Ryu Federal Theology of Jonathan Edwards

An Exegetical Perspective
1. Auflage 2021
ISBN: 978-1-68359-458-1
Verlag: Lexham Press
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 368 Seiten

Reihe: Studies in Historical and Systematic Theology

The Christ-centered exegesis of Jonathan Edwards Jonathan Edwards is remembered for his sermons and works of theology and philosophy--but he has been overlooked as an exegete. Gilsun Ryu's The Federal Theology of Jonathan Edwards explores how exegesis drove Edwards's focus on the headship of Christ as second Adam--and likewise formed a foundation for his broader theological reasoning and writing, especially on Christ and the covenants. Edwards's distinctive emphases on exegesis, redemptive history, and the harmony of Scripture distinguish him from his Reformed forebears. Ryu's study will help readers appreciate Edwards's contribution as an exegetically informed Reformed theologian.

Gilsun Ryu (PhD, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School) is adjunct professor at Kukje Theological University and Seminary in South Korea.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Ryu, Gilsun

Leseproben

1 INTRODUCTION JONATHAN EDWARDS’S FEDERAL THEOLOGY Jonathan Edwards (1703–1758), one of the most intriguing federal theologians, inherited classical federalism from Reformed orthodoxy. Federal theology is a form of Reformed covenant theology, which emphasizes the representative principle of the headship of the first and second Adams. This theology not only stemmed from earlier writers, such as Irenaeus, Augustine, and the Reformers (Ulrich Zwingli, John Calvin, Heinrich Bullinger, and others), but also was maintained and developed by Reformed orthodoxy in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Since the Westminster Confession of Faith represented the full development of federal theology into a confessional status by clearly distinguishing between the doctrines of the covenants of works and grace, it became a theological commonplace in Reformed orthodoxy.1 Edwards neither wrote about his view of federal theology in a systematic way nor published a treatise on his exegetical method.2 Nevertheless, his federal theology occupies a place of considerable significance in his biblical exegesis. This is clear from the fact that his use of the federal schema—the covenant of redemption, the covenant of works, and the covenant of grace—is interwoven with his biblical writings. Edwards employed the federal schema in his biblical works, including his “Blank Bible,” “Notes on Scripture,” “Miscellanies,” typological writings, and hundreds of sermons from his extant corpus. This implies that one cannot fully understand Edwards’s federal theology without his biblical exegesis. A significant element in Edwards’s federal theology is its focus on the history of redemption and the harmony of the Old and New Testaments. In formulating his doctrine of the covenant, Edwards took great pains to understand salvation history through biblical exegesis, so that he attempted to harmonize the whole Bible. This can be seen in his comments about his unfinished works A History of the Work of Redemption and The Harmony of the Old and New Testaments. First, the theme of redemptive history was of utmost importance in Edwards’s theological thought. In a letter to the trustees of the College of New Jersey, Edwards writes: I have had on my mind and heart, (which I long ago began, not with any view to publication,) a great work, which I call a History of the Work of Redemption, a body of divinity in an entire new method, being thrown into the form of a history; considering the affair of Christian Theology, as the whole of it, in each part, stands in reference to the great work of redemption by Jesus Christ.3 Edwards’s attention to the history project is also found in three notebooks, which Edwards wrote during the Stockbridge period (1751–1757).4 Moreover, Edwards’s interest in redemptive history is evident in his 1739 sermon series and the “Miscellanies.”5 From these four categories of evidence pertaining to Edwards’s view of the history of redemption, the redemptive-historical theme appears to be one of the most important theological lenses through which Edwards viewed the Bible. Edwards’s view of the history of redemption can be clearly seen in his sermon series of 1739, titled A History of the Work of Redemption. In this work, Edwards’s concept of the work of redemption is focused on the final purpose in God’s design, which was made in the covenant of redemption among the persons of the Trinity. Edwards presents the purpose as follows: (1) “to put God’s enemies under his feet,” (2) “to restore all the ruins of the fall,” (3) “to bring all elect creatures to a union in one body,” (4) “to complete the glory of all the elect by Christ,” and (5) “to accomplish the glory of the Trinity to an exceeding degree.” This purpose is accomplished by the work of redemption as “the principal means.”6 This indicates that God’s design before the creation of the world can be seen through the process of history. One notes that Edwards’s view of the redemptive-historical aspect of federal theology was not his own invention. A similar perspective on the history of redemption is found in Johannes Cocceius (1603–1669), who was one of the early federal theologians. According to Van Asselt, Cocceius’s federal theology was “an attempt to move theological theorizing from the realm of eternity into the plane of history and human experience.”7 A similar view is found in Edwards’s main theological authorities, such as Herman Witsius (1636–1708), Petrus van Mastricht (1630–1706), and Francis Turretin (1623–1687), who emphasized the history of God’s work of redemption in their view of federal theology. As Mark W. Karlberg notes well, one of the most distinctive aspects of federalism in the Calvinistic tradition is “its biblical-theological methods,” which means “organic-historical method.”8 Nevertheless, the idea of the history of redemption in Edwards differed significantly from those of his Reformed forebears. While he shared with his Reformed predecessors a historical approach to divine revelation regarding salvation, Edwards’s concept of the history of redemption as a necessary aspect of biblical exegesis reflects the distinctiveness of his thought. As John Wilson points out, while Edwards employs the covenant scheme, he eschews “the minutiae” of covenant theology.9 George Marsden claims that Edwards’s “entire new method” referred to in the projected work would imply that his “grand comprehensive theology would imitate Scripture itself” rather than “the forms” which were used by “Thomas Aquinas or even the Reformed systematizers such as Francis Turretin or Peter van Mastricht.”10 Marsden sets the biblical Edwards over against Reformed scholastics as if Edwards is far from the method of Turretin or Mastricht. Although Marsden’s description of the history project tends to be highly exaggerated, it is no exaggeration to suggest that the redemptive-historical perspective of the covenant is the driving force behind his reading of the Bible. In this light, David P. Barshinger mentions that the history of redemption is “the encompassing interpretive framework” by which Edwards approached the Psalms.11 Moreover, the redemptive-historical character of Edwards’s federal theology is related to his own comprehensive understanding of the Bible through his biblical exegesis. Specifically, Edwards’s emphasis upon the history of redemption comes as a necessary aspect of his view of the harmony of the Bible. In the history project, Edwards intended for “every divine doctrine” to “appear … in the brightest light … showing the admirable contexture and harmony of the whole.”12 The harmony Edwards refers to indicates something successive in all secular historical events and those recorded in the Bible. After describing the history project, Edwards begins to explain “another great work” which he planned to write. In the same letter, Edwards writes, “I have also for my own profit and entertainment, done much towards another great work, which I call The Harmony of the Old and New Testament.” The harmony between the Old and New Testaments has to do with the “exact fulfillment” of the Word of God in all the historical events of the world.13 Examining Edwards’s harmony project, Nichols suggests that Edwards’s concept of “redemption history and a covenantal system” is a framework for harmonizing the Old and New Testaments.14 Thus, it appears that not only is the redemptive-historical lens crucial to Edwards’s approach to the Bible, but the theme of the history of redemption and the covenant system is also a framework for harmonizing the whole Bible. Edwards understood the relationship between the history of redemption and the covenant system to be focused on the biblical teaching on salvation from sin. Edwards developed his federal theology from his comprehensive understanding of the Bible in attempting the harmony between the Old and New Testaments. In doing so, Edwards examined a large body of biblical texts, not only considering etymological, cultural, theological, and practical aspects but also employing various methods, like literal, linguistic, contextual, typological, and allegorical interpretations. In examining Edwards’s exegetical methods in the major prophets, especially Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, Yoo argues that Edwards employed more methods than merely “literal, typological, or allegorical.”15 While Edwards finds his covenant scheme in various texts from which he extrapolates the relationship of the first Adam and the second Adam (Christ), original righteousness and original sin, total depravity, imputation of sin, and so forth,16 one of the standard examples of the covenant schema can be seen in his sermon on Genesis 3:11, in which Edwards explains the relationship between Adam and his posterity. Genesis 3:11 is related not only to the Gospel of John and 1 John 3:8, which reveals the consequence of Adam’s sin, but also to Hebrews 2:14. Moreover, Edwards connects these verses to Romans 5:14; 1 Corinthians 15:45, and Hebrews, where the terms “the first Adam” and “the second Adam” come from.17 By perceiving the...