The Unwavering Resolve of Jonathan Edwards

by Dr. Steven J. Lawson

Publisher:

Reformation Trust

, 2008

Overview

Jonathan Edwards is well known as perhaps the greatest theologian the United States has ever produced. He is equally noted for his preaching and writing. But in this Long Line Profile, Dr. Steven J. Lawson considers the unique focus and commitment with which Edwards sought to live out the Christian faith.

Lawson examines Edwards’ life through the lens of the 70 resolutions he penned in his late teens, shortly after his conversion, which cover everything from glorifying God to repenting of sin to managing time. Drawing on Edwards’ writings, as well as scholarly accounts of Edwards’ life and thought, Lawson shows how Edwards sought to live out these lofty goals he set for the management of his walk with Christ. In Edwards’ example, he finds helpful instruction for all believers.

With the Logos edition, The Unwavering Resolve of Jonathan Edwards is fully integrated with the other resources in your digital library, including Bibles, maps, dictionaries, and numerous other Bible study tools. All Scripture references are linked directly to the text of your favorite Bible translation, making your Bible study and teaching preparations more effective and rewarding. You can also explore Scripture on a deeper level with powerful search features, Passage Guides, and all the other interactive features in your Logos library. That makes this important book more useful than ever before for pastors, teachers, Bible study leaders, and anyone else desiring to get deeper into the truth of God’s Word.

Key Features

• Preface: “The Pursuit of Holiness” by the author
• Examination of Jonathan Edwards’ life
• Helpful instruction for all believers
• Appendix: “The ‘Resolutions’ of Jonathan Edwards”

Contents

Top Highlights

“We live in a day of spiritual laxity. Many who confess Christ are pampering themselves to death rather than pushing themselves to holiness. Their spiritual muscles are untrained and unfit. Their wills are soft and unresolved.” (Pages xii–xiii)

“Spending thirteen hours a day in study, he wrote his three weightiest works: Freedom of the Will (1754), The End for Which God Created the World (1755; published with True Virtue under the title The Two Treatises), and Original Sin (1758). Freedom of the Will, his greatest literary achievement, was a monumental treatment of the inability of the fallen will to believe on Christ. In it, ‘Edwards argues that only the regenerate person can truly choose the transcendent God; that choice can be made only through a disposition that God infuses in regeneration.’⁵³ The one who wills to believe in Christ, Edwards taught, is the one in whom the Holy Spirit has already performed His sovereign, monergistic work in the new birth.” (Page 17)

“This proved to be a soul-stretching time in which Edwards gave careful thought to the priorities that he desired to be the guiding principles for his life. It was then that Edwards, eighteen years old, began writing his ‘Resolutions.’ He eventually composed seventy purpose statements, each designed to direct his newly begun Christian journey. They were ‘the guidelines, the system of checks and balances he would use to chart out his life—his relationships, his conversations, his desires, his activities.’²⁹ At this time, Edwards also began keeping a diary to monitor his spiritual pulse (1722–25, 1734–35).” (Pages 7–8)

Product Details

• Title: The Unwavering Resolve of Jonathan Edwards
• Author: Dr. Steven J. Lawson
• Series: A Long Line of Godly Men Profile
• Publisher: Reformation Trust
• Publication Date: 2008
• Pages: 168

About Dr. Steven J. Lawson

Dr. Steven J. Lawson is the senior pastor of Christ Fellowship Baptist Church in Mobile Alabama, having served as a pastor in Arkansas and Alabama for the past twenty-five years. He is a graduate of Texas Tech University (B.B.A.), Dallas Theological Seminary (Th.M.), and Reformed Theological Seminary (D.Min.). Dr. Lawson is the author of numerous books. He is the author of two other volumes in the Holman Old Testament Commentary Series, Psalms 1-75 and Psalms 76-150. His books have been translated into various languages, including Russian, Portuguese, Spanish and the Indonesian language. Steve and his wife Anne have three sons, Andrew, James, and John, and a daughter, Grace Anne.