.
• 23:17
  The heart responding to the. And all of this was the direct
• 23:20
  result of an overflowing fountain of divine fullness and
• 23:23
  emanation of God's own infinite good outward into the cosmos.
• 23:28
  When you connect this massive theological concept directly to
• 23:31
  yourself to the listener, it necessitates a shift and how you
• 23:35
  view your own existence. Because it makes it so personal.
• 23:38
  You are not a random cosmic accident.
• 23:40
  You are not just a collection of atoms floating through a cold in
• 23:44
  different void. No, not at all.
• 23:45
  According to this Reformed framework, you were created
• 23:48
  specifically to be a recipient of and a participant in the
• 23:52
  outward flow of God's infinite happiness and moral beauty.
• 23:55
  You're meant to catch the light. Your capacity to know, your
• 23:58
  capacity to love, your capacity to experience joy.
• 24:01
  These are all designs that you can catch the beams of the sun.
• 24:04
  You are the audience of the glorious society, the diner
• 24:07
  savoring the feast, the leaf receding the SAP.
• 24:11
  Your existence is tied directly to the highest aim of the
• 24:13
  Creator. That's the core of it all.
• 24:15
  I want to leave you with a final lingering question to Mull over
• 24:18
  long after this audio stops. A good thing to chew on.
• 24:21
  If the entire universe exists simply as an overflow of God's
• 24:24
  own joy and fullness, how did that alter the way you view the
• 24:28
  mundane, everyday joys in your own life?
• 24:31
  The small things. When you drink a good cup of
• 24:33
  coffee, when you hear a friend laugh, or when you feel the
• 24:36
  warmth of the sun on your face, is it possible that the smallest
• 24:40
  moment of pure happiness you feel tomorrow is actually a tiny
• 24:43
  direct beam from that original infinite sun?
• 24:46
  What a thought. We want to thank you for joining
• 24:48
  us on this deep dive. Keep thinking critically, keep
• 24:51
  looking for the beauty and the design, and we will catch you
• 24:53
  next time on Reformed Thinking.