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Standing in Grace
In this book, America’s greatest theologian explains one of Christianity’s most important subjects―the believer’s standing in grace. Edwards gives his usual thorough treatment as he examines the difference between common and saving grace, demonstrates the nature and qualities of saving grace, and emphasizes how a principle of grace is from the Spirit of God. Edwards also deals extensively and insightfully with the issue of the Holy Spirit as it relates to standing in grace.
This work was first published in 1865 by Alexander Grosart under the title A Treatise on Grace and was included as part of Selections from the Unpublished Writings of Jonathan Edwards. This new edition is typeset and edited for easier reading.
Table of
1. Common and Saving Grace Differ, Not Only in Degree, but in Nature and Kind
2. Wherein All Saving Grace Does Summarily Consist
3. How a Principle of Grace Is from the Spirit of God
This work was first published in 1865 by Alexander Grosart under the title A Treatise on Grace and was included as part of Selections from the Unpublished Writings of Jonathan Edwards. This new edition is typeset and edited for easier reading.
Table of
1. Common and Saving Grace Differ, Not Only in Degree, but in Nature and Kind
2. Wherein All Saving Grace Does Summarily Consist
3. How a Principle of Grace Is from the Spirit of God
72 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1754
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About the author
Jonathan Edwards
1,606 books528 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database named Jonathan Edwards.
Jonathan Edwards was the most eminent American philosopher-theologian of his time, and a key figure in what has come to be called the First Great Awakening of the 1730s and 1740s.
The only son in a family of eleven children, he entered Yale in September, 1716 when he was not yet thirteen and graduated four years later (1720) as valedictorian. He received his Masters three years later. As a youth, Edwards was unable to accept the Calvinist sovereignty of God. However, in 1721 he came to what he called a "delightful conviction" though meditation on 1 Timothy 1:17. From that point on, Edwards delighted in the sovereignty of God. Edwards later recognized this as his conversion to Christ.
In 1727 he was ordained minister at Northampton and assistant to his maternal grandfather, Solomon Stoddard. He was a student minister, not a visiting pastor, his rule being thirteen hours of study a day. In the same year, he married Sarah Pierpont, then age seventeen, daughter of Yale founder James Pierpont (1659–1714). In total, Jonathan and Sarah had eleven children.
Stoddard died on February 11th, 1729, leaving to his grandson the difficult task of the sole ministerial charge of one of the largest and wealthiest congregations in the colony. Throughout his time in Northampton his preaching brought remarkable religious revivals.
Yet, tensions flamed as Edwards would not continue his grandfather's practice of open communion. Stoddard believed that communion was a "converting ordinance." Surrounding congregations had been convinced of this, and as Edwards became more convinced that this was harmful, his public disagreement with the idea caused his dismissal in 1750.
Edwards then moved to Stockbridge, Massachusetts, then a frontier settlement, where he ministered to a small congregation and served as missionary to the Housatonic Indians. There, having more time for study and writing, he completed his celebrated work, The Freedom of the Will (1754).
Edwards was elected president of the College of New Jersey (later Princeton University) in early 1758. He was a popular choice, for he had been a friend of the College since its inception. He died of fever at the age of fifty-four following experimental inoculation for smallpox and was buried in the President's Lot in the Princeton cemetery beside his son-in-law, Aaron Burr.
Jonathan Edwards was the most eminent American philosopher-theologian of his time, and a key figure in what has come to be called the First Great Awakening of the 1730s and 1740s.
The only son in a family of eleven children, he entered Yale in September, 1716 when he was not yet thirteen and graduated four years later (1720) as valedictorian. He received his Masters three years later. As a youth, Edwards was unable to accept the Calvinist sovereignty of God. However, in 1721 he came to what he called a "delightful conviction" though meditation on 1 Timothy 1:17. From that point on, Edwards delighted in the sovereignty of God. Edwards later recognized this as his conversion to Christ.
In 1727 he was ordained minister at Northampton and assistant to his maternal grandfather, Solomon Stoddard. He was a student minister, not a visiting pastor, his rule being thirteen hours of study a day. In the same year, he married Sarah Pierpont, then age seventeen, daughter of Yale founder James Pierpont (1659–1714). In total, Jonathan and Sarah had eleven children.
Stoddard died on February 11th, 1729, leaving to his grandson the difficult task of the sole ministerial charge of one of the largest and wealthiest congregations in the colony. Throughout his time in Northampton his preaching brought remarkable religious revivals.
Yet, tensions flamed as Edwards would not continue his grandfather's practice of open communion. Stoddard believed that communion was a "converting ordinance." Surrounding congregations had been convinced of this, and as Edwards became more convinced that this was harmful, his public disagreement with the idea caused his dismissal in 1750.
Edwards then moved to Stockbridge, Massachusetts, then a frontier settlement, where he ministered to a small congregation and served as missionary to the Housatonic Indians. There, having more time for study and writing, he completed his celebrated work, The Freedom of the Will (1754).
Edwards was elected president of the College of New Jersey (later Princeton University) in early 1758. He was a popular choice, for he had been a friend of the College since its inception. He died of fever at the age of fifty-four following experimental inoculation for smallpox and was buried in the President's Lot in the Princeton cemetery beside his son-in-law, Aaron Burr.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
December 28, 2025
“Divine love, as it has God for its object, may be thus described: it is the soul's relish of the supreme excellency of the divine nature, inclining the heart to God as the chief good.”
“God's love is primarily to Himself, and His infinite delight is in Himself, in the Father and the Son loving and delighting in each other. We often read of the Father loving the Son and being well-pleased in the Son, and of the Son loving the Father. In the infinite love and delight that is between these two Persons consists the infinite happiness of God.”
“God's love is primarily to Himself, and His infinite delight is in Himself, in the Father and the Son loving and delighting in each other. We often read of the Father loving the Son and being well-pleased in the Son, and of the Son loving the Father. In the infinite love and delight that is between these two Persons consists the infinite happiness of God.”
February 4, 2010
Edwards most oft-referenced work on grace begins in a somewhat rambling and confusing fashion. Edwards muses on grace and how it connects to--later concluding that it in fact primarily is--the Spirit of God in the believer. The first 10 pages are loaded with some conflated terms: grace and the Spirit, grace and love, grace and graces, etc. Edwards doesn't lay out as clear a case as he does in many of his other writings for these conflations, and I believe that weakens the first section of this book.
However, reading on bears tremendous reward. The second section lays out Edwards' theology of the Spirit and the workings of grace in the believer in a clear, systematic fashion. He defines this grace as "special or saving grace" and delves into exactly what is nature (natural) and what is spirit (spiritual). Repeated readings are rewarded here; the language is typically Edwards: confusing at time, always wordy, and somewhat repetitive. However, Edwards frequently refers to Scripture and identifies the Spirit of God as grace and in fact the source of all other graces, such as hope, patience, and so forth.
It's the third and final section that is superb, though. Edwards considers the Spirit as equivalent to divine love. This stems initially from a close reading of love (sometimes "charity") in 1 Corinthians and its equivalence with Spirit in parallel passages and arguments from Paul. Edwards goes on, though: through careful Scriptural comparison, he argues that the Spirit is actually the Person embodying the love of the Father for the Son, and the love of the Son for the Father.
The revelation here is an elevation of the Spirit to a vital part of the Gospel and in fact to Christ's self-sacrifice. No longer is the Spirit merely the product of that sacrifice; instead, the Spirit is the love Christ demonstrated on the cross toward His Father, and His Father's love toward Jesus. The Spirit then becomes a vital part of the believer's life as it allows the believer to partake of that divine love and therefore love and Father and Son properly.
This isn't a better-known work of Edwards. It's in fact not that easy to find. However, it's excellent, and as for pneumatology, required reading.
However, reading on bears tremendous reward. The second section lays out Edwards' theology of the Spirit and the workings of grace in the believer in a clear, systematic fashion. He defines this grace as "special or saving grace" and delves into exactly what is nature (natural) and what is spirit (spiritual). Repeated readings are rewarded here; the language is typically Edwards: confusing at time, always wordy, and somewhat repetitive. However, Edwards frequently refers to Scripture and identifies the Spirit of God as grace and in fact the source of all other graces, such as hope, patience, and so forth.
It's the third and final section that is superb, though. Edwards considers the Spirit as equivalent to divine love. This stems initially from a close reading of love (sometimes "charity") in 1 Corinthians and its equivalence with Spirit in parallel passages and arguments from Paul. Edwards goes on, though: through careful Scriptural comparison, he argues that the Spirit is actually the Person embodying the love of the Father for the Son, and the love of the Son for the Father.
The revelation here is an elevation of the Spirit to a vital part of the Gospel and in fact to Christ's self-sacrifice. No longer is the Spirit merely the product of that sacrifice; instead, the Spirit is the love Christ demonstrated on the cross toward His Father, and His Father's love toward Jesus. The Spirit then becomes a vital part of the believer's life as it allows the believer to partake of that divine love and therefore love and Father and Son properly.
This isn't a better-known work of Edwards. It's in fact not that easy to find. However, it's excellent, and as for pneumatology, required reading.
November 16, 2024
As part of my Master’s Degree I’ve been really enjoying reading a bit of Jonathan Edwards, and the Treatise on Grace has been one of the first of hopefully many more of his works that I plan to read. In the Treatise, Edwards specifies his definition of saving grace, as being enacted on the soul by the Holy Spirit giving a divine taste of the divine love of God. Edwards’ take on grace is definitely within the realms of Calvinism, and you can sense his concern about the rise of Arminianism in early 18th Century America. Edwards takes apart how there is an undebatable difference between the grace shown to believers and the grace shown to unbelievers. Unbelievers experience the “common grace” of God, but common grace is not saving grace. I think it could be argued whether common grace is the right word to use, perhaps common mercy would be slightly better.
A heavy theme in Edwards’s argument is his focus on the Spirit as a bond of love between the Father and Son, and furthermore, a bond of love that we partake in when saved and sanctified, in order to be called “sons of God.” He also pays particular attention to how the scriptures do not explicitly say that we have communion with the Spirit, but we have communion with the Father and the Son through the Spirit. Edwards handles this theme well, and it has provoked a lot of thought in me: is this what Augustine meant when he first uncovered the idea of the Spirit as a gift of love? I feel this is a confusing, yet helpful, identity of the Spirit that the modern church would do well to ponder on. How is the triune God loving? I think Edwards would have said that the answer to that question would rely heavily on the identity and action of the Spirit of God.
The more of Edwards that I read, the more I want to read, this could go badly…
A heavy theme in Edwards’s argument is his focus on the Spirit as a bond of love between the Father and Son, and furthermore, a bond of love that we partake in when saved and sanctified, in order to be called “sons of God.” He also pays particular attention to how the scriptures do not explicitly say that we have communion with the Spirit, but we have communion with the Father and the Son through the Spirit. Edwards handles this theme well, and it has provoked a lot of thought in me: is this what Augustine meant when he first uncovered the idea of the Spirit as a gift of love? I feel this is a confusing, yet helpful, identity of the Spirit that the modern church would do well to ponder on. How is the triune God loving? I think Edwards would have said that the answer to that question would rely heavily on the identity and action of the Spirit of God.
The more of Edwards that I read, the more I want to read, this could go badly…
July 30, 2022
“The fear of God without love is nothing other than the fear of devils; and all that outward respect and obedience, all that resignation, that repentance and sorrow of sin, that form in religion, that outward devotion that is performed merely from such a fear without love, is all of it a practical lie.”
February 8, 2025
There seemed to be (in my mind unnecessary) convulsions and wordiness in the first half-ish of the book. I’m inclined to believe that Edwards was saying good things, however I simply couldn’t follow them. There was, however, more clarity in the last chapter, where Edwards gives a wonderful explanation of the Holy Spirit’s nature and role in redemption.
November 16, 2023
Very quick read, super helpful in understanding the person and work of the Holy Spirit in salvation and sanctification, as well as an emphasis on love for God and neighbor as the anchor for obedience.
March 21, 2024
A fine work on the kind of grace that saves. Also contains some good arguments about the nature and work of the Holy Spirit. Edwards’ assertion regarding the Holy Spirit as divine love in himself invites thoughtful consideration.
June 10, 2024
Great little book on the role the Holy Spirit plays in giving grace to God’s people and how clinging to Christ brings everlasting joy and contentment.
April 11, 2024
Five stars for the third chapter alone, on the Holy Spirit.
July 22, 2020
Overall, I’m not sure how much Edwards’ Treatise on Grace of an impact on my thinking on grace. For the most part, I did not find much new or surprising. My favorite thing about reading Puritan writers is their passion and Ferber with which they present their message. This comes through loud and clear.
That said, I had a tough time staying focused and following his logic all the way through. Here were some of my key takeaways:
The first section drives home the point that the natural man cannot please God. It is only through a work of the Spirit in us that makes us spiritual and able to please God:
“the phrase, special or saving grace, is sometimes used to signify that peculiar kind or degree of operation or influence of God's Spirit, whence saving actions and attainments do arise in the godly, or, which is the same thing, special and saving assistance; or else to signify that distinguishing saving virtue itself, which is the fruit of this assistance...
And that special or saving grace in this sense is not only different from common grace in degree, but entirely diverse in nature and kind, and that natural men not only have not a sufficient degree of virtue to be saints, but that they have no degree of that grace that is in godly men, is what I have now to shew...
It is an important distinction that common grace is not a lesser measure but an entirely different form of unmerited gifting for God. “ Loc 17055
I found this to be a helpful reminder for the grounds of our communion with Christ:
“But those that are not in Christ, and are not united to Him, can have no degree of communion with Him. For there is no communion without union. The members can have no communion with the head or participation.” Loc 17149
This is a great picture of regeneration that goes against our modern notion of a seeker on the path to finding God and letting Jesus into their heart:
“Again, conversion is often compared to a resurrection. Wicked men are said to be dead, but when they are converted they are represented as being by God's mighty and effectual power raised from the dead. Now there is no medium between being dead and alive. He that is dead has no degree of life ; he that has the least degree of life in him is alive. When a man is raised from the dead, life is not only in a greater degree, but it is all new...
When the dead are raised, it is done in a moment. Thus when Christ called Lazarus out of his grave, it was not a gradual work. He said, "Lazarus, come forth," and there went life with the call. He heard His voice and lived. So Christ, John 5:25--"Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God : and they that hear shall live,"--which words must be understood of the work of conversion.” Loc 17177
Edwards closes his treatise with this exaltation of the gracious world of the Spirit being what unites us to Christ:
“And herein lies the mystery of the vital union that is between Christ and the soul of a believer, which orthodox divines speak so much of, Christ's love--that is, His Spirit is actually united to the faculties of their souls. So it properly lives, acts, and exerts its nature in the exercise of their faculties. By this Love being in them, He is in them, (John 17:26;) and so it is said, 1 Cor. 6:17--"But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit." “ Loc 17815
That said, I had a tough time staying focused and following his logic all the way through. Here were some of my key takeaways:
The first section drives home the point that the natural man cannot please God. It is only through a work of the Spirit in us that makes us spiritual and able to please God:
“the phrase, special or saving grace, is sometimes used to signify that peculiar kind or degree of operation or influence of God's Spirit, whence saving actions and attainments do arise in the godly, or, which is the same thing, special and saving assistance; or else to signify that distinguishing saving virtue itself, which is the fruit of this assistance...
And that special or saving grace in this sense is not only different from common grace in degree, but entirely diverse in nature and kind, and that natural men not only have not a sufficient degree of virtue to be saints, but that they have no degree of that grace that is in godly men, is what I have now to shew...
It is an important distinction that common grace is not a lesser measure but an entirely different form of unmerited gifting for God. “ Loc 17055
I found this to be a helpful reminder for the grounds of our communion with Christ:
“But those that are not in Christ, and are not united to Him, can have no degree of communion with Him. For there is no communion without union. The members can have no communion with the head or participation.” Loc 17149
This is a great picture of regeneration that goes against our modern notion of a seeker on the path to finding God and letting Jesus into their heart:
“Again, conversion is often compared to a resurrection. Wicked men are said to be dead, but when they are converted they are represented as being by God's mighty and effectual power raised from the dead. Now there is no medium between being dead and alive. He that is dead has no degree of life ; he that has the least degree of life in him is alive. When a man is raised from the dead, life is not only in a greater degree, but it is all new...
When the dead are raised, it is done in a moment. Thus when Christ called Lazarus out of his grave, it was not a gradual work. He said, "Lazarus, come forth," and there went life with the call. He heard His voice and lived. So Christ, John 5:25--"Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God : and they that hear shall live,"--which words must be understood of the work of conversion.” Loc 17177
Edwards closes his treatise with this exaltation of the gracious world of the Spirit being what unites us to Christ:
“And herein lies the mystery of the vital union that is between Christ and the soul of a believer, which orthodox divines speak so much of, Christ's love--that is, His Spirit is actually united to the faculties of their souls. So it properly lives, acts, and exerts its nature in the exercise of their faculties. By this Love being in them, He is in them, (John 17:26;) and so it is said, 1 Cor. 6:17--"But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit." “ Loc 17815
November 24, 2018
I had a great time listening to this while stuck in traffic on my way to visit family who also work in Korea. Edwards is as good as it gets with very careful thinking about theological truths and applying them to how believers practically experience and communicate about their faith experience. In this work he deals deeply with how the Christian experiences God’s grace at the moment of salvation, arguing that it is in a moment conversation happens, and then how one experiences God’s sanctifying work by the Holy Spirit through the rest of their lives. 70 rich pages or 2 hours of the best and most concise Puritan thinking on soteriology.
August 10, 2018
I actually listened to the audio version of A Treatise on Grace. It is typical Edwards: thick, meaty, and thoughtfully organized. It is both a wonderful, biblical survey of grace and of the Holy Spirit.
December 31, 2021
thank you hoopla for great reads like this! Read Edwards every year if possible! this book helped me have a better (and way more thorough) understanding of saving grace, and common Grace..... what an amazing God we have!
January 8, 2023
Pretty short book but overall great read on grace. Appreciated the emphasis on Holy Spirit too. Edwards is always worth the read.
December 2, 2023
Every Christian should aim to read Edwards. His ability to weave exegesis and reason together revives my mind in ways not many have in my studies. I never leave disappointed
December 30, 2023
Great section on the trinity towards the very end. First of Edwards that I’ve read and made me want to read more of his other works.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews