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An Absolute Sort of Certainty: The Holy Spirit and the Apologetics of Jonathan Edwards
Reveals the contours of Edwards’s apologetics by exploring his view of the Spirit’s work in inspiration, regeneration, illumination, and especially assurance.
202 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2003
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About the author
Stephen J. Nichols
76 books97 followersStephen J. Nichols (PhD, Westminster Theological Seminary) is president of Reformation Bible College and chief academic officer of Ligonier Ministries. Previously, he served as research professor of Christianity and culture at Lancaster Bible College. He is an editor (with Justin Taylor) of the Theologians on the Christian Life series and is the author of several books, including The Reformation, For Us and for Our Salvation, The Church History ABCs, and Bonhoeffer on the Christian Life.
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August 9, 2019
The Problem of Knowledge, and Its Solution
Ever since Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) proposed that the world outside our minds was unknowable, the prospects of knowing anything at all with any certainty became increasingly grim. The last bastion of certainty - mathematics and physics - collapsed in the mid-twentieth century as its brightest minds were at a total loss as to how scientific knowledge was even possible: "The most incomprehensible thing about the world is that it is comprehensible." (Albert Einstein); The fact that human beings can discover the laws of nature is “a miracle that may well be beyond human understanding.” (Erwin Schroedinger); "[T]hat it is possible to find a rule, like the inverse square law of gravitation, is some sort of miracle. It is not understood at all….” (Richard Feynman). See, Mathematics: The Loss of Certainty (Oxford Paperbacks).
The problem of knowledge is Kant's epistemological brick wall: on one side is finite man and his world of particulars that he only experiences through sense impressions structured by the brain; and on the other, unreachable side – if there is anything at all – are the infinite, the eternal and the universal that might account for man and his finite particulars. On the other side is where the laws of nature and nature's God exist – if they exist at all. That man's mind appears to have breached Kant's impenetrable wall and grasped universal laws of nature was an incomprehensible miracle to Einstein, Schroedinger, and Feynman.
Decades before Kant considered the problem of knowledge, Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758) had a solution to how we can know, with certainty, something true about the infinite, the eternal and the universal.
The traditional Christian response to the problem of knowledge was that there is a personal God who has communicated eternal, universal truths to mankind in the Bible that explain and give meaning to man and the world he lives in. God has, in effect, sent us letters from the Other Side that explain in human language what ultimate reality is all about. The justification frequently offered for this belief is (1) the "self-authentication" of Scripture, which is said to be an objective property of the Bible that attests to its own veracity, and (2) the internal witness of the Holy Spirit that gives to Christians a subjective assurance of the Bible's objective truth.
The traditional justifications are offered in support of the position that the propositions of Scripture are true. Edwards proposes much more than this. Edwards is saying that the spiritual realities described by the propositions of Scripture can be directly and immediately experienced by the believer through the conscious, experiential disclosure of the Holy Spirit. The believer's assurance of the truth of the propositions of Scripture is based on having directly encountered the spiritual realities of which the Scriptures speak. As Edwards puts it:
"There is a difference between having an opinion that God is holy and gracious, and having a sense of the loveliness and beauty of that holiness and grace. There is a difference between having a rational judgment that honey is sweet, and having a sense of its sweetness. …. So there is a difference between believing that a person is beautiful, and having a sense of his beauty. The former may be obtained by hearsay, but the latter only by seeing the countenance. There is a wide difference between mere speculative rational judging any thing to be excellent, and having a sense of its sweetness and beauty." (From the sermon, A Divine and Supernatural Light.)
Edwards' epistemology has an element of true Christian mysticism in the sense that he attributes the certainty of knowledge to a direct, intuitive, experience of spiritual reality that is communicated by the Holy Spirit through a "new sense" that is divinely bestowed upon the regenerated Christian. Edwards refers to this as a "divine and supernatural light" by which God shines into the heart to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Mysticism of any sort, true or false, does not mix well with many in the Reformed church, including the author of this book who constantly maintains that Edwards was not promoting mysticism. These frequent disclaimers are necessitated by the fact that when the author actually quotes Edwards, it sounds very much like he is describing a true Christian mysticism.
The author tries to strip Edwards' epistemology of its reliance on this divine, supernatural light and reduce it to the traditional justifications of self-authenticating Scripture and personal assurance that is attributed to an inner witness of the Holy Spirit but which is neither experienced nor perceived as a direct interaction with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit's work is simply inferred from the fact that one believes that the Bible's propositions are true. Edwards expressly rejects the approach taken by the author here of reducing the role of the Holy Spirit to a silent witness:
"How greatly has the doctrine of the inward experience, or sensible perception of the immediate power and operation of the Spirit of God been reproached and ridiculed by many recently! They argue that the Spirit of God cooperates in a silent secret, and undiscernible manner, through our own efforts. So no distinction is made between the influences of God and the natural operation of our own mental faculties." Religious Affections: A Christian's Character Before God, p. 41.
The author is so bent against any attempt to "subjectify knowledge and mystify Christianity" he flatly denies that Edwards' assurance was based on conscious experience of the divine and supernatural light even while quoting Edwards' statement that, "There is no spiritual conviction but what arises from an apprehension of the spiritual beauty and glory of divine things." (p. 142, 97, 104.) Edwards' personal accounts of the divine and supernatural light demonstrate beyond question that his certainty of spiritual truth and reality, while confirmed by Scripture and the regenerative work of the Holy Spirit, is grounded upon a conscious, experiential perception. See, Collection of Works of Jonathan Edwards (OSNOVA), Location 2332 et seq.
Ultimate reality can be rationally communicated by the propositions of Scripture that describe it. Ultimate reality can be experientially known through the divine and supernatural light that directly reveals it. The direct experience of spiritual reality provides the certainty that what the Bible says about spiritual things is true. As Edwards wrote: "[T]he Scripture shows that these things have to be experienced. For it is experience that convinces the soul." Religious Affections, p. 123.
Ever since Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) proposed that the world outside our minds was unknowable, the prospects of knowing anything at all with any certainty became increasingly grim. The last bastion of certainty - mathematics and physics - collapsed in the mid-twentieth century as its brightest minds were at a total loss as to how scientific knowledge was even possible: "The most incomprehensible thing about the world is that it is comprehensible." (Albert Einstein); The fact that human beings can discover the laws of nature is “a miracle that may well be beyond human understanding.” (Erwin Schroedinger); "[T]hat it is possible to find a rule, like the inverse square law of gravitation, is some sort of miracle. It is not understood at all….” (Richard Feynman). See, Mathematics: The Loss of Certainty (Oxford Paperbacks).
The problem of knowledge is Kant's epistemological brick wall: on one side is finite man and his world of particulars that he only experiences through sense impressions structured by the brain; and on the other, unreachable side – if there is anything at all – are the infinite, the eternal and the universal that might account for man and his finite particulars. On the other side is where the laws of nature and nature's God exist – if they exist at all. That man's mind appears to have breached Kant's impenetrable wall and grasped universal laws of nature was an incomprehensible miracle to Einstein, Schroedinger, and Feynman.
Decades before Kant considered the problem of knowledge, Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758) had a solution to how we can know, with certainty, something true about the infinite, the eternal and the universal.
The traditional Christian response to the problem of knowledge was that there is a personal God who has communicated eternal, universal truths to mankind in the Bible that explain and give meaning to man and the world he lives in. God has, in effect, sent us letters from the Other Side that explain in human language what ultimate reality is all about. The justification frequently offered for this belief is (1) the "self-authentication" of Scripture, which is said to be an objective property of the Bible that attests to its own veracity, and (2) the internal witness of the Holy Spirit that gives to Christians a subjective assurance of the Bible's objective truth.
The traditional justifications are offered in support of the position that the propositions of Scripture are true. Edwards proposes much more than this. Edwards is saying that the spiritual realities described by the propositions of Scripture can be directly and immediately experienced by the believer through the conscious, experiential disclosure of the Holy Spirit. The believer's assurance of the truth of the propositions of Scripture is based on having directly encountered the spiritual realities of which the Scriptures speak. As Edwards puts it:
"There is a difference between having an opinion that God is holy and gracious, and having a sense of the loveliness and beauty of that holiness and grace. There is a difference between having a rational judgment that honey is sweet, and having a sense of its sweetness. …. So there is a difference between believing that a person is beautiful, and having a sense of his beauty. The former may be obtained by hearsay, but the latter only by seeing the countenance. There is a wide difference between mere speculative rational judging any thing to be excellent, and having a sense of its sweetness and beauty." (From the sermon, A Divine and Supernatural Light.)
Edwards' epistemology has an element of true Christian mysticism in the sense that he attributes the certainty of knowledge to a direct, intuitive, experience of spiritual reality that is communicated by the Holy Spirit through a "new sense" that is divinely bestowed upon the regenerated Christian. Edwards refers to this as a "divine and supernatural light" by which God shines into the heart to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Mysticism of any sort, true or false, does not mix well with many in the Reformed church, including the author of this book who constantly maintains that Edwards was not promoting mysticism. These frequent disclaimers are necessitated by the fact that when the author actually quotes Edwards, it sounds very much like he is describing a true Christian mysticism.
The author tries to strip Edwards' epistemology of its reliance on this divine, supernatural light and reduce it to the traditional justifications of self-authenticating Scripture and personal assurance that is attributed to an inner witness of the Holy Spirit but which is neither experienced nor perceived as a direct interaction with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit's work is simply inferred from the fact that one believes that the Bible's propositions are true. Edwards expressly rejects the approach taken by the author here of reducing the role of the Holy Spirit to a silent witness:
"How greatly has the doctrine of the inward experience, or sensible perception of the immediate power and operation of the Spirit of God been reproached and ridiculed by many recently! They argue that the Spirit of God cooperates in a silent secret, and undiscernible manner, through our own efforts. So no distinction is made between the influences of God and the natural operation of our own mental faculties." Religious Affections: A Christian's Character Before God, p. 41.
The author is so bent against any attempt to "subjectify knowledge and mystify Christianity" he flatly denies that Edwards' assurance was based on conscious experience of the divine and supernatural light even while quoting Edwards' statement that, "There is no spiritual conviction but what arises from an apprehension of the spiritual beauty and glory of divine things." (p. 142, 97, 104.) Edwards' personal accounts of the divine and supernatural light demonstrate beyond question that his certainty of spiritual truth and reality, while confirmed by Scripture and the regenerative work of the Holy Spirit, is grounded upon a conscious, experiential perception. See, Collection of Works of Jonathan Edwards (OSNOVA), Location 2332 et seq.
Ultimate reality can be rationally communicated by the propositions of Scripture that describe it. Ultimate reality can be experientially known through the divine and supernatural light that directly reveals it. The direct experience of spiritual reality provides the certainty that what the Bible says about spiritual things is true. As Edwards wrote: "[T]he Scripture shows that these things have to be experienced. For it is experience that convinces the soul." Religious Affections, p. 123.
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