Heat and Light

The Nature and Importance of Religious Affections
Selected Scriptures
2006.01.31
06SR Session Three

1 Peter 1:6 is one of my all-time favorite verses of Scripture. I came to appreciate it during a very difficult season of my life as we studied through 1 Peter in one of my college Greek classes.

In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials,

Trials are tough. That’s why they are called trials and not recess. But trials can be a great benefit to us as they tend to accomplish three things. First, they weed out the posers. Posers aren’t typically interested in playing the game once it gets difficult or if it causes them to suffer. A profession of faith–if that’s all it is–isn’t worth maintaining if it involves pain. When things get tough, the non-legit get going.

Second, trials prove the genuineness of faith. This is the other side of the coin seen clearly in verse seven:

so that the tested genuineness of your faith–more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire–may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Not only do trials tend to weed out the hypocrites, they also reveal the ones who are real. Only a true believer is going to keep following over the long haul regardless of the cost. Perseverance through hardships is a confirmation of genuine faith.

And then third, trials purify faith. Suffering refines us from impurities, as the dross is purged from gold by fire. At the end of that testing, the gold is stronger, purer, more lustrous, and more valuable.

But this is more than just a mini-sermon on trials. Notice what comes next in verse 8.

Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory,

Coming out of verse seven we see authentic, non-contaminated, strengthened faith. And when faith is real, verse eight explains that it displays itself in two ways. The first is LOVE for Christ (v.8a). The reason Peter’s readers willingly endured persecution and suffering was because of love; they were devoted to Him. They exposed themselves to all kinds of difficulties was because they had a stronger devotion to Christ than their own physical survival. Pure faith demonstrates deep love for Christ.

Genuine, purified religion also exercises itself through JOY in Christ (v.8b). Bona fide faith functions with joy, and not a little amount of it. Note that the degree of this joy is “inexpressible and filled with glory.” This is an overflowing, beyond-words joy and happiness that flies above circumstances. This unspeakable joy is a supernatural delight in Christ too strong to be described or conveyed with human words.

And 1 Peter 1:8 is the beginning and basis of Jonathan Edwards’ book, The Religious Affections. As I mentioned in Logic on Fire, his concern in the RA is to distinguish true religion* from false. Part I of his book launches from this discussion on trials to the nature and importance of affections. In particular, as trials prove and purify faith, what we see coming out of that faith is love and joy; in other words, affections. True religion is always rooted in affections.

The rest of Part I in the RA sets out to define affections and prove that authentic Christianity is found in the affections. We follow JE’s argument by considering three things: An Explanation of Religious Affections, The Evidence for Religious Affections in Scripture, and Some Exhortations Concerning Religious Affections.

* Please remember, when JE (and I) used the word “religion,” he meant it as another word for biblical Christianity. “Religion” in the 18th century did not have all the negative, legalistic, external, and oppressive connotations as it does today. So Edwards is not referring to a works based system; it is simply a synonym for Christianity.

An EXPLANATION of Religious Affections

Since the title for this entire series is: For the Love of God – The Religious Affections of Jonathan Edwards, an accurate explanation of affections is obviously very important. Though I at least tried to introduce the subject of affections in both “Shock and Awe” as well as “Logic on Fire,” I understand that if we don’t get a clear definition of affections in our minds we’ll be building on a weak foundation.

I also should admit that Part I of The Religious Affections was the most difficult for me to grasp. I’ve gotten stuck in the beginning of the book at least two or three times. The reason is because Edwards not only far exceeds my intelligence and insight, but because he starts his explanation by drawing distinctions between the different parts of man. But having meditated on this section for a while now, I think I’m tracking with him and I believe his explanation is extremely helpful.

Edwards said that God has given man two internal–that is, not physical–faculties or powers or abilities. Namely, each person has a head and a heart; understanding and affection.

With the head we are able to know certain things. With our head we can view things and think about things and distinguish between things.

But the heart goes beyond just evaluating or considering. With the heart we are either drawn toward what we see or are repelled from it. It is more than knowing; we like or dislike; we are pleased or displeased; we approve or reject. This second part is what JE calls various things, like “inclinations,” “will,” “heart,” and then of course, “affections.”

Note that “affections” for Edwards are not the same as emotions, nor are they simply feelings or some mystical sense. Affections are deeper and broader than those things. Our affections are like a ship’s rudder, providing an orientation to our lives. Or even better, they are like a magnetic force that pulls us toward some things and causes us to repel others.

So our affections are the part of us that puts feet on the knowledge. They can take us one of two ways: either toward what we like in approving and being pleased with it or away from what we are opposed to and reject.

There are only two ways the affections take us, but the degrees are endless. For example, some of our being pleased or displeased, approving or disapproving moves us maybe but just a bit beyond “perfect indifference.” In those cases affections are present, but they are thin. Then we have other affections that make us react vigorously or violently in opposition or passionately and zealously in pursuit. The more exercised and lively the affections, the more likely emotions are to be involved and perhaps sometimes even bodily reactions.

Some of the “positive” affections are love, hope, joy, gratitude, pleasure, etc. Some of the “negative” affections are hatred, fear, anger, grief. And then there are some affections that are mix, such as pity–a love for the victim but anger toward the criminal. The following is a simple chart to illustrate the direction and degrees of affections.

So even though the language may be imprecise, the heart is basically the same as the will. We know (with the head) and we respond (with the affections), sometimes strongly and other times not as strong. But any response is a work of our affections. Our affections then, positive or negative, strong or weak, are what determine every one of our choices.

All of us live by our affections. No one lives outside of this process. Everything we do comes out of our affections. Every choice is determined by our desires. And here is the kicker: We always do what we WANT to do, whatever seems most pleasing to us at the time. We NEVER go against our affections.

Some of you may be having a little argument in your head right now, thinking “I don’t always want to do my homework” or “I don’t really want to do the dishes.” But while your dislike of homework or dishes may be very strong and a genuine affection, if you go ahead and complete your homework or wash the dishes there is evidently a stronger affection that overcomes the other. Maybe it is fear of being punished or losing your allowance. Maybe it’s pride that hates being humiliated. Either way, you always do what you most want to do, and what you want to do are called affections.

The application for the Christian should be obvious: religious affections are wants, likings and dislikings, approving and disapprovings, that move us toward spiritual things. Affections are not optional for the life of faith, they are the center of it. As Edwards puts it:

True religion, in great part, consists in Holy Affections.

And here is where embarrassment sets in. If we always do what we want to do, then when we sin, we wanted sin more than God. When we are impatient, we show that we have more affection for ourselves than for God’s display of Himself through providence. When we fall asleep in church, we show that we wanted to worship our comfort more than worship God. It applies to every situation and circumstance we’re in: we do whatever our affections are strongest for, and they should be strongest for God.

Well maybe all of that sounds too simple to be true. What we really need to know is, is it biblical? That leads to our second point,

The EVIDENCE for Religious Affections in Scripture

Edwards lists 10 proofs from Scripture that true religion consists in the affections. I’ve taken liberty to combine a couple of them, reorder them a bit, and even rephrase them. And though there isn’t enough time to cover each one of them as detailed as he does, I could think of nothing better than that you would go to work on The Religious Affections yourself. But it is important to follow his flow of thought and build a solid, Scriptural foundation as we think about the importance of religious affections.

1. God made us to be moved by affections.

Affections are the “spring of men’s actions.” That is how God created us and this is why we are told to pay close attention to our hearts. For example, our affections determine our choices:

Proverb 4:23 Keep your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life.

What we choose in life comes out of the heart. That is why we must be careful to guard our hearts, because if our hearts go wrong our lives will go wrong.

Affections are also the source of our words:

Matthew 12:34 … For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.

What you are thinking about and longing for is what you talk about. Our mouths are filled with the object of our affections. God made it so that the things we choose and the subjects we discuss come from the heart. Edwards described it like this:

Such is man’s nature that is is very inactive any otherwise than he is influenced by some affection, either love or hatred, desire, hope, fear or some other. These affections we see to be the springs that get men a-going. (p.29)

We don’t act unless there is some love drawing us or some fear repelling us. This is true in our daily experience. We are dull and listless when we are tired and un-motivated, or perhaps the more accurate way to say it is, when the strongest affection is for our comfort as manifested in our laziness.

The significance is that knowledge alone does not get a person following God. A person may have the best intellectual understanding of God, but if he doesn’t love Him he will not worship or obey Him. Theology is insufficient without corresponding affections. So,

In a word, there never was anything considerable brought to pass in the heart or life of any man living, by the things of religion, that had not his heart deeply affected by those things. (p.31)

Until the heart is affected there will be no movement toward, or for, God. That is because God made us to be moved by affections.

2. God does not accept affection-less religion.

Edwards said,

The religion which God requires and will accept, does not consist in weak, dull, and lifeless wishes, raising us but a little above a state of indifference. (p.27)

God is not pleased when our pursuit of Him takes us but a baby step past disinterest. A weak, half-step toward Him simply does not glorify His infinite worth. Instead, God in His Word greatly insists that our affections be vigorous, lively, and totally involved. For example, the apostle Paul states in Romans 12:11,

Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord.

This is not a new requirement. Moses told the Israelites that based on the character of God their affections were to be fully exercised.

Deuteronomy 6:4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

The things of religion are so great and big and majestic and glorious that nothing else should or can move our affections like God. Our affections cannot rise too high because He is infinitely valuable. At the same time, nothing is so out of proportion, so odious as luke-warm, half-heartedness. God does not want our love only when it is convenient or when we give Him our left-overs.

This is why Christianity is so often compared to things where men have their affections and hearts engaged the most such as running a race, wrestling or agonizing for a great prize, fighting strong enemies seeking our very lives, or warring as those who by violence take a city. Finishing a marathon doesn’t happen without strong desire. Wrestling to win won’t happen if all we have is knowledge about the sport. Soldiers will not fight and survive if they are disinterested. And in a similar way as all of these, passion must predominate the Christian life. So Edwards summarizes,

If we be not (intensely wholehearted) in religion, and our wills and inclinations be not strongly exercised, we are nothing. (p.28)

Wherever there is true religion there will be lively and strong affections. God does not accept less.

3. Scripture everywhere places religion in the affections.

Affections are not in the margins of our Bibles, they are in the center of the page. Here is a grocery list of affections you’re familiar with:

• godly fear

Fear is more than information, it is a response. In the Bible, “the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him” (Psalm 147:11), not just those who study about Him.

• sorrow for sin

Jesus taught that, “Blessed are those who mourn” (Matthew 5:4). This is more than grasping that our sin is bad, but grieving that our sin offends God.

• hatred of sin

Hatred is one of the strongest affections and is certainly more than a simple awareness of sin. And this reaction is required for proper reverence, since “The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil. Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate” (Proverbs 8:13).

• joy

We are commanded to this positive affection. “Delight yourself in the Lord” (Psalm 37:4). “Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord” (Philippians 3:1). “Rejoice always” (1 Thessalonians 5:16). It is not imperative that we know why we should be glad, but that we actually are glad in Him.

• hope

The Lord takes pleasure not only in those who fear Him, but also “in those who hope in his steadfast love” (Psalm 147:11).

• don’t forget gratitude, compassion, and zeal

We are always to “be thankful” (Colossians 3:15). We are to “put on…compassion” like Christ (Colossians 3:12). Christ’s work includes purifying people “who are zealous for good works” (Titus 2:14).

• And ultimately, love.

Jesus declared explicitly,

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets. (Matthew 22:37-40)

The Holy Spirit works to produce this affection in us, as we see that “the fruit of the Spirit is love” (Galatians 5:22). Teaching and shepherding is not fulfilled without producing affection, as Paul states that “the aim of our charge is love” (1 Timothy 1:5).

Love is the preeminent affection. That is why Edwards wrote,

The Scriptures do represent true religion, as being summarily comprehended in love, the chief of the affections and the fountain of all other affections. (p.35)

Love is the source of all the other affections. When we love God, we will hate what He hates. When we love God we grieve when we sin against Him. When we love God we are naturally drawn to rejoice in Him, hope in Him, and give thanks to Him. And when we love God we will give our lives for Him and for others.

While more verses could be listed for each affection, but the purpose was merely to provide an overview that Scripture everywhere puts religion in the affections, ultimately in the affection of love. That is why we ought to do everything For the Love of God.

4. The saints are examples of great affections.

Those who are elevated as great examples in Scripture are those with great affections. King David was such an example, as “a man after God’s own heart” who wrote songs of intense love to God. He admired God’s glorious perfections. From his soul he desired and panted and thirsted after God. He exulted in God’s faithfulness, and grieved over his sin and the sins of the nation. One of my favorite passages of David’s desperate desire for God is Psalm 42:1-2.

As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?

The apostle Paul was also a man of considerable affections. Edwards observes from Paul’s letters

that he was, in the course of his life, inflamed, actuated, and entirely swallowed up by a most ardent love to his Lord, esteeming all things as loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Him, and esteeming them but dung that he might win Christ. (p.38)

Paul himself declared,

Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ. (Philippians 3:8)

A person doesn’t count everything as loss or rubbish unless they’ve found something else more desirable. Philippians 3:8 is a confession of affection for God and Paul demonstrated the reality of that commitment in his affection for others. He regularly spoke of his tender love for others like that of a nursing mother. He referred to his “bowels of mercy.” He wrote of conflict of soul for his sheep. At times people thought he was beside himself. He shed tears day and night. All those describe a life driven from the heart.

David and Paul are only two of God’s examples that the religion of distinguished saints is much in the affections.

5. The saints already in heaven have great affections.

Edwards observes that,

The way to learn the true nature of anything is to go where that thing is to be found in its purity and perfection. (p.43)

And therefore,

There is doubtless true religion in heaven and true religion in its utmost purity and perfection. (p.41)

If we could visit heaven we would see what true religion looks like. No one in heaven knows God and remains indifferent. There is no sin that soils their desires or behavior. And Scripture makes it clear that those in heaven have consummate, holy, animating, engaging love for God. Their joy is expressed in fervent and exalted praise. Thousands and thousands of creatures sing with loudest voice and hottest affection.

Revelation 5:11 Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders [the redeemed] the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, 12 saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!”

It must be constant goose-bumps in heaven with so much affection and excitement. But as we anticipate that day we should remember that the nucleus of these affections ought to be present in us now.

The love and joy [and other affections] we have on earth is the beginning and dawning of the light, life, and blessedness of heaven. (p.42)

The difference between the affections of heaven and our affections is not nature and kind, but degree. Though theirs are unmixed and unpolluted, they are not an entirely new flavor. Ours is just a small taste of what we’ll partake of in heaven. But considering true religion in heaven educates us that true religion here and now is no less in the affections.

6. Jesus is the ultimate example of great affections.

Of all the examples of great affections, Jesus is preeminent. Edwards wrote that Jesus is

the perfect example of true religion and virtue, for the imitation of all, the Shepherd whom the whole flock should follow where He goes…was a person who was remarkably of a tender and affectionate heart, and His virtue was expressed very much in the exercise of holy affections. (p.40)

Jesus was full of zeal (John 2:17). He was often angry at sin (Mark 3:5). He had compassion on those with physical and spiritual needs. He wrestled with tears like drops of blood in His praying. His was a life dominated by affections.

And most importantly, He was and is the great example of love to God and man. His love for the Father is what enabled Him to overcome the natural fear and struggle when He faced the cross. It was not knowledge that moved Him to give His life on the cross. What motivated Christ’s sacrifice was His love.

7. The great sin of the heart is predominately hardness of heart.

The final scriptural proof that true religion is found in the affections is that lack of affections is a great sin.

Now by a hard heart is plainly mean an unaffected heart, or a heart that is not easy to be moved with virtuous affections, like a stone, insensible, stupid, unmoved, and hard to be impressed. (p.46)

How dangerous it is to have a hard heart. That is exactly what God hates. That is exactly the kind of disregard for God that is infinitely wicked, and that is exactly the kind of heart that will be judged. As the apostle Paul told the Romans,

But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed. (Romans 2:5)

A hard heart is not necessarily missing knowledge, it is absent of affections. It is “impenitent,” unmovable, and unashamed. So God’s sends His grace to overtake the heart of stone and create a heart of flesh, one that is tender and sensitive and affected, and make that heart “easily susceptible of such affections” (p.47).

Everything in Scripture displays that true religion is placed not just in our knowledge about God, but in our love for God. Christianity has so much to do with the affections that,

the degree of religion is rather to be judged of by the fixedness and strength of the habit that is exercised in affection. (p.47)

In other words, true religion consists great in affections. Those affections might not always be as obvious as possible, but they will always be moving in some measure. Affections will demonstrate themselves over time, but make no mistake,

without holy affections, there is no true religion. (p.48)

In other words, if you don’t love God, if you are not drawn to Him, if He is not your greatest delight, you are not a Christian. Religious knowledge is not the issue nor are religious works. The issue is affections, stimulated by knowledge and manifested in works. The importance of affections should not be underestimated.

Some EXHORTATIONS Concerning Religious Affections

Edwards makes three inferences from the Scriptural evidence for affections and I’ve just turned his statements into three exhortations.

1. Don’t disregard or minimize affections.

While it is true that there are excesses of enthusiasm, false excitement, or perhaps even more precise, there are some kinds of religious affections that are counterfeits, the answer is not to reject affections altogether. Disingenuous affections are not fixed by disregarding affections. Most truth-driven persons swing the pendulum to the opposite extreme, but stoicism in the name of Christianity can be just as dangerous. In fact,

This…is the way to bring all religion to a mere lifeless formality…For although to true religion there must indeed be something else beside affection, yet true religion consists so much in the affections that there can be no true religion without them. He who has no religious affections is in a state of spiritual death, and is wholly destitute of the powerful, quickening, saving influences of the Spirit of God on his heart. (p.49)

So, both heat and light are necessary. “Heat” is represents the fire of affections and “light” pictures truth. One is not sufficient without the other. So there must be light in the understanding, but light without heat (a head filled with facts but with a cold and unaffected heart) is no good. And heat without light (a heart of excitement apart from truth) is not spiritually profitable either. Edwards put it this way:

A man’s having much affection does not prove that he has any true religion; but if he has no affection, it proves that he has no true religion. (p.50)

We must not disregard or minimize affections.

2. Seek to stimulate your affections with truth.

This should be a natural response for the believer. If true religion is in the affections, it is right to raise those affections and cause the fire to burn brighter. Edwards said,

If it be so that true religion lies much in the affections,…we may infer that such means are to be desired as have much of a tendency to move the affections. (p.50)

This is not just any means, however. Edwards is not encouraging us to manipulate others (or ourselves) with emotionalism; mood lighting and hypnotic music or heart-wrenching stories or drama or anything that natural man can be stirred by. Edwards is encouraging us to stimulate affections with truth and the spiritual disciplines given to us by God for that purpose.

I don’t think that ministers are to be blamed for raising the affections of their hearers too high, if that which they are affected with be only that which is worthy of affection, and their affections are not raised beyond a proportion to their importance….I should think myself in the way of my duty to raise the affections of my hearers as high as I possibly can, provided they are affected with nothing but truth.

Affections for God cannot get too high since God is infinitely worthy of our affections. Edwards himself sought to fuel his affections through the God-appointed disciplines and then sought to spark the affections of others in his ministry of public teaching and private counseling and published writing.

The connection between heat and light is also made by the apostle Paul as he prayed for the increase of love in knowledge:

Philippians 1:9 And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, [NIV]

We should never be satisfied with thin joy or watery love. We must stimulate our affections with the truth of God.

3. Be ashamed that your affections are not what they should be.

If true religion lies much in the affections, hence we may learn what great cause we have to be ashamed and confounded before God that we are no more affected with the great things of religion. (p.51)

Moving three baby steps past the line of indifference is no reason to throw a party for our religious selves. The chief end of man is at stake in our affections.

God has given to mankind affections for the same purpose which He has given all the faculties and principles of the human soul…that they might be subservient to man’s chief end, and the great business for which God has created him, that is the business of religion. And yet how common it is among mankind, that their affections are much more engaged in other matters than religion. (p.51)

Our loves are often directed toward worldly interests: reputation, relationships, appearances, possessions, etc. We show that our affections are stronger for things under the sun than for the Creator beyond the sun.

How insensible and unmoved are most men about the great things of another world. How dull are their affections. (p.52)

The things of the gospel and of our Redeemer ought to get us a-going! Relationship with God ought to rouse us. All the virtues and beauty of the Lamb, His patience and long-suffering and compassion should affect us. All the strength and majesty of the Lion, His justice and His holiness should affect us. All of that intersects at the cross where our sin was judged as the infinitely wicked thing it is, and sinners were set free. But we are not affected. It ought not be so.

God has done everything and revealed what He has in such a matter as to have

the greatest possible tendency to reach our hearts in the most tender part, and move our affections most sensibly and strongly. (p.53)

May we repent from our weak and dull and misdirected affections.

CONCLUSION

As we finish our discussion on the nature and importance of religious affections, remember that it is not a question of if you have affections, it is a question of for what do you have affections? And what do your affections say about you? More importantly, what do your affections say about God?