Word of the Day from Jonathan Edwards
00:00:00.000 | [Music]
00:00:05.000 | We have a trio of episodes recently on Jonathan Edwards in episodes number 554
00:00:09.480 | and 556 and to finish it out today, Jaden from Gold Coast, Australia writes in,
00:00:16.000 | "Hi Pastor John, I was reading Jonathan Edwards sermon, 'The Pure in Heart Blessed'
00:00:21.000 | and came across the word 'Excellency.' In context it read, 'Man's true happiness is
00:00:28.200 | his perfection and true excellency.'" What does Edwards mean when he uses the word
00:00:34.000 | excellent or excellency in his writings? It is a very, very common word in Edwards.
00:00:41.500 | He loves to apply it to God. He loves to apply it to Christ. He sometimes applies
00:00:46.000 | it to us in our sanctified growth. It's built of course on the term
00:00:54.700 | excel, which means surpass, and refers to that which surpasses other pretenders,
00:01:05.200 | surpasses them in what, we should ask? Not in sin, of course, not in evil. He's not
00:01:11.400 | surpassing, God is not surpassing in evil. He's surpassing, he's exceeding, he's
00:01:17.840 | excelling in every right way, which raises the question of what definition
00:01:25.420 | of right should we use in God, since God is not measured by anything outside of
00:01:35.980 | God, right? He doesn't conform to a standard of rightness outside of God.
00:01:42.940 | That would be God if he did. God is right because he feels and thinks and acts in
00:01:52.060 | perfect accord with his own infinite self, or his own infinite worth. It is
00:02:00.660 | right to value infinitely what is infinitely valuable, namely God. It is
00:02:06.940 | right to think in perfect accord with infinite knowledge of what is true,
00:02:12.060 | namely God's knowledge. It is right to act perfectly to reflect and display the
00:02:19.980 | fullness of God's person. So God's excellency is his perfect feeling,
00:02:26.980 | thinking, and acting in harmony with himself. He excels all others in this.
00:02:34.100 | God's excellency is his perfectly felt, perfectly thought, perfectly acted,
00:02:42.540 | God-centeredness. And so, to fill it out, God is supremely happy in this way of
00:02:50.780 | feeling and thinking and acting. He's happy in this way of being, and this
00:02:58.380 | infinite happiness is part of his excellency. His excellency includes the
00:03:07.220 | surpassing happiness that he has in feeling, thinking, and acting in perfect
00:03:12.220 | accord with his infinite worth. And just to complete the picture, this divine
00:03:16.940 | happiness has the tendency to overflow so that God's creation of the world is
00:03:24.380 | the sharing of his happiness in feeling and thinking and acting in accord with
00:03:30.060 | his infinite worth. In other words, God's creation and redemption is for man's
00:03:35.980 | enjoyment and praise and reflection of this happiness and this excellency. That
00:03:43.100 | is man's excellency. When man joyfully feels and thinks and acts in accord with
00:03:51.980 | the infinite worth of God, this is man's true excellency. If man is supremely
00:03:58.820 | happy in bringing all of his life into accord with what shows God as his
00:04:05.660 | supreme treasure, this is the man's excellency, because it shows God's true
00:04:12.780 | excellency. Now Edwards sometimes uses the word "glory" in place of "excellency," and
00:04:21.940 | sometimes uses the word "beauty" in place of "excellency." For example, he has a
00:04:28.140 | sermon called "Safety, Fullness, and Sweet Refreshment in Christ." And in it he says
00:04:35.660 | this, "The excellency of Christ is an infinite excellency, such a one as the
00:04:43.420 | mind desires, in which it can find no bounds. Every new discovery makes this
00:04:51.660 | beauty appear more ravishing, and the mind sees no end." So he has replaced the
00:05:00.260 | word "excellency" with "beauty," and that tips you off. Beauty is what Edwards means
00:05:06.900 | by excellency. Infinite beauty. And that can then, in sentences, replace excellency.
00:05:15.460 | There's one more sermon that I want to refer to that helps. This is the
00:05:20.140 | essence of the matter, I think, very practically, for the excellency of Christ
00:05:24.020 | or of God. He preached a sermon one time called, and I recommend it to everybody,
00:05:28.980 | "The Excellency of Christ," based on Revelation 5, 5 through 6, where Christ is
00:05:37.100 | described as the "lion of the tribe of Judah," verse 5, and the "lamb standing as
00:05:46.100 | though it had been slain," next verse, verse 6. And Edwards draws magnificently
00:05:52.820 | out of that juxtaposition. Lion, lamb. Lion, lamb. He draws out of that Christ's true
00:06:02.260 | excellency and beauty consists in the coming together in one person of beauties
00:06:11.300 | that seem contrary to each other. Characteristics of a lamb,
00:06:16.580 | characteristics of a lion that seem contrary to each other but cohere
00:06:22.540 | harmoniously and perfectly in one person. That's his understanding of beauty. Things
00:06:28.700 | that seem to be opposites cohering in beautiful, perfect harmony in oneness. And
00:06:36.100 | here's the quote that I love, "Infinite highness and infinite condescension."
00:06:42.620 | These are descriptions of the contraries that unite in Christ. "Infinite justice
00:06:49.740 | and infinite grace. Infinite glory and lowest humility. Infinite majesty and
00:06:57.820 | transcendent meekness. Deepest reverence towards God and equality with God.
00:07:04.660 | Infinite worthiness of good and the greatest patience under suffering evil.
00:07:09.980 | An exceeding spirit of obedience with supreme dominion over heaven and earth.
00:07:16.020 | Absolute sovereignty and perfect resignation. Self-sufficiency and an
00:07:22.380 | entire trust and reliance on God. That is what he means by the excellency of Christ.
00:07:31.700 | And to the degree that we feel and think and act in ways that show that is our
00:07:41.580 | supreme treasure, that's our excellency. Beautiful. What a profound truth and a
00:07:48.620 | wonderful word. Thank you, Pastor John, and thank you, Jaden, for the question. That
00:07:53.180 | sermon from Jonathan Edwards, "The Excellency of Christ," also appears in
00:07:57.620 | episode number 128 of this podcast, an episode we titled, "How Do I Delight
00:08:02.340 | Myself in the Lord?" You'll want to check out that episode number 128 for more, and
00:08:07.180 | to hear Pastor John read a few more choice excerpts from it. We are gonna
00:08:12.660 | return tomorrow. Until then, I'm your host Tony Ranke. Thanks for listening to the
00:08:16.620 | Ask Pastor John podcast.
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