Sinner in the Hands of an Angry God
Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God
The sermon ”Sinners in the Hand of an Angry God” was written by Christian theologian Jonathan Edwards, in 1741,during the Puritan Revival also called Great Awakening.The doctrine was intended to plunge the fear of God into those who were being sinful. The author wants the audience to achieve grace and go to heaven. Jonathan Edwards tried to scare the audience into believing that God could do away with them at any second. He uses comparisons to portray the wrath of God. He also gave them hope they could be saved. The author shows people what might happen if they continue to sin and disobey the will of God.
To Edwards, God was a mighty, omnipotent figure, capable of anything he so desired. “God has so many different unsearchable ways of taking wicked men out of the world”. Not only was God powerful, but he was unpredictable, and impossible to stop.”Who knows the power of God’s anger”. Neither the most educated, the most intelligent, nor the most faithful man, could ever imagine what God had planned for the future. In speaking of arrows of death, he said, “the sharpest eye can’t discern them”. Although the sermon does describe God as angry and his anger in particularly directed toward sinners, we must not ignore the other major category of divine attributes Edwards emphasizes. In fact, the characteristics of God most in view in this sermon are his grace, mercy, compassion, patience and love. Rather than a God who takes pleasure in the destruction of sinners, we will see that Edwards believed that it was because of God’s grace, what we call “mere pleasure” that sinners were not destroyed.
“There is nothing that keeps wicked men, at any one moment, out of hell, but the meer pleasure of God”. He is basically writing about how the pleasure of God is the only thing keeping you alive. Even righteous, moral churchgoers could be at risk of an eternity in hell. Being religious did not necessary mean being saved. One could not
The sermon ”Sinners in the Hand of an Angry God” was written by Christian theologian Jonathan Edwards, in 1741,during the Puritan Revival also called Great Awakening.The doctrine was intended to plunge the fear of God into those who were being sinful. The author wants the audience to achieve grace and go to heaven. Jonathan Edwards tried to scare the audience into believing that God could do away with them at any second. He uses comparisons to portray the wrath of God. He also gave them hope they could be saved. The author shows people what might happen if they continue to sin and disobey the will of God.
To Edwards, God was a mighty, omnipotent figure, capable of anything he so desired. “God has so many different unsearchable ways of taking wicked men out of the world”. Not only was God powerful, but he was unpredictable, and impossible to stop.”Who knows the power of God’s anger”. Neither the most educated, the most intelligent, nor the most faithful man, could ever imagine what God had planned for the future. In speaking of arrows of death, he said, “the sharpest eye can’t discern them”. Although the sermon does describe God as angry and his anger in particularly directed toward sinners, we must not ignore the other major category of divine attributes Edwards emphasizes. In fact, the characteristics of God most in view in this sermon are his grace, mercy, compassion, patience and love. Rather than a God who takes pleasure in the destruction of sinners, we will see that Edwards believed that it was because of God’s grace, what we call “mere pleasure” that sinners were not destroyed.
“There is nothing that keeps wicked men, at any one moment, out of hell, but the meer pleasure of God”. He is basically writing about how the pleasure of God is the only thing keeping you alive. Even righteous, moral churchgoers could be at risk of an eternity in hell. Being religious did not necessary mean being saved. One could not