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The End for Which God Created the World: A Dissertation Concerning the Glory of God
In Edwards' book, The End for Which God Created the World, he argues that God's aim in creating the world was not for the happiness of humanity, but to magnify His own glory through the redemption of His fallen creation.
- GenresTheology
138 pages, Paperback
Published November 9, 2021
About the author
Jonathan Edwards
1,753 books547 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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January 15, 2023
Jonathan Edwards’ dissertation is basically a concise blend of John Piper’s books “Desiring God” and “Providence” albeit 300 years earlier and about 700 pages shorter.
Excellent book although not the easiest to read nor comprehend. Edwards dives into the maximum depths of our finite ability to comprehend God’s glory, a depth that required me to frequently come up for air as my spiritual lung capacity is dwarfed by Edwards.
Probably the best part of this dissertation was how saturated it was in the word and the scriptural index provided in the back is worth the purchase alone.
Favorite Quotes:
“The happiness of the creature consists in rejoicing in God; by which also God is magnified and exalted.”
“All things are from God, as their first cause and fountain; so all things tend to Him, and in their progress come nearer and nearer to Him through all eternity which argues, that He who is their first cause is their last end.”
“God, in seeking His glory, seeks the good of His creatures; because the emanation of His glory implies the communicated excellency and happiness of His creatures.”
“The whole of God’s internal good or glory is in these three things, that is, His infinite knowledge; His infinite virtue or holiness, and His infinite joy and happiness.”
“The whole is of God, and in God, and to God; and He is the beginning, and the middle, and the end.”
“God’s respect to the creature’s good, and His respect to Himself, is not a divided respect; but both are united in one.”
Excellent book although not the easiest to read nor comprehend. Edwards dives into the maximum depths of our finite ability to comprehend God’s glory, a depth that required me to frequently come up for air as my spiritual lung capacity is dwarfed by Edwards.
Probably the best part of this dissertation was how saturated it was in the word and the scriptural index provided in the back is worth the purchase alone.
Favorite Quotes:
“The happiness of the creature consists in rejoicing in God; by which also God is magnified and exalted.”
“All things are from God, as their first cause and fountain; so all things tend to Him, and in their progress come nearer and nearer to Him through all eternity which argues, that He who is their first cause is their last end.”
“God, in seeking His glory, seeks the good of His creatures; because the emanation of His glory implies the communicated excellency and happiness of His creatures.”
“The whole of God’s internal good or glory is in these three things, that is, His infinite knowledge; His infinite virtue or holiness, and His infinite joy and happiness.”
“The whole is of God, and in God, and to God; and He is the beginning, and the middle, and the end.”
“God’s respect to the creature’s good, and His respect to Himself, is not a divided respect; but both are united in one.”
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review