We have a trio of episodes recently on Jonathan Edwards in episodes number 554 and 556 and to finish it out today, Jaden from Gold Coast, Australia writes in, "Hi Pastor John, I was reading Jonathan Edwards sermon, 'The Pure in Heart Blessed' and came across the word 'Excellency.' In context it read, 'Man's true happiness is his perfection and true excellency.'" What does Edwards mean when he uses the word excellent or excellency in his writings?

It is a very, very common word in Edwards. He loves to apply it to God. He loves to apply it to Christ. He sometimes applies it to us in our sanctified growth. It's built of course on the term excel, which means surpass, and refers to that which surpasses other pretenders, surpasses them in what, we should ask?

Not in sin, of course, not in evil. He's not surpassing, God is not surpassing in evil. He's surpassing, he's exceeding, he's excelling in every right way, which raises the question of what definition of right should we use in God, since God is not measured by anything outside of God, right?

He doesn't conform to a standard of rightness outside of God. That would be God if he did. God is right because he feels and thinks and acts in perfect accord with his own infinite self, or his own infinite worth. It is right to value infinitely what is infinitely valuable, namely God.

It is right to think in perfect accord with infinite knowledge of what is true, namely God's knowledge. It is right to act perfectly to reflect and display the fullness of God's person. So God's excellency is his perfect feeling, thinking, and acting in harmony with himself. He excels all others in this.

God's excellency is his perfectly felt, perfectly thought, perfectly acted, God-centeredness. And so, to fill it out, God is supremely happy in this way of feeling and thinking and acting. He's happy in this way of being, and this infinite happiness is part of his excellency. His excellency includes the surpassing happiness that he has in feeling, thinking, and acting in perfect accord with his infinite worth.

And just to complete the picture, this divine happiness has the tendency to overflow so that God's creation of the world is the sharing of his happiness in feeling and thinking and acting in accord with his infinite worth. In other words, God's creation and redemption is for man's enjoyment and praise and reflection of this happiness and this excellency.

That is man's excellency. When man joyfully feels and thinks and acts in accord with the infinite worth of God, this is man's true excellency. If man is supremely happy in bringing all of his life into accord with what shows God as his supreme treasure, this is the man's excellency, because it shows God's true excellency.

Now Edwards sometimes uses the word "glory" in place of "excellency," and sometimes uses the word "beauty" in place of "excellency." For example, he has a sermon called "Safety, Fullness, and Sweet Refreshment in Christ." And in it he says this, "The excellency of Christ is an infinite excellency, such a one as the mind desires, in which it can find no bounds.

Every new discovery makes this beauty appear more ravishing, and the mind sees no end." So he has replaced the word "excellency" with "beauty," and that tips you off. Beauty is what Edwards means by excellency. Infinite beauty. And that can then, in sentences, replace excellency. There's one more sermon that I want to refer to that helps.

This is the essence of the matter, I think, very practically, for the excellency of Christ or of God. He preached a sermon one time called, and I recommend it to everybody, "The Excellency of Christ," based on Revelation 5, 5 through 6, where Christ is described as the "lion of the tribe of Judah," verse 5, and the "lamb standing as though it had been slain," next verse, verse 6.

And Edwards draws magnificently out of that juxtaposition. Lion, lamb. Lion, lamb. He draws out of that Christ's true excellency and beauty consists in the coming together in one person of beauties that seem contrary to each other. Characteristics of a lamb, characteristics of a lion that seem contrary to each other but cohere harmoniously and perfectly in one person.

That's his understanding of beauty. Things that seem to be opposites cohering in beautiful, perfect harmony in oneness. And here's the quote that I love, "Infinite highness and infinite condescension." These are descriptions of the contraries that unite in Christ. "Infinite justice and infinite grace. Infinite glory and lowest humility. Infinite majesty and transcendent meekness.

Deepest reverence towards God and equality with God. Infinite worthiness of good and the greatest patience under suffering evil. An exceeding spirit of obedience with supreme dominion over heaven and earth. Absolute sovereignty and perfect resignation. Self-sufficiency and an entire trust and reliance on God. That is what he means by the excellency of Christ.

And to the degree that we feel and think and act in ways that show that is our supreme treasure, that's our excellency. Beautiful. What a profound truth and a wonderful word. Thank you, Pastor John, and thank you, Jaden, for the question. That sermon from Jonathan Edwards, "The Excellency of Christ," also appears in episode number 128 of this podcast, an episode we titled, "How Do I Delight Myself in the Lord?" You'll want to check out that episode number 128 for more, and to hear Pastor John read a few more choice excerpts from it.

We are gonna return tomorrow. Until then, I'm your host Tony Ranke. Thanks for listening to the Ask Pastor John podcast.